Update on 28 things (or 23 things)

For my birthday I decided I wanted to do 28 things in celebration of my age. I didn't really have a plan, but I knew several things I wanted to do and I figured it would be easy to come up with the rest. I decided to begin on Friday night and end on Monday. This was Sunday morning when I knew I missed my target. Here is my photo montage of my adventure.

1. Dinner and a movie Friday night with my dear friend
Jackie.

2. Presents


3. Trip to the National Zoo. The STL Zoo is way better. If you are in the DC area skip the zoo. Notice the shoes. They were a present.



4. 7-11 It was sticking hot on Saturday. We did what anyone one else would do, got drinks and snacks.


5. Hello Cupcake. This place was out of business. I don't know why their Web site is still up and running.


6. Lunch at Qdoba. I know, I know most people don't like Qdoba, but when you have a FREE entree because it's your b-day you go. The best part was, David's nachos were free with my points!


7. Law Enforcement Memorial and no I'm not pregnant, it was a bad pose.


8. Newseum (I highly recommend it)
Portion of the Berlin Wall

Antenna from World Trade Center

View of the Capitol

Missouri daily newspaper


9. Potbelly smoothie


10. Albert Einstein statue


11. FDR Memorial




12. Wine


13. Dinner



14. Pomegranate Martini


15. Redbox movie

16. Bead show with Megan

17. Bead purchases


18. Cakelove


19. Dinner with friends to celebrate my birthday and Tori's




20. Finding last minute Parachute/Script tickets

21. Parachute/Script Concert The fans ranged from 15 year old girls to cougars.









22. Picture with lead singer of Parachute and Katie.


23. Picture with the lead singer of the Script and Katie.

Time Travelers Wife

I love, love, love this book! If you haven't read it you need to. My friend Jackie introduced me to the book three years ago and it's been on my must read list ever since. I highly recommend you catch the movie. It's the next Notebook. Go Rachel!

I can't wait to see the movie!

Swimming

Over the weekend, my friend Tori came over and helped me work on my swimming strokes. She taught swim lessons growing up and played water polo in hs. I have been desperate for someone to teach me how to swim all summer. The lanes in my pool and the residents who swim them really intimidate me. Before I braved the lanes I wanted to work on my skills.

I learned that my skills aren't terrible and my technique is fairly good. My biggest problem is breathing. I found that I raise my head out of the water instead of turning to one side. I'm still working on perfecting this. I'm practicing using the alligator method. In addition to the freestyle, I learned the breaststroke. I don't find it relaxing at all.

Finally today I ventured down to the pool after work to "swim" laps. Of course there was already two people swimming in the lanes and one person swimming to the side of the lanes. That's the spot I wanted. After a few minutes I put on my brave suit and jumped in the pool. Our pool is 25m long. After one lap I was exhausted. I made myself swim 5 more laps before exciting the pool. It was the hardest workout I've had in a long time. My plan is to swim at least three times a week and increase my distance to 12 laps before the pool closes in mid September.

I've decided I can't live without a pool!

Great Weekend

I had a fabulous weekend and most of it involved the beautiful weather we experienced. Friday night despite threats of rain, we ventured out to an outdoor movie, Back to the Future. The music, games, and movies took me back in time. We meet up with Megan and Jeremy and shared cookies, drinks, and converstation. Megan and I both brought our knitting projects. She's a talented knitter working on a sweater and myself a scarf. I know it's not much, but its been years since I've picked up my knitting needles, but Megan is showing me how to make booties.

Saturday I headed to the pool with no rain in site. Our incredible weather inspired us to grill out for dinner. In the 3 years, we've lived here, we never used the outdoor grills. It's too much work for 2 people. We called up our friends Matt and Sue and convinced them to join us. We got a late start and finished eating in the dark. While the kaboobs were still cooking Sue and I ran over to Teaters and picked up stuff to make smores. Yummy. Here's my pictures as I was testing out the manual settings of our camera.

Summer Hobbies

Over the weekend, David and I rearranged our great room. In doing so, I came across my knitting basket. It's been years since I've picked up my needles, but when I did everything came back. I found a scarf I started and decided to finish it and give it to my niece. I don't know if she'll ever my able to wear it, but it's cute. I also made her a hat. I'd really like to make mittens, but that might be beyond my knitting capabilities.
On another note, my niece Makenzie comes home tomorrow and she's finally wearing clothes. YAY!