Leavin' on a Jet Plane....

Well, it's that time....where did the last 5 months go? The big race is this weekend and I am so excited!! Not only that, we are staying in Washington to hang out with family so I will be gone for 10 whole days!! Boy do I need this vacation!




Here is a picture from one of the last practices of the season. These are my Team in Training coaches - Coach Hank and Coach Maria. They are AWESOME!! I am confident that part of the reason I will cross the finish line is because of their support and knowledge about training for endurance events! Hank just had knee surgery and you wouldn't even know it. Maria just took a little trip and competed in a small marathon in BOSTON......you might have heard of it. They come out week after week and help us along and are amazing! I will truly miss getting up every Saturday to walk with these fine people.....yes, you read correctly. I will miss getting up early.....but, once I take a little break I plan on going back to Freestone Park and walking on my own. I can't stop now or I won't afford to be able to eat Thai Elephant every week anymore!!



Yes, I look pretty rough in the early morning hours but I did it and that is what counts!


I must go finish packing but I will be updating throughout the weekend and my trip. Thanks to everyone for all their support! I couldn't have done it without any of you!

GO TEAM - EAST VALLEY ROCKS!

See you in SEATTLE!

The Very Sucessful Bake Sale!

So, since I bake so much, I had an idea to have a bake sale as a fundraiser for Team in Training/Leukemia & Lymphoma. I asked some of my baking friends to help along with my aunt and together, we made a crap load of yummy goodies and made a wad of cash! Here are some pics from the event:

Here is a before picture. I had so much stuff! I didn't even take a breath to take a picture of the tornado that went through my own tiny kitchen. I baked the Sunday before my Monday bake sale from 9am until about 1am. Of course there were breaks in between but for the most part, I was working on something having to do with the bake sale all day long. I wasn't the only one......a huge THANKS to Aunt Betty, Katie, Sheila, and Gen for baking for me! You guys are awesome!

Here's the after shot. While we had some stuff left over, it went throughout the day and then I passed along the kindness and donated my leftovers to my sister's friend, Jen, who is a youth minister and is taking some of her teens to Africa to build houses! She had a bake sale a few days after mine.

I have had this hanging outside my cube for awhile now. It generates some good conversation!

One of my first customers!

Me and my bake sale!


I made these cute things....just in case you can't tell, they say, "Seattle or Bust" and the other cupcakes have "13.1" on them. One person bought the whole box for her team. Awesome I say!

My donation can. Long live Don Francisco and his coffee cans! When all was said and done, I made a total of $425.63 on my bake sale. I could not have done this without the support of my peeps at work. I must say that my friends at work are awesome and have really shown their generous side during my adventure. Not only do they watch me limp around some days, listen to me talk about the stress of fundraising, and cheat on their new healthy lifestyles with baked goods, but they genuinely care about a good cause and are excited about my little adventure. Thanks for all your support.......you know who you are!

Next stop.....Joy and Hope's Excellent Garage Sale on June 6th! Stay tuned........

Finally....an update!

So, this whole process of fundraising and training for a 1/2 marathon is sucking the life out of me. On top of that, I am still teaching online classes. So, that is my story when you ask why my blog has not been updated. I am wrapping up my last online class that I will be teaching until after my trip, so hopefully, the updates will be more frequent. I have still be baking for my cause. Here are some examples of my latest work:

One of my co-workers, Angie, just graduated with her Ph.D. recently. We just did a last minute cake once we found out she was successful at defending her dissertation. It's the "Better than almost anything" cake with a chocolate diploma on top. Congrats Dr. Angie!

We had a bake off in our college at the suggestion of one of the other girls on the team because there are a few of us that bake. I got the award for the "best presntation" with my "Check Me Out" checkerboard cake. It turned out kinda funky but it was pretty tasty! Chocolate and Vanilla cake with a homemade raspberry jelly in the middle (thanks Aunt Betty) and my homemade cream cheese icing on top. Good stuff!!

One of the new schedulers got married and so my old manager asked for something for the teams to celebrate Priscilla's upcoming marriage with. Here are some cupcakes and a cake for the bride and groom. Congrats to Priscilla and Javier!

So, that led to another set of cupcakes and a cake for Gayle to take to a bridal shower:

Needless to say, my kitchen and stove hate me so I am giving them a rest.....well not really.

All of the proceeds from these scrumptious goodies went to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to help me meet my fundraising goal. More to come on that adventure! Check out the Official Race website - http://www.rnrseattle.com/

You can help sisters out at the same time!!

So, my little seestor is currently in massage therapy school and just started selling Mary Kay on the side so that she has a product to use when she starts practicing on people. Well, they have a nifty program where she can donate a portion of her profits to a charitable organization. Guess who she's supporting???? ME!

