Okay ladies- it’s time for me to tell you about another awesome program that you can do for free, and the sponsor will make a donation for each participant. If you go to a participating department store and get fitted for a Wacoal, DKNY Underwear or Donna Karan bra, $2 will be donated to Susan G. Komen that funds breast cancer research. If you purchase a bra during the event, $2 more will be donated.

Receive a complimentary fitting in a Wacoal, DKNY Underwear or Donna Karan Intimates bra from a Wacoal fit specialist. For every woman that participates*, Wacoal will donate $2 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure for breast cancer research and outreach programs.

Wacoal will also donate an additional $2 for every Wacoal, DKNY Underwear or Donna Karan Intimates bra purchased at these events.

Our gift to you… a Republic of Tea travel tin with pink lemonade green tea. Doing something so simple can help so many.

There were quite a few scheduled in DFW this week, and there is one tomorrow as well. I am trying to talk my boss and one of my co-workers into going with me on lunch. There are also several May 15-16, and it just so happens Nikki and I are going to take a half day on that Friday to do some shopping, so we might have to drop by this event too. Don’t forget to visit the link above to find out more about the program and find a store near you that is participating.

Even though I wasn’t feeling good today, I still went out to Plano to test drive a BMW for Breast Cancer. I was flying solo though since Nikki was swamped at work and Dave wasn’t interested. I got dressed in my Race for the Cure t-shirt and headed out around 3:00 PM. That was the perfect time since it really wasn’t very busy. All I had to do was sign a waver and I was able to hop in a car.

They had cute little pink car cookies– I couldn’t refuse!

It worked differently than I thought it would. I was expecting to be able to drive however many miles I wanted and to anywhere I wanted. When I got into the car, they actually had a map of the 10 mile (18 minute) route in the passenger seat. So in actuality each participant earns the charity $10. I was shocked they didn’t take my drivers license or anything. I drove a BMW X5 and it was awesome. Here’s what it looked like (except white with pink detailing, of course):

I also signed the “signature car”, which all the participants were able to do. See if you can find me!

Yup– there I am!

Overall it was a really fun experience for a great cause. I was able to chat with a woman from the North Texas chapter of Susan G. Komen and bought a rubber duckie that was in the Komen race last year, as well as a BMW pink ribbon shirt. Pretty good for a girl on a sick day, huh?! There are more pictures below. Check out the BMW website to find out when the Ultimate Drive comes into your city!

If you’re new to our site, don’t forget to donate to my Breast Cancer 3-Day walk. I appreciate your support!

I thought the awareness messages on the car were very shocking.

Last week I learned about a program that BMW hosts called the BMW Ultimate Drive benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure. This is the 12th year for the event, and it takes place this week in our area. The cars travel around the country throughout the year, so check the site to see when they will be in your city.

Here’s a summary of the program:

Join us for our 12th year in the battle against breast cancer with our partner, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Just get behind the wheel of a new vehicle of your choice in the BMW Ultimate Drive® supporting Susan G. Komen for the Cure event. As a participant, you’ll find plenty of BMW models to test drive, such as the thrilling 3 Series Coupe, the sporty X3 SAV® and this year’s Signature Vehicle, the new and dynamic X6. For every mile you drive BMW will donate $1 on your behalf to Komen. Since the program’s inception in 1997, the event has raised over $11 million dollars for breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment programs. In 2008 you can continue to make a difference by taking a test drive to help us reach our goal: donating a grand total of $12 million.

Pretty cool, huh? It is taking place in Dallas (at Classic BMW in Plano) on Wednesday, April 23 from 10:00 AM until 5:30 PM. Walk-ins are welcome, but you can also call to make a reservation:

Nikki and I are talking about going over on lunch or after work to show our support. It should be fun, so be sure to come back and check out our pictures!

Is anyone else wondering how we can possibly walk 60 miles in three days?  I ponder this on the way to the office (it’s a 14.6 mile drive from Plano to Addison) every day.  I think to myself, “How can we possibly walk this and then some, three days in a row?”  Our “Walker’s Handbook” advises us not to start training until we are 24 weeks from the event, which means we can officially get started at the end of May.  It’s April already!  So, with all this major training just around the corner, it’s time to get moving a little…  Laurie and I decided to clock the mileage at a Plano area Park. 

We have actually walked these trails before, but we wanted to be sure about the distance we were travelling.  Once formal training begins, we’ll need to stick to a schedule, with predetermined mileage for each walk at a 15 minute per mile pace.  Thanks to the technological wonders of Laurie’s footwear, we were able to determine that we had walked 4.5 miles from start to finish in about an hour an a half.  That’s with some stops to enjoy the day of course!  The weather was great, and the scenery was nice too.  There are several routes to choose from, including some that have great bridges likes this one:

The Monarch butterflies are migrating now, so we got to see lots of them along the way.  Unfortunately, none would pose for a picture.  All in all, it was a great work out, and it proved to be challenging, but definitely possible.  We’ll keep working our way up to farther distances at a faster pace.

Since this walk was such a success, Laurie is planning another one for next weekend at another local park.  This time, we plan to invite other walkers and we’re increasing our distance a bit.  Stay tuned for details!

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!

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.

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.

I neglected to mention that the Saturday afernoon/evening that LeAnn and I spent making cupcakes, we also attempted to make chocolate lollipops. All the supplies cost around $18, and included a ribbon mold, pink and white pound chocolate bags, strawberry candy flavoring, and lollipop sticks.

This was my first time making candy, and I was actually pretty excited about it. I thought it was going to be easy, but boy was I wrong! It is a lot of work, and it took forever to make only 16! Since we used two different colors, we had to first put in the pink for the ribbons, and then fill the backs with the white chocolate. Quite a few of them broke in the process too. I sold them for $2 each, and mostly to my own team. They are pretty small, so I know the price is kind of steep. I might try it again with just the pink chocolate and charge $.50 or $1 instead. Live and Learn! I have to say that they are pretty tasty!