Speechless and a Giveaway Winner

Wow.

I’m still on cloud nine from Saturday, and as much as I’ve talked to my family and friends about the race, I am a little speechless. Once I find the right words, I will write my race recap…I promise it will be sooner than later!

For right now, another reason I am feeling speechless…all your support for Girls on the Run!!!

I have raised just over six hundred dollars for this amazing organization as a SoleMate, and I definitely could not have done it without all of you! There are still a few donations trickling in from my design work, so when I know an exact total I will share it with you! There is still some time to donate if you wish (just click here)!!!

Thank you to Nancy, Joey, my momma, Gay, Elaine, Carolyn, Carly, Amy, Terrie, Mag-pie, Cathy, my mom-in-law, Candice, Cathy M., Soap It Up, Carin, my momma (again!), Sarah, Terry, Uncle Johnny, Theresa, Beverly, and Jen P. for your direct donations!

Thank you to Candice, Kim, Carrody, Chris, Janelle, my sister, Aunt Mernie, my momma (times 3!) for purchasing notecard sets from angheartsdesign! Thank you to the people I am working with right now for other design work!

Now for the giveaway!!!

The winner of three notecard sets and three Soap It Up soaps is…..

Ms. Terry Shu!!!

Let me know which soaps scents and which notecards you would like!!! I can’t wait to get them to you, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting Girls on the Run and for encouraging me my entire life!!! I love you lady!

ang

August is Making Me Smile

Oh my goodness, this week is turning out to be so amazing. Actually, this entire month has been super great, and each coming day brings something new and exciting!

This week started out awesome on Sunday with the Susan G. Komen 5K in Kansas City. I have never been a part of a Susan G. Komen event before, and I highly recommend it to anyone who ever has the opportunity. There were over 30,000 people registered to be a part of it…it truly was a sight to see!

Not only was it a moving and inspiration event, but it was also the hubs’ very first 5K race! I was so proud of him, and it felt great to cross the finish line together! I will post a race recap with more pictures very soon!!!

On Monday I became a television star!

On Tuesday I received this little gem…

I got accepted into nursing school for next summer! I knew the letter would be coming soon, and I obsessively checked the mail everyday. (Usually I only check it once a week…not really the best idea…I don’t think any of my mailmen have liked me!) When I saw where the letter came from, I started having unwanted deja vu from the last time I received a letter about nursing school…but as soon as I read “happy to inform you” I was relieved…and excited, and nervous, and just so darn happy!

On Wednesday I got to go to a cabinet training for my job. I got to watch a bunch of other cabinet specialists play Family Feud with questions about cabinets. (I, of course, did not volunteer to play!) It was totally awesome.

Sounds awesome, right?

Actually, the winning “contestants” won a ten dollar gas card, and the lady sitting next to me gave me her card because she knew I was ten miles until empty and had no clue where the closest gas station was. She also looked up directions for me. It’s nice to come across genuinely nice people in the world!

The actual excitement on Wednesday came later when I got to see…

…drum roll please…………

Katy Perry!

Okay, this picture is obviously fake (and puts my graphic design degree to shame!) But I did get to see her pretty face from afar, witness her witty self, and listen to her catchy songs! (I know I’m a firework! Thanks, Katy!)

Thursday was kind of a plain day. Nothing crazy-exciting happened like the rest of the week, but I did get to spend most of the day with my handsome hubby before he went back to work today. Tear.

I truly am a lucky gal…he still loves me even though our kitchen floor looks like this…

Sorry honey, I’ll put those away today. Well, maybe.

Another reason this week has been great is because I have raised so much more money for Girls on the Run with my blog giveaway!!! I’ve received $90 in direct donations and seven new orders for notecards (that’s $49 more)!

I have a lot of printing, cutting, and folding to do!

Thank you so much for all your support. This puts me so much closer to my goal, but I still need your help! You can still enter my giveaway! For every $5 you directly donate you are entered to win three Soap It Up soaps and three notecard sets. There are more ways you can enter, just head to this post and see!

