our 5th relay for life

Yesterday The Jersey Girls celebrated their 5th Relay for Life anniversary at our new Relay event. It was a lot of changes squished into a new shorter format, but the event as a whole got a thumbs up from the JG's. Our team suffered some fresh losses this year, so we cried a little bit more and hugged a little bit longer and harder.



Thanks to one of the wonderful teachers at Maya's school, Maya had a small bit of Miss Galligan's sparkle to carry with her as she walked yesterday. I wasn't aware this was going to happen and the below picture is Maya telling me what she has in her hand. I was smiling then, but when the weight of what she was telling me hit, I won't lie I was a bit of a mess.



Maya took her job of ushering Miss Galligan's sparkle around the track very seriously and when she took a break from walking she would hand her off to me so she was always on the track. Maya said later that she was glad to have Miss Galligan with her because it made her feel happy.



Things didn't get quite as punch drunk as they do at our regular twelve hour over night event, but there was still plenty of laughs to be had in amongst the tears, the hugs and the hand holding. The organizers put together a tremendous event, everything from the food to the activities to the music was top drawer. Each hour had a theme: beach (beach balls, limbo, grass skirts), crazy hour (thunder sticks, make your own noise makers, leis), country (cowboy hats, bandanas) and a colour fight.



I steered clear of that one, but the majority of the JG's joined in the fun. The only thing we were kind of meh about this year was the luminary ceremony. With this being held during the day, the luminaries had very little impact compared to the evening luminary ceremonies we have participated in prior to this year. I'd like to see it change to a memory/honour wall with photos instead. They did show a slide show, but with it being so bright it was very hard to see. That really was the only tiny complaint we had.



This year I am so proud to say that we indeed hit the goal we've been chasing for the past two years and we raised $5,662.10, bring our five year total to $22,042.70!! I am just staggered by the support we girls have received and the hard work my JG's have put into this project!



The last lap seemed to come far too quickly and I spent today being a little melancholy about having to put the JG fun to rest for a little while, but of course I am already planning and strategizing in my head for next year. The teams ahead of us pulled some really big and impressive numbers and I am keen to close the gap a bit next year.



Don't feel bad if you missed the boat, there is still time to donate, our online page stays open until the end of July. You can donate here!

As for me, y'all know I like to work hard for your donations and this year was no exception. I give you my fitbit stats for the day....



And you probably won't be surprised to see/hear....



See you in 2016!!

times they are a changing

Change isn't always the easiest thing to deal with. I mean it certainly was never my strong shoot. There is just something about change and anxiety that doesn't mix, ya know what I mean? The Jersey Girls are facing some big changes this year as the decision has been made to discontinue the Ancaster/Dundas relay this year and our team was encouraged to join one of two other Relays in our area. So that in itself was big and as a group we had discussions about what we wanted to do until we ultimately decided to join the Hamilton event which led us to being a Juravinski team. If only that were it,

In the previous four years of Relaying with the Jersey Girls our home event was an over night, 12 hour Relay which we all really enjoyed even though by 3am we always questioned just what in the hell we were even thinking to sign up for this? Our new event happens over 6 hours in the daytime, now this change isn't specific to just our new Relay event. This is a change you see coming across the board for Relay for Life events. They were finding that getting people to commit to an event that took 12 hours to complete over night was becoming a hard sell. I get that, I so get that. As a person who is always looking for volunteers for a variety of different projects..... I know getting people to commit to even the smallest of jobs can be a struggle.

We are going into Saturday a bit like a brand new team, even as we celebrate our 5th Relay anniversary! We're in a new location, with new teams to hang out with. We aren't sure of the protocols or how our day is going to play out. It's equal parts exciting and nerve wracking. The Jersey Girls still plan on working hard and walking many many laps to adequately thank all of our donators. I am curious to see how many steps I manage to accumulate this year (55,000+ last year), I have half the walking time, but I still aim to pull numbers that impress you. The hows and the wheres and the whys aside, this much I know to be true.... on Saturday The Jersey Girls will be having the best fun celebrating the completion of our very best fundraising year to date!

And don't worry there is still time to donate! Really help push us over the top this year!

