Good Luck Husband! 26.2 or Bust!

It's my husband's maiden voyage across the 26.2. He's running the Gasparilla Marathon today!

I know he's nervous but I also know what a rock he is.

Today is going to be a proud day. We're meetin him at the finish line. Good luck, honey! Stay strong! And may you find many a distraction to keep you occupied on your journey!

* * *

Please help me fight cancer by donating HERE. I'll even give you a present! Check it out and read about who I'm running for HERE!

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Good Luck Husband! 26.2 or Bust!

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/good-luck-husband-262-or-bust.html

I Thought We Had a Deal With The Squirrels

This week's Monday Project was all about the "bank." Whatever happens when you get out there in your workouts and your training goes directly into the bank and you can use it and draw from it forevermore.

Training in the cold? Bank. Running in the rain? Bank. (And also 100% badass.) It's more than about burning calories. It's about building experiences. It prepares you for any adversities you may face in future training, exercises or on race day.

And boy did I add to my bank this week.

Here's my first bank.  I'm up there on the left with the baby blue bike jersey on. That bike that's upside down is mine.

Before I tell you what I'm doing here, here's a little backstory. 

Over the weekend, I rode with my tri-group. We rode 13 miles and after that, I ran 4. (Lots for the bank!) As I was on the last 1/2 mile of my ride and almost to the car, on top of a bridge, I got a flat. I wasn't sure it was flat, but my tire sounded all funny and I coasted to my car where I discovered it was indeed flat. Good thing I made it to the car! I brought my bike home and changed the tire the night before the ride pictured above.

So during the ride in the picture, I didn't have a spare tube with me because I used it for my previous flat.

I also didn't know how to use my little cartridge thingy that blows air into the tire. But about 3 miles into this ride on Wednesday, I blew another flat (I'm good luck to have on a ride!) So there we were, sidelined as one of the girls who was like somone on a Nascar pit crew worked her magic on my bike (I borrowed a tube and some air from someone.) I found the culprit, a piece of glass in my tire, pulled it out, we got on our bikes and continued on.

About two miles later, we were slowing down near an intersection and a squirrel, as if out of nowhere, comes barreling into my bike.

I feel his fur on my leg, I start screaming, "WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON TODAYYYYY!!!!!" and my eyes are looking up and straight ahead because I'm afraid to look down and see what hath transpired and eventually I sense that the incident is over and I stop and with my eyes closed say, "I don't want to look, tell me what's down there." Because all I can think is that there is squirrel carnage and I'm scared and feel like I'm going to throw up.

That fur on my leg really freaked me out.

The girls tell me he went up and around my back tire, flew out and ran off. Oh thank God. I can't imagine what would have happened to my psyche had he not made it. And also if I had to clean up squirrel carnage. I would have had nightmares.

So I was a little shaken up and grossed out and kept feeling the phantom fur on my leg and thought maybe this ride wasn't for me and that no one was going to want to ride with me again. But we kept on.

Big, big, bank.

In hindsight and on a serious note, thank God I was able to think clearly during squirrel incident and just sort of stop pedaling and coast to a stop, because I could have had a serious crash if I had freaked out even just a little more. Thank God it was also not while we were flying down the trail, but when we were coasting to a stop.

Don't these squirrels look both ways before crossing?

All I can think of is that episode of Seinfeld where George hit the squirrel by accident and thought they had a deal: they see him coming, they move out of the way. Kind of like the pigeons, when he ran through them and trampled them (they were supposed to move, as per "the deal.")

On the way back from that ride, I heard squirrels chirping in the trees above me.

I know they were talking about me.

I could just feel it.

This week I've learned the following lessons:
-How to change a tire
-That I must learn how to use specific tire-changing equipment if I'm to change a tire or at least have someone with me who knows this very valuable information, as in this instance
-How to handle my life if I am hit by a squirrel (it was not the other way around)

We kept on and rode 17 miles that day.

So I can add that to my bank.

How bout you? What did you add this week? Link up with the other Monday Projects here!

* * *

Please help me fight cancer by donating HERE. I'll even give you a present! Check it out and read about who I'm running for HERE!

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I Thought We Had a Deal With The Squirrels

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-thought-we-had-deal-with-squirrels.html

My Husband Likes Me Better Than Angelina

He told me so. I like him.

