Running a Half Marathon on a Whim

For being such a type A list maker, I sure do procrastinate a lot.

Like last week. I heard about the Provo Halloween Half Marathon. I thought to myself, "hey self, that could be fun!"

"But I haven't been training, and I've cut my running down significantly (like to twice a week, and short runs of just 3-4 miles). And I've never run more than about 10 miles. And it will be cold-only about 30 degrees. And I have a party that night before, and it's on Halloween. Am I really going to be able to run that far? Downhill? With my iffy knee?"

(yes, I talk to myself. But it is mostly in my head. I promise.)

And then I mentioned it to the neighborhood running guru, my friend MaryAnne. And she said "you can do it, you'd be fine!" And then I talked to my friend Ashley who I run with sometimes, and who I went on my last long run with, and she said the same thing.

And so I figured, why the heck not? Ironically I felt better about running my first half marathon without training for it. That way if my time was really crappy, I had a real reason for a crappy finish time! Plus MaryAnne agreed to run it too, and despite the fact that she runs astronmically faster than I do, I wouldn't have to hang out alone at the start.

And so I signed up on Wednesday. Three days before the race.

See? I told you I had procrastination issues.

Also, I am not a pretty runner. But I already knew that too.

hahaha! Not sure why I felt the need to eat my top lip as I was coming in.

But I am so glad I signed up!

Despite the fact that it was cold, my knee hurt, and I was going on 3 1/2 hours of sleep. It was fun!

(Although I will not plan a party the night before an event. Or rather not plan an event the morning after hosting a party. Either way.)

The course was absolutely gorgeous. Start time was delayed almost a full hour (53 stinking minutes!!), which was horrible as we waited for things to get going, but beautiful once we were on our way. The sun was up making things a few degrees warmer, and causing the canyon walls to sparkle. Everything was frozen and it was beautiful! The mist snaking through the canyon and coming off the river made it like running through a wonderland. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true!

We started at Aspen Grove, a couple miles up above Sundance. (think film festival resort) The first 5-ish miles were really downhill, which was interesting, but turned out to be great for helping me settle into a decent pace without over exerting myself too early on. The course was over a 2000ft elevation loss, so while it was a little tough on the knees at first, it made it easier to keep moving forward.

With the incline of the beginning of the run, they asked that headphones not be turned on until out of those first miles. I thought that would be hard for me, but it was actually really nice to just lose myself in the scenery. Plus then when things flattened out a bit and I turned on my music, it was like a shot to the arm and helped me keep up a decent pace.

While my time wasn't great, it wasn't so bad for my first half either. But two hours is a long time to run, and by the last mile or so I was really feeling it. Thank goodness for MaryAnne coming back to help run me in. She's awesome! And since she had been finished for such a long time already, I didn't feel bad about having her come back and get me and making her run in again. Especially since I run so much slower than she does!

So how'd I do? 2:09:53, averaging just under 10min/mile, and placing 299/499 for women, and 487/727 overall. Not too bad for a first time out.

I met my 3 goals; #1-finish, #2-run the whole thing (no walking! not even at the water stops!), and #3-finish before 2:24:19.

That time was the fastest time for the half marathon the contestants ran on The Biggest Loser last season. I know, I know, issues.

While I'd have loved to finish under 2hrs, I was thrilled to be that close to 2hrs without any real training. And it makes me very happy to know that I should be able to easily finish under 2 if I am really training. Something to look forward to next time!

MaryAnne seriously rocked things coming in just a hair over 1:30. She placed 2nd for our age division and I think 7th overall. The woman is amazing! I actually happened to check my Garmin (yay Garmin!) at 1:23, and thought "hey! She's almost done!" Then I realized that I still had a lot of miles left to go so I tried to refocus.

The costumes in the run were a ton of fun, really keeping things entertaining over the course and helping me spot people to pace myself off of. I debated running in my Mrs Incredible costume, but realized that if I had to make a pit stop I'd be in big trouble with that zipper up the back, so I just wore layers of running clothes. There was one guy who ran in khakis and a button down shirt with a briefcase (yikes!), a girl in a wedding gown-the Runaway Bride, a lot of ladies in tutus, and a ton of others who had fun with the whole thing. Next year a costume for sure!

