Logos and Graphics

Today I made another team logo. I love the way it came out. Its so cute. I lots of luck to team "Pink Chicks with a purpose" who will be walking in San Fransico. Again I am making these for donations. I am also willing to make non-3day logos for other clubs, groups or companies.

Update 3-2-10 I wanted to share another 3 Day team logo. This was for team "Pink PediCures" who will be walking in Michigan. Thank you to Christina for her generous donation to my fundraising. I wish her and her team all the best with their walk.

This was the first logo I made for something other than a 3 day team. I made this for Lindsey, she has a small scrapbook buisness and was looking for a design. Thank you for the donation to my 3 Day account. Good luck with your buisness.

Inspirational Song of the Week #3

Pink Warrior by Candy Coburn. This song Rocks! Get a free download of this song from CandyCoburn.com oh and walkers Candy will be preforming at some of the 3 Day walks this year! I can't wait to see her in concert, bring on the klenex. Its a fight song, but it causes me tears of joy.

You gotta try this (part 1)

I have decided to periodically review a product or service that has to do with training and the walk itself. I will talk about how its working out for me. Everyone is different. Every walker will have to find what works for them. But you don't have to go searching in the dark. Hey where do you think I have heard about these things? from former walkers :) So I am going to review the two things I have tried so far.

First lets talk about shoes. Its probably the most important item you buy/use. Normally my athletic shoes are cheap and worn out, usually from a place like walmart. Now that doesn't bother me, in fact it has saved me a lot of money over the years. But I took on this advice. "Now is not the time to cheap out on shoes, you NEED the quality and FIT." So I went to a New Balance store. Yes I went their because of the discount walkers get. But I tried one a few pairs in different styles and sizes. I got measured again too. I fell in love with the WW760 which used to be the official shoe of the 3 day but has been discontinued. So they only had a few sizes. I have wide feet and they did not have them. So they put in an order to another store and I got them a few days later. They fit great, and don't have that feel like they need to be super broken in. Before I got them in though I went to 5 other sporting good/shoe stores in search of a comfortable shoe that would work well for this event. Some stores (and I wont name names) said and I quote "we don't have ANY shoes that we would recommend for walking 60 miles" well at least they were honest. I picked up a pair of Asics that I liked, until I got home. I had to return them because my feet were too wide. I don't know why I didn't notice that at the store. Oh well. The New Balance shoes were worth the wait. Now I just hope that I can come up with enough money to hunt down another pair. Even my husband who wont wear anything but his work boots was able to find a pair of stability running shoes.

Second fabulous find "mapmywalk.com"- I haven't blogged in a while because I have been in the hospital. I had some blood pressure related issues. Now that things are back under control and it temporarily stopped snowing in Cleveland, I went on my first training walk. I have been doing a lot of exercise at home, but no walking until now. So I layered up and found old shoes (cause its all slushy) and my dog and I went for a 3 mile walk. Originally I went on Google (again) and mapped out 1.5 miles using their walking directions feature. So I was going to walk from my house to that point and then back. It was 3 miles but I felt kind of silly stopping in the middle of the busy street/sidewalk and turning around like I was lost. So I tried out mapmywalk.com I was able to enter in my address as the starting point and drag the path I wanted to take until it added up to 3 miles. It did take some playing around with. The normal route I would have taken with the kids or the dog wasn't long enough. But I did eventually get it and now I have a safe 3 mile route that is in a circle. So no looking crazy turning around for no reason or at no store/marker.

Like I said, I will try new things and post my findings. What works for me may not work for you. So experiment. I'm also open to suggestions for things to try or review.

Getting Started meetings

I am one of those people, that googled everything. I try to get as much information as possible about everything. I don't like surprises. Now I know that behavior like that is not normal and not always healthy. That being said... My approach to the 3 Day was no different. I have read over walkers blogs, googled the past events in my city and watched countless videos on Youtube. I wanted to know what I was getting in to, before I paid the registration fees. With that done and out of the way I promptly read my online version of the walkers handbook, browsed the forums and read almost every article available on the 3 day site. I felt pretty overwhelmed. Even for me. I got tons of information and some of my questions were answered. But I still needed some things clarified, and some of my fears and concerns to be put to rest. I found the nearest Getting started meeting and sent in my RSVP for my husband and I. So a few weeks ago in one of this years nastiest snow storms we headed out. The turn out was small. We were the only people there that had already registered. But we were welcomed in and we felt like we belonged there. We talked with a woman that had walked more then I thought was humanly possible. She walked in different states in the same year. She even took on fundraising for a friend that could not, each time raising her $2,300 minimum. So that right there was all I really needed to see. She survived the fundraising, she survived the training and she walked in these walks year after year. So if she can stand there and say that she is doing it again. Then it can't be as bad as I feared. She shared her personal experiences. She shared valuable information about the event, that I wasn't able to find on my own. We sat there and watched the 15 minute DVD that I had already watched at home, but it still brought tears to my eyes. In fact it got to me there in the company of strangers. I left the meeting feeling excited. I felt confident. I left feeling inspired. So even if this is not your first walk, go just for the inspiration. You won't regret it.

