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!!

Festival Time

For a few years now I've been volunteering at the annual Walnut Festival in Walnut Creek. It's all Kristin's fault, as she is my connection to the festival...she had been on the board of directors for the Walnut Festival Association for a few years and got me into working with them behind the scenes. The Walnut Festival Association is a non-profit group that raises money for community projects and causes, as well as scholarships for local students. Aside from the annual Walnut Festival, the Association also holds an Annual Crab Feed (lots of fun!), Art on the Main (an art festival), and the annual Twilight Parade (not associated with the Stephanie Meyer franchise), among a few other events.

This year, for the first time, Kristin convinced me to volunteer at the Twilight Parade. I ended up working the registration booth before the start of the parade, signing in the groups of participants. After the start of the parade, Kristin and I high-tailed it to the end of the parade route, speed-walking past the marching bands, antique model-A's and the motorcycles surrounding the Huey Helicopter being towed down South Main Street, all the while wearing atrocious bright orange vests to designate us as parade staff. I keep waiting to spot us in the background of someone's rough YouTube footage, but haven't yet (Whew!). Once at the end of the route, we stood around with the cops waving the participants through the blocked off intersection, trying to keep the parade moving without a bottleneck at the end. You know, it's difficult to convince people that they're allowed to run a red light in front of a plethora of policemen, even though the roads are blocked off to all other traffic... Even when they're going about 2 miles per hour.

It was pretty fun, and I'll probably do it again next year. I got to see a lot of the groups practicing their routines before the start of the parade, and talked to a few of them during registration. It was interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes and to meet some of the people. I also learned about Blue Star Moms, who were chosen as the Grand Marshals of this year's parade. They are a non-profit, non-political, non-discriminatory organization that provides care packages to the troops, as well as additional support services. Check out the link for more details, or to donate items to be included in a care package. I might never have heard of them if I hadn't worked at the parade...

This coming weekend, I'm scheduled to volunteer at the Walnut Festival on Saturday afternoon. I've also roped my friend Kerri into it, since she'll be in the area visiting and has never been to the festival. If any of you local readers want to dedicate a few hours to the community, click here to send an email to the Walnut Festival Association or call the office at (925) 935-6766. They can definitely use your help on either Saturday or Sunday. (As an incentive, I believe you'll get in for free and have access to their hospitality area.) If you sign up to volunteer, drop me a line and let me know - I'd love to see you there!

Now, while you debate the question of volunteering, you can peruse a few of the photos I managed to snap while working the parade last weekend. (I was mostly busy, so didn't get too many.)

Who you gonna call? I know it's a Vintage Ambulance, but it sure does look like the Ghostbuster's car...

Well, you don't see that everyday...

Newfoundlands!

I believe I was mid-sprint when I snapped this one...

Last Chance!

Well, I just wanted to get the word out one more time...and then you won't have to read any more of my appeals for cash (probably...). The StepOut to Fight Diabetes Walk is tomorrow morning. I have to get up extra early, which for me may be more of a challenge than the 6 mile walk itself. So, one last link to my donations page before I toddle off to bed. I have already set the coffee maker to auto brew at 7am, in the hopes that the scent of freshly brewed coffee will entice me out of my sleep cocoon.

Wish me luck!

Thank you to all of my supporters!!

Steppin' Out, With My Baby

Or rather, with Kristin's baby...

The StepOut to Fight Diabetes Walk is this Sunday, and my friends and I are rarin' to go!
My team's fundraising efforts have been going great! The team has expanded to 7 people (including Kristin's 5mo old), and with the expansion, our team fundraising goal was raised to $2,000. So far, with the help of all of you generous donors (you know who you are), we have collectively reached 82% of our goal with $1,630 in donations! If you look at the Top Teams box on the right side of the San Jose Event's home page, you'll see our team on the list!! (Our team name is Kristin's Team.) Not too shabby for only 7 people, if I do say so myself (and I do).

I have exceeded my original personal goal of $500, but am reaching higher! I have reset my personal goal to $700, and am already at 79%! If you would like to contribute, there's still time! Just click this link to donate or join the team. Thank you so much to all of those who have given to this cause (and to those who have offered support in any way).

