By the Numbers.

...the story of this year's 2-Day Walk.

Karen and I at the Opening Ceremonies in front of the Hard Rock Cafe

4. training walks of 10+ miles (until about four years ago, this would be a zero. we've learned!)

...along the way on Saturday

13. B'rest Stops along the route, including Saturday's lunch. We try hard to make that also be the number of bottled waters we each drink. I think we managed that. (The folks in charge say this should also be the number of potty stops we make...we did about half that).

best sight of Saturday afternoon...about a mile before that "20 mile" sign above

15. combined years my sister and I have participated. She's the 8 and I'm the 7. I can't imagine doing this event on my own...and I hope I never have to. But kudos to Karen for her solo first year.

um yeah, much better together!

27. thank you notes written.

cool sight from Sunday morning; this is a new feature downtown

30. miles we each walked for this year's event.

36. ounces of beer consumed after we finished the first 20 miles on Saturday.

Karen, Sara and I enjoyed a drink together before Saturday night dinner

450. miles we've walked for the event since we started.

at the finish line: Karen, my mom and me (holding the quilt my sister-in-law Lydia and her quilt club donated last year)

700-ish. miles my mom drove to finish the walk with us. This year, for the first time, survivors who couldn't walk the full thirty miles could join us at the last B'rest stop to walk the half mile together. We were so glad to have her there; she's the reason we started walking...and, together with my dad, our biggest supporter.

2,675. dollars we raised this year thanks to our generous family and friends.

20,690. dollars we've raised since we started.

That last number is amazing to us! We are blessed by your generosity. And oh so very grateful. Thank you!

We've already signed up for next year; neither of us can imagine not doing it. And numbers like this are wonderful encouragement.

2-day Time Again.

...Karen & I completed our first training walk for the 2013 2-day event this past weekend. This was one of the official 2-day walks, which meant there were snacks and water along the way, along with plenty of encouragement. We walked around Stone Mountain twice, which is about 10 miles.

of course I kept score!

There were lots of people out on that sunny Saturday morning. Walkers, runners, cyclists, cars...it was good practice for the actual walk that takes us through 30 miles of Atlanta...because cars!

But before we launch full-scale into the 2013 walk - which is going to be Karen's 8th and my 7th (wow!!) - we have one last fun to-do for 2012. That's right - prizes!!! Our sister-in-law Lydia and her very talented quilt club have again donated a quilt.

My photos don't do it justice. It's really beautiful (maybe my favorite one yet - I really love the yellows with the pinks, greens and black).

And Karen knitted a set of coasters.

pink & white of course!

Everyone who donated was entered into the drawing once and each $50 increment earned an additional entry. There were about 60 names in the hat.

First we drew for the quilt.

Congratulations Steve!

And then for the coasters.

Yay, Shari!

We wish we could give everyone a prize - truly, we appreciate everyone's encouragement and contributions. Y'all mean so much to us and the dozens of organizations that receive support through your generosity. Thank you!

2012 favorites.

...inspired by sara to share my favorites for this year. it's a fun way to look back. and it really does make me realize (yet again) what a wonderful year it has been. thank you to everyone who's reading this for being part of it!

of course sara told her story in words, but I'm telling mine in pictures*.

favorite photo of the three of us.

favorite photo of the two of us.

favorite photo of the two of them.

favorite person to hold my hand for a 30-mile walk.

favorite dinner when marc's away.

favorite thing I knitted for a baby.

favorite thing I knitted that surprised me. this one is also a favorite because it's for someone at the nursing home. and knitting with the ladies there on thursday afternoons is one of my favorite blessings of the year.

favorite cocktail party.

favorite thing(s) I knit for someone else.

favorite thing I knitted for myself.

favorite field trip.

favorite recipe I created.

favorite purchase.

favorite long-time documentation habit. (I'm now into year seven and journal #17.)

favorite new documentation habit.

favorite iphone app.

favorite tv show. and how cool that I watched the first two seasons on my laptop. (this was a hard choice... I also considered boardwalk empire, homeland and mad men but DA wins because I share it with all my girlfriends. and because it has maggie smith.)

and one last shout out to my favorite book of 2012, erin morgenstern's night circus. apparently, this one never made it to my flickr feed!

*click the photos to see them in flickr and read a little more about them.

a short blogging break.

...stopping by quickly to share a few things.

karen, mary and holly at the finish line

the walk is done. it was wonderful. thank you to everyone who supported us. and special thanks to my sister karen for being the best partner for 180 cumulative miles! (more photos here)

katie helped me pack the basement on friday, yesterday I tackled my desk

the packing continues, but I still have a long way to go.

so I'm going to take a break from blogging until after the move - which is scheduled for next wednesday and thursday. internet will hopefully be installed on friday the 19th and I'll be back here after that.

four weeks from now.

