And I win!

From our second bowling fundraiser...just wanted to be sure that this is preserved for all to see. Yup, That's my 126 score on the bottom, beating Norm, Mercy, and Pete. ;)

Cupcakes

Alyssa and I made cupcakes for our second bowling event. They were seriously tasty.

Bowling: Take One

From the first of our two bowling fundraisers this weeks

Ten on Tuesday

1.I'm going to rant for a minute, and then we'll get back to the usual. I got off the T on my way home and saw that there was a trolley waiting when I got to the stop of the stairs at Ashmont, so I sped up. There was a group of teen aged girls walking in front of me, one of whom had just been screaming "these people move like fucking turtles!" as she was racing up the stairs and shoving her way between people. One of the girls was walking just in front of me to the right, so I walked between her and the fence to pass her, just barely brushing her with the sleeve of my jacket. This brought on a slew of "you could say excuse me!"s, followed very quickly, very loudly, and just as soon as I was out of arms reach by "fucking whitey bitch!" I'm sorry, but I barely touched you. Also, I'm pretty sure that if I had called you "fucking blacky bitch" there would have been a riot, so maybe we should leave the racial slurs out of it. And you know what? I waited until there was room to pass you without making you move, and that meant I ended up missing my trolley. I'm really, REALLY tired of the entitled attitude that I see again and again from the teenagers that I ride the T with every day. I once listened to a girl who couldn't have been over 14 telling her friends about how she had jumped and then punched repeatedly HER MOTHER because her mom had broken her sunglasses. I constantly watch these kids cut in front of people to get onto trains/trolleys so that they can get a seat, and then never offer their seat to elderly riders, pregnant riders, or small children. Where the heck are the parents that raise these kids!? Grrrrr. And just to prove I'm not a "fucking whitey bitch": I had the best seat on the trolley once I got on - the first seat next to the rear door - and then gave it up to a pregnant woman who was very grateful for it.

2. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...I was having trouble syncing my iPod over the weekend and ended up resetting it. This was perhaps premature, but I got frustrated and it was the quickest solution, so I did it. I've been listening to my entire iTunes collection on random at work, and apparently forgot to tell it I only wanted my checked songs because I keep noticing that Christmas music has snuck into the mix!

3. I've been eating more salad lately - I try to make a BIG salad at the beginning of each week and then dish it out into tupperware to take to work each day and sometimes have a bowl before dinner at night - and recently had the brilliant idea to buy raw sunflower seeds to throw in. I have thanked myself for that every. time. I've had a salad for the last few weeks. YUM. Plus, they're good for me!

4. Other food habits I've fallen into recently: I got a box full of Bear Naked granola samples when I volunteered at AIDS Walk, and I've been mixing one pouch into my yogurt every morning ever since (also YUM). I'm not sure when this happened, but I have a tea & chocolate break at work every afternoon - always Stash Merry Mint tea and the chocolate alternates depending on what I can get a hold of. I'm not having luck finding my fav Dagoba Chai Chocoloate, but this Green & Black's is a tasty substitute...and this Dove has been filling in since I had to hit CVS to restock recently. Now you know what to send me in care packages!

5. Speaking of care packages - you can send me love letters while I'm at the 3 Day. This was HUGE HIGHLIGHT for me last year, I really loved reading the notes I got. I still have them on my desk at home, and I still read them again periodically. Unfortunately, they say no packages so you may have to send the chocolate in a padded envelope. ;) Here are the details:

Send letters to:
Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office
ATTN: Sarah G
P.O. Box 8534
Warwick, RI 02888

Envelopes only, please. No boxes or large packages. Mail must be postmarked no later than July 14th in order to ensure delivery at the Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office.

6. On that note, we're doing two bowling fundraisers for our 3 Day team this week. Hopefully we get a lot of folks that show up, and hopefully they come with cold, hard, cash that they throw at us! :) Cross your fingers for us, and if you're local (or know someone that is) and would like more details please email me (sgiaccai (at) gmail (dot) com) and I'll pass them on.