You can still order notecard sets also, just contact me with the design of your choice! And last but not least, today was my last sweaty, semi-long run before the big day, my first marathon, and I followed it up with a nice shower with a special new soap!

A new scent in honor of this awesome day! Do you think it’s edible?

ang

Girls on the Run and a Giveaway!

As my marathon training is winding down, so is my fundraising. There are only eleven days left for me to raise money for Girls on the Run (and I desperately need your help!) If you still are not familiar with the organization, that is perfectly okay…I will explain why the program is extremely beneficial to young girls, and why it holds a place near and dear to my heart.

Girls on the Run is a nonprofit organization devoted to inspiring young girls and teaching them self respect, self esteem, and self love through a fun curriculum that incorporates running. The goal of this program is the reduce or prevent to occurrence of eating disorders, depression, suicidal thoughts, or other potentially harmful behaviors in youth. This is extremely important for this age group (eight through thirteen) because this is truly a time when young girls are really growing up and coming into their own.

I can remember back when I was this age, and I do not think I even know what body image was. I didn’t have a negative body image back then, which is a definite plus, especially considering the heartbreaking fact that eating disorders sometimes start in children so young. However, I didn’t know what it meant to have a positive body image and the importance it would have as I got a little bit older.

I also didn’t realize how fun running can be when I was younger…I mostly dreaded running as conditioning for all the other sports that I did. It’s funny the things you learn as you become an adult!

Now, with only eleven days left to raise money for this amazing organization, I am making my final push to get as close to my fundraising goal as possible! You can make a direct donation here, or I am also still offering that seventy percent from notecard sales from angheartsdesign will be donated to Girls on the Run. That means $7 of the $10 for each set will go directly to GOTR (cash or check only).And last but not least I am offering a giveaway!!! For every $5 you donate between now and August 27th you will be in a drawing to win three bars of from Soap It Up, Gourmet Soaps by Di and three notecard sets of your choice from angheartsdesign (you can see all the design choices here), and possibly some other little goodies! That is a $39.75 value!

To enter:

1.     You first must make a donation of at least $5 directly to my fundraising website. If you donate $5 your name will be in the drawing once. If you donate $10 your name will be in the drawing twice. If you donate $15 your name will be in the drawing three times…and so on and so forth!

2.     Then please leave me a comment telling me that you made a donation (even though I will be able to see it from the website…this will just make it easier when it comes time to draw a winner!)

3.     Once you’ve made a donation and left me a comment you may be entered again into the drawing if you leave me a comment telling me which scents from Soap It Up that you’d like the most and which notecard designs are your favorite (and why)!

4.     Once you’ve made a donation and left me a comment you may be entered again into the drawing if you tweet the giveaway! @MyPinkyToes is having a giveaway to raise money for GOTR! For every $5 you donate at http://www.active.com/donate/SoleMates2012/AngFundraising you will be entered to win!!! Leave me a comment telling me you did!

5.     Once you’ve made a donation and left me a comment you may be entered again into the drawing if you “like” angheartsdesign on Facebook. Leave me a comment telling me you did!

Once again, thank you everyone for all your support so far, not only for fundraising, not only for encouraging me for my first marathon, but for being so kind and supportive of this blog. I love everyone of you!!!

ang

Twenty. BOOM!

Oh. Em. Gee. Seventeen. Days.

In this long process called marathon training, there has only been one day that I feared almost as much as the actual marathon itself. That was the day I had to tackle my longest run ever, that was my peak distance day, that was the day I had to run twenty long, sweaty miles.

Oh, that was today.

Oh, and I killed it!

I’m being honest when I tell you that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it…run all twenty. Which in turn made me fear that I wouldn’t be able to finish the entire marathon come August 27th. Today turned that all around! (I’m sure it didn’t hurt that it was only in the seventy degree range with a nice overcast.) For the first time I truly feel that I will be able to conquer the beast that is twenty six point two miles long.

