Kayaking

For the first time ever, Scott and I went kayaking today.  Being a water lover, it's something that I've been wanting to try for a very long time now.  When a Groupon deal came up recently for a local place, Scott grabbed it for us.  The deal was for half a day (4 hours) at half price: not a bad deal at all.

We went this morning.  Little did we know that it was going to be soooo windy today.  There were about 20mph winds that we had to struggle against just to get out of the canal (1.25 miles).  By that point, our arms were extremely weary to say the least but we had a goal to make it to a beach on nearby key.  I was bound and determined to make it.  I had to: my arms needed the rest.

Once we got out of the canal and hit open water, that's when the waves started.  I loved the waves!  I thought it was a blast riding over and through them.  Yes, the wind was still making it difficult but at least we weren't travelling directly into it anymore.  When we were, I felt like I wasn't making any headway; I kept paddling but it didn't feel like I was going anywhere.  We finally reached the shore!!

Scott got there first and towed me in when I got close.  =)  We had some ice cream and vegged on the beach for a few minutes until we realized that we needed to head back if we were going to make it in time.  Struggling against the wind, it took us about two hours to get to the key that should have taken about half that.



Heading back, we paddled a different route and saw a bunch of fabulous houses and some really amazing mangroves.

Overall, it's something that I will totally do again: on a day that's not so windy and when we have time to just tool around and explore.  Fighting the wind made it a physical challenge and also gave us very little time to check things out.  But I loved being outside, in the water, hanging out with Scott, and doing something different.  Can't wait to go again!

Just For Crafty Fun

Okay, so it's been a very, very long time since I've been to IKEA. Well, since I needed some furniture in my barren first apartment out of the dorms anyway. I remember it not necessarily being the highest quality, but I loved the simplicity of everything and, more importantly, the prices. Needless to say, when I found out that one would be coming to my area next year, I was ecstatic! Being a new home owner, we've got some empty to space to fill and, well, are a bit strapped for cash at the moment. Perfect.

Today, I stumbled upon a fantastic blog called IKEA Hacker. It's exactly what it sounds like: ways to hack goods from IKEA. There are ideas for transforming items so that someone can't point at it and say, "you got that at IKEA." But there are also tons of brilliant alternative use ideas here, too. Check it out and have fun! Awesome.