I Have Really Been Slacking Off in My Training Lately!

I was on vacation this past week.  I really had every intention of going for daily walks, taking a ton of photos with my good camera, and making the most of all that free time.  It didn't happen the way I thought it would.

First of all, I forgot everything.  Our kites, sunscreen, and my good camera to name a few things.  I have a Canon Rebel and I love it.  But it only works if you remember to bring it!  Also, we had a few pretty bad early morning/middle of the night thunderstorms that were almost impossible to sleep through.  And I developed a habit (well, not so much a habit but it was like 3 or 4 days in a row) of having a beer or two in the middle of the afternoon.  And eating poorly.  I think I took a total of one 3 and a half mile walk the entire time I was away.  At least I did get some decent iPhone photos.  But at this moment I am too darned lazy to download them.  I am too lazy to plug in my iPhone to the computer.  Because the battery is low from letting my kids watch Netflix shows on it..  Ok, that might be too much information.

Still I feel as though I needed to write a post about this since there are all these excuses we use to talk ourselves out of doing things that are good for us.  Why?  Hell if I know.  My top excuses are that I am too tired.  These nachos taste too good.  Damn, maybe I am getting too fit.  I don't want to make my husband feel bad.  Just kidding honey.

Seriously, though, I am joining a gym on Monday.  More about that in upcoming posts. 

For anyone who makes excuses like I do, feel free to comment on this post.  Believe me, you won't be judged!

Faith, Hope, and Love,

Angela

The Tu-Tu Project

This Sunday is Father's Day, and I am so blessed to have not only a fantastic husband, who is an amazing dad to our two girls, but we also have both our dads still with us, still in great health with all their marbles.  So that is something we really are thankful for.

I think that when we think of breast cancer awareness and raising money for breast cancer research, too often the men fall by the wayside.  Although when my mother was a young girl, the first person she ever met who had breast cancer was a man, the fact is that breast cancer is often thought of as a woman's disease.  There are surely not as many men who participate in the 3-day as there are women.

This is why when I came across this website, called, The Tu-Tu Project, I was absolutely thrilled.  A man who takes photographs of himself wearing nothing but a tu-tu in just about any weather and setting, to raise breast cancer awareness (his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer), is just amazing to me.  Below is one photo that is particularly heartwarming and made my breath catch in my throat.  It is so unusual, yet so beautiful at the same time.

I have honestly never seen this before in my entire life and I doubt that I will again.  You can feel the love and the dedication in this photo.  Any man who would stand in the snow barefoot, wearing a tu-tu is a man who is serious about ridding the world of breast cancer.  Not that the rest of us aren't just as serious about it, mind you, it's just that seeing this photo and reading his story on his website, makes me think that walking 60 miles, may not be as nutty as I originally thought.  At least I will not have to do it barefoot and in the snow.

Happy Father's Day to my dad, my husband and my father-in-law.  Happy Father's Day to both my grandfathers in heaven.  And a great weekend to all!

Faith, Hope and Love,


Angela

Ta-Ta Sisterhood TEAM Bake Sale!

This past Saturday, June 9, we had the Ta-Ta Sisterhood Team Bake Sale at Tricia's house in south Jersey.  There was a steady turnout and we made a little over $200.  The proceeds were divided between team members who attended and who have not yet made their minimum fundraising requirement of $2300.  Tricia has some wonderful co-workers and neighbors who contributed baked goods, and a few who stayed to help us clean up after the sale was over.

 This was our goodie table under a protective tent!  We had lemonade, candy pops and chocolate covered marshmallow pops.

Muffins, cupcakes, biscotti and gluten-free brownies on the right.  The gluten-free brownies sold out in half an hour!  I need to find out who made them so I can get the recipe!  I know they will come in handy at the bridging ceremony when Talia moves up to Brownies!

Here a bake sale sign that Al and I made for the occasion.  I was going to stand at the front of the development and wave everyone in, but we got enough traffic without having to do that!

To the right is the sign that people saw at the end of Tricia's street.  I think we cleaned out Party City's supply of neon pink posterboard!



Above are the member of the Ta-Ta team who came, me, Christine, Cherrill and Tricia.

This is a close-up of me with my crazy sunglasses!  For some inexplicable reason one of my eyes is closed. 



And this was the last phase of the fundraising part of my journey.  From now on, training is going to be my main focus.  But, there is a link to my personal page on the right side of this blog post if you want to go there and make a donation.  I have upped my goal to $2400 and I still have $90 to go. 

See you out there on the trails!

Faith, Hope and Love,

Angela

Bagging for Boobs at the Local Supermarket

Tonight I helped one of our team members meet her minimum by bagging groceries at our local supermarket.  I was there from a little after 4 until 8 at night.  After that experience, let's just say I have a whole new respect for supermarket cashiers!