I don't really want to know if he means it or not. All I know is that when I told him about the crazy fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team In Training that I am planning and how the woman I was working with on it seemed interested, he said the following:

"Hot mama and a humanitarian…you are like Angelina without the lips and the fakies…"

And then he said something like "Daddy like.." but I'm pretty sure my parents read this so I'll stop right there.

* * *

Please help me fight cancer by donating HERE. I'll even give you a present! Check it out and read about who I'm running for HERE!

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My Husband Likes Me Better Than Angelina

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-husband-likes-me-better-than.html

Weigh-In Wednesday: The Spring Fling

Have you been over to the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans yet this morning? Its beautiful Spring-yness hath befallen upon my eyes, simultaneously soothing me and inspiring me with it's flowery goodness! Or rather, IT'S SO PRETTY!

Today's the start of a new challenge and it promises to recharge our inner batteries and help us fall in love with ourselves all over again!

And who doesn't want that? So join the challenge if you haven't already! We're doing teams this time around for some ultra-mega-support! I'm very excited and can't wait to meet my team. Are you on my team??

For the start of this challenge, I found that one pound again. You know the one. The one I keep gaining and losing over and over again? That one. He's laughing at me. Taunting me. Wagging his little tiny finger at me, telling me he'll be back over and over again as long as I keep ordering pizza at 10 at night the night before a weigh-in. Yes, true story. Husband's fault. He should be looking out for me. 

I haven't been counting points. I am so hungry I want  to eat off my arm and I turn to the gorge-y type things, the kind that you can only get in a drive-through. And usually it's after I exercise. Because all of my workouts have stepped up about 10 notches. I'm riding longer and farther than I ever have before. I am doing bricks that include a 13 mile ride and a 4 mile run. I'm getting ready for this crazy triathlon in April and I really need to eat better than that. I am exercising like I am in training, but I need to eat like I am in training. For some reason, because I know I burned so many calories, I have been giving myself a license to eat anything I want! Which at a gaining-weight standpoint is ok, but in the end, it just ain't healthy.

So that's what I'm focusing on this challenge.

Speaking of challenges, I signed myself to do a crazy public fundraiser to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society where I shall embarrass myself in front of everyone -- I've been tweeting about it, but it truly panned out! These crazy people are letting me do it! I can't wait to post about it! Ps. Vote for what I'll do on race day, right there on my sidebar.

Happy weigh-in everyone and happy challenge!!

***

Please help me fight cancer by donating HERE. I'll even give you a present! Check it out and read about who I'm running for HERE!

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Weigh-In Wednesday: The Spring Fling

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/weigh-in-wednesday-spring-fling.html

My Son on the whole "Doing Some Good" Thing..

I've been spending a lot of time contemplating my existence. Honestly, that's really not a new thing, I tend to get overwhelmed with the finality of death and the vastness of infinity. (How's that for depth in the morning before coffee? I apologize.)

The overwhelmedness hits me in waves. I think about it a lot, get overwhelmed and then stop. I don't like to think of my very existence in this world as such a small blip in time, like it is. Between 50-100 years (if I'm lucky) is really not much time in the scope of things. Sometimes it really upsets me. Other times it makes me want to live fully and appreciate each of life's moments, no matter how annoying some of them are. Other times I live obliviously, but I don't really like when I do that because I want to live each day consciously, with purpose. That doesn't always happen.

I told you I'm a victim of my own head.

One morning in particular, I was feeling a little deep and at the same time getting a little upset at my older son because of the things he sometimes says. Sometimes he talks about violence like it's great and fantastic, like crashing into things or people or smashing his brother or something like that. Probably all very normal boy-stuff but I have no idea and all I am trying to do is raise two little men with good hearts and smart minds. (Is that too much to ask?) So this kind of talk really stresses me out. It makes me think I've gone wrong somewhere and I ask questions like, "Where's the sweet boy that likes to share all his toys and says, "Please" and says, "No, I insist! After you!" And gives his cheese sandwich shaped like an airplane to the homeless.

So I was sitting at a stoplight taking my two boys to preschool and I was thinking again about not only how fleeting life in general is, but how fleeting driving them to preschool as tiny little men is. Everything just goes so fast.

And I hoped and said a prayer to myself that eventually one day my sons would understand that with such a valuable little blip of time on this earth, they would use that time to do some good. Whatever that is.

