Bethesda ritual

After living in Bethesda for about a year and a half, my girl Jaime and I have taken the town by storm one happy hour at a time. We've visited as many spots as possible, talking up bartenders in an effort to find a few places to call home. Jaims is truly amazing at convincing bartenders that it is in their best interest to provide us with free drinks and snacks...I just can't describe this gift that she has, you have to witness it yourself. This one particular time, after only being at Visions for about 10 minutes, Jaime had arranged with the bartender for a full-on red wine tasting for us. This is her in action (taking a short break for an iPhone photo op). I love it. :)

A snapshot of Pensacola

Over the past couple of years Chris and I have developed a love for playing with this paddleball set at the beach...I think it is more popular on the Eastern shore...around the MD/NJ area. We would just paddle around on the beach, and challenge ourselves by seeing how many times we can hit it without the ball touching the ground, and then by getting farther and farther away from each other until I felt like we are playing each other from different states. THEN- we decided to come up with rules, including creating a "court" with boundaries. It's a combination of tennis and volleyball: you have to hit the ball into the other's court in one hit, the ball can't touch the ground, if the ball hits the "line," it's fair. We are ADDICTED. Flips of the wrist that land the ball 1 inch over the center line are the bain of my existence. I am no longer afraid of diving headfirst into the sand...all in the name of a tiny rubber ball. I spend HOURS of my time in Pensacola looking at this: