Nana Joy's 80th!

Ryan and I accomplished a very special item on our 101 List. Two weekends ago, we hosted seventeen family members from out of state to celebrate Nana Joy's 80th birthday party. Everyone from Nana Joy's immediate family, including her brother and sister in law, her kids (my Aunt Susie and mom), and their kids and husbands (the cousins) all came in for a quick, but fun weekend of family. We played games, had a ping pong tournament, watched home videos and a slide show prepared by Uncle Tom, chatted, ate, went to the beach, and of course, partied. It was super fun to have everyone in town. It would have been sad if all 17 people left all at once, but they left in small groups from that two Sundays ago until Easter Sunday. I wish I lived closer to my immediate family (besides Ryan's side) and Nana Joy and Grandpa John in Delray Beach, so maybe one day!!! Hope everyone is happy and healthy. xoxoxo

Nana Joy's 80th is Approaching

Next week, Ryan and I will be spending all week getting ready for and having fun with our 15 out of town guests who are coming to celebrate Nana Joy's 80th birthday party. Everyone from Nana Joy's immediate family will be in attendance to celebrate her big day. It should be fun! Ryan found a fridge on Craigslist for only 25 bucks (although it's a bit rusty), so we bought that to go in the garage to store the tons of drinks we need to buy. The weekend will be great.... I'm excited. I will post in a couple of weeks to let you know how it went and to show you some pics!

Talk soon,

Terrie

Savannah

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile! I need to get better about posting regularly! SO, it's been awhile and I hope everyone who reads this is happy and healthy. We are here!

Some of the things Ryan and I have been working towards on our 101 List include decorating the pool area / patio, preparing for Nana Joy's 80th (2 weeks away), and working out to get closer to our health goals. We need to start picking up the pace on our list!

One thing we did last week that was lovely was take a quick sojourn to Savannah, GA. I have always wanted to go to this town that is only a three hour drive away. We were there for just one night and two days and that was the perfect amount of time to be there. It's a town that is made up of twenty-something squares. We happened to go when the weather was sublime, so we explored all the squares by foot, including the one featured in Forrest Gump where he is sitting on the bench. Besides exploring, we also took a fabulous trolley tour where we learned interesting tid bits such as...

1. The founder of Girl Scouts is from Savannah

2. The bar from the movie Something to Talk About where Julia Roberts finds Dennis Quaid cheating on her is a popular Irish Pub in town

3. The town is supposedly haunted

4. Paula Dean got her start here

The main thing we did while we were there was EAT! We had great Southern style food such as Macaroni and Cheese, peach cobbler, fried green tomatoes, and oh so much more! It was so delicious!

So, we not only completed one of our 101 items, but we had a splendid time while venturing around Savannah! Bye ya'll! :)

November and December

Hello! It has been awhile since I've last posted. The last few months have flown by too quickly, but I've enjoyed every minute. The holidays are my favorite time of year! Ryan and I accomplished a rather large 101 task - we hosted Thanksgiving at our home this year! My parents, sisters, brother in law, grandparents (Nana Joy and Grandpa John), and Ryan's family joined us for a wonderful Thanksgiving. My mom brought her classic recipes and we all pitched in to create a rather large feast. We played ping pong, charades, Taboo, and ate desserts all the while until the late hours of the night. Thank you family for coming to Florida for the holidays! :)

Now, Ryan and I are in Texas for Christmas and New Year's. We had a relaxing and big Christmas this year. Kristen may be the youngest in the family at the age of 23, but Santa still makes his way down our chimney. :) One of the gifts I gave to Susie, Kristen, and Mom were part of my 101 list - they were "green" gifts. I got them reusable shopping bags that completely benefit hungry children. The purchase of each bag is supposed to feed a hungry child for a year. They all seemed to like them. 

I hope you are all doing well and staying happy and healthy over the holidays. I will update you more later. Love, Terrie

Ethnic Food #37

Ryan has been doing an excellent job in the kitchen. He has been grilling weekly and has also experimented with Indian food, one of my favorites. He has been refining a dish called Chicken Korma, which is chicken, rice, and this yogurt-like yellow, spicy sauce. I love eating Indian food, but sadly, there are not many good Indian restaurants here in the area that I was accustomed to having in the Bay Area. In the Bay Area, though, I did not have a personal chef to cook for me in the comfort of my own home. Good job Ryan! Last night, we had Bruce and Dorrie, Ryan's parents, over for dinner. We worked as a team and made a pot roast, sweet potatoes, a salad, deviled eggs, pesto toasts, and cookies for dessert. I have no idea how we managed all the food considering that neither Ryan nor I knew how to even boil the eggs for the deviled eggs.... we are learning.... slowly!

#72 - Swim with the dolphins!

Today we experienced one of the more special items on our 101 list! We "swam" with dolphins at the Marineland Dolphin Conservation Center in St. Augestine. Ryan got me this as one of my 25th birthday gifts. What a great time we had. We spent 30 quick minutes with several dolphins, their babies, and a trainer. We would do what the trainer instructed us to do and then the dolphins would do tricks. For example, we started dancing and then the dolphins would mimic us. We would raise our right hand in the air and they would jump. With every trick, we'd feed them fish. The main dolphins we interacted with were Dazzle and Roxy. They are both females who have babies so that was neat to be so close to the 4 month babies but we were not allowed to touch them. We learned so much and had so much fun. The time flew bye too quickly, but what an experience! I have never been a huge animal person, but dolphins are truly intelligent creatures and so loving. They loved when we massaged them or pet their bellies and it was too weird when you would lock eye contact with the dolphins. The great place about where we went is that it is a non-profit unlike SeaWorld and Discovery Cove and they rescue a lot of the dolphins. A dolphin's like expectancy in the wild is about 25 years, but at Marineland they live to almost 40. Right now they have the oldest dolphin who is 54 ever known in the world. In Seaworld, the dolphins only live until about 10 and a hidden fact is that many of them commit suicide (close their blow holes) because they are so miserable in such small spaces and are overworked too much. yay for dolphins.

#34 - Read the Twilight Series

Last night I went to bed as the sun was rising. No, I was not partying or working hard; instead, I was reading the end of Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final novel of the Twilight series. Over the last week, I've been totally engaged in this teenage vampire romance/ action saga. I know - it seems hoaky - but the books were really good! Last year, my female students would not put these books down and now I know why. I never thought I'd like books about vampires and werewolves or imagined I would daydream about the mythical characters while standing in line at the grocery store or driving my car. How funny... I am excited because the movie comes out the week before Thanksgiving and you can guarantee that I will be at the theatre, candy in hand, with all the thirteen year olds waiting for the vampire hearthrob Edward Cullen to appear on screen. :)