Overall, good run, great scenery, good time. It actually felt good to find a groove and just run for that many miles without stopping.

Aaron brought the kids to the finish which was so nice. It really helps me to be running to something other than a big inflatable finish gate and a clock. And I'm very happy to finally have a finish line picture with my kids!

The Big One-Balegas and Thorlos and more, Oh my!

Sorry I'm so slow-Halloween parade and parties with the kids. You know, the fun stuff!

You ARE dressing up, aren't you?

Here is it, the Big Pink Giveaway. Two packages. Enter for one, enter for both, you call it!

The Big Pink Fitness Givewaway.

Since a lot of the fundraising that goes on for Breast Cancer Awareness programs is done through walks, runs, and other fitness events, I thought it would be appropriate to end off with Fitness Packages.

Also tomorrow I'm running my first half marathon, which I'm kinda freaking out about right now (since it should be roughly 30 degrees, and hopefully not snowing at Sundance tomorrow), the brain is on gear.

FIRST UP:

The walker package!

Thorlo has generously given me a pair of Distance Walking socks to pass on to you! Like pillows in your shoes. Seriously-check it out.

And after a nice long walk, feet need some loving. So have some Aloe Infused Spa socks. I bought me some of these and I love them. A lot.

And since I'm addicted to gum, some pink gum!

All of these products direct proceeds to help fight breast cancer.

AND THE BIG ONE:

The keep it together, run stronger, run faster package.

Raise your hand if you love a good running sock! I'm waving over here. I don't think I could run without good socks now. I had no idea what I was missing.

So to help you run faster, a pair of Balega socks-with pink.

Sport Beans-in pink.

Gu-in pink.

To help you run stronger-a little something for cross training; my other favorite workout-Pilates! The Winsor Pilates Pink Core Challenge. Four 10 minutes express workouts.

(Pilates rocks by the way. It got me ready for that Mrs Incredible costume 2 years ago.)

After you are done working on your rockin' bod-you need some spa socks too, so have a pair with pink stripes, just like mine.

and I did mention that I'm addicted to gum, right?

And there you have it. A Plethora of Pink Products.

All for you.

To enter: Leave a comment! You must tell me which prize you want to win! If you want to win #1, tell me! If you want to win #2, tell me! If you want to be entered into both, then please leave a separate comment for each!

Additional entries (please lease a separate comment for each entry):

You know the drill, Spread the love!

*FB this giveaway

*Tweet this giveaway

*Blog this giveaway

*Be a follower

*Do Something Pink Again! Tell me what it is.

Giveaway ends Thursday Nov 5th at 11:59pm Mountain Time. Winners will be chosen using random.org and announced on Friday Nov 6th.

Special thanks to Thorlos for donating the Distance Walkers. Thorlos also send me a pair of Everyday Walkers that has been given to a ritual walker woman who lost her friend to breast cancer. Also thanks to Fleet Feet Sports in American Fork Ut. Support your local running stores!

Winner-Hourglass Door

You should know I read this again this week. : )

And the lucky lady with a new book to read is.....

~LL~ said...

Um.....MEEEEEEEE!

Congrats Loralei!

(and that actually worked out well since I have a cookbook I was supposed to send her, um, 3 months ago that I just found still sitting here.....whoops)

Today is the big grand finale giveaway-stay tuned!

Celebration

We all know how exciting birthdays can be when you get older. Sometimes it's just another day.

But not at our place!

I've already mentioned the fun activity I got to participate in that evening. And no, I'm not being sarcastic, I actually really enjoy home improvement projects!

Especially when it includes tearing nasty gross cheap carpet out and replacing it with something beautiful that should hold up worlds better.

(I really did do more than just take pictures)

Painting too. I really enjoy painting. I finally picked a color for our bedroom and it's sitting there just waiting for me....

But I digress.

Along with my fix-it excitement, the kids decided they wanted to shake things up.

Alaina made me breakfast:

("mom? Do you like plums and oranges?" "uh, sure." "ok good! Don't come in the kitchen for a minute")

They made me a cake and cupcakes:

(I look like I have no lips in that picture. Hmm.)

