The Monday Morning Mosh Pit

In exactly 19 days I will be waking up bright and early to hit the trail - the 3Day trail. I'm still a bit in shock that it's only a short 19 days away - I'm ready, but still antsy!

This weekend Saving 2nd Base participated in "Team Day" in which we got to hand out flyers to residents and businesses on the route to let them know we're going to be in their neighborhood. The route is generally very hush hush, but now we know at least 2 of the 60 miles. Oh boy! I tried to get more details out of them, but those girls who are managing this are tight lipped. Blueberry and I got our 3Day fancy pants shirts and just "had" to wear them for this event. Aren't they cute? And yes, that's the famous stang in the background. Vroom! Bigbro went with us too, naturally, and we walked our 2 mile route handing out flyers to every house/business on that part of the route. We happened to be in a very "rich" part of the area and so I spent most my time slobbering over these ENORMOUS houses. Some of which it would take me and every single person I've ever met or known in my life to pay for them.

Sunday dawned sunny and bright. Blueberry, BigBro and I set out on a short 7 mile walk (still makes me laugh when I say "short"-"7mile" and my name in one sentence). The sun was shining and we were jabbering as we always do. Blueberry provided some comic relief with her "pack" issues...sidebar: Note to self: Get photo of Blueberry's packed pack." BigBro-for the first time ever - was sporting the t-shirt I bought for him. Too bad it isn't actually pink. Looks good!

I've been fretting about the 3Day for a couple of nights now. Lying awake thinking about what to pack, logistics of getting too and from, sending out last emails, the post 3Day party, the post photo montage I'm doing, which shoes to wear on which days, and the thoughts go on and on. I've got lists for everything it seems, and that doesn't seem to be helping cut down on the fretting. I'm 100% sure everything will work out and be fine...but the PM in me has to plan and then have contingencies. Oh...the curse of having a PM mind!

Two more donations came in over the weekend. So let us pause to give thanks.


GLENNIE - YOU'RE A DOLL - THANKS FOR YOUR DONATION

LILAC - HAVING ONLY KNOWN YOU FOR 2 HOURS, YOU'RE DEFINITELY A SPECIAL WOMAN! THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION!


Now if you'll excuse me, I should probably actually do some PMing and keep this job.

"Your world is a frightening place to be." - PMDUDE

PMDude has taken to playing a new game with me. He reads a quote and I'm supposed to tell him what song pops into my head. He thinks this is fun. I can't help it if my brain is on shuffle all the time. I can't help it if someone says something random like the word "letter" and the song ABC from the Jackson's 5 pops in my head.

So far he's been relatively unsuccessful in getting songs to pop into my head. I believe it's because he's forcing the issue...AND because there's usually already a song in my head that doesn't just stop when he reads a quote.

ahem...

In other news, I understand from a few of my avid readers that the link to the scrapblog from yesterday wasn't the right link. So let me set that straight. It should appear below.




Have a good weekend everyone.

Our Survivor Scrapblog

So I had posted the actual scrapblog here via the scrapblog website, but it refuses to load for me. Then instead of making my faithful (or fateful is it?) readers to sit and wait for it to load, I've deleted it.

To see Blueberry's 5 Year Scrapblog....click here. I'll figure out why it took so long to load later.

In other big news, Blueberry had been nominated by BigBro and I to be a Survivor flag bearer at the 3 Day. Well, as it turns out BigBro and I have also been asked to be alternate flag bearers too. And little do they know I'm a professional too. I spent years on the flag and rifle teams in high school. Whodathunk I'd be asked to use those mad skilz later in life?

This weekend Saving 2nd Base will be blanketing a small portion of the route (2 miles) with flyers letting businesses and communities know we'll be in their neighborhood for three days and to come out and support the walkers. Since I may never actually participate in the 3Day again, I'm so glad I'm getting to do several really cool things related to the 3 Day.

5,000 Ducks

Quick! Take a look to the right! See that!

I MET MY GOAL!!!!!!

Five Thousand DUCKS! Amazing. And none of it could have been possible without so many amazing people in my life. I am, indeed, one lucky girl (who currently tears up just thinking about this 3 Day thing).

It's hard to believe it's been just 8 short months since that fateful day I sat, bored, on my couch surfing the web. The day I decided to participate in "the boldest breast cancer event in history". The day I signed my life over to a commitment that, quite honestly, I didn't know if I would succeed at. I wasn't sure I could do something, so bold, to try to change the world. Who was I to think I could? Then I thought, "Who am I to think I can't?"

Then I realized that if I leave any mark on this world, I want it to be one of love, courage and hope. What better way than to participate in the 3 Day 60 Mile Breast Cancer walk! I walk in honor of those who no longer can. For those who are brave enough to face a breast cancer diagnosis every day and who have the strength, the resolve and the courage to survive.

*sniff sniff

I've raised my personal goal to $6,000 - why not? I mean surely I can raise another $1,000. There's still some donation wells that need to be tapped.

And so - the shout outs to my last donors who pushed me over the limit.

TECHNOLOGIST 1 - THANKS! YOUR DONATION WAS UNEXPECTED AND SO APPRECIATED

THE BRIT - DESPITE ALL THE GRIEF - YOU'RE DEFINITELY MY FAVOURITE (SPELLED WRONG FOR THE BRIT) BRIT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION.

AND

HIKERGIRL - OH.MY.GOD. YOUR GENEROUS DONATION IS THE 'ONE' THAT PUSHED ME OVER $5,OOO. THANK YOU. I OWE YOU COFFEE OR A SALMON DINNER.

Danger: Sap Ahead

This weekend we celebrated a hero. This hero began her journey 5 years ago with a diagnosis of breast cancer. She was scared, angry, and worried, but she took it all as a true hero would. Through her bravery I have seen the unending possibilities of the human spirit. While she wasn't alone in her fight and while she's had the support of her family and friends, she has had to shoulder the burden of breast cancer. And she never gave up hope. Even though fear choked her at times, her heart always held the fear at bay and covered it with hope. She's now a symbol of hope.

Just to fight the battle of breast cancer most would say, "This is enough." But she is not most people. It is not enough for her to just survive. Instead she has embraced life and has taken off in a whole new direction. She's survived for 5 years because she's chosen to fight with every ounce of her being. And I'm sure she'll be around for 50 more.

We all gathered to celebrate our hero at Acres of Clams in Seattle. All the people in her life who either have recently joined her life and supported her, or who have been there through it all, gathered to say, "We love you, Blueberry!"

In attendance - from right to left

Back row: Mr. Volleyball, HikerGirl, HandyMan (formally known as HikerBoy), Mr. Stalemate (formally Mr. Newlywed), The MomUnit, Blueberry, The DadUnit

Front Row: Mrs. Newlywed, the Dane, Jules, ChickenLady, and Moi (formally known as the woman who could control her tears).

I know I speak for Blueberry when I say she was very touched by all of us coming together to celebrate her 5 brave years of CANCER FREE.

Pay it Forward!

I have a feeling it's going to be "one" of those days where I can burst into tears at any moment. (no I don't have the girl curse). Let me explain.