So in honor of my twenty miles this morning, I will give you twenty things on my mind regarding this crazy marathon thing.

1.     I can’t believe I am actually doing this. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I’d be running a marathon. It just goes to show that anyone can do anything they put their mind to!

2.     I am so excited and honored to be running for Girls on the Run as a SoleMate. Thank you to everyone who has donated or purchased soaps from Soap It Up or purchased notecards from angheartsdesign! There is still time to donate or purchase notecards if you’d like to help!!!

3.     I have finally found the perfect sports bra for long runs after months of searching and trying on hundreds of different ones. Thank you Victorias Secret. I still haven’t decided what I’m going to wear on the day of the marathon, though. Well, I’ve decided which shorts I’ll be wearing, but I can’t decide on a top. I’m still on the hunt for a sweet hot pink running tank (but I’m super picky!) to match my sweet new shoelaces…let me know if you see any!

4.     I think I’ve found a short term remedy for my hurting knee. It worked for me today!

5.     I need my Mamzie’s to create me a new special headband for the race. I can’t wait to brainstorm with her and see what she makes!

6.     I can’t wait to spend some time carbo-loading…noodles are now one of my favorite foods! Olive Garden on the 26th anyone?!

7.     I don’t know what I should eat the morning of the marathon. So far all of the breakfasts I’ve had before long run have not been very nice on my tummy. I’m definitely not having oatmeal (learned that today). I’m thinking Larabar and a banana?

8.     I’ve been thinking about possible goals for my marathon time…and I have many different ones in my head. There are so many variables that can play into how I will run: heat, hills, humidity, my knee, ect.

9.     My main goal is to finish the marathon…and hopefully that will be under five hours.

10.    My ultimate super-awesome goal would be to finish the marathon in four hours and thirty minutes.

11.    I haven’t been very consistent with my pace during long runs…so I really don’t know which goal is most reachable. Case in point, my eighteen mile long run I ran in three hours and ten minutes. I ran today’s twenty miler in three hours and nine minutes (and forty-four seconds). Makes zero sense.

12.    Today I kicked it with an average pace of 9:29 per mile. That’s pretty rockstar for me, and I’d totally be happy with that on race day!

13.    Today I enjoyed the hills on my route. The hills in Kansas City scare me.

14.    I’m so happy that I will have my hubby and momma there on marathon day to cheer me on! If anyone else wants to attend, PLEASE DO!   I’m also excited to have so many of my friends running the marathon relay the same day. It will be awesome having them there, also, and hopefully I can keep up with them for awhile!

15.   So far I’ve kept all my toenails intact. I am (maybe overly) optimistic that I will keep all hot pink ten of them when this is all said and done!

16.    I’m excited that it is now the start of taper time, and it is crazy that twelve miles seems like cake now.

17.    I’m looking forward to the celebration after the marathon. I’m waiting to truly celebrate my birthday until after this, so I hope all my dinner club friends know that I’ll be living it up that night! (Or I might just be sleeping…)

18.    I’m literally afraid that I won’t be able to walk when I’m finished. I hope the hubs know he might have to carry me places for awhile.

19.     I can’t believe I’m actually doing this!

20.     Oh, did I mention I rocked twenty miles today? BOOM!

Do you have any advice for me? I sure could use it!

ang

angheartsFUNDRAISING

As I told you in an earlier post, angheartsdesign is teaming up with me as a SoleMate to raise money for Girls on the Run! If you need any custom, creative, modern, beautiful design work created from now until August 27th, half of the proceeds will go toward my fundraising website for GOTR.

But, if you don’t necessarily need some design work (invitations, business cards, logos, ect.), I have created a few notecard designs that would be perfect for a little gift or just for yourself to have around whenever you’d like to send someone a special, handwritten note! They come with 10 notecards (3.5 “x 5″) and 10 envelopes, and they are $10 each. For every set you purchase $7.00 will be donated toward Girls on the Run.

Here are some fun designs that I have come up with for this endeavor:

This design was also featured in a previous post. This is definitely one of my favorite quotes because I can relate it to so many ways.