We always decorate the kitchen for birthdays-the balloons, streamers, banners...the basics. Apparently it bothered the kids that we neglected to do so for my birthday, so they came up with this:

A "surprise party" in the girls' room. Sweet.

Complete with the jack-o-lantern cupcakes that my mom used to make me every year to take to school for my birthday treat. Remember way back in the day when you could actually take homemade things to school? Yah.

(now "bake sales are dangerous". Don't get me started. Though my favorite quote comes from this one: "I love bake sales. I eat them myself." Uh-thank you, Mr Principal.)

(also, the girls cleaned their room after this. Hallelujah.)

Anyway-all sorts of favorite foods and treats, a surprise party from the kids, a new floor, plus my Dad took me out to lunch, and have I mentioned the Garmin?!

As far as birthdays go-this one was great.

And since it has been many months since we've done a Quote of the Day (go ahead, search quote of the day on the blog), I'll leave you with one from my dear sweet wonderful husband again.

"Is this a joke?" , he asked upon reading the birthday card from my sister and her fam. "Happy 31st? What's that about?"

Uh......Wait for it....wait for it........There it is! I am indeed 31 this year. That was a fun realization.

It's nice that he still thinks I'm younger than that. Hopefully he'll keep that up for the next, say 60ish years.

Love you babe!

Sneak Peek!

It continues.....

This is the laundry room! I will feel guilty putting dirty laundry in this room!

Slowly but surely (and my husband thinks I have perfectionist tendencies!). It will be beautiful when it's all done!

Happy Birthday to Me: Demolition Round 1

We've talked about it since we moved here, we've priced things out for over a year, we've saved our pennies, and now it's happening!

On Saturday night we finally started tearing out the nasty cheap-o carpet that came with this house. Hooray!

Look at my husband all smug and happy in the corner!

The curtains are all tucked up out of the way-rip that carpet out!

No, we didn't vacuum again before tearing it out. Sadly, I had already vacuumed once that day.

Last day with living room carpet! Yay!

There it goes!

Gone!

And take that linoleum entry with you!

And on Monday, my birthday, we finally started laying the new floor.

It is so choice.

Sneak Peek:

And though this is late in posting, if you go back to The Hourglass Door giveaway post and wish me a Happy Birthday, you can get yourself another entry! ha! (is that shameless or what? Hey, it ends Thursday, you know you want another entry!)

You want to win this!

I am SOOOOO Excited to be having this giveaway today!

Seriously-you have no idea.

Today's giveaway is a book. A book you scoff? Oh, no.....no scoffing! This is not only the most entertaining book I've read all year, but it's a first edition signed hardback copy.

HELLO!

This book:

I rarely buy books that are new releases, I usually wait until it's in paperback or hit up the library or borrow from a friend. But when the first chapter of The Hourglass Door landed in my inbox, I was hooked. I went out and bought this book-that day!

If you have not read it-you should! This was my "I'm laying out in the backyard soaking up the sun and reading something fun" book this summer. Though it only took me a couple of days to burn through it (couldn't put it down), so that necessitated reading it more than once. : )

Yep. My pages are showing wear, and it smells like coconut. The only thing that could have made it better would have been sitting on a beach while I read it.

A short time after I read The Hourglass Door, my husband then happened to run into Lisa Mangum (the author) at Costco on his lunch break. She was there doing a book signing. He knew I'd be bummed that I wasn't there, so he called me and handed her the phone! Ha! Funny guy. I commended her on the book, asked when the next one was coming out, and told her I'd love to give one away. She said, "sure, email me!" I figured she was just being nice, but thought I'd give it a shot anyway.

I was thrilled when she jumped on board last month and offered not only a copy of The Hourglass Door, but a signed first edition copy! Thanks Lisa! She's awesome. Now I just need to make it to one of her appearances so I can get my copy signed!

Back to the book.

Did you read Twilight?

Did you like it? You'll love this.

Did you hate it? You'll love this.

It's kind of "Twilight-ish", but totally not.

Yes people, there is talk that this is *gasp* better than Twilight. I know, I know, some of you are up in arms now, but give it a shot and find out for yourself!

