Tinker Bell Half Marathon 2014

Last year the Tinker Bell half marathon made me cry. I should have gotten a PR but I didn’t and  watching my PR slip away was heartbreaking. It was the first and only race that literally brought me to tears, but I am happy to report that this year that was not the case.

Since I had known my training had been lacking I wasn’t expecting much and decided that this year I wanted to PR in fun and I did just that!



I’m still not a fan of the 5 am start time, but once I’m up and going I’m glad to get it done early and still have all day to spend in the parks! Unlike the 10k the morning before there was no flat Summer laid out. Instead there was a balled up Summer laying on the sofa in the room, and when my alarm went off at 3:45 I grumbled a bit and begrudgingly rolled out of bed. After getting dressed and downing a protein shake I was ready to head down to the lobby to meet up with Kirsten again.

I have to say that the lobby was much busier that morning and the feel of the half marathon was very different than that of the 10k for sure! You definitely knew what the main event was, and we were hoping we were ready for it! We both have ran several half marathons before, but with the vision of the 10k sweepers still fresh in our minds we weren’t as confident as we normally would have been. In fact I posted this status update on Facebook and being blessed with awesome friends they had some wonderful answers for me!

 

After settling into corral C and taking the obligatory corral selfie I was feeling a little better about the mileage ahead of me, but only a little. The national anthem was sang with fireworks a blazing and shortly after that the wheelchair racer took off. For some reason this always chokes me up a bit, and usually brings a tear or two to my eye.

After the wheelchair racer was well on their way corral A was off, followed closely by corral B, and before I knew it was time for us to head out on our own 13.1 mile journey through the Disneyland Resort Parks and the streets of downtown Anaheim.


After making a loop around Disneyland resort we headed back stage, and then into California Adventure where the fountains for World of Color were on and absolutely beautiful!



From here we headed towards Cars Land, which is just amazing to run through when it is all lit up! I would also like to give runDisney huge props for the slight change of course from last year, and the added light to the paths that were really dark in the past! It was greatly appreciated!



This sign made me giggle a bit so I had to get a picture of it in case I needed to use it somewhere down the line. The other side said “Not Slow” but I couldn’t get the picture to come out with the spotlight shinning on the “sl”

After running around most of California Adventure we hit the 5k mark as we exited the park and headed across the way to the Disneyland park! It was in the area between parks that I noticed another great change runDisney added to control the flow of cross traffic, similar to what they do on the parade route, and that was greatly appreciated too, as there has been more then once that I almost plowed into a spectator trying to run across the course in front of me.

Once in Disneyland there were character picture ops aplenty, but after the run in with the sweepers the day before I opted to skip all of them but this one, that I mostly took for #3 since she loves puppies and kitties and is known to try and use “cute paws” on me.

 
After running through Disneyland, and hitting the last real restroom, under the Hungry Bear Restaurant, we were on our way through Downtown Disney and toward the amazing Red Hat ladies! I was completely surprised by them the first year, and I greatly anticipate seeing them every year, and they did not disappoint! They are hands down the most amazingly enthusiastic group of spectators I have ever seen!

  

After leaving the Red Hat Ladies and Downtown Disney behind it gets pretty quiet, and I knew there was nothing but the streets of Anaheim left to see. A little after mile 6 we stopped at the medical tent so I could get a band aid. When we were back stage at Disneyland I could feel that one of my toe nails were cutting the toe next to it so I wanted to prevent any further damage. I was a bit surprised to see as much blood as there was, but I put the band aid on and thankfully my shoe went back on with no issues and we were off again. These were some of my favorite signs from the neighborhood portion of the run.



There was also this sign in the business area of the course. Don’t worry my mom taught me well and I did not take the candy from the nice strangers on the street corner, but I did take a couple of the orange slices and they were quite heavenly!



