the short and short of it!

Whew...apparently I have not had a chance to blog in a while and I am sorry for the suspense! I am just going to make a quick list and see if I can go back and fill in the details. I know that I am forgetting some, so...I'll be more diligent in at least listing the experiences :)

I'll have to get out my calender to remember April, but for June and on...

Went to Cozumel, I will definately have to write many fun stories about that one! Chris and I shared so many fun moments and great experiences.

Played in my first Black Jack Tournament at Ameristar river boat and made it to the second of three rounds!

Won almost $80 in one pull of a slot machine.

Played Bingo for the first time with Aunt Rita, cousin Janel, and Mom...and won a game!!

Enjoyed a beer with my cousin Michael!

Went to Art Hill in St. Louis and saw a Monet Water Lilies and several other famous art pieces...in person!

Went to the Dixie Stampede in Myrtle Beach and ate dinner with no utensils.

Had a series of 6 of my ad designs published in the Free Times weekly newspaper.

Drove a Porche 911...and the guys were impressed that I could drive a manual :)

Check back please, more to come and I will be more diligent about this!

Neti what?

This year my spring allergies were the worst they have ever been. None of the allergy medicines were even starting to help, so I decided to try the ancient practice of Neti. This was a somewhat disturbing idea until I tried it, then, like magic...I could breathe! So what is Neti? First, you start with a Neti pot that looks somewhat like Aladdin's magic lamp. Then, you fill it with warm saline solution. Not bad so far...but here comes the squimish part: you place the spout in one nostril, tip your head to the side so that the saline can run up your nose, thru your sinuses and back out the other nostril. Then, refill the pot and pour from the other side. I highly recommend using a Neti pot at least once a month...happy Neti potting!

Fits like a glove!

I was actually able to drive one of my dream cars...a Lotus Elise! This car far exceeded my expectations and it fit me like a glove. I didn't even stall it once, perhaps it is a sign that I should have one!
(I would like it in orange - hint hint!)

Chinese Terra Cotta Army

Next in our tour of Atlanta was the incredible exhibit at the High Museum. The Chinese Terracotta Army in Qin's Burial Tomb.
Qin's terracotta army consists of life-size figures of warriors, depicted in battle dress according to rank an unit, and numerous figures of horses and chariots, and this is only part of what is believed to be his grand tomb. The terracotta army lies approximately a mile east of Qin's main tomb which is said to contain spectacular objects.

Emperor Qin ordered the construction of his tomb when he was only 13 years old, an order that involved hundreds of thousands of workers and thirty-six years to complete. It is also believed that Qin ordered that the tomb workers and supervisors involved in its design be buried alive to protect its secrets.

We saw an example of each of the warriors and also birds and musicians that are from chambers closer to his tomb. This was quite an impressive exhibit!

look...he is my size!!

Georgia Aquarium

Another stop on our Atlanta weekend adventure was the Georgia Aquarium. We saw all types of fish...kind of like an extreme version of Dr. Seuss's red fish, blue fish! The Titanic exhibit was also there. We were able to see artifacts from the ship and read about the history. As we entered the exhibit we were handed a boarding pass from actual people who were on the voyage. At the end of the exhibit, we were able to see if our person survived. My person survived! Later we were sitting down resting our feet and I asked to see who Chris' person was. Turns out that he had the card that was the husband to the lady on my card...and we didn't even walk in next to each other! What a coinsidence. Perhaps it was a sign and we won't be taking a cruise together anytime soon :)

World of Coca Cola

Chris, me, Mom Lynne, Dad Hal, Becky, Nikki, Blake, Nathan, Connor, Caleb and Hailey went to Atlanta for a weekend full of exploring new places and seeing new things! Our first stop was the World of Coca Cola. We toured the museum of Coke memorabilia, held the Coca-Cola Olympic Torch, saw Jewel's signed guitar and then saw the 4-D movie, learned the secret ingredient in the Coke products. Then on to see who could try all 63 flavors of Coke products from around the world. I was the only who braved all 63 flavors...and the tummy ache that followed! My favorites were the flavors from South America.

Foot Loose!

Loose, footloose
Kick off your Sunday shoes
Oowhee, 'Stephie'
Shake it, shake it for me
Whoa, Milo
C'mon, c'mon let's go
Lose your blues
Everybody cut footloose

Before you get too excited...I did not perform this dance or sing this song karaoke style!

This week, Chris decided to join me in my weekly adventure and we are in for quite a fun time! A couple of our friends asked us to join their adult kickball team, Foot Loose! Neither of us have been a member of an adult recreational team so we are very excited to see if we are still at all athletic, but mainly we look forward to meeting new friends and having fun! Our games are on Wednesday nights and last through the end of May...I'll post our W or L record!

p.s. - good luck getting that song out of your head. Go Foot Loose!!

Not a tree hugger today...

