ONE WEEK LEFT!

I cannot even believe that I am saying this ... but only 1 week left in my Quest to become the Woman of the Year and raise money benefitting the Luekemia and Lymphoma society.

And last week ... WHAT A WEEK!

First I had the MOST AMAZING DINNER EVER! How many of you can say that you have had dinner with the group that introduced you to your Best Friend over 30 YEARS AGO! Sara Morris and I have known each other virtually FOREVER. We were introduced by our grandparents. Since my grandparents were in town we decided to get both groups together ( and although Nana was not there in body I am sure she was with us in spirit! )





Believe it or not that introduction 30 years ago helpped to plant the seed for this journey - because we would not know it at that time but Sara (more than me) and I would be greatly touched by blood cancers. I know that next weekend Jane will have a front row seat from above to see what we have done over these 9 weeks.

That dinner led into an amazing wedding weekend ... and then the great gift of life as my Family welcomed Graham Matthew Smith on Monday Morning. Weighing in at 8LBS - 3 LBs under his big brother Masons birth weight. Everyone is doing well. Though Mason did walk into school and when he was asked if he had a new baby brother his answer was " NO I got a new baseball mitt!" hmmmm.




Yesterday my week "ended" with a brillant breakfast with Luke. He, 2 of his sisters, and his mom and dad met me and my sister for breakfast bright and early. I know how hectic their schedules are but they are amazing amazing amazing people and have helped to make every single hour that I have put into this campaign SO worthwhile.

So although this seed of passion for helping those with cancer was planted in my many many moons ago, I have definitely seen it grow over these last few weeks. I could not have done it without the kind words and hard work of many of you out there. I truly do appreciate it!

If you have not had a chance to donate please do here. I will keep you posted on this final stretch.

http://in.mwoy.llsevent.org/Julie

Wine. Canvas. Charity. WINE!

Well this week was jammed packed and FUN! We finally had our Wine and Canvas Event. BUT before I went - I got this letter. Once again grounding me right back at why I am doing what I am doing.



So inspired ... I went off to Wine and Canvas. Cool concept - they serve you wine and teach you how to paint. Great Girls Night Out! But beware - you get a blank canvas ... some of us thought that you would be able to just fill in the paint. I had a great turn out .... 45 PEOPLE! ... and I thank each and every one of them.

Here are some great images of the night!

Thanks Again to everyone who came out and supported a great cause and had some fun. As always if you would like to donate directly to the cause here is my site :

http://in.mwoy.llsevent.org/Julie

Where in the world have I been ...

Where in the world have I been? Well in the last five weeks i have spent the night in Chicago, a night in the hospital, 4 nights in Boston, a night in NYC and one in Columbia MO! But through it all I have not taken my eye off my goal of becoming Woman of the Year. I am actually home ( after this flight that I am on to Memphis and the final leg to Indy ) until May 15th - the day after the final gala!

In that time I do have 2 very exciting events in my life. I am going to my baby cousins wedding. She was like my real life baby doll when I was growing up .... Since I was the oldest and she the youngest. ( although i did have 2 little sisters - they always lived with me and Lindsay went home :) ). The second is I am going to become an aunt for the second time in my life. My sister is giving me the best present a sister can give you. The chance to be an aunt. If you are around me for an hour - you are bound to hear a Mason story! I apologize now because it will probably be shortened to 45 minutes with this new peanut ( I should actually say 30 minutes --- because I have definitely added Bauer Morris into the mix of stories and pictures! )

As you can tell I have been enthralled with children forever! With that being said - I came into work on Monday to the best voicemail ever. A voicemail from Luke - the boy of the year that I am raising money on behalf of. I even played it for a colleague! It is a great grounding to remind me why what I am doing is so important!

Remember his story :
http://www.YouTube.com/user/vandritsch#p/a/u/0/3m_nULPAJRA

I wanted to remind everyone of 2 events that I have coming up:

Tuesday April 26 th at Wine and Canvas
Sign up at Wineandcanvas.com - choose events and Indianapolis.
On the calendar choose April 26 th and the fundraising option $45

Saturday April 30 th Mommy and me mini photo sessions.
An amazing photo session by photography genius Sara Morris. Check out her blog:
http://saramorrisphotography.com/blog/

Luke and his mom modeled for the flyer to promote the event! ( Sara is also the person behind the lens on my picture for the campaign website and this blog! )
You can contact her for more information at Sara@saramorrisphotography.com

And guys .... Stay tuned for a competitive event around the corner!

If you are from out of town and wish to support my cause here is my campaign website : http://in.mwoy.llsevent.org/Julie

If you have not been following my complete story read the previous blog posts!

