The Drive to 25: Our Journey

Hi everyone!

As you may know, we capped off our 'Drive to 25' on our 26th birthday! Twenty five incredible adventures later, we did it! In the beginning, the goal was to have fun, to challenge ourselves and to give back along the way. What we didn't realize was how much fun we'd have, how much we could push ourselves or just how simple it was (and is) to make a difference.

From the get-go, so many people were quick to offer their support whether it was with book donations, items for our garage sale, bottles for our bottle drives, or messages of encouragement. Knowing we had so many people behind us every step of the way kept us motivated and propelled us forward. We will always have you to thank when we think back to all that was accomplished during our 'Drive'.

This entire journey started after we made a spontaneous decision and said 'yes' to getting makeovers on national television. This meant that we were saying 'yes' to looking different for the first time in our lives, quite an out of character move for us at the time. As a result, we have the entire crew at the Rachael Ray Show for taking a chance on us and giving us this life-changing experience. That last minute, late-night, spur of the moment decision was so worth it!

Now that our 'Drive' is complete, looking back, we are pretty amazed at some of the things we were able to do. Who would have thought that we'd jump out of a plane, go on a hot-air balloon ride, or raise enough money to build a library?  It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to something and believe that you can do it. In addition to these highlights, collecting and donating children's books to Sick Kids and the YWCA, and Pay-it-Forward week were also very special moments for us. Each and every thing we did was memorable in their own way and provided us with unique experiences.

 

Even though we have completed our 'Drive to 25', our journey will continue. As we move forward, we are excited to embark on new adventures, to take on new challenges, and to give back as much as possible. This is a mantra that we will forever live by. Life's short and is what you make of it, so live it up!

Thanks so much for following along! We hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have!


Melissa and Laura


Side-note: We hope our travelling apron is out there somewhere! We know it started in Texas, but the rest of it's journey is a mystery! We'd love to hear from you if you've received it and hope that it will return home soon :)

Our Library in Laos

Hi everyone!

We did it! We did it! We did it!

After months of fundraising and many generous donations, we are beyond excited to announce that we finally have our library in Laos!!!!!!!!!!! We have reached our $5000 goal and are ecstatic to share the news that there is now a library in our name in the process of being built! For this, we owe all of you a massive THANK YOU!! The outpouring of support, encouragement and generosity that we've seen throughout our 'Drive to 25' is something we never imagined. We couldn't have done this without you! It's as simple as that! This is truly YOUR library as much as it is OURS!

We will keep you posted along the way, as we learn more about the actual library and it's status. The next item on our bucket list is to go and visit the library (as well as our 'little sister' Mai). Although this is definitely 'in the future', thinking about it has us pretty excited!

And now, we can check #25 off of our 'List'! This has been the most incredible journey and we couldn't think of a better way to cap off our 25th year! What a dream come true!

Together, we've always shared a birthday, but now we will always share it with the children in Laos who have been given the gift of reading! It doesn't get much better than that!

 

 

 

The Final Countdown!

Hi guys!

As we officially come to the end of our 'Drive to 25' (tear!), we thought we'd update you on our final few challenges/adventures.

If you've been following along closely, you may wonder what ever happened to the 10km run that we were so gung-ho about trying. Well, we definitely trained and tried our best, but experienced a few set backs. After running 5 kilometres rather comfortably, Melissa started suffering serious pain in her left knee. This really started impacting our training as she'd start running only 1 or 2 kilometres and then could barely continue. After seeing the doctor, she was told that physiotherapy might help, but that based on the structure of her knees, she probably would never be able to run long distances. Even though hearing those words acted as a motivator to prove the doctor wrong, she continued to suffer pain and it just wasn't worth trying to continue.

After some disappointment, we decided to be proud of our 5km running and committed to staying fit in other ways. We went snowshoeing last winter which was a blast; we did a lot of biking on scenic routes around the Ottawa River this summer; and we hope to do some cross country skiing this winter. Next spring, we plan on walking to Parliament from our apartment - a trek of just over 20 kilometres. There are clearly marked paths guiding the way, so even though it might be long, we know we can do it!!

