Team Tough Titty: The Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure: The Coyote Cantina Pancake Fundraiser

It's 11:41 pm, and I'm exhausted. Today was the much-anticipated Coyote Cantina All-You-Can-Eat Pancake Fundraiser and it was phenomenal! I just can't stop sitting here thinking about every person who contributed to this event, who made it everything I envisioned and more. I am humbled, overwhelmed and so grateful!

I wish I could tell you what I've been doing since my last post, but it's literally been a blur...a flurry of lists, boxes, chocolate and cookie dough! Virtually every free hour of every day was spent planning the pancake fundraiser. While at times it was overwhelming, it was always something I was excited to be doing, and after today, it feels like every minute was time well spent. Before I talk more about that, though, let's take care of first things first.

On Wednesday, August 17, Gina had her 4th chemo. When the nurse, Donna, examined her after she was done, she could not feel the tumor at all! As hoped, Gina's tumor is responding well to the chemo! Only two more chemo sessions to go before Gina can schedule her lumpectomy. Assuming everything comes back clean, she will then undergo radiation 5 days a week for 5 weeks, in addition to another year of and IV medication called Herceptin.

At this last chemo, there was a very diverse group of women in the chemo room. There was a girl, much younger than us, on her 2nd chemo. There was a woman, older than us and dressed very feminine, in a flowy dress with a long scarf covering her hair, There was a loud, weathered looking woman who seemed very matter-of-fact about it all, like she was just having a social visit with the nurses. And there was a 50 something woman undergoing her first treatment. She was scared. She couldn't smile, couldn't joke, couldn't even consider having a donut :) Donna, the nurse practitioner, did her best to reassure her, as did the chemo nurses, encouraging the other women to tell her that everything was going to be just as they told her it was gonna be. Not painless, but not the end of the world, either. I was touched by this woman, because I think it was the first time I could really feel and see someone's fear since I've been going with Gina to chemo. Her husband was there, but I don't think she was comforted by that. I hope to see her again, if only to see that she has managed to deal with the chemo.

Like I said earlier, nearly every free minute I had in the last week has been spent planning the Coyote event. I also spent a solid 2 days chocolate dipping Oreos, marshmallows and pretzels for the bake sale table. Then, as the date drew nearer, it was time to bake the cookies, brownies, rice krispie treats and magic cookie bars. Faced with the thought of baking, wrapping, tying and labeling each individual package, I had an idea...

A few weeks ago, I learned about an online business called Task Rabbit. Basically, you can go to the Task Rabbit website, post a task you need done, and "Task Rabbits" (who were all interviewed and background checked by the company) could bid on a chance to do the task for you. (When I found out about this company, I immediately applied to be a Task Rabbit, and am waiting to hear back from them.)

Anyway, at about 2:00 am the night before I was scheduled to start baking, I decided to post an ad on Task Rabbit: "Help Package Goodies for Bake Sale: I am baking hundreds of goodies for a breast cancer fundraiser bake sale. We need someone to help package the items (per my instructions), tie the bags with curling ribbon, curl the ribbon, and apply stickers to the packages. You will be helping us, not working all on your own! Please be someone who is detail oriented. Appearance of the items will be very important." Within 15 minutes, I had a bid!

The next day, I think I ended up with about 5 bids to choose from. I had hoped to only spend about $20 for 2 hours, and luckily, a woman with a great profile had bid $20. Her name is Jaime, and she showed up and worked non-stop for two hours, and did a fabulous job! All in all, I was at Jill's baking and wrapping for 12 hours. Without a doubt, hiring Jaime was the best move I made all day! Thank you, Jaime!

Thank you, too, to Jill for the kitchen and the help, to Seth, and to Olivia, who rolled hundreds of dough balls :)

One of the things I did very early on in planning this event was think about who I wanted to ask to volunteer. I was very particular about who I wanted to ask, as I needed people who would take direction, work hard, and have a fabulous personality (you know, like me!). Luckily, everyone I asked who was available said yes! And, luckily, I even picked up some extra help in the days leading up to the event, which it ended up, I really needed! All in all, we had over 20 people working the event, and they all ended up having a great time together.

Thank you Vanessa, Amber, Shanna, Katie, Carlos, Guy, Rik, Ed, Todd, Heather, Jacki, Jenni, Marisa, Brooklyn, Alexa, Mena and Cynthia!

And an extra special thanks to Sean, who made our official Team Tough Titty t-shirts, made even more to sell, who drove up all the way from San Diego, and who also did some heavy lifting! You are the best!

As usual, my mom also pitched in with her sewing skills, making some awesome towel aprons (a hot seller!), bags, and checkbook covers for me to sell. Thanks, MOM!

Except for a few minor glitches (I forgot a bucket for the 50/50 raffle tickets and we ran low on food a couple of times (a good thing!!), the event went off wonderfully. There was a great crowd, a great energy, and great food and drink! Lots of friends stopped by to support us, and we made lots of new friends, too!

We raised over $2200.

Thank you, Matthew McQuaid, for giving us the opportunity to host this event at your restaurant. Thank you for letting us advertise the event using your email list. Thank you for always saying yes when I ask!!

And finally, before we get to the pictures, I want to thank all of the attendees, both friends and strangers. We sure enjoyed having you, and we hope that you enjoyed yourself for a good cause! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Ok, here are the pictures. Thank goodness Cynthia picked up my camera, or we'd only have 5, and thanks to everyone else who contributed the ones they took. Enjoy!

This was the official e-blast created by Tima and

sent to all of the people on Coyote Cantina's email list.

Seth making brownies, Olivia rolling cookie dough balls,

me making Rice Krispie treats, and Jaime wrapping!

Jaime the Task Rabbit!

All decked out in pink and setting up.

Matthew McQuaid, owner of Coyote Cantina

Todd and Heather selling meal & raffle tickets out front.

I made "Opportunity Baskets" that people could win.
The Pink iPod Shuffle and the Kincaid's gift certificates were the most popular.
We also had a 50/50 raffle with a cash prize and a
19" flat screen TV as a consolation prize!