Excited about ... socks?

Yup. I'm excited about socks. And shoes. And shorts, tanks, bras ... the list goes on.

With only 11 weeks (!!!) until the Michigan edition of the 3-Day for the Cure, it's time to seriously start thinking about (and purchasing) what I'm going to wear for the walk. I've heard from plenty of veteran walkers that you have to train in what you're going to wear. Or be ready to face the consequences.

Since I don't tend to like consequences all that much, and I never really need an excuse to shop, it's "game on!" Best part: Stuff's on sale!

Today, I bought my socks ... Thorlos. They were "Buy 3, Get 1 Free" so it was a great deal.

Two weeks ago, I got a new pair of shoes, which I'll wear for the majority of the walk. The pair I have now are running a bit thin, so I'll get a second pair of "walk" shoes in June. And thanks to the wonderful folks at Hanson's Running Shop, I saved 20% because I'm a 3-Day Walker (normally it's 10%, but they're offering an extra 10% one day a month), AND I got another punch on my frequent buyer card, giving me a $25 gift card toward my next purchase.

Finally, this past weekend, I picked up some shorts and *ahem* undergarments at REI. (No, I'm not posting a photo of the second item.) Both were on sale, and the timing was great, since it's hotter than hades around here right now.

There's still a small list of stuff to get / find ... another pair of shoes, some tank tops, an air mattress.... but fortunately, there's 11 weeks to go. But it'll be here before we know it.

Meanwhile, it's all training, all the time. We did a 12-mile walk up north last weekend, with a 13-mile and 7-mile walk coming up this weekend (and a 4-mile today and 5-mile on Thursday).  Lots of miles ....

And we're walking...

This weekend was a gorgeous weekend to be home ... warm, sunny and dry ... and a great weekend to get the training mileage back on track.

It has been difficult to get in the recommended weekly mileage the past few weeks ... we've been up north a few weekends, and the weather has NOT been cooperating. When the weekend mileage calls for 10 miles on Saturday and 5 to 6 on Sunday, it's a huge hit to the weekly total when it's a rainout.

But this weekend, we stayed home to do some yard work, and the weather finally cooperated. I got in a 5-mile walk on Thursday, we did an 11-mile walk on Saturday, and a 5-mile walk today (Sunday). With the 3-miles I got in at the gym Tuesday, I hit the recommended 24 miles of walking this week, and feel great about it.

So if it's not to much to ask.... I'm hoping Mother Nature cooperates a little more ... we have a 28-mile week next week, and need to be able to walk up north (12-mile and 7-mile walks). Keep your fingers crossed ...

So lonely ....

Tonight was my first solo walk ... well, first solo "real" walk. I've done the random 3-mile walk on the treadmill at the gym by myself (how cool is it that a 3-mile walk isn't that big a deal!) but tonight, I had a five-mile walk on the training schedule. But my training buddy (Stef) is sick :(

I haven't gotten a lot of walking in over the past two weeks (thank you Mother Nature, for being a complete pain in the you-know-what), so I didn't want to blow off the walk tonight. So I suited up and took off. Alone.

And it sucked. I mean, I got the walk in. I went at a good pace. But it was boring. Nothing to talk about. No one to talk to. Blah. Lots of time alone with my thoughts (scary) though, which made me realize:

I'm walking in the 3-Day because I get to walk with my sister. Susan G Komen was someone's sister. So are many of the 40,000+ women who die of breast cancer each year. This walk experience wouldn't be what it is for me, without my sister.


So, I'm hoping she feels better really soon (like, oh, by Saturday, since we have an 11-mile training walk on the schedule!) ... because it's just not the same without her.

That's amore!

This past weekend, we hosted our final fundraising event for the 3-Day for the Cure, our Spaghetti Dinner & Trivia Night fundraiser at the Genesee Otter Lake Campground. More than 75 people participated and we raised $1,000!

We served up 15 pounds of spaghetti  (Stef is a pro in the kitchen), which seemed like an unbelievable amount of food, but it made it through the night (phew). The second half of the evening was our Trivia game. We had 12 teams participate, which made for a lot of laughs. We closed it out with our tin can auction (OK, pink bag auction), where we had 33 gifts to give away. Many of those were made or donated by camping family, which we are so grateful for. (The most popular item? The case of Bud Light. Go figure :)

All told, I was amazed and delighted with the evening... the weather forecast was NOT favorable (it did not stop raining), yet we had so many of our camping friends there to support us. Some of them brought their friends or family, and we even had a few friends come up who joined us at the campground for the first time. (I think they deserve a special medal for sticking it out this weekend!)

Thank you, everyone, for all of your support on this event. From the folks who donated gifts, made gifts, donated food items or helped at the event, we really, really, really appreciate your kindness, your generosity and your friendship.

Fundraising finale is on the horizon

This weekend is our FINAL fundraiser for the "Sisters Saving the Sistahs" .... can I get a whoop whoop (or whatever the heck that is).

