100 feet under the sea

This past weekend I went scuba diving! It's been a while (July '08) and despite being completely terrified beforehand; I HAD A WICKED TIME!

I went up to a little place called Mike's Beach Resort which is a little resort (And it's not fancy at all which is how I can afford it!) on the Hood Canal that caters to scuba divers. It's located just North of Lilliwaup on the olympic peninsula in Washington.

There I got my Advanced Diver Certification from PADI and completed five dives which included:

• Search and Recovery
• Underwater Naturalist
• Night Diving
• Underwater Navigation
• Deep diving
• Plus, I am now certified to dive with enriched air that contains a higher percentage of oxygen (32% to 36% compared with normal air that has about 21%)
  

The dive that made my heart beat fast and my palms sweat just thinking about it was the deep dive. It was our first dive on Sunday and I was worried that I would be so nervous I'd puke into my regulator. However, I sucked it up, was internally grateful that I had my very own scuba instructor to take me down slowly so I could have lots of times to equalize the pressure in my Eustachian tubes, and together we went 100 feet below the surface of the Hood Canal! If you're familiar with diving you may have heard of nitrogen narcosis which is the mind altering effect of nitrogen that occurs during deep dives. It's not the same for everyone, some are paranoid, some become euphoric, some become angry and so on. Me, I'm the paranoid one!

All in all I noticed a considerable improvement in my skills by the end of the weekend and if it wasn't for the chilling 44F water; I probably would've stayed!

Who doesn't love cake?

So, if you know me, you know that I love baking and cooking. One day I dream of having a big funky kitchen with a large aqua KitchenAid mixer, brightly colored walls, highly organized cabinets with everything in it's most efficient and effective place, big windows looking onto my garden and a vintage table with sparkly formica, chromed edges and squishy, diner-style vinyl chairs (yes, the kind with sparkles in them too). But enough about that! Let's talk about what I've been doing in the kitchen lately. I recently enrolled in a cake decorating class taught by a lovely lady in Albany with decades of experience. I am having SO much fun decorating these cakes and am thrilled to have a creative outlet that also lets me have fun in the kitchen! The next class is wedding cakes which I plan on taking as well because I hope to be lucky enough to have clients that will want me to make them birthday cakes and wedding cakes too! Check 'em out dudes! And as the classes continue be sure to check for updates!