I'm On A Jet Ski!

Another trip to Florida... another fun '30' crossed off the list... Jet Skiing! The weather here in the WPB has been stormy all week but I saw that today was forecasted as awesome until early afternoon so my mom and I went over to Riviera Beach. We rented a Yamaha Waverunner from this place. There's a ton of places to rent from in that general area but Blue Water had a good weekday rate of $69/hr so I figured we'd give them a try. The two guys working there were super nice. The weather was ridiculous. Clear skies and probably low 90s. I had a blast driving up and down the Intercoastal and around Peanut Island. My mom is too nervous to drive so she just hopped on back with me. It was kind of like being 16 all over again. "Manda not so fast! (you're going over 10 mph). Watch out for that boat! (that's 300 feet away). You're getting a little close to the dock! (that's 200 feet away)." I wasn't allowed to take the jet ski in the ocean but quite frankly that was OK by me because I'm still a little irked after Shark Week. There are some beautiful houses along the Intercoastal. In fact, I found my new house (pic below). Huge thanks to my moms for pickin' up the tab and coming along. And yes, I wore plenty of sunscreen this time.

Rockin' The Caps Winter Classic T.

Checkin Out My Future Digs.

Docking. It's Been Fun.

On an unrelated note, we went to see "The Help" today once the storms rolled in. Wow, such a good movie! My mom really enjoyed the movie, but she also read the book and said the book is even better. I'm going to try and read it later this week. If you're looking for a good reason to hit the movie theater, this one is definitely worth it.

Game On

This intro has become much to common. First, I apologize for such a lag in blogging. Then, I say I will not neglect this blog for so long. And finally, 2 months goes by and I realize I have not made a post. Eek! I could offer up a plethora of excuses (work, personal, work, stress, work, busy, the nfl lockout) but instead how about an update with 5 months to go til I reach the big 3-0!

Let's start with some plans in the works. First and foremost, I have a National Zoo date all set and I cannot wait! It's within the next 2 weeks and I promise to post some fun pictures after the fact. I'm hoping this brutal weather calms down a bit before Zoo-day. 

Dear Mother Nature,
78 and partly cloudy would be ideal for Zoo-day.
Love, Manda

There's also jet skiing plans in the imminent future. My good friends who live on the water in Middle River just got a brand new jet ski and I've obviously already invited myself to take it for a test drive. It's also entirely possible I'll go during my upcoming trip to Florida, but this year's Shark Week has only elevated my fear of open waters. Either way, by the end of August, I'll have conquered the jet ski.

On the weight loss front... I've been up, down, up, down, up, up, down. Right now I'm down 10 lbs from where I was on my 29th birthday. Not ideal. So I have 5 months to drop another 40. I've made some more lifestyle adjustments so I'm hoping I can focus. This is my biggest goal and the one I most want to achieve. Lofty expectations are always difficult and I get frustrated but I'm confident that under this pressure I can pull it off. Sometimes I wish life wasn't so up and down and I could just focus on one thing. Alas, real life gets intense sometimes and I have trouble sticking to a plan when extra stress is thrown into the mix. I'm hoping I can just hunker down and focus on this. Here's hoping!

I still have that Living Social coupon I bought for the Jewish Museum of Maryland. Anyone wanna go with me on a Sunday? If so, hit me up.

So those are the imminent plans. Still working on the full list, of course, but also taking it one day at a time and trying to manage goals/expectations. I like that I set lofty goals and luckily I work well under pressure. Now that I'm in the final stretch I better up my game. And in this case, GAME ON.

Conquering Skyline Drive

After a month-long drought of conquering the '30' I finally made my way to Shenandoah to photograph Skyline Drive an go camping (for the first time ever outside of summer camp)! Had a wonderful, somewhat spontaneous weekend getaway. It was not without a few bump and mini "crises". In the 2 weeks since we decided to go camping in Shenandoah on the top of the "to do" list was to make sure my good camera (Nikon D40x) was charged. So of course I made sure it was fully charged. I also have a nice Canon point and shoot that I usually take on outings but I could not find it before we left and decided I was fine with the SLR. After about 2 1/2 hours we get to Shenandoah's Front Royal entrance (5pm) and stop at the first overlook (4 miles into the park). I get out to take a picture and, much to my horror, I hear the dreaded hollow click and see "No SD Card Inserted" on the screen. My initial instinct was to cry, I came really close, but I resisted the urge and quickly processed a few options. We could drive back out north and go to the Walmart where we bought fishing licenses and get a card but that would probably be about an hour round trip and we had to get to the campground and get set before 8pm sundown. No chance with another 50 miles to go at 35 mph max. So, I thought back to the many trips with my family to National Parks and the many cameras/batteries we bought inside the park and I was sure they had to sell SD cards for forgetful and in crisis folks just like yours truly. The 20 mile, 45 minute drive to the next giftshop/camp store was very very very nerve-wracking. Did I really go 3 hours to Shenandoah without realizing the memory card was missing? Alas, for the bargain price of $16.99 I got a brand new 2gb SD card. Phew. Crisis averted. Let this be a lesson, kids, next time add both "charge camera battery" and "make sure you have the memory card in the camera" to the list. I'll post a few more stories when I do the camping post, but for now, enjoy a few pics of Skyline Drive...

JMM 1/2 Price

Just purchased today's family Living Social Deal. 2 adult tickets to the Jewish Museum of Maryland for $8 (usually they're $8 each). They're good for any day. Not a bad deal! If you're interested the deal is still good for a few days. Since I live 2 blocks away I have no excuse not to go asap and cross it off the '30'.

 

Old School Gaming

We've been in a board game kick for the past couple months. Getting mad use out of my 20-year-old Deluxe Scrabble set and classic Boggle. Sometimes we break out the Yahtzee. Averaging 2-3 games per day, mostly Scrabble. I hear there's Boggle for the iPod. Too bad I don't own an iPad. So I'm still goin old school sit out on the deck and play with friends mode. Had an excellent word tandem on Friday night.

Prudes vs Sluts

 

Caught In The Act

Finally figured out what my dog does while I'm at work... She's got a ruff life.

Molly McMutt

The Paint Job

I've been slacking on the blog world, but it's a direct result of not slacking in the real world. Alas, I present you with The Paint Job (6 weeks after painting... eek!). The painting went really well!!! I picked the Behr Lilac Rose color but ended up having Lowes paint match it in Valspar. I went with a satin finish premium paint and it was awesome. 1 coat of paint (no primer) did the trick. Now, I did have some major expert paint help (thanks Shan!) so I can't say I did it all on my own but I did much of it and learned alot along the way. The pictures don't do the color justice (looks more pink than purple in the pics). 6 weeks later and I absolutely love it. I heart color. Another one crossed off the '30'. Enjoy...

Front View Pre Paint

Front View Painted

Angle View Pre Paint

Angle View Painted