#whyirelay

This is my sweet Grandma, Emily. She lost her battle with cancer when I was in my teens and my desire to honour her memory is the driving force behind my involvement in Relay for Life. I spent many an hour sitting with my Grandma as she underwent treatments at what is now the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre. This year for the very first time The Jersey Girls have registered to be a Juravinski team, which means 100% of the funds raised by The Jersey Girls will stay at JHCC and help fund the purchase of a new anesthesia machine. I am so excited to be able to repay some of the care and kindness shown to my Grandma during her fight with cancer while also helping bring a much needed piece of medical equipment to our community.



I wish I could say the story ended there. I wish I could tell you I had no other reasons to walk, but I can't. That lovely lady there is Papa Joyce, Great Grandma extraordinaire to our Abby girl. Unfortunately Maya was not yet ready to meet the world when we lost Papa Joyce, but it was our honour and pleasure to name Maya after her. The handsome gent beside her is Papa Al who is continuing to show cancer who's boss even at 92. If only my list ended there.... I walk for Cliff, Hamburger Bob, Papa Mark, Sue, Janet and UG. This year Abby, Maya and I are dedicating our walk in memory of Miss Galligan a beloved teacher at our school. I feel so incredibly blessed that my girls had her as a teacher if even in just a small measure. She was an incredibly lovely lady and she will be greatly missed.

In my experience grief is never ending. It changes, for sure. You learn to live with it. It becomes less acute over time, but there is never a time I don't miss my Grandma or Papa Joyce. Relay for Life allows me the opportunity to not only mourn my lost loved ones, but also celebrate them and do some good for the community at large. I am only one person, but put me together with a handful of my best girls and then put us together with dozens of other teams and that translates into tens of thousands of dollars that go towards medical research, cancer support services and programs, advocacy and medical equipment. When we walk on Saturday the Jersey Girls will share some tears, some hugs, we'll hold hands and there will be laughs and lots of lots of walking. We work hard for your donations on Relay day, we sure do. Thanks to all who have made a donation to The Jersey Girls (don't worry there's still time left to donate) it is appreciated more than I can say!

the results are in

Hmmmm where to even start? My girls! My Jersey Girls and my baby girls! I love them all so much. I'm so very grateful that they choose to go this adventure with me every year. I really couldn't ask for a better team. I thank them all from the very bottom of my heart for all the fundraising, the spaghetti dinner helping and the walking. Oh boy, the walking. So much walking, but there's also hugging and laughing and hand holding and silliness and bonding.



It's always causes me a bit of anxiety having the girls there overnight. Actually not so much Abby anymore, but Maya, for sure. I'm always relieved when she finally crashes out in the tent. She made it to about midnight and Abby was up and down a it before finally giving in for good around 2am. I think what they gain from the experience for outweighs my anxiety though. The friendships and memories they are building with the other Junior Jerseys is a wonderful thing. And they have their own laughs and jokes and silliness that's fun to see.





But let's get down to the real nitty gritty.... I know what you're all here for! As of this moment the Jersey Girls raised $4553 for our 2014 campaign ($95,000 for the entire event). There may be a few straggler donations come in and we will gladly accept those!! Our links are conveniently located all over facebook! This year was my first year walking with my fitbit, so I have an accurate report of my walking activities for last night. During Relay I walked 53,118 steps which equals out to 35.11km, sore hips and one blister the size of Texas. Yep, I'm kind of astonished myself. Don't ever think I don't work hard for your donations y'all. Between Relay last night and the spaghetti dinner this year I donated over 76,000 steps to the Canadian Cancer Society and on behalf of the lovely people I carried on my shirt it was my extreme pleasure to do so.

Thank all of you who took the time to support The Jersey Girls this year. It was greatly appreciated by each and every one of us. Much love and warm hugs for everyone!

requesting

I find it kind of amusing that posting has been incredibly light around here when I've been logging a billion hours in front of the computer screen. What am I doing with all that screen time? Begging for donations to the Jersey Girls silent auction. It takes a lot of work to organize these kinds of events and some are easier than others. The JG one is tough because it's third party fundraising, which means I'm Joe Nobody off the street who's asking for a donation and in turn pinky swearing to you that I'm going to donate the cash to a registered charity. I could be an asshole.... how are you to know? I could take all that stuff and live it up with hookers and blow and who would know? It's a genuine concern, I get it. There are a lot of people out there with questionable motives. I'm not one of those people, but again.... how are you to know?