This design would (obviously!) be personalized just for you! I’m kind of in love with this tree image and the vintage wallpaper feel of the background. These cards would be great to send as a “thank you”, a “thinking about you”, or just to say hi!

Here is another simply, modern design to use as a notecard to mail out to someone special just to say “hi!”

This card design is perfect for you and your significant other or a newly married couple. They can also be used as thank you cards, or again, just to say hi!

Who wouldn’t love to send someone an Operation Beautiful inspired message. This might be my favorite design because I think every girl would immediately smile when opening this from an envelope! I know I would!!!

And last but not least……a Girls on the Run inspired design!

Again, these come in set of 10 cards and 10 envelopes and are 3.5″ by 5″ in size. They are $10 (check or cash by mail only), and $7 are donated to Girls on the Run! If you are interested in helping me raise money for this cause and would like to purchase these notecard sets, simply e-mail me at angheartsdesign@yahoo.com, or contact me through my “Talk To Me!” page on my blog. If you’d like to make a direct donate just go here! My goal is to donate at least $500 to Girls on the Run before August 27th!

Thank you for all your help and support! I can’t believe that in less than ONE MONTH I will be running 26.2 miles for Girls on the Run!!! Oh em gee!

ang

angheartsdesign and Girls on the Run

First I just want to say thank you so much to Soap It Up, Gourmet Soaps By Di for donating $42 to Girls on the Run and to all of you who bought soap to support my cause! I’m being completely honest when I say there is nothing better than showering with a Soap It Up soap after a good, sweaty workout session!

I am not only 35 days away from my first marathon! Oh em gee, I cannot believe how small that number is…yikes! For the last 35 days of fundraising, I am going to be teaming up with angheartsdesign (that’s my company, hehe) to raise even more money for this amazing organization!

For every design order up until August 27th, I will donate half of the money to my Girls on the Run SoleMates website. If you aren’t familiar with my work, you can check out some of my designs here and/or here (and “like” it while you are there!). I create anything from invitations for all kinds of events to business cards to customized notecard sets. If you are interested in ordering a creative custom design, you can e-mail me at angheartsdesign@yahoo.com for more information!

I will also be creating a few standard notecard sets that will include 10 cards and 10 envelopes for $10.00. I will donate $7.00 per notecard set sold to Girls on the Run! Here is an example of one set that will be for sale:

That is one of my favorite quotes, and I just have to laugh when I think about it because it is so true! Had you asked me five years ago what my life would look like today, it’d be way way way different than it really is! (But I know there’s a reason!)

There will be more to come soon! I promise!

I feel so strongly for this organization and what they are doing for young girls everywhere. I hope that what I can raise will truly make a difference in the lives and happiness of these girls. Thank you for supporting me in this!

ang

 

 

Marathon Training, W.O.W., Soaps By Di, and GOTR!

Good morning lovelies! I have missed you!

I missed my Book Club post this week…I am so sorry!Keep your book in a handy location. For example, I have switched over to using a very big purse so that I can fit my book in it (and wallet, and four different lipglosses, and mascara, and bottle of water, and comb, and camera, and phone, and headphones…) and take it everywhere! Therefore, it will be too hard for me to forget book club again!

So girls who are following along with the reading, I will make this week’s book club post tomorrow (only two days late), and it will just be over chapter eleven, The Bonds of Pop Culture.

In other news…I received and e-mail yesterday informing me that my first marathon is eight weeks away!

Um…what?!?! Only eight weeks!?!? I’ll be honest…that number did scare me a little bit, but I got in a great thirteen mile run this morning, thanks to some lovely girls!

So…if you know me, you know that I typically run by myself. Yes, I beg and beg and beg my hubby to join me (and he has…twice now!), but I usually end up lacing up the shoes for a long, lonely date with my headphones.