It all started this morning waking up being, well, happy. I know that shouldn't be odd, but I'm not usually a big fan of getting up too early - especially when the MomUnit keeps you up late. Yet this morning it felt good to get up and face the day. The fact that it's Friday may have something to do with it, but still. It's not like it's been a hard week or anything.

Anyhow, on the way into work my CD was blaring one of the songs I've chosen to use for my 3Day movie. Then when I got to work I had to look it up on YouTube so I can post it here...and found this video with it. Ugh.

But let's not get ahead of myself.

Once I got whatever was in my eye making it water out, I pulled into my second favorite place - Starbucks. As I crossed the parking lot, a grey-haired man in a Mercedes actually stopped for me to cross over to Starbucks. "Odd," I thought, "People don't generally stop here, but whatever." I continued to bebop into Starbucks.

Now, a little history. There's a homeless man named Morgan who visits this Starbucks every day. He's your average homeless man that if you saw him on the street you'd look away and pretend you didn't even see him. The women who work at this Starbucks, talk to him, and treat him like they would any other customer. See Morgan refuses to let anyone else pay for his coffee - usually. Some days you can do it, but mostly he pulls $3 out of his soiled pants and hands it over. Usually dropping the change in the tip drawer.

I hadn't really been paying attention to anything else because I was too busy scolding myself for complaining (in my mind) about this man's smell. But the older gentleman from the Mercedes had entered stealthily behind me.

Morgan gets his coffee and leaves, thanking the team as he leaves by raising his right hand that's holding onto his skateboard. They all shout, "See you tomorrow Morgan."

I buy my coffee and am chitchatting with one of the baristas at the end of the bar when I hear the old man ask the barista how he can be an anonymous benefactor for Morgan's daily coffee for the next three months. He explains to the girls that he sees Morgan every day there and would like to help out by buying his coffee for the next 3 months! Even typing it I'm getting all misty eyed.

The baristas explain that Morgan won't even take free coffee from them without paying something. So they weren't sure if he'd accept the donation. The Mercedes Man said he'd pay for a gift card and leave it at the store for him with a note. He scribbled something down on a piece of paper and put it in with this gift card for Morgan.

My jaw dropped. It shouldn't have because I think people should be that way all the time, but let's face it, we aren't. But here's this man who clearly has plenty of money, who - in my opinion - would normally be the type to sneer and look away (like I did). Instead he's offering to help a man who has clearly seen better days. Incredible.

So as I walked away flicking a stupid tear off my face, I got in the car and THIS song was the next to play on the CD (Warning: If you have any feeling in your body, this song will make you get teary! You've been warned.)

Sheesh!

In other FANTASTIC News - which also got a tear flowing. You'll notice my donation-A-Meter to the right is ALMOST FULL. That's due to some donations that have come through the last couple of days. Can I get a WOOT WOOT? I need to buy a bigger shirt now to fit all my donors on it while I'm walking!

Rose from Scotland - It's been such a pleasure getting to know you and quite frankly YOU ROCK! Thank you for your donation!

Aunt Rene - I will most certainly put Grandma Miller on my list of "in honor of"'s and Thank you for your donation!

KathyH - Not only would I not be a PM without your mentoring, but I wouldn't be so "in the money" without your donation. Thank you!

Joshua's Grandparents (aka Gary & Jeannette) - Cindy was such an inspiration to everyone, that I feel privileged to walk in honor of her. I know she will be with me poking me during the walk with her Cindy wit and carrying me with her spirit. She's was truly an angel here on earth. And now I get to give back to her. Thank you for your donation! Her name will be on my shirt with yours.

My ESP Friend in Sacramento - Can you guess what I'm thinking? You're right! That you are awesome! Thank you for your support and donation. If you're in Seattle on Sept 14th, I expect to see you at the finish line!

This weekend we celebrate Blueberry's 5 year Cancer Free anniversary. It's hard to believe that 5 years ago we sat huddled in her apartment, the fear forcing the tears. The constant disbelief that this could happen to someone so young, someone so wonderful. Then the reality set in and watching her push through every single side effect the chemo could throw at her made me so amazed at the power the human spirit. And here we are 5 short year later, she's every bit Blueberry. Glowing - and not from the radiation - and living! Yay!

2 Years and Still going strong

Can you believe it? The stang is 2! It's hard to believe that I've been driving this little gem for 2 years. Even more had to believe is how little the loan amount has decreased. So, let them eat cake!

It's been a relatively uneventful week. It's been hot here in the great northwest. I was "chuckling" slightly when the news announced we are on in a weather watch for a heat wave. It's 89 outside! The big issues, apparently, is the smog that's being created. It sounds like the next two days will be hot-hot-hot and thus the smog will increase. They were commenting that our great mountain, Mount Rainer, can't be seen through the smog. My thought was, "As if we see the mountain between the clouds usually anyhow."

I had a small rent issue this week. I was checking my checking account when I noticed a large sum still existing in my account. I knew something had to be wrong. I looked further and found my rent check cleared for only $100. As if. I wish I that was all I owed. I called the bank and called the apt complex and found that in the tender line I wrote the number incorrectly. Hundred instead of thousand. Whatever. The number was written out right. Either way they are making me pay the rest. Can you imagine? The nerve. They wouldn't have even caught it had I not brought it to their attention. I think at least a 50% discount should be in order.

Am I the only one who is already tired of the political commercials? Here in Seattle we get them 4 in a row. 2 for the republicans and 2 for the democrats. Both sides mudslinging already! Ugh. Make it stop!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find some cake.

"Ahem", says my feet

Well it's done. We walked 15 today so officially our 18/15 is done. And you know what? I FEEL GREAT! It's scary really how good I feel.

For months I have been struggling with blisters on the bottom of my feet that then cause the balls of my feet to ache like they shouldn't ache. I had serious concern about how I was going to do this with the feetys hurtin like they were. But I think taking the 4 weeks off and letting them heal really was the ticket.

Anyhow, we were up and at'em with the Hotties this morning. We had about 30 walkers today. It's quite a sight to see too I must admit. It's a sea of pink. I can only imagine what the 3 Day will be like since we are just 30 versus 2500 people wearing pink.

Today we did a "HILL OF DEATH" at - wait for it - the END of the walk. I'm not sure why they think the end of the walk is where these hills should come, but they do. This was the other side of the 65th Street hill we did weeks ago with the hotties. One of the guys had a GPS thingy-ma-bob that clocked our average speed, the hours it took, and the elevation. This is a horrible picture, but you can see the elevation we took.

So yes, see that big green spike? That's the elevation. Crazy I tell ya. The best part was as we approached the HILL OF DEATH Blueberry realized she had lost/left her water bottle. So she decided to "run" into this little sketchy market in a not so good part of town, and get a new water. That put us in the dead last of the walkers. As we walked toward the HILL OF DEATH this gal we were walking with "Kathy", said "OH and the entire team will wait for everyone at the top." Great. Not only will I be hyperventilating by then, but I'll be dead. Great.

We started up. It's a nice steep hill that - thankfully - is about 4 blocks long. At the top of each block, it's flat when you cross the street, so you get a very short breather. And the team can't see you until you're on the 3rd block, which by then you can't breath - if you were hypothetically me. As we hit the flat before the 4th block, two other women were walking down to "help" us up. Great, not only are we dead last, but they think we need help. The one took my hand and said, "I'll help ya and talk you all the way up." And up we went. Two steps from the top the entire team burst into a cheer. It was AWESOME! It totally carried me the rest of the way.

