Give Kids the World Gingerbread Run 5k Race Recap

yes, our talented friend made us our own logo!

Last Saturday was the Give Kids the World Gingerbread Run (5k). This was my fourth year doing it and it's by far one of my favorite races. This is the only race I ever fundraise for, and as a group, our team, TEAM TAILGATE, raised over $9,700! We killed the $7,500 that we raised last year. We came in 1st place and were presented an award for raising that much. The top 3 fundraising teams were awarded a tent in "Tent Row" which are stocked with race goodies (pre/post-race snacks, access to massage tables, and special recognition + award). I always look forward to the Edible Arrangement and Chick-fil-a chicken biscuits. This is the 3rd year they've done this (Tent Row) and the 3rd year we've gotten a tent. We are all very passionate about this amazing organization and try our best to support it by being awesome fundraisers. Most of us personally match a certain amount of the donations we receive.

EM made friends with some of the kids from Team Ashtyn. They were so cute with her

I wrote about them last year,

AB took a ride for her first 5k!

This year, the race started and ended at Medieval Times which was different than the previous three years and included a loop inside the village. This allowed for them to have more participants and they still had a lot of pre and post race entertainment. It did seem like there was less entertainment during the run though as a good portion of it was on the main road leading to the village. They had plenty of water stops which was good because I forgot my water bottle in the stroller that my mother in law was pushing the kids in (and I ALWAYS run with a water bottle). Last year, I remember many of the wish families being outside cheering us on, this year I didn't notice as many, but a few in our group who walked the race said there were quite a few out by the time they got to the village. Regardless though, it was a beautiful morning for a run and I'm glad I was able to make it my first post-baby race! I don't have any group photos of our team since they were taken by the event photographer (I'll add it once I get it) but here are a few of the ones we took:

EM and Daddy after the run

It was a family affair :)

G and I with our team award

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 42:42 (overall pace of 13:46) - They show my finish and total time as the same and I know I didn't cross the start line right when the clock started, I think my chip got messed up somehow because most everyone else's time show the delay it took them to get to the start line (which for me was about 4 or so minutes)

Place: 467 of 1276 Finishers

They didn't break it down by gender or ages.

My RunKeeper stats:

3.21 miles in 38:48 (overall pace of 12:05) 

Fastest Mile: #1 at 11:40

Slowest Mile: #3 at 12:33

Birchbox "Happy Holidays Hacks by Buzzfeed" November 2014 Review

My November  Birchbox came super fast this month. I think it's because they had the option to choose one item for my normal November box or a "Limited Edition" box which they told you what it would include. They've been doing this for a few months now and I've never gotten the Limited Edition box but this time the box items seemed pretty good so I decided to go for it and it seems like everyone who got that box, received them pretty early in the month.

For those of you that don't now, Birchbox is a monthly subscription (cancel/pause any time) where you get a monthly box, delivered to your front door, of 4-6 high-end beauty and lifestyle samples from top brands. The best part, it's only $10/month! (and free shipping!)

Birchbox is always delivered in a nice (usually pink) box and within the packaging; there is always a nice little box with all the goodies. The theme this month is "Giving"  for the regular box or "Happy Holiday Hacks BuzzFeed Life" if you chose the Limited Edition box. Even though I knew what I was getting since that is the way it works with the Limited Edition boxes, they still include a nice information card that tells you about the theme and the items you are receiving. 

If you are interested in signing up for Birchbox, use my referral link. If you review each product monthly you also get credit money in the Birchbox shop (which sells tons of full sized items and when combined with coupon codes you can get some great deals!). If you review each product each month (10 points per item) then you would get 50 points which equals $5 in credit so the box itself pretty much costs $5 which is a great deal! (assuming there are 5 items in your box each month, which there usually is). Here is what I got this month:

Dr. Lipp Original Nipple Balm for Lips: (~$2.90 for 3 mL sample) - This stuff kind of reminds me of lanolin, but it works awesomely! I do wish it was in a different type of applicator tube though. This will be a good lip balm for the winter dry-ness. 

amika Perk Up Dry Shampoo: (~$2.97 for .75 oz sample) - I've received this product in a previous Birchbox and absolutely loved it and am so glad to receive it again. I've tried a bunch of different types of dry shampoo and this one takes the cake. 