Fundraising under the umbrella of an actual organization like the fundraising I do for the school (donation requests for that are to go out this week) has a much friendlier return on investment because there are protocols in place to give donators peace of mind that their donated items will be used as promised. That being said it's still no walk in the park. There are many many worthy organizations out there and the need for support is great. The organizations and causes that are important to me do not necessarily overlap with all the places I contact for support. I won't lie, it's always disappointing to get a rejection letter (rejection letters are still  better than no response at all, btw), but I understand. Nobody's pockets are bottomless, so businesses must pick and choose where and what they will support. Some are happy to share with you the causes their support goes to in telling you why you're request is being denied, as a person who does more than her fair share of fundraising I appreciate knowing that their support is being directed elsewhere if it's not coming in my direction because, again, the need in our community... any community.... is so great. What isn't in my wheel house is certainly in someone else's and mine are no more important and/or valuable than there's.

Right now I'm sitting at about 20 items for our silent auction and that equals out to about 200 donation requests sent out and both of those numbers will continue to increase over the next few weeks. It's a true labour of love and it's a good thing I love what I do. Most of the time :) So if you have anything to donate need me I'll be sitting right here, typing and requesting and convincing.

juniors

As long as the Jersey Girls have been Relaying we have brought our kiddos along with us. We call them our Junior Jerseys and they really are a part of the team. This year we had nine Jersey Girls and eleven Junior Jerseys at Relay. It's always a game to see which kids will make it all night, which ones will fall asleep first, and which ones Auntie KK will draw mustaches on while they are sleeping. We laugh at the way they contort themselves into lawn chairs when they finally do nod off.



I'm not going to lie I love having them with us. Sure having MyPie there gave this Mama a bit more to worry about. Where was she? Was she staying with her group like I told her? Was she still asleep in the tent? But I know they are gaining something really special. I know they are building life long friendships. I know they are making memories, stories they will tell and retell for years to come.

The Relay for Life isn't easy. It's physically demanding. Twelve hours of walking is even longer than it sounds, believe me. It's also really emotional, but it's also fun and so rewarding. It's a chance to hang out with my best girls' kids and that can be an education believe me. I'd never even heard of twerking before Friday night. Judging by the facebook and instagram posts during and after the big event I think it's safe to say they love doing Relay just as much as we do.

thank you

I am not immune to volunteer burn out. I volunteer a lot, so it can pop up a lot. Usually as I am getting close to project completion. This time around I had Touch a Truck and Relay only six days apart. Both equal out to a lot of people and logistics to organize. I've been lucky though, whenever I start to feel burnt out something always happens to turn the tide be it a sincere thank you, a well timed hug or just the good old feeling of accomplishment from a job well done.



So we're at Relay and the team has gathered at our reserved for Dream Teams picnic table to grab a quick bite of dinner. From the stage they are announcing that year's Dream Teams. There are seven of us out of forty plus teams. Of course when they announce the Jersey Girls our table goes nuts. Arms in the air, woo-hooing our faces off because we are proud of the hard work we put into this year.



While we were acting like teenagers at a Beiber concert, these two local firefighters were finishing their dinner two tables over. They'd obviously been witness to our display... they couldn't have missed it, we were pretty loud. Over they came.... "ladies, we'd like to escort you around the track back to our truck."



So they walked with us and asked about our fundraising, suitably impressed with our numbers. We talked Touch a Truck (they'd been with us the week before) and then just settled into talk about this and that..... well mostly eating raw and juicing. Before you knew it we were back at the truck where they wished us congratulations and good luck for the rest of the night.



It was an incredibly sweet gesture and one I'm not soon going to forget. It was just another perfect instance that you never know how what you do or what you say can impact another person. No matter how burnt out I can get I always somehow manage to find a moment that reminds me why I do what I do.

