Celebrate Life!

Another great year of fundraising for the Komen for the Cure Foundation is now behind me. Team GDT gathered this past weekend to celebrate friendships, hard work, and life while culminating their fundraising at the Boston Race for the Cure. For all of you who showed me support in the form of donations, of cookbook purchases and of kind words, I say a big huge, “Thank you!”

I’ve already got some new ideas for next year, and I hope to be participating in my local affiliate’s Race, too.

Here I am with my warrior cape (from Fuze) and ready to race:

Pretty in Pink

After a long weekend full of worrying about loved ones, a blizzard, and nail-biting basketball games, there is some good news, today. I just registered for my second annual trip to Boston to run the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with Team GDT. Want to brush up on last year’s saga? Here’s the first post. Peruse the categories for further information.

I am so excited!

Needles and Pins, Yeah!

Things are coming along in the craftiness department of my life. The cross-stitch project is progressing nicely. I decided to bring my work bag into the office, this morning. I generally arrive at the office around 5:30. My workday doesn’t begin until 7:15. I do this in the name of saving money and the environment. I thought that a more productive way to spend that time, especially since I’m pretty on top of my workload, was to be creative and stitch a bit.

Stitching at work is a nice setup, really. There’s plenty of light, and the breast cancer awareness-themed pattern I designed in Excel is right in front of me on my work monitor. This is probably much better, posture-wise, than my slouching on the couch, trying to balance laptop and project on my lap. Yeah, I could print it out, but it’s easier on my eyes to enlarge my Excel worksheet 200% and just go to town with needle and floss.

An exciting little package was delivered, yesterday. The next project I’ll start (after I finish this one!) is an embroidery one. I’m wanting to practice, first, and found the Stitch It Kit at Sublime Stitching. Probably everyone under 50 in the craft world knows about this place, but it was new to me and I’m really excited to get started on the practicing, then the project and then all the other projects I’ll start on with the Sublime patterns.

I realize I’m turning into a crafty dork, but I’m cool with it. Eventually, it will all be for a good cause!

Pink-Related News

What a difference a year makes, huh? On Valentine’s Day, last year, I was in such a different place in life. I was thinking, yesterday, I think I could only be happier if I won the lottery and never had to work, again. That would be so sweet.

 

I’m in full craft-idea mode, right now. I had a big brainstorm, yesterday, and came up with 5-10 projects that I’d like to complete and offer in the Team GDT auctions to support the Komen Foundation’s Race for the Cure. The auctions haven’t started yet but will be in the coming months. Since I’m a great starter and not such a great finisher, I’m of the mind that I should start early.

 

As a little teaser, two projects are pet-related, three are for your kitchen (one is organizational, one is functional/decorative, and one is definitely functional in a pretty way, one is a woman’s personal accessory, and one or two could be useful right now in the cold. Piqued your interest? Good. I’m just so anxious to get started!

 

Project #1 is the functional/decorative kitchen item. It involves hand embroidery, which I’ve never tried before, but I’m pretty comfortable with the idea that I can accomplish it. Yesterday’s trip to JoAnn Fabrics garnered most of the supplies needed and inspired some other project ideas. There’s nothing like their $1 bargain bin to help you spend $30 and start three projects!

Eventually, of course, I’ll start talking about each project in more detail, here. If you like what you see, you’ll have to go over to the auction site and bid when the time comes!

 

That’s all I’ve got for today. I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s day.

Cooking Compulsion, Plus Boobs.

I’ve had this odd compulsion to cook food. How odd is that? You guys know that I hate to cook and that I’m terrible at it. On Saturday, I cooked Spaghetti Carbonara, from this lovely cookbook. Tonight, I cooked some Sausage and Potato Skillet concoction. Hey, beer was an ingredient! Do you think I could just pass it up? It was actually pretty good.

Now, I know that two recipes in five days isn’t a big deal for most people. However, I don’t think I’ve cooked two meals in the past month. So, what’s the explanation?

Now, to the “Plus Boobs” part of the post. Nine days from now, I’ll be in Boston, living it up with a bunch of women from all around the country. We’re gathering to run/walk/crawl the Race for the Cure for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. So far, we’ve raised what is, to me, an amazing amount of money for breast cancer research. However, we’re coming down to crunch time (online donations end this Friday!) and are only a couple thousand dollars away from a milestone number. You can join in and help, too, by clicking the link on the left. Additionally, you can visit our website where you can learn more about our team and check out our auction items. Check it. Do it for the boobs.