if you leave it open, they will come.

Sometimes when I am cleaning over at camp I find interesting things. Often I find clothes left from the rental groups, pillows, phone chargers, books... one time I even found a glow-in-the-dark Rosary. Recently, however, I have found things in the Lodge that are not so lovely to stumble upon. A few weeks ago I found a dead bird in the bathroom. While I felt badly for the little fella, I jetted out of that bathroom and ran down to the office because I was so startled. With the help of my cottage girl friend, we laid the bird to rest... in the dumpster.

Nothing could prepare me for my most recent cleaning experience in the Lodge. I was sweeping in the lobby and I see a squirrel run right in front of my path. It freaked me out a little, yes, but I wanted to know where he was going (since I had to clean up there) so, I kind of followed him down the hall. He reached a dead end and then ran right for me. I jumped up on a bench so he would pass by and then I gave up and, yup, you guessed it, ran down to the office to my bold friend once more. The girls in the office came upstairs with me, but we couldn't find my furry friend. One of the girls noticed there was an open window in the hallway that had no screen. (And open windows and doors here at camp are like a green light for wildlife). We figured, of course, that is how he got in and now he has figured to go back out that way. I apologized for the false alarm and went back to cleaning.

While cleaning in one of the shower rooms I really thought I heard a noise other than the vocal stylings of Jason Mraz on my iPod. That stinkin' squirrel jumped out of the little trashcan and ran down the hallway. I flipped this time, and ran down the hallway. Unfortunately the squirrel was running the same direction I needed to go, so I found myself running with the squirrel right next to me. No thank you! Anyway, I got the girls once more and we went to fight the squirrel once and for all. (I had no plan of action, which is why I got my friends). Finally, he was trapped in one of the bedrooms and my friend shut the door to lock him in. The room was luckily near the fire escape, so we stood on the stairs and opened the window from the outside. Within seconds, the squirrel discovered his way out and wasted no time. But this is what was so amazing to me... This squirrel jumped out of the window and I am not kidding you, flew at least 20 feet before he landed on the grass, 2 stories below. I have never seen a squirrel jump that far! And he just ran away, seemingly unscathed.

This may be totally uninteresting to you, which I understand, but I am telling you, in my sometimes monotonous life of cleaning, this was kind of a big deal. :)

race for the cure '08. done.

Yesterday I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and I won!

No, of course I didn't, but I did complete my first 5k run (probably ever)! We woke up at 5:00am and headed for Hunt Valley. I didn't know what to expect when we arrived, but I did know that it was very very cold outside. The "race village" as they called it, was such a cool thing. There were tons of different organizations and companies giving out breast cancer awareness information and selling merchandise. Panera gave out free bagels, Yoplait provided free yogurt, Evian gave out water bottles and fruit, and so much more. There were thousands of people, decked out in pink, waiting to fulfill their pledge to run (or walk) the 3.1 miles in support of finding a cure. There were SO many women wearing t-shirts which signified that they were survivors of breast cancer. I wanted to hug all of them.

Here we are, just before the race started.I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to run the whole thing straight through (because I am a wimp), but I kept a steady tortoise pace and ran the whole thing! Ben took a picture of me half way through, which he was able to do because, again, my pace was sloooow and steady.It was such a cool thing to be a part of. As we ran through the town of Hunt Valley, different cheerleaders and high school bands lined up along the road to cheer us on. It was funny, but kind of encouraging at the same time. Businesses in the area had banners outside of their buildings supporting the race. McCormick spice company is in Hunt Valley, so we smelled sage and tarragon for most of the race!

I didn't realize that he took this picture at the time (I was very focused) but here I am nearing the finish line. (woo!) I know you can't read it, but the pink paper pinned to my back under my number says "I race in memory of: My Mom". It was really cool to me to see the other pink sheets pinned to other's backs. They had lists of family members and friends who they were either running in memory of or in celebration of.

I'll be honest, I am glad I did this and I am excited to do it again, and maybe even other races. Or a marathon. No, no, of course I wouldn't actually do a marathon!

thinking pink

Today is my mom's birthday. She doesn't really have them anymore (birthdays) you know, with her new body and all in heaven. But, I always like to think of her on this day. I have always thought that it is pretty cool that her birthday falls in the same month when we celebrate breast cancer awareness & education. As I am sure every retail store and news channel has informed you, October is breast cancer awareness month. (Listen I feel like I should mention that October is also domestic violence awareness month... and believe me, I think that is important too.) Whatever the month, it is always good to support a cause!
So in honor of October 16th & Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite pink causes.

First off, I say visit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. Love it. This woman who lost her sister (Susan) to breast cancer is doing big things to try and find a cure. This is the foundation who is sponsoring my run on Sunday!

I love kitchenaid "Cook for the Cure" products... all of their pink kitchen product sales will donate a portion of the sale to Susan G. Komen for the Cure-- regardless of what pink products sell, kitchenaid will donate a minimum of 1 million smackaroos.

