Ready...Set...RUN!

We're excited to tell you about the latest adventure we've added to our 'Drive to 25'! It's something we've always wanted to do (in the back of our minds) but have never really taken the time or energy to make it happen. So we thought, why not now??

We have decided to challenge ourselves to run 10 km! Obviously this is going to take some time and a lot of dedicated training. But, we know that we are each others biggest motivators and that we can do it! We have always enjoyed hiking, walking, and have done some running in the past, but nothing to this extent. After watching the incredible athletes compete at the Olympics, we've been inspired to tackle a physical challenge of our own to prove to ourselves that we are stronger than we think. We're not looking for any records or anything, we just want to committ to accomplishing this feat and most of all, have fun. This challenge is about the entire journey to the finish line as we know that every step will teach us lessons of strength, focus and dedication (well not every single step, but you get the idea!). 

Once we get a bit more training behind us, we are planning on registering for a 10 km run hopefully in October - either way, definitely before our 25th Birthday! We're super pumped and motivated to get going. We've already started, albeit slowly, and look forward to improving bit by bit! We hate to admit it, but the morning after that first run was pretty painful. It can only get better though, right?! Bring it on!!!

We will keep you posted on our progress and hope you'll follow along as we make our way towards the finish line - 10 km here we come!!!

Celebrating Family - A 60th Wedding Anniversary!

Even though this may not fall in our 'Drive to 25', we thought it was still very worthy of posting! This past weekend, we witnessed a milestone that is truly remarkable and inspiring - our grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. We were lucky to spend the long weekend in Moncton, New Brunswick with everyone on our Dad's side of the family. It was a beautiful family reunion celebrating two very special people.

The MacFarlane's!


It's moments like these where we all get together that are so special, seeing as we don't all live in the same province! We're so fortunate to have such a wonderful family and it all started with our grandparents! And. they have a lot more to celebrate this year too. Not only are they toasting to 60 wonderful years together, they are ringing in their 80th and 85th birthdays as well! Talk about a milestone filled 2012!!! Before we know it, we'll be celebrating the 70th!

The couple of the weekend!



In all, it was a fabulous weekend - lots of good food, stories, and laughs (which made up for the VERY LONG drive!!!)

Cheers to love and family,

Melissa and Laura

Taking the 'Plunge'....

As some of you may or may not know, our palette for seafood or 'things that swim in the ocean' has always been non existent. That is, UNTIL NOW!! Last week, we 'dove' into trying new foods and went for it - we tried FISH! Even though this may seem like a rather small endeavor, for us, this was a HUGE feat. Not only did we try it once, but TWICE! And, we are pleased to admit, this will most likely not be our last!!!

Here's how this challenge came about:

With our entire dad's side of the family living in the Maritimes, we've taken MANY a trip out to the East Coast. We've sat in on our fair share of lobster suppers and been to many a fish fry. Yet, never have we 'taken the plunge' and tried the local delicacies. Why? Well, we don't have a very 'good' excuse. We typically throw the blame on the 'fishy' smell, but quite frankly, in our eyes, the thought of eating something from the ocean is repulsing! It swims - ew!!

However, since our whole 'Drive to 25' is about trying new things and taking risks, an annual family 'Lobsterfest' seemed like a fitting place to face our fear! In the past, we've sat at the 'chicken' table and thoroughly enjoyed our separate meals, as we watched everyone else crack away at their lobsters. This year, we promised to taste the lobster (albeit without doing all the dirty work!).

When the time came, we put on our lobster bibs and 'took the plunge'. If we had to describe it, well, it was rather chewy and rubbery. We got it down and resorted back to our chicken...would we have it again...no probably not. But, we tried it right? That's the main thing and now we can 'honestly' say that we've tried lobster and are not fans!

Here we go...

We weren't about to end our seafood challenge after tasting lobster. That clearly wasn't a big enough challenge. So, we decided that we were going to buy some sort of fish to cook for dinner one night. After doing some research on which fish to go for (leave it to google to give us results for 'converting non-fish eaters to fish eaters' or 'how to cook non-fishy fish'!!), we settled on halibut.

We must admit, we were feeling almost more anxious about this halibut eating challenge than we were to skydive - as ridiculous as that sounds! We found a pretty basic marinade recipe online, and not knowing what would taste good, we tried it! The barbecue was obviously used for this meal, we drew the line at bringing the fish smell indoors!! That wasn't going to happen!

After some build up, once again, we 'took the plunge' and ate our first bite of halibut!!!! And....low and behold, much to our surprise, it wasn't half bad!!!!!!! No, were we actually admitting this...could this be happening? A small part of us, liked it?!! WOW! It actually tasted very mild and was flaky in texture, definitely not chewy like the lobster. We just may, quite possibly, revisit this whole halibut eating idea, and perhaps throw in some other 'white' fish meat.....yes, hold us to it!

