And so it begins...

Well, we've done it, we quit our jobs and sold our home and are going sailing!

This dream has been many months in the making, and the past few weeks have been a blur of activity. In late-August we sold and moved out of our home, quit our jobs and said goodbye to our colleagues and friends, and in early-September we traveled half way across the country with a moving truck to store our belongings in a 10 x 10 climate controlled unit in Wisconsin near our families and spend some precious time with our loved ones.

The week before we left D.C. for Wisconsin, we moved our things onto Borealis, and after hours of extensive organizing and sorting, we got everything we wanted onto the boat and even had a few empty spaces.

And here we are now, almost a month of living aboard the boat full-time and spending our days tackling the final projects on our pre-cruising to-do list before we start heading south. More on those projects is coming soon!

Our first night aboard Borealis as liveaboards and full-time cruisers

Our pre-cruising to-do list, sorted by high, medium and low priority projects

While spending only three consecutive days aboard Borealis before now, and only 10 days aboard any boat, the adjustment to living on a boat and spending nearly every minute of the day together has been fairly easy for us.

We've settled into a simple routine of waking around 7 a.m. each morning, having a cup of coffee and then heading to our marina's empty tennis courts to workout and run laps. From there we plan how to spend the rest of the day: running errands, provisioning the boat for the trip; finishing projects and repairs; sewing and more sewing; coordinating mail forwarding, satellite phone and tradesman services; finalizing our insurance, health and life matters; and planning our travel and itinerary.

Nick splicing a new rope to our anchor chain hook

Nick atop the mast to run a new halyard

Despite all that hard work, for the first time - in a very long time - we have no schedule or place to be, and we are already feeling the positive mental and physical benefits of that!

We've taken some time to have some fun too; this past weekend we headed to Annapolis, Maryland for five days for the U.S. Sailboat show and had such a fun time connecting with friends old and new while also talking to as many vendors and experts for their advice as we finalize boat projects and plans for heading south.

The annual U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland

We’re excited for what's ahead: seeing new places, meeting new friends from around the world, and learning a lot about sailing, the world and ourselves along the way. So until we set off, hopefully in the next few weeks, we are working hard each and every day to get ready for our adventure.