...my sister karen and I will have completed our sixth 2-day walk together. that's 180 miles walking through the streets of atlanta to raise money to help those affected by breast cancer. this is the 10th anniversary of the walk and I am amazed by what it's the journey has accomplished in those ten years ($8 million dollars!!)...and so proud to be a part of it.

karen & I before the 12 mile walk (no "after" photo, but I promise we were still smiling!)

this past weekend we completed our last training walk. 12 miles. the longest one ever.

from RunTracker. love the app, but I need to remember to wear my glasses when I start it, so I choose the right options and can track the whole walk in one piece!

plenty of hills. a few bathroom breaks. lots of water. we felt pretty good at the end. (of course knowing we were done, and didn't have eight more miles that day, plus 10 the next day probably helped!) and more ready than we ever have been. not only because we've logged over 40 miles of training walks.

mostly because we've exceeded our fundraising minimum.

and when the matching gifts come through, we will have exceeded our fundraising goal. thanks entirely to the generous support of our family and friends. thank you all. we love you!!

eight things.

...yep, eight! carole's busy this week :-). I just bought these journaling cards for project life. and I thought it would be good to blog something to help me get caught up (yep, nearly four weeks behind - yikes!). of course pre-PL I would've blogged about this sort of thing anyway, so here goes!

eight things making me really happy right now:

thanks, martha! (this is my bandit - #1)

1. martha was on hand this afternoon to photo my just-finished bandit (I do think it turned out great...and I love it!)

2. the +5 hour time difference with sara (now in oxford til early august) actually works ... she sends emails that I get "now" and can respond to...and we're skyping late afternoon my time on sundays. it's the perfect way to end the weekend.

3. it rained this evening. we need free water. (and it's thundering and holly's huddled in my lap...I'm glad I'm home!)

4. I had time in today's nearly nothing traffic to get my july charity hat started. the trip to and from the shop = 98 stitches cast on (and double counted :-)

5. chaleur (do I need to figure out the difference between a "love" and a "happy"?)

6. my sister and I have a long (8? 10? mile) training walk tomorrow. I hope I'm ready!

7. tomorrow is july 4th. I'm not working. marc's not working. .... right. smile!

8. marc made nachos for dinner. (and he's marinating fish for tacos tomorrow!)

...and now that it's this late in the day, I have to acknowledge one thing that's making me very sad...andy griffith's passing.

I firmly believe that in every situation, no matter how difficult, God extends grace greater than the hardship. - Andy Griffith

...peace...and grace.

the 2012 2-day begins.

...with an orientation at maggiano's in buckhead, followed by a three mile training walk. the fun started at 7:30 am; it was cloudy dark when I walked into maggiano's. but by 9 am, when we went back outside to start the training walk, it was blue sunshine.

I'm taking this as the best of good omens (a sunflare always makes me happy!) for this year's walk - my 6th and karen's 7th - and the 10th anniversary for the walk itself.

and while today's three miles was a piece of cake - and the crew did their always fabulous job cheering us on, I was glad I didn't have to repeat the course NINE more times to make the 30 miles we'll walk in october!

the handoff.

karen, sharon (and the bag), lisa (and the quilt), mary (and holly)

...karen and I met up with the lucky winners of our 2-day drawings this week. we feel so fortunate that, like last year, the winners live close enough that we can meet in person to handoff the prizes...and enjoy dinner.

the weather wasn't great, and I had holly (which means sitting outside), so we met at mirko for italian food on their covered patio.

sharon and lisa hit it off great. we enjoyed a delicious dinner, two carafes of house wine and plenty of laughter!

lisa met holly for the first time (love at first sight!)

lisa and her new quilt - again, many thanks to our sister-in-law lydia and her quilt club for donating it!

and the winners are.

...drumroll please!

karen & I met yesterday to draw the winners for the quilt and duffel bag. like last year, we did our drawing the old fashioned way with strips of paper in a bowl. for the quilt, we had one strip for every $25 donated. 114 strips all together. I cut and karen drew...

woohoo! lisa bryan. we are delighted. lisa is a friend, tennis teammate, breast cancer survivor and major inspiration for us. we wore her name on our shirts last year.

and for the bag, we had one strip for every donation. 33 in total. karen drew...

congratulations sharon!

same as last year, these two live close by, so we are hoping for an in-person handoff. maybe all four of us together?! stay tuned.

we also received another donation - my friend and knitting student liza saw me tuesday and asked about the walk, and about our fundraising. I told her it was all wonderful and we'd raised $2,495 - just $5 short of our goal. she opened her bag and handed me $5. (thank you again, liza!) which means....

(remember we transferred $1,000 to my account just before the walk)

YES, we reached the $2,500.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

truly, our friends and family are the BEST!