Beaming with pride!

T has embraced the challenge of training for a CRAZY mountain century with zest this spring/summer. He's only picked up a golf club twice as most of his evenings and weekends revolved around building up his endurance and leg strength. Hours on an indoor trainer when the weather is bad is not exactly 'fun'. Some of his weekend training rides took over 6 hours! My man sets a goal and gets after it :)

As most know our local Mountains of Misery was the goal. 104 miles, with 10,000′ of climbing. Unfortunately some wheel/tire issues that seemed to have been plaguing him cut his day short when he broke a spoke. Disappointed but not defeated we set out to find another similar ride to complete!

Enter the 2010 Garrett County Gran Fondo "Savage Century". 102 miles and over 11,000' of climbing. Not only did he sign up for another month of training BUT this ride had a new goal - the option to raise money for the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation. You guys know I'm a 'sunscreen nazi' and skin cancer is on my list of 'hates'. What a great organization to support! Thanks to our generous friends and family T surpassed his goal and has raised $850 for Melanoma research! He's a winner before getting on his bike this morning!

A note posted by the event organizers about the course he's riding today... "We do not exaggerate when we claim the Diabolical Double is as tough a single-day ride as exists on the planet, and this claim is backed by professional cyclists from the Rapha Continental team who rode the route on their 2009 North America Epic Ride tour as well as two ride leaders of a Tour de France cycling tour company who rode the Diabolical Double and claimed they've experienced no Tour de France stage so tough. The Fabulous Fifty and Savage Century are just as extreme, simply shorter. Please do your homework and come prepared for the ride of your life!"
I really hope he's having the ride of his life and can't wait to see him cross the finish line in a couple hours!

Babe you inspire me! I'm so proud of you :)

------------------------------------------------
The 2010 Garrett County Gran Fondo raised over $20,000!!

The Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation is a non-profit charity, known nationally as "the voice for melanoma prevention, detection, care, and cure!".

Alarming facts about Melanoma:
~Melanoma is the most serious and lethal form of skin cancer.
~One person dies every hour in the U.S. from melanoma.
~Melanoma is the most common cancer for young adults ages 25-29; and,
.......Second most common cancer in adolescents and young adults 15-29 years old.
~Over 121,500 new melanoma cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2009; and,
.......8,650 people are expected to die.
~The lifetime risk of developing melanoma is 1 in 53

Baby DIY #2 - Pinwheel Taggie

Mom came to town a couple weekends ago to hang out and see my belly first hand :) Just her luck I'd brainstormed an awesome project for her to help me with! It was a great girls weekend that included lots of cooking, pedi's, a trip to Floyd for fabric, and of course a couple hours in the 'sweatshop' (my craft room). Can't think of a better way to spend time with Mom!

I brainstormed making the Taggie with a quilted 3D pinwheel top and Mom helped me bring it to life. We make a great team. All the cutting, ironing, sewing, and more ironing seemed to go by faster with two people too!

The pieces ready to go together

Our first trial block

The first top all sewn together. I'm lovin it!

Placing the 'tags'

A glipse of what's behind the scenes

Voila! The first one with a little 'western' flair.

The second one, with brighter colors.
You can see the 'minky' used for the back, SUPER SOFT!

And this is how I imagine finding it all scruntched up after being 'loved' on by our little one.

This really was a pretty simple project to complete and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Pinwheels have got to be one of my favorite quilt patterns. I can't wait to get share it with Baby M!

Nugget meets the Hokie Bird!

Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes,
Boy or Girl, No One Knows

But we do know Baby M is a Hokie!

87 Days

I just finished my first nursery DIY :) I can't take all the credit though - the idea came from shortcake. It's a cute little sign for the nursery door with velcro numbers so we can countdown the days until our little one arrives.

I'm sure there's other more important things I should have been doing over the past two weekends - but I LOVE any time I get to spend in my craft room. I can change out the background and use the numbers in the future to countdown to things like Birthday's, Christmas, Vacation, and Siblings :) I love the way it turned out!


Here's an updated shot of the 'bump' from last weekend. 26w4d.


Mom is coming to town next weekend and I'm SUPER EXCITED about the next DIY I (we) have planned!

Clever Companies

I REMEMBER companies that have AWESOME customer service (Athleta) and/or make your interaction with them FUN (MyEmma)!

I was wondering when a product would ship so went back to look at the order confirmation email I got last week... the email had me 'reading' and laughing.

Thanks for picking us. Your new bag is gonna ROCK!

Here is your order summary email.

We suggest that you actually read it and like it because this is what you are getting and the Lucky One's address below is where we are going to send it. If you must be That Person, we can TRY our best to make changes or cancel your order. This is only if we have had enough coffee and our warehouse hasn't. You will need to send your email to changeorder@timbuk2.com. Remember, this is only if your order is NOT IN PRODUCTION. Once your order makes it to our production line, we can't change it for you and if it's custom, we can't take it back. Not because we don't love you; but because we already have really, really nice custom made Messenger bags from Timbuk2. It's part of the uniform.

WHO PAID (billing address)
THE LUCKY ONE (shipping address)
WHATCHURGETTING (items)
HOW MUCH YOU SHELLED OUT (total)
(I added these notes - not on email)

How often do you write an email that you 'know' people won't read - yet it's so important they do? Add some 'character' next time! I'm not even the least bit disappointed we probably won't our new diaper bag until next week. (Granted we won't need it for a couple months - but new toys are fun!)
Good Job Timbuk2

Anniversaries

Dates that are ingrained in your mind forever. April seems to have more than it's fair share - this week especially. Some celebrations, some heartbreaking, and others bittersweet.

April 11 - T's Moms birthday
April 13 - Anniversary of my dad passing
April 13 - T's cousin Sophie's 11th Birthday
April 15 - T's sister Eliza's 13th Birthday
April 16 - Anniversary of Virginia Tech Tragedy
April 17 - Todd's Birthday
April 18 - Anniversary of a high school friend attempting suicide.

Can't believe it's been three years since I saw the cop cars outside of West AJ as I cut through campus on my way to work. My assumption was a kid with alcohol poisoning or some other 'mischief'. Never could I have imagined how the day would unfold.

My favorite quote heard today "While 32 of our friends try to explain to heaven what a Hokie is, I stand here sure in the fact that I wouldn't want to be anything else."

This blog is worth the read: Coleman Collins remembers Virginia Tech's tragedy

We are Virginia Tech.

21 weeks

We are past the halfway mark and here's some evidence of how baby and mommy are growing.

Baby is weighing in at 15 ounces. Amazing, the brain, the heart, the kidneys, the fingers and toes, everything is 'there' yet he/she weighs less than a pound! Now it's time for baby to put on some fat!

Overheard in our house - baby naming

Me: What about Mabel?

Hubby: That's a cow name.

Me: Tell me one cow you personally know named Mabel!

Hubby: If I had a cow I'd name it Mabel.

Me: Well I love it.


I don't think this is going to be an easy task!

Planning Early

Cupcakes for my birthday this year? Would be even better if the base was a Maggie Moo's Ice Cream cupcake.

They are just tooo cute!!!

source

Complete with Milk Shooters please :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Annabelle!

Hard to believe you've gone from this sweet precious baby....


To a lively smart giggly beautiful princess in such a short time! I know you've had a wonderful birthday full of love and sweets :)

You're a great big sister and I can't wait to see your 'cousin' skills ;)