Sarah's Daisy Dash

Just over a year ago, a friend of mine asked if I wanted to run in a 5k. It was a fundraiser for a woman named Sarah.

Sarah was a mother, sister, friend, daughter.

Sarah was tragically killed in January 2010.

Her friends have come together three times over the last two and a half years to organize and participate in a 5k to raise money for Sarah's causes. The first run was to put together a safety net for her son. This year the funds went to support Feed My Starving Children.

The run it's self is called Sarah's Daisy Dash.

While I turned down the offer last year, this year I was all in. And boy was I glad I made the trip out to Hugo to run this event.

Walking around the morning of the run I was stuck by the love these friends have for not only Sarah but for each other. All over the park there were people in volunteer shirts hugging each other. It touched my heart to be a part of this, what I can only imagine to be, an emotional event.

Then I learned that Sarah wrote a book for children dealing with the loss of a parent. I nearly lost it when I saw the beautifully bound book with Sarah's name on it. That was a book I longed for as a young teen and now, thanks to Sarah, other kids in my shoes will have a resource available to them. Then I realized that Sarah wrote a book her son would need and that was it. I had to move on.

Shortly before the run began we lined up and stretched a little bit. I was already feeling a bit emotional so I was worried about my run time.

It was nice to run in a race with less than 175 participants! We were over the start line very quickly and then we were off. About half a kilometer before the mid way point there was a bad accident on the side of the road. It really shook me and my already emotional day was turned upside down. I was completely on edge and it got in my head.

I tried the best I could to shake it but the ladies running on my heals just kept talking about the accident and I could not get past it.

With about 2 kilometers left I told Shawn to finish without me. "Just go and wait for me at the finish line. You can cheer me in!" I told him.

After making sure I was serious he took off. He finished at 35:15. I know he would break 30 if he would just run without me!

When Shawn crossed the finish line he told my friend, Erin, that I was coming and she walked back out to the course to find me.

I could feel all my emotions rising up but when I saw her come out on to the course to get me I was able to pull it together and get it done. With Erin at my side (finishing for the second time) I crossed the line at 37:57. My best official time yet!!

I was so excited and proud of myself!  And to make things even better, for the first time, I got to cross the finish line not only with my good friend at my side, but with my husband and daughter waiting and cheering for me on the other side. Heidi even handed me a water. This made my running career!

After I caught my breath and ran out to the car to get the camera, the kids participated in the Kids Fun Run, a 1k for the kids to run.

 Erin's oldest, Sophia, crossed the 1k finish first (she takes after her mom!). Sophia is the one with the 894 on her bib.

Heidi had never run anything like this before. She was beyond excited for this event and gave it a great effort - Run Heidi!!

Erin's youngest, Piper, crossed with her mom and Nana. Way to finish strong Piper!

They had so much fun running their 1k and they were all so proud of their accomplishment, which they should be. I hope this was the first of many runs we can run together.

Even though this morning was more emotional than I had ever expected I was very honored to be included in the day. I feel like my life has now been touched by Sarah even though we have never met. Her legacy lives on and I to believe this is what her friends and family were working towards when they put all their blood, sweat, and tears into this amazing event.

What's Cooking? Pork Mozzarella

This is a very quick and very easy pork recipe that can be served over a bed of pasta like Chicken Parmesan or with a side dish and a vegetable.

Here is what you need:
1 envelope (about 1 ounce) dry onion soup and dip mix
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs or panko
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2 eggs
2 tbsp water
6 to 8 boneless pork chops about 3/4 inch thick
1 1/2 c Traditional Italian Sauce (I had a jar of Prego Garden Vegie on hand so that is what I used)
1 c shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Start by crushing the soup mix in the envelope with a rolling pin.

Stir the soup mix, bread crumbs, and black pepper in a shallow bowl. I like to use a pie plate for this task. 

In a shallow dish, beat the egg and water with a fork.

Dip the pork in the egg mix then in the crumb mix. Place pork in a baking dish.  If you do make 8 pork chops you may find you need to make more crumb mix so either plan ahead or have extra crumb mix on hand.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Pour the sauce over the pork, sprinkle with the cheese, and bake again for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the pork is cooked through.

This went over pretty well in my house, I hope you like it as well!

**Recipe adapted from here**

You Have To Do More Than Just Pack the Right Clothes...

This past week I was in Atlanta for work. Most of my team is there and the rest is in South Florida so I go visit them about every six or so weeks. When I travel I have to eat every meal out.

