Our pink posse is growing

I haven't had a chance to catch one of the 2012 3-Day for the Cure commercials yet, but from what I hear, they're great. (I have watched the "experience video" on the Komen site, and loved it.) And from what I can tell, they're working......

The past two weeks, our team has grown ... our little pink posse has become a team of six! From our tiny team of two (Stef and I), we added Stef's husband (Kraig), Kraig & Stef's friend (Greg, whose mother died of breast cancer), our friend Jenn, and today, our friend Julie (whose mother also died of breast cancer).

Each of us is walking for a different reason, yet we're united in our efforts to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer research, education, prevention and treatment. And by August 17, we will have raised at least $13,800 to contribute to those efforts

In the meantime, we're still trying to figure out an appropriate initiation ritual....

It's time to shuffle up and deal ...

OK, it's not quite the right phrase, but it's time for our annual Euchre Tournament, on Saturday, March 3! Last year's event was a hugely successful fundraiser for the 3-Day for the Cure, and from what we heard, it was a great time...

If you participated last year, it's time to register again, and this time, bring a friend! If you didn't participate last year, what are you waiting for?

Let's start with allaying your concerns...

1) You don't need to be a "good" euchre player to participate.
Seriously, this is a low-stakes, fun tournament. You just need to know the basics. The way the tournament is structured, you'll rotate tables (and partners) every eight hands (twice around the table). There's no guarantee you'll be partnered with someone who has a clue, so it won't matter much if you don't have a clue!  And remember, it's all for charity, so it really doesn't matter. 

2) You don't have to have a partner to play.
The schedule is completely random, and you'll play with different people throughout the night. (OK, no comments on that one.) 

3) It won't cost you a fortune.
The entry fee is only $20 per person. That's it. It's BYOB, but we'll have pop/water. We'll hold a 50/50 raffle, but you're under no obligation to participate. With the donated space, and partially donated pizza, nearly 100% of the entry fee goes directly to our walk fund.

This year, we're really fortunate to have a great space to host the Euchre Tournament -- thanks to Keith's cousin's husband's sister-in-law's stepdaughter (follow that bouncing ball!), we are able to host the tournament at the clubhouse for an apartment complex .. it's absolutely beautiful and incredibly spacious ...

So think about it ... actually, do more than think about it. Check out the details for the event, and send me (or Stef) an e-mail today to let us know that you're registering for the Euchre Tournament. Last year's event was a tremendous success, and it's a crucial piece of our fundraising efforts. (In fact, this year, it may be our one "big" event that we're hosting.) Participating in the Euchre Tournament is a great way to have a fun night out and help us out at the same time.

Hope to see you there!

Fundraising with Tastefully Simple: A win-win proposal

Raising $2,300 for the Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure isn't an easy task. (Neither is walking 400+ miles to train for it, but that comes later!) And my fundraising efforts for the year kick off today with a Tastefully Simple "virtual" party.

So here's the deal ... Thanks to the generosity of a friend/consultant, Stephanie Jurva, with my Tastefully Simple catalog party, you get some fabulous food, and the 3-Day for the Cure gets 20% of what you spend. Easy peasy.

If you're new to Tastefully Simple, or not sure what to order, I recommend:

• Beer Bread mix -- Absolutely awesome. It's easy, it's delicious. The kids love it (the alcohol cooks off), and the crust is just to die for. This is a must have in my kitchen.
• Wahoo! Chili seasoning -- Just the right amount of zest ... seriously gives a little kick to your dish.
• Any of the dips, but especially the "Trio"  -- "Onion Onion," "Garlic Garlic" and "Bacon Bacon." It does not get better than this. You get the dry mix from Tastefully Simple, and mix it with mayo and sour cream. It's easy to make it "light," and they're awesome with crackers and veggies.

I'm going to surf the site for a few days and see what new things there are to try -- it's great stuff, reasonably priced, and with 20% going to the 3-Day, it's a win-win for me!