*thanks to Courtney for the pictures xo

relay number three

So we did it, my fabulous Jersey Girls and I. We survived another Relay for Life. This was our third time participating in this fundraising event for the Canadian Cancer Society and our most ambitious fundraising year yet. So how did we do?



In a word we did awesome. Did we make our $5,000 goal, no we did not. Not this year, but we got damn close and we've already set our sights on next year. So, while not hitting our mark this year may sting for a minute or two... well if we take a minute to look at the big picture......



We celebrated this year as a three time Dream Team and helped to light up HOPE. I was asked to pick three members of the team to do this and it wasn't an easy decision, but I went with my partner in organizing crime ML and my sister-in-law Auntie KK as she was our highest fundraiser this year, bringing in just a shade under $800 all on her own.



We sold 42 luminaries that helped light our way as we walked all night. Our spaghetti dinner brought in 3 times what we made last year. We shared laughs, hugs, tears, trips to the bathroom, cupcakes, junk food, laps around the track, text messages, and pictures. We took selfies, told inappropriate stories and there may have been a prank or two pulled. Remember how awesome sleepovers were when you were eleven.... it's like that only ten times better. Until you get to about 4am, then the going gets a little tough, but you also get a bit punch drunk and everything seems incredibly hilarious.

Our third Relay, in my opinion, was the best one yet. There was just so much love and fun..... I hope the rest of the JG's all felt it too.

So lets talk numbers, shall we.... I know the Jersey Girls are all waiting to hear what our final tally was. This year I am so proud and excited to tell you that we raised $4,626.80! In the past three years we've raised $11,827.60 for the Canadian Cancer Society. Thank you to all who have supported us this year and in years past. It is very much appreciated.



And to my Jersey Girls, there is nobody else I would want to do this with. I thank you for signing up to go on the adventure with me every year. I love you all so much xo

relay

 It's that time of year again. Time for me to tell you about my super sweet Grandma. Tell you how she made the most delicious hot cross buns in a wood fired cook stove. Or how she loved hats and costume jewelry and Avon. How she was never ready for Christmas. My cousins and I would be dying to open presents, but we'd have to wait until Grandma reappeared from upstairs where she was sorting everyone's gifts into BiWay bags, her "wrapping paper" of choice. I want to tell you how even after Dad died she would tuck his favourite chocolate bar into the care packages she'd make up for us. I want to tell you about the last conversation I remember having with her, she asked me how my date with "that Revill boy" went.  We grew up in a small town my Grandma may not have known Mike at that point, but she certainly knew his people. It was days after my first date with Mike and only a handful of weeks before she died.

It's time to tell you about Papa Joyce. The girls Great Grandma. How she was sweet and funny and never skimpy with the hugs. Abby, our tiny little Abby, dubbed her Papa Joyce for reasons known only to her, but I think it tickled Papa Joyce to no end. I want to tell you how part way through my pregnancy with Maya, while Mike and I could not agree on a first name for our impending baby, we very quickly agreed that her middle name would be Joyce. I'm only sorry she never had a chance to meet her in person.

I want to tell you about great friends to our family... about Cliff and Hamburger Bob. I want to tell you about how cancer took them from us. This story is not unique, the nine ladies that make up the Jersey Girls know that. You out there all know that. The awful part of the story is that cancer has touched every one of us in some way. There is no escaping it.

In June my best girls and I will walk over night in a twelve hour relay to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. This is our third year participating in the Relay for Life and, we are hoping, our third as a Dream Team. We've set an ambitious goal of $5000 in 2013 and no donation is too small to help us get there.

I'm walking in memory and in honour of my people, but I want you to know that I'm walking for all your people too. Abby and I are walking to help find a cure for cancer. Please consider sponsoring our walk. You can do so HERE. Thank you.

well on our way

Well all that planning and organizing came down to tonight, the Jersey Girls second annual spaghetti dinner! We set an ambitious goal for ourselves this year, $5000 in 2013. My hope was that tonight would get us a fifth of the way there. That was my hope. How did we do in reality?

This is where I pull a Ryan Seacrest on you and make you wait until after the commercial break for the answer!