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Another addition to our list goes back a few months when we decided to write a spontaneous 'fan' letter. Although we would never consider ourselves crazy die-hard fans of anything, as you may have seen on our 'Dream List', we have always, since we were little, loved the Vancouver Canucks. We have many a picture to prove it! And now, it seems pretty ironic that our favourite hockey team has twins as their star players.

A few months back, we decided 'what the heck!' and wrote to both Daniel and Henrik Sedin. It seemed kind of crazy and definitely not something we would typically do, but we figured 'why not?'. And, we're sure happy we did! A couple months later, unexpectingly, we received mail from the Vancouver Canucks. Having almost forgotten about our silly letter, we were shocked when we opened the envelope to find a response letter and a signed players card. How nice of them to take the time and effort to not only read but to acknowledge us! We didn't even think our letter would reach them, let alone be read, so you can imagine our surprise and excitement!

This week we look forward to cheering on our team and the Sedins as they play the Ottawa Senators here in Ottawa. GO CANUCKS GO!

Overall, we are happy we went through with sending our letter and encourage others to do the same. You never know what can happen from a simple letter. Whether it's to a celebrity, athlete, favourite teacher or friend, mail has a special way of making people's day. 

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As some of you may know, this is a big week for us! As our 26th birthday approaches and we close out our 'Drive to 25', we have only ONE more thing to complete - our Library in Laos. Stay tuned for an exciting update in the next couple of days :)

Final Call!

Hello everyone!

Can you believe it's already past the middle of October? Where has the time gone? Our 26th Birthday is just over a month away which also means that the end of our 'Drive to 25' is right around the corner. We only have a couple more things left to complete, one of which will be to finish our fundraising! That's where this post comes in....

We're super proud of how much we've raised so far and thank everyone who has supported us along the way! We've decided to write this post as a final call and last chance for anyone who would like to donate to our Reading Room that will be built in Laos with the fantastic organization, Room to Read. Anything you can contribute, even if it's just $10, will make a world of difference.

We've decided that by our birthday we will make sure that we have raised the $5000 we need to have the Reading Room built. We can't think of a better way to celebrate our birthday - knowing that our love of reading will be shared with so many little kids in Laos!

Our 'Drive to 25' began with this dream and we're excited to finally make it a reality!

To donate, you can follow the steps on our "Donate" page, or click on this link: http://thedriveto25.blogspot.ca/p/donate_04.html.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at thedriveto25@hotmail.com. 

Thanks again for your support and we look forward to sharing the next part of the Reading Room journey as it progresses in the months to come :)

Laura and Melissa

A Sunday Night Tradition - Pasta Making!

Happy Sunday everyone!

One of our favourite days growing up was Sunday. Not because it was the weekend, but because it meant a big family dinner with our grandparents. More often than not, this was a pasta feast with homemade sauce and meatballs. We loved being the mini-helpers and were always the designated taste testers! There's nothing quite like 'Grandma's spaghetti sauce'! Even though our extended family is dispersed across the country, the Italian in us is united when we make and enjoy Grandma's sauce.

Over the years, we've seen and heard about making your own pasta and have always been intrigued. We make our own sauce, why not try making our own pasta? So, that is exactly what we did! We thought this would be a perfect challenge to add to our 'Drive' - something we've always wanted to try.

Last week, we bought a pasta extruder/press from Home Outfitters. We contemplated buying a cheaper machine, but this one easily attaches to our Kitchenaid mixer and can make six different types of pasta. Today, Sunday afternoon, we tackled the pasta making process! Initially, it didn't go as smoothly as we had anticipated and we started doubted ourselves...but things did pick up!

 

 

We started with a recipe for basic pasta noodles that came with our pasta press. We quickly realized that it was NOT working. Even though we are generally good with dough (pizza, pie crust...), for some reason this dough was not coming together. After throwing an entire batch of dough out (we are very picky), we regrouped, found a new recipe online, and gave it a shot. It still wasn't easy, but we managed to get it to stick, and with a lot of kneading, it worked!!

