Pete's Pier

Another day with the manatee. (I promise we are not obsessed) We got a Living Social deal for Florida Eco-Adventures. I totally recommend them if you're in the area. We spent a day kayaking around Crystal River. There were manatee everywhere. 

Since manatee are protected, you aren't allowed to chase them or bother them in any way- volunteers are on site enforcing the rules. You are allowed to pet them with one hand if they approach you though, and guess what, when we were visiting manatee would swim right up to the kayak and want to be rubbed. We've to crystal river a few times before, but have never seen them this active. 

One particular guy wanted a belly rub. He would swim next to the kayak and then flip onto his back eagerly waiting for your touch. They felt different than I had expected. There skin was tough feeling but not at all slimy. I didn't know they had "fin-nails" either.

It was too cold for me to get in the spring water, but Mr. Wonderful and my dad snorkeled with the manatee. One of the younger ones was infactuated with their swim shorts. He'd come rub, smell, even nibble on them! Not sure if he was hungry or just curious. We had a great time at Crystal River. Can't wait to do it again!

S'more Fun

Who doesn't love warm gooey marshmallows topped with melted chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers? Since it's been rather chilly out lately, we decided to host a get together and enjoy s'mores around our fire pit.

I took more pictures of us, but those didn't turn out too good. Night photography is something I need to work on. What do you like to do when it's chilly out?

Photo Friday

As you know, I recently got a new camera. One of my many new years resolutions was to learn more about my camera/photography by doing a 365 photo challenge. It's basically where you take a photo a day for an entire year. Sounds simple right? Well, we're only 24 days in, and I'm already falling behind. (I don't know why I continue to make unrealistic goals that I can't keep...I just keep setting myself up for failure, yet I continue to do it.) My problem is that most days I leave before the sun comes up and come home after it's gone down. It's kinda hard to take pics without any light and there is only so much I find interesting inside my own house in the evening. So while I haven't given up on my new years resolution completely, I have accepted that it won't be perfect. It's time for a revision. There are going to just be days that don't get photographed. I'm still going to make an effort to take at lease one photo a day, but at very least, I will take quality photos once a week. I will be sharing some of my favorite pics from the week every Friday. I will be linking up at This Analog Adventure for Photography Friday and Serendipity is Sweet's Friday Photo Journal if you'd like to join in the fun.


This past weekend we planned a trip to see the manatee. In the winter especially, manatee congregate near our local power plant to swim in the warm water the power plant emits. Long ago the power plant build a barrier to keep their warm water from killing the surrounding mangroves. The water still leads to the open ocean, but the barrier keeps it from destroying the coastline. Once the manatee caught wind of this warm water pool, they made themselves at home and have been frolicking in the warm water ever since. You can see below that the water was a toasty 71 degrees in January.

Once the power plant noticed the manatee had made themselves at home in their water, they build a long pier, so that visitors could enjoy the manatee and other wild life. The best part about it is that it's free.

 I don't have a lens with a good zoom, so I couldn't get any good pictures of the manatee, but we saw TONS of them. We also saw fish, sharks and pelicans (my favorite bird). I guess everybody love the warm water.

Can you tell what my "signature" shot is?

I didn't even know I had a signature shot until I put these pictures on the computer and realized that I have tons of the same (a portrait with the subject in the left third of the frame). I will make a conscious effort to try something new next time.

Do you have a signature shot? Have you done anything that's free and fun lately?

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My New Camera!!!

I cannot explain how surprised I was when I opened THIS Christmas morning. Mr. Wonderful is so good to me. I didn't have much of a Christmas this year. Most of what I wanted was for the house. I definitely did not put a DSLR camera on my list because they are quite pricy and we're on a tight budget. Mr. Wonderful knows me so well though. I have been spending the last few months learning about photo composition and techniques as well as getting to know my point and shoot a little better. I'd mentioned that once I got better I'd like to invest in a DSLR. So guess what he did?? He saved up little by little so he cold get me one. He's also been encouraging me take more pictures and learn about my camera. He truly is the best!