Blueberry had some blistering issues today. Nothing serious, but enough that she had to bandage up during our "lunch" stop. We stopped at a Safeway and across the street was a McDonald's. All I could think about was a Hi-C Orange. Hoppin Heather at work mentioned this the other day and it stuck with me and sounded SOOOO good. And let me tell you boys and girls, if you happen to see me on the route and find yourself wondering what you could do to make my day. Be standing there with a 32 ounce McDonald's HiC Orange. And you my friend will be my favorite person at that moment.

And so I did it. 18/15. Even as I type this I'm putting my 18/15 sticker on my 3Day credentials. That "officially" completes all my stickers! Yay. I'm ready. It's all down hill from here. We're just 4 short weeks out now (well 5 if you could the actual weekend walk). It'll be done before I know it.

BIG HUGE SHOUT out to ChickenLady for her Arnica Montana advice. I swear that stuff has saved me this weekend. So ChickenLady - Thank you a million.

Oh and whilst (that's British for while) I'm at it, how about some shout outs for my most recent donors. I'm at $4530 which is 91% to my goal.

KEN AND VICKY - YOU BOTH KICK ASS WITH YOUR OVERLY GENEROUS DONATION. NEXT TIME YOU'RE IN SEATTLE, I'VE GOT A SALMON BAKE DINNER WITH YOUR NAME ON IT.

THE SANDERSON FAMILY - WHILE I SHOULD SAY IT'S ABOUT TIME, I'LL SAY INSTEAD I'M GLAD YOU'RE FAMILY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION!

Just to be the WOman who walked 1000 miles To fall down at your door

Fall down at my door indeed. Today was day one of the 18/15 walk. The 18/15 is the test to see how ready you are for the 3 day. It's 18 miles one day and 15 the next. I had serious concerns about the 18 because the last 18 almost killed my little tootsies.

It is with great excitement that I can say 18 wasn't so bad today. My feet are tired, but not sore like they normally are. We walked a wicked path though that included a "HILL OF DEATH". Which you may or may not know, but Seattle is full of them.

We started at Greenlake again and headed northwest. We then walked down into Ballard. And by "down" I mean down, big hill, way down. About mid way down this "HILL OF DEATH" I realized our walk was an out and back meaning we'd have to walk UP this hill. Oh hell. AND this hill would be at mile 16 or so - oh double hell.

On the other side of Ballard we walked across the Chittenden Locks again. Not so many people there in the morning, but it was packed in the afternoon. On the other side of the locks we walked through Discovery Park again. You may remember a Discovery Park walk from some months ago where we did our first 13 or so. Anyhow, we took a path through the woods that went UP HILL again. It was a beautiful walk in the woods, despite the uphill nature of it. On the other side we walked through Magnolia - a wealthy Seattle neighborhood. On the other side of Magnolia we stopped and had a snack.

This is probably a good time to tell you we walked with the Warming Hut Hotties again today. They have route support on these long walks and so every stop a woman (Adrian) with a car and goodies in the back, with water and gator aid stopped for us. It was great because then we didn't have to worry about finding a place to find food and water...only a place with a little girls room.

Anyhow, after lunch we turned back. I couldn't believe by lunch that we had walked 9 miles and I felt great. My feet didn't hurt and I was quite happy about that. Now, if only the next 9 I'll be so lucky. We made it back in record time it seemed, hill and all. In fact, I couldn't believe how good I did on the hill. It was a 3/4 of a mile hill and I found that stopping after each block helped. Just a little stop at the light for a breather and I was good to go.

Tomorrow we do 15 with the Hotties. We'll see how I feel tomorrow, but right now I feel surprisingly good. Blueberry and I stopped and had pizza on our way home. Then a quick shower and slathered up with Hanah Montana lotion (aka Arnica Montana - but it's more fun to call it Hanah Montana).

So until tomorrow, if I can feel my fingers I might drop a line.

People will see me and cry FAME

You know you're singing along, don't try to deny it.

BTW - when searching on lyrics to Fame, I came across the lyrics for the David Bowie song. Can I just say, WTH? Go on. Go read them. I'll wait. I have no doubt that I too could be a song writer if those were the guideline under which I had to follow.

Right, so why is Fame stuck in my head. Well, because thanks to BigBro, we're famous. That's right. Yours truly and her faithful side kicks (aka my 3Day team members) are in the newspaper. Last time I was in the newspaper was in 198 - er ah - 1984 - I think - when I became the Quartz Hill High School Rifle Captain (Interesting little side note, when googling Quartz Hill High School, not only did my own blog come up, but they're on wikipedia too - whodathunk?)

No where was I?

Oh yes, we're famous. Truth be told it's all BigBro. He got interviewed for the article and Blueberry and I just went along for the ride. BUT, they used our photo!

Extra! Extra! Read All About Us!
I'm such a shy girl, aren't I?

If you now take a trip to me to the right of my blog. You will see my meter is now at 84%. How is that possible you ask? Well I'll tell you...

CHICKEN LADY - DAH DA DA DAHHHH (That's supposed to be the sound of trumpets when royalty enters the room ) Ahem! Anyhow CHICKEN LADY - THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS DONATION THAT PUT ME AT $4200. MAY YOUR CHICKENS NEVER BE FOOD!

Looming this weekend is my big 18/15 walk. It's the milestone that tells you if you are ready for this 3Day thing.

In other 3Day news, BigBro and I both nominated Blueberry to be a Survivor flag carrier for opening (or closing) ceremonies. We just found out yesterday that she has, in fact, been selected! Can I get a woot woot?

Mamma mia, here I go again

How do weekends go so fast? I swear I was just driving home on Friday thinking about dinner. And here I sit on Sunday typing out a blog about where the weekend went. Well, shall we review.

Let's start with TGIF. I invited the Newlyweds to dinner. Dinner....mmmmm, what a great meal I managed to create if I do say so myself. The ParentalUnits have been in Alaska for a month stocking their freezer and mine with salmon and a few pieces of halibut. So a couple of those halibut pieces found their way out of the freezer and into my oven. Get into my oven! I made an old favorite Parchment Halibut, twice baked potatoes and zucchini with the halibut. For dessert I pulled out all the stops. Yes, we had ice cream. What? No I didn't make it. That's just crazy talk! I bought it...French Silk...it's delicious.

During the dinner gathering with the Newlyweds the topic of their "code" name not being so accurate anymore. So Groom of the Newlyweds came up with their new name by saying, "We're more like StaleMates now." So there you go. The Newlyweds will hence forth be the StaleMates.

The StaleMates kept me up too late on Friday night to allow me to get up bright and early to walk with any of the teams I had planned to walk with, so I decided to trek out on my own. My trek took me to the Mustang, which took me to Starbucks, which took me home cleaning. So no, I didn't walk on Saturday. But my apartment is sure clean...or it was until FuzzButt decided to drop some fuzz all over.