The machine was very easy to use, all we had to do was put bunches of dough in the slot and it would automatically filter through in the desired shape. We chose to start with regular spaghetti noodles because they are classic. These noodles were very delicate, but it was fun to cut them at varying lengths (some were long, some were short)! We also tried the rigatoni cutter and made many rigatoni noodles which were really fun to watch fall. They were slightly easier and quicker to filter through the machine because they are thicker than spaghetti noodles.

 

 

 

After heating up some of our Mom's homemade pasta sauce (using Grandma's famous recipe), we cooked a combination of our spaghetti and rigatoni so that we could try both! Topped to perfection with parmesan cheese, we indulged in some pasta delight! We were really happy with the outcome. Although the texture and taste were rather different than store bought pasta, for our first try, we were impressed. We look forward to trying new recipes and the other pasta shapes. It's fun to be able to say that our entire meal was made from scratch - very satisfying!! Go ahead and try it - you'll be amazed at what you can do!

That's a wrap on our pasta making Sunday. It has been a day of reminiscing - bringing us back to our childhood and reminding us of our amazing travels in Italy!

Whatever your tradition may be, we hope you have your own version of our Sunday night dinner!

Buon appetito!!!!

Craft Time - Learn to Crochet!

Hi there!

Since it's already mid-September and the weather is starting to get colder, we've come up with the perfect thing to add to our "Drive to 25"! We are going to teach ourselves to crochet! Something we can do while it gets dark earlier and while we watch all our new Fall shows that are starting back up soon!

We're excited to get our craft on! We know so many people who are crafty and can sew, knit or do amazing cross-stitch work and we are so envious of their creations. Although we have previously tried knitting, and each have a holey scarf in our closets to prove it, we thought that we should try something new and add a crafty element to our list! We can't wait to get started!

We have decided to learn to crochet with the help of the internet (crochet for dummies is a great site!), and books from our local library. We plan to make each a stocking to have for Christmas! What a satisfying job it will be to 'hang our stockings with care' in just a few short months!

We've searched for different pattern ideas, in need of something 'easy' or for 'beginners' - and found this one, which we think is really cute!

 

We've made our trip to Michaels and bought all of the yarn, our crochet hooks and are set to begin! We know this is a challenge, as we are not the most creative or crafty (unless its scrapbooking!) but this will be fun and exciting to work together to teach ourselves something new! And, we'll have stockings to show our accomplishments - souvenirs that will last a lifetime!

 

 

We will update you on our progress and on the complete stockings, although it may take a little while! If anyone has any crocheting tips or advice that you think might be helpful - we'd love to hear from you! Since we love Christmas and the entire holiday season, we're so happy to be starting early!

 

Cheers to Crocheting!

 

Laura and Melissa

 



Pay It Forward: A Week in Review

Hello again!

What a week we've had! As promised, here's a recap of what we did to celebrate our 'Pay It Forward Week'. This week has shown us how simple Paying It Forward can be and that random acts of kindness can and should be done more often. What a world this would be if everyone joined the Pay It Forward bandwagon! We will now challenge ourselves to continue this trend - we hope you will do the same too!

For our first 'Pay it Forward', we decided to recognize a couple of the incredible Bed and Breakfasts we've stayed at during our travels over the past few years. In particular, we wanted to acknowledge the 'Hollywood Bed and Breakfast' in Hollywood, California, and 'Bed, Books and Breakfast' in Stavanger, Norway. These friendly B&B's helped make our vacations more enjoyable and our experiences more unique, so we wanted others to know about them! For that reason, we wrote complementary reviews on Trip Advisor with the hopes that other travelers would stumble across them during their trip planning and visit them in the future. This was an easy gesture on our part, but we know that in a competitive hospitality market, a good word or recommendation makes the world of difference. Hopefully our reviews prove helpful to others and bring business to two B&Bs that are truly one of a kind!