New Balance sells chic running gear to support the cause. They will donate at least $500,000.

Vera Bradley donates 10% of the profits from her "pink" collection toward, well, the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. In my opinion... it could be more... but I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't have some of Vera's breast cancer awareness totes myself.

And if you are in the market for a new iron, I super love Rowenta Irons... 100% of the profit from their pink iron goes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

There are so many more too. I recently bought a bag of Dove Chocolates because they were donating to Komen for the Cure (a good excuse to buy chocolate!) Anyway, I just thought I would share a couple pink products, as if you wanted to know. Oh, and also, sorry I used the word "breast" so often in this post. Happy "B" cancer awareness month!

i love fall & friends

Last week we got to enjoy a beautiful fall day outdoors. I love fall. I love pumpkins, watching leaves change, apple cider, pumpkin spice lattes, and the cool air (but only the jeans and a t-shirt kind of cool air, not heavy-jacket-wearing bitter cold air).

And I love apple picking. We finally got to go to Larriland Farm this year (which I love). They have all kinds of fruits and veggies that you can pick. And in apple season, you can walk along the orchards and eat an apple right off the pesticide-free trees. So fun. So we did just that, and my little friend was a very good apple-picker.

Maddy ate her apple like a champ.

Fall is also a good time for hiking. I am not a big hiker (at all) but the boys are... so the best plan, I've realized, is to go hiking with a friend and her baby so that we can hike a while and then sit in a lovely spot midway while the husbands continue to trail blaze further.
Such a fun fall day with friends. And I just love this little girl and her mushy face. I am glad she lets me be her friend. She is pretty popular, after all.

you wanna do what?

"I think we need to be better about sticking to a budget."

When my husband whispered these sweet words to me he was really saying, "All of our finances are in line, except for all of your little impulse buys." He tried to trick me by saying putting a budget into effect would include keeping track of car payments, insurance, tithes, loan repayment, groceries... oh and also a weekly "allowance" of funds for the both of us. But I am no fool- he doesn't need to be more careful about the monthly bills, he already does very well with that... and you know he does not need to allot himself a weekly allowance (all he does is buy gas, and try as I might, he does not consider that a personal purchase for himself). Anyway, this new "budgeting", as it were, is all about yours truly.

Because I have a problem. I don't necessarily go overboard with the latest fashions- seriously I am far from "fashionable", but if there is a great sale at Banana Republic I can smell it from miles away. I do not know how to say no to a good deal. And I am not ridiculous about home decor (trust me, everything in my house does not match) but if I spot a seasonal candle or an inspirational trinket, you can count me in. Or, I will go to CVS for a prescription and the next thing I know I have an armful of 10 other things that I do not know how I have lived without! (a new sponge, nail polish, candy to put out for friends who stop by, some swiffer product, new lotion that promises to actually hydrate...) I guess it is just those little things that add up.

My husband is a good man-- but if you are reading this, dear husband, I ask you, "Why, why me, why, why, why!?!" He says he is not telling me "no" about anything. I just will have to think about what I am spending more than I have before. Which I know is good for me. I know it is, and I don't need to make all these little impulse buys. Really. It just seems so hard though. You know, to act like a real grown-up and be wise, or whatever.

I guess I just needed to get that out. He really is a kind and gracious man. And I am thankful for my budget. But just one question- if he doesn't spend his weekly money, could that go to my fund? Kind of like rollover minutes? Shared by the whole family? Just a question.

from the classroom

Today I bring you a little blogging "snack" provided by 8th grade history teacher extraordinaire (my husband). These 8th graders have a big test coming up on the United States Government, so, they were reviewing the 3 branches of our government. Their final answers: "The branches of government are Jujitsu, Communist & the Executed."

We, as Americans, are all in trouble.

an alien encounter

My post tonight is really about yesterday (but I am just getting around to computer-time now)... so anyway, yesterday was Rosh Hashanah so Ben had no school (hooray!) And I figured soap scum could wait another day so I did not head over to work either. A nice Tuesday, to say the least.

So, we decided to go for a bike ride together on this lovely Rosh Hashanah afternoon. We biked around our neighborhood and then headed to the neighborhood kind of on the other side of the peninsula. As we were biking along I could not help but stop dead in the middle of the road as something totally bizarre caught my eye. There is this mansion of a house in our neighboring neighborhood (and for those of you who are familiar with the area, you may know the house-- it's that ridiculous mansion that has a guard shack at the gate complete with a police woman mannequin) I am not kidding about the mannequin. Anyway, in their front yard was a large U.F.O. I don't know how else to describe it. Seriously, there was this huge alien space ship just parked on their front lawn. I just stared and asked my husband honestly, "is that a U.F.O?!". I wish I had a camera. In fact, I may have to find some time tomorrow and snap a photo of this anomaly. Unless of course this saucer really did have aliens who were abducting the millionaire mansion dwellers and they have headed back to their planet. No, but in all seriousness... what on earth could possibly be their reasoning for having such a thing on their front lawn? Weird.