First of I have to thank my team. I just couldn't do this without them. I don't want to do this without them. They are my best girls! We have shared a lot of great stuff together and they have supported me through the not so great stuff. I love them. Thanks to the kitchen crew, who worked their tails off keeping a steady supply of hot food coming out of the kitchen. Thanks to the server girls who served everyone with a smile on their faces. Thanks to our kiddos, the Junior Jerseys who replenished water pitchers and dessert platters, cleared and wiped tables, ran things back and forth to the kitchen and so much more.

Thank you to everyone who came out to support us. It was fabulous to see so many friendly faces out there. I so wish I'd had time to chat with more of you, but it was an absolute sprint to keep everything running as smoothly as we could. I was, quite literally, running the back hall between the room and the kitchen all evening. I hope y'all enjoyed yourselves and left with full bellies.

So... commercial break over, how did we do? Well, thanks to your very kind support, we raised a titch over $2000 towards our goal of $5000. I am overwhelmed and so incredibly grateful. Thank you all so much!! It was definitely a great day in the year of AWESOME!

steady as she goes

Thanks everyone, for being nice, but not too nice. I'm plugging along. The weather is miserable which makes me feel a bit better about not having time for a run anyway. There is actually a winter storm watch in effect right now. What the hell, it is April, ya know!

So yeah I'm working my way through the week... very much looking forward to The Jersey Girls second annual spaghetti supper on Saturday! I hope to see all my real life peeps there and wish I could see a lot of you online peeps there as well. My girl JB has set an ambitious fundraising goal of $5000 for this year. I'm hoping Saturday evening puts a big dent in that. Last year we raised just a bit under $4000, so it's not really unreasonable. And if nothing else we'll take some funny pictures and have a bunch of laughs. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday I'm thinking.

stronger

Okay, can you put up with just one more Relay post? Last year, by the time morning rolled around I was dead. Well and truly dead. My hips were killing me from all the walking. I got home and crawled into bed and slept for hours and hours. I felt wretched and hungover for the rest of the weekend.

This year, 20.5lbs lighter and a "runner", by the time morning came around I felt awesome. Relatively speaking, I mean I had been up for 25 hours and I walked over 15km, but I felt good. My legs and hips weren't killing me, I stayed up for about 20 minutes after I got home instead of crawling upstairs to bed. It was a very difference experience this year.

Why didn't I start running years ago?

it's like this

Ever wonder what the Relay for Life is all about? Relay is a hard experience to explain. It seems to odd to say it's fun, but it is. It's also sad and hopeful and inspiring and moving and difficult and rewarding. It's a real cornucopia of emotions.




The mood is always up when we first get there. Everybody is settling in, storing their stuff, grabbing a bite of dinner, chatting and catching up. Before you know it, it's time for the opening ceremonies. Always a tear jerker. This year an 11 year old girl got up to tell the story of her battle with cancer. I'm still in awe of how poised she was speaking in front of hundreds of people. There were more than a few tears shed. We hold hands and hug and rub backs and just support each other.




The first lap of Relay is the Survivor's lap, another incredibly emotional moment. The teams line the track and we clap and cheer those survivors on. Then the teams walk, we've always walked that first lap together, watching for each others luminaries. This was Abby's first full out Relay experience and it all caught up with her 3/4's of the way through our first lap. That's the thing about Relay, you never know when those emotions are going to catch up with you.




Then we kind of fly by the seat of our pants. We don't have any kind of a schedule for walking, just walk whenever you feel like it. Between us girls and the guys and all the kids we always have someone out on the track walking, usually more than one someone. It's a very long night and there is not much else to do. Some of us nap through the night, but most of us stay up, walking. This year, inspired by the internet I brought a basket of photo props and the kids had an absolute blast with that.




The luminary ceremony happens at dusk and it's an emotional one as well. You might be able to hold it together while the candles are being lit, but I can't make it past the lights being turned out and that piper playing Amazing Grace. As you walk you come past people holding vigil near their loved ones luminaries, it's pretty intense. Abby and I walked that lap together, her squeezing my hand the whole time.