Next, we thought it would be fitting to donate school supplies seeing as it's back to school time. We found the Caring and Sharing Exchange program which "is a local charity that provides assistance to Ottawa families and individuals in need, during the Christmas season and the back-to-school season". Upon doing some research, we found that there was a drop box for supplies at our local library. Since we are no longer in school and no longer make the back to school supplies trip, we had fun going up and down the aisles picking out items that we know will be well used. Going to school was always something we enjoyed; knowing that we will be providing a child with the necessary tools to succeed and will potentially help them enjoy school like we did, warms our hearts :)

 

Mid-week, we thought we'd incorporate our love for baking into our Pay It Forward Week. We pulled out our favourite no-fail chocolate chip cookie recipe and went to work! It wasn't hard to decide who we wanted to reward with these delicious treats. Every morning when we walk into work, we receive a warm greeting from the Commissionaires (Security Guards). We always show them our ID pass, say hello and wish them a nice day. This morning though, we thought we'd give them a little bit more. We handed them a bag of cookies to enjoy and help make their day a little bit 'sweeter'. We don't know that many people stop to acknowledge them in the busy-ness of the day, so we hope that this small gesture brightened their day and made them feel appreciated.

 

To continue with our Drive to 25's reading and books dimension, we decided to buy two Chapter's gift cards and pass them along to two un-expecting people. Just like it's a surprise when you find money in your pocket, it would have been a big surprise for our Librarians when they opened the drop off box to our two gift cards. We could have given the cards in person, but this way the act was anonymous and would have come as a surprise. As we frequent the library often, we know that the ladies there work hard and have a love for books. We hope that they were excited to receive something special in the drop box and, who knows, maybe they will be inspired by this act and pay it forward too.

 

 

Finally, to close off Pay It Forward Week, we thought we'd donate to a cause close to us, our Reading Room fundraising campaign with Room to Read. This is a global Pay It Forward initiative that we are proud to be a part of. Although it is hard work to fundraise and to commit to making a difference globally, in the end, knowing that hundreds of children will benefit from a new Reading Room and will be able to share in our love of reading, makes everything worthwhile. By both donating to our campaign, we are making strides to our final goal of $5000.

 

Although these are the main Pay It Forward events we initiated this week, we did our best to go that extra mile to smile at strangers, hold the door open longer, and to inquire about someone's day. What we didn't realize was that at the same time, we would also be receivers of generosity this week. When we stopped to think about our days, we noticed that kindness was all around us - we just needed to take a moment to reflect and take it all in. From getting the brake light fixed on our car for free, having a co-worker ask to help with a busy workload, to having someone unexpectedly buy one of us a muffin - everyday was and is filled with its own special moments that can make you smile. And that's exactly what this week was all about!

 

We hope our Pay It Forward Week has inspired you to take the extra effort to make a difference. The feeling is contagious and we know that we will continue to act on and look for Pay It Forward moments every day.

 

“Together we can change the world, one good deed at a time.”

 

 Melissa and Laura

 

 

 

Pay-It-Forward Week!

Hello everyone!

"Don't wait for people to be friendly, show them how." - Author Unknown

 

We've decided to deem this week 'Pay-It-Forward Week' and are very excited to get started! The whole idea began after reading a friend's Facebook post. Five years ago she lost her son, Mark, to HCM, a heart condition, at the age of 18. Tomorrow, August 19th, is the anniversary of his passing, and because 'Pay It Forward' was one of his favourite movies, she is asking that her friends and family take a moment to honour Mark by 'paying it forward'. Mark was a very close childhood friend of our brother's and we have some very fond memories with him as well, such as playing basketball boys vs. girls and always losing! Her Facebook post really hit home and we knew we wanted to do something.  

So, we started by thinking... what one thing could we do, but since we easily came up with quite a few ideas, we thought we needed to devote an entire week (or maybe more?!) to Paying it Forward. A big part of our 'Drive to 25' has been giving back and thinking of others - 'Pay-It-Forward Week' is another chance for us to keep this going! We have some things planned that we're looking forward to!

Check back at the end of the week to hear all about our experiences. We can't wait to get this week started - there's just something about knowing you might make someone smile that puts that extra bounce in your step!

Hopefully this may spark you to have your own 'Pay It Forward' moment this week, whether it be in honour of Mark or someone else that's close to you. Old or young, big or small, it doesn't take much to make a difference! You never know how far a simple compliment can go!

"You may be only one person in this world, but to one person at one time, you are the world." -Anonymous

Whale Watching - A Lesson on Conquering Fears

Hi everyone!

Well - we did it!!! We're back from our mini vacation to St. Andrews, New Brunswick and can officially check 'whale watching' off of our bucket list!!