Around mile 9 I stopped at another med tent, this time for some Tylenol. My hip had held up really well, but it was giving me some itchy sensations off and on so I wanted to be a bit proactive and take it before I absolutely needed it. It was at this stop that I lost Kirsten. She kept running and told me to catch up when I was done and I somehow passed her without seeing her. #SadTrombone

But I did find a couple of people from one of my Facebook running groups at the med tent and they invited me to run with them, so I did.  Just before mile 11 I happened to check my phone and noticed I had a missed call from DisBroad Patty, silly lady. I will text, Facebook, and tweet during a race, but I draw the line at answering the phone. ;)

There happened to be a text from her as well checking where I was. I was actually just behind her and the rest of the Tink DisBroads so she told me to stay at the mile 11 sign until I see them. As we approached the mile 11 sign I said good bye to my running partners and ran toward the sign when I heard a loud cheer yelling "Summer" and there they were! DisBroads April, Patty, Amy and Tania were already at the sign waiting for me!


With just over 2 miles left to go we decided to finish the race together, using the motto #NoDisBroadLeftBehind and in this case that DisBroad was me!! As we finished the race together, spirit fingers in the air, we were diverted to one side as there was a runner down receiving medical attention and I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. Yes, I'm that girl who cries over everything! His wife later posted in one of the Facebook groups I am a member calling him the "Lost Boy who tried to go to Neverland" and reported that he ended up having open heart surgery, but is expected to make a full recovery and their goal is to get him completely rehabilitated in time to run the Wine & Dine half in November!! Again this made me tear up a bit, but I was glad to hear was going home and doing well.

As we exited the finish line area and made our way toward the medals we came across runDisney’s Bob Hitchcock and he very graciously posed for a picture with us! He was so nice and his lighting crew even offered to light up our cell phone picture for us!! It was a very brief, but wonderful experience.



Now with an absolutely amazing race behind us what is in the DisBroads future? Rumor has it we will ALL be in Disney World next month for the Princess Half marathon!! #TureStory The word epic is being thrown around, and we hope you will be there to join us!

The Inaugural Tinker Bell 10k

After getting a glimpse of the medal for the Tinker Bell 10k I decided there was no way I was going to let my friends get the medal and not have one myself so I added the race to my line up a little late, and I’m sure glad I did!

If you saw the preview picture on Instagram of my Anna costume, I ended up making a few last minute changes so that there would be no mistaking who I was suppose to be, and with flat Summer laid out I was off to bed around 11 o’clock, for an early 4:45 wake up.



I can never say that I am so not a morning person enough!! I’m really not! I purposely stay at Paradise Pier every year so that I can roll out of bed, look out my window to check the corrals, fall into my costume and slither to the start line! This year was no exception, but thankfully I had a partner in crime who had the same game plan!

I met my friend Kirsten in the lobby at about 5:30 for a 6 am start time and we headed to the corrals together. For some reason, even though we were in the same corral for the half, Kirsten’s bib was for corral D so I decided I would drop back and join her. I’m a really social runner and having someone to talk to really makes all the difference to me.

If I’m being honest I wasn’t too thrilled with corral D. The company was great, don’t get me wrong, but we had no idea what the heck was going on ahead of us! We couldn’t hear the announcers, and didn’t even hear the start of the national anthem either! I was a bit disappointed with that. We also seemed to be held in the same place for a very long time! I am use to being in the earlier corrals and moving up after each corral left, but that didn’t seem to be the case this time.

Finally, after what felt like a really long time, it was our turn to go!! Again I was feeling like dropping back to corral D wasn’t that great of an idea because we were constantly stuck behind walkers. Now I have no issues with walkers, especially since I do run/walk intervals, but it added a new challenge as most of the paths were pretty narrow and quite difficult to pass on. I ended up going even slower then I had originally anticipated, but I reminded myself that I still had the half to run the next day so it was better to take it easy anyway!

After taking a pretty long tour of the backstage area we came into the park next to It’s a Small World in all it’s holiday glory!! Since we hadn’t taken any pics up to this point we decided this would be a great one to take, plus it didn’t require standing in a line!!