After that you head into quiet time. There's a movie playing on an inflatable screen, some folks hit their tents, but I've found it's easier to keep on walking. I try to walk with everyone on the team, I'm sure I fail miserably every year, but I try. If nothing else I visit and chat with my whole team, I can't tell you how much I appreciate all their hard work. Quiet time is nice, it's the middle of the night by that time and we're all getting a little punch drunk, which means we are the funniest people who have ever lived. It's lots of inappropriateness and laughing until you can't breathe. There's also heart to hearts and bonding and encouraging and lots of talk about how we can't wait to crawl into bed. It is physically demanding and we certainly earn every penny of support we receive.




Before you know it the sun is coming up and it's time for breakfast, then we clean up camp and walk our last laps. Our Junior Jerseys walked the last laps for us this year.




Then it's time for hugs and chatter about how we're going to raise even more money next year and then finally bed.... sweet sweet bed. It really is one of my favourite projects/events. I look forward to it every year and I'm so beyond happy with my team I can't even tell you. Plans are already well underway for next year's fundraising, $5000 here we come!

off my game

I went into this Relay for Life very disorganized and feeling off my game. My partner in event organizing crime was AWOL this year. ML was up to her eyeballs in their open house for their new barn and I truly felt her absence. I wrongly assumed I could pull off the whole thing "by myself" and I may have missed the mark a little bit. The physical realization of that came was as Abby and I stood in the middle of a field trying to keep a 20 foot tent from blowing away while Mike went to borrow a hammer. Yes, I forgot to bring a hammer and our lawn chairs and our folding table. The wind was crazy and I really could have used another set of hands or three. 

 

 

The things is I, wrongly I am sure, think that I have asked enough of my Jersey Girls. Walking in the Relay is no walk in the park... no pun intended. It is difficult emotionally and physically and all these lovely ladies signed up because I asked them too. I mean we all have our own reasons why it's important to us to walk, we write them on the backs of our shirts and hold them close to our heart, but I got the ball rolling. I'm the one who said hey who wants to do this thing with me? They take time off work or sometimes work all day and then come and walk with me all night, in the dark, in their pajamas. I think that's a lot. 

 

 

The week leading up to Relay, for me, was crazy. I'm no stranger to meetings, but it isn't very often I have more than one in a week. That week I had three. Throw in Abby's last riding lesson for the season and the traditional last lesson dinner and the two cakes I baked and the 24 cupcakes. Then add that to all the regular living your life stuff like dishes and laundry and dinners and lunches and oh yeah, my full time job. I just barely made it to Friday. My plan is always to rest on Friday and one year I may actually get to, but this year wasn't it. 

So with ML dealing with the 1000 people that came through their farm and Mike's offer to help I thought everything would be okay. Turns out a large scale stressful project and working with your husband do not mix. Actually, to be honest it could have been worse. Mike hates tents and camping with a passion. The gale force winds did not help. Have you ever tried to pop up a tent that's 20feet long and about 10 feet tall when it's windy. Take it from me, the last thing it wants to do is stay still. At the end of the day the tent got set up, Abby and I did not blow away across the field with the tent clutched in our hands and Michael and I are still married, so win win I guess.

So while I was busy killing myself trying to get everything together and in my mind not doing it to my regular level of awesomeness, the event still happened and it was fine. It was great. We raised a ton of money ($125,000 for the event) and the things I forgot didn't matter. I'm sure there is a lesson in there somewhere for me.

dream team x2

Friday night I participated in my third Relay for Life, my second with this team, The Jersey Girls. My second year in a row as part of a Dream Team.




How does one become a Dream Team? Well as a team you have to raise over $3000 and sell 30 luminaries. Luminaries light the track we walk on all night. Each candle represents someone who has had cancer, they can be purchased in memory of those who have passed or in honour of those still fighting. The candles are lit at dusk, while all the other lights in the park are out and while a piper plays Amazing Grace. As you can imagine it's a very emotional ceremony.




