I did it!!!!!

Half Marathon - DONE!

There has been a rather large smile on my face since crossing the finish line at the stairs of the Opera House yesterday morning.
What a blast! I was aiming to finish the 21.1km Half Marathon course around the 2hr mark so my finish time of 2hrs 3mins 34secs is absolutely fine with me!
I managed to snap a pic at the start of the race as we crossed the Harbour Bridge but then tucked my phone away again and got down to business.

The course is a spectacular one to run, with some awesome views and Sydney's weather yesterday was stunning which made the whole experience fabulous!
Thanks to my father in law who came along to see my sister in law and I at the finish line. He snapped some pics while he was there for memories sake but they are only just a taste of how awesome it was to be a part of the race.

I'll be back next year - I just have to decide if I will be lining up for the Half or the Full Marathon...

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to those gorgeous people who sponsored my run in support of my step daughter Felicity - You are STARS!!!!!!

Gluten Free version of the KitKat & Smartie Cake

Felicity, my step daughter is turning 11 this Sunday (goodness where did those 11 years go?) so to celebrate we had a little get together with family for a BBQ dinner last night. Nothing fancy, just a good excuse to blow up some balloons, make some paper chains (a great way to use up the growing pile of kids artworks) and of course eat cake!

Felicity is on a strict gluten free diet so when choosing her birthday cake each year it's tricky to find something yummy, fun and diet friendly. When I spotted the KitKat and Smartie cake that is doing the rounds at the moment HERE I LOVED it and had a little think about how I could do a gluten free version. Drum roll please....
Ta Dah!!



With a yummy (tried and tested) moist gluten free chocolate cake mix from Coles, some gluten free choc wafers and 2 bags of The Natural Confectionary Co. jelly beans it was looking rather swish, if I do say so myself.


Then add the gorgeous and fun paper Happy Birthday cake bunting I scored on Raspberry Lime Paperie's facebook sale recently and the masterpiece was complete!


And what a gorgeous excuse to use my pink hobnail cake stand from RubyJu for the first time!


Needless to say it was enjoyed by all!

Run Giggleberry Run!

In about May last year I was floating through the blog & Daily Routine of Sunny Mummy. I LOVE everything Stacey stands for: Mum's should "look after themselves first in order to look after their families best". I adore being a mummy but was not completely happy with how much 'me time' I was allowing myself... It was then I realised I was doing no exercise - seriously NONE. Besides following my kids round at the park I was not active at all and was becoming increasingly un-impressed with my waistline so I decided to do something about it. I set an alarm for some un-godly hour of the morning (I'm NOT a morning person). I put on my sneakers (I had to dig them out of the corner of my cupboard and dust them off first LOL) and I went for a run!
I only got to the end of my street before I was huffing and puffing like crazy and quickly dropped off to a walk. I walked around the block but when I got home I felt great! Sure I hadn't run a marathon or anything but I had got up off my butt for the first time since trying to lose weight for our wedding 3.5 years earlier!!
Little bit by little bit my walking pace picked up each morning and eventually I was getting up at 6am to go jogging around our block 3 times a week. When we moved house in September I found a new route to run and was running 3kms 3-4 times per week... I have since added to it and was happily running 4kms 4 times a week.
NOTE: This all started as a pledge to myself to get fit, lose weight and start taking care of me - I had NO IDEA how much I would actually enjoy it! I truly think I am a happier wife and mum than I was 18 months ago and all it took was a little bit of 'me time'!!


For the past few years family & good friends of ours have trained then run many races in our Running The Marathon Of Autism campaign to help raise money for my step-daughter Felicity's Son-Rise Program for her severe Autism. Each and every runner who has done this for Felicity are NOT professional athletes - They are mums, dads and even grandparents who love Felicity and want to help. This year it's my turn to join them!!

On August 14th I WILL be taking part in the Sydney City 2 Surf and I WILL finish the race one way or another! I WILL enjoy every step and I WILL be doing it for Felicity, myself and my family!


I have added 2kms to my morning run already (go me!) and now run 6kms every morning while I watch the sun come up but I would LOVE your support and motivation vibes please - I, along with 3 others (so far) who are running the City 2 Surf for Felicity would all be so thrilled to know we were able to raise money along the way. Please head HERE to donate to Felicity's Son-Rise Program that she has come so far in already, our family will be forever grateful and I promise I'll run a little harder up 'Heartbreak Hill' :)


THANKYOU Sunny Mummy Stacey for the reminder to take care of myself! I am happier, healthier, 15kgs lighter and thrilled I can support my family this way all because I took a little time out for me!!
Keep watching this space as I'll up-date you all on my training, race prep and our fundraising efforts along the way!!