So I turned around and said to my 3 year old, "Honey?" And he said, "What, Mom?" And I was pausing because I didn't know how I was going to say what I was thinking about in "3 year old." And he says, "WHAT, MOM!??" a little louder because he's annoyed that I started talking to him and stopped. And so I said, "Honey, we are only here in this world for a very short time. Promise me you'll use that time to do something good."

Blank stare.

(What was I expecting, anyway? I think I just wanted to hear myself say that. Besides, I have a tendency to tell them things that are a little above their level of comprehension. To say the least.)

And then he says to me, "Mom, when I get to school, I'll push..." (and here's where I start thinking, "Please don't say "'push my brother or another child '- please don't say 'push my brother or another child'" ) but that's not what he finished with thank goodness. Instead he finishes this way: "Mom, when I get to school, I'll push in all the chairs at the table."

And I got all teary-eyed.

And I said, "Honey, that's wonderful. You will do that and your teachers will be proud and thankful."

And he smiled really big.

Because those are the kinds of things you do as a 3 year old. You don't quite know yet the scope of the problems in this world. You just know about the scope of the problems in your world. And at that moment, the problem that existed in his world that he wanted to fix was the problem of chairs in his classroom being left out.

And I just wanted to cry. How thoughtful! In his own way, even if I am making it up in my head, he seemed to get what I meant. He told me something he would do that is responsible, that other people would appreciate, and that he could take pride in, himself. In "3 year old," that's pretty good.

* * *

Please help me fight cancer by donating HERE. I'll even give you a present! Check it out and read about who I'm running for HERE!

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My Son on the whole "Doing Some Good" Thing..

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-son-on-whole-doing-some-good-thing.html

The Vote

I've told you I'm going to do something crazy when I meet my fundraising goal! Now it's time to vote!

I've put together a list of all the suggestions given to me, by you, and now you will get to tell me what to do. Here's your shot to embarrass me! I'll blog and vlog and take pictures of whatever it is that you force vote on for me to do. Just vote in the poll right there on the top left on my sidebar.

(Why is all of this again? Refresh me.)

OK. I'm running a half-marathon in June with Team Shrink and the girls at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. We are helping to fight cancer by raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I am running for a dear friend and co-worker of mine, Rose Astorina, who was diagnosed in 2007 with Non-Hodkins Lymphoma.
Now, I promise do my part by following through, but I have to make my fundraising goal to do it *hint hint*. And I'm just $120 away from drawing my the raffle which is a $50 gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods or Barnes and Noble winner's choice!

Also, if you donate, not only do you get an entry into the raffle, you get your choice of the following necklaces, I will send them to you. You can see them here:
Here is the list of necklaces to choose from:
Circle charms:
"Imagine"
"Passion"
"Strength"
"Focus"
"Courage"
"Discipline"
"Faith"
"Harmony"
"Power"
"Miracles"
"I Need More Cowbell"
"I Do All My Own Stunts"
"Be Yourself"'
Charms:
"Strength" - this one's a silver charm, not a circle
"Live Light" - also a charm, not a circle

Voting closes March 18th. Vote as much as you want until then! Have a great week!

Please help me fight cancer by donating HERE.

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The Vote

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/vote.html

Talking About Something I Don't Talk About Much

I am very, very spiritual.

I don't talk about my spirituality often here because I know that there are some people who aren't and who don't like reading about that and I don't want to scare anyone away. But today I'm going to talk about it because I have all of this inside me and I feel like I will explode if I don't. If you're not of the praying kind, that's ok! You may think I'm crazy and I don't mind that either.

I pray all the time. I have conversations with God all the time and whether or not He is in the mood to listen to me, I talk anyway. Very much like I write blog posts and book passages in my head all day long, I pray. That's why sometimes I think my head is a very scary place to be, because it is always talking to someone, it can talk itself into something or out of something and way overthink something.

Then there are the times when I know I should be overthinking something because I am at a crossroads and I need to make a decision.

And that's when instead, I clear my mind and let it all go. God please show me the way. I will do what you want me to do.

And a door will open.

Some people like maybe my husband probably think I am crazy and believe that your mind can will things to happen. I believe that, too. But I do believe in God and I do believe in miracles and I do believe that when I pray for direction, a door eventually opens. It may not be in "my" time, but it always happens. Always.

