108 Things I Love Right Now

One of my yoga instructors and a fabulous woman wrote a post about the 108 things that she loves at this moment.  (She is fabulous writer so you should definitely check her blog out http://yoga-beast.com/)

Anyway, I decided to take on the challenge too.  We'll see if I can think of 108 :)

1. Apple picking

2. Snuggling with my girls

3. Long walks
4. Apple crisp
5. Dinner dates with Andrew
6. Running in the afternoon
7. Candy Corn (this is an obsession that needs to stop!)
8. Boots
9. Skinny jeans (although we have a love-hate relationship, we are currently tolerating each other right now)
10. sweater dresses
11. sleeping in until 6am (it doesn't happen too often!  Usually the girls are up before 5am)
12. scary movies
13. caramel apples
14. picking raspberries with college friends
15. baking chocolate chip cookies
16. Nike Training Club app on my iPod (I need to use it more though)
17. cooking
18. hugs from my littlest friends
19. chatting with my soul mate
20. Halls Breezers throat lozenges
21. "Some Nights" by FUN.
22. Dawson's Creek
23. Zucchini brownies
24. going to Home Depot with Andrew
25. Season 7 of Dexter (finally it's back! I feel like I've waited for so long!)
26. BarreAmped class at Dragonfly Hot Yoga (you know you're doing it right when your legs shake)
27. Corn mazes
28. talking to my bestie from high school and realizing how much our lives are in sync right now
29. poblano pepper casserole
30. Pink
31. Breast cancer awareness month
32. SAW
33. SAW 2
34. SAW 3 (any past 3 is just ridiculous and not worth it)
35. Glee
36. New Girl
37. a clean kitchen
38. our new door knobs on the first floor
39. getting started on our porch remodel
40. my job
41. pictures drawn by 5 year olds
42. speaking Spanish every day
43. bilingual education
44. skirts
45. these jeans.  I want them, now whether or not I can fit into them is another story...
46. carrots and hummus
47. home grown tomatoes and peppers
48. "Wide Awake" by Katy Perry
49. The Hunger Games: May the odds be ever in your favor
50. American Horror Story comes back in just 2.5 weeks!
51. Listening to NPR as I drive to work
52. new running shoes
53. new ballet flats in every color
54. my new wall candle holder from Crate and Barrel

55. hotel room service
56. free hotel stays
57. Culver's custard (I love the Oreo Volcano!)
58. quesadillas
59. my blue front door

60. Halloween candy (maybe a little too much)
61. This face

 62. This little face too (She was so cute when she was a baby!) And now she's a big girl

 63. Sisterly love

64. The leaves changing colors.
65. pumpkins
66. Facebooking
67. the peacock background I have on my school gmail
68. pumpkin donuts
69. possibility
70. Not having cable so I don't get sucked into mindless tv shows
71. People.com keeps me updated on my celebrity gossip
72. The chocolate frozen yogurt sundae I made at OrangeLeaf last night, topped with m&ms of course!
73. My KitchenAid mixer.  It makes life so much easier.
74. Peanut M&Ms
75. Peanut Butter M&Ms
76. Raspberry lemon tarts
77. cardigans
78. fleeces
79. curling up on the couch under a blanket
80. RedBox movies
81. watching Netflix through the Wii
82. cake. I love cake
83. Chocolate chip cookie dough
84. "Your Song" by Elton John aka our wedding song

85. Super Target
86. My wedding ring.  Sometimes I just stare at it because it's so beautiful (did you know that it has diamonds from my grandma's ring and from Andrew's grandma's ring?  I love it)

87. Candy corn pumpkins
88. funfetti cookies
89. I'm not a football fan, but I do enjoy the fact that I live in Packer country and still root for the Bears :)
90. my fuchsia shoes with the flowers on top
91. Parks and Recreation
92. Grey's Anatomy (although it is getting pretty ridiculous)
93. Kettlecorn
94. trailmix
95. sunglasses
96. necklaces made by my soul mate
97. running shorts
98. using an iPad in my class for my kiddos
99. the fact that I only have 8 kids in my class and they are awesome
100. Bob's Burgers (and I'm not ashamed to say that we watch it, it's funny)
101. running reminders on my phone
102. Reading this blog A Healthy Slice of Life
103. And this blog Daily Garnish
104. IKEA
105. Madison's Farmers' Market
106. Reading about the Chicago 3Day event
107. Chocolate covered raisins
108. My husband, he's pretty awesome-sauce :)

Oh man, I'm not gonna lie, that was hard!  At about 60, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to think of 108 things!

I bet you have 108 things that you're loving at the moment too :)

2012 Chicago 3Day Event

The following was written on the3day.org about our emotional 60 mile journey.  I thought it was too good not to share and really gives you a glimpse into what we did for those three days.

Chicago

August 10-12, 2012
The 2012 Susan G. Komen Chicago 3-Day began with an emotional Opening Ceremony at Northbrook Court.

Although it started with a shower, it didn’t dampen our spirit. Friday quickly turned into ideal weather to walk 21.3 miles. We walked through the beautiful Botanic Gardens and we enjoyed the scenic views of the lake while walking along Sheridan Road through Winnetka. A great lunch was enjoyed while a DJ played music and we danced and dined. Along the route, “The Boob Sisters” showed up just when they were needed most. The route finished through Glenview with great support through Flick Park. We were met by a fantastic group of tent angels who worked extremely hard to set up tents and carry our gear. We enjoyed a great camp show performance by Darryl Markette and had some great laughs at the participant games that were played.