Greenleaf Candle (in Silver Spruce): (~$3.58 for 2 oz votive sample) G hates the way real trees smell so I'm sure he won't like this candle too much, but I love the way they smell, so looks like I'll be burning this while he's out on travel. The scent seems strong without burning so hopefully it'll be good and strong when burning too.

Mirenesse iCurl Secret Weapon 24 Hour Mascara: (~$14.00 for 4g sample) - Haven't tried this yet since I'm working on finishing up a few open mascaras but the wand looks cool. It's a pretty pricey mascara so I'll be interested to see if it seems worth the cost.

Dr. Jart+ Pore Minimalist Black Charcoal Sheet Mask: (~$7.00 for one mask sample) - I've tried other Dr. Jart+ face products and have been impressed. I always notice my pores so I'll be interested to see if after one mask they'll be less noticeable.

Total Estimated Value of Box: ~$30.45 (not including shipping)

Total Cost of Box: $10.00 (Free Shipping)

Overall Impression: I loved this box and I knew I would based on the early reveal of it. Every single item in it will be used by me and it was definitely a great value!

Which box did you get this month? Did you like it?

Want to see previous boxes I've received? Click here to read my reviews!

Disclosure: This post contains referral links! 

Follow Through Friday - Diet Bet Winner

Considering how much candy I ate and beer I drank on Halloween and what I ate over the weekend with watching the UCF game on Saturday (we lost, boo!) and my early birthday celebration on Sunday, I was really worried about this week. I also didn't log any miles over the weekend so that didn't help, but I kicked it into gear on Monday to finish out a solid week of walking with over 18 miles logged. I didn't reach my goal of 22, but I'm still happy with 18+ for 4 days. I was cleared to start running again on Tuesday so for some of my miles walked this week, I did so some jogging/running as well. Once I start my half marathon training plan next week, I won't be as focused on building up my actual miles; more so just building up my endurance again with running. Tuesday ended up my 4% in 4 week DietBet and I'm happy to report I successfully lost 4.5% and won $52.08 (which is really only $22.08 after you take out the $30 I wagered).  My 1st month of the Transformer DietBet ended today and I only had to lose 3% for that one, which I obviously did since it ran pretty much the same days as the 4 week bet. They haven't determined the payout for that one yet so I'm not sure how much I won, but I do know I at least won back what I wagered ($12.50). Money really is super motivating to me, I did NOT want to lose $50!

Results for the week:

Weight: 174.4

Pins Moved (lbs lost): one (0.8 lbs lost)

Miles Walked: 18.62 vs plan of 22

Plan for Next Week: 

Start my half marathon training plan, which starts on a Monday so through Thursday I should complete two 30-minute runs and one strength training day. 

I'm very happy with my results this week considering my weekend of halloween candy, beer, and then birthday festivities (especially considering I've been eating a little bit of left over birthday cake each night - I can't resist Publix's Chocolate cake!).

Birthday Suprises

Happy Birthday to Me!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE OF US!

Today is my 29th Birthday, we pretty much celebrated on yesterday because G was supposed to be out of town on business travel. He ended up being home, but we had already planned on celebrating on Sunday, and I think he was pretty much dying to give me my present already, so we celebrated yesterday. 

Back story - G has been planning my 30th birthday for many, many months now and all I knew about it was it was a trip that was about 3 weeks long and that I'd find out on my 29th birthday what it was. I knew my parents and his parents were going and knew about it (and a bunch of our friends knew about it as well) and it seemed like everyone was anxious for me to know about it so we could talk openly about it. I had guessed it was some sort of cruise since I love cruising and that it was somewhere that involved flying to since I know G is saving all his travel miles / hotel points for this trip. 

