"For two days, we walked as one."

We walked. We made a difference.

This past weekend was incredible but, well, to be completely honest with you, it also hurt, a lot! We started out strong on Saturday (even thought it was pouring for the first 2 hours!) Around mile 15 I started walking a little slower and my knees started to hurt. Around mile 18 (there were so many hills at the end!) I started to tell myself that I had to keep going, that there was no reason for me to stop, even though it hurt a lot! The last mile was the hardest, it was uphill and getting dark and we were so close, but still so far. But oh, what a feeling when we saw the "Mile 26" sign at the end of the day! It took us nearly 12 hours to walk 26.2 miles before (literally) collapsing into a chair at the end. It was SO nice to take my shoes off and put my feet up at the end of the day.


Waking up Sunday morning was painful. We slept in a tent all night and I was very sore (and blisters don't go away overnight!) I'm not sure how I even got to the bathroom that morning, but somehow I made it not only to the bathroom, but the last 13.1 miles as well.
Reaching the finish line was one of the best feelings ever! We did it, it's over, we made a difference, wow...

The weekend as a whole was incredible, so emotional, so uplifting, one of the most amazing feelings ever. There were 3,000 walkers and so many people helping out all weekend. There was a group of guys on motorcycles who had bras hooked to their windshields who helped us cross the streets (we were in the city a lot of the time.) These guys were so great. We would thank them for helping us and they would respond with "no, thank you for walking, you are doing great." There were also kids on the side of the roads in the residential areas that handed us lemonade and thanked us for walking. Also, handmade signs put up on trees and telephone poles, people passing out popsicles, dogs dressed in pink, women shouting from windows thanking us for fighting cancer, and (this really got me) bald women with signs on the sides of the road hugging the walkers with tears in their eyes. It was so incredible. Amazing. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. I can't wait to send out thank you cards and try to describe what it was like to those who supported me and my team.

My sister came to visit for the weekend and not only did she and her friend Tara cook for us on Friday night, but they left the kitchen spotless when they left AND waited 3 hours on Saturday so that they could cheer for us and see us for 10 minutes along the route. It's a great feeling to have someone you know cheering for you! (Even if she is a little crazy and the first thing she said to me was "I'm doing this with you next year!" We'll have to see about that!)

So here it is, Wednesday. I am still quite sore, I still have blisters, and I am still incrediblly thankful that I could be a part of something like this walk. For the weekend, I was part of a community of incredibly strong, determined, friendly, encouraging, people who are all dedicated to finding a cure for cancer.

Thank you for everyone who has supported me and my team throughout this journey. You all deserved to be there last weekend, crying and laughing along with us.

To see more pictures of the walk you can visit my Picasa album by clicking here.

This will, unfortunately, be my last blog post about the walk *tear*. I do, however, have 2 other blogs (wait, 2? yes, two!) which I will be writing in the future. One will be tailored to scrapbooking, specifically projects I complete and kits I will be making. The second will be full of the absolute randomness that is me. I like getting all my thoughts down and I have enjoyed the feedback I have gotten from family members about my "humor." (I put the word "humor" in quotes because I don't find myself to be that funny and think I have a rather warped sense of humor which stems from watching a combination of SNL, Monty Python, and Scrubs way too much.) But hey, I enjoy it, so I'll keep on doing it! :-)

Scrapbooking Blog: http://allsamsidea.blogspot.com/
Personal Blog: http://samanthapiette.blogspot.com/

Rest assured these blogs will be getting more attention now that the walk is over (for this year.) *wink*

Day 1 Route:


Day 2 Route:

So Close!

I'm not sure I can explain how excited and nervous I am about this weekend. There are so many things I feel I am going to be completely surprised by. I think whether or not I make it the whole 39.3 miles, I will be surprised by how far I do make it. I think I will be surprised by how incredible the whole experience is going to be. We have already made it so far, raising over $10,500 to fight Breast Cancer, but the fundraising was really just the beginning. The experiences I will have this weekend will not be able to be described and I am so incredibly lucky to be able to experience something like this. I love being part of something bigger than myself and this weekend I will be surrounded by 3,000 people who all share my passion for making a difference in the world. There will be tears, yes, but I know they will all be good tears and that the "heaviness" of the weekend will weight down on me in the form of complete gratitude for being able to be around such strong and inspiring people. I have been told that there are women who walk who are going through Chemo right now. That idea alone makes me want to cry. There is no reason I can't complete the 39.3 miles compared to someone who just came from the hospital. There are men who walk for their wives, or daughters, or mothers, and I will certainly cry for them as well. I am incredibly passionate about this cause but it can't compare to those who have lived it or have watched someone suffer because of it. If any of you are reading this, you are in my heart this weekend and always.