Check out some of the reviews:

"The premise of the book sounded interesting, but I never imagined the adventure I'd find when I opened THE HOURGLASS DOOR. Abby and Dante's world is intoxicating and I didn't want to leave."

"The Hourglass Door has everything: a heroine who is genuine, strong, and lovable; an interesting and compelling love story; gorgeous language, fast pacing, and an intricate and exciting plot. For readers who have been waiting for the next book to sweep them off their feet-- this is it."

"If you're into losing track of time and absolutely drowning in a really good book I suggest this book (highly) for anyone."

And I'm loving this one!

Ok, so . . . I'm a guy. And guys aren't supposed to LIKE, let alone READ this kind of fiction book. Well, I haven't read TWILIGHT, but I did see the movie. However, I DID read THE HOURGLASS DOOR by Lisa Mangum. This is really a wonderfully creative story, and you really feel like to get to know and relate to the characters. Abby and Dante feel like real people, and I really cared about them and their growing relationship. I'm WAY out of high school age, but reading this story took me back to the emotions and experiences of that time. Lisa Mangum is a brilliant new writer, and I'm sharing this book . . . and her future books . . . with three of my daughters who love to read, and who love romantic fiction. I cannot tell you how MUCH I loved this book. Bravo, Lisa! I can't wait to read the next one!

So now one of you lucky readers get's your own copy! I have in my hands right now (ok, well not *right* now, it's hard to type while you're holding a book), your signed copy of The Hourglass Door!

All you gotta do is comment to enter!

Extra entries as usual (please leave a comment for each entry!):

*Tweet it

*FB it

*Blog this giveaway linking back here

*Be a follower

*Visit Leo's Dungeon! Huh? Lisa's site, Leo's Dungeon is named after a prominent hangout in the book-go check it out, drag through her blog, see the first peek at the follow-up book, The Golden Spiral.

Giveaway ends Thursday Oct 29th, midnight Mountain Time. Winner will be chosen using random.org and announced Friday Oct 30th.

Pink Giveaway #1-Winner!

And the winner of the new apron (along with the stash of other goodies) is:

MaryAnne said...

I facebooked this give away

Congrats MaryAnne!

Stay tuned for today's rockin' giveaway, and the big October giveaway finale coming up next Friday!

Last night at 10:58 I ran down the middle of my street.

Like you didn't already think I'm crazy.

Actually to be exact, I ran 0.38 miles at a pace of 9:55 min/mile.

(not my best pace, but it was late, I was tired, and I couldn't see where I was going. Also I've never claimed, nor ever will I claim, to be a speed demon of any sort.)

I even know what elevation I ran at.

Why you ask?

Garmin.

Say it with me: Garmin, Garmin, GARMIN!

This word probably means squat to the vast majority of you. But that's ok! Until about 6 months ago it meant squat to me too.

Now, it means I don't have to bike every run course I do to get an accurate distance. It means I don't have to hope I'm punching my watch at the right place, hoping it's close to every mile, to get a accurate idea of my pace/mile.

It means that my husband rocks. And that I got my birthday present a week early. Woo-hoo!

This little baby:

Tracks everything. Everything.

My pace, my distance, my heart rate, what elevation I'm running at, my goals, my run history....I can even run against a virtual me and see how far ahead of myself I can get. I can pinpoint my preferred heart rate zone, map out a course, track it all with nifty program, and set it to alert me at a certain distance if I just want to tune out and run. Along with a whole slew of other things.

Wow.

If you'll excuse me now, I'm going to go run.

The decisions that keep you up at night

I was faced with a tough decision today. One that really made me think.

You see, My driver's license expires in 6 days.

I think I made a goal to quit procrastinating once....hopefully one day soon I'll get to that....

I was excited to get the little renewal packet in the mail that allowed me to renew online.

No DMV lines! No dragging kids out! No waiting for hours and hoping for a better picture when I'll end up hating the new one even more than the one I currently have, even though I don't think that's possible!

Although thank goodness no matter how bad it was it would still be better than this photo:

ACK!

If I were smart, I would have renewed it that day when the letter arrived.

