Favorite Non-Running Hobbies

Today's Tuesday Topics Linkup is all about our favorite non-running hobbies! If you've been a blog reader here for a while, I'm sure you can guess mine! :)

#1 Disney and Traveling 

We LOVE going to Disney, but we also love seeing new places! One of the reasons we joined the Disney Vacation Club last fall is because it gives us the opportunity to do just that. Already, we've discussed the idea of visiting Hawaii in the future (I traveled there for my senior trip, but Jason's never been)! We are also taking a cruise this summer (non-Disney) with Jason's family to Alaska! This time, we will be sailing on Royal Caribbean. I am excited to return to Alaska and take in the wondrous beauty of it all. For this trip, we are planning on excursions we've never done before which include whale watching and visiting a musher's camp. I know Brayden is going to LOVE seeing the dogs! It should be an all around fun time!

#2 Family & Friends

Family and friend time is absolutely the best. I love being with my family and friends and spending time with them! Life is seriously so fragile - I see it every day. One thing about working in oncology is it has given me a better appreciation for LIFE and enjoying loved ones in the here and now. In the end, I want to be able to look back over my life and say that I truly took the time to appreciate my family and friends. Our loved ones bring such a richness and fullness to our lives and it's important to truly value that.

#3 Baseball

During baseball season, you can either find me at home watching a ball game or at Minute Maid Park cheering on my beloved Astros! I've been a fan since birth and love carrying the tradition over to Brayden! We also love visiting Minute Maid Park! It's almost opening day, y'all!! I'm SO excited!

#4 Volunteering

When I look back over my life, I can't remember a time that I didn't volunteer (because I truly love it that much)! At my church, I've been a volunteer with our Girls Ministries program since 2000 and once I started working in oncology in 2007, I also became a volunteer with the American Cancer Society. Over the years, I've also helped in various other areas, but these two have stuck the longest and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Giving of yourself and your time, especially with how busy life can be is truly rewarding, especially when you know you're helping to make a difference.

So, there you have it - when I'm not working or running or going to Orangetheory, those are the areas you'll find me! 

Join Kookyrunnerand Zenaida every Tuesday for the Tuesday Topics Linkup!

The Color Vibe and a Baby Shower!

This past weekend, I spent time doing something I love to do...volunteering! Since Brayden's been born, my volunteer time has been cut incredibly short which is ok because I really love spending time with him. However, it was nice to get back into my old routine, even if just for a short time!

My first volunteer opportunity happened on Saturday morning with The Color Vibe. The American Cancer Society has been the charity partner with this race for the past three or four years and since I'm on the Relay for Life Committee, I had the opportunity to volunteer!

Our crew's main job was the water station and boy did we have it going on! There were over 1,800 runners and only five of us, so it was incredibly fast paced once the runners began flowing in.

 

We rocked it! 

 This was the first wave of runners (there were five waves total).

I also had a couple of friends participate in this race and they did amazing! I was so proud of them!! This is obviously the "before" picture...

...and after!

They might have tried to hug me...but I ran away! Haha!

After the color toss, they really had it going on!

If 5K's that involved colored powder is your thing, check out the Color Vibe! It's a great organization and gives back to local charities. They also know how to have a great time!!

After the run, we had to have breakfast of course!

My second function of the weekend took place at our church for my sister-in-law's shower. I was asked to provide the decorations and I had a lot of fun making them! She went with a green/mint nursery theme, so that's what I based the decorations around.

 

There were several signs like this. Others said "Precious Little Miracle" (because he is...another story for another day), the verse from 1 Samuel 1:27, and the fourth one had his name in bold print. 

There are two types of tables in our glass foyer - tall skinny tables and short big tables. I chose two different centerpiece ideas off Pinterest and ran with them.

He's due in April. Get it? April showers! :)

My niece had so much fun pushing Brayden around in the stroller! She's too funny! 

After the shower, several of us went shopping at Sams and all happened to purchase matching skirts. They were so cute we couldn't pass them up! After our shopping excursion, we stopped for a sno ball - our favorite, "The Little Mermaid"!

Brayden was all dressed in his St. Patrick's Day themed gear for church this morning. I LOVE the plaid shirt with the blue jeans!

After church, I continued my project of getting the flower beds nice and neat once again. 

The weeds were making my head hurt. There's just something about Disney trips - I always want to get my yard looking nice every time I return home from a trip!

Thankfully, this little guy napped for a while then played outside in his jumper while I pulled weeds and guess what?! I'm almost finished! I just knew that the weed pulling would be a week long project and now it's not! YAY!