Don't misunderstand me, I had a job all through high school and college, I worked for my dad at his pharmacy, I still work there part time.  I never really needed to get a job because I always had one waiting for me when I came home from school.  Therefore I never had the experience of being a supermarket checker or bagger.  I have never waitressed either and I'm sure that's a whole new can of worms to open!

Anyway, you may think bagging groceries is fairly simple.  Correction: bagging your OWN groceries is fairly simple.  You just put stuff in bags the way you like it--in the order in which you put them away, or whatever.  But bagging groceries for other people is a WHOLE different story!  I would say about half of them couldn't care less and just liked the fact that they didn't have to do it themselves.  And the other half had a system that you could assist them with, but really, they would rather do it themselves.  One woman requested nothing but paper bags, doubled.  Quite a few people brought their own bags (in fact I was surprised by the number of people brought their own bags) and still others wanted you to fit as much as possible into one bag. 

Another thing that overwhelmed me was the generosity of people in general.  99 percent of the people gave a donation of some kind, even if it was just a few coins.  It's very touching when someone you don't know donates to your cause.  It means that what you are doing is making a difference to someone.  I hope that we made lots of money for my teammate's fund.  She has been working so hard to get these fundraising gigs--and she still needs quite a bit to get to $2300.  She joined our team only recently but she has really hit the ground running with the fundraising!

I am really enjoying this phase of my journey.  Most of the fundraising I do now is just for fun, and I am able to have fun and just talk to people about the cause, find out about their experiences, without worrying about getting donations all the time.  I mean if I get more donations I certainly welcome them but not having the pressure just feels so good.

Tonight my husband and I sat on our patio, drank Pinot Grigio and just talked.  It was so nice to relax!


Faith, Hope, and Love,


Angela

Happy Trails: Staying Safe When Walking Outside

I can remember years ago, when my mom used to go walking in the park across from our house, she would carry what she called a "rape whistle" supposedly to ward off potential attackers by making a noise loud enough so the park rangers would hear.  As a young girl it seemed like such a weird thing to do.  I mean why do you need to have a whistle on a walk?  How do you know someone walking towards you isn't simply going to ask you for directions? 

Fast forward to today.  I am training for the 3-Day so I have walked alone outside on many occasions.  Today, in fact, I took an 8-mile walk from my house, to the park and all around the park.  I was alone on my walk so had a lot of time to think.  I also watch quite a bit of Investigation Discovery (a channel that only has true crime shows) much to my husband's dismay, it gets me thinking about what can possibly go wrong when outside walking on your own.  Even if it is in the middle of the day.  And because we can't always walk with a group, I found this helpful article that gives some great tips on how to keep safe when walking outside on your own.

I don't think we should live our lives in fear, but we really need to be aware of our surroundings and that we're not always going to be 100 percent safe, no matter where we are.  Even if it's a route we have walked many times before, doesn't mean something bad won't happen.  In this age of cell phones and GPS we have more tools to help us stay safe.  But still I don't think anything trumps common sense.

Safe travels to all my fellow walkers!

Faith, Hope and Love,


Angela

My Love Affair with Under Armour

I was first introduced to Under Armour products when my nephew, who is 11 and plays Little League baseball, started asking for the shirts for his birthday.  He loves them because they fit well and are comfortable.  I found an Under Armour outlet in Atlantic City this January and bought quite a few things--a hoodie made out of that absorbent moisture wicking material, socks, a t-shirt.  All of them have been great, very comfortable and the hoodie is very eye-catching in bright pink (see pic of the hoodie I am wearing in the Beggin for Boobs post, I am wearing a bra over it!).

A few weeks ago I found this duffle to carry my stuff in for the 3-Day.

It's the Large Duffle, $54.99.  I wanted something big but not so big that I'd be tempted to smuggle in one of my kids to keep me company!  Either side of it has shoe pockets, perfect for carrying that extra pair of sneakers and some supportive flip flops for the last day.  There are pockets on the front and back, and smal pockets inside.  I'm hoping to use it for a weekend bag this summer when I go to the beach!

 This is how it looked when I first pulled it out of the box!

Here it is from the back.


I know it probably seems a little crazy to do an entire blog post on a duffle bag, but this blog does have to do with all things 3-Day.

You might ask why I picked the color red.  Well, aside from it being my favorite color of all time, I figured it would stand out amid the sea of black and pink duffle bags on the truck where they store your bags.  I'll be able to find it a lot quicker.  Well, maybe now that I've published this post there will be a run on the red duffle bags.  I'll still attach a pink luggage tag to the strap though.  I haven't completely lost my mind!

Faith, Hope and Love,


Angela