I can't wait to update my blog with pictures and memories of this weekend and share with you a little bit about what it was like. On that note, I encourage everyone to become involved in a charity of your choice. It's the most rewarding experience and I know you won't regret a it for a minute. Also, if you think you can't do it, you can. Just believe me. You will muster up the courage to ask people for donations and to walk that extra mile on the treadmill because you know it will benefit everyone in the end. You will not love every minute of it, because it will be difficult at times, but the times that you will cherish will be the moments that make you feel that you have made a difference. Honestly, you can do it. No matter how crazy everyone thinks you are, you can.

So, talk to you all Monday. I won't be able to walk, but I will be able to type! I'll leave you with one last good (fingers crossed!) image of this weekend:

Forecast for Walk Weekend

Dear weather.com,

I do not like you very much right now. I hope you're happy.

Love,
- Sam

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Dear Accuweather.com,

You make my heart go "pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pit." Where have you been all my life?

Love,
- Sam

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Fundraising update:
We added up all our donations as a team and officially have (as of last night!) $26.00 left to raise! Phew... $26.00 is nothing compared to $10,000.00! (Oooh, look how many zeros!) $26... it's the cost of a shirt (an inexpensive one from Target) or the cost of 26 items from the dollar menu at McDonald's, or about 7 gallons of gas in Massachusetts right now. So, we officially have half a tank of gas to get to our team goal. I think one Real Piette of Newport, Vermont said it perfectly this morning:

[08:55] thefrontdesk27: I can't believe it

Neither can I... however, all this is merely what we intended to do. We set a goal and are thisclose to reaching it. It feels good. Ask my team members about it. I bet they will tell you it feels good too. Colbie Caillat describes it well: "I get the tingles in a silly place, It starts in my toes, And I crinkle my nose, Wherever it goes I always know."

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Because my family in Vermont seems to appreciate the intense randomness that goes on in my head, the following is a small slice of that randomness (as if you people don't get enough of this already):

This morning on the radio they said "Coming up next on Mix 98.5, the youtube video of the day!" Does everyone else see what's wrong with this, or is it just me?

Since starting SparkPeople I have lost a little over 15lbs by eating healthier and going to the gym. 15lbs is almost a whole Bruno! It's almost TWO Boogers! Food is a ridiculous thing to be controlled by and I am doing everything I can to stop that control. I would much rather be controlled by something more scary. I can see a lot more people feeling bad for me if the headline read "Local Woman Attacked by Flying-Purple-People-Eater" than "Local Woman Attacked and Held Hostage by Three Cupcakes and a Big Mac." That story and more, tonight at 11...

Lately, Jason has been looking me right in the eye and saying "I like you." It's nice, but after a week I know when he's going to do it, and if you heard him say it, you would not think it was cute, you would just have a raised eyebrow or two. He says it as though he's surprised by it. He's cute and I'm really glad he likes me, you know, considering we are married and all.

When I eat the 100 Calorie Packs of Oreo Bites I really try really hard to convince myself that I am eating a Snickers bar... I hope it starts to work soon.

What's with squirrels lately anyway? I have anyways been a fan, but lately I feel like they know something I don't. I'd like to say I DON'T think they are all plotting to take over the world and secretly hold meetings in storage space #48 of my apartment complex, but it just wouldn't be true. I think the mysterious music coming from that general area isn't a very good cover.

I'm not sure if squirrels on steriods would be really scary or incredibly funny. See previous comment before you decide.

W-O-W!

About week ago I was excited we only had $800 left to raise... Well, now, I am even MORE excited, honestly, jumping up and down excited, because we are about $170 away from our goal! That's it! Wow... we have come a LONG way! We have raised over $10,000 as a team! Wow! I'm not sure you get how incredible this is... let me spell it out for you... TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! DOLLARS! TEN THOUSAND OF THEM! Insane. Really.

I can not WAIT to post pictures from the Walk and send out thank you cards! This is an incredible feeling.

Keep thinking dry, warm, breezy thoughts... no rain, snow, sleet, hail, tornadoes, monsoons, or anything resembling a natural or unnatural disaster. *fingers crossed*

Long time no blogging...

