Nikki and I are co-captains of our team, 60 Miles or BUST based out of the Plano/Frisco area. Today I got an e-mail talking about the addition of team members and a special $35 discount they are offering new team members. This would have been nice to have when Nikki was signing on, but alas… they won’t prorate. Just in case anyone else is interested in adding members to their team and could pass this along, $35 off the regular $90 registration fee may really make a difference.

Two heads are better than one. So just imagine what you could do with four, eight or sixteen friends working together on your 3-Day team. The more people on your team, the greater the impact you have. We want you to be the strongest, most passionate, breast cancer-fighting 3-Day team you can be.

Invite your friends and family to register for the 3-Day and join your team before April 11 and we will give them a $35 discount off their registration fee!

To ensure that your new teammates receive this special offer, please tell them to give the promotional code TEAMS when they register online at http://www.the3day.org/ or via phone at 800.996.3DAY.

Not sure how to support this Breast Cancer 3-Day army you’re building? The Team Captain Handbook you received in the mail is filled with great ideas. Supplemental information is available on the Teams page of our website.

Thank you for stepping up to be a leader.

Sincerely,
The Breast Cancer 3-Day Coaches

Note: Registration as a walker includes a commitment to raise at least $2,200 in donations in order to participate in the 3-Day. Registering walkers must join a team at the time of registration and give the promotional code TEAMS in order to receive the $35 discount. Please make sure your discount is applied before completing the registration process. All transactions are final. This offer expires at midnight CDT on Friday, April 11, 2008. This offer cannot be applied retroactively to registration fees paid before March 31, 2008.

In case you were wondering if I am still alive…the answer is “yes”!  I’ve been traveling quite a bit these last few weeks, which has kept me very busy.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our Laurie-pooh has been rockin’ and rollin’ with her fundraising activities.  I figured that it was time to get ball rolling for me too, so I am proud to announce the subject of this blog- “Baking for Boobs”. 

Based on Laurie’s research, it seemed that the “fruity” cupcakes had been a hit, so our first trial run was strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing and lemon cupcakes with lemon icing.  The critics gave us a big thumbs up! 

Since the cupcakes were so successful, we decided to move forward with the cookies…  Laurie found an awesome ribbon cookie cutter, so we gave that a shot.  We found that it was extremely difficult to work with the cookie dough.  Despite the well floured surface and rolling pin, the dough stuck to just about everything.  If that wasn’t challenging enough, it would crack or fall apart when we tried to “cut” it.  Because of the challenges, and because of the amount of dough required to make each cookie, we only made about ten of them.  Here are some pictures of the finished product:

Aren’t they cute?!  We decided that these adorable little guys required a level of patience that neither of us posses, so we switched to regular “drop” cookies with pink icing.  They came out really well, and were given the stamp of approval from our quality control supervisor; Taylor:

Several hours later, we have 4 dozen cupcakes, 2 dozen chocolate chip cookies, and 10 pink ribbon cookies plus two more dozen “drop” cookies.  I’ll be setting these up on my desk tomorrow, and I’ll take lots of pictures to share with you!  More to come!

I had a pretty successful giveaway on La Vie de Laurie this month in conjunction with the Ultimate Blog Party. I had mentioned that I’d like to do one here too in April, but I just can’t wait! Let the giveaway begin! This time in addition to a Save the Ta-Tas t-shirt, I am also giving the lucky winner a Breast Cancer goodie bag filled with over $25 in free breast cancer related merchandise! I made Nikki a similar bag today, but the one I’m giving away for this contest will be even better.

There were some wonderful posts from bloggers last time around, so I am looking forward to seeing what you all come up with this month. I am amazed, heartbroken and inspired by the stories of loss and survival. I hope that you will continue to share those with us. Our walk is going to mean so much more if we carry and tell others about your experiences during our 60 mile journey.

WIN A PRIZE: Want to win a Save the Ta-Tas tee AND a Breast Cancer goodie bag? Leave us a comment on this post for one entry, link back to our blog and this post for five entries, and make a donation (ANY amount) to my 3-Day for twenty entries (even $1 will qualify you). If you do all 3, you’ll get 26 entries. The winner will be drawn on Saturday, May 3 and will be e-mailed for sizing info and a mailing address. Good Luck and thanks for your support!

Visit the Bloggy Giveways carnival for more great giveaways across the blogoshere!

I love widgets, so I was excited to see the new one for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. I’m nearly halfway to my goal which is a beautiful thing! David’s boss donated $100 today, so I’m getting closer to $3000! This weekend Nikki and I will be baking fools. We are going to make ribbon-shaped sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting, so be sure to come back tomorrow Sunday for the delicious results! I’ll be selling some at work on Monday (if I feel like baking after I get home from her house), and Nikki is going to attempt her first bake sale. Wish us luck!

Click here for your own 3-Day widget

There are tons of people doing great things for Breast Cancer Awareness causes. Here’s one I came across: NotMyBreasts.org. If you visit and pledge to take a simple action to protect your breasts, $1 will be donated to the Breast Cancer Fund by the site’s key supporters. Pretty cool, huh? And you get this widget to display on your website or blog! Go check them out and pledge your support today. It’s FREE for you to do!