I have very significant milestones that I have attributed to prayer and every time I pray and an answer comes, it just strengthens my belief that prayer works.

I prayed when I needed to change jobs and direction in my life and eventually made the best move of my life. I prayed for my 2nd baby to reach 41 weeks after having my first come 6 weeks early. And then when I did, indeed, reach 41 weeks and prayed for my water to break yes, it broke that very night. I prayed for answers about why my first child came early. A preemie mom's group started and now I am one of the organizers and we work in our community to help other preemie moms. I pray for direction in my life every day and a road appears.

Yes, a practical mind would think I worked out the answer for myself. But I think it's something more.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a women's retreat at the church I grew up in with my mother. That weekend was a very difficult weekend because there were very difficult personal decisions to be made and there were very specific fears going on in both of our lives and I decided to throw my hands up and let God tell me what to do. I prayed for my family and prayed for an answer. I figured we had the whole weekend to come up with one.

That weekend was cleansing and overwhelming. It opened my eyes. I cried a lot. I heard God's voice. This is the part where you may think I'm crazy.

My mom had chosen the workshops ahead of time. She picked the ones that sounded the best and made the choice on her own. One of the workshops we went to was about reading psalms and meditation. At the end of the class, our speaker turned the lights off and we closed our eyes. She put on a cd that was the sounds of the ocean.

Now, I hadn't gone into this retreat with the thought of praying for my fear of swimming in triathlon. There were deeper family issues at hand and my focus was finding an answer for that. But as I listened to the sounds of the waves lapping, I saw myself standing at the water's edge, putting my toes in it and basking in the sun and the sounds of the ocean. It's one of my very happiest places in the world. And it seems really silly having grown up near the water and being afraid to actually swim in it. But I am. I get that panicky feeling, I don't like looking down below me and I have trouble breathing. It seems really silly but the fear is actually annoying and borderline debilitating. I swam last summer with a group along a causeway and it was murky and gross and there were jellyfish and mud and it was just gross and skeevy. I panicked in one of the swims in the triathlon at the end of last season. I didn't end the season on a high note in the open water. I have been scared ever since. And then there was that shark attack two weeks ago on the east coast. Seriously not helping.

Then as my eyes were closed and I was in my happy place alongside of the beautiful ocean, I saw myself throw myself into the water, backwards, with my arms spread open and joyful, with a happy, childlike smile and laughter, with my hair flying into my face as the water took me in.

I pray a lot for strength and bravery and found myself listening to the ocean and praying once again.

I saw myself frolicking. Like I was a child again. Splashing around and basking in the ocean's happy waves like the ocean was my best friend and we had a lot of catching up to do. The ocean was happy to see me. It took me in and swirled me around and hugged me and I felt like I was home. It's how I used to feel when I was a little girl, boogie boarding and playing in the waves for hours and hours and hours. These moments gave me that feeling again. That peace. That happiness. That childlike fearlessness.

And as I closed my eyes and listened to the seagulls and the waves crashing, I heard a voice and it was very clear. Fear not God's creatures, it whispered.

Then in my head, I swam.

At the end of the class, the speaker gave us each a shell. I cherish that shell because it was given to me as a symbol of courage and bravery.

So you can imagine that in all my spirituality, how amazed I am at just how fitting it is that my first open water swim of the season be on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. No one ever needs a swim partner to swim during the week in the afternoon, on a day I actually have childcare, but on this day, someone did.

Chance? Maybe.
 
But not to me. I believe with everything in me that I am exactly where I am meant to be, doing exactly what I am meant to do. That is why I can look back at my life and with everything in me, have not a single regret.

Like I said, the answers never come on "my" time. But they always, always eventually come.

On this Ash Wednesday, it is my day to be brave and fearless. Because I'm giving up FEAR for Lent.

* * *
Please help me fight cancer by donating HERE. I'll even give you a present! Check it out and read about who I'm running for HERE!

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Talking About Something I Don't Talk About Much

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/talking-about-something-i-dont-talk.html

Weigh-In Wednesday

Good morning! I am having the best time doing the Shrinking Jeans Olympics! For the span of the Winter Olympics, we have events going on every day (only these ones are doable -- no triple sow cow necessary or whatever that's called) at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. You really gotta check it out here, and plus there are medals involved! Sort of.

