The 2015 Miracle Ball

Last weekend was the 2015 Miracle Ball that I chaired. It was an absolutely wonderful event that a bunch of family and friends were able to come to as well! And, of course, I loved seeing all those months of our team's hard work pay off with an incredible event that raised over $50,000! The foundation's goal was $30,000 raised with the Miracle Ball, but our committee's stretch goal was $50,000. We surpassed all of them! That is incredible and double what we made last year!! Ahhh!! It is just so awesome!! 

We auctioned off a Daytona Speedway racing experience with riding in the pace car included and, for that, had the 2007 24-hour winning car brought in to take pictures with. Oh my goodness, that was so neat and watching it get driven into the tiny area was pretty great as well. 

Before the auction started, we had a quick word from the doctor that is in charge of the Palliative Care Program at All Children's Hospital. This program helps the children and families battling life altering or life limiting diseases get proper medical care in a kind, loving, and comfortable environment. In fact, this program cares more about the comfort of the patient and the wishes of the family than most anything else. Which is exactly what any person would wish to have in those heartbreaking situations. This was also a great reminder of why everyone was there and a great intro to our auction. 

Oh, and just one picture of my dress since I am in love with it! 

Our auctioneer started off with a dollar bid (something I would highly recommend doing for every auction). For us, the dollar bid was for a super nice bottle of champagne donated by the president. When the bidding got to $40 I interrupted our kind auctioneer and brought up two more bottles. Then, our auction chair interrupted again and brought up some of her own. At that point our auctioneer asked anyone with anymore bottles to come on up.

Our entire committee was introduced that way. It was such a fun thing and really got the bidding going. When things started slowing down, a friend and committee member brought up Trader Joe's 2 Buck Chuck and that got us another $500 in bidding. I could not help but laugh. And then, when the bids got to $2,000 for some wine and spirits, I was shocked. 

The Dollar Bid was the best way to start up the auction and a great way to get people donating to a good cause rather than trying to get a good deal. 

After that came some more auction pieces, all of which went for more than they were worth- woot woot! And, finally, we ended with an incredible and informative movie that talked about what All Children's Hospital does for the Sarasota community. It is a great video that we have been working so hard to make and I just might have to put it up here pretty soon as well! 

Then, it was time for our final speaker, Tony Colton, who talked about his experience with All Children's Hospital and about being a child cancer survivor. Wow. He got to stay up with our auctioneer as we did a straight donation time we dubbed "Gift from the Heart". During this time, people raised their paddles whenever they wanted to donate and a volunteer would come around with a donation form and light up ring. Everyone wanted to donate and nobody wanted to be the putz without a ring. That part alone brought us over $13,000! Can you believe it?!?!?!? I cannot. 

Then, came dancing and relaxing and the closing of our silent auction. My Dad won the Regions bike we had up for bidding and decided to take it for a joy ride. I don't known anything funnier than seeing a grown man in a tux riding around on a green bike. Hilarious! The hubs and I won a family fun basket that included zip lining, iTunes gift cards, AMC gift cards, and a few others for places around town. 

Overall, it was a fantastic night that seriously helped a ton of kids in our area! It also went off without much of an issue.

Things That Make Me Happy

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There are so many things that can make us happy in the world and, today, I wanted to focus on a few of those. With the Miracle Ball coming up and my super stress about this Saturday being the first ever event I have chaired, there are many a thing that I like to think about other than that looming to-do list. Here are a few of them. 

• A sense of humor. Yesterday our bathroom flooded and turned half of our bedroom, closet, and hallway into a nice little in-home pond. It took a bit to see the humor in it, but find it we did. I am so happy that us humans have the ability to take the bad and make it good. I am also thankful for a husband who helps me laugh. 
• The SNL 40th anniversary show. It was the funniest thing ever and the literal definition of happiness. So good, so funny, so many memories. I am really not sure which sketch was my favorite but Wayne's World is pretty high on the list for sure!
• Federated Media and the accidental e-mail chain I got on. If you are a blogger and have any known (or unknown) connection to Federated Media, chances are you know what this is. Pretty much, I blogger thought she wrote an email to one person but sent it to the entire Federated Media email list. There were some pretty big names on that list- I'm looking at you, Damsel in Dior. It was my evening entertainment and the reason for this post. And now, I have about 900 new blogs that simply must be read!
• The most amazing Harry Potter video ever that puts all of the important Snape moments in chronological order. If you are not crying by the end, your heart is made of stone. 
• My new Magic Kingdom Starbucks mug. It is only available at the Starbucks in Magic Kingdom and it is my new love. Oh, and I am compiling a post all about the must-do things at Wilderness Lodge, it should be up later this week or early next- Here is a little teaser below :)

• This yoga video. It is simple, short, and left my buns sore the next day. 
• This dress. It is what I am wearing to the Miracle Ball and I cannot wait until Wednesday when it comes back to me from getting altered. When it got to the store I rushed in without brushing my hair or putting on any make-up. The face and hair will look a bit different Saturday night ;) Also coming Wednesday, the hub's new tux *squeal*

• You! There are so many of you who have read and responded to this little blog over the past few years and I am so happy to have you in my life. Thank you!!! 

