town hall for hope

I have not ever taken any of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace classes, though I know many who have and have heard what a difference it makes. Anyway, tonight, Dave Ramsey is holding a Town Hall for Hope...basically he is broadcasting to churches all over the nation and taking questions by phone, email, twitter, facebook etc. I think this is a great event for anyone who has questions about these uncertain economic times and wants to hear a message of hope rather than discouragement.

Check it out: Town Hall for Hope

disney marathon: miles 10-11

Man, I am a bad blogger these days! It's been over 3 months since I ran the Disney Marathon and I still haven't finished blogging about it. Sorry! I will try to get it done by the end of the month??

Ok, this is by far my favorite mile of the whole course. Good thing it was about halfway through right? Because after this, I was soooo pumped! Adrenaline rush. I think it's pretty obvious from the pictures how excited and happy I was to be running through the Magic Kingdom.

So after running through the Contemporary, we ran through a side service entrance that dumped out onto Main Street where there were tons of cheering fans. Encouragement! Then we ran through Tomorrowland - there was a cute Tomorrowland band there playing music.




Then we ran through the back of Fantasyland and then da dada da! Trumpeteers on the balcony of Cinderella's Castle. I seriously let out an audible "yaaaay" at this point. And then...for just a short couple seconds...I ran through the castle. One of the greatest, proudest, most exciting moments of my life! I mean really, completing the thing was that moment, but the castle just brought so much emotion. Hey I'm a girl who pretty much dreamed all her childhood of 2 things: being a princess like Cindrella (who was my favorite Disney princess) and doing amazing things. Here I was running a marathon and I felt like a total princess.


And just as soon as I was there, I was gone. The shortest, quickest mile of the whole race. And of course the most memorable. After going through the castle, we ran through Frontierland, out another side entrance, and on to the Grand Floridian.

rutabagas

Today I tried rutabagas for the first time ever! (Forgive me mom, if you've made rutabagas when I was younger and don't remember.) Anyway, they were very interesting! It's hard to describe/compare them to anything since I've never had them before! I think that I liked them though. Of course, I got them at a very trustworthy place, Carver's, the reigning king of Southern food in Atlanta, in my humble opinion. I still don't even know what rutabagas are, but I found this awesome website - Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institute - headquartered in the rutabaga capital of the world. Haha. Awesome.

So who loves rutabagas? Who can even really describe how they taste?

links of the (tax) day

Today is tax day. Yippee.

If you can't go to a tea party today, send a tea bag to your elected officials:

Here's a great timeline from Michelle Malkin on how the tea party movement started.

tax day tea parties

Back in Feb, we had a little tea party protest here in Atlanta. This nationwide movement has really gained momentum, and on Tax Day, April 15th, there will be a big tea party at the Capitol here in Atlanta, complete with an appearance by Sean Hannity. I strongly encourage you to check it out if you're in the area, and if you're not, check out the nationwide site for a party in your area. Make a clever sign & wear red! I will be there to catch the end...I actually have a volunteer orientation to attend for something completely different. But I should be able to get to the tea party for at least the last hour. I'm excited!

And here is a great, funny, yet completely serious video via my Aunt Debbie. It should get you pumped for a tea party:

links of the day

I know, I know, I have been the worst blogger. It's hard because my main motivation in starting a blog was to write about my experience training & running a marathon. Now that it's over, I've lost a lot of motivation to continue blogging. I can't even seem to finish blogging about the marathon itself! And then my other motivation was the election...and then that ended and didn't have quite the finish I was hoping for. But I'll try to catch up...

I was reading through the news today & came across 2 realllly good article about Obama's poor performance with the presidency so far. I have tried to really give him a chance, but I just don't believe he is leading this country the right way. I do give him props for opening the White House up more to technology - the online town hall was a cool idea, even if he didn't really tell us anything new through it.

Anyway, I find this article on CNN really revealing. Because now I know it's not just me that feels this way. There are so many good quotes in this article that I won't regurgitate here, you just need to read it yourself.

And here is another good article and guess what the title is? "On Spending and the Deficit, McCain was Right." My favorite part:

The point was that Obama was promising so many things that to pay for them he would eventually have to raise taxes on people making far less than $250,000. Look out, McCain warned -- someday he'll come after you.

And now that's where we appear to be headed. At some point, Obama will likely have to bow to those in his party who say he must raise taxes if he wants to pay for health care and other expensive initiatives.

Yeah, I can't WAIT til my already meager salary gets even more taxed by the govt. Yippee.

link of the day

Check out Jon Stewart...yes you read that right...Jon Stewart ripping Obama's plan to make veterans use private health insurance. It is so worth it, just for his last 3 sentences. Check it out.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

That Can't Be Right - Veterans' Health Insurance

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

quote of the day

"My colleagues and I are sending a letter to [AIG CEO Edward] Liddy informing him that he can go right ahead and tell the employees that are scheduled to get bonuses that they should voluntarily return them," Sen. Charles Schumer said on the Senate floor. "Because if they don't, we plan to tax virtually all of [the money] ... so it is returned to its rightful owners, the taxpayers."

via CNN

Does anyone else get the feeling that our leaders have no real clue what they're doing?