Anyhoo, I'm down one pound this week. Which is amazing because I didn't count points this week thank Goodness I didn't say that out loud. I didn't eat perfectly but I have religiously worked out, even when I was left all alone home last week alone with two sick kids. I bought a bike trainer (I even vlogged one of the workouts but apparently the camera wasn't pointed up high enough, so it was 40 minutes of headless bike rider or riding torso, depending on whether you're cup half full or empty. And I rode my own bike inside the house every day that I couldn't get away to the gym. (LOVE!) I'll try the vlog again at some point too. But I actually don't remember when my last "day off" was. Which isn't good! We must take days off! I think mine will be Friday.

OH YES, AND HEY! I'M GIVING SOME STUFF AWAY!

I make these necklaces, it started out as a necessity because I couldn't find one that I could work out in that was short like a choker. So I bought the leather myself and started making them and I put affirmation rings on them ("Discipline," "Focus," "Courage," "Strength"- inspirational messages.) Of course, I also have silly ones (like the one I'm wearing), "I Need More Cowbell."

I opened up my own Etsy shop and started selling them and have had a great response!

Anyway, remember how I'm training for a half-marathon to fight cancer with the sisters of Shrinking Jeans? If you donate $20 or more (RIGHT HERE - and completely tax deductible), I'll send you a necklace of your choice (with a leather or satin cord, your choice.). If you donate less than that, I'll send you my silicone "Strength, Focus, Discipline" bracelet. (Picture of that is HERE.)

AND ANY DONATION WILL ENTER YOU INTO A RAFFLE FOR A $50 gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods or Barnes And Noble -- your choice.

So pretty please? I've only raised 1% so far. Don't you feel bad for me? I'm pathetic.

ps. I'm going to do something crazy when I reach my goal and I'm letting you vote on it starting next Monday!!

Have a great week! I hope you did wonderfully and I can't wait for the new challenge, I hear it's starting soon and it's really really cool!! Meantime make sure you go visit the rest of the sisters!

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Weigh-In Wednesday

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/weigh-in-wednesday.html

Giving and Fighting, all in one post!

Do you want a present? (I'm ok with bribery in some situations...)

You see, I make necklaces. They have inspiring or funny messages on them and I wear mine every day. Some days I wear "Focus," other days I wear "Discipline." Yes. They actually do help. They've become my weigh-loss and training lifeline.

And then sometimes (like now) when I need to stop taking myself so seriously, I wear my favorite, "I Need More Cowbell."

They are all around 16'' in length (to fit a little looser than a choker) and some are made with a leather cord and others are made with a satin cord.

I am training hard for a 1/2 marathon for Team In Training with my girls from the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans as part of Team Shrink we're raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.


I am a long way from my goal. But you can help me. For every donation $20 and above, I will send you a necklace of your choice. Yes, just for donating, I will send you a present and token of my appreciation!
Because I love you. I can say that because I really do mean it.

You can have the message that you want and the cord style that you want. I have multiple of the above to choose from and all you'll have to do is specify which necklace and let me know whether you want leather or satin. The leather wears well, I swim in it and shower (sometimes twice) a day in it and it lasts forever.

For every donation between $10-$19, you'll get my favorite inspiring bracelet that says, "Strength, Focus, Discipline."


And on top of that, if you donate, no matter how much, you will be entered into a raffle for a $50 giftcard to either Dick's Sporting Goods or Barnes and Noble-your choice!

I will draw the winner's name when I hit my first $500.
Yes, I am taking this race for the cure very seriously. I am running for Rose, an old friend and roommate who I lived and worked with when I lived in New York. We took on the big city together.

In 2007, she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in when doctors found a tumor in her chest.

Her little boy is almost my son's age. Just thinking about having to battle cancer and fighting for my life just so I can be around to watch my son grow up brings tears to my eyes. I can't even type those words without getting choked up. It's unimagineable. Yet, it happens every day to millions of people.

Today, Rose is cancer-free.



She fought so hard. I remember talking to her in between treatments and she was acting like it was just any other day, any other stress and it wasn't going to take her down. She refused to be defeated and she kept going. With a smile on her face and in her voice.

I have a lot of heroes in my life and she is one of them. Sadly, there are not many people in my life that have not been touched by some form of cancer and for all of them, I run. For every battle, every fear, every tear, for every moment they have fought and continue to fight, I run.