A little over a year ago, we had a huge cherry tree taken down in our backyard. I asked the tree guys to leave the wood there in hopes that we could have some lumber milled to build a piece of furniture. Time past and we could not find anyone who could get into our land locked backyard with their equipment. So, we enlisted the help of Mr. Tom, mom, dad and dad's chainsaw to come help us! After watching the guys cut wood for a couple hours, I decided that this would be a great experience for me to try. Dad found a medium size limb for me to cut, showed me how to use the chainsaw and let me go for it! Wow, that chainsaw was heavy...and it is not as easy as they were making it look. I was able to cut about 4 sections, then I gave the saw back to the pros and took an advil for my achy back ~ I think I will stick to gardening.

Roses, Chocolate and Andy...

Andy Warhol that is ha ha ha! On Valentines Day, also our 1.75 year anniversary, Chris and I decided to go to an art museum that we have never been to before. (Chris is still wondering how this could possibly be romantic!) We went to the Mint Art Museum in Charlotte NC. There was an Warhol exhibit featuring some of his more rare works. We saw his cowboys and indians series, flower series, space fruit series, endangered animal series, Ali series and of course a Marilyn Monroe and a Campbells Soup label and more! I was so excited that we actually went through the exhibit 3 times. After that, we saw the The Art of Affluence: Haute Couture and Luxury Fashions 1947-2007, and some artifacts from the Mayan culture.
We had a wonderful time going to a new place and having this experience together!

Amazing Talent #47: Juggling

I held off on posting this on Feb 6th because I was hoping to have a better report for this experience! I decided that I needed to add to my list of amazing bizarre talents...so juggling seemed to fit the bill! After 2 weeks of trying to juggle, I still spend allll of my time chasing the balls. This is not going well...but I will keep practicing and post a video when I finally get it, don't hold your breath though!

What are Chitlins?

A Southern Delicacy! You may know what they also are, but why do sooo many people eat them and why is there an entire festival to celebrate them? I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Evidently, you have to get chitlins at a reputable place, my friend at work knew just where to go! This afternoon she brought in a plate of them for me to try "as much as I'd like."

I had heard that they smelled pretty bad, so it was just fine with me that I was slightly stuffed up today. She didn't believe that I would actually go thru with trying them, and to tell you the truth...I wasn't so sure either! I mixed a portion of the chitlins with the rice and started to put on the hot sauce but NO, she insisted that I try one bite first, plain, to see what they actually tasted like. Unfortunately this was true, so the first bite I had was plain chitlins!
Having an over the top imagination, I chewed them up quite fast and swallowed them hoping not to get too much taste........Not tooooo bad, I'll try a bite with the hot sauce! This time I decided to go ahead and give them a taste!They tasted like overcooked pasta that had been in the refrigerator for a week, then reheated with onions, hot sauce and thin gravy! But that was NOT the worst part! The after taste was hooorrendous. I am writing this 3 hours, 2 pieces of gum, 3 glasses of tea, 2 mouthwash swishes and a shot of vodka later and I am still contending with the after taste!

Herbs, Olive Oil and Tyler Florence...oh my!

That's right...Tyler Florence from the food network! Typically, I go to Atlanta to visit the High Art Museum, but this past weekend was spent in ATL enjoying major retail therapy with Mom Lynne and Becky. We scheduled into our shopping adventure a side trip to see a special cooking demonstration by Tyler Florence. We got there an hour early thinking that we would be plenty early...well, there was no seating left...but we were in the first row of standing room (great view)! They began handing out red tickets and the lady after me received the last ticket...this red ticket was redeemable for a free Tyler Florence cookbook that he was personally going to sign after the show! He showed us how to cook shrimp scampi fettucini, lamb with mashed potatoes, and beef with risotto. The best part was that we got to sample each dish! After the show he signed my cookbook and we got our picture taken with him!

Wine, Food and Friends

Salud! Last night I went with a couple friends to Cellar on Green for a wine and food pairing as well as a wine tasting. They began by bringing us each a placemat with a row of circles for each of the 5 different wines to taste. One of my friends is quite the wine expert, so he was able to tell us how and what to taste in each type of wine. We began by swirling the wine in our glass to release the aroma and decide what all we could smell, then we tasted the wine to see what types of tastes we could discover and how the wine felt in our mouths. Once I was told that a wine had notes of 'berry' or 'mineral', it was easier to recognize. Although, I'm not sure that I could do that on my own...I guess that I'll have to practice!
After that, they brought out 3 different tapas for us to pair with 3 wines. It is incredible to see how wine can be a 'condiment' for food and the taste completey change.
One of my favorite wines was the Sangre de Toro...and she let me keep the bull.

Welcome to the 52 week experiment

New Years Resolutions always seem to focus on what we can do better in the coming year. This type of resolution still tied me to the previous year and doesn't allow me to experience my full potential for learning and living in the current year.

I have decided to abandon trying to decide what I did well last year or what I didn't do so well and came up with a new type of resolution: to spend this year trying or doing 52 new things! Each time to complete a new experience, I will post the story on this blog.

At the end of the year, I should have 52 new experiences under my belt. Please check back regularly to see my progress!

Happy 2009!