The BIG announcement

It's a BIG announcement; but without many details - it's still in the infancy stages...


So many are familiar with the great EMZ, you read her, you love her (instantly) and you want her to be your running buddy, best friend, champion, and second mom (what a lucky little girl peanut is).

She is awe-inspiring, has the best abs known to man, the greatest belt buckle ever created, and a compassionate heart.

She has inspired me through her blog posts for quite sometime now, her shoe collection is unreal.... and she got me thinking. 

Like.freaking.thinking

I was standing over a pot of spaghetti one night thinking about Jess, EMZ, Sojourner and the Brain Tumor Walk - how can I MAKE a difference THIS YEAR (remember here?)

and then it hit me......

By.riding.my.freaking.bike.

A 12 hour bike ride for Jess.

EMZ ran for Sojourner - I will ride for Jess (and all other BT patients, families, survivors, friends, caregivers, researchers, etc)

So ... here it is...

When: October 8, 2011

Where: To be determined...

Why: Ride to fight Brain Tumors 2011

How can you help: GO HERE and donate to my fundraising page

More details to come…. Trust me lots more details….

Oh yes, I’ll be back with an update about where I’ve been lately; after I read my 847 unread blog posts in my google reader…… YIKES!!!!

47 days until Maui……. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

75 days until the 12 hour ride for Jess

If I could make the sound of a bugle call into words that would be the title of this post......

I will have to finish up on my post(s) about my week of vegetarianism later…. Because this is just too freaking fantastic to wait….

It was scheduled to be a “normal” weekend for us, dinner on Friday with an out of town friend, training, baseball, a little lounging, a birthday for Bill’s niece, and celebrating Father’s Day with Bill’s dad.  Busy but typical.  I had a scheduled hair appointment for 9am Saturday morning.  I love going to get my hair did.  It is probably one of my most favorite things to do.  I woke up early on Saturday; refreshed and ready to start the day.  I hopped in the shower, piddled around, got dressed and picked up my friend Laura (who’s in from out of town) and we went to Starbuck’s.  She went with me to get my hair done.

Our plan for after my appointment was to head back to my house, meet up with Karen and her boyfriend, Randy, grab Bill (after his baseball game) and head to lunch before we spent the day getting’ mani/pedi’s and just having a fun girls day.  Laura had never been to the house since I relocated to Bill’s abode so we were going to meet there.

We pulled down my street and up to the house…. I saw my mom’s car in my driveway.  I was very confused; but thought maybe she stopped by b/c she was in the neighborhood or something.  Laura walked in before me as I stepped through my front door I heard “SURPRISE!!!” and about 25 people were standing in my living room!

I had zero idea of what was happening.  

Then I started looking around and saw the 30^th bday decorations, the premade drinks that Bill made; the Happy Birthday plates, cake, and napkins.  It sunk in…. **Yes it took me a while to figure out that this was for me! **

Bill had Cayla hand me a gift wrapped box…. I opened it and inside was a new dress and a HUGE FLOPPY HAT!!! It was so cute…. Then he told me that in about an hour a party bus was picking all of us up and taking us to the horse races.  

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!

I was stoked!  I ran upstairs and changed into my new outfit as fast as humanly possible.

When I came down; people kept showing up – and I was definitely brought to tears at one point for how thankful I was and how loved I felt.  I have never been short on words; but all I could say over and over was THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

The party bus arrived and we were off to the races…..

We arrived at the track and I saw this……

And this…..

And then this when we walked into our air conditioned semi-private room (complete with all you can eat buffet….boo ya! And private bar!)

The ponies raced, we laughed, drank, won some, lost some –but it was an epic way to spend celebrating my impending birthday!  I cannot believe Bill went through all this trouble for my birthday.  I know it must have taken him weeks of planning, secret keeping, and all around sneaky-ness and I was nothing but SURPRISED!!!!  

I thought I would share some pics with you…. HOW FUN IS THIS!!!!!?????!!!!!!!!!!



On the party bus!

Little Stinker Laura told me she was in town for her own going away party!

 

Cayla and Amber - best secret keepers ever!
Amber hadn't spoken to me all week b/c she was afraid she would give it away!
Cayla - talked to me everyday and didn't once give me a CLUE that this was happening!




GIRLS!!!



Cayla and me in our Derby hats!




Cousin Sheri, Me and my mom

  

Guy's Wife Stephanie couldn't be there so he pretended to pose with her!



Best boyfriend ever.......

 

Loved his hat!



Even Dave-o loved my hat!

 

Paul (bill's brother) and Alaina - Paul had lasik on Friday and STILL CAME! (hence the weird goggles)

 

Jonas and Cayla




Newly engaged TIm and Claudia!



I had to get one of our new outfits... Bill went all out - ordered his pants at vintagethreads.com, bought the horse shirt and the gambler Fedora hat... all for my Derby themed 30th bday party!



The tickets even had my freakin' name on them!



Precious Della - 22 weeks pregnant!



John, Amber, me and Bill!  LOVE THEM!