Despite the horrible weather and the VERY long drive (11 hours there and 11 hours back!!), the trip, as a whole, was fabulous! St. Andrews is such a cute, quaint town right on the beautiful Bay of Fundy. We stayed at an amazing bed and breakfast which we would HIGHLY recommend - the Montague Rose B&B. Joe and Rose-Anne are wonderful hosts and are definitely fabulous cooks! The breakfast was truly one of a kind and we enjoyed relaxing in the morning chatting with the other guests. Their home, built in 1859, is incredible!

 

There's so much history in St. Andrews and we had fun just walking around looking at all the old, well-kept homes. It's neat to imagine what life would have been like in this town more than 100 years ago! It was nice to shop along the main street, walk along the beautiful coastline, and enjoy a cup of tea at the local Honeybeans coffee shop! We were also super happy that our grandparents from Moncton met us for lunch one day at the famous Kingsbrae Gardens! All in all, we packed a lot into our short trip to St. Andrews, but there's still more we wish we could have done!

But...now for the main reason for our trip - WHALE WATCHING! St. Andrews is famous for it's whale watching and there are several companies that operate in the town. We chose Fundy Tide Runners as it had been featured on the Rick Mercer Report - so, we figured it must be good!!

 

 

 



Our boat

Before leaving, we put on these massive fluorescent orange safety floatation suits and headed out to the boat. The boat was actually quite small - for someone who was really scared to go whale watching, this boat was a little small for my liking, but there was no turning back at this point!! There were 12 passengers along with Captain Dave. Since my Dad's name is Dave, I figured I should be able to trust him! We lucked out and got to sit in the only two seats at the very front of the boat (I say lucked out now, but at the time I wasn't so sure).

As we sped off further and further into open water, the nerves really set in - whales could be anywhere around us!! ahhh.... Our Captain said that we would see Minke whales which are a smaller species, and hoped that we would catch a sighting of a Finback, the second largest whale after the blue whale. We eventually slowed down and started keeping our eyes peeled for whale sightings. What happens next, I will never forget. Right in front of us, maybe 50 feet, a FINBACK WHALE RISES TO THE SURFACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed and grabbed Laura, this was quite the introduction to our whale watching adventure! We continued to spot the finback throughout the rest of the journey. It was actually very neat to see it come to the surface to breathe - you could really hear the blow and see the spout of water. Our Captain said he believes the whale was about 50 feet long and weighed about 50 tonnes! MASSIVE!
 

Finback rising to the surface

In a distance - clear sighting of the 'fin back'

Going to lunge feed - turning on it's side

Side of it's tail as it dives back into the water

  

The other whale we got to see was the Minke, which looked kind of like a dolphin as it is quite small. There were quite a few Minkes out on the water and they were easier to spot as they rise to the surface much more frequently than the Finback. We also saw a lot of bald eagles and a ton of seals - it was definitely an aquatic wildlife adventure. 

Beautiful out on the water - you can see the incoming storm

Bald eagle flying away

 

Even though our trip was cut short by a few minutes because of an incoming storm (we never escaped the rain the entire weekend!), we saw so much!! Thank you, Fundy Tide Runners for such a memorable evening! It was truly incredible and although I can't say that I no longer have a fear of whales, I am definitely happy that I pushed myself to do this!! It was really an awesome experience, a real sight to see, and something everyone should try! If I can do it, you can too!

A rainbow after our adventure
 

 All in all, an absolutely awesome mini-holiday! We can't say enough about our wonderful hospitality, the charm of St. Andrews, the excitement of whale watching, and the beauty of the Bay of Fundy.

Here's to challenging yourself and conquering fears!!

Melissa and Laura

**The photos are ok, but since you can't predict when the whale will surface, it's hard to get the 'perfect' shot. It's more about the experience than capturing the Kodak moment!


 

Our Next Adventure - Taking it to the SEA!

Hello!

We thought we'd tell you about our upcoming adventure which we're excited about and looking forward to! It's coming up fast and we can't wait!

Over the August long weekend, we are headed to St. Andrew's, New Brunswick to go whale watching! We're making the long drive from Ottawa and going to spend 2 days in the picturesque Scottish town of New Brunswick. We're ready for this mini vacation!