The 1 mile marker was set up right as we were exiting Toon Town to head back stage again and this bottle necked really bad! There was no running through it, and even walking posed a challenge.
After entering back into the parks near Splash Mountain, and running around the boarded up Thunder Mountain we were making our way into Fantasy Land when we spotted DisBroad Patty waiting outside the bathroom for DisBroad April, who is pregnant and was visiting all the restrooms along the way. We also spotted these fun peeps and decided to stop for a pic with them!



In all my trips to Disney I am fairly certain this was actually my very first picture with Jolly Holiday Mary, or Mary Poppins at all for that matter!! So I was very glad I stopped, and really the line wasn’t all that bad! After Kirsten and I took our pics with Mary and Bert we waited for DisBroads Amy, April, and Patty to do them same! Then we were off again and quickly lost them on the course. I told you it was pretty crowded!

After making a quick circle around Tomorrow Land and heading down Main Street USA we were on our way over to California Adventure! Once we hit Cars Land I looked at Kirsten and asked her if she wanted to take pics with Mater and Lightening McQueen, and of course her answer was YES!! The line didn’t look that long, but it ended up taking longer then I had expected, and that is when it happened! We were only a couple people from our turn and we saw the 16 min/mil pacer pass us!!



In all of the runDisney races I have done I have never even seen a pacer, more less been passed by one! We quickly got our photo and decided we needed to haul buns to get ahead of that little orange flag of death! Which was a bit of a chore since there was quite a crowd around her!

Thankfully we were able to get well in front of her before leaving the parks and never saw her again!
I really felt that the 10k was harder then it should have been for me and that started making me very nervous about doing the half marathon the next day! Kirsten and I both agreed to mostly walk the last 2 miles and we finished way slower then we had planned, but we finished none the less. Even though the race hadn’t gone as I had planned I was quite pleased to add this beauty to my collection!

          

What are your thoughts on runDisney adding the 10k distance to most of their race weekends? Have you had the chance to run a runDisney 10k yet?

Tink Half Expo!!

Since I had volunteered the day before I had to go back to the expo on Friday in order to pick up my roommates bibs and to check out what they had to offer.

Now I have a confession to make, I’m not huge on expos. I usually make a mad dash in, get my bib, shirt and gear bag and get the heck out of dodge! At least that is what I have done for every expo except for Tink. I’m not sure what it is about this particular expo, but all 3 years I have found myself wondering around checking out the vendors, and this year I even went back several times!

On Friday I picked up my roommates bib for her, got her shirts and bags and made my way over to the official merchandise where most of the hot ticket items, like the zip up jackets, were pretty picked over, but was glad to see plenty of the pull over hoodies where still available. I quickly grabbed my size as I weaved in and out of the other isles seeing if anything else caught my attention, but thankfully it didn’t. I stood there for a moment looking at the hoodie in my hand trying to decide if I was going to drop the cash or not, and of course I did.

Around this time I met back up with DisBroad Patty, since we came to the expo together, but quickly went separate ways. We went over to scope out the KT Tape line for DisBroad Tania, and after we met up with her she got taped and we were on our way to the parks for a bit!!

I had been following the New Balance tweets and as of Saturday morning they still had my size in the Cinderella shoes so I thought I would make my way over there after the 10k and see if I could on the reservation list, and I did with no problem! I literally walked up, entered my info on the iPad and was told it would be my groups turn in about 2 1/2 hours so I went into the expo and picked up a couple pair of PRO Compression socks that I had been eyeing online! I also went over to get a picture with Jeff Galloway since he was the reason I actually felt like I could do a half marathon in the first place!! He is all around a great guy, and has no problem chatting it up with you, which is just awesome!

I then headed to the park for a bit until I got my “it’s your turn” text about 3 hours later and made my way back to the expo . . . again, and picked up these beauties!! Easy peasy!!

Since this was going to be my last runDisney event for awhile I spent more then I normally would, but I love every single one of my purchases and I have no buyers regret so I would say it was a success!!

Do you like to shop the expos? or are you usually in and out, like me?

