Catalina, Catalina, Catalina!

Eeeek! I'm so excited I could die (but, I won't). This marathon has been my "goal" since last summer. Last summer when I hadn't even completed marathon numero uno, last summer when Danica blogged about Operation Jack. It's finally here.I can't believe it!

It's going to be a butt kicking, I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to walk on Sunday, but, helllloooo, I get to run a marathon on Catalina Island! How awesome is that?!?

And, I'm running for Operation Jack, which as you know is so important to me. The inspiration from Sam and what he's doing has kept me going and I couldn't have gotten through my first marathon (and second!) without all his encouragement and advice. True, I'm going to run a few more for Operation Jack this year, but, this is the big one.

Thank you to all of you who donated (and to those who didn't, DO IT NOW) (seriously, donate! Go without your latte for the day, it won't kill you) (promise) (and, you'll feel so good about it!).

I hope that I can truly make a difference in Sam's goals this year for Operation Jack and Catalina is a great start.

I'm scared, I'm nervous, but, I get to run a marathon here:

(photo from here)

Eek!

California sunshine, here I come!

PS. Donate!

Operation Jack Holiday Treats Bake Sale--YUM!

This week is the White Rock Marathon. I'm running the half. Which means, I'm taking Saturday off (yay!) and baking. All.Day.Long. (hopefully). This is where you come in--I want to bake holiday goodies, because I loooove them, but, my waistline does not. Solution? Bake sale!

I will bake goodies and send them to you--with all proceeds of this bake sale to benefit OperationJack and Train4Autism and y'all know how important this cause is to me.

Here's how it works:

Below I will list items for you to chose from and the prices of each item--I will only make a certain number of each (which will be listed by the item), so, if it says 3 dozen of a certain cookie and three people have already commented that they want a dozen, that cookie is sold out.

Leave a comment stating what you want and the quantity so that others can see what's goin' on.

Then, send me an e-mail (on my sidebar-- shabby.sadie@gmail.com) with what you want and how many including your shipping info--then, make a donation for OperationJack on my donation page (click here) in the amount specified below (or based on your quantities)--I'll be alerted via e-mail of your donation and viola, I'll whip up the goodies and they'll be on your way.

I will close the bake sale at 4:30 PM CENTRAL time today (Thursday).

I'll try to keep it updated with side notes next to the items if they get sold out, but, it might not be perfect, so, please bear with me.

Make sense?

I'm hoping to knock these all out over the weekend, so, please, donate away! (I mean come on, homemade holiday treats--does it get better? No, it does not. And, you'll be donating to a good cause! Eating cookies really will make the world a better place.)

Cookies:
3 dozen oatmeal and festive M&M: $10/dozen
2 dozen chunky monkey (peanut butter, banana, chocolate chips & oatmeal): $10/dozen
4 dozen chocolate chip cookies: $10/dozen
2 dozen chocolate chocolate chip cookies with candy cane icing: $10/dozen
1 dozen sugar cookies with Hershey kisses (caramel, regular, mint, etc--you pick!): $10/dozen
3 dozen holiday confetti cookies: $10/dozen

Treats & Such:
(2) peppermint bark: $12/per "sheet" (full cookie sheet sized before being crumbled)
(3) festive chocolate dipped pretzels: $5/per 12 pretzel rods
(3) festive monkey munch/puppy chow/muddy buddies: $5/per one 6 cup serving
1 batch of chocolate chip "sugar plum" (gumdrop) bars: $12 batch (about 12 bars)
1 batch of peppermint brownies (with Andes mints) (about 18 brownies): $12/batch
1 batch Rice Krispie treats with M&Ms: $12/batch (about 12 krispies)

Whew, I better get to baking!

Here's to a yummy weekend.

Pre race carb loading at it's finest I tell you.

Holiday Cheer

Houston, we have a problem.

A really, really big one.

Candy Cane Hersey's Kisses.

(gulp)

For someone who doesn't generally like Hersey's Kisses (what? I just don't--they don't taste like real chocolate and they're gone before you can really enjoy them and, and... I just, bleh. They don't do it for me) this is huge.

I accidentally picked some up (yeah, just like I accidentally ended up with chocolate Chex Mix) on Saturday in effort to put something festive in my Christmas candy bowl that had until Saturday, been sorely neglected. I wanted something minty (because in my mind, Christmas=candy canes) but, wasn't sure what I would find.

Low and behold, Candy Cane Hersey's Kisses. We're talking white chocolate, with little teeny bits of candy cane. Does it get better? No my friends, no it does not.

I only bought one bag (also, anyone else notice that candy companies are getting stingy on the amount of goodies in a bag?), and it's dwindling. Fast.

This is not good for my "diet" (and who are we kidding, I just keep getting fatter--I've got more chins now than I've ever had in my life--icccck!). Or my self esteem. Or that fact that I'm only supposed to eat "limited" amounts of sugar. Obviously, I'm blinded by the minty goodness.

But.Oh.So.Good.

Sigh....

Oh, and just because--so, SlimFast got recalled. Guess who has an entire trunk full of SlimFast? Yep, that's right. Of course.

If you buy something in my holiday bake sale that will be held on Thursday I might even send a Candy Cane Kiss along with your purchase.

Remember, I'm making homemade holiday treats for you and all proceeds will go to OperationJack. So, start hitting the gym now because I don't bake low fat. Your tastebuds will thank me.

Now, spread the word: Bake sale. Thursday. Be here.

So dear friends, what are your favorite holiday goodies?

Holiday Treat Bake Sale

I might have mentioned it before, but, at my office, Friday is sweet treat day--we all take turns bringing in goodies. In honor of that, I decided that I would make today a sweet treat blog bake sale day--all proceeds to benefit OperationJack and Train4Autism.