But a couple months ago I was told about a womens running group in my town for all types of runners and walkers. I joined the group on Facebook, and saw all their postings for group runs several times a week, but I was always too scared to go meet up with them. Most of you just know me through my blog, but my family and friends that do know me know that I can be a little awkward in real-life…shy with a tiny, high-pitched (mistaken for a twelve year old) voice. Awkward. On top of my already awkward shyness and not knowing anybody in this town, I was always afraid to join in on a group run because I worried about not being fast enough or going too fast, or I worried about whether or not I am supposed to make conversation or if I should be be focused and quiet, or if I am breathing too hard and they think I’m in terrible shape or if I’m not breathing hard enough and they think I’m about to die. Nevertheless…I’ve always been afraid!Last week I saw that one of the W.O.W. girls was organizing an eight mile run on the exact same day that I was scheduled to do an eight mile run for my marathon training. I thought that’d be a good time to make an appearance, but I was still afraid for all of the above reasons. Then I saw someone else ask about the pace of the run…and lo and behold, the pace matched my pace exactly! I thought it must be meant to be, so I decided that I’d actually join the girls for my first group run!

Let me tell you…I LOVED it!

Running with a group made the time and miles just fly by, and it motivated me to pick up my pace a little bit and keep it up!

For this morning’s long run, I ran two and a half miles to W.O.W.’s meeting place, ran five with the group, then ran another three with one of the beautiful ladies, then finished the last two and a half miles running back home. It was a great run, but Missouri’s humidity is ridiculous! I have never been more sweaty in my life! It looked like I jumped in a pool with my clothes on!

So, thank you pretty W.O.W. girlies for a great run!

ang

P.S. Soap It Up, Gourmet Soaps By Di has donated $42 to Girls on the Run through my fundraising website! You have nine more days to take advantage of her special (for each soap sold she donates $1 to GOTR)!!! It ends on July 15th! I just used one of my favorite scents, cotton candy, for my post-run shower! YUMMY!

 

Doing What We Love

I have some exciting news to share with you!!!

As many of you know, I became a SoleMate at the end of April. I am raising money for the organization Girls on the Run, and in return for your donations I will be running my very first marathon at the end of August (so close!!!) Yikes! Yay!

I chose Girls on the Run because I am passionate about promoting a positive body image, preventing future eating disorders, and teaching overall self love…and I love to run! I am doing two things I love!

Also, a few months ago, my mom decided to leave her job. She wasn’t happy with what she was doing and the people she was surrounding herself with. She chose to change that! She started her own business, Soap It Up! Gourmet Soaps By Di. She makes handmade, deliciously smelling, I-want-to-eat-you-up soaps. Yes ladies…homemade! And they are scrum-diddly-umptious! I am addicted and won’t use anything else!

Now, she is doing what she loves.

Well, we are teaming up! For every soap she sells online for the rest of June, Soap It Up will donate $1.00 to my fundraising website for Girls on the Run!!! That means that those darling and delectable soaps for you are going to help make a change in girls’ lives!

Soap It Up will keep track of the number of soaps sold for the rest of June and make one lump donation at the end of this special. Please take advantage of this opportunity before it passes by! I promise that you will adore the soap just like I do! (Also, Soap It Up is currently running a Father’s Day special…buy 3, get 1 free! And yes, there are many flavors of soap for men! My hubs love the patchouli orange!) My goal is to raise $100 from now until June 30th! That means 100 soaps!!!

Everyone loves to smell yummy and feel all happy inside, right?!

ang

 

Soaps, Shoes, Swimsuits, and Baby Bottles?

It seems like I am always missing in action on the weekends. I had a busy, busy, busy weekend filled with so many fun things to do!

It all started on Friday (which was my LAST day of Basic Microbiology class! Yay!) and the first thing on my agenda was to have lunch with my awesomely talented momma! We went to a restaurant where you go through a buffet line and create your own stir-fry type entree. You pick your meats, then your veggies, fruits or other “toppings”, then you pick your sauces and seasons. Then they cook it right in front  of you…YUM! As always, when I meet with my momma, she has a new soap from her soap line, and this time it was lemonade! Double YUM!(Please ignore the messy edges…they were stuck bouncing around in my purse all weekend!) She also gave me a bayberry spice soap to give to the hubs!

