Make Some Noise if You're With Me

I don't normally speak out about stuff like this, but I have to say, the death of Adam Yauch (aka MCA of the Beastie Boys) is something that has caught me off guard to say the least.  When you are 15 or 16 years old and listening to 3 white guys bust some rhymes, it never occurs to you that this stuff can all come to an end. 

I was a big fan of Licensed to Ill when it first came out.  I thought they were fun to listen to and also to watch.  It was great to see a group like this just having a great time and never taking themselves too seriously.  I have to admit I have not really been keeping up with them in the past 20 years.  I wasn't even aware they had been inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame recently. 

Adam Yauch was diagnosed with cancer of the salivary gland three years ago.  But one year ago, the Beastie Boys released an album called Hot Sauce Committee Part 2.  I was bored and playing with YouTube on my phone and came across this song that really spoke to me in a way.  Most of the time when you look at a band that has been around as long as the Beastie Boys, well, the new stuff pretty much sucks.  But this song doesn't.  I think MCA was trying to tell us something.  The song has some language in it that may be offensive--so turn it down low or don't watch with kids around.

Here's the part that resonates the most with me during this journey, and thank you MCA for spelling it out so clearly:

"Pass me the scalpel, I'll make the incision, I'll cut off the part of your brain that does the bitching, put it in formaldehyde and put it on a shelf, and you can show it to your friends and say "that's my old self."

I will be sure to remember that while nursing my blisters.  Rhyme in Peace, MCA. 

Faith, Hope and Love,

Angela

May the Fourth Be With You: Communing with "Nature"

This morning I took a 3-mile walk in a new neighborhood.  Since I live in a suburban area most of the walking I do involves trails in parks, or sidewalks in neighborhoods.  Hence the "nature" in quotes in title of this post.  For fun I decided to take a picture of all the pink flowering bushes I could possibly find throughout the course of my walk.   I know that all of them had to be deliberately planted there, but to me it's nice to see a well-kept landscape.

This isn't pink, but you don't see leaves
 growing out of a trunk everyday!

I love the big lush flowers--these are the
kinds I want to pick right off the bush!

I really like the pink and red bushes together here.

These tiny flowers were my favorites--wish I knew what they were.

These two are pretty similar but still pretty.

Today I walked 3 miles in about an hour.  If I hadn't stopped to take pictures I probably would have walked more, but I'm glad I did it.  Today was the first day I actually can feel like it's spring.  My sneakers got soaked towards the end of my walk because I walked through the grass, but on the plus side, it's warm enough to change into my new pink flip flops that I bought at DSW last week.

I won't post those photos until I've had a pedicure though ; )

Faith, Hope and Love,

Angela

More Inspiration for Walking

Each day I am constantly reminded of why I am walking this October.  In addition to my Nonna, my cousin's wife's two sisters have both been diagnosed with breast cancer and have undergone treatment.  And today, I just spoke to a friend whose mom was diagnosed a little over a month ago.  She has to undergo six weeks of radiation, 5 days per week.  Thankfully she gets weekends off.  This is all to treat a spot that is about the size of a coffee bean.  Thank goodness it was caught early, but it just shows the importance of regular (annual mammograms).  I am pretty sure my Nonna never had a mammogram in her life.  It is something almost unheard of today, but still, some women avoid it because they just don't want to hear the bad news.

I can't stress enough the importance of those mammograms, and not only that, monthly self-exams!  Please, please, take control of your health and do this. 

I wanted to add another piece to this posting.  My pink sister, Joanna Montgomery is in a beauty contest sponsored by More Magazine.  This is an AMAZING woman and I urge you to vote for her.  You can vote daily, for one more week.  I think it ends May 9.  Read more about her by following this link:

http://www.more.com/events/contests/beauty-search-2012/joanna-montgomery

Thank you!  She is currently in 6th place but I think we can do better than that. 

Faith, Hope and Love,

Angela

A New Look!

I finally figured out how to tweek the settings on this blog template.  So I updated the layout and the fonts on this blog and I hope the updates make it more pleasing to the eye.  I also wanted to include a photo of both my kids for the cover of this blog.  This photo was taken on their very first train ride, we took the River Line to the Adventure Aquarium during Spring Break and had a great time.

