Value what's important

This week, my family received some devastating news of the passing of my cousin. A mere 28 years old.While it's too soon to even talk about it, I am posting mostly because I wish to feel closer to my family and maybe someone will read this and maybe it will mean something.

It was just weeks ago when I posted on my brother's wedding and rejoiced at how great it was to have us all together, and for a happy occasion. Just as it is our privilege to help our loved ones celebrate the good times, it is the support of your family and friends that pulls us through the tough times. It doesn't have to be a motivational speech, words of wisdom. It can be a pat on the shoulder, a hug.. putting the kettle on for tea and just sitting with them.

We all face tough times at some stage in our lives.. so I urge you.. celebrate the good times. When you are feeling like life is great for you, get out a pen and paper. Write down everything that is good in your life. Life is a collection of fleeting moments so we need to remember the good times to pull us through the bad times. Just as good things come to an end, so do bad... so we need to hang on in there, until things come good again.

Unfortunately I don't have hugs or much support to offer right now, just words.. but my thoughts, prayers and love are with the O'Connor and O'Neill families and everyone who knew and loved Shane.

It's tough being far away from home when bad things happen.. luckily I will have two visitors in a bit.

In the meantime, Mila is doing a good job of keeping me company.

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Home Sweet Home

Well howdy doody y'all!

It's been forever and a day since I've been on here but I'm back to tell y'all what I've been up to since the half marathon (a trip to the homeland happened)

Well let's see..

Went to Ireland

Millie on top of Toorsaleen mountain

Met my darling nephew 

and Godson Aaron (pronounced Ah-ron, not Ae-ron like the yanks say).

I have to say, it was very strange seeing my younger sister as a doting mamma. She's a natural :)

Introduced himself to the family.

I guess it's a big deal bringing a yank home to meet the family but he got on so well with them all and instantly became 'one of the lads'

Family wedding

Colm and Aisling were married and had the most beautiful classy wedding.

everyone looked damn fine (PS Aisling's dress was amazing)

Mighty craic was had at the wedding and the O'Connor men didn't even take their shirts off this time!! It was so great to have most of my relatives under the one roof, and for a happy occasion.

when you grow up in the middle of nowhere it's no surprise that your cousins become your best friends.. miss this crew

Best friend's wedding

Miss Claire Roche became Mrs Walsh!! Claire and I lived together for 3 years in college in Dublin and I'm so happy that although we've probably only seen each other 10 times since we graduated in 2006, she is still one of my peoples! Rochie sure loved a good par-tay and this wedding was a Claire-style wedding for sure.

just found this gem! good auld college days :)

A band were going table-to-table during the dinner playing requests.. If there wasn't food on the table they may have been danced on!

Sidenote: In keeping with my habit of oversharing, I have a funny story for y'all about my rush to make it to the church on time.. I know it's only the bride that should have drama about making it to the church on time but I had my share too!

We were late leaving the hotel...Claire's wedding was on 2 days after Colm's and I was feeling a little under the weather let's say ;) Then there was a 4-5 hr drive to get there and I didn't know where the church was.. somewhere on a country road in Kildare. I found out an hour before the wedding I was doing second reading.. uh-oh. My saviour Liz rang with directions, which was all good and well until we took a wrong turn (OK I) and were a bit lost.

At this point ''my water was nearly down my leg'' (I needed to pee REAL BAD) so I apologised to Mr Boyfriend (well I apologise now OK?!).. a roadside pee in my dress was essential. I pulled in off the road in the grass (I'm classy like that).. and would you believe it.. the car got stuck! The ever patient boyfriend got out and pushed (does anyone have a medal we can give him!) and we were on our merry way! 25 mins late but we made it for second reading.. phew!!

Gave Doug a taste of Ireland.

A pint of the black stuff at the Guinness Storehouse

Kilkenny.. so purty!

And of course no trip to the motherland would be complete without a) walk up to the top of the mountain (my family's mountain) and b) the ateing a feed of Sneem black pudding!

I was talking about it for weeks before I went home. If any of you haven't had it make a point of getting some in your belly. It's made by a local butcher in a village called Sneem in Kerry and there's nothing like it. FYI for the American's: it's not like a chocolate pudding, it's made of pig's blood but don't let that put you off. Doug loved it.

But, you know what Doug said was the best part of the whole trip? The people.

I know Irish people have a reputation for being friendly but Americans are friendly too, so I never really got what the big deal was. In America you hear 'have a nice day' all the time so I guess what sets Ireland apart is that people are generous with their time and genuinely curious and interested in you. Ask for help and people will bend over backwards to help you. I hope the Americans won't take offense to this.. the pace of life is just faster here (I think) and people tend to have all of their time scheduled to a T.