 



Bill and Jonas sharing a moment; I mean margarita




Me and Cay

I am so thankful to have so many wonderful friends and family to celebrate turning 30 with.  Wednesday's the big day - for now I'm going to enjoy the last 48 hours of being in my 20's... **Tear**

Suggestion Box

It's official - my house is on the market today.  AHHHH!! It was a long, exhausting, no time to train weekend.  We started Friday after the handyman left and continued until last night at 7:30pm.  On the list of completed projects:

- new grout in both bathrooms
- freshly painted baseboards and trim
- clean as in " you can eat off every inch of my floor"
- stage the entire house
- pack up everything that wasn't utilized for staging purposes in prep for move to the new house
- switch out washer and dryer (newer ones went to Bill's - older one's are being sold with my house)
- Putty all holes
- paint over all holes
- sand and repaint window seal
- sand and repaint mantel
- steel wool clean the fireplace
- clean all light bulbs and fixtures, fan blades and fixture globes
- clean and degrease oven and cooktop
- clean refrigerator (thanks cayla!)
- Clean and organize the garage
- replace the doorbell


It doesn't look like a lot when I type it out but it was a lot to do.  THANK GOD I had my mom, my sister,  my cousin, Cayla and Bill there to help me or I know for a fact it wouldn't have been completed.

My realtor came this morning, took pictures and is listing it today on the MLS.  Potential buyers - it is turnkey ready to move in - please buy this house - now!

OK - moving on.....

I need suggestions.  I was thinking this weekend, since I've never participated in any kind of endurance race other than a 1/2 mary - I need suggestions from you experienced endurance athletes.

What do I need to get?

i.e. - Gu's (obviously), water, electrolyte drink, etc etc... but what other things do I need that I might not think of.

Recommendations for race attire.... help me develop my 70.3 packing list....... Transition items.... do I need to pack power bars, etc? Do I prepare multiple bags like in an Ironman? Can I change between the bike and run?  (I really, really, really want to wear my padded Pearl Izumi bike shorts rather than my normal tri shorts)

What is some advice you can give me in preparing?  HELP - I'm a list person!!!!!!!

PS - pics of the house and the 80's party to come soon.

Super parties, super snow and super bowl XLV

Let me start this post off as a statement:

I am not 21 anymore.

Ok now that I've got THAT out of the way.....

As if you hadn't heard the Superbowl was here Sunday.  (Congrats Packers! - I was rooting for the Steelers but any team I root for looses so it was no surprise....)

If you've ever had the Superbowl in your respective cities you will understand what I am about to talk about AND if you have a significant other or family member in the liquor business you will understand....combine those two and it's a recipe for disaster...oh yes and that dreadful weather we had last week.

Ready.Set.Go.

I was planning on doing a mainly wordless post today and just post pictures from the SEVEN Superbowl parties we attended in 5 days but that would make me look like I went on a 5 day binder.....when in actuality I TRIED to maintain as healthy eating as I could since my workouts tanked.

We had 4 snow days in a row.....the city and surrounding areas shut down - no school, no work...but the Superbowl must go on - therefore the parties must go on - therefore Allison and Bill must go b/c Bill's work said so.

So in semi-wordless fashion.....I share with you our Superbowl party pics...



Cayla and I before we left for the DeMarcus Ware & Andres Gurode Party - Wednesday February 2

My reaction to the snow on Friday

Said snow....and icicles b/c I think icicles are cool

Toes in the snow.....

What we looked like on Friday - lazy, lazy lazy

Thursday night....Jack Daniels party



The Flaming Lips Concert at the Jack Daniels Party



Us with the man who looked like a Jack Daniels statue...but he was real



Allie .... Get your gun..



Bacardi Party with the Black Eyed Peas - Friday, February 4


 

Bill with his two buddies from high school (randomly also in the industry)
Bill, John, Aaron



Me and My love - BEP 2/4

  

You have to take pics in front of the step and repeat
Our best football pose

Or is it this one?

This one got a lot of votes from friends.... HIKE!



I just love him

My one celebrity pic - Jesse Palmer, commentator and The former bachelor


Saturday night was the Jeremy Piven Grey Goose Party and Sunday was a watching party - those pics are uploaded yet so you will have to wait.

I will tell you - I won over the Aqua bitches last night..... Had a great swim, good weights and core and ran 4 miles this morning....on my way back from a week of nonsense.

Tonight....an hour trainer ride....until then...work - BOO - I miss my snow days...maybe tomorrow.

I ran 5 miles...

Let me repeat that... I freakin' ran 5 miles!! ALL 5!  Not a second of walking.... and I ran it at a faster pace than my 4 miler the other day.... by like a few seconds per mile but still faster!!


I was so excited I took a picture for you.....HOWEVER, my work email SUCKS ... I took it with my iphone.. I can't blog from iphone AND I can't access YAHOO at work...quite the condundrum I find myself in ... SO  I emailed the picture from my yahoo account to my work email (thinking I can download, insert ,VOILA you can see me a hot sweaty mess), BUT - when I emailed from yahoo to work... work flagged me for a "non work related image" and my email was forwarded to Global Compliance.

SOOO instead of YOU getting to see me a hot sweaty mess....Global Compliance gets to have a nice surprise on a Friday.

I felt great after my run ...drank a ton of water, drove home, showered, and then for about 30 minutes I felt like I was going to vomit.

I sat on the couch continued to drink water and rest and literally felt like at any  moment I was going to hurl.  I decided I needed something else...so I got a diet coke.  I'm pretty sure you can consider a diet coke to be medicine... it cured me.... I was fine after that and continued on with my evening.

Today is a swim to focus on balance and position in the water...this mean not a lot of yards  but slow swimming trying to execute technique; and thena 30 minute bike ride.

In the morning I have a 30 mile ride for Livestrong Day (Don't forget to wear your yellow tomorrow) and a 5 mile run.

Have a great weekend....keep movin'.

Also go Check out Patrick of The Road or Big Clyde from The Clydesdale Project and see their OcktoberFast Challenge.....Pretty neat huh?

AND -

Go visit Diana - at Diana Tries a Tri!

She' giving an AWESOME giveaway of Gu's, chomps, and goodies!!!

Go leave her some love!!!