Above is a typical screen shot of my work computer. Can you spot the one thing that is NOT typical and would cause me to be EXTREMELY happy today? (You will have to read this entire blog post to figure it out! I know, I'm sneaky... Click on the image to see it larger.)

Walk update:
My team is about $850 away from our $9,000 goal! There is a little less than a month left and we are SO close! I am so proud of us... I know we are doing a wonderful thing and it feels good. Thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far. You are all truly generous with your wallets AND your time and we are incredibly grateful for your help. Honestly, you deserve some warm brownies fresh out of the oven from me (however, if you ever really tasted my cooking you would know that is not such a treat after all!)

A little bit of randomness:

Jason and I are making healthier food choices in an effort to live healthier lives... so far I have developed quite the addiction to raspberry yogurt and baby carrots.

I really like Taylor Swift's song "Our Song." I haven't loved country lately but this song makes me want to take the boat out into the middle of Long Pond and either cast out a line or jump in and swim for hours knowing that I am not strong enough to pull myself back into the boat if I tried. I feel inclined to sing it with my best "Redneck" accent and secretly hope that no one other than Jason (sorry for already making you endure this honey) has to hear me sing it... ever.

I am starting Weight Watchers at Work soon. I wonder how many calories I will burn walking 40 miles... hmmm. I also wonder if Nutty Bars and Chewy Sweet Tarts are really THAT many points. Haha, I think I will have to get used to my baby carrots.

I had a great idea for Jess' wedding present the other day and will be taking (dragging) Jason to AC Moore tonight to get supplies.

Jason and I went Geocaching in Jamaica Plain on Sunday with some friends (it was their first time!) So much fun and some interesting places these caches were hidden in. One was near an old bear cage that used to be part of the Zoo. The Zoo moved and they (apparently) turned the area into a park and didn't take down any of the cages. I little creepy though, I must admit.

I am wearing mascara today and it's bugging the crap out of me. That's what I get for trying to be a girly-girl.

Last weekend when we were home I helped Jess dye some fabric rose petals blue to match her wedding colors. They came out really nice. I love being crafty. Rit Dye is amazing I tell ya.

I actually got a chance to scrapbook this past weekend a little and created a nice mosaic page using a picture from Camp in Maine. I will have to post a picture of the layout soon.

To answer the above riddle:


Yes! It's 85 DEGREES in Cambridge right now! Mr. Spring, thank you for finally showing your beautiful face. It's amazing how us New Englanders forget what it is like to go outside without a coat. I am currently welcoming the warm (and even humid!) weather with open arms and people are looking at me weird because I look like I want to hug my computer. :-D

And just for emphasis (and because I love screen shots!)

Unbelievably Unbelievable

Today I had the pleasure of sending an email to my team to tell them how much money in donations we have so far. Now I get to tell you! The 5 of us have raised $7,462 so far! If we are all able to meet our goals (which we will!) our team will raise over $10,000 to help fight Breast Cancer! That is a lot of money! If someone handed you $10,000 right now, you would be THRILLED! You may even cry, because that much money can go a LONG way! Our team is doing amazing and I know we will be able to reach our goal and walk together in May. Only 43 days until the Walk! It's all really unbelievable when you think about it.

An update from home... Our friend's Mom who lives in Vermont had a masectomy this past Monday and is now home doing well. Please keep her in your thoughts as she recovers.

It is bittersweet to me that we are working so hard to fight this disease but we still have to deal with the pain it brings. There are too many people who know how real the struggle can be.

I recently added the date of the Walk to my weather.com page (I did this with my wedding day as well, but it didn't help to stop the rain, so I don't trust it that much.) It does say however, that the average high temperature for May 17th is 67 degrees and the average low is 51 degrees. I have my fingers crossed that it will not rain... which makes it quite difficult to type, but it's worth it if it helps! Everyone keep thinking "sun" and please don't remind me that it has snowed on Mother's Day in the past. I'm going to pretend that didn't actually happen.