Honesty is a given with the Irish, be it a good thing or a bad thing! If someone doesn't like you, they just won't bother.  I love they way of speaking too.. Irish people have slang and ''sayings for everything''.. or is that just an O'Connor thing?! Suffice to say, I love my peoples and my country. And I was sad leaving. I wish I had had more time with everyone but we made the most of the time we had. Yea, I do love Austin and It's a really great experience to live somewhere so different but cheesy as it sounds.. home is where the heart is. Specifically is it on the top of Toorsaleen mountain with the dogs by my side and the wind in my hair on a sunny day (yes, we get sun once every year at least!).

Right, no more nostalgia for now.. time to live in the present sooooo let me introduce my new housemate, Mila!!

pretty lady!

I adopted Mila from Austin Pets Alive last weekend. She was rescued at 4 months, pregnant.. and the poor kitty is only 11 months herself now! She's lovely..I think we will get along well :)


Since I am not fundraising anymore and I don't want to hassle anyone who doesn't want to read my blog, I will no longer have this on an email list.. sooo you can follow the blog on my new facebook page ('like' me) .. follow me on Pinterest..  or subscribe by email at the bottom, whatever ya fancy.

The big question is why you would keep reading? What I will be writing about to make you want to read? Hmmm, well, a plan has hatched for what I'm mostly gonna write about for the next while. It will be something along the lines of ''12 months of experimenting''.. stay tuned for the deets! It's a few days in to this month already so I'll be back to y'all in a bit once I've got motoring on my experiment for this month!


Parting question:
Can you vouch for how good Sneem black pudding is?

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Stubborn as a Black Donkey

There are a lot of saying and phrases we use at home in the O'Connor household and it wasn't until I started using them in conversation with people outside the inner circle that I realised we were probably a bit weird (in a good way). Here's a little of Toorsaleen lingo decoded:

• As tired as a tinker (or ten)
• As thirsty as a badger (we've got the inside scoop.. badgers get EXTREMELY thirsty)
• Like a ram in November (figure that one out for yerselves ;))
• As stubborn as a black donkey

Now, the last one might have been reserved especially for me and was used quite often by my mother. The source of this stubbornness (Coffey VS O'Connor)  is still a source of debate, and while I didn't agree at the time.. I think mamma MIGHT have had a point (don't tell her).

I could give many examples and break myself down here.. but in this case, I know that I pretty much ignored the signs that minimalist running wasn't for me. I felt my foot was 'quare' before I even hit the road.. but no, I had to finish what I started. I had to carry on with what i'd written on my fridge to get done that week. This breed of a fool hit the road a week after a painful treadmill run, hence epic foot malfunction.

You see, I read the book Born to Run (great book by the way) which preached that running barefoot was how our ancestors ran and they had a lot less injuries than modern runners. It was therefore the only way I wanted to run. My body doth protest too much.

So while I could go on a while here's my lessons for trying something new: get advice from someone in the know, listen to your pain receptors, don't be as stubborn as a black donkey when your body isn't cooperating...CAPISH?

With that, I tried to run on Sunday of last week and did 7 miles (RED SIMPLE.. I know). So, I got a bit of a telling to by Mr Man and Mr Man's brother. Here's what Adarell (personal trainer) said to me: 

Be careful with your injury. It doesn't sound good. I know about wanting to finish what you started but your injury is sounding pretty serious. Even if you don't run 7:30 miles we will still be proud of you. I always tell my clients when it comes to injury, the first step is rest (to stop doing what causes pain). Of course I get all types of excuses like, "if I stop I will get fat" or "its not that bad" or my favorite "professional athletes or professional actors and actresses work out all the time so if I want to look like them I have to keep going". To that last point I always say if you are getting paid for your fitness or for your looks then by all means proceed. But conventional wisdom is to stop and let the body heal. So please take care of yourself. You are young and fit and have many years of physical fitness exploits ahead of you. There is no need to rush it now. 

Thanks Adarell, I needed that.

And since then I haven't run.

Here's what I have done:

Fri: steroid injection

Sat: Total body conditioning class

Sun: 7 mile run

Tues: elliptical 30 mins & 15 min ab burner (Nike training Club app.. love this app; get it, it's free)

Wed: Gillian Michael's DVD week 3

Thurs: Elliptical 1 hr

Fri: Abs

Sat: bike.. 1 hr of torture! 

Sun: 30 min elliptical & Booty Burner (love this too)

I'm gonna chance a 3 mile run on Wednesday and test out the foot.

In other news, I had a very successful fundraising event last week! I hosted a bake sale on UT campus on Tuesday. It was a lot of work.. I got a great local coffee shop to sponsor coffee; J.P's Java, thanks a mill. I had so many friends that helped with the baking, I am so grateful to all you guys. Jackie, Aileen, Mikaela, Meredith, Sylvie, Nancy, Larissa and Laura all baked up a storm. Laura even arrived at the building right before it got started with pecan chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven (QUICK, wipe that drool off your keyboard!).