Following apartment cleaning, the StaleMates and I found ourselves in Bellevue having appetizers at Ztejas and then over at the movie theater seeing Mama Mia. Oh. My. God. what a funny movie. It always amazes me when actors you have seen just acting for years pulls music out of their famous, talented asses. Good grief, Meryl Streep can sing. Pierce Brosnan, not so much. I just couldn't get past James Bond singing Abba songs. Those two = oil and water. Aside from James Bond singing Abba poorly, the rest of the movie was very enjoyable. They did Abba well.

And yet again, the StaleMates kept me up past my bedtime last night and so I managed to not get up this morning to walk with other teams, but I do have my tennis shoes on and all ready to go. I'll do 5 miles today and call it a day. Meeting PhotoGirl and The Yank for the July PhotoGods outting - yes I realize it's August, but we're slightly behind.

Ohhh, thanks for asking...

Why yes, I did get a new cell phone. And yes, it's PINK! But you knew that just by reading that I got some new gadget - I mean all my other new gadgets have been pink, so why not a new phone.

No, my old phone was functioning fine. It did take a bath in a puddle, but the blasted thing survived. You see, I am a marketing departments favorite person. If you send me cool looking advertisements with words like "PINK" and "FREE" in it, then you've got me. Hook. Line. and Sinker. (What the hell is a sinker anyhow?). And so, this is the kickass new phone I bought.

Ain't it cute? The left image is when it's open and the right is when it's closed - for those of you who haven't seen a slide phone before...just in case there's a few of you reading this blog - ahem!

Anyhow, it's all touch screen, pink goodness. I spent about 45 minutes last night inputting contacts. Yes, I know they will move them over for me if I go to the store but I like doing them myself. I get to 1) clean them out and 2) get used to the phone. So if you hadn't called in a while, there's a chance you've been removed. A small chance, tiny really.

I was tagged by BeagleBabe sometime ago and did the meme the day of, but forgot to add it...so without any further talk of pink.

I was tagged by BeagleBabe for this. I’ve not answered one of these for awhile, so here it goes.

1. What is your occupation right now?Project Goddess (aka Project Manager)

2. What color are your socks right now?Socks? I have sandals on so my socks would be au natural

3. What are you listening to right now? The hum of our servers and the annoying, droning voice of Mr. Wigglesworth

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Homemade Chex Mix - mmmmmm

5. Can you drive a stick shift?ah Hi, Mustang owner! Must. Have. Sticks.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Ultra Cool PM from the UK


7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? She’s awesome!

8. How old are you today? 39.77777754 years

9. What is your favorite sport to watch? College Football, followed closely by US Male Doubles volleyball

10. What is your favorite drink? Grande Vanilla Americano with extra room and/or Cosmopolitan

11. Favourite food?Just one? I’m a burger junky. I come by it naturally though – my mom is too

12. What is the last movie you watched? Little Mermaid (insert sheepish grin)

13. Favourite day of the year?My birthday! Except for maybe this year…the big 4.0 and all.

14. How do you vent anger? Out the trap!

15. What was your favourite toy as a child? I was a Barbie Girl. I had a ton of barbies. One of them I cut her hair and she became the “maid” to the other barbies.

16. What is your favourite season? Summer in Seattle

17. Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries! Though I prefer a cherry only on top of an ice cream sundae

18. Do you want your friends to add this meme to their blogs? Yes! Mom, Freak Magnet and Patron Saint

19. Who is the most likely to respond? Mom – if she can get Internet connection

20. Who is least likely to respond? oooo, that’s a hard one…

21. Living arrangements? Chez Jenn’s is a plethora of comfort covered in black cat hair.

22. When was the last time you cried? Freakin yesterday! See above story on Komen.

23. What is on the floor of your closet?Shoes. Lots and lots of shoes.

24. Who is the friend you have had the longest relationship with that you are sending this to? The MomUnit for 39.77777754 years

25. What did you do last night? See above story on Komen – oh and then I tweaked my back picking up my propane tank wrong.

26. What inspires you? Seeing people who are really passionate and a grande vanilla Americano! Or and a chocolate chip cookie on mile 7 and hot dogs on mile 10 or higher.

27. What are you most afraid of? BEES! They’re the devil’s spawn.

28. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Pass the Cheese please. Though it depends on where I’m getting said burger.

29. Favourite dog breed? I’m a golden fan. Though brown and black standard poodles aren’t too bad either – especially Beau and Schuster.

30. Favourite day of the week? Friday’s!

31. How many states have you lived in? Oh good lord. Let me get out my abacus. Texas, New Mexico, New Jersey, North Dakota, Montana, California, and Washington - 7

31. Biggest Life lesson? Listen to my intuition. Going against my gut feeling has always led to the wrong decisions for me.

Yet Another Addiction, just what I needed

I think I might have some issues with getting my hands on new toys or technology and then not being able to stop playing with it.

I've been looking for a way to create a picture movie. One of the PhotoGods introduced me to Microsoft Photo Story (Free to download if you wish). And man is it easy. If you have Vista you get Microsoft Movie Maker and DVD Maker with Vista. You can use those to create a DVD of movies and copy them to give to friends and family you know are just dying to see your photos. Within days I created a half dozen or so "movies" of some of my favorite pictures. I haven't yet figured out how to post them to the blog without putting them on YouTube, but "watch this space" because I'm gonna.

NOW...as if that wasn't enough to keep me procrastinating from doing real work. THIS came into view. Scrapblog. It's a free online tool that let's you "scrapbook" digitally and publish these scrapbooks. So I had to play with it to see how easy it was. And in a matter of minutes I was able to create three very simple pages very quickly. AND if gives you directions to publishing it to your blog. So this is a test. For the next 30 seconds ....



It was a copy and paste and voila! I'm in trouble now though. I feel the "need" to go and scrapbook...digitally. This is bad. I'm not going to get ANYTHING done now!

And another shout out...

HOPPIN' HEATHER - YOU ROCK! It's rare that people surprise me, but you did. Thanks a million. And for the record, if you do bring fudge icecream to the finish line, you will be expected to hand it over.

Paper or Plastic?

I am not sure if this is an issue anywhere else in the country, but here in an area where we have a high concentration of activists this question will cost you money in January. That's right! The Seattle city council is voting tomorrow whether to start charging .20 cents PER plastic bag in grocery stores. Now while I am a big believer of reusable bags, and happen to have two that I seem to never remember to bring with me, I'm not so sure that charging for plastic bags is the way to go. Seattle uses 360 million plastic bags a year in Seattle, and that is a frighteningly high number, but still. What about people on a fixed income, or lower income people. How is this going to affect them? Anyhow, we'll see what the Seattle city council says tomorrow, but be prepared to pay if you're in Seattle and want/need a plastic bag.

The other news story today that got me reminiscing about high school. Let me explain.

There's a week long school in Seattle for the summer that brings kids of all ethnic groups together to work through racism issues. The school teaches tolerance and understanding and helps educate these kids about how things were 35-40 years ago. How just being a different color could have put you in a concentration camp in Seattle. Part of their training is actually experiencing this. Some of their liberties are taken away and they have to learn to deal with it and understand the process of getting freedoms.