You may want to see if your company matches charitable contributions and you could double your donation. If you are unable to personally donate to my campaign, please forward this message and/or my website to your friends and family on my behalf. Or consider joining my team and walking with us in San Jose! I just found out that we can have "ghost walkers," which means that if you don't live locally, you can still join our team and either walk the same distance on your own in your town, or walk in one of the other StepOut locations.

I'm also still donating 50% of the proceeds of any of my Etsy sales to the fundraiser, if you see anything there that strikes your fancy!

Again, I really appreciate all of your help and support! Thank you very much!

Please help my team reach our final goal of $2,000 by Sunday. Every little bit helps.

Thank you!!

New Looks

Firstly, I've changed the appearance of my blog a bit. I was attempting to get the new Layouts feature to work on Blogger, but for some reason didn't have the required Button where it is supposed to be. So, this may change again...keep posted.

Secondly, I've decided that I'll be donating 1/2 of the proceeds from my Etsy sales to my Step Out to Fight Diabetes campaign. In keeping with that, I've listed a new item, below:

This is Lucine - a half moon shaped shawl. I really liked this pattern (thank you to Lion Brand - and yes, I checked with the company about copyright, and I am allowed to sell the finished product) and am thinking about making one for me... Check out the listing for more photos and a better description.

In other news, I've planned a trip to Denver to visit my good friend Joie in mid-October. I'm excited. I've only ever walked through the Denver airport, aside from standing at the Four Corners once as a child. I think we'll have a lot of fun.

PSA - Please Read

Some of you may know that diabetes runs in my family. I always figured that if I ended up with any kind of serious diagnosis, that’s what it would be. My grandfather had it, my brother now has it, and I believe that a few members of my more extended family also had the diagnosis. I also know quite a few friends and co-workers that have been affected personally by this disease.

Did you know that 23.6 million children and adults in the U.S. suffer from diabetes? Currently, about 1 in 10 American adults has the disease. Nearly ¼ of adults and children in the U.S. living with diabetes are unaware that they have it.

Diabetes also can lead to other health issues, including cardiovascular problems (which affected my own grandfather later in his life after living with diabetes), kidney failure, blindness, and more.

So, in honor and support of my affected friends and family, I have decided to participate in the Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes campaign. I have joined Kristin's team and have committed to walking 10k in San Jose this October.

This is a fundraiser, so you know I’m going to have to ask for your financial support. J Please consider giving to the cause. Proceeds will be used to fund diabetes research, education and advocacy. I have set my personal fundraising goal at $500, but am hoping to exceed it. Every little bit helps, so please think about it.

Please click here to check out my Step Out web page. From here you can choose to sponsor me or join my team and walk with us!

(Or, you can go to the Step Out homepage and find a walk near you. There are also volunteer opportunities for those unable to participate in the walk itself, but still want to help out.)

If you’re still reading, thank you for getting this far!! And thank you in advance for supporting me in this important cause!

News Coverage

Hello everyone. Well, I had a busy weekend, volunteering at the playground build site for the "Matteo's Dream" project. Click here for a short video on the project. My friend Kristin has been putting in quite a bit of time at the build site, and is in 2 shots in here. (She's soaping screws and drilling. Yes, that's right...they gave her power tools!)

Here is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle from Saturday. There were lots of photographer's swarming around the place both days. One of them took a few shots of me up on a ladder, sanding away at one of the tower roofs. (It didn't make it into anything, as far as I know.)

Aside from the work on the ladder, I was mostly on painting duty on Saturday, covering little blocks of Trex in blue paint. I don't know where they're actually ending up though. I'm going to have to go back and visit the playground just to see. I also sanded some wooden shapes (stars and planets) and worked on priming and painting those as well. I got to work with my friend Kristin on that part of it, as well as little Matteo's grandmother LaVerne. She's a kick.

Sunday I was working on the tile mosaic, which is huge. That was kind of fun, and something I'd never done before. I laid a group of teal tile bits into a flower petal-like shape, and am curious how the whole thing (again, this is huge) will turn out. They are still working on it, and a few other parts of the park as well. So, if anyone still wants to volunteer at all, they can still use you! The grand opening is set for May 16th at 6:30pm.