VoluntEARing at the Tink Half Expo

As part of this year’s Project ME I decided my act of kindness for last week would be to voluntEAR at the Tink Half expo, and since my room reservation was for Thursday- Sunday and my fellow DisBroads where not arriving until Friday Thursday seemed like a great time to do it.

 

As a volunteer you get a free volunteer race shirt, which in this case was a long sleeve purple t-shirt, a certificate, and a meal during your shift. If you work 2 or more shifts you also get a free theme park ticket, but I didn’t have the time for that.

I arrived to my 1:00 check in about 10 minutes fashionably late, but thankfully I wasn’t alone so no one noticed. I try to be on time, really I do, but something always happens to prevent it.

After checking in at the volunteer check in table I was handed my shirt, a bottle of water and was instructed to fill out a name badge to wear during my shift. Since I was late I barely sat down and we were already breaking off into groups. It was then that I found my friend Tracy, who was also volunteering and she managed to get us a hook up to go upstairs and give out the race shirts!

              

Although for me that was short lived because I got pulled and ended up going back downstairs to help distribute the shirts and bags for the kids’ races, which was fun and allowed me to keep an eye on the lines! Towards the end of the evening there were no lines so I ran over to print out my waivers and went from one booth to the next and picked up both my half marathon and 10k bibs in a matter of 5 minutes!!

All in all it was a pretty fun experience, and one I wouldn’t mind doing again, if given the opportunity!

Have you ever volunteered to help at a race before?

What’s Up Wednesday v.1.12.14

Inspirational Quote:

I’m a planner. I like to plan and research, research and plan. Often after all that research and planning I no longer feel like doing, so I am going to work on less talking/planning and more just doing it!

(Intentional) Act of Kindness:

This week I donated to DisBroad Kristen St. Jude’s Hero fund. She will be running the St. Jude Country Music half marathon in April as a St. Jude’s Hero, once again. If you would like to join her she as a discount code you can use for $10 off just entry KSMITHRUNS as the promo code, or if you are feeling lucky you can also head over to her blog and enter for a chance to win a free entry!

Now for my randomness.

Eek! Tomorrow I am heading down to Anaheim to visit with the mouse for a bit! I honestly have some very mixed feelings about this. I know I’m not properly trained so I am very nervous about the running, or more likely walking, part of the trip. I’m doing both the 10k and the half pretty much untrained, which is just plan stupid.

I’m also somewhat solo! I’ve never done Disney without a family member, who was obligated to hang with me, so this will be very different for me. Several of my fellow DisBroads will be there, but we all arrive at different times and have different schedules planned so I am unsure how that will all pan out.

Lastly I haven’t exactly packed or updated a play list or anything. You safely say I’m pretty much a mess at this point. On top of that mommy guilt is kicking in big time!

Normally I don’t have this issue since the kids stay with Officer P when I make my runDisney trips, but with Officer P out of commission they are staying with grandma. I am most concerned about “the boy” since he has been having the hardest time with his dad’s absence, and has been sleeping with me every night. The older 2 could care less, and “puppy lover” is hit or miss. I think she will be fine, but she does like to lay on the guilt a bit too. I’m sure it will all be fine and dandy in the end, but right now it is adding to my stress.

Now off to pack! I hope I get to see some of you this weekend! If you do happen to run into me feel free to say hi! I’m pretty nice ;) but I am horrible about spotting people on the course or in crowds so I’m not ignoring or avoiding anyone. I promise. 

Core Power Protein Shake Giveaway!!

Disclaimer: I received my fit kit free of charge from Core Power in order to try their product before hosting the giveaway, but all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

I was so excited when my Core Power Fit-Kit was delivered last week!! I couldn’t wait to tear into it and see what was inside and I will say it did not disappoint!!


My Fit Kit included a Core Power sweat towel, CamelBak sports bottle, yoga mat (with carrying case), balance ball (with pump and instructional DVD), a Core Power gym bag and samples of their protein shakes!