I've always wanted to go whale watching - it sounds so fun, being up close and personal with big huge whales. Melissa, on the other hand, is very nervous and scared. She actually has a fear of whales, yes, a fear of them, like someone would be scared of spiders, or the dark or burglars, she's scared of whales. So, this will be a test. We thought, why not conquer a fear on this "Drive", so we're doing it! We're hoping for good weather and a sea full of whales to spot and watch! We will have our cameras ready to snap a ton of pictures and can't wait to come back and share them with you!

So, that's our next adventure and it's all about conquering a fear and setting your mind to doing something you're scared of. Put yourself to the test and who knows what you can accomplish, right? It's fun to get a little nervous every once in a while - pushing to your limits only makes you stronger!

Here's to the whales and to St. Andrews - here we come!

Putting our skills to the test!

Hey there!

As you know, we took a series of golf lessons earlier this spring and had a blast! We actually miss them!

A couple weeks ago, we finally made it out to the driving range to put our skills to the test. When our friends visited for Canada Day, they kindly brought some clubs to share so that we could actually practice. Luckily they are both lefty golfers, and had righty clubs too, so we were able to cover all the bases! It was exciting to finally get back to swinging and taking shots! Surprisingly, we even remembered most of our techniques, including the grip!!! Thanks to Brett for giving us some additional tips and for adjusting our tees, and to Angela for her moral support (everyone has some bad shots right?!?! Just a practice shot!). A couple of jumbo baskets later, we were golfed out! But, it was so nice to get back into it and practice outdoors. We will definitely be going again (we do need the practice!). Soon, we'll have to hit a par 3 course - that'll be a big test! Hopefully it's not too busy, otherwise we will most likely cause some slow downs!

Here are a few pictures to recap our afternoon at the driving range:

Hope you guys are also trying something new this summer!

Laura and Melissa

Up, Up and Away!!!!

We are so happy to finally say that this week, we went on our HOT AIR BALLOON ride!!!

This was our fourth attempt and the weather was finally on our side. So, on Wednesday evening we got to fly in a big balloon, high in the sky, and see parts of Ottawa! It was so much fun!

We called the flight line at 2:30 which was going to tell us the status of our flight and what time to meet (if the weather was good). We had a good feeling as the weather looked good and we were so excited when they said it was a go! We definitely know that they take safety very seriously since we've had 3 balloon rides cancelled already, but it was a relief to finally get the ok and know that the wind was just right and the weather was perfect. It was about time! Although when talking with our fellow balloon riders we did find out that it had also taken them a while to fly, so this must be common for ballooning - don't expect to go on your first attempt!

After meeting, all 12 of us 'ballooners' got in a 'party bus' and were driven to our launching location, where we then saw how the balloon gets blown up and ready for launch. What a cool experience to see the balloon grow so large (it really is massive when you see it up close)! Then, it was time to hop in and take off.
 

It didn't take long and we were up in the air, floating peacefully, calmly and enjoyably over the river, passing beautiful green scenery. Every so often our pilot would press the fire and it was amazing to see! The ride lasted about an hour in the air and we took a ton of pictures!

 

 

Once we landed, in some large field, we had a champagne toast and helped (a bit!) to put away the balloon and get things cleaned up. Unfortunately there were so many mosquitoes - more than we've EVER seen, in swarms and swarms, so we were definitely ready to get back in the bus and head back to our cars. It was all over, and we had a great time chatting about it on our way back. Side note - we met a sweet couple who have 5 year old twin daughters and enjoyed talking to them about our 'twin experiences'. It was fun answering their questions and we hope that her daughters will one day have the relationship we have. Oh how our 'twinness' follows us everywhere!

Now, when we see a hot air balloon in the sky we can say to ourselves, "we did that!!" - a dream come true! It's definitely something we can now cross off our 'drive' and it was an experience we'll never forget! It'd be amazing to be able to go again one day!

So there you go - our long awaited balloon ride blog! We recommend 'ballooning' to anyone and everyone... it was fabulous! (and not scary at all... so you don't have to be too adventurous to try it!)