Some times I will stay in a hotel where I have a full kitchen but since I am required to pick hotels within a certain price range sometimes the ones with full kitchens are not available to me.

However, I always have access to a fitness center because the office in Atlanta has a decent fitness center in the basement. When I travel and am forced to eat out all week I do my best to at least burn what I eat every day.

With the help of my bodybugg I carefully track what I have eaten and then watch my calorie burn. This helps me come home maintaining my weight.

In the years prior to my actively trying to lose weight I would gain at least two pounds every time I went on a work trip. I would pack my workout clothes but to be honest they never made it out of the suitcase.

Okay, that's not true. I unpack everything. So they would make it into the drawer but they would go right back into the suit case, clean as can be, then make the trip to the wash with the rest of the emptied suitcase when I got home. Those workout clothes were washed very often, but they were never actually worn.

On this weeks trip I was not able to stay in a place with a kitchen so I opted for the Embassy Suites instead. This hotel has a larger refrigerator in the room, a bigger pool, and a nice fitness center.

While I still had to eat out every meal, this hotel serves a hot breakfast every day so I was able to make choices such as Oatmeal and a banana or yogurt and a pile of fresh fruit instead of McDonald's drive thru.

I made sure I got to the fitness center every day for at least 20 minutes on the treadmill.

This week I took advantage of the pool for the first time. I swam some laps! I really enjoyed this very much and ended up swimming laps each day. I was shocked to see how difficult this was for me. There was a time in my life when I could swim across the lake, no problem. And then we would have to swim back again! We swim at the community pool often as well but I do some water exercises I learned from watching my dad, I tread water and try to not let my feet touch bottom (ever), and I make sure I am always moving, but I haven't been swimming laps.

Now I am pretty excited to start swimming so I want to get that worked into my life in the near future.

The best part is my friend had the same revolution this week as well so maybe I can swim with her. I was please to come home and find I had maintained. I may have lost a few ounces even.

I have come a long way from the days of thinking that packing for the fitness center would be enough!

Last Day of School Fun!

My daughters school holds an event on the last day of school called Healthy Send Off. The PTO organizes it down to the second and they do a great job.

The kids are sent outside with their class during their appointed time and rotate from station to station ending with a cold bottle of water and a Popsicle.

Each event gets them moving in a fun way and the kids just love it.

I was able to volunteer this year and help the kids have a memorable last day of school.

There is a hula hoop competition and then one of my favorites, the parachute.

There was a huge obstacle course bouncy house but it was deflated by the time I got a chance to take a photo.

And this traditional house. This is where I worked along with three other mom's. We kept track of the time, made sure the kids didn't hurt each other, and provided basic crowd control.

The kids love this giant slide!

But the all around favorite was the dunk tanks. The fifth graders take turns sitting in the dunk tanks and the kids get to throw softballs to try to dunk them.  How can you not love that?

I just cannot figure out why that water is so dirty.  Well, I guess I can figure it out but, oh man! Yuck!

I was able to snap a few pictures while on duty.  Here's Piper!

And Sophia!

Gabby is having a blast!

And the very last event is Ice Cold Water! Which the kids loved. It was hot and sunny and they were all running around like crazy so after 50 minutes they were ready for cold water, Popsicles, and air conditioning.

Thanks PTO, you did a great job and every kid I encountered had a wonderful time!!

My Daisies Are Now Brownies!

About a year ago I embarked on a journey with a new friend and 12 little girls.

We set out to teach these 12 girls how to be strong, caring, helpful, considerate women.

After many meetings and field trips.

After hours upon hours of laughter.

After millions of hugs and back rubs.

We did it! We lead these girls through the Girl Scout Law and taught them all of the lessons they need to have a strong foundation as they live the GS Law for the rest of their lives.

The Law Reads as follows:
I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
and to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.

I truly believe we did our very best to instill this in our girls.

Last night we celebrated this as they bridged from being Blue Vest wearing Daisies in to Brown Vest sporting Brownies and it was a blast!

I am limited on my pictures right now because we had an awesome photographer on hand so I walked away with a total of five pictures. I grabbed some of these from my wonderful troop parents via facebook.

This cake pretty much sums up the evening - Congratulations Troop 15218!  The girls were so excited to try to figure out which Daisy was supposed to be her. I am amazed the cake was 100% fingerprint free when I cut it!

