Anticipation

Its October 31, 2012.  Which means tomorrow is November 1, 2012.  Which means that tomorrow, the 2013 Massey Challenge officially launches!

To say there is a bit of anticipation around these parts would be an understatement.

Here are Ten Things I'm Anticipating About The 2013 Challenge:


10.  Attending all of the awesome third-party events we have lined up this year to support the Challenge and to recruit new folks to take the Challenge on.  The spirit of these events is always so amazingly warm and full and I'm excited that we're adding so many new ones this year - and that so many Richmond businesses have wanted to join us in our fight.

9.  Spending time at the Bizarre Bazaare telling everyone all about the ways they can join the Challenge and make an impact in our community.  I love Christmas.  I love the Challenge.  What could be more fun?  

8.  Adding more running to my routine as the 10K draws nearer.  We have such amazing places to run in Richmond.  Its a great excuse to roam around the city more often!

7.  Adding more stair days in with these girls.  I have a donor whose donation hinges on my time in the 10K each year - I need to get quicker than I am right now!

6.  Planning coordinating outfits for 2013 with Tim - A discussion that is due to start any day now (hey - a girl has to plan!).

5.  Watching the Banner of Hope fill up once again.  Its always so uplifting to see how quickly the blank canvas becomes coated in notes of love, support, faith, hope, and courage.

4.  Early morning runs with the YMCA 10K Training Teams.  After which the friend I drag along might take a picture of the decor at our post-run-breakfast-venue, like this:

3.  Hanging out at the Richmond Marathon and Monument Avenue 10K expos.  These are some of my favorite days of the year - hearing amazing stories, sharing the awesomeness of Massey, and watching the thermometer sneak ever closer to our goal.
  

2.  Sporting my "SURVIVOR" bib once again, and hearing all of the stories it spurs strangers to share with me along the 6.2 miles of the 10K.  It never gets old hearing from others who have been touched by this disease.

1.  Recruiting over 3,000 Richmonders to take on the Massey Challenge.  I am so excited to have the opportunity this year to meet so many of you and to tell you why you should join us in this fantastic endeavor!  We already have lots of meetings set up to share the excitement.  Want us to come talk to your group?  Drop me an email and we'd be happy to do so!

Now back to feeling like a kid on Christmas Eve.  Watching for the live link tomorrow to get your own Challenge started! 

Glitter and Sequins and Dancing, Oh My!

With Hurricane Sandy preparing to bear down on us, Tim and I decided to hole up in one place to put the final touches on the Masquerade for Massey:

I had to start getting into the spirit:

The party's around the corner.  Get your tickets!  https://www.support.vcu.edu/event/masqueradeformassey

October Committee Meeting

With just one week left until the official launch of the Massey Challenge, the committee gathered on Thursday with some great status reports and celebrated how far we've come in the months we have been working together. 

Its a bit surreal to think that the Challenge will be in full swing in just a few days.  Where has the time gone??

A part of what makes the Massey Challenge such an incredible opportunity isn't just that we get the chance to motivate Richmond to provide support to such an amazing resource in our community - its also that we get the change to educate Richmond about Massey as well.  We are given 6 months of opportunities to ensure that the City knows just what is going on down there.

To make that happen, each committee member takes on the role of ambassador for Massey.  Julie helped prepare us to go out into the community with all kinds of facts and information. 

There is a lot to learn:

It was very interesting:

I think we all left the meeting even more excited to see where the next six months will take us.  And about the opportunity we are being given to help Massey on its journey to become:

One Week Until Kick-Off!

And Lauren unveiled this little surprise:

Ignoring the fact that it looks like my mom never sprang for braces and that I still suck my thumb, I think its pretty cool that Tim and I get to share this space this year!  After all - he has run every.single.10K with me since this adventure started 6 years ago. 

And with the publication of this little piece, its really becoming real.  Just one week until the 2013 Challenge is OFFICIALLY under way!

$25,000 - here we come!

Returning

I'm packing my bags and getting ready to board a plane out west later today.  Greg and I are going to tackle the Grand Canyon in part to celebrate my birthday, and in part to help me put a bit more closure on the last 10 years. 

I can remember so clearly how difficult it was for me to make my back up and out of the canyon the last time I was there.  How frustrated I was with how difficult it was for me.  How insurmountable the goal of reaching the top seemed at moments of that day.

