UPDATES

It has been a while since I blogged here as I have been over rambling in my "Ramblings".  Quite a few things have happened since I last blogged including the arrival of my 45 litre rucksack and set of walking poles - with compass on the top YES - all courtesy of the bargains you can sometimes find on Ebay.

My total amount raised is now standing at almost £1,500 which is fantastic considering I still have several months left to continue raising money.  I am still hopeful of breaking through the £3,000 barrier as there are quite a few events upcoming.  My friend Marion is going to help me at the Summer School Fete where we are having a stall which will include guessing the number of sweets in a jar (always a favourite with kids) and guess the weight of the watermelon, amongst other things.

Training is going well.  I am breaking the boots in slowly.  I have found that I can power walk for at least 1/2 hour before I start to feel a nip at my toes.  If I walk slower, I can walk for about an hour.  I kind of figure that power walking not only blasts my weight better and builds up my stamina but it also proves that if I can walk quickly for half an hour and travel some distance, I can walk slower and double that distance and so far my theory is paying off.  I am combining hills, flat walking, slopes, pavements, grass etcetera into my routes and it is becoming easier.  I really can see now why it is so important to break the boots in thoroughly before you leave for the trek. 

With the better weather coming in now I am trying to walk at least 1/2 an hour each day just to break in the boots.  I will then start pushing for the longer walks.  To trek the Canyon you must be comfortable walking 10 miles.  For me, that would mean walking around Arthur's Seat here in Edinburgh three times.

I am eating a healthy well balanced diet but I am also taking Acai Extreme at present and that is working wonders with my dieting and exercising in aiding weight loss.

I felt a twinge in my butt today which was not very pleasant so I cut my walk down to just 45 minutes and am hoping it will feel better later on today.

Well I guess that is the update done and dusted for now.  If you ever feel like reading my other blog please feel free.

Laters xxxx

£1000

I cannot believe it.  The page has just been running for over a month and I am now £19 away from my first £1,000.  How exciting is that. 

I must extend my thanks to the Johnson Foundation who believe in me and have supported me.

I am very blessed to have such wonderful people who know just how much of the work Marie Curie does and just how much it is a fantastic Charity to donate to.

GOOD RESPONSE

I have had a very good response via email today regarding people (mostly MP's) who will make a personal donation and pass on details to their colleagues which I am very happy about obviously.  The £500 mark is very tantalizingly near and after that has been exceeded it is down to concentrating on the first £1,000 mark.

I am very proud with myself for the fact that I am still not smoking and donating £10 to the Charity each week. I rather naively thought that the Charity received all the money we raised but in fact some of the money raised is your travelling costs, accommodation etcetera.  At least by paying £10 per week of my own money, I am offsetting the costs a little. 

I am off walking again tomorrow with my friend who is a great walking partner and it is doing her the world of good to get outside, have some fresh air and help her lose weight - which is what she is looking to do.  We have found a fantastic walk that involves a little hill climbing (not too much as of yet) and walking down hills through woods.  All in all it is a lovely walk with a stream running down the middle.  I shall try to remember to take a picture of it tomorrow and post here.

My Uncle is fundraising very well on my behalf as are my parents and a friend who is doing a sponsored walk.  I am truly blessed to have so many kind, caring people who really want to push me to succeed and succeed I shall.

Going It Alone

Technically the heading of this post is incorrect.  I am not going it alone to the Grand Canyon as there will be many trekkers (approximately 35) trekking in aid of Marie Curie.

However, Cheryl and I have decided to raise our funds separately.  So accordingly we are both "Going It Alone" when it comes to fundraising.

I wish her every success and I myself shall continue to blog here and continue to raise as much money for Marie Curie as is possible.

Remembrance

When you first complete the registration forms with Marie Curie for a trek/adventure/fundraising scheme, they ask you if you wish to walk in remembrance of anyone.  I left it blank as there are so many people now gone who I wish to remember.

It would have been far too difficult for me to fit the names of all the people I wanted to remember into a form.

My Auntie Mary who died in Marie Curie when I was just a teenager and last year, a very, very sad time when one of my very best friends lost her mother, again, in Marie Curie.  I have blogged about that friend before due to the fact that I knew she was always able to be "herself" around me and I would never have treated her any different.  I remember the night her mum passed away, I received a simple text saying "mum's gone........." it brings tears to my eyes now to even think about last summer.

A friend of mine who has suffered so much through losing her brother (not to cancer but a horrific death anyway) and her mother this year, who I think did not even get the chance to have the care of Marie Curie.

My friend and her family had a bench with her mother's name on it put up on Blackford Hill staring right out over the City of Edinburgh straight to Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags (a picture of which you can see above). 

The above image is what you see from the top of Blackford Hill.  I visited that bench the other day whilst out training for my Grand Canyon trek. There is something very peaceful at this spot.  Something very poignant and it makes me feel at peace to sit down on the bench and stare out over the City.

I remember clearly going to collect the ashes with my friend.  It was all so surreal though as we chose a biodegradable box shaped as a love heart and then the ashes were moved into this box and we "carried" my friend's mother in my car.  We laughed a lot that day.  Strange, that you would laugh when you are moving the remnants of a loved one around from place to place.  Perhaps laughing was the best way for us both to deal with what we were doing.  So, I guess if I were to walk for anyone, it would be my friend's mother.