But no, it's me, so here I am like 3 months later searching for the packet that I put in a safe place so I wouldn't lose it. Apparently it was a safer place than I planned, because not only did I not lose it, after much searching today, I did not find it. I'm good at hiding things. Except hiding candy from the kids-they always figure out where the good stuff is stashed. Maybe I should have put M&Ms in the DMV letter and let the kids loose in my room to find it.

Anyway.

First I googled the website for license renewal. I got the the correct website and clicked on the license renewal link. Then I realized I didn't have the renewal PIN that was send in my little (lost) renewal packet. No biggie-I clicked on the link for those like me who don't have their magic number. It wasn't until after I filled out the info form and asked the question about getting me a new PIN that I realized that I sent it to the info department for business license renewal.

Nice.

Hey, I'll have brightened someone's day with a laugh about how stupid the chick requesting a PIN from the business license department for her driver's license renewal is. Good deed for the day: check!

Back on track, I got myself to the right page (this time using the DRIVER license link-good thinking!), pulled out my about-to-expire license for the needed info, waited on hold on the phone for an appropriate time for a phone call to the DMV, and got me a new PIN.

I filled out the forms and was about to click send when I realized that I couldn't edit my license at all. And here's where the dilemma strikes.

That little number next to "weight". It's about 10lbs off. Last time I got a license, I was pregnant. Heck, when I got my concealed carry permit less than a year ago I was in the throws of working off the baby weight, so it has the same number. Darn number.

What to do?!?

Do I sacrifice three hours of my day to actually GO to the DMV, fill out a new form and fix the weight amount? Am I the only person who doesn't lie on the weight question? Aren't you supposed to put a number about 10lbs under what you really are? Had I lied about it then, it would now be correct! Dang. Does that mean that someone who sees my license will actually think I'm 10lbs heavier than it says? Do I look 20lbs heavier than I am?!

Wow-am I really that vain?

Thankfully I decided that no, I'm not. Besides, with any luck, I'll be working my way back up to that weight in the next few months. Heck, if anyone asks, I'll just tell them that the camera adds 10lbs-to both my face in the picture, and the number on my license.

Also, I didn't feel like putting on shoes.

Then a handful of M&Ms made me feel better about the whole thing, so Maybe I'll be back to that number sooner than I thought.

This sums it up so accurately

Really, I don't think anything could be more accurate.

Have you ever had one of those days?

I'm sure you have. Everybody does. Or at least everybody should, 'cause that would just make things seem more fair.

There were lots of appropriate titles for this post. Including, but not limited to:

*I always feared the walk to the front of the room, turns out it's the walk to the back I should have been afraid of.

*I'm changing my Halloween costume. Now I'm going to be Humpty Dumpty.

*It's nice to have friends who help you up when you're down. Literally.

*And great shall be the fall thereof.

Catching on yet?

Yesterday was one of those mornings. Sadly a disproportionate amount of "those mornings" happen on Sunday at our house since church starts at 9 and we have seven children. Do the math.

Aaron was also on call this weekend so he was up early helping some person somewhere with technical issues, thus he wasn't even available to help get the herd wrangled up and ready to go.

I was totally strung out.

We are always early to church. ALWAYS. If it's 8:50 and we are not in our seats, we're late. Yep, some of those people. Typically we try to leave at 8:40, so that we have plenty of time for the loading/unloading of people, the last minute "I have to go potty!" calls, and anything else that tends to pop up.

Not so yesterday.

Like I said, one of those days.

It was 8:57 and we were finally walking in to the chapel. So not good. We usually sit up in the front. 3 pews back to be exact. Occasionally we're a little slower than normal and we are a few rows further back. No biggie. It's better than the folding chairs in the overflow of the chapel. Trust me.

In effort to get the herd quickly to some seats, Lincoln slipped away. Aaron was situating the older kids and I noticed Lincoln making a beeline to the front of the chapel where we normally sit. Realizing that I'm going to have to be the one to get him, I scoot myself as quickly as possible to catch him before the meeting actually starts. Which is tricky since as I was heading up to get Lincoln, the Bishop had stood and was making his way to the pulpit to start.