The first bite....not quite sure yet!

We survived!

In the end, we're super happy to have challenged ourselves to this seafood experiment. We discovered that, although we may not be in the market for lobster in the future, white meat fish, such as halibut, just might pop up at our dinner table every so often (not weekly - not yet!). However, that does not mean that our attitudes towards it's smell have changed... 'fishy' odor = yuk!

Here's to trying new foods :)

Melissa and Laura

Overdue Updates!!!

Hi everyone!

As we've been trying to focus on fundraising these past few weeks, we've realized that we're long overdue in updating you on some of our ongoing projects. For those of you who think that we have yet to pick up a Harry Potter book - think again! And no, we have not forgotten about our garden, not even close! Here's the scoop on what we've been up to on a regular basis with our 'Drive to 25'.

Our Vegetable Garden:

If we've learned anything from planting and maintaining a vegetable garden, it's that patience and persistence are KEY! Veggies don't grow over night, so we shouldn't expect to be producing cash crops or enough for a vegetable stand yet! We have been pleasantly surprised and happy with our turnout so far, and judging by the look of the plants now, we may have plenty of vegetables in weeks to come. But, again, patience, patience, patience!

Our snap peas were the first to sprout and at one point, we were picking a couple off on a daily basis. They were delicious too - thick and crunchy - YUM! They have since slowed, but our lettuce has now taken off, which is amazing! We used it in a salad just the other day! There's nothing like knowing you're eating clean, fresh, local food straight from your own backyard. We must admit, we were pretty satisfied with ourselves haha! We've had a few yellow and green beans here and there too, which have made a nice addition to our stir fries.

The garden in June - it's much fuller and livelier now!

Our first snap peas

Lettuce washed and ready to eat!

We did expect our tomatoes to have progressed a bit quicker than they have, but we are happy to announce that our FIRST tomato is starting to grow - it's rather tiny right now, but we're taking good care of it!! There are definitely more tomato buds too which is so exciting! The cucumber and pepper plants, as well as the carrots are also starting to sprout and are getting closer and closer each day to vegetable greatness!! Yay!

We're having so much fun tending to this little garden and get giddy every time we see another bud or potential growth! The whole thing has been a real family project, which makes it even more worth it. We are so happy to have started this garden and we're already planning next year's crops. This year has definitely been a learning experience, but we've been relatively successful so far and we know that much more is to come! Bring on the veggies!

Harry Potter:

We must admit that we thought we knew how long the Harry Potter book series was, but apparently we didn't really know! Man, are those books long!!!! We can officially say that Laura has finished books 1 through 4 and is currently reading the 5th. Melissa has finished 1 through 3 and is reading the 4th. Since we haven't been able to get two copies of each book, we've been having to wait in between for the other to finish. We're also proud to admit that we've seen the first three movies, thanks to a Harry Potter movie marathon with our brother this past weekend :)

Now, we must also set something straight. We both had never really given Harry Potter a chance. We assumed that we wouldn't like all the fantasy, wizard, magic and make-believe stuff that is Harry Potter and brushed the whole phenomenon aside. We should probably be slapped for this because now we're realizing just what we were missing out on! We can honestly say that we are now not just reading the books 'because it's on our Drive to 25 list', but because we are thoroughly enjoying every page! There's something captivating and well, frankly magical about it all and you can't help but get swept away into the world of Hogwarts! We're so excited to keep reading and to see what the next few books have in store. Then, we are SO going to Disneyworld to see the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park!!!!

And there you have it - you're all caught up to speed on what's been going on behind the scenes with us! Our garden didn't die and we didn't give up on Harry!!

Here's to more veggies and happy reading :)

Melissa and Laura

P.S. We've got another addition to our list coming this weekend! :) Stay tuned!




 

One bottle, two bottles, three bottles...SUCCESS!

We know that we're a little late in writing about our bottle drive results, but we were waiting until we brought them in for the official total! Today was that day! So here's the scoop on our latest fundraising effort...

Last week, we delivered bright neon flyers to the homes in our neighbourhood asking them if they would be interested in donating bottles for our cause. We drove around on Thursday morning, collecting from those who were so generous to leave some out for us. We were definitely surprised at the turnout - some homes must have been collecting for years - haha! It must have been a sight to see; the two of us carrying many cases of 24's and loading them into our car!!! Thanks a million to our neighbourhood for being so helpful and cooperative. We were so happy to relieve you all of the tideous beer store trip and are so lucky to live amongst such great neighbours! A special thank you to the one household that donated $8.00 in change along with their bottles - what a lovely and unexpected surprise!