7. While I'm at it with the 3 Day stuff - here's the Boston 3 Day Supporter page. You can go there to find out more about the opening and closing ceremonies. There should be more info about cheering stations posted next week, so check back there and then come out and cheer us on! Also, if you want to get really fancy, send them an email about and organize a "private cheering station" on Saturday and use it to throw SB a birthday party to walk through! ;)

8. Alyssa is on her way here from NY as we speak (see stack of sheets and towels waiting for guest above), and I'm picking her up at the bus station just after ten. Would it be totally inappropriate for me to wear my PJs on the trolley to pick up the Zipcar, pick her up, drop the Zipcar off, and ride the trolley back home?

9. I know I've been a delinquent blogger lately...so please catch up: Birthday, laundry day, silver lining?, harbor seals, newborn, note to self:, Kman & cake, happy bench monday!

10. What's been keeping me from blogger? An addiction to Dexter. Perhaps not entirely - I also haven't been taking lots of pictures because the weather has been so miserable here lately. I won't promise that things will improve soon because I'm still spending 20ish hours each week training for the 3 Day, but come August things should get better!

Note to self:

Don't forget to bring home your water bottle today! I sometimes forget things, so on Friday's I write myself a note so I remember to take my water bottle home...otherwise not enough hydrating on my training walks!

For Sale

SB and Wilbur were testing out the wares at our yard sale.

Looks worse than it feels

I have vague memories of my feet peeling like this as my calluses were forming last year while I trained. It doesn't hurt, it just looks kind of gross (but really, how often are people looking at the bottom of your feet? Probably a lot more often now that I've put this picture here. But you get my point!). Perhaps I should invest in a pumice stone. This was post walk, post lunch, post shower. I have lots of pictures from the walk as well, but you can find those over on the training blog that I'll be updating shortly.

Painter

Today is a very big day around here! SB and I walked 6.25ish miles yesterday and 11.25ish miles today, along the Emerald Necklace. In honor of the first weekend that I've stuck with the suggested training schedule, I started updating my training blog for this year! Please head over there and read about today's walk...and see some more photos (which are probably prettier than this one). This woman was at the Arnold Arboretum painting pictures of the magnolias across the path (of which there are pictures on my training blog). I'll be updating there much more regularly, so keep your eyes on it. And of course if you want to donate, head to my fundraising page!

In other big news - I've caught up on a lot of posts here as well, so here they are:
4/17/09
4/18/09
4/19/09
4/20/09
4/24/09
4/25/09

I will try not to fall so far behind again.

It's a Beautiful Day

At the closing ceremony the walkers enter, then the crew, then the survivors. When the crew enters, we cheer and clap as loud as possible to thank them for the never ending support and always ready smiles and cheerful encouragement. When the survivors enter, we take off our right shoe and raise it as a tribute to them. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.

Moons over my hammy

Okay, no Denny's this trip (unfortunately). But Jen and I were walking across camp Saturday night and she said "that's pretty" and pointed at the moon, so I took a photo. Grainy because I was shooting at high ISO and not in sharp focus because I didn't have a tripod. And yet I still like it. Click the photo to see it larger.

**Make sure you look backwards - I posted photos for Wednesday and Thursday as well. Friday I'm in Love to come tomorrow, as well as Sunday's photo.**

Quick Pic

I haven't really gotten through all of my photos yet (I had about 2 hours between getting home from the airport and heading out for class, and then got home and caught up on a few things and headed to bed...now back to work and the real world!) but I'm hoping to get through them all over the next two nights, so I'll be back posting more photos from the weekend and putting together a Kodak Gallery album for everyone to enjoy.

While I haven't dug through all my photos, I did get a COUNT, and it turns out that Alannah is the big winner with her guess of 296, because I actually took 295! Lana, I have your prize and I'll send it out in the next few days. :)

This photo above is the pink feather trail that you could follow for the entire route, all three days. There were enough feather boas or hats with feathers or whatever that they were shedding all weekend long, and you'd come across a single feather periodically. If you couldn't see walkers ahead of you wearing mostly pink to know you were on the right path, you could almost always find a feather! That's Emily and Alyssa that you can see walking...and some really boring road in Northern VA with no sidewalk.

Friday I'm in Love (week 2)

This Friday I'm in Love with...

(a Breast Cancer 3 Day theme because...well, because all I did on Friday was walk, set up a tent, eat, and sleep!)

1. Survivors! Walking 60 miles? Nothing compared to surviving breast cancer. I can't even imagine going through that, and when you need motivation or inspiration to suck it up and keep walking, these guys are the ones to look for.

