Hey you, wanna catch up?

I know I've been ignoring this little place. I've been putting 1000% in to getting my other blog up and running. I also started school again 5 weeks ago, which has a been taking up a bit of my time. I'm also a nanny for this little girl, which I really love. But I want to breathe some life back into this space. I want it to go back to what it was originally for, keeping friends and family in the loop on what's going on in this life. So here it is:

The Wedding~ Things are starting to fall into place. We're planning it for January of 2012, so we still have loads of time. Eliot and I are both feeling ahead of the curve for the moment. (I'm going to kick myself later for saying that). I'm really excited about it all, but part of me just wants to be married to him already. I know it will be worth it to have an awesome party though...a week long one.

Eliot~ He's gone at the moment to the wonderful land of South Africa. He's been gone for 2 weeks and will be gone another 3. I miss him, but I'm excited for him. While he's there they're going to launch a brand new boat. This will be the first project he's been completely involved in from start to finish, so it will be so awesome for him to be there for the launch. Then he's going to meet me in California to celebrate Thanksgiving with my grandparents.

Florida~ The weather is so nice right now. It's cold in the mornings and you need a sweatshirt. But it's comfortable during the day. I don't want it to get any cooler, it just needs to stay like this. The end of summer here was amazing. We were out on our friends boat Tinky the Reef Seeker, diving almost every weekend, and afterward we would go post up on a sandbar, go swimming and enjoy some beverages. Now the gulf has gotten shockingly cold in just the span of a couple of weeks. But the wind is picking up, so it might be time to get the kite gear out and try and get better at that. One of my best friends Holly is coming to visit in just a couple of weeks. So the weather better stay in place for a little while longer.

Sailing~ Recently I've started racing every Thursday night. I got in at the tail end of the season, but it's been fun to look forward to every week. Looking forward to being more competitive next season for sure.

Just a few photos


building castles on the beach




Diving

Baby Zoë and Her Baby Blues

A water baby, there's no doubt about it. It's in her genes actually. Both mom and dad are water babies, so there's no keeping this little lady away from the ocean. She's also bilingual and has both her parents wrapped around her chubby little fingers. But who can blame them?








~Daddy Time~






~And Mom~

Jamila!

She's a fashion major, but really she loves makeup and is a makeup arteest. I love her name and I feel like it always deserves an exclamation point at the end of it. Like you're always excited to see her happy face AND she always has a smile on. Jamila! Anyways, we met in Computer Concepts and yesterday (thankfully!) was our last day there. So at the end of class we decided to go out and take some photos for fun, to celebrate (kind of). I love her smile, I love her skin, I love her makeup. But really, I'm going to miss seeing this face every Thursday at 1pm.










Upside down Jamila!

summertime, and the livin's easy

Some shots from our sunny weekend. We spent a lot of time on boats and in the water.
Just some randoms...


Eliot and Richie, enjoying a swim in the Gulf






~Chantale and baby Zoe in her awesome wetsuit~

Running Into An Old Friend

Argo is at the dock in Cape Town!

For those of you that don't know, this is the boat that I did my 90 day Sea~Mester on. I last saw her when I stepped off the boat in Phuket Thailand almost exactly 3 years ago! She came from Singapore 7,400 nautical miles across the Indian Ocean. It was great to catch up with her and her crew.

For more on Sea Mester Programs visit them HERE.

Hittin' The Ground Running

This was the only way to describe Ben and Jen's visit to Cape Town. We had 5 solid days to do as much as we could and I think it's pretty fair to say we did it. We were making fun of Jen because she had a blue folder that she pulled out every morning filled with maps and brochures and tons of other stuff so we could "plan" the day. It was basically already planned for us.


~Enjoying a nice cold PBR at the Cape of Good Hope on Jen's birthday~




~The punishing hike up Table Mountain~


~Critters along the way~


~Busy Bee~


~And gorgeous views~




~How much further to go?~


~Yeah, that much~






~West Coast National Park~






~Wine tasting in Stellenbosch: we went to this great place that was herding ducks around. They use them to eat all the slugs and other pests that get onto the grape vines, rather than using pesticides. They were so cute~






~Some had really cool hairdos too~

2nd Part of Holly's Visit

Some more photos of what Holly and I got up to while she was here for 2 weeks. She brought a list that she'd printed off the internet of "100 Things To Do In Cape Town, Under R100," so we tried to check as many of them off as we could. I think in the end we did 25? Pretty good in 2 weeks. Plus we did tons of other things that weren't even on the list that should have been (like Margaritas at Ponchos, we did that twice!).


~Visiting the penguins at Boulders~


~Hike around Cape Point~


~Eliot after a good surf session~


~Going along Chapman's Peak Drive~


~Chapman's Peak Drive~


~At "The World of Birds"~


~The Spirit of Victoria~


~Having the boat to ourselves~


~Sunfish~


~The Two Oceans Aquarium~


~Sea Horse~


~Eliot catching up with us for some drinks~


~Hiking around Llundudno- I really love this picture of Holly~




~Holly and I at the top of Table Mountain on her last day~