Well, back in my junior year of school. It was my first semester at TASIS. I still didn't know too many people and was still feeling a bit out of sorts about being at a boarding school so far away from home. My history instructor who looking back now may not have been playing with a full deck, was teaching us about the transport of slaves from Africa. In order for us to clearly understand the hardships these people suffered she pushed the couch from our room to the wall and left about 5 feet between the wall and the couch. She then ordered our class to "climb in". We had to all lay, sit, squish into this very confined area where you couldn't stretch out at all. So here are about 10 kids stuffed into this small spot and we sat there for - I think - most of the class. She added commentary too saying things like "imagine people getting sit all around you. Urinating, throwing up, relieving themselves in other ways. No food. No water. For an entire trip across an ocean." Yes, we got it. It was a very effective form of training and I will likely never forget it.

The weekend walking schedule is being slightly modified. Blueberry and I took off yesterday from Greenlake to a good friends house for an "all girls" brunch. A good friend of mine was in town and all us girls from former Geeksoft days got together with all their kids and got caught up. We walked back to Greenlake and around Greenlake. Stopping at Super Jock and Jills for new shoes! Yep, I got new shoes. The "kickass helper guy", who was not only H.O.T, but helpful. Two great tastes that taste great together. I tried on several types of shoes trying to find a pair that would help my sore balls of my foot. Ended up buying another pair of Brooks. I tried on a pink pair too and SOOOO wanted them to work right, but Asics and I don't get along. But they were very pink and very cool looking shoes. Just not for me. I bought these "blue" ones instead. If you look closely enough you can see pink...really. Trust me. I see pink.

Anyhow, here are the Geeksoft Girls. From left to right: Kara (the one responsible for me knowing and loving DMQ), Me - lookin' all tired but hydrated, Rumi - worked with me when I was a subsidiary liaison - the cute little girl is Reina - Rumi's 1 yr old, and finally Jules - responsible for me working at Geeksoft at all, as well as working with me as a subsidiary liaison too. Kara moved to Ellensburg some time ago and we rarely get to see her.

Today, Blueberry experienced a comedy of errors trying to get out the door to go walk 14 with a new team. Not only is it raining outside and the thought of walking 14 miles in rain really doesn't do it for me. Yes. Yes. I know if it rains during the 3 Day we'll have to walk - which I might add is easy for you to say sitting in your warm place all not wet for 6+ hours. Anyhow, Blueberry's alarm didn't go off so she called at 6AM (when she was supposed to be here) and said she was on her way in 10. I walked out to the car to sit and wait for her and managed to slip off the curb and went down on my knee. My cell phone ended up in a puddle so it's airing out (Maybe it won't work and I'll get to go buy the pink one I've been eye balling). We got in the car and drove to the freeway entrance only to decide to not walk in the rain. Turned around, went to Starbucks, and am sitting here writing a blog. We will go 5-10 later today when the sun comes out, or the rain stops. If not we may walk down to the theater and see Batman!

Okay, off to ice my knee.

What Kind of World Do you Want?

I overheard a conversation a couple weeks ago that has had me thinking. I was in line at Starbucks, (dah, where else would I be in line eavesdropping?) and the woman in front of me asked her male(ish) – I think it was male – It was very Pat-ish if you know what I mean – anyhow, the woman was asking Pat what kind of positive mark he was leaving? He looked confused, so she continued to explain how she’s been trying to do things during her life that leaves a mark – in a good way. For example, she signed up to be a Big Sister because she felt she had something to offer someone. She wants to be sure she leaves this place better than when she found it.

So that got me thinking, what kind of mark am I leaving? Some would argue that having children leave a mark (and some would argue that the children themselves ARE a mark). Well, I’m not likely to have children at this point, so what now? Where am I leaving a mark? Where do I want to leave a mark? What excites me? What am I passionate about? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks…PINK!

Here I am putting in an enormous amount of energy and emotion into supporting and participating in a breast cancer event. But when it’s over, what then? Am I going to just check it off my list and move on? Or is there room for me to keep giving? I found, there’s room. I have been doing research on breast cancer and have found some startling statistics that quite frankly scare the living bejesus out of me. I’m convinced that education and early detection will help increase the number of survivors. And so, I signed up. I signed up to volunteer for the local Susan G. Komen affiliate.

I met with the volunteer coordinator earlier this week and their executive director (who happens to be our former Governor’s wife) and the passion these two women displayed about their work removed any second thoughts I might have had. They talked to me about what Susan G. Komen (from here on out SGK and I’m referring to the Washington affiliate) spends their money on and I knew I was in the right place. 70% of their money is being spent on early detection with not just affluent women, but those women who may be less financially stable, or have a cultural barrier. They found through research that a lot of women who are perhaps a different ethnic group don’t discuss breast health or the need to pay attention to it. And the numbers of deaths in that group was larger than most, so the focus goes there. Which I think is fantastic.

Then they discussed all the other programs they support. They have a program that if you are diagnosed and you can’t pay your mortgage, they’ll pay it for you. Or help you with other bills if you need it. That’s amazing and I must be a part of this. This is going to be my mark. My mark will be pink!

And as if that isn’t enough pink, the new pink pack was delivered yesterday with some new pink scrapbook paper, new pink crock flip flops, a delivery from the breast cancer shop and 29 lbs of Salmon. My apartment looks like a cardboard box of pink and black cat hair blew up in it!
The walk is now 7 weeks away. Donations are still coming in and I’m increasingly amazed at the generosity of people. So a few more shout outs!

Nelson Mandella’s BFF – I too hope to see you at the finish line and I too hope I’m still walking and not sitting in a wheel chair. Thanks for your donation!

PM Instructor/friend – We do really need to get a happy hour on the calendar, I can then thank you in person. But before then, THANK YOU!

Hank Dodge and Snapshot Katie – I have no idea who you are, but you most certainly must be angels from somewhere. Thank you for your donation!

The Newlyweds – here in a couple more months I’m going to have to come up with a new code name for you two since you will have been married for a year. You both have been fantastic supporters of me from the start of this journey, so thank you.

This weekend should be a 24 mile weekend. 10 tomorrow and 14 or 16 on Sunday. I say "or" because it'll depend on how good I feel at 14 as to whether we'll take a 2 mile loop to make it 16. But thankfully where this walk will end they will be two of my favorite things: A Starbucks AND a 7-11. Two great tastes that taste - wait - nevermind!

The Flamingo's Are coming...

I'm sure everyone knows I'm a flamingo fanatic. It's part of the Pink Sickness I have. And if you don't know of my "issue", you should revisit a perfectly good example of said sickness.

Well, as it would have it on our trek out on Sunday we passed the Woodland Park Zoo. I've not been to the zoo in forever and thought how fun it would be to go again. It's been on the list for PhotoGods, but when to go. Well, I think this picture says it all.

Yes, that's right. I'll be scheduling a trip to the zoo very soon. Last time I was there was in - um -er - um - 2001? Maybe. The cost has gone up, that's for sure, but it should be worth the entertainment. I'll most likely go on a week night to avoid the little people en masse. Wanna come with me? I'll buy the popcorn!

In other interesting news, I have my first official battle scar. You can't see it because it's covered in color, but it's there. I saw it myself, and Blueberry was my witness. I have a blue toe nail. According to my pedicure woman it's only half the toe so I won't lose the nail, but it sure is ugly. I'm just so proud to have a battle scar. It shows me I'm really a true walker now.