4 sleeps to go...

The timer is ticking away... at the time of publishing this post there is only 3 days, 20 hours, 21 minutes and 42 seconds until the 2010 City2Surf!
3 of the Running the Marathon of Autism runners: Ian, Carley & Jocelyn, will be taking on the 14kms in Felicity's name - AWESOME!!

This is your chance to sponsor these wonderful people for their marathon efforts and in the same action you will be supporting Felicity through her own marathon journey recovering from autism.



We have been overwhelmed with all the support so far and are thrilled that our donation counters are currently at $4506.
How awesome would it be to crack the $5000 mark before the starting gun trigger is pulled at the City2Surf this weekend??

With 3 ways to donate it's quick and easy to further support Felicity in her Son-Rise Program.

PAYPAL:
Donation via credit card can be made by clicking the below yellow button (you do not need a paypal account to do this)

DIRECT DEPOSIT:
Account Name: T J Costin
BSB Number: 944 300
Account Number: 012 598 461

NOTE: If you would like a receipt, for tax purposes, please send your email address, postal address and a copy of the direct deposit transaction to - tanya@intellectualdisability.org

CHEQUE:
Cheques are to be made out to: T J Costin
Please post them to:
Running the Marathon of Autism
T J Costin
P.O. Box 304
Church Point
NSW, 2105

NOTE: If you would like a receipt, for tax purposes, please include a note with your email address & postal address

THANK YOU< THANK YOU< THANK YOU in advance for all your support!!

The closest I'll come to being a 'Cover Model'

I have been meaning to say a HUGE thank you to the amazing women behind the great online magazine Connect2Mums for asking me to be the Connect2Mums 'Cover Mum' for April - What a massive compliment!
Connect2Mums is somewhere as a mum you will find all kinds of great things - support, ideas, advice, friends, fellow WAHM's, inspiration.... and lots more!


I was asked to write a little bit about being a mum, Giggleberry Creations and (as April is Autism Awareness month) I was asked to tell all the Connect2Mum members about our Running the Marathon of Autism campaign for Felicity - if you'd like to see what this 'Cover Mum' has to say check it out HERE.
Again I say THANK YOU to Connect2Mums for the honor of being a 'Cover Mum' - the closet thing I'll get to being a cover model :)

On a side note:
If you have five minutes to spare and have always wanted to be on the cover of a magazine you just have to check out this fun website I found and make your cover shot dreams come true! www.magmypic.com or like me just have a little fun!

Sugar and Spice... for all things nice!

Who doesn't love a good market? to casually wander around sipping a latte while taking a peek at the handmade goodies from all the different stall holders with no real intention other than to see what's on offer... and 9 times out of 10 find a whole array of unique items that you just had to buy - Bliss.
Now make the market a Children's market and add to that a 'Kids Corner' (where the kids will be entertained) which is right next to a 'Dad's Corner' (where hubby can sit and read the paper while keeping half an eye on the kids) and you have my idea of a weekend morning heaven!
"There is no such place" I hear you say... wrong! For those of you lucky enough to be in the Melbourne area your market prayers have been answered with the Sugar & Spice Children's Market!


A new boutique children's market in beautiful Woodend in Victoria. You will be delighted by the gorgeous and unique products for your children, many of them hand made by the lovely person you are buying them from.
Sugar & Spice market is also designed to help support and promote local small businesses that are producing lovely children products - and I have discovered that there are lots and lots of them!! Other gorgeous businesses from surrounding areas are also being sourced as I wish to provide a diverse range of beautiful stalls to the people shopping at the market - variety is the spice of life :)
Another aspect of the market is that any profits made will be donated to local charities (of course this is once marketing needs have been accounted for). I hope that by the market giving back to the local community, the local community will support the market.

This is where (if you can believe it) the Sugar & Spice markets gets even better! Alison, the gorgeous wizz behind these awesome markets has pledged the profits from both the inaugural markets in June and the September markets to Felicity & The Marathon of Autism!!! Wow, wow, wow!!