Inspirational song of the week #2

And this weeks song is "I was here" by Lady Antebellum. You may have already heard this one, its on the 3 Day DVD and Commercial. It has an amazing message. Leave your mark do something worth being remembered for. Again each week I will feature a song that is inspirational and moving (at least to me) All the songs I list, can be found on the artists websites or listen to them on my pink ipod and the right side of my blog. All rights belong to the artist.

Fundraising is HARD so have FUN with it

This economy is tough. Families and friends are struggling financially. Typically the easy thing to do would be ask to local businesses. But what happens when they have already donated to another walker, or cant afford to help? Well for a week we have been trying to do fundraising the old fashion way. We have asked friends and gone door to door, business to business and to no avail. Of the $4,600 that we need to raise, we have collected $65. So we are trying to think outside the box and get off the well beaten path.

To my fellow walkers, here are my tips to you for the week. Enjoy

Think outside the box. Fundraisers work great, but try something new and bold, walking 60 miles is bold, so reflect it in your fundraisers.

When asking for donations through email, get personal and emotional it will draw people in to what your doing, and you don't sound like a scripted salesman.

Recruit your friends- If they are like some of ours they are broke. Just kidding guys I love you. But if they cant financially give to you, give them some donor forms of yours and have them ask their friends and families.

Have a corporate sponsor t-shirt contest- Ask for businesses to donate, in return have their logo put on a shirt you wear. The company that donates the largest amount gets a large center spot. Wear this shirt one of the day of the walk. Its advertising to them, so what if your a walking billboard.

Start small- remember selling candy bars as a kid, What a great reason to go door to door again. We bought fundraiser candy boxes at GFS and are going to go door to door and sell them for a dollar, hey its not a lot but its something. Tell people why your selling them and keep your forms with you. You never know when that person may want to give more than a dollar.

Kids are cute- 6 times a year I have to assist my son in one of the schools fundraisers. So why not have him tag along occasionally. Who could say no to such a cute face? I'm not kidding, my 5 year old is a ladies man.

Moral of this blog, dare to be different, dare to be bold. Fundraising can be hard, but hang in there and don't loose faith. Learn to have fun with it and people will be more likely to help you out.

Inspirational song of the week #1

The first song featured on my weekly inspirational song find list is "If today was your last day" By Nickelback. The song is pretty self explanitory. All rights belong to the artist. So the question for the day is...if today was your last day, are you satisfied with what you have done with your life? Life is sometimes tragically too short, so live each day like it was your last. Check back every week for a new song.

Thank You

Some of you might know, but I am a Weight Watchers member, and have been loosing weight steadly now. I approched them about sponsorship. I received and email this morning, letting me know that they would donate WW products that I could raffle off. How cool is that! So thank you Weight Watchers for helping my on my journey to loose weight and get healthy, as well as helping on my fundraising journey. If anyone reading this is interested in purchasing raffle tickets send me an email to Flashyimage@hotmail.com I will give you all the details. Also I would like to thank Nicole R. for a monetary donation, Thanks girl!

Cool gear for a great cause

To help with the fundraising process, I have created some breast cancer awareness gear that are for sale on www.Zazzle.com/flashyimage* The royalties from these sales goes towards our $4600 goal. I am currently working on more designs. If you are intrested in a custom design for your 3 Day team or for personal use I would be happy to design one for you, just send me an email to Flashyimage@hotmail.com

Are you crazy?

60 miles in 3 days, are you crazy? Well I hear that a lot. It can be hard to understand. Why a healthy woman, wife and mother of two, would want to walk 20 miles a day for three days in the middle of summer? The answer is simple. I want my children to live in a world without breast cancer. I want to help find a cure, before I lose another person I love. Breast cancer runs in my family, I need to be around for my kids. I will walk for every life that has been lost to this disease. I will walk for every woman (and man) battling breast cancer right now and I will walk for the people who will get the news that they have breast cancer. Blisters and Fatigue don't require Chemo, SO I WILL WALK. I will walk because I CAN !

Why choose 2010?
For the last few years I have watched the 3-Day commercials on TV, and said "I want to do that." But for one reason or another, never went through with it. For the last few years I have lost close friends and family members to this disease, and still never went through with it. Last year my then 4 year old son saw the walkers pass our house. He came to me and asked what they were doing and then said "Can I wave to them from the driveway?" So my little boy on his own free will stood at the end of the driveway for over an hour and waved to EVERY single walker that passed by, while shouting "good job, keep going" It brought tears to my eyes. We even went to the finish line to congratulate them. This year I made a new year’s resolution to lose weight, get fit and healthy. A personal goal of walking 60 miles helped motivate me to keep going, and not give up. This is a cause that means so much to me. So I asked myself, why not this year? what is stopping you? So this year I am walking and so is my husband. It will be a challenge to raise $4,600. But its nothing compared to the challenge that women battling breast cancer face every day.