Blueberry surprised me this weekend with a fun little gift. She knows, and appreciates, my sudden, inexplicable love for pink. So she found these. Aren't they cool?

Don't be jealous! Not everyone can have such beautiful flip flops. And in case you want to see all of this week's sexy walking photos...visit my flicker site.

But I would walk 500 miles, And I would walk 500 more, Just to be the man who walked 1000 miles,To fall down at your door

Happy walking weekend.

I gotta tell ya, the little tear fest I had this last week really reset my attitude. I feel GREAT about walking this weekend. Yesterday we walked 13 miles, today almost 9 (I'll explain more why there wasn't more mileage).

First some housecleaning. VikingGirl unfortunately had to drop from the team. She's not walked with us since February and has had some things that she's needed to take care of. So officially she removed herself from our team this week. And so, we had to take a new team photo. (Well that and BigBro got interviewed for a local newspaper and they wanted a team photo).

Say hello to the existing, long winded, never tiring, always Saving Second Base.

Last night we met at BigBro's house and took out for a 12 ish death march walk. After walking through a native Seattle park on the water, we headed to University Village, then up 25th to home. Because we were walking during the at dinner time, we "had" to stop at MickyD's for cheeseburgers. There's something about that salt craving that just makes me want a McDonald's cheeseburger. So after stopping for a bite we headed home. Ended up 12.95 miles total.

The important thing to note though is I FELT GREAT. I didn't really tire out as early as I used to, I wasn't in any pain, it was just great. I was sure getting up this morning I'd be all sore and everything, but my Hanna Montana Arnica Montana cream that ChickenLady recommended is AWESOME. No real pain.

This morning we were up at o'dark thirty (okay well 7:30) then we were off to downtown Seattle to go to the Bite of Seattle. I felt great this morning too. I hopped out of bed with no pain, and was ready to boogy on down to Seattle. We met at Northgate and headed into downtown. We stopped at Starbucks in Fremont for their new Vivanno drink (chocolate banana is ZOMG sooo good). Fremont is a rather unusual area of Seattle. They have several "colorful" people down there.

Outside of Fremont, Seattle is just 3 miles down the road. We got to the bite, and we were hungry. The smells as you walk through all the food being made available...it was so hard to decide. Until....until we came across a Filipino restaurant offering pansat and lumpia. I love it. So we grabbed a plate full and found ourselves sitting watching people for about 30 minutes. It was hot, sunny and tons of people watching. Delicious. Blueberry and I "had" to finish the day off (I think I may be regretting that now).

We hopped on a bus and headed home to Northgate (I hear all of you out there asking, "Why didn't you walk?" It may have been a bit too much for us this weekend - maybe).

BigBro has been a zipfizz fan for two years now and has talked ZipFizz into sending samples to us. In fact, read all about him from last years 3Day by clicking here (scroll down to the #5 and see his photo and testimonial). Anyhow, we had to send back a team photo in the ZipFizz shirts and hats today. So back at Northgate we hopped in our ZipFizz clothing and snapped a shot or two.

Got a package full of wishes, A time machine, a magic wand, A globe made out of gold

Ahoy maties, happy Thursday.

Do note that I updated my honor roll to the right (Thanks to The Yank for helping me do just that). Yes, that's correct, I'm at 71% of my overall goal. I still stare at that number and am in total amazement that I know so many charitable people who support me in my current challenge. Getting to our minimum goal was always a concern, but BigBro kept telling us it would be no problem, and indeed it wasn’t. Someday I might have to start listening to him. On a side note, Saving Second Base as a team is at 73% and $10,888.73. Go team!

See here's the thing, I think I've been losing the mojo, losing my inspiration, losing my desire to continue walking. I'm burnt out and we have 10 very short weeks left. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no desire to stop what I'm doing. No way, it's too important. So I decided I need a small reminder as to why I'm doing this. What on earth would possess me to take part in the "boldest breast cancer event in history" and spend so much time training to walk a crazy 60 miles in 3 days? And so I started searching; soul searching and Internet searching.

It didn't take me long to remember. Oh yah, women around the world. Daughters, mothers, sisters, wives, all of them. In fact, what helped me realize this was Mrs. PMDude. (PMDude made a vital mistake in getting his wife and I together so now we chat some.) Anyhow, she wrote and asked how it was going with the training. I responded, and then she responded with, "As I write, I realize that you are walking for me! You are walking for my girls. My girls ...you never know what the future holds for them. Wow, Jen! This is HUGE!! Thank you for making things better for me and my girls!!" Sniff sniff!

Okay okay. Stop with the waterworks already. I’ve turned into one ball of mush.

So that email led me to youtube. I have a love / hate relationship with youtube. I love that you can find just about anything out there, but hate that you can find just about anything out there. So I did a search on breast cancer 3 day. Oh my giddy aunt was there a lot of videos. I started clicking through them and watching and misting. (not to be confused with crying). So many inspirational videos of the event, the closing ceremonies, and 3Day TV ads.

I also found on the 3Day website, videos. Oh. My. God. Blueberry and I watched one the other night that I’ve now seen a half dozen times and ALWAYS cry.

And then I found this video. Do not click on it if you have an emotional bone in your body. Melissa Etheridge nailed the emotion I think.

I had to change some of her lyrics, and to remind me again why I’m taking this crazy challenge. It saves one person, it’s worth everything you go through leading up to and during that walk.

I walk for hope
I walk to feel
I walk for the truth for all that is real
I walk for your mother, your sister, your wife
I walk for you and me my friend
I walk for life

And lastly, these words from a friend, “Rest if you must, but don’t quit.”

So in celebration of my renewed endeavor to give it my all (by the way, I need to average 25 miles a week to meet my 500 training miles goal), I bought this.

Sunday's are such sad days

Wow has this weekend gone by fast. I'm feeling kinda ripped off. I feel like someones playing a cruel joke on me and making me go back to work tomorrow. Ugh. I get to have a meeting with Skippy tomorrow too, oh goody. That makes me really want to go in. Maybe I'm coming down with some exotic disease that lasts for 24 hours and it's gone. Maybe I can work from home tomorrow. Maybe I could win the lottery and never work again. Oh maybe! What a cruel word.

This weekend was somewhat uneventful in that I didn't do anything - well eventful. BigBro and I walked 10 miles yesterday. I hit a wall again at about mile 6. I just had to sit down. I was drained. I even had breakfast for a change. I chugged some zipfizz and we were off. I tried to talk him into shortening our route, but the big meany wouldn't let me. Brothers! (Hi BigBro! - Just kidding).

Last night was a house warming at The Newlyweds new digs. Oh. My. God. They sure know how to make a house a home. It was decorated as if Martha Stewart lived there. Everything fit perfectly together and was just so fresh and fantastic. I was totally jealous! But still I came home to my little digs and felt just fine about what I have. Me and the Big Black Beast of Burden are doing just fine. Still, their house is great! No jealousy here.

Before I forget, another shout out!

Thanks to the Sister of THE GROOM of the Newlyweds for you and your husbands generous donation and Matching gift form. I sooo appreciate your support.

Blueberry stopped by for a walk and we made dinner too. Another bomb-diggity meal from the great bowl of recipes. It made 4000 gallons of casserole. Anyone hungry?

