Projects

Making Money & Other Stressful Hobbies

On September 30, 2009, In Finances, Fitness, Friends, Health, Projects, Sports, By LisaT

Confession time: I had a mild freak out the other night when I looked at my fundraising goal for my upcoming Team in Training event in January. After adding up the checks I received in the mail from friends and family in addition to online donations, I calculated that I have raise approximately 15% of my goal. Despite the fact that I remain extremely grateful to everyone who has donated thus far, that’s not even a D on a quiz. My ultimate goal of raising $3,200 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society felt like it might as well be $32,000.

Then I received my recommitment papers via email that cheerfully asked for my credit card number, lest I not be able to raise the money on my own. What the WHAT? Yikes. I felt the panic rising, as I debated with myself whether or not I should just cut my losses and consider the nearly $500 I had raised so far to be a donation and call off the whole thing all together. I’m good at Photoshop, I thought. I could always Photoshop myself into pictures from the race, post it on Facebook and call it a day.

Sadly, however, I had involved potential witnesses who would know that I had given up at the first sign of adversity, so I calmed myself by baking a batch of cupcakes for a recent donor and setting my recommitment papers aside…for now.

At my friend Ingrid’s house, I chatted with her and a few friends about my fundraising anxiety and lo and behold, Claudia suggested I forward her the email to show her boss, who happens to be a particularly fond of donating money to worthy causes. She felt confident that she knew a few other people in her office who would be interested in pledging money for cupcakes.

Since then, a few more friends have volunteered to help me pass along my message. Also, I read the fine print from my recommitment paperwork and saw that I actually have until February 17th to get reimbursed by hustling and acquiring more donation funds, should my credit card get charged. That’s

Within a few hours, I had taken my feelings of hopelessness and effectively turned my frown upside down. And you know what you have at that point? That’s right, my friends, a big, obnoxious smile.

Let’s raise some money for cancer research, people!

Tagged with: Cancer • Finance • Fundraising • Leukemia • Lymphoma • Money • Running • Team in Training

Team in Training: Top o’ the Mountain to Ya

On September 27, 2009, In Fitness, Health, Nature, Projects, Sports, Weather, By LisaT

Somehow, I managed to drag myself out of bed 5:45 on Sunday morning to go for a seven and a half mile run in the Santa Monica Mountains as part of my Team in Training activities. I’ve been AWOL at the weekly runs for the past three weeks, due to two scheduling conflicts and one incident involving the snooze button—one which I’d rather not discuss in further detail as it is very embarrassing and pretty self-explanatory.

I arrived to the meeting point for our trail run at 7 a.m. and was greeted by the welcome sight of my fellow Team in Training runners and was immediately happy that I had successfully wrangled my way out of my cozy covers. Before we took off running, we received a quick briefing about nutrition during the day of our big race, followed by a chat with one of our Team in Training assistant coaches, Javier.

He talked about his mother living on the other side of the country with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, which I learned is incurable at this time. He became emotional discussing her prognosis and if someone would have noticed me tearing up, I would have simply blamed my allergies, which have been plaguing me with watery eyes lately.

After Javier finished explaining how running with Team in Training had helped him to cope with his mother’s illness and that he had seen firsthand what the donations to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society were helping people do, my anxiety about the fundraising aspect of my half-marathon in January diminished.

The least I can do is put aside my sheepishness about asking people to give to the cause and continue to come up with creative ways to provide incentives for people to pledge funds.

Currently, I’m giving out cupcakes to Los Angeles-based pledges from now until October 31st. Click here to donate, or email me at timmonslisa@gmail.com for more information.

Tagged with: Donation • Hiking • Leukemia • Los Angeles • Lymphoma • Running • Team in Training

Tomatoes on The Vine

On June 17, 2009, In Food, Home, Nature, Projects, By LisaT

Two weekends ago, Betsy and I went on a monster shopping trip to Marshalls, Target, Lowes and Jons that ended with me lugging home a large pot, a bag of potting soil, a tomato plant and two herbs.

This was done in the hopes of turning my brown thumb green. I figured that since the bamboo shoot I’d received as a wedding favor was still alive, I had a good shot at not immediately killing these new green pets.

So far, there’s one sizable tomato swelling on the vine, with two smaller ones following close behind. And then there’s also the chocolate mint and lemon balm, which seems to be doing just as well. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I’m posting about the delicious tomato I’ve harvested.

Tagged with: Food • Gardening • Home • Plant • Tomato • Vegetables

Happy 2009, Everybody!

On January 1, 2009, In Family, Fitness, Food, Friends, Health, Holidays, Home, Projects, Relationships, Travel, Weight, Weird, Work, By LisaT

Keegan just logged on to the website that’s helping him keep track of quitting smokeless tobacco with nearly 25 days under his belt and he laughed out loud today at how many “Day 1″ people logged on on this New Year’s Day. Tis the season to be making resolutions and planning a better behaved, more organized year! In keeping with that tradition, we’re all sitting around the Martin family home, digesting the wine, chips and dip, turkey and chocolate consumed the night before, watching a marathon of The Biggest Loser repeats on Bravo.

My standby resolutions are to eat better, exercise more, quit biting my nails and become a better saver. So far, I’ve already come up with a good excuse not to go running today, ate a veggie burger with cheese and fries and caught about $500 of unauthorized charges on my credit card when I went online to do some banking. Yes, my belated Christmas present was having somebody swipe my number at a gas station in South Carolina the day after Christmas. As much as it sucks, it’s nice to know it wasn’t as expensive of a month as I had assumed it had been when I initially saw my balance. Let’s hope those crooks resolved to be better people in 2009.

Oh yeah, and I haven’t bit my nails. Yet.

In all seriousness, I do love the prospect of starting fresh. Looking back at the year past, it’s encouraging to see the progress made over a year’s worth of working towards a goal. Frustrations over work, finances and any other nagging issues from the past twelve months are minimized at the realization that despite the occasional lows, the highs have been more consistent and things are still better off than last January. There’s a lot for which to give thanks.

This year, my work schedule has expand to the point where it’s time to start drawing some boundaries again to find more time to do what keeps me sane—running. Over three years ago, I started training for my first marathon and ran the L.A. event two years in a row. After two years of consistent training, participating in another marathon isn’t something that interests me, but I definitely miss the training community and will be marking my calendar with a few half marathons to get myself back on track in 2009.

The new year holds such opportunity for self-betterment and adventures. Why do I sound so optimistic and disgustingly cheerful? It’s because I’m still riding on the high of meeting my nephew, born New Year’s Eve day. Holding 8 lb. 3 oz Wyatt Lowell Smith just hours after he was pushed into the world, I watched his tiny, wrinkled arms and hands reach out, making some of his first movements outside the comforting home my sister’s uterus had been for a little over nine months.

Few things represent the possibility of discovery more than a New Year’s Eve baby and that feeling of rebirth was awakened inside me as I leaned over to let his 20 month old sister Isabella give him the first of many kisses she would bestow upon him during their lives as siblings.

Even though I’m just six days away from entering the last year of my twenties, 2009 is still as untarnished and full of prospects for taking first steps as it is for little Wyatt.

With that in mind, I’m raising my bottle of water up high and toasting to a year filled with good health, better writing, friends and family!

And yes, and flossing on a regular basis.

Tagged with: Diet • Fitness • Health • Holidays • Weight

Going Comic

On September 17, 2008, In Projects, By LisaT

I’m going to start playing around with Comic Life on my Mac. Here’s the result of initially messing around with the program. Maybe the jelly beans sparked my creativity.