I had no idea that three days later I would find that second swollen lymph node, or how completely my life was about to change.

I am both excited and nervous to go back to that place.  To one of the very few places where I have a distinct and clear memory of life before cancer.  I know it will be emotional.  I know it will be hard.  I know in some ways I will probably find myself grieving the life that was left behind when that trip in 2002 came to an end.

But I also know that I will celebrate where my life has gone.  The last 10 years have been crazy.  They have been heart-wrenching at some times, and soul-filling at others, and always, always full.  There will be so much to reflect on and rejoice in when I return to that place.

Nothing about my life today looks as it did back then.  But the way it looks today is pretty darn sweet.

The Masquerade For Massey (Or, How My Home Became Coated in Glitter)

Tim has been one of my dearest friends for 14 years.  We met in undergrad at Loyola College in Maryland (I still can't bring myself to call it Loyola University), and have been inseparable since the day we met. 

For a long time I frustrated him with a wardrobe that consisted of colors that were primarily from what he called the "mustard family" and with flat, clunky shoes that only came in black or brown.  I think the day I met Stacey in 2003 and she introduced me to eyeliner and stilettos he actually jumped for joy and busted out the cabbage patch.  Tim feels as strongly as I do now on the subjects of glitter, hot pink, and floor length sequins.

So when the idea of planning a masquerade ball to celebrate 10 years since my Hodgkins went into remission, and to kick of the Massey Challenge and my crusade to raise over $25,000, came up I knew Tim was the right sidekick for the job.

(Actually, he didnt give me an option.  He just jumped in full throttle.)

While most times you can find us commutting between D.C. and Richmond to help each other work on our newly-acquired homes, for the past few months, hes driven down from D.C. to help plan what is sure to be a fabulous night on November 3rd.

The location has been throughly scouted:

I mean, really, the courtyard at C Street might be one of my very favorite places in Richmond.

Isnt it so pretty, y'all??  (If you look closely you can see Tim scheming behind the topiary on the left.)

And the boys there sure do know how to rock a table setting.

We have done some dress shopping that Tim found MUCH more fulfilling than some other shopping excursions hes been dragged along on.

I can't reveal the winner now, can I?

And Tim's come up with an amazing project to include the patients being treated here in the night:

I cant reveal that either, but heres a hint:

We've even secured some amazing props to bring the French vibe home:

You know you want to see what we pull together.  And you know you want to come out to kick off the Massey Challenge right, get all dolled up, and support Massey, right?  So go buy your ticket today!!  Just click here.

Afterall, Floyd already got his:

Breast Cancer Is A Witch

Last night was one of my favorite nights of the year - the Breast Cancer Is A Witch Party at the Shops at 5807.

Lots of my favorite people were there:

I got lucky and got to model my beloved owl hat:

The Shops were decked out in their Halloween finery.  It was hard for me to walk away from these shiny cutie-pies:

As usual, the live auction got a little heated - but the lovely models (like Matt!) did a great job showing off their wares.

Of course, I had to come home with something pretty.  I mean - its for Massey, so how could I say no?

This year's event carried a bit more meaning for me than in years past, as I have a friend who was undergoing her first chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer just as we were kicking it off.  I had promised to be a bit extra witchy this year on her behalf.  So when the designer of my hat - Kim Vincze of VERVE home furnishings - read the following toast she had drafted just before it was auctioned of, it totally warmed my heart:

A Wicked Toast to Breast Cancer

Tonight we gather to toast survivors and those we've lost.

We'll drink to them and buy a witch hat, no matter what the cost.

With our friends at Massey and all our support,

we will make sure that cancer no longer holds court.

For those of you who must endure, 

tonight we'll cast a spell of hope and cure.

So "double double toil and trouble"

Raise your wine or your bubbles,

With hope, vigilance and all we've got

we'll get you cancer until you rot.

For as they say, breast cancer you may be a witch, 

but alas, I am the bigger bitch.

It totally made me think of her, so from that point on, that hat had to be mine!

(Its also possible I have a problem with pretty witch hats, as evidenced by the collection from past years that now resides in my office)

I'm going to be a dork and say it - it was a goulishly good time!