Next, we are going to buy a few new flowers as well as fresh mulch and make everything nice and pretty once again!

It was an exhausting weekend, especially with the time change, but we had fun! I hope your weekend was great, too! Stay tuned for more updates from our Princess Half Marathon Weekend! :)

ACS Evening of Recognition

Last night, the American Cancer Society held its annual Evening of Recognition which was hosted by the Leadership Council.

Evening of Recognition is when volunteers from all events in SWLA over the past year are recognized for their hard work and dedication to the organization and the fight back against cancer. These events ranged from Relay for Life to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and our annual Gala. Top companies, hospitals, fundraisers, administrators, executives, etc are all invited.

I had Jason take this picture for me. Our Leadership Council is at the head table and our survivor speaker is shown here. She did an AMAZING job. She spoke about her journey with cancer and all the ways that the American Cancer Society can with patient and family services. It helped volunteers in the room see the bigger picture and understand that their work with ACS really IS making a difference in a BIG way. Seriously, awesome job.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, we began presenting individual awards. There was only one “master” copy of the script at the podium and I didn’t have a copy of it…..

Then this happened!

I vaguely remember them saying that only four Patient Liaison awards were given out in the state of Louisiana and two of them were in my area! The other went to a friend and colleague at another local facility!

I know I don’t share a lot about what I do here, but I can honestly tell you that I love being an oncology nurse. I love working with cancer patients, I love helping them, and I love volunteering with the American Cancer Society because I feel like I’m truly making a difference. To give me an award for something I enjoy doing is just like icing on the cake.

My boss also received a Community Volunteer Award (he’s the one who got me started with ACS)!

Throughout my time with ACS, I’ve also developed several relationships with staff partners and I truly am glad I can call them my friends. Katie is seriously one of the best! :) She even came out to cheer me on at RnR NOLA last year!

Overall, the evening was a huge success and despite the crazy weather, we had a great turnout! Here’s to another great year…2015, let’s finish the fight!

Do you like to volunteer? Do you work with any organizations/non-profits/church, etc. on a volunteer basis? If so, leave a comment….I want to hear all about it!

Race Volunteering

When we woke up on Saturday morning, the temperatures were in the low 30’s, with a “feels like” of 26 degrees. A Color Vibe (similar to the Color Run) was coming to my hometown and they teamed up with the American Cancer Society as their charity partner. As ACS volunteers, our duty was to man a water table – pour water in cups, hand out water, and cheer runners on. Easy enough?

Yes, maybe….when it’s not below freezing outside!

A six mile run was on my schedule for Saturday morning, so I woke up extra early and met up with my friend Heather. We had a great run and were wearing enough layers that the cold never bothered us…anyway. (Get where I was going there? We weren’t…Frozen….at all…..whomp whomp)

After the run, I made my way over to the Color Vibe area and met up with the others who were crazy enough to agree to volunteer with  me.

Seriously, this was one of the easiest volunteer opportunities ever. When we arrived, all of the supplies were already at the water site – cups, gallons of water, and tables! All we had to do was pour, hand out, and cheer!

Officially frozen and waiting on runners to pass by…

This is where things began to get hilarious. I think we were all delirious and our brains were iced over from the cold. I heard things being yelled such as:

• Ice cubes, get your ice cubes here!
• Frozen popsicles…minus the syrup!
• Hot chocolate, get your hot chocolate here….without the hot….or the chocolate…
• Tastes like hot chocolate if you imagine it!
• Do you wanna build a snowman?
• Ice cold water, just what you need!

Oddly enough, it was SO cold that a lot of runners/walkers went straight through and didn’t stop for water at all. Our hands were all frozen stiff and my feet were like blocks of ice by the time it was all said and done.

Despite the conditions, I had a lot of fun volunteering and had a great crew volunteering with me!  Thankfully, there were plenty of laughs to go around and that kept our minds off the cold.

After the race was over, we were eating breakfast when I received a call from the Color Vibe director. She asked if ACS wanted the remaining water. I thought it was just a few gallons of water, no big deal. WRONG.

As I approached the loading area, I saw this…

In total, it was 48 flats of water. We loaded it all into a friends SUV and it’s all being stored in my garage for Relay for Life and the upcoming Gleaux Run. The less I have to ask for in donations, the better!  Thank you, Color Vibe!!

On Sunday morning, I watched the live stream of the WDW Marathon and drank coffee out of my Marathon mug! :) I’m so glad the Disney Parks Blog live streamed the races this year – watching online was second best to being there! It was fun to follow friends tracking on my phone, then watch them cross the finish line on the live feed! Loved it!

