Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Race for the Cure 2009

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is a huge event, with more than 100 races worldwide this Mother's Day weekend. Violet's Uncle Mat's mom, Jamie, is a breast cancer survivor, and Violet and I were honored to participate yesterday as members of her team.

We met Aunt Kristin, Uncle Mat, Grandma and Grandpa and more of Jamie's friends and family at her house Saturday morning, where Jamie supplied us with plenty of fuel for the race: breakfast sandwiches hot off the griddle and even powdered donuts (my favorite!). The one mile walk from Jamie's to the starting line was a great warmup for most of us; I let Violet conserve her energy riding on my back. The race got underway not long after our arrival, and once the hard-core contenders were out of the way, we joined the crowd and took off!

We had all signed up for the 5k walk, and at the outset, it looked doable. I had my Connecta (buckle-tai type for the baby-carrier set) carrier with me, so Violet could ride on my back as soon as she got tired. But she didn't get tired. She ran, and ran, and ran. Just not always in the same direction. We lost Kristin and Mat and the rest of the group early on, but my mom (hard to get used to calling her Grandma!) and I accompanied Violet as she ran up one side of the street and down the other, over and over.

I doubt we covered more than half a mile, but we really covered that stretch. Violet finally wore herself out, and sprawled out in the street to rest.

We had a ton of fun, but even more than that, I was just moved to be a part of it all. The sheer number of people who come out to support the fight against breast cancer, and the enthusiasm of everyone there is a really powerful thing to experience. We're already looking forward to next year.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Where We've Been

This blog has been seriously neglected for the past few months. It's not something I really intended to let lapse, other projects just took precedence for a while. Rebuilding the backyard and getting the garden set up again after everything was excavated to replace a sewer line consumed all of our weekends through March and much of April, but things are finally up and running. A detailed post on our new and improved plot will be forthcoming. I promise.

The other endeavor I've been devoting more attention to is my photography. I participated in a fantastic photography workshop in March, and spent nearly every spare moment in April to setting up shop. As of May 1, East End Portrait Photography is officially open for business! The blog launched yesterday, and I'm hoping to have a website up soon. (One thing at a time . . .) A second job, that's exactly what I needed, right?

And because life wouldn't be complete if I didn't find yet another project to focus my few free moments on, I have plans to redesign (and move) this blog as well. In the process of setting up the business blog, I found myself enamored with everything I could do with Wordpress, so I've made up my mind to move Postcards from the East End to a new site, with a new look. Just as soon as I get through about 16 other things on my to-do list. In the meantime, things may continue to be a little slow around here, but hang in there with me. I'll be back, and better than ever about keeping you posted on all that we're up to.