Ordering is easy: Just visit www.tastefullysimple.com. Shop. When you get to the checkout/shopping cart, select "Find Host/Event" on the bottom right of your screen. Type in my name (Jennifer Carbary). Select my party. Voila. 20% of what you just bought is donated directly to the 3-Day, thank you very much!  Your items are shipped right away, so you don't even have to wait for everyone else to order.

If you have any questions, just ask. If you want to invite me over for dinner and try some of your new favorite things, I'm there!!

A weekend of endings and new beginnings

This weekend marks our first official "Save the Toucans" fundraiser (Wiegand's Ladies Night - come see us!!), but it also marks the end of the 2011 3-Day for the Cure walk season.

As I write this, walkers are arriving at the Opening Ceremony in San Diego ... thousands of walkers and crew (last year's number? 4,000!) are gathering to walk the 14th Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure this year. I've met some of them through Twitter (love the 3DayTweeps, but more about that later!), and have even met a few "live" ... including Jim Hillman, who completes his 14th walk this year. I'm so excited for all of them, yet sad that it means the end of a 3-Day season.

But it's also a great time to reflect on the wonderful community the 3-Day is. Whether it was the outpouring of support when Jim lost his father last weekend, or the celebration of a cancer survivor's two-year mark as a survivor, the 3-Day community is just that ... a community. And yesterday, I had the chance to experience it in person.

Wednesday night, I saw a fellow 3DayTweep's post that she was in the metro Detroit area. We ended up meeting over coffee Thursday afternoon. It was a really bizarre experience -- on the one hand I felt as if I already knew her (I guess Twitter and reading blogs will do that!), but at the same time had an intense desire to ask a million questions about her 3-Day experience. I wish we had hours to talk, instead of the quick hour...

So this weekend, I'm going to remember how grateful I am to be a part of this amazing community. And tonight, as Stefanie, Kraig and I kick off our fundraising at Ladies Night, I'll try my hardest to be an ambassador for the community I am a part of...

Save the Toucans: Because two cans are better than none!

Say "ciao" to Sisters Saving the Sistahs ... last night kicked off our official 2012 Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure effort with the unveiling of our new team: Save the Toucans! (Because two cans are better than none.)

Our 2012 team includes the usual suspects (Stef and Jen) along with two newbies ... Stef's husband Kraig and one of our friends, Greg.

You'll get to meet each of them over the next few weeks, but the short version of how they came to join us: Kraig got roped in (because he looooves his wife and he was such a great cheerleader/supporter for the 2011 event) and Greg's mom died of breast cancer.

We kicked off our team with a team meeting on Saturday, and had a great time brainstorming ideas for the 2012 walk ... everything from where to train (Greg works at a cemetary, which makes for a great training location), when to start training (Stef and I are diehard advocates for the 24-week program) and how to fundraise.

That's probably where we spent most of our time... talking about how to raise $9,200 for the 2012 event. We had lots of ideas, but we also need your feedback ... are you interested? Would you come? What sounds like fun???

Some ideas for you to ponder:

• Dinner nights -- Local restaurants offer a percentage of sales. We thought about doing a monthly fundraiser at local places (January through July), including Abuelos, Buffalo Wild Wings, Bagger Dave's, Black Finn, National Coney Island, Ram's Horn and Dooley's.  Any others you know of?
• Gold Party -- Stef wants to host a Gold Party (Bling for Boobies!) ... you bring your unwanted/unused gold, and a local jeweler buys it from you. We (the hosts) get a percentage of the total payout. The event won't cost you a dime, and you'll actually walk out with money! Interested?
• Tastefully Simple -- A perennial favorite, probably at the end of January. Want some?
• Euchre Party -- We had a great time hosting a euchre tournament last year and want to do it again, probably March 3. How about it: Want to come? Know of a bigger place we can use for free?
• Comedy Club -- Greg's wife hosted a fundraiser at Go Comedy in Ferndale. We'd like to consider doing a comedy club night where we buy out the theatre and enjoy the improv. We were thinking of doing this in May. What do you think?
• Brackets for Boobies -- March Madness can be a lot of fun, even if you're not a college hoops fan. Look for Brackets for Boobies in mid March! Want in?
• Cans for a Cure -- We're considering another neighborhood bottle drive, along with our ongoing willingness to come pick up your bottles and cans. Holla!

