Marathon for the Cure

(just so you know, a new post is in the works. I finally found my camera cord!! So much to write about!!)

So, as most of you know, I lost my sweet mom to breast cancer in 1996 when I was 11 years old. She was a great and inspiring woman. She told us to always have a dream and my dream is to end breast cancer. This is why I run. When I don't feel like going out there and putting in miles I just think of mom and know that I can do it.

An oldie- but goodie! That's my mom on the right in the pink. The woman on the left is my Grandma howe, the woman in the chair is my Great Grandma Hunt and the little girl is my older sister, Shannon.

I have signed up for the Rock N Roll San Antonio marathon (11/14/10) and I decided I would run the marathon in memory of her like I did in SLC. However, I wanted to make it a little more special this time around. So, I decided to join Susan G. Komen's Marathon for the Cure where I have pledged to raise money for the cause.

To help kick-off my fundraising I have decided to host a few giveaways on my Watch C Run blog. I have contacted a few companies and they have agreed to donate items from their stores to show support- how awesome is that?? Never hurts to ask! I'll keep you in suspense! It is going to be really awesome!

The first one started yesterday and will end on Sunday, October 3rd. This giveaway is a piece of jewelry that my friend has donated from her etsy shop "The Dangle Shoppe". I thought this was really fitting to start out with. My mom loved jewelry. It never had to be anything fancy, but she always had something on. So, this is in honor of her. I am sure if she was still around she would be entering to win it :-) Go over to the site and enter- it never hurts to enter giveaways!

Let's end breast cancer!

Me and mom :-)

If for whatever reason you don't want to enter the giveaway but still be apart of all of this you may donate over at my donation page here. Thank you for all of your support! If you have any questions, please let me know!!

Life

Sorry to keep you all waiting! It has been crazy busy around here!

Well, to answer the big question- we closed on the house on July 28th :-) After work that day I got myself put together and ate some lunch and then I was off to downtown to pick Jon up! It was the first time I have ever driven alone into downtown! Okay really... why all the left exits?? And why was my left exit like seriously less than a half mile after I changed freeways and then had to make a mad dash all the way to the left only to discover I had JUST missed my exit and had to make a HUGE circle and redo it. Heh, oh well. I ended up getting to Deloitte on my 2nd try... pathetic! We got back into the car and made it up to the Woodlands where we were closing.

It all went smoothly. No hiccups, no extra papers or anything else was randomly needed. Earlier that week I had fallen on a run and my right hand was scraped up to the max... so I guess you could say my "signing hand" was hurting... but for a whole different reason.. :-) The whole thing barely took a half hour. Amazing! Our realtor, Maria offered to take us out to dinner. Yes! We were planning on going out and celebrating ourselves, but free dinner? Score! At dinner we learned that we were Maria's last closing as she was being promoted at her job- so this was a celebration for her too. Which reminds me... I promised her some fortune cookies... better start thinking about that.

The next few days went very fast. Anne (Jon's mom) was very generous in helping us getting moved in and also helping me paint. Then, Saturday Aug 31st- we got our small moving truck and we moved the rest of our stuff in :-) It was a long but rewarding day. We had some help from a friend in the ward and he called us "wimps" for the lack of stuff we had haha... he was like "this is wimpy! You really don't have some secret truck around the corner filled with stuff?" That made me feel better because I had been feeling like we had a ton of stuff because of how it was being stored.

That being said- we have settled in nicely. I love this house. I love that I have a washer and dryer and I don't have to be hoarding my quarters all the time :-) I also love all the windows. I rarely have to turn on a light during the day. It's great. I could go on and on about stuff, but I'll spare you..

In other news- my work has been going pretty well. I actually met a lady at the gym who just so happens to be in our new ward. It felt good to sort've meet someone and then we have talked since and found out we have running in common. She brings her little girl to the gym to the kids room where I'm at and we chat there too. I tend to struggle whenever I move. When I moved to Provo from NH for the first time I broke down a lot, when we were in Arkansas I cried a lot and since we've been in Texas I've had a few meltdowns. It has gotten better though. Time always helps. I usually do well with change... if it doesn't involve moving across the country away from where I feel settled. So, meeting Erika has really helped.

I've also signed up to be apart of a book club. We are reading "To Kill a Mockingbird". Okay wait for it... I've never read it. I had some serious hippie teachers in HS and we'd read fictional books that reeked of liberal stuff and crunchy granola type things... so I was in advanced classes, but the teachers were obviously too good for the "classics" and other books like the one I'll be reading this month.

Jon has been working away on projects at work and he is officially been stamped as the programmer guy. He has been able to do a lot of good for different clients and he is enjoying his work so far. He has been pulling a lot of hours, which isn't his favorite, but that's life. I think last week he was around 65 hours? Yikes! He also just got his first traveling assignment. He will be in Dallas.. so not super far... but he is still flying out there (an hour flight). He will leave on Tuesday and come home Friday and then after that for the rest of the month he'll be gone Mon-Thurs and will be home for weekends. He also might go to Tulsa for one of the weeks too. We're not too sure on all the details. We just know how he's getting to the airport and that his hotel is close to the client's office in Dallas and there are a few other people from his office going with him. Maybe I can figure out a way to go visit him without taking any time off from work... hmm...

Okay, sorry, this post was long- but I'm glad you stuck through it! Life is good. I am getting used to living in Texas and figuring my way around everywhere. My relationship with Heavenly Father grows everyday and I am thankful for that. So, even though I sometimes have mini melt downs and am missing Utah- I will get through this and I know that we are so very blessed to be here and for how everything has gone for us so far. We have our trials and it hasn't all been easy peasy, but it has been completely worth it.

Pictures coming! I have to find the camera cord... Sorry!