1 Year Ago ...

1 Year ago Butler was in the final game of the NCAA Championship and I was headed to Brazil. I am so excited to say this year I will listen to the game with English commentatetors and that Butler is back.

Brazil was definitely something out of the norm for me. I feel that I took advantage of it to its fullest. Numerous trips to Rio ...

Made life long new friends and learned about myself.

This year - this week was just as exciting, but in a completely different way. I actually spent 2 days of the last week in the hospital - with Kidney Stones. NOT FUN. But much of the time I was there I thought about Luke and Rilee and how brave they must be while they are in the hospital. While I am doing better now - I am even more motivated to do well in this fundraising. I am really enjoying this years adventure and have about 6 more weeks of the Woman of the Year campaign. Look out for new events to come .... They are going to be FUN!

If you would like to donate to my cause here is my website:

http://in.mwoy.llsevent.org/Julie

Pilates for A Cause!

Have you ever worked out with ten plus of our closest friends? Well that EXACTLY what I did on Sunday, and all for a good cause! You see I partnered with Kelly Moore, who just recently got her pilates certification, for a Charity Pilates class. Kelly is working with Invoke Studio, and needs hours of teaching. This was just Kelly's second class to teach (the first on Monday!!) and she was great. I had quite a few moans today about "I am sore!" I had incredible support and well exceeded my expectations! I believe that everyone had a great time. You will have to join us next time! Come back and check out updates for times. Special thanks to : Invoke Studio www.invokestudio.com and Kelly Moore! SUPER Special Thanks to : Jen, Mom, Sarah, Brett, Lauri, Nichole, Kelly, Lauren, Joe, Shannon, Gwen and Amanda for sweating it out! If you would like to donate to my cause here is site: http://in.mwoy.llsevent.org/Julie

Luke

Soon after being approached to participate in this campaign, I met Luke from afar. A little over a week ago, I was honored to spend more time with him and his amazing family. You see Luke, 6, was diagnosed with ALL on May 17, 2007. One day he was running, laughing and playing. The next day he woke up unable to move from the shoulders down. His days of digging in the dirt and skinning his knees were quickly replaced with monthly infusions, spinal taps, bone marrows, MRI's and daily chemo. He was a 3-year old that grew up rapidly before his family's eyes. Now 8 months out of treatment, Luke enjoys playing with his 4 siblings, playing the bongos and superheroes.

Luke has even taken the time to send me a fantastic Valentine’s day card! I have it taped to my fridge to remind me each morning that he is my inspiration for all fundraising. The money that I raise is in honor of Luke.

Here is more about his story that his parents shared with us:

http://www.youtube.com/user/vandritsch#p/a/u/0/3m_nULPAJRA

If you would like to help me out here is my campaign site :

http://in.mwoy.llsevent.org/Julie

So the quest begins....

This new adventure began about November of last year, when my best friend Sara (Fehsenfeld) Morris and a few other girls asked me to work on a campaign for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - Called Woman of the Year.

Now you might be asking yourself "What is the Woman of the Year?" Well it is a campaign in which each dollar the candidate raise is a vote for the person for Man or Woman of the Year. The candidate who raises the most money is named the Indianapolis Man or Woman of the Year. I am raising money in honor of our Boy of the Year, Luke Andritsch, and truly hope to make blood cancers a thing of the past. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society programs, including research, patient services, advocacy, public and professional education, and community services. The campaign is from March 10 - May 13th.

Your second question probably "Julie why are you interested in this campaign?" This is when my story comes into play. When I was in the 5th grade, I received a phone call waking me up one morning that changed the course of my life. With that phone call I learned my best friend’s mother had lost her battle with lymphoma cancer and I had to tell my mother that she had lost a friend. Cancer has continued to touch my life over the years in different ways, unfortunately most recently when a good friend was diagnosis with Leukemia in September. While I hope that through the years, I have been able to help those affected by these diseases by just being a friend, I am hoping through this campaign I can offer them more. I am ready to dedicate my time and efforts through this campaign to help to raise money and awareness of the great things for which the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society stands.

Last year I committed myself to living in Sao Paulo Brazil for 6 months for work and it was a life changing adventure and roller coaster. From the moment I said yes to this campaign, my life started to change again. I hope by following me on this blog, you will see my adventure this year and you will even feel compelled to help me out.

Here is my donation website:

http://in.mwoy.llsevent.org/Julie

Visit often as I update my progress, let you know about events that I have planned and you can see the fun that I have been having - all in the name of a good cause.