I finally caught up with Lincoln and turned to take him to the back where we were sitting.

Which would have been fine. Normally.

But as I was carrying Charlotte, had the diaper bag hanging off that same arm, and Lincoln with the other arm, trying quickly to get to the back in my pencil skirt that allows steps no more than roughly 12 inches apart, any trace of grace that may have previously resided in my body (and there wasn't much to begin with), fled quickly.

Yes people, there in the middle of the chapel, shortly after everyone had just quieted themselves down for church to start, I tripped. and fell. and went sprawling out in the aisle.

The Bishop had a bird's eye view of the whole thing from the pulpit. Lucky guy.

That half of a second when I knew I was going down lasted an eternity in my mind. But thankfully the rest of it went very quickly, and before I even knew what was happening there were three suits on me picking me up. Yes, I didn't even stand up by myself after my little spectacle.

The gasp from the left half of the chapel was lovely.

But then, if that wasn't enough, I realized I still needed to get Lincoln back to Aaron and the rest of the family and I needed to do it quickly so I could step out to collect myself. I pointed out where the family was, gently pushed Lincoln that direction and stepped out into the foyer.

It wasn't until a few minutes later when Aaron came out to find me that I realized that Lincoln hadn't been paying attention.

So not only had I tripped and fallen on top of my two youngest children, I then had left my 3yr old standing there alone at the back of the chapel. Nice. Mom of the year award here I come.

Thankfully a friend who saw the whole thing went and got Lincoln and took him back to the rest of the family and informed Aaron of what had happened.

He missed the whole thing.

Aside from a carpet burn on my knee (wool skirt + nylons + church carpet = bad), and a serious bruise to my pride, all was well.

And it did make me feel a little better when Tiffany told me "Of all the people at church who could have tripped and fallen, I'm SO glad it was you!" Uh, thanks. I think. Thankfully she elaborated and told me that it was good to see someone who normally seems so put together and polished and on top of things (uh-someone please find out what Tiffany has been drinking!) take a spill.

So I suppose that the happy ending was that I got to spend a few minutes living in the fantasy realm of thinking that some people are easily fooled.

(But then Tiffany stopped by my house a little later to drop something off. And she saw what the house looked like. Hmm. Oh well, at least she used to be fooled.)

So I'm hoping that this was sufficient humbling for me and that I will get a few more good years under my belt until my next episode of complete public humiliation.

'Cause it was a nice 15 years since I last took a spill down a set of metal bleachers at the end of my older brother's baseball game in front of his cute friends that were on his team.

And 13 years since I fell off a log while hiking on my first date with my husband-right after having talked about competing on a gymnastic team (on beam of course).

And it's been.....well, I'll not elaborate any further.

Let's just say I'm thinking I will not go to my grave being known for my ability to move gracefully.

Pink Giveaway #1

Did you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month?

Yes, I know I asked that last week, but I'm gonna keep asking!

Today is the first pink giveaway for the month here, and the others will be on the last Friday of the month. Yep-otherS. There will be more than one giveaway on the 30th! And next week is killer too, even if it's not pink. : )

Anyway-most of us know as least one someone who has had breast cancer , or has been directly affected by someone with breast cancer. My mom's sister has been fighting the fight for the past few years now, and continues to fight on.

My first exposure to Breast Cancer came through Carolyn M. Carolyn was the mother of my best childhood friend Megan.

Though the M family moved away to another state when Megan and I were just 8 years old, there were a number of moms in our neighborhood that were good friends, so there were visits to their family out of state, and they came back here to Utah to visit as well. Thankfully we all still keep in touch and see each other occasionally!

Carolyn was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. Her daughter Megan, who was my age, was only 13 years old at the time. Living a few states away, I don't think I comprehended just how this effected their family. I knew that Carolyn was sick, and was going through treatment, I knew that chemo had caused her to lose her hair, but I didn't realize how sick she really was until we visited their family a year or two later. I remember standing in their kitchen watching Carolyn "walk" her hands up the door frame, moving her fingers and lifting her arms, then coming back down again. This was a big accomplishment at the time. It was then that I finally begin to grasp how life altering this was for the whole family. I was taken aback by what it must mean for my friend, in her early teen years, to have a mom who struggled through each day.