Two things One should never take together

You know when you brush your teeth and then stupidly take a drink of orange juice, that not quite right taste you get. It sends a shudder through your body and suddenly you are forced to remember that you shouldn't do that. You remind yourself to not do it again, and yet weeks, months, years later you find yourself doing just that.

Yah well, let me introduce you to a new combo that one should not partake in.

PLUS

EQUALS

I'm just sayin'. I don't recommend it. And in case you can't tell, that toothpaste is Orange and Mango! Right!

Now your asking what on earth made me buy Orange and Mango toothpaste. Well, just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from... oh wait, different story. (For those non American types who read this blog, you might know this song by visiting the show it goes to.

So normal, standard everyday toothpaste is too harsh for me. It burns my mouth and so makes brushing no fun, and consequently one does not brush as long as one should brush one's tuffies. (2-3 minutes minimum those dentist types say. ) . Enter Orange Mango toothpaste. Tom's Natural Toothpaste has long since been my fave, and while at Super Supplements buying arnica montana (in a cream not a plant) I stumbled onto different flavors of Tom's. Being adventurers and thinking I'd change it up, I bought it. Only it never occurred to me until the first brushing and first swig of Crest mouthwash that the two had a familiar gross factor.

In other news I dusted off the scrapbooking supplies yesterday and managed three pages of my UK trip. Yes, if you recall, that trip was exactly one year ago this week. ONE YEAR! Doesn't seem possible, and yet it is. So enjoy these new additions to my UK scrapbook.

It seems my work never stops, rooms turn into rooms

Yesterday I think I had the most productive day since like 7th grade. Well, maybe not but it sure felt like it. I've been reserving all the "I need to do's" for a day I could truly devote to such tasks. If I had a honey, it might have become a "honey do" list. But since I'm lacking of any honey I decided I should probably do the list myself.

I started in the morning by strapping on the blister creating shoes and thought a quick 5 mile walk would help me sort out what all needs to be done. Covering the blister appropriately and medically, I headed 300 yards to my mailbox. Whined the entire way. Turned around and came home. Have I mentioned I have a zero threshold for pain. Stupid blister. It's still open and isn't scabbing over yet so it hurts. "Fine" I thought. If I can't walk, then I'll get to my list.

Switching to open back sandals, I headed out.

1. First stop - local scrapbook store. I am on a search for some specific Survivor stickers. They didn't have them. And shock of shocks, I made it in and out of this store without buying a single solitary item. Not even adhesive, which I swear I always need and don't. Yes, go back. Reread that. I didn't buy a thing.

2. Off to Blueberry's house to kick - er ah - feed and water the devil cat and Muffin. All seemed well there, so tried to pet the beasts and was unsuccessful. Oh well. Their loss.

3. Stopped to fill my propane tank. It was hissing during the great BBQ adventure of Friday night so I figured it was time. It had been about a year or so it seems since last I filled it. In fact, the last time I filled it was when the Moron guy was shocked by being stung by a bee when he grabbed it out of mid air. Interestingly enough, same moron filled my tank this time. Though this time, in line ahead of me was one of our many local rednecks. He was filling his 1975 Chevy truck with propane. He was telling the attendant - who barely speaks Engrish (yes that's spelled correctly. If you say it out loud you can figure out the nationality - wow...that's quite unPC of me. Huh.) Anyhow, said redneck was proud that he converted this POS into a propane burning truck. He was saving our environment. As he puffed on a smoke, and tossed the dead butt onto the ground. Oh the irony.

4. I managed to not insult a stupid woman who was walking down the center of the road, clearly out of her mind. What? That's productive.

5. Stopped at Starbucks for a much needed Grande Vanilla Americano with Xtra room. Only I didn't get extra room. I got no room. Asked the barista, quite nicely I might add, to remake it. She did with great pleasure.

6. Got Light up my life stuck in my head! (Stop laughing PMDude or I'll sing it for you).

7. Went grocery shopping. I had picked out my two new recipes for this week (Chicken Piccata Toss and Mooshu Beef). Managed to get in and out of the grocery store with only the items on my list. Sweet! Twice in a day now.

8. Unloaded groceries, had to clean out fridge to allow for new groceries. Which led to cleaning the kitchen. Which included, bleaching my counter tops AND mopping. I hate mopping. Wow, sparkly clean.

9. Started laundry. Including all my bedding. Too much black cat fur for a normal bedspread. Blasted Cat.

10. Considered shaving the cat. Made a pro and con list. Cat managed to escape this time.

11. Vacuumed. See above mentioned black fur. I'm sure his goal in life it to cover every floor and piece of furniture with black fur. I think its in the cat's list of things to do.

12. Got slightly motivated to scrapbook. Decided instead to organize the piles of clippings of sample layouts. I've been clipping sample layouts out of magazines for 8 or so years now. They sit in a box completely unorganized so I never look at them. Finally I decided to go through them and scan the ones I think I'll use and organize them on the computer. I was very cut throat on which I kept and which got tossed.

13. Took out recycling due to massive amounts of paper. See above.

14. Decided that since I was feeling all organizational and all that perhaps now would be a good time to organize my digital photos. And perhaps burn a back up copy to CD for future safety.

15. Downloaded new photo organization trial. ACDSee. I laughed when I said it out loud and wondered why it would have anything to do with ACDC. Spent next 30 minutes fussing and playing with new trial software. The jury's still out as to whether I think it's good or not. Sure was easy to burn my CDs though. They have a Pro version too that looks like it might be like Photoshop. Downloaded that trial offer too.

16. Decided I needed to organize all the photos from the PhotoGod trips. I tend to print out my photos because I like to look at them and speculate how I'd take it differently and generally beat myself up over a poorly taken photo. So off to Tar-shay (aka Target) for some photo albums. They usually have a good selection and are decent in price. I happened onto the most perfect photo albums.

17. Organized and sorted photography photos into smashing new photo albums. AND dated them and put locations.

18. Gurgle gurgle. Oh. Time for dinner. Chicken Picatta Toss. ZOMG so good.

19. Cleaned kitchen ... again... post piccata.

20. Back to burning CDs. There are hundreds, thousands of photos I took in 2007. Good Lord. Does one person need so many photos? You gotta love digital though. I can take as many photos as I'd like and not really waste any money. I'm ruthless though and delete ones that aren't good. Why keep them? Some argue that I should keep them for posterity. Hah. As if. I toss real live printed photos too. Shudder! I know that puts some of my readers into a tailspin to think I actually throw away a picture. I have an entire garbage can of them now...want them?

21. While the CDs were burning, I decided that perhaps I should *gasp* clean the spare room. My spare room is a lot like a person's junk drawer. When you have something you don't know what to do with it, it goes in the junk drawer...or in my case, the spare room.

22. Freaked out at the time. I looked down after the last CD burned and it was 12:32 AM. Anyone who knows me or reads my blog knows I'm an early to bed kinda girl (with the rare exception of when I go out to see the local band I'm not stalking anymore).

23. Make bed. Blasted laundry. I did debate for a millisecond on whether or not to make the bed. Finally deciding it was like mom telling you to always wear clean underwear in case you're in an accident (of course said accident would soil one's clean underwear I'm sure), if I didn't make my bed for some reason someone would know.