The races also got me even more excited for Princess! All of our reservations are set – now I just need to finalize and work on costumes for the races! I am so looking forward to a fun week, can’t wait!!

Have you ever volunteered at a race? Did you enjoy it/have fun/hate it?

Did you watch the rD Marathon live feed on Sunday?

Long Run & Making Strides

Another long run in the books! On Saturday morning, I woke up extra early and began the first part of my run at my house. You see, my running group wasn’t starting their run until 5:30 a.m. and I was on a tight time schedule.

I had 8 miles to run and was in a time crunch in order to get those miles complete. Instead of running alone in the dark downtown for 2 miles (quite a scary thing – I’ve done it before), I decided to run a loop around my house, then meet up with my friends for the remaining miles.

As I was running the 2 mile loop at home, I saw a car and I waved – he honked a friendly hello in return. When the car passed back again, it slowed down and a hand came out of the drivers side window (kinda scared me at first)…but it was the paper guy. He was so excited to see someone else awake at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, he handed me a paper and told me to have a great day! Hilarious. I finished off the beginning of my short-long run with a newspaper in hand!

My KT tape job mostly held up during the run – but it was a bit warmer outside so my legs were sweatier than last week (eww gross).

After running two miles at home, I met up with my running group friends for a quick 6 mile run and lots of shenanigans….of course! This buggy was randomly at a street corner, no where near a store! Obviously that meant we had to jump in and act crazy!

Obviously.

After finishing 6 miles with my friends (for a total of 8 miles), I jumped in my car and  drove to a neighboring town for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event. Strides is an ACS event (mainly a walk) where the proceeds benefit breast cancer research. I’ve always run this event (even though it’s mostly a walk) but this year, they needed volunteers and I agreed to help. 

I also recruited my long time friend Amy to sing the National Anthem and she did a great job!

Participants warming up to the cupid shuffle!

My friend Tammy and I got to play the part of route police! We were assigned to a specific and confusing part of the course in order to help direct the flow of runners and walkers. A few years ago, I ran this race and was told that the finish line was in one direction when it clearly wasn’t….so I ended up running in circles and finally found the finish line at 4 miles instead of 3.1. Whoops. We definitely didn’t want anything like that happening again, so we parked ourselves on the corner and made sure everyone went in the correct direction!

We were great cheerleaders, too if I do say so myself!

It was fun cheering on those who had never participated in a 5K event before! They were so excited to complete 3.1 miles and it made me happy because I so remember being in their shoes!

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Remember to get checked – the American Cancer Society guidelines recommend yearly mammograms on women aged 40 and over. Women in their 20’s-30’s should have clinical breast exams by a health professional every 3 years. Monthly breast self-exams are recommended for women aged 20 and up. Early detection and screening has helped save countless lives – I see it on a daily basis! Don’t ignore the signs/symptoms – have them checked, today!
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What’s your favorite part about volunteering for a race or fitness related event?

Volunteering At A Race

Saturday morning, I set out to run a 10 mile training run. Following my run, I had plans to volunteer at The Color Vibe 5K, a local “color run” benefitting our area Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.

Time slipped away from me and I had to cut my run short at 8 miles. I didn’t mind though – although the air was cool, the humidity was high and I struggled a bit during my run. My legs also felt like lead – it was rough.

After eating a banana, I changed my shirt then headed out to find my group.

This was my first time to volunteer and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I knew we were working a water station and I agreed to be a pourer…I didn’t want to get soaked!

The Color Vibe was one of the largest running events to date in our area. I believe over 1,700 registered to run!

We were good pourers! :0)

…and they’re off! It was fun to see so much powder at the start!

Once the runners began heading back our way, the frantic-ness set in. We were water pouring machines. I definitely got my arm workout in for the day!  Despite the craziness, we never ran out of water and we cheered runners on until the very last one crossed through our station! What a FUN morning!

A few Relay committee members after the race.

I spent most of my Sunday morning on Twitter and Facebook, keeping up to date on those running the Walt Disney World Marathon. I was so proud of those who completed races throughout the weekend, I even drank coffee from my first full marathon mug on Sunday morning! 

A good bit of my weekend was also spent planning our Princess week getaway! Marathon weekend really kicked me into high gear and made me realize that Princess will be here before we know it! I’m pretty set on my race costumes, our dinner reservations, cruise plans, and I’m even trying to convince my husband to run/walk the Royal Family 5K with a friend of his! We shall see what happens! :0)

I hope everyone who ran this weekend has a great day – relax and enjoy the post-race celebrations! Congratulations, again!

Did you run this weekend? Tell me something fun that happened!