I purchased a new sketchbook last month with the intent of keeping my mind creative, especially while I’m finishing up school. I guess this book will also function as a photo album/journal and will continue to collect things as I find them and mash them into the pages.
I got the idea for this type of journal from my cousin, Liz, who’s the one that got drawn all over in these two images. She’s an artsy person and her sketchbooks, at least the two that I’ve seen in the past, are awesome to look at. I guess you can say she’s the one who inspired me to start this craziness.
But anyway, here are two photographs/drawings from my new journal that I took in August while I was loving life in Florida.

While I’m enjoying my weekend and trying to find the motivation to finish up my Australia blog, I’ll leave you with a nice photo I took at the beach this August between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, Florida. One of the many reasons I would actually like to pack up and move down there.

Skydiving is something that I really think everyone should at least try once before they die. I was lucky enough to go for my 21st birthday a few weeks after the fact with my family from all over the country.
Basically it’s awesome. We took a very small plane up – only one person from our group could do a tandem dive at a time, but we were able to fit my jump instructor, a videographer, the pilot, and myself in. Though, it was a very, very tight fit. But yeah, on our way up I got to see Rochester City, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Batavia, Toronto, and bits of surrounding Canada all from where our plane was.
When time came to open the door and jump out, I found myself looking outside of the airplane thinking to myself “That’s a very long way down… LET’S GO!” I wasn’t nervous at all even though I totally thought I was going to be… but really, if you get nervous, it’s totally worth the rush of free falling a mile before opening the parachute and floating the rest of the way down.
Really, I believe I will do it again. I’m trying to figure out ways to do it after I graduate university in December and possibly even taking a course so I can go solo in the future. Regardless, it was one of the most amazing things I’ve done in my life… and I’ve done a lot of stuff.

I finally got the film developed from the roll I took with a disposable waterproof camera in Key Largo. My cousin, Sara, works down there in a kayak shop right on the beach and quite frankly, it’s amazing.
I was lucky enough to go on a four hour kayaking trip across the water and through the mangroves with her and one of the regular kayaking guys. Honestly, it was incredible and these photos don’t do the whole ride any justice at all. The water was crystal clear, there were thousands of little fishes under our boats the whole time, and we got to get out and go for a swim mid-way through the trip.

If I already didn’t want to move down there and try to find a job already, this makes me want to move down there even more. Don’t know where I would end up in Florida, but the beaches and weather there make me an extremely happy person.
And apologies for the awful quality of the digital images – the film ones aren’t that great either. Thanks Walmart for royally effing up my photos. I guess I should look into a waterproof point-and-shoot, eh?

I got a new bike for my birthday last week, and I must say, it’s a pretty awesome bike. It’s called a Caramel (or something of the sort), changes through it’s gears like nobody’s business, and is basically the most awesome bike I’ve ever had. Of course, it’s one of those cruisers so it’s super comfortable to ride around on.
A few days ago I decided to go on a ride for as long as I could. Granted, I forgot food and water back at my house, so it didn’t go on for nearly as long as I wanted it to… but the photos that are posted are little excerpts of what I got to see along the way. I live right down the road from the Erie Canal so it’s quite a convenient place to go to when you want to spend a nice afternoon outside.

Of course, since that day I’ve wanted to go on another, longer ride with food and drink and possibly a book or something but I’ve either been too busy with stuff I absolutely HAVE to do around the house or it’s been raining. Welcome to north-western New York people. Seriously, the rain and the clouds have been annoying the hell out of me. Not to mention the mid-50s to upper-60s temperatures IN JUNE. Guh! Hopefully it all ends soon as I would like to go outside and bask in the sunshine doing whatever.