However, things have taken a turn for the worse regarding my partner's mum.  I guess it is okay for me to call him my partner but perhaps it would be more prudent to call him my soul mate as that is what he truly is.  His mum is currently in Marie Curie, Edinburgh and it is highly unlikely she will return home.  I think every day left for her now is truly a blessing for the family but what is it for her?  Not only does she suffer from cancer which has riddled her body, she also suffers from dementia and to be perfectly honest, perhaps that is the best thing as she really does not know what is happening to her.  However, the family do and that in itself is so tragic.

My soul mate is my boyfriend of my teenage years.  We got back together last year for a short time but it did not work out - nothing bad, it was probably just a little too soon after him splitting with his wife.  He adores his mother and although he says he is strong, I know he is dying inside and there is nothing I can do to take away that pain that he is feeling.  It cuts me up as I wish I had a magic wand - does'nt everybody sometime wish the same?

My post is called Remembrance because I simply plan to trek that Canyon for every single "daffodil" in the sky and pray to god that they find a cure for cancer very, very soon.

"PHOTO SHOOT"

 Okay, so today we decided that we need to get our posters out and about with our collecting tins for Marie Curie.

Fortunately, both Cheryl and I know various places that we can leave the tins in safe places.  Round 1 photo shoot Chezzy strikes a pose!

Round 2 photo shoot, testing the light, bra on display through top and finally, Chezzy not even ready in the slightest!



Photo Shoot 3, goodness only knows what the Paparazzi aka Chloe was up to. 

 

 

The finished product which has now been emailed to mum's (my printer is out of ink oops) and shall be printed off tomorrow with appropriate Marie Curie labelling.

FUNDRAISING IDEAS

Chezzy and I are having a whole range of ideas regarding fundraising for Marie Curie and a big shout out to Jordana for her suggestions! Friends play such an important role in giving Cheryl and I ideas and please feel free to post comments of any way you guys think we could raise funds.

So far we have a pamper evening with Chezzy's friend just charging for her "tools" is that the correct word when we talk about waxing etcetera ;o); disco for end of February; race night which we may perhaps go for in June; touting local shops for prizes for raffles; sponsor sheets are out; our Just Giving page is live and although it stands at £190 just now, I have emailed councillors, msp's and mp's with a lot of them going back to work tomorrow - especially the msp's and mp's; we have had offers of prizes already; car boot sale; packing bags at our local supermarkets; collecting on the street with official Marie Curie collection tins; Chloe's school are looking to meet up with me when we go back to school to discuss fundraising ideas and we are sure we can pull Cheryl's school on board also; bake weeks i.e. taking cakes into the schools each week for sale; and obviously word of mouth. Any further ideas would be very much appreciated.

We have till the beginning of July to reach £5200 which is quite a challenge but to be perfectly honest, Chezzy and I would LOVE to smash this target and make a heck of a lot more money for Marie Curie.

Thanks for reading our blog!

A Little About Marie Curie

Marie Curie are dedicated to caring for people who suffer from cancer and any other terminal illness. In order to do that they have 2700 nurses, doctors and a vast amount of volunteers who give their time free in order to aid Marie Curie's survival and ongoing good work.

I was reading the Marie Curie website and I came across a few stories which really inspired me and touched my heart and I will share them here with you.

Dawn Dyne who is a Marie Curie Nurse says "I became a Marie Curie Nurse because I feel very strongly that everyone deserves dignity and respect at the end of their lives".

Stuart Laurie, who is a volunteer at Edinburgh's Marie Curie Hospice became a volunteer gardener over 5 years go now after his wife, Lena passed away at the Hospice. Stuart states "Why am I doing it? Quite simply to ensure that the hospice and its wonderful staff is there to provide care for another family who finds itself in the situation we were 7 years ago".

Sandra Osborne, complementary therapist had a patient come to see her for reflexology as she had incredible pain in her feet and could not walk nor even put shoes on. The woman allowed Sandra to touch her feet and perform reflexology and Sandra states "Amazingly after just one session she could walk properly and wear shoes. She was absolutely ecstatic."

Through my reading of the website and the various leaflets, forms etcetera that Cheryl and I have for the Grand Canyon, I also discovered that £20 pays for a Marie Curie Nurse to spend one hour in a patient's home; £135 pays for attendance in a Marie Curie Hospice for one day at the Day Therapy unit; £160 pays for a full shift for a Marie Curie Nurse in a patient's home; and, £800 pays for the cost of caring for an in-patient in a Marie Curie Hospice for a day.

Through the support Marie Curie received last year, they were able to help 29,000 people decide where they wanted to die.

It humbles me reading the website but it also makes myself and Cheryl even more determined to push on and earn that £6,000 so that we can help Marie Curie to continue with their fantastic work.

Things are Moving

Day 3 of me quitting smoking and I actually feel surprisingly well. I firmly believe that because I wanted to quit so much, my kids wanting me to quit and the fact that I along with Chezzy are doing the Grand Canyon trek has given me so much motivation to actually stay quit!!!

Had emailed the kids' head teacher prior to Christmas regarding fundraising at school. Well had an email in my inbox today and she agrees that it is a very worthy cause and could I make an appointment with her once the school is back to discuss a few ideas! Excited - much!!!!!

I am sure if we can get my school on board we will be able to get Chezzy's son's school on board also.

I am loving 2011 already !!!!