What does being a Dream Team get us? Well that very cool sign in front of our tent, also butler service at the event, if we choose to use it, which we haven't either year and bragging rights. At last year's event the mother of a teenaged cancer survivor (also the event's biggest fundraiser) came over to shake my hand and to thank us for being a Dream Team. To this day, I cannot tell that story without tearing up, it was one of the most profound moments for me as a volunteer/fundraiser/person and I vowed right then and there that my team would forever be a Dream Team. We raised $3500 last year and this year I am happy to say we beat that record and raised $3700.80. Thanks everyone who supported us this year!

My awesome girls have already set next year's goal for $5000. Gosh I love them!





I have a lot I want to say about Relay for Life, so I'm going to break it up into a couple of posts. Give you a break from all the running posts for a bit ;P

relay eve

Well it's Relay for Life eve and I'm not sure how to tackle it. Stay up late and sleep in or hit the hay now and sneak in a nap later? Hmmm I am not sure.

It's been a big busy week. I think bed is going to win this one.

Have you ever participated in Relay for Life?

we did it!

That's my little Junior Jersey and in her hands is a bag full of cash. For us to be counted as a Dream Team we had to make our deposit tonight. I added and re-added and then just for fun I added it up once more. Tonight we handed over $3520.80 and we'll hand over a bit more on Friday night at the event. We did it. We are a two time Dream Team. Thanks to everyone who supported our fundraising efforts. We appreciate it very much!

Abby was very proud to be a part of this tonight. Mike and I sit on a lot of committees so the word meeting is thrown out a lot around our house. She was very excited to be attending her very first meeting!

It was a pretty epic day all around, I logged another 5k in my running journal... yes, I have a running journal.

relay

Here is the long and the short of it......

I have reached my own personal fundraising goal for Relay For Life. I am currently at $310 raised for cancer research and support. But...... but......

Then I found out I would be adding another name to my shirt this year. Another very dear family friend has just been diagnosed. I don't even know what else to say.

It does make me more determined than ever to be a dream team once again. So that number up there.... it's not enough.

One month from tonight I will be walking in a 12 hour relay with my best girls and our kids. Please consider donating to help us all reach the ultimate goal..... a cure for cancer. No donation is too small.

on top of spaghetti

After weeks and weeks of all the questions marks, Saturday finally arrived. What's the big deal about Saturday, you ask?

Well.... after successfully achieving Dream Team status at the Relay for Life last year (Dream Team = equals over $3000 in donations and 30 luminaries sold) we decided we wanted to be a Dream Team again. Last year we all raised funds individually, which meant begging a lot of people to sponsor our walk. Don't worry I'm still going to be bugging you for cash, but this year we decided to add another layer to our fundraising and do some group projects. Our first one was this past Saturday, a spaghetti dinner.





That's where the 500 meatballs and 12kg of pasta come in.




Luckily for us, two of our Jersey Girls had done pasta dinners before, so we weren't totally in the dark.





Even still I was a little nervous. Would people actually show up? More importantly, would enough people show up? They did and I am happy to report it came off without a hitch..... except for when I burnt my hand, but even still hands (HA!) down one of the easiest fundraisers I have ever done. I love my Jersey Girls to the moon and back. They all worked their tails off. We were a busy, but well oiled machine that fed 100+ people.

Yes we worked hard, but we also laughed lots and got to squee over our newest Junior Jersey...




I, personally, accepted lots of hugs and compliments on our behalf. I tried to make the rounds to everyone to thank them for coming out to support us. If you were there and I missed you, my apologies, but please know it meant the world to us to have you there for our very first Jersey Girls spaghetti supper. A night like this is good for the soul, it makes you feel the love. I am so very proud of my best girls and what we accomplished together!




So what did we accomplish? Over $700 towards our goal of $3,000 and 32 luminaries, two more than our goal of 30! Thanks to some generous personal donations The Jersey Girls have $1,000 raised so far. One third of the way there.

If you'd like to help us be a Dream Team you can sponsor me here.

this weekend by the numbers

500 meatballs made
12kg pasta cooked
100+ people fed
$900+ raised for the Canadian Cancer Society
1/2 a bottle of hair dye applied
378 hugs exchanged
0.002 seconds spent with my brother
753 cyclists cheered on
1 cup of tea with two of my favourite people
countless thank yous