After lunch I went shopping. My mom and I split ways because my mom hates shopping with me and I am the PICKIEST shopper in the world! I was on a mission for a new swimsuit (which had the possibly of being a catastrophic event) for my upcoming trip to Mexico, sunglasses, and new running shoes.

As picky as I am, I ended up finding two swimsuits! SCORE! This one is from Target and on clearance!

And this one came from American Eagle…The sunglasses are from Aerie.

Now I must say, running shoe shopping was much more stressful than swimsuit shopping. I went to a running specialty store where they watched me walk and measured my feet, then provided me with the shoes that would be best for me. When the salesmen saw what shoes I had been running in, I think he almost croaked! Maybe that explains the knee pain? After finally deciding on a pair, I was given terrifying news…

…they didn’t come in pink.

I asked them to hold the shoes for me, because I wanted to look at others stores and hopefully find a pair that I loved just as much, but that were pink. I ended up finding a pair of pink and white asics at another store and bought them. Then I kept wondering to myself if they really were as comfortable as the shoes from the first store. Oh no…I didn’t think they were…did I make the wrong decision?!?! (I’ll have to tell you about my wedding dress experience similar to this one, HA!)

So, what did I do? I put on the pink pair that I’d already bought, then I walked back into the store that had the blue asics. I took one pink shoe off and put one blue shoe on and compared. They shoe expert was right…the blue pair was so much more comfortable…they were like walking on clouds!

So I bought the blue pair and returned the pink pair. If I’m going to run 26.2 miles, I guess comfort is more important than cuteness…They are still pretty cute…they’re more of a purple than a blue, which is good in my books. Maybe I’ll just buy some pink shoe laces to spruce them up a bit

The next day I sold some appliances. HAHA! That’s what I do for part time work right now. Can you imagine that?…me?…selling washers and dryers?! I can’t either! But that’s what I do!

After work, the hubby and I headed over to our friends Casey and Seth’s house for dinner club! (I will have to tell you more about dinner club another time…it is great!) We were also celebrating that two of our dinner club friends are having little baby boys soon! Yay! To help them celebrate, all the husbands got to do something really cute…(Notice what is in all of their hands?)Too funny! I LOVE IT!

This weekend I also received some more donations for Girls on the Run, and I had my first donation from a reader! Thank you Carly CarlyBananas! I can’t tell you how thankful I am! I am so close to reaching the minimum amount that I need to raise, but as you may know, I like to smash goals! Please help me by spreading the word! Thank you so so so so so much!

How was your weekend?!

ang

I’m a SoleMate!

Oh my goodness!

It’s official! I am a SoleMate for Girls on the Run! I truly feel like this organization was made for me, and I have been wanting to become a part of it in some way for awhile. 
I will be running my first full marathon in August and I will be running it for the Girls on the Run of Kansas City, Missouri. I am honored to have the opportunity to support such an beautiful and inspiring cause…and I’m sure I will use that to push me through all 26.2 miles!

If you don’t know very much about Girls on the Run you must go check it out! As soon as I learned about it, my heart was instantly hooked! They are an organization that teaches young girls how to have high self esteem and live a happy and healthy lifestyle. They have wonderful coaches who teach the value of positive body image through running. One mission of Girls on the Run is to reduce the frequency of eating disorders in young girls. How wonderful is that?

I’m definitely not one to ask for money. I’ve never really fundraised for anything, so I am a little bit out of my element. I only ask that you look into Girls in the Run, and if you find it to be as close to your heart as I do, please consider donating on my website!

I am striving to be a role model by promoting positive body image to young girls, and I truly believe that Girls on the Run is one way that I can do just that!

Thank you so much! I know that I have been beyond blessed to have such a wonderful husband, family, and friends who have always made me feel beautiful. Please join me in giving back!

ang