SCraPbooking the Walk

This weekend was incredibly overwhelming, but in a really good way. I can't count the number if ideas running through my head right now! I attended a scrapbooking show in Framingham, MA for store owners with my Mother-in-Law, Denise. The weekend (Friday-Sunday) was filled with classes and events about scrapbooking for retailers. As you may know, Jason's family owns an office supply store, The Front Desk, in Vermont and they have a scrapbooking section of their store (I just want to go on record saying that this section was in no way my idea regardless of any email I may have sent to said store owners.) Anywho, we were at the show getting some great ideas for classes and products and came back with some wonderful ideas and inspiration! The show was informative, creative, productive, and a bunch of other "ive" words all at once! (Denise would like to add the word 'expensive' to the list... we bought over $1,000 in new scrapbooking product for the store!) I can't tell you all how excited I am to make some samples, get some kits together, and head back up to the good ol' Northeast Kingdom to teach some classes using all these great products! After the Walk (which is consuming most of my time at the moment!) you can bet I will be visiting to teach some classes and attend some crops! To hold me over until I get to do that, I have combined two things I am passionate about and created this page using our team photo (click the image to view it larger.) I can't wait to take a million pictures and scrapbook the Walk!



Also stay tuned for a link to my NEW blog! It will showcase different projects every week including (but certainly not limited to) layouts, cards, mini scrapbooks, home decor projects, and tips and techniques to try yourself! I will be teaching classes at The Front Desk this summer and I will put up all our projects and materials you will need to complete them (all of which can be found at the store or your local scrapbooking store!) It will also have projects from Denise (my Mother-in-Law), Amanda (my Sister-in-Law) and Erin (my younger sister!) We all have VERY different styles so there will definitely be something for everyone! (Sorry, I sound a little like a used car commercial... it's early!)

I have to tell you, after going to this show (and a couple others in the past) and this being my first year doing the Walk, I have noticed that it is possible that I am part of two of the most incredible networks of women (and men too!) All the walkers I have met so far, as well as the scrapbookers are such honest, hard-working, wonderful, friendly people! I consider myself very lucky to be a part of all this... (Also, it seems like all scrapbookers have a distinct laugh, like a cackle. It's hilarious to be in a room of scrapbookers and listen to them laugh!)

Simply Incredible

If anyone has ever doubted the good in people (I admit I have my moments, often), please consider walking for a cause like Breast Cancer. The crazy amount of emotion I have experienced the last few days alone is almost too much to handle. On Friday, I finally decided to email my co-workers to tell them about the Walk and ask for support. Initially I was nervous about this because I didn't know if there was a company policy which wouldn't allow it (my husband's company is really uptight about this. I won't mention any names. Grr...) I was proved terrible wrong when, after sending the email I got a response that morning from our CEO saying that any donations made by employees would be matched up to $1,000! My thoughts went like this... "Wait, what? What? WHAT? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh... *I was then without thoughts for about a minute, then* WOW!" I immediately thanked him and emailed my group to tell them the news! So far employees have contributed $250 to my Walk page, and it's still coming in! :-) (The words "yippee" and "skippy" come to mind!)

As I said before, Saturday was the Expo in Boston. We got up early and met a large group for a Training Walk before the Expo. We dressed warm, but it was still quite miserable. We walked about 5 miles around the Charles River (Boston and Cambridge sides) in the rain/snow/sleet/ice and wind. I took a lot of comfort knowing that, even though it could rain, the likelihood that it will be SNOWING the weekend of the Walk (May 17-18th) is pretty low. (However, there is a chance, since this is New England and it has snowed on Mother's Day before... remind me why I haven't moved to Florida again please. Oh yeah, hurricanes, that must be it, and maybe alligators.) Steps recorded for Saturday = 19,050, a new personal record!!!

On Sunday we went back to Shaw's in North Reading for another bake sale (as a team, since all 5 of us were there! Amanda and Dan had the pleasure of meeting the infamous Kevin Bacon.) We got a bunch of donations but two people really made me want to bawl. One was a young boy, about 10 years old, who had brought in over 6,000 pennies (wow!) to cash in from his piggy bank. We watched as it was all counted with the machine and in the end he had just over $60! When he came back from the cashier with his cash he came over to our table and gave us $1. I mean really, how sweet is that? A little while later a woman came up and put $5 in the jar and said, quite simply, "this is for my Mom." *tear* (Not regular tears, not "oh, this is sad" tears, but rather huge gushing tears that wet your cheeks and make you unable to breath...)

Our team received some incredibly sad news from home yesterday. A friend's Mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer on Friday and will undergo a mastectomy on the 31st. Apparently it's slow moving so the doctor's are confident. This woman also recently lost her husband and has been having a hard time in general, and now this. Please keep her, her family, and everyone else having to go through the same in your thoughts. (I am confident I am going to run out of tears soon.)





