11-Take a Cooking Class (list #11)

I just love Groupons (except when I forget about redeeming them...)  Shortly after I came up with my 40 items for this year, a groupon for a cooking class showed up in my mailbox!  What luck!!  We really know nothing about Greek food or cooking, but this place is right next door to the studio where Quinn takes cello lessons, so we figured it was convenient and affordable so we'd give it a try.  We had a great time and the food was awesome!

We started with the main course...stuffed grape leaves.  I was a little hesitant about these, but they ended up being delicious.  Even Quinn tried one and liked it--leaves and all!!

 There were about 8 others in our class--we had a great time chatting, drinking wine, cooking...

 Quinn was at a cello lesson during our class and came over afterwards to wait for us to finish.  He didn't get to sit for very long.  He got roped into helping make some desserts.  Almond/cream cheese stuffed pastry.  Again, delicious!!

Then we made the appetizer--a feta dip with some of the best warm pita bread I've ever had!!  Fun, fun evening.

10-Visit a new Winery (list #15)

I wasn't planning on working on my "list" today, but we were at a wedding with a couple of hours to kill between ceremony and reception.  Had great conversation with some of Matt's co-workers over a couple of bottles of (so-so) wine.  This one was our favorite, so we bought a bottle and brought it home (cause I needed a picture for my blog!)

9- Go on a date with Clara (List #3)

Today was the day for my date with Clara!! I noticed several weeks ago that Joshua Bell would be playing with the Indianapolis Symphony this weekend, and since she's out of school already, the Thursday morning concert was completely feasible for us!  We decided to forego the coffee and pastries offered at the symphony and we went out to breakfast first.  3 Sisters was fabulous (as we expected!)

It was such a beautiful morning, we decided to sit out on the porch.

  My "Florentine"...eggs with tomato, spinach, basil, and cheese

 Clara's "Bob" with the hash brown combination of regular and sweet potatoes.  We took these pictures to send to Matt as he was really jealous interested in what we were eating.

Then we headed downtown...

 At Hilbert Circle Theater getting ready for the concert to start.  First piece was, well, interesting.  (It was actually very cool.  It just required thinking outside the box a bit.)  We were really there to hear the other piece...the Brahms Violin Concerto with soloist Joshua Bell (this concerto, I might add,  contains a very lovely oboe solo in the 2nd movement.  I remember traveling with my mom to Cleveland once to hear Scott play that solo.)

 We hadn't planned to get an autograph, but when she bought her CD the man asked if she'd like it opened so she could get it signed.  Well, of course she did!! :o)

8-Eat at Bub's Burgers (list #30)

Not a great picture (sorry)...and it was quite a miserable evening.  But look how handy those IKEA umbrellas can be!!  Bub's is one of those places that is close to home but I've never been.  Since I tend to get stuck in a rut, my routines, I decided to put this on my list.  It would force me to try a new place!  We dropped the older two off at church to head to the youth retreat for the weekend and decided to take the little kids out to dinner.  Delicious burger (no we didn't try the Big Ugly).  The highlight for the kids...red cream soda.

7-Read the entire New Testament (list #9)

Well...I thought about trying to read the entire Bible during Lent, but thought that might not be quite do-able for me this year.  I'm glad I decided to make the New Testament my goal.  I started out strong at the start of Lent, with Matthew and his genealogy of Jesus.  And I kept pushing on through the gospels

I got a little bit behind the third week of March, with a lot of things I had going on at school, but I tried to keep reading what I could, and then I took advantage of the quiet mornings during Spring Break to read...

...and took advantage of a quiet Easter afternoon and evening to finish (I Timothy to the end!)  What a way to end this Easter day of celebration of the resurrection of our Savior!

6-Go Duckpin Bowling (list #29)

Duckpin Bowling is pretty fun...and it's not quite the same as bowling.  You can be pretty good at bowling but be horrible at duckpin bowling.  Or (like me) you can be bad at both...  Regardless, it's pretty fun and was a fun way to spend an afternoon of our spring break.  There's an OLD duckpin bowling alley in Indy that kind of takes you back in time...

Clara in action...

And the results...(thanks Millie for being the scorekeeper since you couldn't play)

5- Trip to India (list #1)

My trip to India was truly a life-changing experience.  Rarely a day goes by that I don't think about the girls there, or reflect on the things that I learned during my 10 day adventure.  I experienced the reality of having brothers and sisters in Christ...on the other side of the globe...and ones that might not even speak the same language that I do.  I learned how to serve through "being" as opposed to "doing."  The previous work trips I'd taken part in all had some physical goal--building a church, painting rooms, cleaning areas...but this one was about loving people.  I blogged about my trip on our family blog. I have another entry or two to write, but you'll get more than enough of my thoughts here...
India part 1
India part 2
India part 3
India part 4