The shakes I received were chocolate, banana and vanilla. I tried the chocolate one first and I seriously loved it! I even gave my mom a sip and she pretended like she wasn’t going to give it back! It tasted just like chocolate milk! It was very smooth and creamy, with no chalky aftertaste, which often turns me off to protein drinks.

The next day I couldn’t wait to finish my workout so that I could try the banana one! I never heard of a banana protein drink before, but it seemed like a good idea to me. It was just as good!! I think next time I want to buy one of each and mix them together to make a chocolate covered banana one. :) I’m thinking it will be great for my prerace shake before the Tinker Bell 10k and half in just under a week!!!

I did not personally try the vanilla since I let my mom have that one, she earned it, but she said it was really good and that she chugged it straight down after her workout at the gym!

They each contain 26g of protein, which is great for those of us who struggle to get enough in through meals alone. They also carry light versions in both chocolate and strawberry banana if your looking for something with less calories, and those have 20g of protein in them.

If you want to know all the in depth “sciencey” stuff you can get it on their website, since I really can’t say it any better.
  
If you are wondering where you can buy Core Power you can check there website here. When I looked up my area it is at most major gas stations and grocery stores in the area, or you can also order it on Amazon.com as well. I highly recommend you give it try! 

Now for the moment you have been waiting for . . . the giveaway!! Core Power will be sending one of my readers a fit kit, just like mine!! (Note shake flavors of the winners kit may vary). 

Rules:

• Open to US residents only
• Must be 18 or older to win
• Winner has 72 hours after the contest closing to claim the prize or it will be forfeited and a new winner will be selected
• Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All Ways Are Not MY Way

Okay, a small confession here. I am a bit of a “Type A” personality. I like for things to be MY way and I can have controlling tendencies, especially when it comes to food or vacation planning. Of course if I am met with opposition I usually just fold (remember, I’m non-confrontational), but if no one is going to challenge me I run with it!

I don’t think this is always a bad thing, I mean it’s good to have opinions, right? But none the less I have decided to make a conscious choice to just “go with the flow” more.

I have discovered that I often create more stress for myself by trying to control situations that just can’t be controlled. A huge example of this right now is our relocation from California back to Houston. To sum it up simply, it’s a mess. I’m in California, officer P is in Georgia, our house is being built in Houston, and the lender is in Colorado, so needless to say coordination is pretty difficult and the timelines are ever changing. Basically we are looking at anytime between March and May.   

This is simply out of my control and since I can’t control the situation I am working on controlling my feelings and reactions to the situation instead. It has been, and will continue to be, full of ups and downs, but I have been working on letting it go.   

It’s not always easy, but I have found that by taking the time to decompress a bit and give up some of the control I have been able to defuse some issues that have came up, which at this point is the best I can ask for.

Although I do not necessarily like that all ways are not my way, I am finding that by embracing it my life is becoming a little bit easier.  

Do you find that there are certain things you feel the need to control? And others you simply can’t be bothered with?

What’s Up Wednesday v1.7.14

With the launch of project ME What’s Up Wednesday is going to be a little different going forward. Now don’t worry it will still be filled with plenty of randomness, since it doesn’t get much more me then that. But I have also decided to add an inspirational quote that spoke to me during the week, and also report one act of kindness that I preformed, so here it goes. 

Inspirational Quote:

There is no surprise this one would speak to me this week since my theme has been working on removing negativity from my mind.

Overall I have done pretty well, but I’m not going to lie, this will be an ongoing process for me that I will really have to work on everyday day.

 

(Intentional) Act of Kindness:

My first act of kindness was to donate to the Taylor Brooks Foundation. I always want to donate to my friends fundraising efforts, but I never feel like I can donate enough to really make a difference, but I have decided every little bit really does count and when my small donation is added with other small donations they become not so small after all. That is why when DisBroad Julie told me about the foundation and how they deliver donuts to the children’s cancer floor once a week how could I not want to help? I certainly can spare some money for donuts for children fighting cancer!!