The evening started out with a grill out at Brookview Park in Golden Valley. The girls all ran around in their typical buck wild state until the food was served.

After dinner we held the Bridging Ceremony where each girl came up to the leaders with their parents. They recited the Girl Scout Promise to us, we snapped a picture, and they were presented with their Brown vests and a certificate.  I was beyond impressed with how perfect each girl was able to recite the promise! They all had it down despite the nerves from public speaking.

After the Ceremony the parents had a surprise for us so I provided some time filling entertainment while they prepared.

Well, you know what they say, Dance like no one is watching!

Our fantastic Troop Parents presented us with beautiful bouquets of flowers and Caribou Coffee gift cards! I look back on the year and think of how many times a parent arrived with coffee prior to a troop meeting and it melts my heart. Our parents are so thoughtful and I am forever grateful for their support throughout the year.

These are my girls and words do not express how much I have come to love each and every one of them as this year has progressed. They added a lot of laughter, fun, and light to my life this year and I am so excited to jump into Brownies with them.

 
Can't you tell how excited we are?!

One last time, my Oscar Speech:

I want to thank the girls of Troop 15218. You buck wild girls are everything I hoped you would be.

Thank you to the families who supported us with our many, many emails, location changes, fundraisers, field trips, and snacks. Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you.

I need to thank the best husband in the world, Shawn, for reading my agendas and helping me understand when I was expecting to much from our 5, 6, and 7 year old girls. For being a sounding board for some tough decisions. For being a hauler, cooker, loader, kid wrangler any time I asked. And especially when I forgot to ask and just told you 5 minutes before it had to happen. But most of all for just being you.

To Jessica who came in mid way but jumped in like you had been there all along. You were more help then you will ever know and I owe you HUGE!

To Erin. My co-leader. My Friend. My Mary. We started out just getting to know each other and now we have a life long bond. Nothing like leading a troop of 12 girls to really learn about each other, huh? I loved every minute we spent together and look forward to every minute to come!

Congratulations to Troop 15218! I look forward to bringing you through your next Girl Scout Adventures as Brownies. I am excited to teach you new things and watch you grow! I love you all!

Eddie the Cat

This is Eddie. He thinks he does not get enough time on the blog.

I tell him it is because he bites to much.

I tell him it is because he is a jerk.

I tell him it is because he is so demanding.

But I really have no reason at all. He is my Eddie and I love him.

We got Eddie when a cat my mother in law was taking care of had a litter of kittens. We were able to take him home the weekend we moved into our first apartment.

This was some 13 years ago.

And he has been a biting, demanding, jerk since the day we brought him home.

It might be because the first day he was home he was so smelly I gave him a bath and then sprayed a little Fabreeze on his back.

But honestly. Does it take 13 years to get over a little bath?

Love you Eddie. (There. I put you in the blog. Will you not bite me for at least a day?)

Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

I have walked past displays of The Time Traveler’s Wife, hardly giving it a second though for a few years until one day I found it on the sale rack at the discount book store. I didn’t buy it but I felt compelled to read it so I borrowed a copy from a friend and set in to read a book everyone else has already read.

Within the first six pages I was smitten by the love story tangled in a bit of Sci-Fi. Niffenegger has a way making something that is so completely impossible seem like something that could be happening right now without our knowing. She explains away the time traveling as something similar to epilepsy, a chromosomal disorder that has yet to be discovered.

The story is not given to the reader in a chronological order because that is not how Henry lives his life. This gave me a feel for how Henry must have felt his entire live. Waiting for his future to unfold like a mystery, reliving painful events over and over again, knowing the future but not being able to divulge it to the people closest to him.

Niffenegger foreshadows discreetly and obviously at the same time. At times I was very confused about how something happened only to realize a few chapters later we had not been told how it happened yet. All open loops are eventually closed but the excitement of the book is waiting for something to unravel in an often out of order sequence only to be tied in a bow before the end of the novel.

The way she moves from Henry’s voice to Clare’s voice and back to Henry is a beautiful dance. Giving each their own spotlight and allow the reader to see not only the Time Traveler’s Wife’s story but also the Time Traveler himself.

I have heard criticism regarding the length at which Niffenegger will describe a scene such as a game of pool or the art of paper making. I do not agree with this criticism. I felt the book often read like a dance, the detail added to that movement which added to my enjoyment of this novel.

I was moved by this unconventional love story and refreshed to read something original. I give this book 4 stars.