Gluten-free almond cookies I made.. yum yum in my tum

My grand total was $345!!! Big success! Another great thing to come out of this was that I now know so many people in my department too :)

On to my next event now.. I'm very excited about this one.. It's gonna be a kickball party/ barbeque on May 25th. Austinites mark your calendars! Fundraising is a lot of work so when it's something fun, I know I will enjoy the organising process and it will be worth the work; kickballers sure know how to party.

kickballers in their usual attire

I'm now up up $2020, wohooo, it's been a good week! I've still got a lot to raise. $3330 is the absolute minimum I need to raise. $4500 is the ideal target.

BIG thank you to those who donated most recently: Tricia Sheehan, Amanda Coffey, Nuala & Dinny Coffey and Alessandra Rossi!

You too can support The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America here. Our very own Team Challenge runner Michael Ginsberg ended up in hospital this week with an obstruction; he's thankfully home now. The poor guy has had a rough few years with Crohn's, and he's just 29. If you still need convincing as to why we need answers as to the cause and cure, please read this .

Have a great week people! P.S. please share the weird saying in your family, surely we're not the only weirdos? 

COUNTDOWN FOR WEBSITE

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Fashionable footwear

Let me present to you the very latest in footwear fashion!

Sexy eh?! Hobbling around in my bootie with over a week now.. getting used to it, apart from the ordeal of climbing stairs.. I look like John Wayne or a duck.. ya gots to spread 'em wide to climb a stairs at any reasonable speed!

I started writing this post last night and I was feeling rather frazzled after a ''character building'' type of week but today all I can think is.. what a difference a day makes! Lots of positive things are happening again.. and good news on the foot front is one of those things!

I had an MRI scan on Monday night (8PM..wierd) and I was anxiously awaiting results all day yesterday and today. So, the fracture they found last week is a really old one and not a concern anymore. AND I don't have another fracture.. I have inflammation that was basically caused by the barefoot running I tried out..remember teenage mutant ninja turtle feet? Yup, if you're thinking of barefoot running, don't!

I talked to the podiatrist about it last week and he says that if you grow up barefoot and that is all you know then running that way won't be a problem since you develop the muscles necessary to support yourself from a very young age. While some people can handle starting as an adult, the vast majority of people can't and get injured like me. One guy i met during the week quoted his doctor as saying, ''barefoot running? I love it! It makes me lots of money!''

I'm getting a steroid injection on Friday, new shoes that will completely stabilise me and I should be back running in a few weeks (fingers crossed!) In the spirit of Team Challenge and those who run while needing to poop 20 times a day (Crohn's sufferers), I'm not going to let this setback stop me! If I can't run in July, I will bike 13.1 miles (a few times), do it in a wheelchair, something! Fear not, I will shed blood, sweat and tears for the cause!

The running and training is really only a part of what I'm doing, and to be honest, the fundraising part of this is a lot more work than I anticipated. Working in research, it has taught me that you've gotta try a lot of different angles and often repeat the process over and over.. but eventually something works and it is delightful!

I will have a few events for fundraising, like the bake sale I am having next week in my department at work. I have applied to many, many places for donations of giftcards.. and relative to how many I have applied to, with little success. I have giftcards from a local supermarket (HEB), movie tickets and ice cream voucher's (Amy's.. the best!) - not too shabby I guess!

On Sunday, with my bike (the damn car was out of action) and my fighting spirit, I took off in search of local businesses willing to sponsor. If at least one of the ten places I tried will help out on some way, then I'll be happy. So for now, I'm gonna keep trying my best and organise some great events that people would pay money to go to anyways, so my friends won't just feel obliged to attend.

My friends and family in Ireland have been very supportive.. my Dad is organising a cycle to raise money! Thank you all so much. Special shout out my aunt and uncles, the Coffey siblings.. Dan, Jerry and Mary. Terri Mantia and Joanne O'Sullivan too, thanks a bunch! Your money will do great things for Crohn's and Colitis sufferers.

Please donate if you can: http://www.active.com/donate/napaSTXA13/atxHOConn1


Here's the workouts I've done in the last week or so..
Monday: OFF
Tuesday: Step and Sculpt (love this class but my foot doesn't)
Wednesday: 20 min elliptical, 20 min bike, 10 min abs
Thursday: Dynamic strength (happy feet!)
Fri & Sat: OFF
Sunday: 30 min elliptical, 20 min bike, 15 min Nike Training Club 'arm definer'
Monday: OFF
Tuesday: Step and sculpt
Wednesday: 30 min elliptical, 20 min bike & planks

Look what arrived today.. a canvas of Toorsaleen (home) for my wall :)

Speaking of which, I've saved my best news of the day 'till last.. flights booked for July! Mr Man and I are coming home!! I'm so excited, lots of happy occasions to celebrate and I'm even getting a bit weepy now at the thoughts of cuddling my nephew for the first time :)

Yeeeeeee-hoooooo!

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