TEAM PHOTO! (Left to right: Me, Jason, Amanda, Dan, Nicole)




Dan (our team's graphic designer!) is working on replacing the ugly yellow background with a color that doesn't remind me of puke. ;-)

8^)

Our team is one third of the way to our goal! Together, the 5 of us have raised over $3,000 so far! We are so excited! We still have a long way to go, and there are some days when we email each other freaking out that we aren't going to be able to meet our goal (I'm guilty of this as well!) But, we are certainly getting closer and no matter what we are contributing to the cause! I can't believe all of this started when Lisa texted me and asked me if I wanted to walk 40 miles with her!

The Front Desk (my husband's parent's store in Vermont) is helping out a lot as well! We didn't think that we would have such a huge response from our friends back in Vermont but we have been so surprised and grateful for their support! They have helped us raise almost $400 so far, and the checks are still coming in! I know that not many people from the great Northeast Kingdom will read this (I bet only 20% of you have internet, hehe!) but thank you, and for what it's worth I really hope all your snow melts soon (or at least stops falling!) 8^)

15,121

I just have to say, this past weekend was a stressful/emotional/fun time! Friday night my team mate, Nicole, and I baked up a storm for a bake sale on Saturday. Which, I must say, was quite successful considering the weather didn't cooperate with us at all. People are so incredibly generous, it is really amazing. (Our bake sale was at the Shaw's in Reading and the store manager who helped us out was named Kevin Bacon... how great is that?)

Sunday morning we woke up with every intention of a 10 mile training walk on the Minuteman Trail in Cambridge. However, the weather disagreed. It was cold and windy out and we knew we wouldn't last long walking outside (I'm not really that tough when it comes to weather, despite the fact that I grew up in Vermont where the snow is known to melt around June.) Instead we went to the Burlington Mall and walked as much as we could before the mall got crowded. We walked about six miles in the mall and I wasn't even sore the next day! This is definitely getting easier. At the end of the day my pedometer read 15,121 steps! (My goal every day is 10,000!)

This Saturday is the Boston Expo and my whole team will be together for the first time! Amanda and Dan are driving down from Laconia, NH on Friday. Saturday morning we are attending a 5 mile (moderately paced) training walk which will take us right to the Expo. I am most excited about the yoga session they are holding at the Expo and being able to take a team photo to post on my Avon page! (And my blog, of course!) :-)

It's a Bad Day to be Breast Cancer

Today has been a great day for fundraising! I have no idea why today is really different from any other day, but it really is. This morning, the generous customers of The Front Desk Office Supplies (In-Law's store in Vermont) donated $150 to the Avon Walk. JUST TODAY! Also, I have been getting emails from family members letting me know that they have donated as well. I am super excited! Also, my teammate, Nicole, (who has been a fundraising MACHINE for the past month) just hit the $1,000 mark for her peronsal fundraising! My team is up to about 20% (the webpage shows a little lower because it takes a little while for checks to be counted...) So, like I said, it is a BAD day to be Breast Cancer, cause we are kicking some major butt here! Not even like "oh, look, we're kicking butt," but really actually foot-to-butt contact, with FORCE! Rolling on the ground in pain and pointing and laughing kind of butt-kicking... :-)

Living in Eternal Dorkdom

This past weekend Jason and I took a short trip to New York City. I have always wanted to go and somehow have never had the opportunity. I know it's weird; I have been to Europe twice but not to NYC, which is just 6 hours away! We finally thought that it was time to check it out and ventured out Saturday morning (during a snowstorm, of course!) to the Big Apple. Why do people usually visit New York City? To see a show maybe; to see the Statue of Liberty, maybe visit the Empire State Buidling... Let me tell you honestly why we went. I wanted to go to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to see my most favorite painting of all time, Starry Night by Van Gogh. It was one of my life's goals to see this painting, kind of like a "have to do this before I die" type of thing. (I actually have a list like this! I encourage everyone to make one of these lists. It is a really interesting exercise.) Anyway, a fringe benefit of our trip is the meaning behind the title of this blog. I recently started collecting Squished Pennies (you know, those machines that you put in 51 cents so that you can get a penny that is then worth less than one cent with an imprint on it, yeah, those.) As it turns out, there are A LOT of opportunities to squish pennies in NYC. I came back with over 40 new pennies for my collection! We searched and planned to get the most pennies we could in one weekend, it was great! Jason let me know on the way back that I am going to be living in "Eternal Dorkdom" for the rest of my life because I went to NYC to see a painting and squish pennies! (The museum was amazing by the way!)

