wearing hearts photos

My friend Charity,
at A Lovely Little World,
is starting a fun photography project called 30 Days of Lovely, tomorrow. She has photography prompts to follow daily. The first prompt is hearts.

So I dressed in some of my heart stuff. Then I asked my guy to take some of these photos.
 I'm wearing a thrifted skirt & shoes.

I'm showing my colored heart headband.

Fun fact about this skirt is, I'm wearing it inside out. I cut the tag off, so you can't tell. I like the colored pattern better than the plain black. I already own two plain black skirts.

I'm wearing the heart peace necklace my mom made me. You've seen it before, but I like it. Can you see the heart & guitar charms from my bracelet too? All of the charms were carefully selected & purchased by my mother, as a present for me.

See the blue bleeding heart on my blouse? My mom & I bought this blouse, when I visited her, a couple years ago.

This is the bracelet my cousin made me with the heart beads.

I just now realized the charm is upside down, so you can't see the peace love & music charm. Just imagine it, cause I don't feel like taking the photo again.

She gave me the bracelet the first time I had a birthday, when she didn't see me, because we moved away. My half of the heart charm says daughter, hers says mother. The dolphin charm represents my cousin, who died, and loved dolphins.

The purse charm resembles my love for fashion. The teddy bear charm symbolizes me. My mom has always given me teddy bear things because of my name.

These heart earrings were bought with my mom, the first time she visited me, here in Texas.

Here's more self portraits.

I like to see other peoples' photos of themselves, so I figure whoever reads this thing, may feel the same way.

Is this the last one?

I guess not.

 I didn't show all the charms from my bracelet. Maybe I'll save that for another day.
 Then Again Maybe I Won't.

Who remembers that young adult novel written by Judy Blume? Did you read Judy Blume books as a kid? If so, which one was your favorite?

Dolphin Encounter

In Corpus Christi we went on a dolphin encounter. No, it wasn't swimming with the dolphins.
Which I still plan to do some day, like my cousin Cass.
 This was all in honor of her.

My guy is kissing Shadow in photo.

 Shadow was the oldest dolphin. I think he was age 16. Shadow had the most calm temperment, and was the first dolphin the trainers get to know and learn. He was darkest in color, and he weighed about 450 lbs.

I'm explaining the hand cue for talking,
to the lady, at the dolphin show.

We learned so much about the dolphins: hand cues, training signals, and adolescent male dolphins.
 Each of the three dolphins had their own personality, like kids. They love praise and cheering.

DJ was Shadow's half brother, and the youngest dolphin at age 12. He was the watcher and imitator. His spots were scars similar to acne. DJ was the second dolphin the trainers got to know.

Each dolphin had certain tricks they excelled at. 

They get treats as rewards after the whistle blows, and they perform each trick. The rewards they get are: fish, ice, touch, praise, or playing with their toys.

Kai was age 13, and the lightest dolphin in color. I called him the flirt, cause he was the most free spirited.

Did you know that it's illegal to swim with wild dolphins? Dolphins in captivity have to be bred or found sick. They tend to live longer than wild dolphins because they receive medical treatment.

When dolphins are asleep half of their brains are still awake and functioning, or they'd drown. They can also move their eyes independently of each other. One eye can be looking at you and one eye can be looking at something below.

I talked to the trainer about how she got the job. She said you need a bachelor's in science of some kind, more experience with domestic or other animals, and luck. She had been working with dolphins for 6 years.
There were about 7 total trainers at the aquarium.

They only do the dolphin encounter once a day because this is like work for the dolphins and they get tired. They make sure they get enough rest and play.

There were two groups of 4 people each. They can have up to 5 people. So one group goes with one trainer and dolphin. The other group goes with another trainer and dolphin. The third trainer plays with the dolphin, and the dolphins can rotate, and get breaks.

That's DJ on the left with spots,
and Kai on the right.The encounter lasts an hour.
We got to feed them ice, (DJ's favorite), have them throw a ball, spiral in circles, kiss the dolphin, rub their bellies, and fins, get splashed, and strut their stuff.

I'm so glad we went, and did it.