Molly Crowe

Yesterday was Mini Laps, and I must say the event was spectacular. The decorations were phenomenal, and the kids looked adorable in their Wizard of OZ costumes. It was a great day. My parents, Christy, Toni, and Brian came to cheer the kids on. Here is a cute picture of Andrew in his scarecrow costume.

The goal for Mini Laps is to raise money that the school runs on every year. I’m pretty sure it’s the biggest fundraiser we do. We normally raise like 20% of the Budget or something like that. There is an organization that gives us a matching grant up to 150,000 dollars of whatever the parents raise. Last year we raised well over the match, but this year donations were low and we were about 12,000 dollars short of the match. Donations can still be made for Mini Laps and as long as the money is marked for the event then the organization will match it. I know most people who read this are poor people in their 20’s like me, but just in case someone else reads this and wants to make a donation you can do it here.

Here are some more fun pictures that Brian took of the decorations. The poppy field in the center of the track was my domain. The Union Cheerleaders made us 4,000 red poppies. It was really incredible. Brian and I made the barn with a few parents on Thursday.

And here are some pictures Brian took during the event. I walked three kids around the track.

Here is a picture of Sullian in a tornado costume. He was so cute.

And here is a picture of my favorite kid.

I hope everyone enjoyed the fun pictures. Have a lovely Sunday.

Something horrible has happened…

My camera has stopped working. I don’t really know how it started, but a few weeks ago I noticed that when I turned my camera off the lens wouldn’t close all the way. It would recede into it’s little nook up to a certain point, but then it would stop before it was completely inside the camera, and the little piece of plastic that protects the lens would not come out to do its job. This was all fine as long as I was careful not to scratch the lens. The camera seemed to work fine. No big deal.

Today I turned on the camera and instead of zooming out and making a little dingy noise like it normally does it madly beeped at me. I looked at the screen and it said “zoom error”. Every time I tried to make the camera do something it just yelled at me with its beeps, and the words wouldn’t go away. It won’t take pictures at all. This makes me extremely sad. I wish I could take pictures of the camera to show you what it looks like, but unfortunately…

Even though this horrible misfortune has been sad, there are some really fun things that I have to report. The new Missy Higgins CD, On a Clear Night, has been charming my ears for the past week or two. I highly recommend it to anyone who liked her last album, although I have to admit it’s probably not as good as the first one. It’s still great, but it lacks that pull… maybe with time the songs will start to build personality and I’ll feel differently. For now though, it’s simply a great CD that I think everyone should have.

I’ve been wanting to have a party for a while. Can anyone think of a cool theme? If anyone thinks of a theme I’ll happily throw a party. I know my birthday is coming up but I don’t really want to throw a birthday party for myself. I also don’t really want to throw a Halloween party for the simple fact that no Halloween party will ever top the Mad Hatter Tea Party that we had last year, and I just know any party I throw will leave me sad and wishing I had flour all over my head and a bathtub full of home brew. That bath tub sure did host a lot of beverages during our year there. Anyway, party ideas are welcome.

Here is a picture that Brian took of me and Jessica the night before she left. I like it.

I’ve decided that being 24 is going to be extremely fun, and I am going to consciously make it the best year I’ve ever had. Most of you know that every year in November I write a list of goals for my new year and post them on this website. When it gets close to the end of the year I reevaluate the list and see what has been accomplished. I realized that this year I did a horrible job at accomplishing my goal list, so now that I have only 2 and a half months left I think I need to try and see what I might be able to pack in before November 15. Here is the list:

1. Go on a road trip to visit Kylie, Chap, and Maura
I don’t know so much about “road trip”, but I think I can probably squeeze these in if I really try. Chap and Maura are having a “yea we’re married” party in October, so I can try to make it to that. Kylie and I keep leaving messages to each other about me coming to visit too, so maybe I can try to do that one in November. We’ll see.

2. Work out in some form three times a week
I think it’s a little late for that, but I did do yoga three times a week for about 6 months. Lately I’ve been riding my bike, but not three times a week, and for most of the year I picked up kids about 30 times a day 5 days a week. That’s probably better than lifting weights!

3. Drink a cup of coffee before I leave every morning (this requires getting up early enough to not be rushed)
I actually did a really good job with this. I consider it accomplished.

4. Meet a celebrity
I can’t remember meeting a celebrity this year, but if I’m wrong could someone let me know?

5. Bowl a 200 (carried over from last year)
I think I only went bowling once this year. I am pretty sure this goal is not that important to me anymore, and won’t be carried over to year 24. If I accomplish it before I turn 24 anyone I’m with will win 3 trillion points.

6. Read the entire Bible
Haha, that was lofty. Didn’t happen.

7. Go to church every Sunday
This also didn’t happen. Hopefully this year I’ll find a church that I will go to on a regular basis.

8. Drink a cup of coffee in Seattle
Never went to Seattle. I probably won’t get there in the next two months, either. If anyone wants to take me they will win 8 trillion points, and a cup of coffee from me once we get there. Who could turn that down?

9. Sleep more at least 6 hours every night
Well this didn’t happen every night but I think I did an alright job of this.

10. Write 200 thousand words
I actually exploded this goal, and wrote well over 200 thousand words. I kept count for a long time, and then realized that if I kept up the rate I was going I would have written 200 thousand words by May… so I’m pretty sure I did an alright job there.

I’m excited about making the list for next year, but I’m going to go ahead and wait for November before I do that. I think the list will be very different and lots of fun to make.