Winner Winner! And Thank YOU! You Are Important to Me!

Winner of the Kara Goucher Book and other stuff....

Okay, the video is really slow moving since I hadn't had coffee yet...sorry...so for those you that can't be bothered with watching 2 minutes of Amanda talk about herself....the winner was...Angela!  No e-mail, blog or way to contact you so if you don't contact me in 24 hours then the winner will be Duck on The Run as stated in video.


And then more summary for those that don't want to watch...don't blame you now that I rewatch it:

• Not going to the beach tonight anymore because I didn't realized that tonight is the graduation date for my very first class I taught ...some special kids there!  
• Winner so of the giveaway  blah blah blah
• Thank you for advice and support blah blah blah

Although this circle of moms thing got a little silly at the end and ANNOYING, it was still a contest and many of you in my virtual world and real life world voted. I know I mentioned that I was feeling embarrassed about it and really questioning what the point of it all was.  It caused me to be a bit more obsessive than I like and made me lose sight of the more important stuff going on around me. But for me to totally chalk it up to "silly and pointless" would be taking away from all of you that voted and cheered me on! So many of you stood behind me full force to support, cheer and love me even if you didn't know what it was all for.  You did it because you believe in me, love me and enjoy my blog. This alone makes me smile for I know you would have done it for anything that I was shooting for. Even if I were trying to see how many toothpicks I could stick up my nose!  For this I thank you! I woke up yesterday morning with the resolve to just let it be and not ask for anymore votes.  Instead, I turned on my facebook to find that 26 people had shared my link and most of them had something to say. I normally wouldn't share this kind of thing because it came come across as "tooting my own horn" or "lacking humility" but I want these people to know just how much their words touched me. Here are just a few of the messages I saw floating around facebook yesterday (forgive me if I didn't include yours):


Hey everyone! My college roommate writes an awesome running/motherhood blog that I recommended you check out if you are a runner, a mom, or just get a kick out of a good writer. She is in a competition and today is the last day to vote I would love to see her in 2nd place so Please take two seconds and GO VOTE FOR HER! Thanks


Hey guys! While the word "running" isn't normally in my vocabulary, it's only because my college roommate does enough for the both of us. She needs a blast of votes in the next few hours to push her into 2nd place. Please take a second to vote for her funny, thought provoking, insightful, running blog.


Alright all my 412 friends....this is it! We have to get her to the top, we have till 5PM tomorrow to get her from #3 to #1! I need your help! Please post this to your profile so your friends will vote and then their friends will vote...etc,etc, etc.. She is my best friend and she deserves this!! If your as competitive as we are you will HELP!!  Let's do this!! GO AMANDA!!!!


I think it would be great if you could click on this link and vote for my friend, Amanda's super excellent blog, "Runninghood." She's in a competition and today is the last day. Only takes a second and her blog deserves to win. Help a girl out? :) Just click the link and push the thumbs up button next to her blog. Thank you!


Amazing woman and amazing blog with such wonderful insights! Please vote for her! I've known her for roughly 20 years (eek). She's worth voting for!




I also wanted to just say that I always enjoy your comments and e-mails.  I wake up every morning with some of the best e-mails and comments and they truly do add richness to my life. Thank you!  If you don't hear back from me, it isn't because I am just ignoring you.  I am just really having a hard time keeping up with it all these days.  So don't give up on me.  I hear you and I value you so much.  Your comments and e-mails of support, wisdom, sharing your stories with me, etc. are big blessings to my life and I learn from you!  Thank you. 


Thank you for making a girl feel loved and supported.  No matter what it was for! 
Amanda