So by shopping at Sugar & Spice not only will you be purchasing gorgeous products for your children, you will also be supporting local businesses and charities! - That's Felicity!

Here are the details you'll need so be sure to pop it on your calendar, in your phone, in your diary, into your computer reminders... heck even put it on a post it and stick it to your bed head!

Sugar & Spice Children's Market Woodend
Where: St Ambrose Hall, Woodend, Victoria (click HERE for directions)
When: 20th June 2010 (& then again September, December and March - date to be announced)
Time: 10am - 2 pm
Entry: FREE

Once you're there go nuts! And be sure to say hi (and a HUGE thanks from us & Felicity) to Alison if you spot her.

If you are new around her and have no idea what I am talking about when I'm mentioning Felicity and The Marathon of Autism take a quick peek HERE and it will bring you up to speed.

No more sleeps!!! WHAT A NIGHT!!!

THE ENTRY TABLE

Well after months and months and months of planning, organizing, rallying, emailing, phone calls, knocking on doors and so much more our masquerade dinner fundraising event Behind The Mask of Autism is all over!!
Last night went off without a hitch! what a great night and a fabulous success. Our day started early at Mona Vale Golf Course, setting up the room with our auction item tables, decorations, posters, centre pieces etc and as it came together we all began to get more and more excited about the night ahead.....


BEGINNINGS OF THE CENTRE PIECES


ROOM ALL READY

then before we knew it the time had arrived to start welcoming the guests! just like a wedding the night flew past but everything went to plan and all feedback so far has been 100% positive - we've been asked to make in an annual event.... we'll see!! We are all VERY tired but it was so worth all our work.


JUST SOME OF OUR GUESTS LOOKING FABULOUS!

All our 120+ guests looked fantastic in their formal attire and masks and everyone got into the spirit of the night, had a dance, a great dinner and lots of bids on both our loud and silent auctions - all 77 items went!!


THE SILENT AUCTION ITEMS BEING SUSSED OUT BY GUESTS


THE ROOM BEGINS TO FILL WITH GUESTS

We are only just starting to get a tally together of the generosity of the amazing guests from the night and so far with just ticket sales and auction items we are at $25,000!!! AMAZING!! with donations and other bits and pieces not yet included we are just overwhelmed at the outcome for our three amazing children, Blake, Hannah and my daughter Felicity, who were the stars of the night!!

I will be sure to fill you all in on the final amount raised toward our amazing children's Son-Rise Programs that day by day takes us closer to recovering them from Autism, and I'll post more photos as I receive them from the many people who took some of the night.
Thank you to all especially those who donated towards our auction items (see side bar for list of shop names), without you our night would have been nowhere near as fantastic!!! THANK YOU!!

Now the Jetlag has worn off.....

Now that the crazy switch of complete opposite time zones has faded away - like waking at 3am wanting dinner, feeling like you should be sound asleep tucked in bed in the middle of your day and at dinner time wanting to eat cereal instead of meat and veggies.... I finally feel like I'm functioning 'normally' enough to share our trip with you all.


It's been a week and one day since hubby and I landed back in Sydney, Australia from our trip to the States for further training at The Autism Treatment Centre of America in our daughter Felicity's full time Son-Rise Program.


Hubby and I have named this week away 'Happy Camp' as it gives us such a great boost of motivation, ideas, confidence and rest that we come home bouncing of the walls wanting to play with Felicity in her playroom at full throttle!! We are sure she must think we are crazy and would probably love us to be able to go over to the ATCoA more often so we stay this focused and pumped up all the time.
The week long course we completed is called Maximum Impact, and it's true to it's name. We had theories taught to us at the Start Up Program followed up with great detail such as volunteer training, and the importance of feedback but the biggest lesson we walked away with was all about attitude!!
Felicity is like the perfect lie detector and she knows in an instant if we are in the playroom with her not really wanting to be there - it's these half attempt times that both her and us will not get the amazing benefits possible through the Son-Rise Program if we are in the playroom with real Energy, Excitement and Enthusiasm!!

We can't wait to see what amazing changes we see in us, the program and most importantly Felicity from this week course and so it's heads down bums up into the program - Woo Hoo!!!

If you have just 13 mins to spare take a look at this video which will help explain the revolutionary breakthrough in Autism treatment - The Son-Rise Program - that has and is still recovering children world wide from Autism!!