You may be asking what this has to do with the Walk, well, indirectly, penny squishing is like training for the Walk! Honestly, we walked almost 40 blocks from Times Square to the Museum of Natural History (which we certainly need to visit again, it was so cool!) on Sunday! That's 40 blocks ONE WAY, and another 40 back. Plus, we stopped for lunch in Times Square then walked another 8 blocks to Grand Central to catch our train. My legs hurt a little the next day and I certainly felt like I got a workout. I'm so glad that even on vacation I can do a little but of training for my nearly 40 mile goal for May! Just think, if those blocks had been miles, I would have been all set for the Walk! (Oh my, that makes it sound like a lot! It's a good thing I have two days to do it!)

For more information about the MoMA - www.moma.org
For more information about penny squishing - www.pennycollector.com


(PS - I know "Dorkdom isn't a word... It just adds to the dorkiness of my life to use it.)

Walking for Day in Different Shoes

Yesterday was a great day for Jason and I and our progress with the Walk! We went (with our team mate, Nicole) to buy sneakers for the Walk at Marathon Sports. In order to Walk and not get millions of blisters (I am aiming for under one thousand over the course of the weekend) and also so that your shoes aren't too tight and make your toenails fall off (AHH! Seriously, I do NOT want that to happen to me! EW!) you need to have shoes that fit your feet right. We walked into the store and told them we are participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and needed to be fitted for shoes. The employee who helped us was very knowlegable about the fitting process and had us take our shoes off and walk the length of the store so that she could see how we walked. At this point, where I took my shoes off, I realized something very embarassing. I was in a shoe store, about to be professionally fitted for sneakers so that I can walk 40 miles and I look down after taking my shoes off and see that the inside of the shoes I have been wearing all day are not the same color. Wait, what? That is weird. I look more closely and realize that I am wearing two different shoes. TWO DIFFERENT SHOES! They are both black, and the same type of dress shoe, but still completely different. This all took place after work at around 7:00 in the evening. The ENTIRE day I was wearing two completely different shoes and had no idea! Can you imagine? And of all places to be when I realize this I was at a SHOE STORE! Needless to say I went to bed early last night and I am hopefully giving off the impression today that I have regained knowledge about how to actually dress myself in the morning!

Fundraising Blog Up and Running (or, "Walking" is more like it!)

Great news! You can now purchase Breast Cancer Awareness items (hand crafted by ME!) on my Fundraising page. Just click here or the link on the right side of this page (under my profile). Items are all below $10. There are bracelets, bookmarks, cell phone charms, die cuts, and more! And, do you want to know some more great news? There is a lot more to come! Soon (Monday!) I will be posting candles, bracelets featuring Swarovski Crystals (so pretty), embellished frames, and necklaces! This is just the beginning everyone! Please check back often for more goodies!

13 Penguins-a-Plunging

My husband and I drove the 4 hours (multiplied by holiday weekend traffic, jetlag, and sickness = 7 hours) home to Vermont Friday night for a special event held in Newport at Lake Memphremagog every winter. My sister wanted to make sure that we visited this weekend because she committed to fundraise for the Vermont Special Olympics and (I'm serious here...) jump in the lake! What's more amazing is that there are A LOT of people who do this! That amounts to a lot of money donated to the Special Olympics as well as a lot of cold people! I'm so proud of her for doing something so meaningful and for such a good cause. I think that deep down, my family is very charitable (not to mention a little crazy! Have I told you that my husband, sister-in-law, and I are all walking?) We debated back and forth about which is crazier, jumping in a lake in the dead of winter, or walking 40 miles! We'll see what happens because she wants to walk with me next year and I told her I would do the Penguin Plunge with her. I think we may be equally crazy now... But hey, it's fun and both are for a wonderful cause. To her credit though, it was twenty degrees outside and she did this in her bathing suit!

To find out more about the Special Olympics and to make a donation please visit: www.vtso.org
For more information on the Penguin Plunge please visit: www.penguinplunge.org

A Minor Setback

I apologize to all my adoring fans out there (How many people are reading this blog? Maybe 2? Haha!) for not posting last week. If you are within the 80% of the people in Northeast US that were sick last week, you know how I feel, if not, you are lucky! I battled a cold and stomach bug most of last week and I am FINALLY feeling much better. For the most part, my body still hates me, but I think we are slowly getting back to being on speaking terms again.