Don't get me wrong ... I have been surprised at how much I have enjoyed the team fundraising experience. It's one thing to get personal donations from friends and family (which I'm still taking!). It's a whole other ball of wax to accept donations from acquaintances or total strangers. I expected to not like it (I sort of dread small talk with strangers). But I loved it. I met some neat people. I heard some great stories that inspired to keep it up. It was a great experience. But I'm kinda ready to be done, because dang, it's a lot of work. Case in point:

This weekend is our big Spaghetti Dinner and Trivia Night Fundraiser, hosted at our "second home," the Genesee Otter Lake Campground. We're having dinner, followed by a mini-version of "MyTriviaLive," a fun and interactive (and not that difficult) trivia game. Winners will get tickets to drop in the Tin Can Auction; everyone else has the opportunity to purchase tickets for the Tin Can Auction.

That's the exciting part ... last night, Stef and I spent a few hours getting all the prizes together. As of right now, we have more than 30 gifts that have been donated! There are some really cool ones:

• Gift cards — Olive Garden, Dunkin' Donuts, Carrabba's, Game Stop, iTunes
• Family prizes — a family fun night with Family Video/National Coney Island/Dave & Busters gift cards, a marshmallow shooter pack, candy jars with themed lids (filled with candy!)
• Pampering items -- a lovely Avon basket, a one-hour massage, Tastefully Simple goodies
• Handmade gifts -- Pressed wine bottle cheese tray, handmade quilt, stained glass items, beaded bracelets, baked goodies basket
• Entertainment -- Tiger's jersey (Porcello), Red Wing's jersey (Lidstrom); DTE pavilion seats to Eddie Money (May 27); Sunnybrook Lanes golf package, Sunnybrook bowling package
• Home stuff -- Decorate wine glasses (with wine!), fun iced-tea style glasswear, his/her wine carafe and glasses (again, with wine!), a Jack Daniels/Harley Davidson package, a gardening basket

And I'm sure I've missed stuff! 

We're really looking forward to this one ... it'll be a relatively low-key event (we're at the campground, afterall), we'll have our camping friends and family there, and a few non-camping friends and family are joining us for the weekend. And finally, it's the last fundraising event for the Sisters Saving the Sistahs 2011 Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure walk fund. So bring it on ... we're ready for a great time!

Is that the floor of the garage I see?

Day 1

I've never personally hosted a garage sale. And I had no idea what to expect when Stef and I decided to host a garage sale to raise money for the 3-Day for the Cure.

We put out a call to friends and family, to see if they had "treasures" to donate to the "cause." And the response was great ...

But I didn't realize how great until we opened up on Friday. Unbelievable. We were busy from the time we opened the garage (8 a.m.) until we closed for the night (6:30 p.m.). I am so thankful that Keith's mom and dad insisted on coming over to help out for the day -- we would have been lost without them.

We more than tripled our expectations for the weekend. It was a wildly successful fundraiser for the 3-Day For The Cure, and we're so grateful.

I'll be honest though ... it was a TON of work. From the prep work (gathering stuff, cleaning it all, sorting it, pricing it) to the set up (hauling tables, lifting boxes) to the day-of work (on our feet for 12+ hours, dealing with the crazies ... "That's 50 cents" when the price tag clearly says $2.00). I was exhausted at the end of the weekend.

Some lessons learned:
1) Ask for donations. We heard a lot of "customers" comment about how much "good" stuff we had. We didn't have a lot of high-priced items, but we had nice stuff. That's because we asked our friends and family for their treasures. Some said they didn't have enough for a garage sale on their own; some said they didn't want to just give it away to an agency; others weeded through their home decor. No matter how it came in, it came in, and it was great stuff.

2) Look for all the promotions you can find. We advertised at work (free classified ads where I work), we put a listing on "gas station TV" (they do free charity listings: gstv.com), our city lists the sales online and distributes a weekly e-mail, we posted it on Facebook (thanks to all of you who reposted it!!) and the winner of the weekend: craigslist. I put photos of some of the things we had to sell on my blog and Stef put the link in the Craigslist posting. We got hundreds of hits. Unbelievable traffic.

3) Keep asking for donations. The sales on Friday were unbelievable, and we put out a call Friday night to see if anyone had anything they'd be willing to bring over. Thank you to those who responded ... it helped keep the sale "fresh" and your stuff sold!

4) Organize the sale by the traffic you expect. We learned that Friday is the "professional garage sale" day. We sold very few books, clothes and children's items. Saturday was "family day." We sold a TON of clothes, children's clothes and books. We caught on quickly and organized the garage and yard accordingly.

5) Price it to sell. Although we wanted to make money for the walk, we also wanted to get rid of all the stuff we had. We priced things appropriately, and didn't have trouble selling almost everything. Glassware: $0.25 a piece or 6 for $1.  Books: $0.50 a piece or 3 for $1. You get the idea.  We still had a lot of hagglers (more on Friday than Saturday), but it was all good.

Day 3

I know we were fortunate ... this was one of the first nice weekends of the spring, which made a big difference. We had a lot of people say this was the first garage sale of their season, so I think they were looking to buy.

So yes, it was a lot of work. A lot. But it was worth it.

If you're a walker, consider it, especially if you have friends and family you can call on for donations. If you're a supporter, consider donating to a walker -- although I'm loving that we can see the floor of the garage once again, I'll gladly cover it back up to store your "treasures" until the next time ....