It is the least I can do.

Please join me in fighting alongside of them by donating here at my Team In Training Page. It is 100% tax deductible and you can use your credit card.

Oh, wait. There's more??

Next week, you will get to vote on what crazy I will do once I reach my goal. I have had a lot of suggestions and if you something I should add for people to vote on, please leave it in the comments! I am not above much.


Here is the list of necklaces to choose from:
Circle charms:
"Imagine"
"Passion"
"Strength"
"Focus"
"Courage"
"Discipline"
"Faith"
"Harmony"
"Power"
"Miracles"
Charms:
"I Need More Cowbell"
"I Do All My Own Stunts"
"Be Yourself"'
"Strength" - this one's a silver charm, not a circle
"Live Light" - also a charm, not a circle
A purple and silver sneaker
Silver shamrock on one side/ Good Luck on the other with a tiny crystal
Your choice of satin or leather, just leave your preference in the messages when you donate!

Peace, hugs and so much love to you.

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Giving and Fighting, all in one post!

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/giving-and-fighting-all-in-one-post.html

Weigh-In Wednesday: The Rethink My Shrink Finale

Wow, is it done already???  Rethink Your Shrink is done??
That went fast.

Well, I did pretty good, if only my anniversary weren't at the tail end of this challenge! An anniversary in which there was dinner and great steak and a piece of chocolate cake the size of my head.

I did lose for the challenge, though not as much as I had wanted. Looks like this week I lost a half a pound (wow is all I can say for that and that's in a good way.)

Total for the challenge: 4.5 pounds!

Which I think is pretty darned good and this challenge was exactly what I needed to get back on track after the holidays. And there are a lot of things going on that will keep me in check for the immediate future, like for instance I am officially participating in the Team Shrinking Jeans half-marathon in San Diego! I want you to meet the beautiful woman I am running for right HERE. I need to raise a lot of money to get there, any and everything counts! So I will be opening it up for a vote, if I meet my fundraising goals, I will let YOU vote on what kind of crazy I do. The options:
-Faux hawk
-Dye hair purple
-Eat mushrooms (GAH!)
-Get a tattoo (fake or real... hmmmm.)

I am taking suggestions for the list for the next week and a half that I'll add to the list, so suggest away! I will vlog whatever you decide I do. Voting will begin in a week and a half! Until then, won't you consider a donation?? To me or the team, either way is great!

In other health-related news, I got back from a weekend away with the husband (we went to Orlando, a theme park and dancing! Woohoo! Right up my alley!) We were on a wonderful we-love-our-relationship "high!"! And then the kids were sick (debbie downer.) 102.5 fever upon walking into my parents' door.

So we've been inside all week, sick. No school, no one can come over to watch them. My poor guys. Every week, I swear.

Because of days like these, I bought an indoor bike trainer to stick my bike on and ride away. Because I cannot swim or run while the kids are sick, I may as well do something! And I'm looking at 4-5 days of only weight-training and DVDs, and those options would be great if I weren't training for a triathlon! So I bit the bullet.

And IT.IS.AWESOME. I got my ride in yesterday! I rode for 30 minutes, I caught up on the Today Show while the kids napped, it was perfect! It was amazing! I wish it were a little quieter, but it didn't seem to bother them, so I guess it's fine! The great part is that I can set it up anywhere I want. If I want to go in the driveway and put my headphones on, I can do that. If I want to ride in front of the tv, I can do that. If I want to ride in the office, I can do that! And any time I want! On my own bike!

So awesome.

Not sure if I'll ever catch up on everything since we've been sick since December and I've been frazzled for the entire month, but right now I will drink coffee.

I can't wait for the new challenge, have you heard about it yet? The Shrinking Jeans Olympics? I know! It's awesome and I can't wait! By the way it starts in two days. Hope to see you there!

TA TA for now!

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Weigh-In Wednesday: The Rethink My Shrink Finale

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/weigh-in-wednesday-rethink-my-shrink.html

Mile by Mile, Step by Step; Some Crazy for Some Good

Running a race is very much a metaphor for life and all of its milestones. The ones you plan on and especially the ones you don't.

You spend a lot of time working up to something. You get nervous before the big day. You face your fears, you hope you "studied" enough and that all the work and hours you've put in were enough, and finally, the big day comes. The day you've been training for. Whatever that is. And that's when you see what you're made of. And it almost always surprises you.