As for the walk, my team members and I (well, three of us) are excited today because we are going to an intro meeting in Boston tonight. Hopefully we can get some more fundraising ideas as well as get (more!) excited for the walk! I will let all of you (i.e. both of you) know how it went tomorrow!

Fundraising is picking up for me as I have about 40 letters to send out to family and friends explaining the commitment I have made and asking for donations. If you are reading this because you read a letter I sent you and decided to check out my blog, then HI! How are you? Please post a comment here to let me know you are reading! And, because I sent the letters to my closest friends and family, you can assume that if you are reading this then I miss you and we should get together soon!

I also have pictures of items I am going to be selling which I will be posting online with prices. They should be online by the end of the week. I have bookmarks, bracelets, key chains, cell phone charms, iPod cases (for the new Nano!), packs of die cuts, embellished frames, and more! Everything is made by me except the bracelets which are made by my Mom and the iPod cases which were made by my Mother-in-Law. I know, my family is amazing! We are all pretty crafty people (the girls anyway!) and I am very glad for that.

As for training, there will be more updates to come as soon as I regain strength and get to go to the gym again. Stan has been reglected lately and I'm pretty sure he's mad at me too. :-)

11 DEGREES!

I had a very eventful day yesterday... When I went to get in my car to drive to work I couldn't get into the driver's side of the car. The door just wouldn’t open so I had to climb in through the passenger side door. I thought that I should take it as a sign and not go to work (also, it was 11 degrees outside), however I thought that I was being dumb and finding an excuse to take a day off. Little did I know what was store for me. I got to my car last night at the train station I drive to in the morning to commute in to the city, unlock the driver's side door (it worked!), climbed in, put the key in the ignition and turned it. Nothing happened. I took the key out, put it back in and turned it, still nothing. The lights weren't turning on, nothing was happening. Great, dead battery. So I called my Mother-in-Law, and after attempting to use my husband’s AAA number (I am not a member, apparently) and exclaiming a variety of obscenities to my steering wheel. When that didn't help the battery not to not be dead I called my boss, who lives just north of me. She was still at work and had jumper cables in her car. (I thought that the problem may have been the starter as well because it was making an unnerving ticking sound so I was a little worried we would be there for a while...) We connected red to positive and black to negative and the lights turned on in my car! YAY! (Did I mention that it was 11 degrees outside, which means it was also 11 degrees inside my car?) I started my car and Marie followed me back to Wilmington. The car started fine this morning and I drove to the train station no problem. We'll see what happens tonight I suppose. On top of all this, we are due for a storm tomorrow morning going into the day. I don't tend to pay attention to the weather, but when I turned on the TV this morning to see what the temperature in Boston was (still 11 degrees) they were talking about the big, bad, and equally ugly winter storm warning for Boston tomorrow! Also, my big bad immune system which has been working so hard to keep my white blood cells doing their good little jobs has officially plummeted into no-man's land where it is currently weeping in a heap of not-so-usefulness wondering where it went wrong in life. Thus, I am coming down with an equally big, bad, and definitely ugly cold. Needless to say I went home, made some soup and tea and took a bubble bath for about an hour last night. (Also, I remember cranking the heat up to about 75 degrees in the apartment because it was 11 degrees outside... I wasn't sure if I had mentioned that...)

Despite all this, I must say that my day yesterday is absolutely nothing compared to someone battling breast cancer. Taking on something like this, something that is bigger than I am, certainly puts things into perspective. I think that everyone really wants to be part of something bigger than themselves and it is honestly bringing me an incredible amount of joy. Working toward a specific goal and doing it with people I care about is going to make this a terribly fun few months!

Stan says my steps yesterday totaled 5,024. My total today (up until right now, at 1:00 in the afternoon) are 5,197. I’m pretty sure today is shaping up to be a good day for Stan! :-)

Getting even MORE excited!

I am so excited about the fundraising I will be doing this week! I am relying on a lot of people (some of them I have never even met!) to help me reach my goal. I am going to be sending out letters to family members and friends, a mass email to just about everyone I know, and emails to people who have blogs which I read to ask if they can possibly post something about my fundraising on their sites. I am excited but also nervous because I really want to reach my goal. I often get it in my head that people don't want to donate and that it is too much of a hassle. I think I really need to remind myself that everyone wants to help, they just need to be asked! That's how I am anyway. I will give money to a great cause if I know it will benefit a lot of people, and I think most people feel the same way.