Be Grateful

On November 2nd Mr. Wonderful's best friend, Justin, was in a tragic car accident. He was the passenger of a car that hit a tree, and unfortunately he had to have a foot amputated. Everyone was devastated because like Mr. Wonderful, Justin is very active; he loves to play sports and everyone knew things would forever be different. Oceans of tears were shed even before Justin himself knew he no longer had a right foot. Everyone feared Justin would be devastated, but surprisingly he took it really well. He is just happy to be alive. He says that he feared never seeing his family again and he is thankful for a second chance.

A few years ago two friends died in a very similar accident in the same area. Both Justin and the driver are extremely lucky to be alive. I know there will be some hard days ahead, but there is no doubt in my mind that Justin will continue to have a positive outlook on life. 

The lesson I think we all can take from this is to simply be grateful for what you have instead of focusing what you're missing. If Justin can do it in his situation, we all can. 

The Last of His Twenties

We just Celebrated Mr. Wonderful's birthday. He turned a whopping 29 years old. This is the last year of his twenties. He is turning into an old man. (I'm considering getting rid of his Mr. Wonderful nick name and just referring to him as my old man, but I'm not sure how he'd like that one.) I always tease him about how old he is, but the truth is that we're not even a whole year apart in age.

Every year we have cake and presents at his parent's house on Mr. Wonderful's actual birthday. This year I made the cake! Red velvet - his favorite. I used my secret ingredient (recipe can be found here)

Money is tight, so I couldn't go all extravagant on the birthday gifts. I kept it simple. Three things: something sweet, something funny and something useful. For my something sweet, I surprised him with post-its on the bathroom mirror stating the top 29 reasons why I love him.

For the funny gift, I filled a nice Bucs cup with 29 suckers and attached a sign that states "29 sucks!" I'd seen this on pinterest and thought it was cleaver. I just couldn't resist.

The useful gift was a cordless weed wacker. I typically wouldn't get him something like that as a gift, but he asked for it. He used our neighbors one day and from then on ours wasn't good enough...men!

My family always likes to do something special for Mr. Wonderful too, so we went there for dinner, presents and brownies in his honor. I love birthday celebrations...can't wait to celebrate HIS big 30th birthday next year!

Let's Have a Party!

So I haven't forgotten about ya'll. School has been completely overwhelming, but I'm back and I have so much to share. I hope you haven't forgotten about me either.

Mr. Wonderful asked me the Saturday before Labor Day if I wanted to invite our family and friends over for a small Labor Day get together, and I said "Sure!" It was short notice, but I agreed because having people over forces me and Mr. Wonderful to give our house a really deep cleaning.

This is sooo true for me. Is it true for you too?

I also wanted to see everyone. We hadn't gotten everyone together since our wedding. For the party, I made a watermelon bowl. I thought it was going to be more work, but it was really kind of simple. Just use a long knife to cut the zig-zags and it just falls apart into 2 pieces. I used a melon baller to scoop out the insides and then placed one "bowl" inside of the other. 

I also made caprice bites. 

Of course we served our signature dishes: 

Mr. Wonderful's famous baked mac-and-cheese and my sweet meatballs

Mr. Wonderful grilled hot dogs and hamburgers while I set up a burger station inside. 

For desert I made a layered jello cake and brownie, marshmallow and strawberry skewers (pinterest fail: the brownies kept falling off the skewers..won't be making those again)

We had s'mores outside by the fire pit, and I learned that Geniece loves 

burnt marshmallows. I don't mean a little toasty. She likes them completely charred black. Yum.

My best friend, Heather, and her little guy Styler took part in the festivities. They even came over the day before to help prep. Isn't Styler just the cutest thing? I just love him!

While the girls were outside enjoying s'mores, the boys were inside doing what they do best...drinking. Whenever the boys get together they take shots of henny. It's kind of like a tradition.

The afternoon was full of good friends, good food and good fun.

 We love to play games, so we brought out Mad Gab and Battle of the Sexes after everyone had eaten.

Mr. Wonderful's family gets so wrapped up in the passion of the game that they practically yell at each other. They are always loud, but it hits an extreme when they are playing a game together. This is just one of the ways that me and Mr. Wonderful are completely different. But I guess they say opposites attract.

Did you notice Styler in the corner with his ear covered?

 That's because Mr. Wonderful's family is so LOUD. 

We had a great time on Labor Day. What did you do?