One of the benefits of both me and my hub working from home is that we can take off to do fun things with Max mid-week. He gets out of school early on Thursdays, so I try to plan a fun activity. This week we went to Seaworld.

They’ve got a special where you pay for a day and stay all year. And I am all about getting cheap season passes here, so bonus!

One thing I’m adamant about, having lived in now Orlando and San Diego theme park-ridden towns is this: never, ever, ever go to the theme park in the summer. Right now, February is the perfect time to go. It’s warm enough and the parks are dead. Dead. No lines. No whiny kids (besides your own). It’s a totally different experience from waiting 2 hours to ride Pirates of the Caribbean.

This Seaworld seemed to have fewer rides than the one in Orlando. Max was a little big for the Bay of Play, but he loved riding up the Skytower and seeing all of the bay and San Diego (so did I).

The animals here are amazing. I’m always reading in the paper how Seaworld rescued a local sea lion. We saw dolphins playing with their toys, sea lions and the cutest otter ever performing for applause, moray eels (they’re weird) and my favorite: rays. They’re so affectionate.

Now that we have passes, we can go back any time. I always try to limit us to 2 hours so that we have just a taste but not enough for a meltdown (though Max did crash at 4 pm when we got home).

Enjoy the pics.

In high school, I wore baggy men’s pants. Just because I thought it was cool (boy, was I wrong). In college, I stopped wearing makeup in defiance of society. I’ve been wearing printed t-shirts and looking like a teenager for half my life.

Til now.

Suddenly I care about fashion. I won’t say I’m necessarily good at it, but I’m starting to understand the language, how to put an outfit together, the importance of having more than one shade of brown boot (that’s for you, Ilina).

I went shopping today, which used to be such a chore to do alone. I bought three pairs of shoes. Sure, they were each $50, but I felt indulgent. Just a simple casual pair of brown, and of black, and patent leather heels. Mmm.

Then some jewelry. I’m getting the hang of that too.

I think since I lost some weight, I’m caring more about how I present myself. I want to feel great, so I dress the part.

And I’m learning what a better product does. I always thought all plain fitted shirts were the same, but then I discovered The Limited, which takes t-shirts to a whole new level for me.

I’m still the bargain hunter though. I flock to Macy’s shoe sales. The Limited online coupons. Thrift stores. But hey, if I can save money while looking great, why not do it?

Dell sent me an Inspiron One 2305 Multitouch All-in-One Desktop. I loved it so much, I bought one. It’s just so much fun to play with!

Part of my excitement is just in having a newer computer that’s faster and has newer, sleeker software. I’d been using my Inspiron 1300 since 2006 when I launched Egg. It was getting reaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllly slow.

My new 2305 has Windows Live, which has some cool features. One I’m using right now. It’s Windows Live Writer. I wrote about it over on The Marketing Eggspert. But since I write on what, four blogs now, it makes it super easy to manage all of them from the program. So I’m writing this post now. When I finish, I can select another of my blogs and write a draft over there without leaving the program. Genius for bloggers.

Another favorite is the Snipping Tool. If you blog and take screen shots, you know it can be a pain to Print Screen, paste into Paint, save, then modify. Now I just launch the Snipping Tool, select the area I want, and save.

When I let Max on my 2305 (and that’s not often), he loves that you can play games with touch. Like the Touch Instruments game, where you can play drums, guitar, and yes, even cow bells.

The 2305 was pretty reasonable, starting at $799. I love that it’s all in one. CD rom, speakers, USB, all in the monitor. They keyboard is wireless. I hate wires.

So if you’re looking for a new computer, why not go touch?