Pool Party

My mom's friend C always hires a lifeguard when she has pool parties at her house. She has a dark bottom pool with little corners where you can lose sight of a kid really easily. She was also at a party once where a little brother and sister nearly drowned in the jacuzzi because the littler one got stuck in the middle and panicked, pushing the sibling down under the water in an attempt to make it to the surface. C was the only one watching, though there were multiple adults standing less than 5 feet away, completely oblivious. I've always understood why she hires a lifeguard...but after this weekend, it's even more clear to me. (note, this did NOT happen at C's house...there was no lifeguard)

My littlest brother (Munchkin) had his last ball game of the season, I was so excited to make it home for this game. They won 11-8, it was a pretty great game. They had the team party afterwards at a teammate's house. It was a pool party. The kids were all splashing around in the pool having a great old time. I was hanging around the edge, snapping tons of pictures. The kids were having a great time letting me take pictures as they were midair jumping off the diving board.

The host's family has a LOT of kids. (like, 7) One of the youngest boys, let's call him Ben, is a recent swimmer and probably shouldn't have been in the big pool with this many kids around. My brothers and a couple of the other kids had been helping Ben out in the big pool. A lot of the kids had gone into the jacuzzi and Munchkin was helping Ben after he'd gone down the slide. It took me a minute to catch on, but as I watched Ben was pushing my brother down trying to keep above the surface. Munchkin was coming up for air every little bit, but I did not like what I was seeing, he was staying under water far too long, and Ben seemed to be panicking. I set down the camera I was holding and started slipping off my shoes, calling for my older little brother (The Adventurer) at the same time. I got his attention about a second before I was going to jump into the pool. He dove over from the jacuzzi and pulled the Ben off of our little brother and got him to the side of the pool where I was. The Adventurer is SO tall he got there almost instantly...maybe half a second. He's also a ridiculously strong swimmer. It's great. He saved me from going in the pool fully clothed (not that I would have minded...my brother is the most important, obviously). Incidentally, I later realized that I would have been buying a new phone, because though I'd dropped the camera, I forgot my phone was still in my pocket until later. But cell phones are replaceable. Little brothers are not.

Anyways, all's well that ends well, but my adrenaline was definitely pumping. Munchkin was fine, I'm not even sure he realized he was in trouble. He's convinced that he and the Adventurer both saved Ben. Which, I suppose is true. So please, with all the summer water fun that's going on right now, PLEASE keep a close eye on your children, even if they know how to swim. Munchkin knows how to swim, he's a pretty good swimmer, but he still needed help. So please please please keep an extra close eye on any kids in the water.

Hair Salons

Well, I've finally done it. I decided to be brave and trusting. I called the cute little salon around the corner from my apartment, and made an appointment to get my hair cut. For most people I would imagine this doesn't require bravery, but for me it does. See, I'm very particular about my hair, even more so about who I let near it with scissors. My hair hasn't been cut in...well, a while. It's gotten nice and long and actually grew out quite nicely. But I've been noticing the ends and they're just starting to split a bit more than I like and they seem slightly dry, no matter how long I leave in the conditioner. My layers could also do with some help. Only problem with all this is that the girl who usually does my hair is three hours away, and I just never seem to have time to get to her anymore when I'm up at my parent's.
I was looking at this little salon to get a much needed pedicure, which I still plan on doing. But I decided that my hair would be so much happier with me if I would get it a nice cute and get my layers brought up. I figure 3 inches ought to do well to get off most of the splits while still leaving plenty of length. It IS in the middle of my back, and it grows fast. So wish me luck, because this will be my first time going to someone new in a while and trusting them with my hair. Maybe I should get one of those soothing water drip fountains like my cousin had in her living room. (that's what the picture is of...I seriously want one, they are SO cool!)

Ripple Effect

Green smoothies and raw living. These seem to be the "buzz" words in the blogosphere lately. It seems I can't go a day without coming across some trace of these things. A friend of mine attempted the Green Smoothie Challenge. It sounded pretty cool, but I hadn't really gotten into it. Too busy I guess. (which I realize is a lame excuse) The whole raw food thing is very interesting, but I don't know how well I could commit to something like that, though I think I may use bits and pieces of it. But I've been thinking more and more about the green smoothie thing, and it culminated in the results post of the challenge. I think it could be good, and I love smoothies. So, while I won't be participating in the actual challenge, I can have my own personal challenge. There are some recipes provided on the original challenge post, and of course, Google runs the world. So I think I'll give it a shot. I have been trying to live a healthier life. I've started playing tennis (which, incidentally, helped bring me and the bf closer together and probably had a role in our getting together when we did) I'm still struggling to get back those beautiful abs I had back when I didn't care enough to realize the crunches game I played was actually quite beneficial. I half-heartedly did the South Beach thing again when I moved into my new apartment, but with 3 weekends in a row home, I wasn't too strict. Granted, the good results of that are I really have cut back on the bad carbs. Haha, reading all this I realize I sound like a nut, but I'm really not. Sure, I've put on 10-15 lbs I could stand to lose, but I'm not unhappy with my weight, just higher than I'm used to. See, as always, I did things differently than the rest of the crowd-I got the freshman 15 AFTER I graduated. But with tennis a few times a week, and more long walks with B, I'm at least getting the whole regular exercise thing under control. Add in daily ab work along with my old trusty physical therapy leg exercises, daily stretching and some basic 5 lb hand weight arm exercises, I should be pretty good to go...so long as I keep on it. That's where I always lose it, in the long term part. But hopefully I'll be able to stick with it. Maybe shed those extra pounds I've managed to pick up, but mostly just be healthier. And honestly, I'm one of those people where as long as my abs are okay (which at the moment, they're only so-so), I really don't care what the scale says. I just figure I should get my health habits under control now...it'll be a lot less work to establish them now than if I wait until later. Right?
So this loooong roundabout to say, I think I'm going to institute this green smoothie thing into my daily diet. One a day (at least) Already have some recipes to try, maybe I'll get a few more from B, because she's been doing the green smoothie thing for a few weeks.

And as always, my picture with the post. I struggled choosing between a few photos, I tried to come up with something that made sense with the green smoothie topic. Unfortunately, my pictures of the produce from one of the Farmer's Market Sundays are no longer on my work computer, and I'm posting this now. So instead I settled for a beach picture from my cousin's visit. Not exactly edible, but natural all the same. I was fascinated by the rippling effects in the water as the tide fluctuated that afternoon, it was really neat to photograph. I am SO looking forward to summer. It's going to be a blast, I can't wait. :)

Picture specs:
~taken March 30, 2008
~setting: landscape, flash did not fire