Saturday’s 19.3-mile journey started off a bit cool, but the sun quickly shined upon us. The Village of Mount Prospect proved to be fabulous with amazing support along the way. The police and fire departments came out in full force to support our journey. Melas Park featured the Arlington Heights soccer team who set up a goal and donated $1.00 for everyone who was able to score. We were happy to go past a walker favorite, “The Pair Tree.” The “pairs” hung from the trees for a wonderful photo opportunity. We ate lunch in a beautiful shady park and the DJ had the walkers doing the Electric Slide and the Cha Cha Slide. The Youth Corps did not miss a beat dancing along to the music. Our afternoon walk was nice and shady and we were met by the “Breast Avenger,” keeping walkers safe as they crossed the roads. We were impressed by the Jessica Heals Fire Truck. The cheering station on Euclid never fails to disappoint and this year it was bigger than ever. We ended our day with a mister tent courtesy of the Des Plaines Fire Department.

Sunday was met with overcast skies that made for great walking weather. We began in Lincolnwood with a great good morning high five from a Des Plaines Police Officer decked out in pink. We had a peaceful walk through woods and came out to an amazing cheering station set up by Swedish Covenant Hospital. Enjoying a quiet walk up Foster Avenue to Lake Shore Drive, we were supported by many as we continued on to beautiful Lake Michigan. We enjoyed lunch at Diversey Harbor and walked past Lincoln Park Zoo. A very supportive group cheered us on the last leg of our journey. Walking along the lakefront harbor and through the Museum Campus and into Soldier Field, we were met with astounding cheers from the crew, medical team and the Youth Corps.  Our walk into holding was an experience no one will forget. After a 17.1-mile walk, we were welcomed home as heroes and we ended our journey with a celebratory Closing Ceremony at Soldier Field.

The money we raised will help Susan G. Komen for the Cure^® save lives.

 You can find official Chicago 3Day photos here

Day 3: The final 17 miles

Catch up on our 3 Day journey with Day 1 and Day 2.

Day 3.  The last day of our 3 day adventure.  I have to say that I was sad for this day to come.  Yes, my legs and my feet were hurting and I was exhausted, but it was such an amazing experience that I just didn't want it to end.  I knew that in just a few short hours we would have completed our journey and after months and months of training, it would suddenly be over.

Once again, 5am came way too early!  It was still dark out when we packed up our tent and our gear.  We grabbed a bite to eat (literally a bite because we knew that the pit stop would only be 3 miles in and I would most likely grab a granola bar whether I was hungry or not, so might as well eat it while I was hungry!)  We weren't able to get on the buses to take us to the drop off point about 8 miles away until 6am, so we had some time to snap some pictures.

Our inspiration :)

We hopped on the buses and drove for about 20 minutes to jump off again by 6:30 and start walking.  The first two days, we kept a pretty good pace.  We're naturally fast walkers, I don't think I can go slow if I tried (which is really hard when walking with kinders!)  However, on this last day, we went slow.  Between my knee and Andrew's shin splints, it felt like we were crawling some times.

We finally made it to the Chicago River and had the opportunity to walk along it for a few miles.

Then we got to walk through the Lincoln Park Zoo, well part of it.  No animals, which would have been so cool!

We hopped back on the lakeshore path and spent the next few hours trying not to get run over by bikes. 

Any true Illinoisan/Chicagoan will always know this as the Sears Tower.

The Buckingham Fountain.

The Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum

The Field Museum

The Shedd Aquarium

We did it!  Just 2 miles after passing the Adler, Shedd and Field museums we made it to Soldier Field (Bear down!).  We met Andrew's parents outside of the stadium and then headed in to sit down.
First and foremost was getting some ice.

The crew and volunteers all lined up to cheer as people walked in.

The closing ceremony set-up.  We rolled in to the Stadium at about 2pm and Closing Ceremony didn't start until 4:30, so we had quite a bit of time to kill.  Most of it was spent sitting outside talking to Andrew's parents.

By 4:00 the Stadium was getting pretty crowed.

And I had to get a picture of the field.  I may live in Wisconsin, but sorry, I'll never be a Packers fan.

Everyone lining up to cheer in the last walkers.

Lining up for our final walk into the ceremony.

All 1200 of the walkers walking in.

As the survivors walked, everyone held up a shoe in honor and support. 

It was kind of amazing to see.

And to close the event, they rose the final flag.  Of course, there wasn't any wind, so you couldn't see what the flag actually said (and to be honest, I can't remember).

After the ceremony, we hobbled to the car and drove back to Geneva.  Andrew had to work the next day, but after 60 miles in 3 days, there was no way that we were going to sit in a car for 2 hours to drive back to Verona.  We grabbed some pizza and then crashed at our separate houses (that's right, even though we're married, we don't stay together when we go back to Geneva.)

And after walking 60 miles in 3 days, it took a few days to fully recover and be able to walk without limping.  Andrew ended up coming home from work early that Monday and laid on the couch all afternoon because his legs hurt so much.  I don't even want to think about how we would have felt if we didn't train at all!

All in all, this was the best experience.  Yes it took months of training, a lot of our time, and a lot of fundraising, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.  In fact, the very next day I was ready to go do it all over again.  I think I talked for about a week straight about how much I want to do it next year.

If you ever have the opportunity to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk for breast cancer, DO IT!  Don't let the chance pass you by.  It will be the most amazing experience of your life.