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. :)

#5 -Take a Bikram Yoga Class & #71- Attend OAR concert

Yesterday, October 4th, was a fun and fruitful day! It started off with an intense "Hot Yoga Class." I have been experimenting with this type of yoga for the last two weeks as a 21 Day Challenge that the studio offers so I got Ryan to join me for one long session! To my surprise, he really liked it. The premise of the class is to do 26 poses and stretches over an hour and a half time in a room that is 95 degrees. The heat is supposed to loosen your muscles and make the stretches easier! It is by far the most difficult workout I have ever done and Ryan might agree! It looked like we went swimming by the time we finished! After my 21 day challenge is over, I would like to continue with it so we will see! Ryan is even interested in trying again...

Later in the day, we went to St. Augestine where we met our friend Alex, who is living in Austin (my favorite city!), to attend the O.A.R. concert. I have seen them at the ACL fest several times and they also performed at UT while I went there. Ryan, however, had never been and always wanted to attend one of their concerts, so for his birthday, I got him tickets! The concert was the last on their tour and was the best I'd ever seen! I do know more of their music now, so it was fun to be able to sing and dance along to the familiar music. I also had a great time people watching as there were many, many crazies in the auditorium doing nutsy things. It was at the St. Augestine Amphitheatre, which I guess was just renovated recently, and it was a beautiful venue. We both can't wait to go back again!

#63 - Give Davinci a Bath Monthly!

Today we spent all day playing with Davinci, taking him on an extra long hike, swimming in the pool, and giving him a much needed bath. Ryan got Davinci before I was around and he sure is cute, BUT cocker spaniels are incredibly smelly dogs if you don't groom them weekly (we groom him monthly) so be warned if you ever think about getting one! He is cute and very sweet though - he doesn't even put up a fight when we gave him a bath!

Our Tree and First Mission Accomplished

#26 Ryan and I completed our first 101 mission; we successfully planted a tree in our front yard! Ryan's friend Pete gave us the tree for a house warming gift, so it was the perfect opportunity to complete something that was both manageable and earth friendly. Right now the tree is quite small as you can see, but it is expected to grow 20-30 feet, so we will see if that happens! Yay for checking something off the list!