Playing in the water…

Doesn’t this bring a smile to your face? I wish I had a dog.. but I’ll make do with my friends’ dogs for now. But I love dogs and their love of play…

Lily having a blast in the water.

 

Yummm… I made my first….

Roast Chicken!

I’ve never cooked a Roast Chicken… an entire chicken! It’s like cooking a mini turkey – and it turned out amazing if I do say so myself. And it was so simple to make! It was the whole chicken, lemons, salt and pepper <– How easy is that??

Take a look at the pictures! I made a side spinach salad and some cous cous. Yummmo.

A Braided Crown…

Okay – I’m a bit obsessed with hair. I’ve never been with good with hair, much less my hair – but I’m trying to grow my hair out. I’ve never really had super long hair – which I’m trying to obtain. I was almost to a point with really long hair two years ago – but then I got bored and chopped it all off. I mean all of it off and I basically cut my hair to the point where it was near my ears. And the past two years I’ve been trying to grow it out.

And recently I’ve become obsessed with hair and wanting to try new things with it – but I’m still not very good with it and it’s usually down and up in a pony tail. And most of the time, I don’t even need to brush it out – my hair is pretty limp.

But like I said, I’ve become a little bit more high maintenance with my hair. And one of my favorite blogs – A Cup of Jo – the author, Joanna Goddard, puts a few posts about hair styles which I always save as a favorite. And usually I’m not able to do the hair because my hair isn’t long enough… but now, my hair is long enough which is exciting (yes, I’m a dork). So, today, I tried out a totally new hairstyle – and it came out just the way I wanted! It’s a braided crown – and I love it. And so easy to do – instructions are on the blog – but here are the results of it! Enjoy!

Hope you like it!

Bucket List Update #2

I’m giving you all another update on my Bucket List 2011. I’m not sure how much progress I’ve made, but here goes…

- Do another Solo backpacking trip – already in the works for Colombia in February <– Totally done!

- Go camping on the beach (hopefully my birthday weekend in April) – I don’t know if I technically did this – because we went camping – but ended up in a hotel room because there was torrential rain and flooding warnings on the shore. But we did break out the camp fire stove. 

- A day trip skiing – I’ve been mentioning this for the past few years and it still hasn’t happened… it will this year. I swear it! – Darn it – it didn’t happen this past winter, but there is still the winter of 2011. I’ll do it. I swear!

- Go skydiving – always on my list – but I’m determined it will happen this year. Totally done! I definitely want to do it again – I’ll post pictures and a video soon!

- Go to NYC more than once this year – and while I’m there visit my aunt and cousin on Long Island <– I’ve now been two weekends in a row in March – and I did visit my aunt and cousin who live on Long Island. I plan on going back up again by June.

- Bike my own city of Washington DC – I’ve bike NYC, San Fran, Sonoma, and I plan on biking in Bogota – I need to bike my own city! <– My bike is tuned up and I will do it… once the absurd heat is gone from the DC area.

- Learn to crochet/knit – and actually finish a project! <– Uhh.. not started on this yet.

- Complete two-three more triathlons this year – including the same one I do every year – the Kinectic Sprint Triathlon in May 2011. Okay – I’m updating this one to completing the Marine Corps Marathon in October under 5 hours. And also finishing the Army 10 miler in under 1:40 – so a bit faster than a 10 minute mile. Ambitious? Yes. But I’ve been doing a lot of running – so I think I can do it.  

- See more pyramids – including Macchu Picchu (Peru with my brother) and the Great Pyramids in Eygpt – if/when I go to visit my friend Eric who is moving to Egypt this August – and I plan on visiting him at the end of the year. <– I bought my tickets to go to Peru! I will definitely be seeing Machu Picchu. However, I might not be doing Egypt with all the unrest happening in the Middle East.

- Learn how to make a salmon dish… cooking seafood intimidates me.. I will conquer salmon. <– Haven’t made the Salmon yet – but have made Tilapia, Trout and Cod – Salmon is still in my freezer. Update: I made my first roast chicken! It turned out awesome!

- Apply to be a contestant on the Amazing Race/Survivor – two shows that I absolutely love and would do in a heartbeat. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get on unless I apply, right? <–Not done yet.

- Swim a mile without stopping – my swimming endurance is pretty good now, I think I can do this by the end of the year. <– Need to get in the pool for this to happen.

- Get scuba certified <– Hopefully this summer or fall… hmmm… I don’t think this will happen due to all the things happening on my schedule. 

- Pay off my credit card debt <– 2/3rds done – unfortunately still 2/3rds of the way there.

- Walk/Cross another famous bridge… I don’t know which one it’ll be – but I’ll figure it out soon. I’ve done Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge… what are some other famous bridges? Any in Peru, Egypt or Colombia? <– I’m crossing this off mainly because I’ve run and crossed over many bridges in DC – and they are rather famous bridges. I know, this might be cheating, but damnit, I need more things to cross off.

Okay – I knew my list for this year was very ambitious. 15 things on the list. I’ve really only crossed off one thing – the solo backpacking trip – but the beach camping is in the works, skydiving appointment has been set, I bought my tickets to Peru, which means I’m definitely seeing Pyramids… I’ve been to NY twice already and gone to Long Island <– I’ve only crossed 5 things off my list – 33% of my Bucket List for the year. Not looking good more than half way through the year… let’s hope that this changes in the next 5 months!

Okay

Things I’ve Loved About This Summer…

So much as happened so far – but to share a few photos about things that I have loved about this summer so far…

Eating beignets and drinking hot chocolate in New Orleans

Coming home to my favorite flowers after a long day from work.

Sushi and wine with a friend for Happy Hour

Kayaking to whereever I want to go.

Washington DC from the Potomac River on a gorgeous summer day