Many thanks

After a very wet Saturday, the boys were rewarded with a beautiful Sunday at the Bucktown Arts Fest and a steady stream of traffic through the booth. Many of the people who came by, said hi, and bought prints were friends, so I wanted to be sure to give a big shout out on the blog to everyone who gave their support. Thank you!!

If you didn't get to the Fest, but wanted to see what kind of stuff they had for sale, check out Jason's Etsy shop:

Repeater Printing on Etsy

And Jon and Jake's Etsy shop:

BC Print Media on Etsy

I also owe many thanks to everyone who donated to my Easter Seals fundraising page. My goal was $400...so far I've raised $800! My heart is very full right now. I will send official thank you notes after the race, but just wanted to make sure everyone knows how much I appreciate the love and support!

Rained out

Jason and Jon have been as busy as bees the last few days getting everything ready for the Bucktown Arts Fest. They started setting up this morning at 7am, the booth looked great, a few friends stopped by...and then it started pouring :(

All that hard work! It looks like its finally clearing up now, so I'm heading back over with dry shirts. But they probably won't get too much booth traffic in the final couple of hours on a rainy day. Hopefully they will get better weather tomorrow! Poor guys.

Repeater Printing + BC Print Media at work

Music to move to

I'm trying to assemble a half marathon playlist to get me through 13 miles. Here's what I put together so far. It got me through 12 miles today, but I'm a little short for a half marathon. Any favorites that I should add to my list?

• Ready To Start - Arcade Fire
• I Will Follow - U2
• Get Back - The Beatles 
• The Late Greats - Wilco
• Hard to Handle - The Black Crowes
• Everlasting Light - The Black Keys
• Sabotage - The Beastie Boys
• Rodeo - Garth Brooks
• Road To Nowhere - Talking Heads
• Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen 
• Police On My Back - The Clash
• Locked Out Of Heaven - Bruno Mars
• Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
• Ho Hey - The Lumineers
• Paper Thin Walls - Modest Mouse
• I'm Always In Love - Wilco
• From Blown Speakers - The New Pornographers
• Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
• Moonlight Mile - The Rolling Stones (might replace...kind of slow for running)
• Mayonaise - Smashing Pumpkins
• Here Comes Your Man - Pixies
• Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti, etc
• There She Goes Again - R.E.M.
• Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Wake Up - Arcade Fire
• Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke
• Ain't Goin' Down ('Til The Sun Comes Up) - Garth Brooks
• Brave - Sara Bareilles
• Sweetest Thing - U2
• A Shot In The Arm - Wilco
• Pride (In The Name Of Love) - U2
• Where Is My Mind? - Pixies (the perfect song to end with...because this is exactly how I feel at the end of a long run)

I get by with a little help from my friends

As I wrote in an email to a few of my family members earlier today, I'm not just running a half marathon...I'm also raising money for the Easter Seals. My goal is $400, so please, pretty please, make a donation on my page and help support services for people with disabilities in Chicago! Here's the link:

Maggie OGrady Easter Seals Half Marathon Donation Page

From my donation page, you can also click around the website to learn more about the organization. Hopefully knowing that I'm helping support a worthy cause will be good motivation as I sweat it out on September 7th! Until then, the training, and fundraising, will continue. 

He's here!

Meet George Terry, my new adorable nephew:

First pic -- we think he looks like B

Proud aunt #1

Proud aunt #2. He's so alert!

George arrived today around 11:30 am, two weeks early, but right around when the doctors expected him to come. He's a little guy, only 6 lbs 10 oz. After holding Molly and James, he seems especially small! It sounds like everything went really well at the hospital and both B and George are doing fine. James should be meeting his new brother right about now and Molly will meet her new cousin in a couple of days when they get home. Congratulations to Betsy, Archie, and James! We're so happy to have George in the family!

Two steps forward, two steps back

I guess that's just the way things go, right? Life is grand, and also full of little set backs.

• Jason and I finally got Molly to eat a sandwich (I count this a major food victory!), but now she hates swim class (I suspect she may have had a snoot full of water somewhere along the way). 
• I think I have my feet in decent shape for long runs, but am now struggling with calf and shin pain. Ugh. Let's hope Epsom salt and Tiger Balm will do the trick...only one month to go!
• We finished the home improvements to our dining room and living room, but can't get the bathroom done because our tile is stuck on a shipping container waiting to get through customs (for 3 months...don't ask).
• And we were SO close to getting approval from the city to rebuild our rotting deck, but we missed one department sign off and now have to wait an additional 20 days. 
• My veggie garden is in decent shape--it looks like I'm going to get a ton of cherry tomatoes, carrots, and possibly even some corn (what?!)--but I can't seem to grow a pepper to save my life and I think I killed a perfectly good hydrangea. Whoops.

Salad with tomatoes and parsley from my garden....tastes like pride!

These "problems" are all tiny in the grand scheme of things. How can I complain when I have this little face to look at every day?