"we plan to tax...so it is returned to its rightful owners, the taxpayers"

So let me get this straight. First, the govt taxes you and me. Then, they give the money away to these AIG execs. Then, they threaten to tax the money, which in essence is already tax money. So they want to tax the taxes and give the money back to...its rightful owners? Except that it's actually going back to the government. And you and I won't see a cent of it returned to us. And to put the frosting on the cake...who's bright idea was it in the first place to give them a loan? And now they want to tax the loan?

Someone please explain to Sen. Schumer how ridiculous this is.

oops

Totally forgot to register for the Peachtree Road Race. Oops! Darnit. I guess I could try the paper lottery next Sun...but what are the odds of me getting one of the last 10,000 spots when the first 45,000 were gone in 7 hours?

Anyone else missing out? Or got their spot?

fail

jefferson, washington, and chuck norris

Our President & Congress desperately need a history lesson from Thomas Jefferson & George Washington...and Chuck Norris.

To contract new debts is not the way to pay old ones.
George Washington, letter to James Welch, Apr. 7, 1799

To preserve [the] independence [of the people,] we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses, and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes, have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account, but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.
Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME 15:39

All of this courtesy of Chuck Norris, who has compiled a great many quotes from our founding fathers in this article: I may run for president of Texas. A good, quick read if you're up for it! Maybe Chuck Norris will join the ranks for Jefferson & Washington as a great President some day, hehe.

And props to Ryan for pointing these out to me and issuing a challenge to us all - write letters/emails to the President and your elected officials and ask them what they think of what our founding fathers said!

disney marathon: miles 8-10

So the first stop after Epcot after the highway running was the Ticket & Transportation Center. That was a fun area to run through because it was kind of unexpected. I forgot it was there. But we ran under the monorail station where there were tons of fans cheering us on! And gotta love the cast members with their mickey gloves on! It was also very cool running through completely empty parking lots. What a sight!

And how convenient...the course ran right by our hotel, The Contemporary between miles 9 & 10. I was really really really excited as I saw the Contemporary come into view. I was going to see all my fans together for the first time on the course. Here's Holly & Shane with signs ready:
Right before I saw them, we all went running under a bridge of sorts, and as I came through the end, I could see everyone. I started waving, and tried to yell "hey!" But no one was paying attention!!! Maybe you can see me waving frantically on the left side...


I literally was right in front of them before they saw me. I guess I was a little early. Like I said, those first 8 miles went by so fast! Luckily they caught me and took this lovely progression of pictures below.





Unfortunately there were wall to wall cone barriers between us so I couldn't get any high fives or hugs in. But no worries, there were still 16.2 miles ahead! And the Magic Kingdom was less than a hop, skip & a jump from here.

personal responsibility

I like this guy. Basically, he's a state worker who makes $93000 a year, but his cost of living raise was withheld this year. So, instead of complaining, or looking for handouts, or reneging on his promises to support charities, he took a...gasp! Low paying job at Wendy's.

My favorite part:

Stokely was asked whether he might be taking a job away from someone who needs the money. Stokely said he can't take responsibility for something like that. "I'm sure Wendy's didn't hire me just to give the solicitor a $7.25 supplement. That door is open for them to go and apply just like it was for me," he said.

Yeah dude! It sucks, but you did the right thing. And no one should say anything bad about you, because you're actually taking personal responsibility to make your life what you want it to be. And therein lies the root of my anger towards the stimulus, bailouts, new government budgets...America has forgotten personal responsibility and the power of individual freedom. I want the responsibility to make my life want I want it to be. I don't want the government to take it from me. I'm so sick of the mentality that SO many Americans have these days. That they are entitled to handouts, that they don't have to take responsibility because the govt will always be there to bail them out, that the world will end if we don't entrust our lives to the government's care. That is not the answer. Why don't we want to take our lives back, and take our freedoms back? If you want a better life, don't look to the government to make it for you, do it yourself. And do it responsibly, aka don't buy a $1 million dollar house when you only make $50000 a year.

You with me?! Ok, that is my rant for the day.

Does the Boston Tea Party of a couple hundred years ago ring a bell?

Check out our very own Atlanta Tea Party going on tomorrow at the Capitol. Our founding fathers revolted and warred with England over ridiculous taxation. Now here we are with our leaders saddling us and future generations with debts that cannot be paid back. A $3 trillion budget comes to mind. This seems like change for the worse. Time for a revolution??

and props to ryan for the Stokely article :)

the highlander

I'm not going to do a full post about The Highlander. I just wanted to say that their chili rocks! Oh my gosh, it is soooo spicy. I feel like my mouth is burnt, but not in a bad way! It's chock full of beef and beans and peppers...plus bonus! Guy Fieri visited and you can watch him & Chef Ice make the chili together here. Really, really entertaining. And makes me totally comfortable ordering the chili again, knowing everything that's in it!

love you tom price, part 2

disney marathon: miles 1-8

Looking back on it now, I can't believe how fast the first 8 miles went. It feels like a blur now. After the split start, we reunited with the other runners around mile 4. Before reuniting, we ran on a highway behind Epcot before finally coming back around to the parking gates.

