Steppin' Out Again

It's that time of year again...the time everyone dreads.  Yep, the time that I harass all of my friends and co-workers for their participation and/or their hard-earned cash.

Now, I rarely ask people for money (never for personal use...okay, only jokingly), but I make an exception once or twice a year when I participate in a fundraiser for something I believe in.  This time it's the American Diabetes Association®'s Step Out® Walk to Stop Diabetes®.  I think it's a good cause, especially considering that Diabetes has affected a number of my friends and family members, including my grandfather and my brother to name only a few.  I walk for them and for the other 25.8 million Americans living with Types I and II Diabetes.

Come join me on October 13th at Lake Merrit in Oakland, CA for the walk!  In addition to the 3 mile walk around the lake, lunch will be provided as well as activities, music and a healthy living fair.

If you want to register as a part of my team, visit my team page and click the link at the right hand side of the page.  You don't even have to live locally to participate!  If you'd like, you can join my team as a "virtual participant."  By becoming a virtual participant, you will help the American Diabetes Association provide community-based education programs, protect the rights of people with diabetes and fund critical research for a cure.  Registration for the event is free, and while it is a fundraising event, you do not have to meet any minimum fundraising requirements in order to participate.

As always, donations to my campaign are highly appreciated and can be made using the newly installed widget at the top of my page (nifty new gadget!) or by visiting this link.  If you use the widget, you can search by "Tami'sTeam" with no spaces or by my full first and last name. 

To anyone that continued reading to the end, thank you so much for your attention!  That in itself is a form of support.

Thank you!!

Busy Weeks

Hello all. Here's a bit of a madcap Monday post to catch everyone up on what little has been going on with me.

I flew back to NY earlier this month for my annual family picnic, and got to spend some good times with my extended maternal family. I found out some interesting family history, like how my great-aunt was a model in Hollywood for a while before returning to NY and reconciling with her husband, or how my great grandfather originally wanted to settle in CA, but my great-grandmother's sister got them to settle in Canastota, NY instead. Of course, the family had fun with these two tidbits, spinning out tales of how we could have been the Gallo family or Hollywood celebutantes... I'm not complaining though, I think we all turned out pretty well.

Two weekends ago I went to the annual Day in the Zone concert in Sacramento with my friend Kerri. Lifehouse and Daughtry were the big headliners. Kerri and her friend Kathy are devoted Daughtry fans, so we'd had our tickets for months ahead of time. Unfortunately, Kathy had to leave before Daughtry went on. So, I played with my digital camera and snagged a bit of video for her. See below...I tried to upload the final 2 songs that I had captured, but the clip was too large and crashed my computer.

Let me know if the video works (it's my first time uploading one). Forgive me if the picture is a bit shaky.

This past weekend, I went out to see an old local band (that has broken up, since they're not all locals anymore). Saturday I ended up as my friend Jodie's emergency date for a mutual friend's wedding. I ended up missing the ceremony (I was called an hour and a half before the wedding was to start, and it's almost an hour away...so I scrambled together an outfit, slapped on some makeup, and ran out the door), but the reception was really nice. It wasn't awkward either, since I do know the groom and a few other guests (like my friend Kristin and her husband, who suggested to Jodie that she call me when she found out Jodie's husband stayed home sick). I got some cute video of Kristin's husband dancing with their 4 month old, and Kristin making her laugh. I may post it here, but I'll warn you all that it's sideways. I don't know how to turn it, if there's a way at all.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Shoes, Songs and Stuff

I haven't done a whole lot of shopping for myself in a while, and apparently was trying to make up for it last Friday. I found some cute shorts and a brown full skirt + 2 discounted tees at Old Navy, where I went in search of cheap-ish summer-type sandals...which I did not find. So, after my mini-spending spree, I still wanted shoes. And headed over to Shoe Pavillion to keep looking.

Success! Too much of it... I found these cute little tennis shoes (by Punkrose, that I'd never heard of) that were marked down to affordable, and I couldn't resist them. So, I bought them, and wore them to the Day in the Zone on Saturday, that I went to with Kerri and her friend Kathy. (The shoe shot is for Jill...)

I'll come back to the concert in a minute. First, I need to share the other pair of shoes (below photo is also for Jill - please ignore the large ankles.) I love these and took the last size 7 in the store. I wore them all day at work today and they didn't pinch across the toes at all. Thank you Steve Madden.
On to the concert - it was an all day concert in the park, with a number of bands and food and booths. Kerri had asked me about a month or so if I wanted to go, so we picked up tickets early. The lineup was Emerson Hart of Tonic, Matt Kearney, Everclear, Augustana, Five for Fighting and Smashmouth. The high points were Five for Fighting and Smashmouth, who were by far the best performances, and obviously enjoy themselves on stage.

Smashmouth

The low point was Everclear. I like their songs that made it to the radio, but they were terrible live. I think the lead singer was lit, and the words were slurry...just not good.

And luckily, it was less than 100 degrees that day. And we were totally prepared for that possibility, so none of us ended up burning. And all three of us are pretty pale...

After the concert, I headed out to my Dad's house to celebrate Father's Day. What should have taken only 1hr 15 min ended up taking over 2 hours, due to an unexpected road closure and a bizarre detour...but I got there safely. At 9:30pm. And my 3yr old little brother was still awake. My stepmother was about to put him down, but he got all excited when I came in, and ended up having a 2nd wind (though he was tired...).

On Sunday morning, I watched Gino for a bit while Dad was working, and let him run around in the backyard. That boy loves the hose...if he had his way, the backyard would be a mud pit. Dad came back from work and started making our traditional Sunday meal (from when I was growing up) - Pasta and meatballs. My father makes the best meatballs! (Though they are also known as bread balls, garlic balls, and my personal favorite, meat triangles.) My two other brothers showed up and we all had a nice dinner/lunch and a nice afternoon.

I hope everyone else had as good a weekend.