I am thankful!

I am so thankful for a wonderful boyfriend, friends and family.

Here is how we spent our Thanksgiving: The Castell Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a wonderful turkey day filled with laughter and fun :)

What an Inspiring Weekend!

Wow, I am so tired but last weekend I was really inspired! We held our 23rd annual MS Dinner Auction at the Loews in Coronado on Saturday Nov 21st and I spent all day Friday Nov 20th & Sunday Nov 22nd scouting the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk.

Friday morning I woke up bright and early at 5am, usually I only do this when I have to work for one of our events. This Friday morning I was getting up to not only see off my friend Oria and Team Breast Friends 2009 on their 3-day 60 mile journey for breast cancer, but the other nearly 4,000 people that walked with them. It was cold as I left the house and was so glad for the beanie I was wearing, bummed out though that I forgot my gloves! Oh well, needed to hit the road to the Del Mar Fair grounds early enough to not deal with that much traffic!


Luckily I parked and was able to find Oria right away! Here is Oria with her friends Katie and Jenny holding their scarves that they wrote each person who donated to them on and the people who they were walking for. They carried these scarves with them all weekend long.

I won't bore you with all the details of me following the route, checking out rest stops, lunch stops, and the camp ground, but I will tell you that I saw AMAZING people out there doing an AMAZING thing! I stopped that morning to remember my brother and sister who lost their mother to breast cancer when they were only 11 & 13. I can not imagine what they went through then and everyday since. I am thankful that they are able to call my mom their mom as she continued to raise them when Lynn passed and always have thought of them as her own children.

I also saw so many funny outfits. Here is one of the many groups who wore bras on their heads.After scouting the route all Friday morning, I then had to get to work on finishing my part of our MS Dinner Auction. I went by Leo Hamel to pick up the 1 Carat Diamond they donated for our Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend Drawing. For some reason I could not stop shaking after I got the diamond, why you ask? Because I could think of all the bad things that could happen to me between the time I drove from Old Town to Carlsbad. What if I lost the diamond?

Saturday morning I had to sleep in as I was so tired from my long day Friday. Once I woke up I packed my bags, gathered all my supplies for the MS Dinner Auction and headed down to Coronado. It was such a gorgeous day. I checked in at around 2pm thinking I was getting a garden view room and to my surprise this was the view of downtown San Diego from our patio!!! AWESOME.Forgetting the view, I moved on quickly to get my table and everything ready before the guests arrived. We had over 500 guests joining us for the MS Dinner Auction and we raised over $425,000 that night to help us create a world free of MS. My co-coworker Beth made an amazing video that was played to show people her story, how MS has affected her mother and as a result her family. Her video and story inspires me to want to work harder every day to find a cure for MS. We raised $79,000 for our Fund-a-need section of the program that was right after the video. In addition to the great video the dinner auction had dancing this year with the band The Heroes and Conrad's cousin Jodi was our MC for the night, she did a terrific job!!

Sunday morning Conrad and I ordered room service before he headed out for work. I sat and watched football while enjoying the view until check out at noon, well 12:15 and believe me I did not want to go. At that point I headed to Downtown to again scout the breast cancer walk and to see Oria and Team Breast Friends 2009 cross the finish line. Not only was the Charger game on, so the bars downtown were packed, but the walk ended at Petco Park so the bars were even more packed with walkers and their families. I met up with Oria's husband Aaron at Basic while we waited. Oria and her team arrived shortly after, we went to Fleetwood for food and drinks until 4:00 when they had to go to the holding area for the victory march.

The closing ceremony was very powerful, seeing 4,000 people filtering in who just walked 60 miles over three days and raised approximately 9.5 million dollars in the fight against breast cancer. I stood with Oria's family as we watched her and Team Breast Friends 2009 cross the finish line. How amazing they just walked 60 miles and in three days at that. I always question what life is all about. This weekend I again realized that I will probably never figure out that answer but I can feel better about my life knowing that I get up every morning and go to work to help find a cure for a disease that affects the lives of so many. I know that I have accepted to be part of the movement to help us create a world free of MS, just like the 500 plus people who came to our MS Dinner Auction and the 4,000 people who got together this weekend in the fight against breast cancer have also joined together in their fight for a cure.

I challenge each and everyone who reads this blog to get out there and do something for the greater good. Which ever charity or organization you choose know you will be making a difference in the lives of people who create your community. Remember that one day you may need the same support from that same community. Volunteer, donate, or just get out there and walk for awareness.