I thought that including a picture of my girls on a train would be apropos to the subject of my blog.  It's all about my journey to the 3-day and as we all know, the journey can be just as important, if not more so than the destination.  Don't get me wrong, I am quite looking forward to the destination and can't wait for this fantastic experience.  I have heard so many great things about it that how could I not be excited about it?  But I have learned to never underestimate the importance of being prepared, while at the same time, recognizing that some things are just beyond my control.

Time to start off a new week with a fresh, positive attitude!

Faith, Hope and Love,

Angela

The Good Parts

This morning while my husband took both girls to work with him for Take Your Child to Work Day, I had a few hours free so I decided to get some walking in.  However, due to the fact that it was miserable, cold and rainy outside, I chose to make a date with my old standby, the dreadmill.  The easiest thing to do to make sure I get those 2 hours (plus) of walking in, is to put a movie in the DVD player and watch. 

Our DVD collection is not very extensive, but one of my favorite movies is in there and don't laugh, it's The Devil Wears Prada.  I love Meryl Streep of course, but also, Anne Hathaway is fantastic in this movie.  Anyway, I picked the movie mainly because of the running time, which is 109 minutes.  I figured for the last 10 minutes or so I could watch deleted scenes or director commentary.  This is something I do not normally do, but needed to get the walking time in, so I figured I'd go for it.

When the movie was over I had only reached about six and a half miles, so I figured I would go to the extra features and watch the "gag reel."  To my surprise it was pretty funny!  One of the most surprising things about it was the fact that Anne Hathaway trips and falls quite a bit in those stilletto heels that her character has to wear.  In the final cut of the movie, even when her character was nervous and awkward you never saw her fall down.

One of the best things about movies is that you can edit out all the awkward, strange and embarrassing moments.  Wouldn't it be nice if you could do that, in life?  I have to say that it's not a subject that I think about all that much now that I am an "adult" but sometimes it would be nice.  I was an English major in college and I'm able to edit my writing and produce a final product.  But in life, well, there is never a final product.  Just a series of rough drafts that improve each time they are revised, but you are never really "done."  The previous sentence was a fragment.  I try not to let that bother me.

In life I would like to think most of us try to focus on the good parts.  I walked 7.25 miles today in just over 2 hours.  Not too shabby. 

Faith, Hope, And Love,

Angela

Making it to $2300!

As of last night, just before midnight, I received an email informing me of a new donation.  Little did I know that this donation would bring my total raised to $2300.62!  So today not only marks Earth Day, but it also marks a new phase in my journey to the 3-Day!  Now the focus shifts from fundraising for myself, to helping my team members fundraise, and also to training.

It's supposed to rain in my area for the next few days so it looks like it's the "dreadmill" at least for a little while.  If it warms up a little bit I might walk in the rain anyway, but it will definitely cut the walk short.  I would like to say that I'm psyched to walk outside, no matter what the weather, but that definitely is not the case!  The treadmill at least will help me get the miles in and I've downloaded "Funny Farm" to my Kindle Fire so at least I will be able to watch a corny 80's movie while I walk.  That's always a plus.  Lamb Fries!

Anyway, I just wanted to share my joyful news!  I am definitely still going to continue fundraising, but the nervousness I had previously about not being able to make it to $2300 is gone!  I certainly didn't expect to get there as quickly as I have (I have been at it since October) and of course I am blown away by the generosity of great friends and family.  I of course will continue to fundraise (my new goal is $2400) but I am more focused on the teammates who have not met their minimum fundraising requirements yet.

I will continue to update this blog with news about our team fundraisers and my training!  Thanks for reading!

Faith, Hope and Love,
Angela

Beggin' 4 BooBs at Walmart!

Beggin' 4 BooBs 2012, clockwise from left, Christine, Tricia, Cherrill (new team member) and me!

Today was our "coin toss" at the Hatfield, PA, Walmart. We had a fantastic morning, earning nearly $400 in just over 4 hours. The best part was getting to talk to people going in and out of the Walmart, some of them stopped and shared their stories. We had people who are cancer survivors, people who had lost family members and friends to breast cancer, and people who just wanted to donate. A lot of kids were curious and wanted to approach the table. We had candy, bracelets and pencils.

Our table that greeted the customers of Walmart this morning!

Thanks so much for cleaning out your change purses for us, Hatfield, PA! We love you guys!



Faith, Hope and Love,

Angela