Of course, as we were running around Epcot, I was wondering, when are we going to go in?! I was so stoked. After running through the parking gates, we ran straight up the middle walkway toward the ball. And there were spectators cheering us on, on either side. Lo and behold, as I was thinking, aw I wonder if Holly & Ryan are here...there they were!!! There wasn't enough time to snap a picture, but I saw them all bundled up in the dark cold cheering for me :) So then I was really stoked!

Then we ran under the monorail, and the cheers were echoing so loud. I started to get emotional! Just amazed at all the fans and all the runners.



And then...on into Epcot! The course significantly narrowed at this point and there were race workers guiding us through the area right in front of the ball. But once we got past it, the course widened and it was a spectacular sight. All of the nations around the lake were lit up, and there was fire in all of the torches. It was so beautiful, still and serene. And yet, here we were, this huge wave of runners. There were characters to greet us, I can't remember all of them but I do remember seeing Mulan and some guy yelling over if he could see her after the race. Funny. We ran in there for such a short time before exiting through a back entrance and back onto highway roads.

These roads were...boring. No characters. But there were DJs, marching bands, the works every so often to keep the energy going. There were also Sharpie sponsored billboards at every mile with funny pictures and/or sayings. And eventually, the sun came up. I remember coming down on road ramp, curving towards the next park. At this point, I really started getting excited because the next park was...the Magic Kingdom!

link of the day

I have often wondered to myself...what if we achieved victory in Iraq, but the press never reported it? That seems entirely plausible to me, since I have rarely heard a positive story come out of Iraq from the mainstream media.

Well today, your link of the day, courtesy of Charles Krauthammer and the Washington Post, is a victory in Iraq. Not the be all, end all victory, but a big victory nonetheless. Have you heard anything about it yet?

This is what our President had to say:
This important step forward should continue the process of Iraqis taking responsibility for their future.

take the time to laugh

Even in the hard economic climate...it always helps to have a laugh. thanks Ryan :) You may have to click on the image if it doesn't show up all the way, not sure why blogger isn't formatting it correctly. You should see 16 boxes in the strip.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUhGesg68djMOUCo-6R9KKcURhmsrkNSd3bSPouK4l238ikK5UGst5U6qLvZwoRhAIbCiCL6_MWhPQgVJ74Z8-LHUSX1HTaUKdVwJz21DbcE_XltjgySkWZBvaC_juJReDRVEueBVNneg/s1600/CalvinHobbs.BMP

generational theft

The generational theft bill aka stimulus bill passed the Senate, which really wasn't a big surprise. But still. Disappointing. Not exactly the birthday present I was hoping for. Haha.

And a tip from Raegan, who talked to Rep.Tom Price's office today. At this point, all there is left to do is email/call/write letters to Speaker Pelosi and the White House. So do it. I just did!

Also from Raegan - good article on how the stimulus bill is literally bad for your health.

disney marathon: the start

These are Ryan's pictures from the start. He & Holly staked out a spot along the road. Unfortunately, there was a split start, so one group of corrals started down one side of the highway, and the other corrals started on the opposite side of the highway. Of course, I was on the opposite side of the highway. Which was cool for me, because I was the first corral to go under the big start line with the fireworks. But bad for Ryan & Holly because there was just no way they would see me. Not that they would have anyway because there were thousands and thousands and thousands of people running by.


And then, the start. Oh my goodness. If I could only convey the feeling with words. I staked out a little piece of pavement, and I was amazed to find that I was in the first corral on the starting line side. At this point, I started to get really nervous and excited, because I couldn't believe my luck! How did I get so close to the start? And then I thought, oh man, these people around me are probably really fast. Another cool thing is that I was in spitting distance of the official starting stage, where Mickey & crew came out in their tracksuits and wished us all a good race and then started the countdown to the start! Everyone else got to watch on big TVs along the median of the road, but I saw it "live" right in front of me. Some dude near me also got interviewed, I was sitting right behind him. So yeah...a pretty exciting build-up to the start, and I had butterflies fluttering around the whole time!

Then of course, the moment I had been waiting for a almost a whole year.
10...fireworks!
9...fireworks!
8...fireworks!
7...fireworks!
6...fireworks!
5...fireworks!
4...fireworks!
3...fireworks!
2...fireworks!
1...fireworks!






And we were off...well not really. More like a walk-jog-run start, but that was to be expected! And it was such an emotional rush! I was so happy, screaming "yeah!!!", smiling, waving...we were all doing that.

There was a big riser after the start with photographers, videographers etc, and these are their pics:


And this one is my absolute favorite start picture. Can you spot me & my purple shorts on the right side of the pic? #7499