I Pledge Allegiance to Travel!

One of my favorite things to do is travel! It doesn't matter if its exploring a local town or traveling to another state. I love to see what our world has to offer, especially when I'm experiencing it with good company. I've decided that in my lifetime I want to go to all 50 states. I brought this up around the dinner table and we started to compile a list of states that we have gone to (for the record we only count states that we got out of the car and got something to eat in). I wanted to make a more definite list online some how of each of our travels because I knew the scrap paper we wrote it on was going to get lost or tossed eventually. I did a little searching and came across VisitedStatesMap.com where I was able to check the boxes for the states I've visited, and an image of the US with colored in states representing my travels came up on the screen. I saved the image and did the same process for Brian, Darren, Haley, and Christopher. If states are highlighted in yellow that means that person has lived in that particular state. 

Sarah's States Traveled: #11

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Florida.  

Brian's States Traveled: #12

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, and Florida.  

Christopher's States Traveled: #10

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,  Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia, and Florida. 

 Darren's States Traveled: #13

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire,New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Missouri and Florida.  

Haley's States Traveled: #13

Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, California, New Mexico, and Nevada.

A year from now, I hopefully will be posting this again but with even more color! I hope to have a post comparing the countries we have traveled. I hope this post inspires you to to chart your travels!

"We Travel Not To Escape Life, But For Life To Not Escape Us!"

All About Color Me Rad!

 Color Me RAD!!! I have participated in a handful of 5ks but never like this! This is a complete Fun Run from start to finish! This event brought together about 2,000 people with the common goal of giving back, getting colorful, and having some fun! There wasn't one person that wasn't grinning from ear to ear at this event! Teams, were instructed to wear all or mostly white, and pick up your race swag prior to the race. OR if you are me and totally forget to pick up the packet you can wait on line and pick it up at the registration tent! Inside our swag bag is your (1) Race Bib (2) Official Color Me Rad t-shirt (3) Awesome Color Me Rad Sunglasses!

Once you put on your race bib, you make your way to the starting line at the appropriate time. Due to the high number of participants you are assigned a time when you are allowed to Run/Walk/Skip the race. My Mom and I were in the 9:10 am race wave. As you can see all the people in front of us are waiting for their race wave to begin. When its time, there is a count down, and the man standing above everyone blows a cloud of color on the participants! Of course, when I got to the front the leaf blower that the man was using to make the cloud of color got jammed and we began without the epic cloud of pink. Just my luck!

As we ran around the PNC Arts Center complex we ran through these color check points! They were spaced out throughout the course and they had these color check points in so many different colors! It was awesome because you can see them as you went through the course and it was motivation to keep going because you wanted to be color bombed! Inside these checkpoints were Color Me Rad volunteers ready to bomb you with color as you went through! The last leg of the race there are volunteers that hand you color bomb packs that you get to use to bomb other people! I made sure to color bomb my mom as we crossed the finish line!

You might have noticed my RADiculous Jersey Strong cowboy hat! WOW and the Jersey Strong Foundation had a tent setup and were giving away some rad swag. With every registration to Color Me Rad a donation was made to the Jersey Strong Foundation. This public charity has a mission to connect us to people and communities throughout New Jersey. The Jersey Strong Foundation provides funding and resources to people, families, and communities in New Jersey who are healing from hardship, and were hit by Hurricane Sandy.

Here is my Before & After of Color Me Rad! Oh, and my Color Me Rad tip for future RADiculicous Participants is to use the clear zip lock that the Color Me Rad sunglasses come in to cover your iPhone while you race! I was able to take all the photos above with my iPhone 5c while in the zip lock!

And last but not least, Enjoy the after Party!

                                        

Color Me Rad

Saturday, June 7th I was lucky enough to get RADdiculous with my mom at Color Me Rad! This super colorful and awesome 5k fun run was an amazing way to start off my weekend! This event marked the first of many 5ks with my mom! On top of having color bombs flying and upbeat music playing as we went throughout the course we knew that our participation was helping the Jersey Strong Foundation! I love exercising but I love it even more when it helps out a great cause! Check back soon for a full wrap up of Color Me Rad!