He told me he was going to video record me opening my gift, I had NO idea what I was in for. I opened my gift to find a 252 piece puzzle, and he said by the time I was done putting it together I would know where we were going for my birthday next year. The kicker, I had to put it together without knowing what the picture looked like. He said it took him 40 mins to do with knowing the picture and his parents did it together without knowing the picture and it took them an hour and 45 minutes. Well, I finished it in about 1 hour and 40 minutes (probably would have been a little faster if I didn't let EM "help" before her nap, about 45 minutes into it). He made a pretty cool time lapse video of it too! 

getting started with EM as my "helper"

in process

I DID IT!

the picture of the puzzle, not in puzzle form

So my guesses were both right, it was a cruise and it is overseas. The best part is though, it is a transatlantic cruise, which is something we've both (and our sets of parents too) have been dying to do, so now I get to do some european ports and a transatlantic cruise, all in one! This surely knocks off some of my 40 before 40 list items as well! I'm soooo excited and LOVED the way G revealed it to me. He's so creative and thoughtful when it comes to gifts. (I'm more of a "let me buy it off of your wish list" type of person). We'll be flying into Barcelona  and staying there for a few days (yes, both of the girls are coming with us) and then hoping on a ship which makes stops in Malaga, Spain; Gibraltar, UK; and Funchal (Maderia), Portugal and then we'll spend quite a few days at sea before stopping in Nassau, Bahamas and ending in Tampa. Both sets of parents and our good friends Ryan and Jenny and their daughter, will be joining us on this adventure! 

Sunday night we went to dinner at my favorite place, Kobe's Japanese Steakhouse (we go for almost every birthday between the two of us and most of our friends)! A few of my friends and my in-laws were able to join us for dinner. After dinner, my in-laws came back to the house for cake and we called it an early night. I had a great day celebrating, even if it was a day early!

We didn't do much today but overall had a nice day too. G and I took a nice walk this morning, then we went to lunch with his dad and Nan. I then ran a few errands and relaxed in front of the TV. I'm about to go pick EM up from school and hit up Chick-fil-a for dinner (yes, this was what I wanted tonight LOL). 

Just want to thank everyone for all the birthday wishes (and for keeping my birthday surprise, an actual surprise for so many months)! I feel so loved between my family and friends!! Cheers to my last year before 30!

Halloween Festivities

Just wanted to share some pictures of the girls from Halloween. EM looked so darn cute in her bumble bee costume, and she surprisingly kept on her antenna headband the majority of the time. 

she loves her sunglasses!

They had a parade at her daycare but the teacher said it was too hard with the toddlers so they just watched and then they had a little halloween party for the kids. Since it was after nap time they had already changed them out of their costumes so I was a little disappointed when I went to pick her up and be there for the party that they were already in normal clothes. Her teacher said she took pics of the kids in their costumes too so I'm waiting to see those!

 After school, EM painted a pumpkin (and some paper and her feet too!) By the way Crayola washable paint is awesome! I highly recommend it, comes out of clothes completely! 

We then took her to the local Publix where she Trick or Treated between the different departments to kind of show her what it was like. She seemed to really enjoy that, so I was excited to take her out once we got home.

EM absolutely LOVED trick or treating. I thought she'd only be into it for a few houses so I went with some neighbor friends while G stayed at our house with his parents (since we live down the street from each other we decided to pass out candy together to make it more fun) and passed out candy to the kids and drinks to the parents.  Well, had I known she was going to want to do like 20+ houses I would have brought her stroller, I thought for sure she would have been over it by like the 5th house, but NOPE, she LOVED it. She probably would have kept going but she was a little slow walking between houses so I'd pick her up and "fly" her to the next house to keep up with the other, older, faster, kids in our group. After about half our neighborhood loop, my arms were getting tired and her bucket was full so I brought her home - she probably walked a good half mile! She said thank you to almost every treat giver and kind of said "trick or treat" to a few of them. When there was a line of kids at some of the houses, she stood in line and waited her turn. It was so, so, so cute how she got so into it!

walking with her Nanny before we met up with friends

EM and her buddy Charlie

AB stayed home and helped pass out candy (aka - slept during the festivities). She went as a "newborn" in her "First Halloween" onesie - so unique I know ;) 

working hard passing out candy

night time bottle with her adorable ghost hat from one of our neighbors

Hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween, I know we sure did!