2. Cheering stations - designated spots on the route for people to come out with signs, costumes, candy, and smiles and keep our spirits up.

3. Reminders - "and no whining, either. Whining causes blisters". It's true, you know!

4. Helping each other out - it was a weekend full of random acts of kindness and generosity. When Alyssa and I were setting up our tent on Friday, two women that already had theirs up came over to help us. There was always some one around offering a hand, or a smile, or conversation. It was very anonymous - so much of it happened in passing that you were often chatting with or getting help from someone whose name you never found out.

The 3 Day was easily one of the most amazing things I've ever been a part of. I think everyone should consider being involved - walking, volunteering as crew for the 3 days, or volunteering for just one day at the expo or for closing ceremony. You can't imagine the sense of community, passion, commitment, strength, inspiration...you just need to witness it for yourself.

22 Hours and Counting...

I don't have a picture from today yet, but I'm sure I will later! In the meantime, here's a photo from last Saturday's training walk to tide you over: Pete just informed I already posted that photo, so here's a totally unrelated -tych from San Fran last April to tide you over:

I leave at lunch for DC and the 3 Day, so you'll have to wait until Monday at the earliest (but likely Tuesday) for more photos, and then photos there will certainly be!!! While I'm walking (and walking...and walking...), you can entertain yourself with any or all of the following:

1. Check out the Supporters Page where there will be a link to the web cam and you may catch sight of me, and there are locations listed for cheering stations and the closing ceremony if you're in DC and want to give us some support.


2. Donate on my donation page if you haven't already - it's not too late!


3. Read about my training - there are even some pictures from my walks if you need a photo fix.

I'll have an update over here later next week (mid-week at the earliest) and plenty of pictures...and so here's your task for the weekend: weigh in on how many pictures you think I'll take this weekend, and who ever comes the closest (without going over, of course!) will get some prize that I'll obtain for you over the weekend...fun times!

To help you out, here's some stats on my photo taking history:

• In April, I spent 4 days in California (including attending a wedding where we didn't know many other people) and took about 300 photos.


• In March, at another wedding (where we were with about a dozen friends), I took about 280 photos during the ceremony and reception.


• On average, when not attending an event or traveling, I take about 400-500 pictures per month.


• I have two 2 GB memory cards and 2 charged batteries packed!
  

**Sorry if the formatting on this post is wonky, I'm having serious trouble with Blogger right now - it's a miracle I even got the picture in there!

Foggy

I carried my DSLR on my training walk yesterday (and decided to carry it on the 3 Day, yay!) and this is one of the photos I got. This is a little field up the hill from our place that looks over Dorchester Bay and the Boston skyline. There will be a few other photos from the walk (from before it was raining too much to have the camera out) on my training blog once I get that written...and forgive me for the delay, I have a presentation due for tomorrow's class, so I probably won't get that post up until Tuesday...

Stars

I found these in the Arboretum on my walk. I love them. I even loved them when I only saw the tree with the closed blossoms. Then I saw the tree with the open ones and I was so excited I gasped. I would like to have one of these trees in my yard. When I have a yard.

15 Miles

This was the gorgeous view I got around mile 5 of my 15 mile walk.

Click it to see it big!

Distant Viewing

My 18 miles (which was really 19.22 - holy cow!) today took me through Blue Hills Reservation with an unintentional detour to Wood Rd and Barnes and Noble, for those of you familiar with the area. The unintentional detour meant that I made it to the Chicatawbut Overlook right at lunch time (PB & banana sandwich). Despite the haze, it was nice to have a good view while I rested and ate...and of COURSE the camera came out! Bigger is way better, so click the photo to enlarge.

You can read about today's walk here if you're interested.

Not a picture of a cat!

Not only is this not a picture of a cat, but you get TWO not cat pictures for today! This is the street dirt line that I had when I got back from walking 15 miles all across and around the city this morning. I had a great time walking with some folks that are training for the Boston 3 Day, and even walked an extra 3 miles to make up for not doing a full 7 on Sunday.



This is the sunset from the dock at our friend Christina's beach shack. We had a great time heading up there to explore and hang out, and I especially loved the view and may need to go back with a tripod and my SLR.