So that's where we are ... our first team meeting brought a lot of ideas and we had a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to getting to know Greg and his wife Megan more, and sharing all the fun of a 3-Day for the Cure experience with new friends.

Where does the time go?

It's not even been a month since the Michigan 3-Day for the Cure, yet I feel like it was a million years ago already. Though I never tire of telling people stories of our experience (be careful if you ask!), it seems as if the event was last year. Maybe it's because we're already looking ahead to 2012...

Really .. we're already planning for the Michigan 2012 3-Day for the Cure (scheduled for Aug. 17, 18 & 19). Some of the highlights:

• A new team! Stef and I have expanded our teeny tiny team. Right now, well, it's still just the two of us registered. But Kraig (stef's husband) is registering later this month, and a friend Greg is registering as well. His mother died of breast cancer, and his wife walked two years ago. We have a few "prospects" who have said they're thinking about it ... if you're one of them, come on in! The water's warm!!
• A new team name! We can't really be the "Sistahs Saving the Sisters" when there's more than us sistahs on the team, so we're walking in 2012 under a new name: Save the Toucans: Because two cans are better than no cans.  If you want to join the team, you can find us under Stefanie Smith or the team name, "Save the Toucans."

If you're thinking of signing up for 2012, you have time... I'd just encourage you to make the commitment soon, since it is a huge commitment. The 24-week training schedule starts the beginning of March, but we'll begin fundraising shortly after the first of the year. (Look for your favorites from this year, including the Euchre Party and Brackets for Boobies!) Deciding you're ready to do this now helps you get in the right frame of mind for the training (remember, 400+ miles) and the fundraising.

And right now is the best time to be the ultimate "virtual walker stalker." I'm having a blast watching all the other walkers take their journey on the 3-Day experience. This weekend's the San Francisco walk (they take a ferry to camp!), next weekend is Seattle, and so on ... the Internet is loaded with wonderful photos, tweets (#the3day) and blog posts to give you an idea of what to expect and what the 3-Day world is like ... check it out! And think about it. Stef and I walk because we can. Can you?

Is there a support group for this?

When I woke up Monday morning, one of my first thoughts (after "I need a cup of coffee") was "Is there a post-3-Day support group?" Because I sure needed something to help me transition back to reality.

This past weekend was awesome, amazing, incredible, inspirational and life-changing. Just a few of the many adjectives I could come up with, but you get the idea. I've thought a bit about how to "recap" my first 3-Day experience, and struggled with how to sum it up in "just" a blog post. For those that followed along on Facebook, you got to see a lot of the play-by-play with our posts. For other walkers, you've lived it.

So I created a separate page that gives a "day-by-day" overview of my first 3-Day experience. And instead opted to focus on the "thousand-foot view" of the event in this post.

What stood out for me about my first 3-Day for the Cure experience:

Stef and I at the cheering station in Plymouth,
in front of the fountain they dye pink!

1. The joy. When I looked back through the hundreds of photos taken by our friends, our family, ourselves and other walkers, I was struck by how many people have gigantic smiles on their faces. We walked 20 miles a day for three days. At times it was hot. At times it was rainy. At times, it was uphill. But no matter the time, people were happy. In the photos of Stef and I, we're both smiling, laughing or grinning. In photos from other walkers, their friends and fellow walkers are smiling too. We enjoyed the experience, throughout the entire three days. There was never a moment that I thought "I can't do this." There was never a moment when I questioned why I was doing it. Believe it or not, I don't think there was a moment when I whined about an ache or a pain. Although it was physically exhausting and my feet and legs ached every night, I had fun. And I would do it again without a second's hesitation.