Because you do so much more than what you thought! Every time.

Every day of our lives, we're in training for something. Getting a promotion. Having a family. Getting married. Every day's experience contributes to whatever milestone lies ahead. And sometimes milestones in our lives happen whether we plan for them or not and they're not always the happy kinds of milestones.

Like finding out you have cancer. Like one of my dear friends, Rose, a former co-worker and former roomate.

We were producers and our company was closing our bureaus. Mine in Tampa, hers in Chicago. They gave us the option to move to the New York headquarters. We jumped at it and decided we'd get an apartment together and take on the big bad city like two Mary Tyler Moores, hats and all. We shared all of the ups and downs that came with moving to an unknown place and working together and sometimes competing, but we stayed friends. We both moved back to our hometowns and got married and started families.

In 2007, she found out she had a tumor. She was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. She battled the cancer in the way I knew she would, boldly and with reckless abandon. She went through chemotherapy. She went through radiation. She lost all of her hair. Her four-year-old noticed her new "haircut" and told her he liked it. She's a fighter and today she's cancer-free. She tells her story so much better than me, go meet my friend Rose and watch her story, she was on FOX News channel.

Why am I telling you this?

Because I am running for her this June in San Diego at the Rock and Roll Half-Marathon that benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I am running with my favorite virtual sisters in the world, The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans as part of the Team In Training program. And I am running for Rose and for all who battle cancer.

The fun part is that right here, I vow to do some crazy to raise some money. Because I have to raise almost $3,000 and I am at the very very beginning and time is ticking. I'm starting to panic!

Won't you consider going over to my page right here and donating? In the next two weeks, I will let YOU vote for what CRAZY I will do IF AND WHEN I reach my fundraising goal! Yes! You decide! You decide just how silly I will be. And there is not much that I won't do in the name of fundraising for causes I believe in! (Just so you know!)

Some of you have already made suggestions that will go on the list. They are:
-dye my hair purple for the race
-get a (temporary) tattoo. Some of the girls on the team have talked about getting actual tattoos. I think I know how my husband feels about this one, but I love me tattoos (I have two.)
-get a mohawk. Unfortunately, I won't cut my hair to do this, but I might be willing to make a faux-hawk out of the existing hairs.
-eat mushrooms. *gag* I hate mushrooms with everything inside me. But someone my mother in law suggested this one, I really thought she liked me! and so here it is on the list.

I will blog and vlog and tweet about what I do so you will see it all for yourselves if you care to.

In the meantime, suggest away here in the comments below! And please help me reach my fundraising goal! Again, my fundraising page is here! I will open up voting 2 weeks from today!

Love and hugs!

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Mile by Mile, Step by Step; Some Crazy for Some Good

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/mile-by-mile-step-by-step-some-crazy.html

Speaking of Cocktail Napkins...

And while we're on the topic of cocktail napkins (and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, my husband I just celebrated 5 years of marriage and it all started out with a cocktail napkin) it really got me to thinking.

If cocktail napkins could talk, they might thank the millions of people who have spared their little tiny lives from drowning in a sea of cocktail sweat by writing their phone numbers down on them.

The cocktail napkin might be smothered in a smoky pocket or purse for a while but eventually, they'd come to live on an open surface where they can breathe, very likely on a dresser or counter and more likely, near a phone.

The cocktail napkin would be a sought-after commodity, feeling special for a while, and eliciting sheer panic by their new humanfriend at just the very thought of it being lost. That must make a cocktail napkin feel pretty good.

Because on that napkin lives a series of numbers. The series of numbers that may or may not belong to someone's potential life-long mate. At least that's the seriousness and gravity of the situation in a woman's mind. Likely not so much in a man's. The man looks at the series of numbers as an invitation to whatever their man-minds conjure up and us womenfolk hope (pretend) that it's something to do with picnics and long walks on the beach. At least we hope so. The cocktail napkin doesn't mind either way. The cocktail napkin just knows it's needed and wanted and that its tiny little cocktail napkinlife has been lengthened for now. And it sure is happy feeling loved for a while.