This week my husband is gone to Geneva on business so I am going to be a jewelry (and other cool items too!) making machine! I will be posting pictures and prices of the items I am making on my fundraising blog (http://walking40foracurefundraising.blogspot.com, or click on the link to the right) so stay tuned for a bunch of goodies! All money donated from these items will go directly to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I am donating my time as well as materials for these items. That's right, 100% of the price of the items go to the walk.

Training this weekend was not as successful as I would have liked it to be. I am going to go ahead and blame it on the fact that it was SO cold in Boston, however to be honest I wasn't very motivated to train either. We mostly stayed in and I made a bunch of items for fundraising. :-) Stan says that total steps for the weekend was 4142... (I told you it was bad!)

Cool Little Widget

If you look to the right side of this page (no, your other right... just kidding!) there is a widget below the About Me section of the page called "ChipIn." This widget allows anyone to donate to mine and my husband's fundraising for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Anyone can insert our widget into their blog (or myspace, or facebook, etc.) and encourage people to donate through it. It uses the secure PayPal site, however you do not need a PayPal account to donate through it. Please feel free to check it out by making a donation (or 5! Haha!) Please contact me if you would like to include it on your site, I would be more than happy to help you through the process.

Feeling the Burn

I have noticed that the male supporters of my walking team (^^Twin Peaks^^) have a somewhat interesting mindset about the walk. The women in my group (Me, Amanda, Nicole) are already working diligently at getting fit and ready at the gym to attempt to walk nearly 40 MILES without ending up half-way through the walk laying in the fetal position on the ground while other walkers look at us like we are crazy (which, granted, we probably are anyway, but that's beside the point.) Our male supports however are under the impression that the fundraising is the "hard part." I agree that the fundraising is difficult, but it is certainly not impossible. When considering joining our team the men (I don't want to name any names here, *cough* Jason and Dan *cough*) say that they are "not worried" about the walking. HELLO BOYS! 40 MILES! Let's evaluate just how far 40 miles really is, shall we? 40 miles is roughly equivalent to 80,000 steps; it is exactly equivalent to 70,400 yards; 211,200 feet; 2,534,400 inches; 633,600 hands; 12,800 rods; 3,200 chains; I think you get the point. It is like walking the entire length of a football field 587 times, in TWO DAYS! 40 miles is a LONG way! Just yesterday I walked nearly 2 miles on the treadmill at the gym (roughly 3.3mph) and today I am in a significant amount of pain. I am determined however, to work very hard for the next 98 days so that I don't end up in the fetal position on the ground shaking and crying like a lunatic.

Every day I will update my training progress with all of you. I recently bought a pedometer to monitor my steps and the miles I walk every day. Everyday I have a personal goal to walk at least 10,000 steps. Yesterday I walked 10,736 steps! (roughly 3.5 miles, according to my pedometer!) I have named my pedometer Stan (Steps Taken up to About Now) so stay tuned for more updates from him!

The journey begins...

The story begins with a simple text message on a typical Monday morning...

Lisa: Hey sam, you want to walk 40 miles with me for Breast Cancer?
Sam: Are you crazy? I can't walk 40 miles, I will die!
Lisa: No you won't, 40 miles is nothing. Do it!
Sam: Ok!
Lisa: Awesome! Let's save some boobs!

So, I registered a few days after this conversation and here I am now, a week later, sore from training and thinking up a million different ways I can possibly raise $1,800 in the next 3 months! All with my buddy Lisa to thank!

Personally, this cause has effected me somewhat distantly. I feel incredibly blessed that I have not had to see someone I love fight this disease. Breast Cancer does however run in my family. My great grandmother was a survivor and my cousin is also a survivor. This disease has certainly effected many people I care about, even though I have not seen the struggle it caused. (I was too young to remember.)

I have been training nearly every day (when I don't do yoga) and making a bunch of different crafts to help in my fundraising efforts. I have so many ideas for bracelets, keychains, knitted items, and a whole bunch of other potentially great things to fundraise with!

I started a team shortly after registering and recruited my sister-in-law to join as well. Her way of doing things is to jump in head first without looking and (as expected) she signed up yesterday and already raised over $75.00! Go AmandaLynne! My friend Nicole is deep into fundraising as well and is always at the gym training lately. She participated in a 7 mile long training walk which she completed no problem a few weekends ago! My team is doing very well! Together we have to raise a total of $7,200 to participate in the walk! It's a lot of money, but there is no doubt in my mind we can do it! Please check back often for updates on our journey! We named our team ^^Twin Peaks^^ and are so excited to be working toward this together!