The Outer Banks Part II

Hello again from the Outer Banks!

Tonight, I am taking leave of this beach and heading back to the wonderful land of Pennsylvania (but only for a day before I leave again!) This has been a good trip. Despite my musings that I could definitely see myself on a better beach, I can never deny a good vacation. Anything that relaxes me, let’s me read a good book and get some sun and swim in my favorite natural resource is a good vacation in my book. I will honestly be sad to leave it. Maybe it’ll be a good place to come back and write some day, for a few weeks at least. Beaches tend to have that effect on me. I feel as if even if I was working here I would have a certain carefree feeling I couldn’t get anywhere else.

Thursday was one of those more relaxing days, filled mostly with beaching. We also went to eat at a restaurant called Rt. 12 Steakhouse here in Corolla. As you can guess it was mostly meat, and as a non-meat eater, I couldn’t really tell you the results. My family really seemed to enjoy the selection there, though. The restaurant was recommended to us by others as well, so I’d say it was a pretty safe bet.

Friday, my dad signed our family up for a nature photography course at the science center on Currituck Beach. Now I am not much of a photographer, but I can vouch that it was a very interesting and informative class nonetheless. Basically our park ranger told us all of the basics of photography – use of lines, colors, positioning – and then showed us how to apply them to nature. I’ll show you a few of my shots. Like I said,I’m not much of a photographer, much less nature photography, but they’ll demonstrate what I did learn from the man.

An example of lines in a picture, and foreground and background.

There are bees on there, if you can't tell.

Again, excuse my photography skills.

He talked a lot about the use of vertical vs. horizontal. This is, obviously, a vertical example.

It was immensely hot outside, but we managed a good hour of taking pictures all around the wooded area next to the science center. I think my better nature photo came later in the day when we were feeding pancakes to the very hungry and very person-friendly turtles I mentioned in the last blog post:

So that’s the end to my vacation. Well, there is today. But, for the sake of keeping my blog posts shorter, you'll just have to tune in later tonight to see what it is that I did today. So just one more day. One more day that I’ll be doing something quite spectacular, something that has been on my bucket list for a while. 

Have you guys gone on vacation yet?

Have a good one,

Sarah.

The Best Weird Hobby You Should Try

There are definitely strange hobbies out there. I mean, people do things like host national mooing contests and or unicycle for fun. Not that unicycling is weird, I’ve known many a unicycler. Personally, I obsessively collect pennies. I will throw away all other change and just keep the pennies. I harass friends to give me their pennies. I have so many I’ve had to start multiple jars for them. So that’s my weird hobby.

Sure, I’ve heard of a lot of weird hobbies before. Some time ago in my internet surfing, though, I stumbled across perhaps my favorite weird hobby ever, and one that I definitely want to try some day: extreme ironing. Yes, you heard me right. Extreme ironing.

So what is extreme ironing? Well, it’s pretty self explanatory. People take their ironing boards and a shirt and go iron in extreme conditions. I’ll show you some pictures, but perhaps my favorite one I’ve ever found of extreme ironing was a guy who was hanging suspended in the air by a rope at least a couple thousand feet off of a cliff, sitting there with his ironing board, ironing away. If that’s not amazing, I don’t know what is.

But enough talk. I’ll let you see a few pictures for yourself.

Skydiving ironing.

Scuba diving ironing.

Antarctic ironing.

Back of a taxi ironing.

In the middle of the highway ironing.

You get the gist. Luckily, extreme ironing can be as simple as riding an intertube while ironing or placing your ironing board on the back of a cow, so it shouldn’t be that difficult for me to try this year. I think whenever it gets warm out again, I’m going to grab my kayak, head to our river, and try some extreme ironing. Hold me to that.

Until I can do that, I hope you find some way to do it. Maybe on a ski slope. Or for those of you in warmer areas, the possibilities are endless.

Have fun,

Sarah.

Four Ways to Keep Your New Habits

This season is a season that many find an inspiring one; it also one that has frustrated and irritated many. Around this time every year, people make their new year’s resolutions and vow that this year will be different. This year, they will lose that weight. This year, they will find true love. This year, they will learn to juggle and travel the world. Whatever it may be, we’ve all got new things we want to incorporate into our life. There always seems to be one problem though: making those new things stick.

You know what I mean. Being a healthier person is definitely one of the biggest ones that people tend to want to do. Problem is, most people never do it. I wish I could find some sort of percentage of people who actually complete the goals that they set for themselves and fully form their new habits. Guarantee it would be ridiculously low; lower than it ought to be. I’m not particularly different than anyone else when it comes to this, but I have managed to form for myself some really awesome habits and also teach myself how to do some really awesome things. This is what I’ve found from my experience forming new habits:

4. Be held accountable. This one is pretty basic, but a lot of people, especially shy people like me, tend to overlook it. It’s sort of ridiculous how easy it is to remember to keep doing something when you’ve got friends and family to remind you to do it and be proud of you when you do accomplish a goal. Nothing in life that you go through should ever be done alone, so telling someone about a habit you are trying to form is almost vitally important. They can help to motivate you when you’re down or remind you when you’ve forgotten. It may be frustrating sometimes, especially when electing someone to help you break a bad habit (like biting your fingernails), but in the end, it is more than worth it.

3. Take it slow. This may be on every single habit forming list in the universe, but it is also one that holds the truest. When people start a new project, from making new friends to learning to sew, there is always that rush of energy that motivates you for the first few days or weeks. Almost always after, folks tend to go into a slump. Why? Well, the main reason is that everyone nowadays wants instant gratification. Sometimes that can happen, like finally getting a new haircut you wanted, but more often than not, habits and new projects take time. You are not going to lose ten pounds over night, and that is something you must accept. You are not going to be able to run a marathon overnight, let alone in a month of training if you start from square one. If you keep at it, though, the final product is more than rewarding. So give it some time and take baby steps.

2. Do it your way. This is something I’d wish some self improvement blog had told me years ago, but something I had to figure out for myself. There is no plan out there for anything, from learning a new instrument to diets or being happy, whatever can come to your mind, that is 100% effective. In fact, most of the times, most people need to personalize more than they think they do. We are all individual, and upon realizing this we must also realize that the South Beach Diet may not work for everyone, and following a list on how to organize your life may just not be privy to your situation. So figure out what works for you and roll with it. You can even take from many different resources or get creative and come up with your own plan. All that really matters though is that you…

1. Just do it. People can give you all the advice in the world, but if you don’t take the initiative to just get out there and change things, then all that advice is going to be useless rabble in your head. You can pump yourself up all you want, but if you chicken out before the main event it is never going to get you anywhere. It’s not as scary as it seems to just do things. Take it from someone who has fears of everything, and has to conquer many of them on a daily basis. Despite whatever scares you, whatever you tell yourself, don’t delay. Just do it. Don’t wait for a holiday or next week or next month to start. There is no better time than now.

So that’s my little schpiel. I hope it is enjoyed and put to good use; I know I certainly intend on putting it to use. So until next time, keep living it up.

Sarah.