I am protecting my ta-tas because cancer sucks. I will save the world one breast at a time by creating a healthy home.

Come back and post yours in the comments!

Here are tips the site gave me to protect my ta-tas by creating a Healthy Home: REPLACE HARMFUL HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS that contain bleach and chlorine with cheaper, nontoxic alternatives like baking soda, borax soap and vinegar.
LOOK FOR ALTERNATIVES TO CHEMICAL WEED AND BUG KILLERS - many contain toxic chemicals that accumulate in our bodies.
AVOID PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) plastics which leach hormone-disrupting chemicals called phthalates into the substances they touch.

The Breast Cancer Fund’s mission is to identify and eliminate the environmental causes of breast cancer and prevent the disease.

Krista

Dave and I met up with our BFF, Krista, a few weeks ago at Campisi’s in Frisco. She made a donation to my walk in her name and in the name of Cory Case, her boyfriend who passed away from sarcoma last month. She also lost her Grandmother to Breast Cancer.

Here’s what she wrote:

FOR DAVID’S MOM
AND MY NONI. THANKS
FOR FIGHTING FOR THEM.
I LOVE YOU. KRIS

I love you too, honey! Thanks for your support while I walk and train for this event, and always.

My shirt is finally on its way out of Texas. Come back soon to see where it ends up!

Nikki and I work out with a personal trainer on Monday and Wednesday each week, but we’ve been off our routine the past few weeks. Two weeks ago she attended a conference for work in Atlanta, and last week our trainer was on Spring Break with his family. This week Nikki is at the Gaylord in Nashville for another conference, so we were only able to work out on Monday. I am still sore from that, but I decided to get out in my neighborhood tonight and log some training miles since I bought a new Nike+ sensor. My first one died.

I discovered some cool trails in my neighborhood. They are not completed yet, but it appears they are getting geared up to have a little workout trail with different stations. There are a bunch of little signs up with different activities, such as jumping jacks, stretches, pull ups etc. There is also a pulse station and benches throughout the trail.

I think it is a little under a mile. I walked it, and then went back and around the new street that is being built behind us. I think it will be nice when they finish, and I am glad it is there. I was gone a little under an hour and logged about 2 1/2 miles, so that’s not too bad.

I know it’s only been two weeks since LeAnn and I baked cupcakes. It was a lot of hard work and I pretty much said it was something I wouldn’t be doing very often. I was thinking maybe once every few months or so. The reaction to them was so positive (people at work kept asking when I’d be doing it again), and I made over $150. With that being said, I figured I might as well sieze the day and go for it again. With my new KitchenAid, cute breast cancer ribbon cupcake cups and sprinkles… I was ready to go!

I missed having LeAnn’s company and expert baking skills, but she gave me some good tips during our Saturday together. Luckily it was enough for me to pull off 4 dozen cupcakes.

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (colored pink)

I wrapped them the same as two weeks ago and brought the cupcake tree again. The response was good once again. By noon they were already half gone. Angela and Mandy helped me sell the ones that were left by walking around the building and telling people about my walk. Besides making over $150 on the cupcakes, I got several great pledges: one for $100, and another for $150. Angela also donated $50, and her boss Joe said he would match it. In addition, my friend Corrin also donated $100. Friday turned out to be an awesome day! I am now almost halfway to my fundraising goal which is very exciting.

I am already itching to do more baking. I know that Nikki is off next week for Spring Break and also plans on doing some baking for a fundraiser too, so I’d like to help her if she needs it or wants company. Come back to hear about her results!

Wednesday night I finally broke down and bought a KitchenAid mixer. I have wanted one for the longest time. I’m not a big cook, but I have always enjoyed baking. I know I am going to use it a lot this year since I have been wanting to make goodies for my 3-Day, and I don’t want to bother LeAnn every time I have a fundraiser.

Immediately after I brought it home I whipped up a batch of sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting. They were DELICIOUS! I got a pretty good response at work too. I sold them for $2, which does seem like a lot for a small cookie. Once again though, I am hoping that everyone feels good about donating to the cause. Next time they will be bigger since I will be using the ribbon cookie cutter that I purchased from 3-Day Gear. I think $2 will be a little more reasonable for those. I made about $40 though, so that wasn’t bad.

While I love the pink Cook for the Cure edition mixer, I went with the red one since it matches everything in my kitchen. I feel like my kitchen is more complete now. $50 from each purchase of the pink mixers goes to Susan G. Komen, so check out all the KitchenAid Breast Cancer items on their website. If you don’t need a mixer, there are lots of fun gadgets available in the pink line too. A portion of their sale price also is donated to breast cancer research.

Tonight I’ll be making several batches of cupcakes, so come back tomorrow to see and hear about the results!

Yesterday morning I organized a thank-you breakfast for Jo’s team (and my team) who helped me raise over $200 my first week of fundraising. I went out and bought donuts, a fruit tray, and juices. Angela and I also blew up balloons and put out a donation jar and I raised another $20 from that. Several members of that team continue to bring up donations which is amazing. I was happy to do something nice for them because they have really been so supportive and kind in my efforts.