Charity Chicks Holiday Party - THIS Weekend

How did a four day weekend whiz by like that? Sheeeeesh - so much left to do and I have to work in the morning! I still have to finish ironing on the logos for the teams in my department before weigh in on Friday. Yup, that's right - we're starting a weight loss competition at work at the beginning of DECEMBER - how crazy is that? But it will all be good.

I do plan to protest the contest rules, though. It is based on total pounds lost per team - not a total percentage of body weight. My team doesn't stand a chance if they stick with total pounds. No one has THAT much to lose. Of course, I would love to be the one carrying my team with ALL my dropping pounds! ;-)

Plans continue for my Charity Chicks Holiday Party this weekend. I finally got a band booked - but now I need to scramble to dig up some sound equipment before Saturday. Decor is covered, entertainment, one more email to go out . . . and now all I have left is to panic all week that no one will come and the band and the venue will be disappointed. That's the "fun" part of the events - all the worry. I'm very good at the worrying part notsomuch the rest.

I usually don't do a holiday event - it's impossible to find a "good" date that works for most. And, traditionally it's a time when people who don't normally contribute feel charitable, so I don't feel that we are "needed" as much. But this year, it's different. We have a lot more needs in our community - and it's scary. I hope we can make a dent.

The party should be fun. Wanna join? Lots more details on my website - CharityChicks.com!

Weekend of Clean

I *meant* to title this weekend's blog "Whoa Neti!" and tell G and BG that I followed their sage advice and used the Neti Pot to help my recurring sickness and allergy issues. My mom bought me one last year and I keep getting it out but my fear of water/swimming/water-up-the-nose keeps leading me to do OTHER things instead. My goal: I WILL try it this week or this weekend.

Then checkout what I found online!! The Sneezer Beam! Fascinating and frightening at the same time!

So instead of cleaning my schnoz this weekend, I cleaned other things. ANNA helped it along by rolling in something disgusting and smelly in the park. That meant it was bath time - and bath time is FUN. First I entice them both into the bathroom and then close the door, then we take turns in the tub/shower while they sit nose-to-nose (one inside the glass, one outside the glass).

Once the girls are clean - and my legs and the bathtub are covered in wet sticky dog hair and they've managed to shake water, soap and hair all the way up to the ceiling, I release them and they run madly about the house jumping over things, rubbing up on every single wall and piece of furniture. They are crazy. And I love them.

Hot, hairy (dog hair) legs. I'm thinking of posting this on a dating site to see who it attracts - eek!

Mmmm, nice bath water!

Wet floor!

Crazy happy and clean puppies!

After that, it was time for a head-to-toe house clean. Not an exciting weekend . . . but satisfying! And I have fuzzy soft puppies to curl up next to tonight.

Sick - Oy Vey!

Seriously, what was the point of getting a flu shot a week and a half ago? Now I am sick. :( I think this happened last year too - I don't think I ever got a flu shot in previous years. I'm going back to bring a flu shot naysayer.

It probably would help if I didn't chew on my pens and pencils all day though, huh? Can't help it - it all started with Barbie feet....

But here I have a good cup of Mango Passionfruit tea. That should cure what ails me, eh? It feels good at least on my throat. I know, I'm whining.... What is the official word when working out and sick? I thought if you have a fever or bronchitis you're out - but otherwise sweat it out??

I think tonight is going to be a rest night for me... I was going to try and do my long run tomorrow after work before I hit the road Saturday morning. And... New shoes should arrive tomorrow!!

That's something about running ... Once you find the "right" shoe, you stick with it. And then you're also free to bargain shop for them online. I am way over miles for mine and starting to get shin pain which for me always means its time to switch shoes. I should be like lightening in them, right?

Tea/lunch break over (see the smart for life cookies in the background?). Back to work for me!


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Feets - Don't Fail Me Now!

So I've been a regular on the canals again and it feels good!

After my marathon in Greece in fall 2006, I had constant foot and ankle pain. I had probably over trained a bit and ended up with a case of plantar faciitis that would NOT go away. I stopped running and it still hurt daily, so what was the point?

Anyway, as you know I decided to get back out there again and started training for the Nike Women's Marathon. It was slow and hot. I was slow and sweaty. Man, it's hard to "come back"! Then the back injury put me out of commission and I had to cancel my training.

But now . . . I'm BACK (again)! I'm training for the PF Changs Half Marathon in January and my initial goal was just to get moving again and do it. But I'm starting to set some actual goals now and believe that I can achieve them.

I've been training alone this time and I learned that when it's just me and my music out there, I've really been able to push myself. I was averaging a 11-12 minute mile this summer. But I've been running 3-4 miles 3 nights a week for the past couple weeks and each time I shave the time off a little more and a little more . . . and it feels pretty good! Tonight: 4.04 miles - average pace: 9:53. Wahoo - ROCK STAR!! And I'm so sick today - perhaps it was the fever and delirium that pushed me along??

My chiropractor said that when I started running again it might be a good idea to try and run faster (ha!) and that faster would be less impact on my spine then plodding along slowly. I thought it sounded good but didn't really listen until after this weekend. I ran just under 7 miles with a friend and this was a social run - we finished at an 11:30-some pace. And my back hurt the rest of the weekend. Some truth to the theory maybe?

The important thing is that I'm actually enjoying running again. I look forward to getting back out there and moving my feet on the canal each day and it's GREAT. In no way will I achieve any PR's in January - but I'm hoping to match some of my old times - from back in the day when I was younger and when I felt better.

So YEA me - YEA canals - and YEA running.

Feet: hear me and hear me good. This makes me happy - help me keep it up.

Pat & Sean Make a Porno

Gotcha with that title, now didn't I? ;-)

We ventured off to crazy LAS VEGAS a few weekends ago to celebrate Pat's 40th Birthday! (I'm still having trouble acknowledging that the people I hang out with are THAT old! I mean, I'm still 29 . . . !!?)

**The players & background: Pat is married to my girlfriend Jen - they've been married for 11 years - Jenny and I met 23+ years ago - Sean is one of Pat's oldest friends - Kasia is his new wife of 1 year.**

For a bunch of oldies, we sure did it up GOOD. Sean was AWESOME and brought the best party favor . . . PAT PORN! You know how the guys in Vegas hand you all those fabulous flyers for hot chicks with stars on their parts? Sean made special "Guys Gone Wild" flyers starring a young Pat and we plastered them all around the hotel before meeting up with them. Then we walked around passing flyer after flyer until he finally noticed it. Pretty flipping great.

Some highlights:

Pat Porn (sorry boys, I blurred out the naughty parts so I wouldn't be re-distributing porn!)

Mmmmm. Ice Cream. (This poor woman, I bet she gets this every single day)

Pour some sugar on Pat

The gang

I need more cowbell! (at 5 am)

My new gay boyfriend, Freddy Mercury (I guess he loves me despite my 20 chins . . . )

Did I mention we saw Eric McCormack of Will & Grace fame at the Imperial Palace at 5-something am? I gave him the jazz hand "hi" and he gave it back. Despite having been in liquid Vegas mode, I contained my excitement and gave him his space. :-)

We also learned that if you collect all the porn, you can't really turn it into an effective card game - they are all different chicks! We couldn't find enough similar girls to make up any suits - good effort though. And the porn hander-outer-guys are really taken aback when you hold out your bag to request their cards while yelling TRICK OR TREAT!

HA! Good times, good times! :-)

Sticker Tuesday

Whatever your views were yesterday, you have to agree it was a life-changing and history-making day.

Yea America for getting off your butts and exercising your right to vote!

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