Treats from Mentobe Cafe in Farmington
(photo from Jim Hillmann)

2. The local community. People turned out all along the route to show support for the walkers. And not just at the "official" cheering stations. There were impromptu cheering stations all three days, all along the route, and in places you'd never have expected it. On Friday, we walked through downtown Farmington ... along the main drag, the wonderful folks from Mentobe Cafe handed out frozen yogurt to walkers. It was the most amazing treat! On Saturday, BDs Mongolian Barbecue set up a stand along the route to cheer people on, and on Sunday we were treated to cheers from 100 or so young cheerleaders along the route. Not to mention the hundreds of people on their porches, along the sidewalks, in the streets and in the parks ... they set up small stands with water and soda, they handed out fruit and candy, they misted hot walkers, and they cheered us on with a smile and a "thank you." We kept thanking them for coming out (especially on Sunday, in the rain!), hoping they knew how special their support was to us. (Jim Hillmann has some great shots from each day on Facebook... more about Jim later.)

3. The 3-day community. As a first-time walker, I had no concept of the scope of this community. During the three days, there were people along the route who were along the route all day long ... they would be at one spot for a while, then pack up and move to another spot a little while later. Seeing them day after day, mile after mile, was heartwarming. And in true "sistahs" fashion, they all had nicknames: There was the "boobie scarf" lady, the "dancing lady", the "medicine man" and the "kid crew," all of whom have their own stories and reasons for being there. Whatever those reasons, they were an inspiration and a joy to see each day.

4. The Crew. All of the folks who make the 3-day event happen are volunteer crew members. This year, there were 450 men and women who served as crew ... they did a million things to help make the experience what it was. They worked at pit stops (the themes and costumes were great fun!), they did breakfast/dinner service at camp, they did Safety to help us navigate the route safely, they provided medical services, they did clean up, they hauled our gear, they manned hydration stations .... and so much more. The crew was amazing. They were helpful, they were friendly and they were encouragement all along the way. I can't say thank you enough to all of the crew.

5. The walkers. There were 1,500 walkers at the Michigan 3-Day for the Cure. To me, that's an amazing number of men and women coming together for a single purpose. Everyone walked for their own reasons, and it was incredibly interesting to meet them along the way and hear their stories. Whether we met them on the route, at camp, or somewhere in between, Stef and I met a ton of people who inspired us and also made us cry. One person I'm honored to have met is Jim Hillman.

Jim is walking all 14 walks, in honor of his mother, who died of breast cancer in 2004.  I learned of Jim when I saw a photo he took at the Boston walk ... a photo of a little girl he came across on the route on day 2. The photo made its rounds in the 3-Day community, many of us shared it on our Facebook pages ... it became sort of a rallying cry for "why we walk."

To walk in all 14 walks, Jim will need to raise $50,000. But somehow, that seems small in comparison to what it really means to walk in all 14 walks... he has travel expenses and lodging expenses. He has a family (his wife must be an amazing woman herself!), and a job. He has sacrificed so much to make such a bold statement. Not to mention he knows what's for dinner every Friday and Saturday for the next three months.....

If you can help Jim, please consider making a donation to him. As of now, he has the money to walk in 12 of the 14 walks. Consider helping him make it to all 14 ... you'll find his page at www.the3day.org. Look  him up: Jim Hillmann. He would really appreciate your support.

5. The support. The support and encouragement from our friends and family was absolutely unbelievable. the many ways that support came was astonishing ... From coming to cheering stations, to finding us along the route (my colleague Colette was our "walker stalker" on Friday!), to seeing your faces at the event ... it was heartwarming. For those who followed along and offered encouragement online, you have no idea how much it meant to us to read your posts and words of support. Just "liking" a photo was enough to make me smile, thank you! We also got "camp mail" and chocolate treats from friends and family, which was great to enjoy on Friday when we got back to camp. Finally, the donations and financial support that we received was mind blowing. Together, Stef and I raised more than $10,000 for the Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure, and for that, we thank you.

All told, this year's event in Michigan raised $4.1 million... that's $4.1 million for lifesaving research, education and community programs all targeted at one thing: breast cancer. Thank you for being a part of that, and thank you for giving Stef and I the opportunity to be a part of it. It was life-changing experience.

And hey, we've registered for 2012 already ... want to join us?