Here's how it works:

Below I will list items for you to chose from and the prices of each item--I will only make a certain number of each (which will be listed by the item), so, if it says 3 dozen of a certain cookie and three people have already commented that they want a dozen, that cookie is sold out--that said, if this is successful, I will do this again next week, so, you can always come back and buy something then. However, if you do make a purchase and want more of something, please let me know and I'll try to make arrangements (and the donation price should be adjusted as such).

Leave a comment stating what you want and the quantity.


Then, send me an e-mail (on my sidebar-- shabby.sadie@gmail.com) with what you want and how many including your shipping info--then, make a donation for OperationJack on my donation page (click here) in the amount specified below (or based on your quantities)--I'll be alerted via e-mail of your donation and viola, I'll whip up the goodies and they'll be on your way.

I will close the bake sale at 4:30 PM CENTRAL time today. However, as stated before, if this is successful, be on the lookout for another bake sale next week!

I'll try to keep it updated with side notes next to the items if they get sold out, but, it might not be perfect, so, please bear with me.

Make sense?

I'm hoping to knock these all out over the weekend, so, please, donate away!

Cookies:
3 dozen oatmeal and festive M&M: $10/dozen
2 dozen chunky monkey (peanut butter, banana, chocolate chips & oatmeal): $10/dozen
4 dozen chocolate chip cookies: $10/dozen
2 dozen pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies: $10/dozen
2 dozen chocolate chocolate chip cookies with candy cane icing: $10/dozen
1 dozen sugar cookies with Hershey kisses (caramel, regular, mint, etc--you pick!): $10/dozen
3 dozen holiday confetti cookies: $10/dozen

Treats & Such:
(2) peppermint bark: $12/per "sheet" (full cookie sheet sized before being crumbled)
(3) festive chocolate dipped pretzels: $5/per 12 pretzel rods
(3) festive monkey munch/puppy chow/muddy buddies: $5/per one 6 cup serving
1 batch of chocolate chip "sugar plum" (gumdrop) bars: $12 batch (about 12 bars)
1 batch of peppermint brownies (with Andes mints) (about 18 brownies): $12/batch
1 batch Rice Krispie treats with M&Ms: $12/batch (about 12 krispies)

Whew, I better get to baking!

Here's to a yummy weekend!

All I want for Christmas

(I'll refrain from busting out the remaining parts of the song, but, just know, I'm singing it internally)

You know, this year, money is tight for us, as it is for many people. My husband bought me a fabulous new bag for my birthday / marathon completion present and for us, it was a pretty penny. I'm so grateful for his thoughtfulness. That said, I'm not really sure what to ask for this holiday season as it seems that we have everything we really "need" and most of my "wants" are running related (new clothes--it's snowing here kids, I don't have running in snow clothes), house related (anything to make it pretty) or something just as silly.

But, upon further reflection, there is something that I really, really want (like want even more than a pony and y'all know how much I want a pony). I want to help make OperationJack successful.

This is where you come in.

As many of you know, I recently completed a full marathon (that’s 26.2 miles of running) and did it for me—to cross it off my list by my birthday. I can happily say that I completed that goal and am so grateful for all the support I had from you all as I embarked on this journey.


Even after logging months of 100+ miles, I’m not ready to retire my running shoes. Just the opposite in fact. I’m running another marathon. Yes, you read that correctly. In less than 16 weeks, I will be embarking on another 26.2 mile journey—but this time, I’m not running for me. I’m running for someone else. In fact, for a lot of someone’s.

I will be running The Catalina Marathon on March 13, 2010 for OperationJack—an effort by a father to run 60 marathons in 2010 to raise money and awareness for Train4Autism (you can read more about Sam and his inspiring journey here).

As someone who has been blessed to spend considerable time with Autistic children, this effort spoke to my heart and although I hadn’t even finished one marathon, I knew I had to sign up to run one for Jack—and all the other people impacted by Autism around the world.

I feel very blessed to be able to participate in this cause, and even more grateful for those who I know that are living with Autism now—they have taught me so much about life, about love and about what it takes to really give. And I want to give back to them.

But, I can’t do this alone—we need help to raise money and awareness. To that end, I have set a goal to raise $850.00 by the time I lace up my shoes for Catalina—that’s exactly 14 weeks and 3 days away. ;)

I know that things are tight right now, especially as we are gearing up for holiday shopping, but, please, consider making a donation. Think of it as a gift-- a gift to me (cause you know you want t0) and a gift to all those families who are affected by Autism every single day. I know we can do this!

Great things can be done with research and therapy, but, none of that can happen without help. Please visit my fundraising pages for more information: http://operationjack.kintera.org/texasrunner

If a monetary donation seems too much, please consider participating in one of the 60 races that are affiliated with OperationJack. You don’t have to run a marathon to help—many of the races have varying distances, including 5ks associated with them. Here’s the schedule. I'll be running in at least 3 and would love to see you there (Catalina Marathon, Big D Texas Marathon, Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon).

Or, if you aren't ready to lace up your running shoes, please log onto Facebook and become a fan of Chase Giving and vote for OperationJack. More information found here. It's really simple and doesn't take more than a minute--your vote could mean huge things for OperationJack.

So, tell your friends, tell your families, tell your dogs--just please, spread the word--and please, donate if you can.

That's all I want for Christmas.

(well, a treadmill would be nice too since it's snowing here and all, but, I'd rather have the donations for Jack)

Thank you :)

Merry Christmas!

(gosh, think I used enough links? You have no excuses--I made it so simple)