Not only did we get a great turnout from our neighbours, but friends and family also contributed beyond our expectations! Ms. Bonta, Mrs. Jackman (and friends!!), the Bishop's and the Kramer's - thank you, thank you, thank you! We REALLY appreciate your support :)

Our organized loot



Only part of one home's contribution



Part of the collection...



So, needless to say, our garage was pretty packed for a couple days!! Today, along with help from our amazing brother (who is much stronger than us!), we drove two PACKED cars to the Beer Store to see how much we made! After a couple stops along the way to fix falling bottles (the last thing we needed was broken glass!), after making several trips up to the 'returns' counter, and after several comments about the size of our load, we were DONE! We made a grand total of......$160.00!!!!! Much more than we had anticipated - yay!!!

The best part about the whole thing, besides raising that much money for our Reading Room, is the fact that the summer has only just begun, which means more and more bottles!!!! We know that some of you have mentioned that you have some bottles for us, which is awesome!! We will keep collecting throughout the summer, so whenever you feel like clearing up some space, LET US KNOW! We will be more than happy to pick them up! Beer or wine bottles, beer cans, anything that can be returned, we will take!

Let the continuous summer bottle drive roll on....

Melissa and Laura
thedriveto25@hotmail.com

We want your BOTTLES!

Hey everyone!

It's officially the summer!! Hurray!! Time to celebrate!! In honour of the upcoming long weekend and the start of summer holidays, we've decided to put our fundraising efforts into something 'seasonal'. We are starting an 'ongoing' summer bottle drive collection!! We know bottles tend to pile up throughout the summer and it's sometimes a hassle to take them in for the couple dollars you might get in return. So, why not donate them to our Reading Room campaign and know that they're going to a great cause?? What could be better - you don't have to wait in line for a measly couple of bucks, and you can be rest assured that those dollars are going directly towards helping to provide books for hundreds of children! Win - win!

So instead of driving around the neighbourhood on one particular weekend, we are kindly asking you to keep us in mind when you notice that you have a pile of empty bottles you want to get rid of. Let us know and we will gladly come to collect them! Every bottle is a little something, and it all adds up in the end, right?! Email us at thedriveto25@hotmail.com or facebook message us to get in touch.

We really appreciate your support - let's make this a successful fundraising summer event! Please pass this along to your family/friends/neighbours or anyone you think can contribute. The more people who know, the better! If you're at a party, why not suggest putting the empties aside to donate? We'll happily come to get them from you!!

Thank you, thank you!! Looking forward to seeing you and your bottles this summer :)


Melissa and Laura

Another Book Donation!

With several generous donations of children's books, both new and used, we had a collection of 226 books lying around in our basement. Some were left over from our garage sale, and some were donated afterwards. What were we going to do with them? It didn't take long to figure out where we wanted to them to go and who we wanted to benefit from them. We chose SickKids Hospital in Toronto!

Beyond the amazing work and care that goes on at SickKids on a daily basis, we have a personal connection with the hosptial that made us want to include it in our 'drive'. We were born 2 months premature, each with our own set of medical difficulties. Immediately after we were born, Melissa was rushed to SickKids where she spent the first ten days of her life. Yes, we were separated right at birth... that's probably one of the longest times we've ever been apart! Our mom has always said that the staff at SickKids were wonderful and called her several times a day with updates. A small relationship, but one nonetheless. There are so many brave and inspiring children who call this hospital a second home, and we wanted to give back to them in our 'Drive to 25'.

So today, we drove to SickKids and dropped off four boxes filled with an assortment of colourful picture books, big and small board books and chapter books for early readers. Everything from Franklin to Dora to learning your ABC's; even the Berenstain Bears, a personal favourite of ours! We couldn't have picked a hotter day to carry in two loads of heavy book boxes, but we managed! After discussing with the super friendly Donations Coordinator, we organized that the new books would be benefitting the Child Life Program. This means that the 154 new books we donated will be distributed among the Reading Rooms and play rooms in the hospital for patients to read and enjoy. The 72 used books will be donated to the Women's Auxiliary, who will sell them within the hopsital, with all of the proceeds going towards SickKids. We remember the excitement that comes from reading a new book and hope that this donation will create many similar experiences. It definitely makes us smile knowing that so many children will be able to share one of our favourite childhood pastimes while away from the comforts of their own home.

Here we are at the hopsital with our book donation:

We couldn't be happier to have included SickKids Hospital in our 'Drive to 25' and to continue to spread the joy of reading! Just being in the hospital, we could see the enthusiastic, positive and inspiring energy that we know is making a difference in the lives of so many children. We are proud to have contributed, even in a very small way, to this encouraging environment. What a special day; one to remember!