Skydive Arizona!!!

In an effort to face my fears (aka TURNING 30! in a few months), I decided to jump out of an airplane. (Or was this simply an effort to make me feel grateful to MAKE it to 30?!?!?!?) I wasn't too nervous until everyone else jumped out ahead of me, leaving me the last to jump out of the plane and at the highest altitude (13,000 feet). In fact, watching others jump out of the airplane ahead of me was more nerve racking than looking at the ground below. I don't remember having my eyes closed, but it doesn't look like they're open in the picture below...

I love this one: check out the airplane directly above me! (And I clearly wasn't comfortable with the drop yet. The sink in my stomach went away after half a second, though, leaving me free to enjoy the experience. Plus, I was glad that i had someone flying around me taking pictures--it distracted me while I was doing the free fall and gave me something to focus on.)

Getting a little more comfortable with the free fall...

...and now loving it! :) ...

Check out my cheeks: the wind totally deforms your face. I've got chubby cheeks! :)

Jared was my tandem jump buddy. He had dreads like nobody's business. He was also much bigger and stronger than I was, leaving me feeling a lot safer than I would have been with someone scrawny attached to my back...

Jared's awesome deformed face:

Yup. I hugged him after all was said and done. (Oh--and check out my hair. It looks pretty good considering what I'd just done. Also, for others considering sky diving, note that I opted for the suit. You can do it without, but I'll just warn you that you're wardrobe choice is highly important. I checked out videos of others that are posted online by the company and discovered that women wearing a V-neck shirt may show more than they're comfortable with (check out the picture above if you wonder how that could happen). Also, cut off daisy dukes don't look good, either (Not that I'd be in daisy dukes!). Anyway, I wore something I'd be okay in whether or not I opted for the jump suit (which was free and ended up being a good choice).

What's that you say? You haven't seen enough? Well, check out the video! (oh--and sorry about the lame part up front. Skip the first two minutes or so since it's lame advertising...)