This is what Julie shared with me about the foundation, in her own words:

“My friend Melissa lost her teenage daughter Taylor to a very rare form of cancer. As Taylor recovered from her chemo and treatments she always remembered those on the cancer floor - patients, Parents, and caretakers with weekly treats. She also organized a holiday party for the patients. As Taylor fought for her life she always remembered others in the same battle. She lost her fight and in her memory her mom carries on her work. I am amazed how much this foundation does......there is VERY little overhead and its very grassroots. Any donation goes very far. I am so proud of Melissa my friend - a cancer survivor herself for carrying on Taylors kind deeds and legacy.” 

If you would like to learn more about the foundation you can do so here or you can make a donation here.   

Now for the randomness:)

I restarted T25 on Monday. I’m still not really feeling it, but that is because I have developed the habit for being lazy so I just need to keep with it until I come around again. Plus it is *only* 25 minutes.

Also a week from tomorrow I will be volunteering at the Tinker Bell expo so if you are visiting that day come by and say hi! I’m not sure where I will be yet, but if you follow me on twitter I’ll let you know when I find out!

And that is week 1 of 2014 in a nutshell. ;)

Look For Kindness and You Will Find It!

As I have been working on cutting down the negativity in my life I have discovered that I often only see what I am looking for. If I am expecting people to be rude and uncaring, that is usually all that I see. This led to the decision to look for the small acts of kindness that surround me everyday, but often goes unnoticed.

On Thursday I took the kids on an outing to Costco (I know, I know, we are wild and crazy) not even thinking that it was the beginning of the month and that it was closed the day before for the holiday. It was much more crowded then I would have expected for a Thursday around 1 and I really try not to take the kids shopping in crowds because it stresses me out! I can not even count the times that they have been hit/ bumped by carts and criticized for being in the way of grumpy shoppers in crowded stores over the years.
Since we were already in the parking lot by the time I realized my mistake I figured we might as well brave the crowd and venture in. It was very crowded. There were at least 5-10 carts down every side isle in the store and many more in main ones, and although I am sure there were many a hurried shopper cursing everyone else for being in there way, I am happy to report I did not witness them.

Source

Instead I saw a women reaching for some cherries that were above her head and the container opening and spilling out all over the floor. I also saw one women, and then another, stop their shopping and bend over to help her pick them up. Even after the women had thanked them many times and insisted that she had it taken care of. I also saw a man unaware of what had happened walk past a run away cherry on the floor and then doubled back to pick it up and toss it into an empty box near by.

Sure these were very little acts, and took no more then a minute out of their day, but there were out of concern for someone other then themselves. They certainly didn’t HAVE to help at all, but they chose to anyway and that is pretty darn cool.

I am going to give you all another challenge this week. I want you to look for the small acts of kindness that surround you everyday, that you might have otherwise missed, and come back and share them with me! They can be anything! Big or small, I just want you to be out there looking for the good in each other! 

The WDW Marathon Meet Up That Isn't

The meet ups that traditionally accompany most of the runDisney races are highly anticipated among runDisney enthusiast. "Blog stalking" traditionally starts a couple weeks out since the only way to get into these events is by being among the quickest to submit an RSVP email to the designated address when the request for sign ups hits the blog!

I'm sure you can imagine the disappointment felt around the blogaverse yesterday when 5:00 pm est came and went and there was no meet up post to be found. Then the news was broke by a few bloggers with connections to runDisney employees confirming that there will, in fact, be no meet up accompanying next weekends event. #sadtrombone

Logistically I get it, I really do. With the Dopey Challenge being added this year, the weekend is jam packed with races. Add in that those participating in said challenge have to hit the expo Wednesday in order to get there bibs for the 4 races that lay ahead of them I'm not even sure we can consider it a weekend any more! 

What I am not thrilled with is the way that runDisney handled the situation. Knowing the hype they create with these events, and the fact that people have been directly asking about the meet up on both Facebook and Twitter for weeks now there has been no official statement made directly from runDisney. 

I understand that these events are not guaranteed, but when being directly asked it would have been considerate to reply with a simple "thank you for asking, but due to . . . we have decided not to do a meet up for this event, but keep an eye out for future meet ups." Easy peasy, right?  