So, go to her website and buy Mary Kay products from her and we will both reap the benefits:

http://www.marykay.com/harmonyhope

XOXO,
Joy and Hope and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Don't forget to check up on my progress....

Hello all my people! I like to think I have people.....

Don't forget to check back on my fundraising efforts at my main page:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/rnrseatl09/jgaeraths

I like to caption that picture of my Grandma with something along the lines of, "Why haven't you donated to Joy's Deal?" You see, everything was a "deal" to Grandma. It was a universal word for everything. So, in honor of my Grandma or anyone else that you know that has been touched by a blood cancer in any way, shape, or form......donate to my Deal......many people thank you who will benefit from these fundraising efforts.

Happy Monday........or happy case of the Mondays.......which is usually my story. On to Tuesday!

Where the heck did March go?

Hello friends and family!

Wow, I have been busy! I opened up a can of worms at work when I emailed everyone I had ever worked with and offered my baking services in exchange for donations to LLS for my 1/2 marathon. Don't get me wrong, it's a welcome busy schedule but this past week was my first "cakeless" week and it was beautiful! I have had a break so bring on the requests! Here are 2 of the three cakes I did in March:

Happy birthday to Erika in our Payroll dept....hence the dollar signs. :o)

One of the schedulers I used to work with just left to go on her mission in Kentucky. Her going away party had a Mexican theme because of the food and because she is learning Spanish for her mission as well. Everything but the little sombreros are edible. Buena Suerte Tina......see you in 18 months! :o)

Hopefully, the Super Wal-Mart near me opens because if I send Ed out late to get me baking stuff one more time, I may just be on my own. :o)

Today's practice was at South Mountain. This is the 2nd time we have had practice there and our mission was 6-8 miles, depending on which event you are doing. For Seattle, our goal was 6 miles. So, I get up at 5:15am or so because we had to be there at 6:30am and it's about a 1/2 hr drive for me. Running late as usual, I eat my peanut butter toast and banana on the road and watch as the drizzle turns into rain. Rain or shine, we train......only lightening will keep us away! I should have taken a picture of what I looked like when I was done but that would have been pretty bad, so you will just have to use your imagination. Lets just say all my clothes went directly into the wash and I was darn lucky to have a dry sweatshirt in my trunk to change into. The joy of walking a 1/2 marathon is that you can take pictures along the way. Here are a few pics of today's practice:

So, this is what I walked in today. Yes, I am crazy but it's worth it!

For the past couple of Saturday's, our mileage has been 6 so it's about to increase......so it's going to get interesting! The coaches and captains that we have are so awesome and always checking up to see how we are doing. I didn't even finish last today! That is my usual role but with a bigger group, I was able to actually finish before a few other people....not many, but I will take what I can get. Next week, most of us are doing the Pat Tillman run instead of practice so I will be doing 4.2 miles with a zillion other people. It will be good practice to see what it's like walking at a faster pace around so many other people. Plus, it's a good cause.

Happy Easter to everyone and thanks for your continued support!

Off to soak my feet.......

So I am horrible at updates so far.....

I thought I could keep up with this but so far, I have not done a very good job. Training is coming along nicely. Last Saturday, the 1/2 marathoners did 5 miles and that was the furthest I have gone this far. Let's just say the calves hurt on Sunday and into Monday but it's a good burn, right? On a good note, my new running shoes are awesome!

Thanks Run Az......they are a Friend of Team in Training so they give us discounts!

What used to be my scrapbooking/card making area has now turned into Fundraising Central.

Speaking of Fundraising........anyone need a cake? I am willing to bake you a cake for a donation to my cause. I am no professional by any means but they turn out pretty nice and are tasty! Here are some of the fun cakes I have done:

Happy 5th Birthday Keiley! My March birthday buddy!

My friend, Mandy's baby shower. Love the Ducky....

Part One of Matt's going away cake

Part Two of Matt's going away cake......my scheduling peeps at UOP will understand.


Again, the UOP scheduling folks will appreciate these tasty cupcakes that celebrated the doing away with time zones at Axia!

A birthday cake for a Steelers stalker....uh, I mean FAN! You know who you are! :o)

Cupcakes for Alicia's baby shower at UOP.

Alicia's cake! Welcome to Cade!

I have a few regular cakes that I do for work such as the Chocolate Mint Bundt Cake that I am willing to do for a donation to my cause so let me know! Don't forget that I am teaching online classes and training for a 1/2 marathon so at least a weeks notice would be appreciated! Don't forget to visit my fundraising webiste:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/rnrseatl09/jgaeraths

There are some donations that haven't hit the site yet so I am on my way but have a long way to go to my goal so every little bit helps!! Stay tuned.....