Advent Tea Reviews Day One: Sleigh Ride

As an early Christmas present, some of my best friends got me an advent calendar filled with tea instead of chocolate. David's Tea, a Canadian company, put out a 24 Days of Tea and it is glorious. This being December first, of course, I felt it was time to dive in.

Today's tea is called Sleigh Ride, and it is an infusion of apple, hibiscus blossoms, pineapple, papaya, beetroot, cinnamon, raisins, coconut, roasted almonds and popped rice. Whew! That's a lot of ingredients. Sounds very fruity and nutty. The box says it's a Germany tea, which makes sense given the ingredients.

Alright! So I popped out the small tin for today's tea and opened it. Well, I tried to open it. And then my roommate tried to open it. I ended up prying the lid off with a butter knife, because the stickler did not want to come off! Not impressed with your fortitude, tea tin. Not. Impressed.

I brewed the tea about 3 minutes or so in boiling water, then set it down for a few minutes to cool off. The tea turned out to be a nice rose color, as many herbal teas with hibiscus tend to. It smells of cinnamon and apple.

My roommate made cinnamon rolls, yum. Snapped a picture to show you guys and alright! It is time to taste the tea!

The tea is still pleasantly hot when I got my first taste. The fruits own this particular blend, and I can definitely taste the apple and hibiscus the most. It has hints of spice to it, almost reminding me of an apple cider. It goes very well with the cinnamon rolls.

I guess that's all for today! Tune in sometime later this week for everything else I've done or tasted or whatever.

Breaking Ballet

I'm pleased to announce that this Friday, October 2nd, I'll be attending a ballet! Hold the applause, please--it's not as if I haven't done this before! This particular ballet is sure to be a lot of fun, though. While BalletMet typically doesn't give out a ton of detail about their performances, I've never been disappointed by one. Breaking Ballet includes music from Tchaikovsky and Cyndi Lauper...can you imagine? I'm really excited.



October 2 – 10, 2015 | Capitol Theatre
***World and Company Premieres**
•Friday, 10/2 Sr. Dress
•Friday, 10/2 8 p.m.
•Saturday, 10/3 8 p.m.
•Sunday, 10/4 2 p.m.
•Thursday, 10/8 7:30 p.m.
•Friday, 10/9 8 p.m.
•Saturday, 10/10 8 p.m.


Challenge convention and celebrate rebellion with Breaking Ballet. An assortment of styles from internationally recognized choreographers will confront your perception of ballet.

Set to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3, George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante represents the purity of classical ballet. Balanchine once said that the vigorous work contained “everything I know about classical ballet in thirteen minutes.”

The Company Premiere of Edwaard Liang’s Distant Cries is an intricate, fast-paced pas de deux that sharply contrasts a World Premiere by James Kudelka to music from Cyndi Lauper.

Rounding out the diverse program is a World Premiere choreographed by Edwaard Liang and set to sections of music composed by Gabriel Gaffney Smith, intermixed with selections from rock legend David Bowie. The music, coordinated by Smith, will be performed by ProMusica.

Shatterproof Challenge & Zombie Croquet

Addiction is preventable and treatable. In the United States alone, alcohol and other drugs claim more than 135,000 lives every year — 370 people every day, 15 every hour. Shatterproof is a national organization committed to protecting our children from addiction to alcohol or other drugs and ending the stigma and suffering of those affected by this disease.

Shatterproof will work to educate, empower and equip parents, families, educators, health care providers, legislators, and others to address addiction head on. We are building a national organization to address serious gaps in funding and resources for the disease of addiction.

I accepted the challenge to rappel down 22 stories of a building in Columbus, OH on Thursday, August 06, 2015 to make an impact on the prevention, treatment, and recovery of this disease. And I did it! It was a lot of fun, though I don't think I'll ever rappel from quite that height again.

I arrived at 1:30, checked in and got two shirts. I chose to wear the long sleeve one, since it was a bit cool and windy that day. They took me to a room where a guy strapped on my harness, radio, and helmet. I was taken to the roof, where someone else gave me a crash course in rappelling. It's actually pretty easy! There was a back-up mechanism that would lock if I went more than 3 ft/sec, so no worries about flying down the side of the building!

Then I was up, off the roof and hanging in the air! It's a pretty freeing feeling, and I loved the view! Things got hard about halfway down, when my muscles went, 'hey you. What the hell are you trying to do? You're not in shape for this!' But I made it to the bottom, and that was that. Had a few pictures taken, then went home and got dressed up for zombie croquet on the statehouse lawn! And no, we did NOT have a permit for that.

Palatine Hill

It's always strange to go see foreign lands. Rome, especially is strange; so much history, buried through time, catastrophe and progress. Palatine Hill once hosted a place of grandeur like no other, home to various emperors throughout the ages. The Flavian palace caught my attention immediately. As far as ruins go, it certainly isn't the best preserved; and yet, it has a charm of its own.

As I walked through this gorgeous place, I saw many things. There were vineyards and gardens and bathhouses and balconies. State rooms and fountains and secrets yet to be uncovered. I spent a good three hours roaming about the hill, taking pictures of everything I could find. I can't possibly put them all up on here, but I suppose I can leave you with a few to give you an idea of the enormity of the task I have to describe this place to you, my loyal readers.

Everything about this place was wonderful. I managed to get the worst sunburn of my life doing this, but...oh well. It was nice to even see the sun, to be honest. Perhaps next time I'll pack sunscreen and ibuprofen, though.

Truly yours, Annalas