The way it stands now it seems as though unless you on the runDisney, uber exclusive, media blogger list you are not worthy of receiving this information directly from the horses mouth, so to speak. And really that is just kind of sad considering how loyal Disney fans are.

But now, with the fate of the marathon weekend meet up sealed, it is time to look forward toward my favorite fairy and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. Will there be a meet up, or won't there? I guess we shall find out in the next week or so!! 

If you are interested in seeing what attending a runDisney meet up is like check out my recap of last years Tink Half Meet Up and find out!

Project ME: Consider Your Motivation

Long before the clock struck midnight, and the New Year began I had been thinking about “project ME”. I tried to decide just what I wanted to gain from it, and how I would even begin to take it on. Thankfully the answers were quite simple, I want to have peace in my heart, and free my head from negativity. I want to be happy with who I am, and to be comfortable in my own skin. While the answers were easy the process to obtaining that is going to be the hard part. 

I figured if I started working on the negativity, my heart is sure to follow, so that is what I am doing. One of the ways I plan on doing that is by taking the time to stop and consider what my motivation is for saying or doing something I may not feel completely comfortable with. Am I not comfortable with it because I feel it is wrong? Or is it that I am afraid of what others might think?

A few days ago I practiced this for the first time, and honestly the outcome was somewhat surprising to me.

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, which I do several times a day, and I saw 2 friends had both posted this:

Now reading my blog I am sure you are able to find many instances in which I have used incorrect grammar, or even the wrong word all together! I try not to make these mistakes, but I’ll be honest, my mind is much more math oriented. Grammar just does not come easy to me. I can not even tell you how many times I have read a sentence over several times trying to decide which word pairing was correct, so it’s not that I don’t care. That is why when I saw the first comment posted was this:

“ Wish people knew how to type! No idea how one cannot understand proper grammar anymore!”

I was annoyed, and even a little offended. I quickly typed up this response:

But I didn’t post it right away. Instead I read it over a few times. The first couple of times trying to insure that ever single word was used correctly, and then to consider how it might be received. This is where the old Summer would delete the comment because it quite possibly would offend the original poster. I even left the comment un-posted and scrolled down my feed a bit before coming back and hitting send.

I felt the person very well could have gotten offended and unfriended me, but after really thinking it over, and keeping “project ME” in mind I felt it was worth it to have my voice heard, and I am glad that I did. I woke up to a PM from the poster in the morning saying that they hoped that they did not upset me and that they would never intentionally make someone feel bad over grammar.

Is this going to change the world? Of course not. But might that poster think twice about posting things designed to belittle others in the future? I truly hope so. 

Now this is where I am going to give you the challenge to consider your own motivations. Are you coming from a place of true compassion, concern and/or caring? Or are your intentions mean spirited and fueled by fear, jealousy or insecurity?

The Courage to Be Me

Newsflash, I’m insecure! Like obnoxiously insecure. In fact I am so insecure I am even insecure about being insecure.

These insecurities also make me non-confrontational to a fault, and I happen to have some highly confrontational people in my life. The kind in which my mere existence has ruined their life. Yeah, seriously. How can you even argue with that anyway? There is no winning. 

When you mix a non-confrontational personality with insecurities you get a people pleaser, and that is what I have been. I have taken a great deal of criticism over the years and just internalized it because I didn’t want to deal with the ramifications sure to come with me standing up for myself, my family, and the things I believe in.

I know these things about myself, and I know that there is not going to be any easy “fixes”, but I feel I am at place in my life where I am ready to grow up and make some changes.

Officer P says I always have to have a project to focus on, and really he’s right. This is why I have decided that for 2014 I am going to take on my biggest project yet . . . ME.

For the next year this blog is going to serve as a journal following my journey to becoming the best me I can be. Both inside and out. I know not everyone is going to like it, and really that’s okay because this is my journey to take, anyway.  

I hope you will follow along with me as I work on becoming the person I want to be, and who knows . . . you may just learn some things about yourself along the way!