In 1996 Carolyn was told that she had just 18 months to live. I remember when my mom passed that news on. It was very humbling to think that my friend was losing her mom, as I couldn't imagine life without mine at that time (or now really)!

Carolyn continued to prove to her doctors that she was stronger than they anticipated, and fought on for a few more years until she finally lost her battle with breast cancer on May 7th of 2000 at only 57 years old. She was an amazing woman and an incredible example. There is a great article on her HERE if you'd like to read more about Carolyn.

There are so many incredibly strong women fighting this fight every day. And there are so many ways to contribute. Look for the pink ribbon next time you're out. Save your Yoplait lids and send them in. Check out one of the many online shops that support breast cancer research and awareness.

On the last Friday this month the giveaways will feature a number of products that support breast cancer research.

In anticipation of the big October Pink Finale, today is a Pink Giveaway as well.

(I have to apologize for the lack of pictures, as my camera battery is dying.)

First up is the Pink half apron:

You know I'm obsessed with aprons, and now's the time to go pink! This is a half apron with ruffle trim and rick rack accent. Single pocket on the right (with a bow of course!), long ties so it fits everyone, or if you're a tie wrapper like I'm am you can tie it up front. (same style as that damask one from way back when)

You see that pocket on the apron? It will be full of goodies too. Pink suckers, gum, and since I'm a big list person, a notebook too-all supporting breast cancer awareness. (I'll post a picture of all the goodies and some better pictures of the apron once my camera battery is recharged!)

All you have to do to enter today is comment. No going anywhere, or picking a favorite, just comment! Feel free to share how breast cancer has touched your life, or what you are doing to go pink this October.

Additional entries:

*Share the love! Blog, Tweet, or FB this giveaway (please leave a separate comment for each!)

*Become a follower, or let me know if you already are

*DO something! Everyone loves to go shopping, so go get yourself something pink, or something with that unmistakeable pink ribbon logo on it. Come back here and let everyone know what it was!

Giveaway ends Thursday Oct 22nd at midnight mountain time. Winner chosen using random.org and announced Friday Oct 23rd.

Blush Winner

The lucky new owner of a Blush Topless Undershirt is:

esche said...

And I am a follower. Fun!!

October 11, 2009 7:17 PM

Congrats Esche! I will email you with the details!

Jean Party-and you're invited!

I'm being too lazy to actually make, print and deliver invites, so I'm totally copping out and using the blog and email for invites. If you see this, you're invited. Really.

I'm in Happy Valley (if you live anywhere in the proximity of Happy Valley, you know what I'm referring to), so if you're up for the trek, come on over!

Yes Ruth, the rumors are true. Keep spreading the word!

My house, this Saturday the 17th from 11:30-1:30.

True Religions for $50. Really.

There will also be Scentsy, as well as some Mybmy aprons (hopefully-we'll see how productive the next few days are).

And since it's me, I'm sure there will be something to add a few calories to your day. It just wouldn't be a gathering at my house without something sweet, would it?

Come buy some hot new jeans! See you Saturday!

***Updating to add that Discovery Toys will now be here on Saturday as well! Yay!

If anyone else is interested in joining in, just email me and let me know.

I am the jump rope champion

Last night we had a jump rope contest.

I know-you envy my wild and exciting life, don't you?!

Taylor had been asking to do this for a family activity for a number of weeks, so last night we made it happen.

Jumping rope in pajamas and a coat. Now there's a good time.

It was entertaining.

It was humorous.

It was.....interesting.

It was apparently hard to focus when there was a plane flying overhead.

It was obviously dark. Who needs light?

But who holds the family jump rope champion title?

Oh that's right-ME! Look at me channeling my inner jump rope zen.

In addition to my already claimed (and undefeated for many years) Family Hula Hoop Champion title.

Never mind the fact that after jumping for the family record, I had to go change my pants.

Ok, Not really, but it was way too close to that. (hey, I've birthed 7 kids!)

My plan is to remain undefeated well into my grandma years. And by that point in time I can wear Depends without anyone questioning it. Then there will be no stopping me!