But sadly, in recent years, the population of tiny cocktail napkins has become distressed. Because it's being neglected. The one reprieve that the cocktail napkin once had is gone because the cell phone has taken its place! People don't need cockail napkins for a vehicle of a number exchange. Instead, the number bypasses the napkin and goes straight to the phone!

The cocktail napkin is sad.

The cocktail napkin is afraid.

It no longer has that glimmer of hope of escaping into a back pocket or a purse. Now it just waits. Waits for your glass of water, your frothy beer, and then it will take its place under your glass and then as a wet, wrinkled up mess, take its final trip into the garbage.

Think about this as the cocktail napkin drowns underneath your cocktail, beer, or water while you're sipping away happily.

So next time you're out and about and you're about to hand your number over to Mr. or Mrs. Right, go ahead and take an extra minute. Write your phone number down. And save a cocktail napkin.

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Speaking of Cocktail Napkins...

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/speaking-of-cocktail-napkins.html

It Started Out With Panic Over a Cocktail Napkin

15 years ago I frantically searched for a cocktail napkin and a pen. You see, we did not have cell phones then.

The bar was closing and I had just met a really cool guy. He liked racquetball. Plus they hadn't turned the lights on yet.

We went on a couple dates. We went out for a while.

We looked like this:

We broke up. Our lives went on. We moved to separate ends of the earth. But he always stayed with me, somehow. Somewhere.

10 years later, we looked like this:

Sometimes when I hear him on the other end of the phone I close my eyes and remember how desperate I once felt listening to his voice and wishing he were closer.

Then I remember that he is now. And has been for the past 5 years.
We look like this now:



All I have to do is look at my children. That's the best anniversary present ever.

Happy Anniversary, honey. You're still my favorite.


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It Started Out With Panic Over a Cocktail Napkin

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/it-started-out-with-panic-over-cocktail.html

Weigh-In Wednesday: No Whammy No Whammy No Whammy...

I woke up with a migraine and my child as the devil incarnate.

And then the scale said I gained a pound.

(No whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy...)

Triple whammy!!

So right about now is that place called "Moment of Truth." The one where I would like to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head.

And evade the gym.

And stop counting my points.

But do I ? No. No I don't.

Because there are perfectly good explanations for what happened this morning. First (and because Weight Watchers told me when it noticed I gained a pound this week), weight-loss doesn't always happen on my time. Which kind of stinks, because, you know, we have this weigh-in on Wednesdays and all, and I'd really like the scale to reflect all my hard work in time for it thankyouverymuch. But this week it didn't. Even though, since last Wednesday, I have run 7 miles, done a Body Pump class, spin class, and swam twice. Obviously the exercise isn't a factor since there was exercise on 6 of the past 7 days. Training for Team Shrinking Jeans and the half-marathon in San Diego and my triathlon in April has officially begun! For the next three to six months, I will be working my tail off. No question about that. It's game on!

As far as eating goes, I am pretty sure I stayed within my points, but I went to a church retreat with my mom over the weekend and they fed us their own stuff and it was either eat that or starve. I am pretty sure I was able to count the points and even if I didn't, I earned 27 activity points and hadn't even touched them, so I would hope that even if I counted wrong, I had extra to spare.. but who knows? (I did ask God to help me count the points...) But who knows if I counted an egg souffle right? And well then, nature happened upon me yesterday... (you're welcome.) So it could be all of those reasons, or one of those reasons or none of those reasons and who knows, I could see a drop in the scale by tomorrow. We'll see.

So for today, my migraine medication is working. My kids are eating breakfast, which is defeating the hungermonster which is in turn restoring them (especially the one that was a complete lunatic 5 minutes ago) to their normal, even-keeled selves. And I'm going to move on. Because this is already turning out to be a better day, even if the first 20 minutes of it really stunk. And how can it not be a great day? I'm celebrating 5 years with my husband on Friday! And we're going away for the weekend! Woohoo! (That should be interesting for my points situation!!)

Chim chimney chim chimney chim chim cherooooooooooooooooooo!

Wow, it's the end of this post and things are already looking up! So if you've have had a rough go today like me, I promise it'll get better! Just keep on keepin on, cause we're in it together. And if you had a kickass day already, hurrah for you!!

So have a nice day! And get thee to a runnery!

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Weigh-In Wednesday: No Whammy No Whammy No Whammy...

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2010/02/weigh-in-wednesday-no-whammy-no-whammy.html