What are a few of the things that have made you happy this week? 

100 Burpee Challenge

Burpees are great. No matter how much we hate them, there is no denying that they work the legs, butt, core, arms, chest, and back while giving us a massive cardio burst. These guys are like a secret weapon for toning and tightening all those areas that are so hard to tone and tighten. Once, there was a time when the idea of doing a burpee sent my running (almost literally) away from a workout. That is, until, I realized this little secret... For what they do, they really are not that bad. Gasp!

Yes, they are ridiculously difficult. And yes, doing an hour of burpees could bring a full grown he-man to tears; but, who has ever done burpees and not felt the rewards of it in the following days? Me either. That is why I have a challenge for you on this fine day. The 100 burpee challenge, to be precise. Yes, 100 burpees. How long will it take you? Can you do it in 15-minutes or less?

This past weekend I went to my first ever Crossfit class with a friend. It was great and there will be more on that later this week. What made this class so different from usual though, was the 3,000 burpee challenge for charity they were doing all day. After every circuit we had to do a minute of burpees. Then, there was 5-minutes at the end of the hour class. The 5-minutes were split between your team so you only ended up doing 2.5-minutes total. It was still insane. I did 88 burpees, averaging 12 burpees per minute.

Although I loved the Crossfit class and plan on returning, the burpees may have been the most useful part of the whole deal. And that, my friends, is what inspired me to put out this little mid-week challenge. 100 burpees in 15-minutes or less. Can you do it?

In order to really do this challenge, be sure that you are doing a full burpee. Start with your front on the ground, arms bent and hands on either side of your chest. Lift off to plank position and jump feet between the hands- no stepping here! Then, jump up, lifting hands straight up overhead. Jump back to plank and lower back down to the ground. That is one. Now just repeat 99 times and you are there!

Let me know how long it took you!

This Week in Workouts: What a Week!

What a week, and really, what a year this has been already! I feel like the hubs and I have more going on now and more that we have accomplished in the year so far than we did in the entire 2013 combined. So many of the projects and things that have (almost literally) fallen in my lap in the past few weeks are still a bit new to talk about, but trust me, when I am able to talk about them I will be shouting from the P+K mountain.

So, if you are not following me on social networks, now would be the time. Twitter, Facebook, and heck, Instagram are all good ways to stay in touch when some of this news decides to drop. This is not a ploy for more followers, anyone who sees my numbers knows I am not into false followings or buying fans; it is quality over quantity here. I just want to keep our P+K family in the loop about all the exciting things coming up. And trust me, they are exciting! Like can't sleep at night things!!

I am sorry, I wish I had more of an update for you than, "there are exciting secrets you don't know." Especially since these more personal Sunday posts are my favorite and a great time to share all those things all of us are excited about. Since I cannot share my exciting news, what are some exciting things going on in your life? Oh please tell me, otherwise I might just burst. Possibly for real.

One thing I can say is that I have accepted the position of Vice President of my local All Children's Guild. This is something crazy and exciting, and something I never thought I would be doing at the age of 27. Thankfully, the hubs keeps reminding me that 27 is not exactly young and I can handle it. I have some great ideas and high expectations of myself, so this VP gig should be pretty darn awesome!

Thankfully, I have still been able to workout through all of these changes and big news and I have not injured myself from lack of paying attention. Question: Does anyone else have serious issues paying attention when they are excited? I do.

Oh, and to all you amazing Moms out there, Happy Mother's Day to You!!!!!

Sunday: Walked around EPCOT. After the Expedition Everest Challenge, that is all the workout I wanted.

Monday: Rest day [again]

Tuesday: Hot Power Yoga with my sister-in-law. it was a super fun class!

Wednesday: 3-mile jog

Thursday: 2-mile jog

Friday: Rest day

Saturday: Orange Theory with my sister-in-law and 3 other ladies. The class was small and it was all ladies, so the instructor gave us a goal of reaching 2,500 group calories burned. We did it and I contributed 488 to that pot. Whoohooo!