24. Ponder my day in bed trying to sleep. Realizing just how productive of a day it was and how nice it felt to finally get a few things checked off the list. Tomorrow, we'd attempt walking again and then off to Alki to take some pictures, and have dinner with PhotoGirl and The Yank.

With the brim pulled way down low

Another 4th of the July tucked safely away in the memory books. Though mine was fun, it wasn't so memorable, well except ....

BigBro and I met another group for a training walk yesterday. The walk was supposed to be 13 miles, but it turned out (according to mine pedometer) to be just over 11.5. Of course that could be because we were in the back of the pack, (read: we couldn't see the other walkers ahead). "Why?" you ask. Well because we had to stop to do a little medic stop.

We had a first yesterday. I got a !#$% blister on the back of my heel. I've walked 200 miles in these shoes and have never got a blister. And quite frankly, I don't want another. Those things hurt! But never fear, that blister pack I've been carrying for 278 miles of training. Yes you read that correctly - I think I've done my math right - I may have missed a few walks in there, but still that's quite a lot of walking. Thankfully I had said blister pack who served me well. BigBro The Medic helped me fix the second skin/band aid/moleskin combo to cover the blister so we could continue.

We walked through a neighborhood here in Seattle that I've never really been in or through. Nice little community and a good solid walk. One massive hill in the beginning, and a few small ones throughout, but overall a good walk.

The big news though is the balls of my right foot. Previously I may have casually mentioned that the balls of my right foot tends to get very sore at/around 10 miles +. Yes mom (and Chicken Lady) I am calling the doctor. Anyhow, I had purchased those gel inserts we women have been known to use for high heels. I thought why not try them. I put these little gems in both shoes (It's possible this is what caused the blister on the left foot. The inserts change the dynamics of the shoes so there's a chance.) Anyhow, while my feet hurt yesterday - it was the "OMG I've been on my feet for so long" hurt instead of "OMG I can't take another step without grimacing". I'm thinking for the time these little inserts will do nicely. We'll see today as I head out for a 7 miler. It's quite a difference outside weatherwise from last weekend. It's overcast / pesky light showers and 61 degrees. Almost perfect walking weather.

After getting home I did what anyone who just walked 10+ miles would do, I stuck my dinner in a marinade. I marinaded some sort of beef steak thingy that was in the freezer for almost 5 hours last night and OMG it was so good. I love that Better Than A1 Marinade. I did something different this time - shocking. I had been watching the Food Channel and saw where someone had grated the garlic for a more intense garlic flavor without the little bits of garlic. I may, just maybe, have found a great new way to use garlic. I just used my little microplane and the little hill of garlic looked so nice (which is important) and really did give a good garlic punch without the little bits of garlic. I know you're wondering why I don't want bits of garlic. So I'll tell you. The garlic goes in the marinade and I have found that it burns when grilling and that gets bitter. So there.

Speaking of grills, I need a new one. Since no one offered to buy that Pink Ford Zune for me, maybe I can talk one of you into donating money to the Jenn-Needs-A-New-Grill fund. I have the grill picker uppers and installers all ready, I just need the grill. Oh and would you mind throwing in a full tank of gas, mine ran out last night. Thanks.

After filling myself up with grilled steak, baked green beans and orzo with olives, I waited patiently for the firework to start. See here in Seattle we have to wait until almost midnight for it to be dark enough for fireworks. Okay not midnight, but 10pm and that's late for some of us. I had my tripod set up and snapped a few photos. Unfortunately, fireworks and I never really get along. I spend more time fussing with the camera that I miss the display. So last night I only shot a dozen or so and then watched the display. And wouldn't you know it, I had focusing issues. But fun photos none the less.

Never on a Thursday

I love 4 day weeks. They make me feel all giddy inside. This particular week, while short, was also low stress. I do like low stress.

Remember in May I was discussing some issues at work? I was given some feedback that rather shocked me and I was sure my career with current company was over. My initial reaction was to run. But after thinking about it, I decided that perhaps there may be a lesson or two to learn out of this feedback. I made some adjustments. I thought about my actions. And I'm here to tell you that my one on one today I actually got some positive feedback. I was floored. Pointed Hair Boss finally said he had seen an improvement in my actions and was pleased. Yay me. Just for that I'm going to take tomorrow off.

This L-O-N-G weekend will not go wasted. No sirreeBob. I'm all shades of busy. Just look at the calendar, it never lies.

Thursday Night:

1. Make Kick Ass Bolognese. Be stuffed for the night.

2. First Cat sitting stop of the weekend: DEEva - she's a pill

Friday AM:

1. Check weather report

2. If no rain, meet new 3 day team and walk 13 miles. I have some interesting new insert gel thingys that I hope help the footsies.

Friday PM:
1. Rest

2. Cat sitting check in Part 2: Check Blueberry's cats - kick the devilish one

3. Cat sitting check in Part 1: Check in on DEEva.

4. Marinade steak in Kick Ass Better Than A1 Steak Marinade

5. BBQ steak; grilled green beans; garlic mashed potatoes

6. Check weather report

7. If no rain, set up tripod for fireworks.

Saturday AM:

1. Check weather report

2. Assuming feet don't hurt, consider meeting new 3day team for 14 mile walk.

Saturday PM:

1. Do nothing.

2. Check in on all cats

3. Do nothing.

4. Consider doing something.

Sunday AM:

1. Sleep In!

2. Make coffee

3. Clean house

4. Do laundry

Sunday PM:

1. Drive into Seattle with camera

2. Wander streets of Alki shooting misc photos

3. Meet PhotoGirl and The Yank for dinner - goody

Happy 4th Everyone!!!!

You've got Mail

Hi Peeps,

This is a shout out to all my 3DAY supporters. Since walking the 10 GRUESOME miles on Sunday I've been pondering the 3 Day walk. Training has taken WAY more time than I had thought it would, and quite frankly, it's getting old. But thankfully I have Blueberry and BigBro to keep me motivated.

The 3Day sends out a monthly newsletter just to keep the walkers and crew staff up to date on stuff - like dah, that's what a newsletters for Captain Obvious. Anyhoo, I saw something in the July edition I thought I'd share with all my peeps.

At the expo last month they had a table where we could write letters to people and they'd be delivered at the 3Day to them. Naturally, having a wee bit of sentimental-ness left in my heart, I sent letters to the team. I thought, how fun to get a motivational letter AT the three day to remind yourself when you're feet are sore, you're dead tired, and you quite possibly may have blisters, the EXACT reason you're doing this crazy thing.

So, with no further nonsense.

If you feel so inclined, drop me a line. I guarantee a tear or two and a huge Thank you. (Hah, I'm a poet!). Of course it'll cost you whatever the cost of a stamp is these days. But I promise you, it'll be the best forty something cents you've spent.

"There’s nothing like a letter from a loved one to inspire you to keep going. Your friends, family and supporters can write a letter to you, which we’ll deliver to you on the event at the Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office.

Send letters to:
Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office
ATTN: JENNIFER WRASPIR
P.O. Box 70316
Seattle, WA 98107

Envelopes only, please. No boxes or large packages. Mail must be postmarked no later than September 2nd in order to ensure delivery at the Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office. Any mail that is not retrieved by the walker by October 1st will be destroyed."