26. have "high tea"

Most of you are aware that I was recently in Ireland.  While there, we visited the Mercy International House and had tea with the nuns.  I sat at a table with my friends Hollie and Tiffany, as well as our professor Mary and her cousin.

20. put money in a stranger's parking meter.

hello all!  sorry i've been gone so long!

I did this one this winter, but never got around to posting it... putting money in a stranger's parking meter.  On our way to Joe Mama's for dinner after class one night, we saw a car in a Pitt parking lot whose meter had run out, so I put a quarter in it! I hope I saved them a ticket!

Please ignore the fact that I have the hugest pimple ever in this photo!

15 more minutes!

Bringing it Back!!!

Sorry I've been away so long!  I've done 3 of the things on my list (2 within the past 2 days!) and I will be posting them soon! 

#5: go to a (regular season or playoff) steelers game.

sorry i'm taking so long to update when i actually did this one a couple weeks ago.  my first regular-season steelers game came on thursday, december 23, 2010 when the pittsburgh steelers took on the carolina panthers at heinz field.  our seats were all the way up in 500-something and i couldn't always see terribly well, but i had a great time and the steelers completely routed the panthers (exactly what i was hoping for!).  that's all i'm really going to say about the game because it was several weeks ago and it's not exactly fresh in my mind.  however, here are some pictures from the game.  a big thanks goes out to christina, as i stole all the game shots from her facebook page.  :)  also note, sam is also doing one of these lists, though i'm not sure if she ever finished writing it.  but going to a steelers game was on her 30 before 30 list as well!

My wonderful friends Frank, Sam, and Christina who came to he game with me.

up in our seats

i think this is the coin toss.

another shot of the coin toss

touchdown!

final score 27-3 Steelers!

update on number 9.

so i have officially failed on number 9.  my basil is pretty much dead.


however, i knew this wouldn't be easy, particularly because i'm not gifted with plants.  so, while at IKEA this morning, i picked up something a little hardier. 

here is my brand new norfolk island pine. 

although i'm actually kind of allergic to pine, i'm thinking this will be okay since it's small.  i don't have to decorate it or anything... but maybe if i can keep it alive until next christmas, i can use it as my christmas tree!

wish me luck!

#12. Give more than I can afford to charity

Hello all!  You thought I was giving up on this blog, didn't you?  DIDN'T YOU?!  Lol.  well, I didn't.  Things have just been a bit busy with school.  Not to fear, I am back to my do-goodie ways and I am tackling number 12 on the list, that being "give more than I can afford to charity." 

As a grad student, "more than I can afford" is a sticky term.  This is mostly because, as a grad student, anything is basically more than I can afford.  But I'm doing what I can and making my donations.

Why now?    Since Thanksgiving is fast-approaching, I would like to get all of my holiday responsibilities out of the way. :) You all know I'm finished with the Xmas shopping. :) And anyway, I figured the holidays are a good time for giving and remembering how lucky we all are to live in the western world in an economically advanced country. This is especially true as I am more concerned with how chubby I am getting, as opposed to where my next meal will be coming from.  This leads me to my charities I will be supporting:  Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres as well as Amnesty International. 

and yes, those are Simpsons stamps. :)

Doctors Without Borders is an international organization that brings healthcare and emergency services to third world countries.  They have been especially active in Haiti since the earthquake in Port-au-Prince this past year.  
Amnesty International is an organization that is involved with international human rights.  They are often influential in helping political prisoners gain release from prison.  These are often individuals who have spoken out against oppressive governments. 

For information on both of these charities, you can click here for Doctors Without Borders and here for Amnesty International.

#27: Do a 5K Run/Walk.

All geared up and ready to go!

What did you do this morning?  My friend Jamie and I got out of bed at an ungodly hour to took part in the ZooZilla 5K Gorilla Run Walk at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.  Despite a few cloud and drizzling early on, it ended up being a wonderful day for the 5K.  Even better is that this took care of #27 on my list!!! 

Jamie and I just before the walk started.

 

Many thanks go out to Jamie for walking with my slow ass, even though she originally wanted to run.  The hills were a bit much for my poor calves, but we got through it together. :)

The run started out in the parking lot, around the street, up a big hill, back down part of the hill, into the zoo, around the aquarium, past the bears, past the snack bar, back outside,  down the rest of the hill, and back around the parking lot.  

I started getting a little melodramatic. :/

We finished in just under 1 hour.

We finished in just under one hour.  We even decided to jog the last 30 yards or so just so we would make it in under an hour.  Though, it was really shorter than that, because we were pretty far back from the start.  We didn't want to get in the way of the runners.  Though, next year I'd kind of like to run, just so I can get one of those cool gizmos for my shoe to clock my time. 

We even got bananas at the finish line!

 

I finished!  Yay!