Early March Save-it-for-a-Rainy-Day Update

There's a lot to cover, so I'll just get right down to it!

Tea parties

Maggie's Tea Party 2012

If you've followed my blog (it seems that some people are actually reading it!), you'll know I floated an idea about hosting two tea parties as a way to encourage some more people to donate to the MS Society and to broaden my fundraising circle, as it were. I may be (likely am) crazy, but I'm going to have two tea parties. The first will be on Sunday, March 24th at 11 a.m. and the second will be the next weekend - on Saturday, March 30th at 11 a.m. 

Tea parties? Yes. Email me if you want to come to either one (and if you'll be bringing a friend who hopefully will want to make a donation to the MS Society!). To keep myself from going too insane, I will limit the size of each tea party to 10 guests. A few words of explanation: I like tea. I don't like people to dress up to drink it. I have a casual tea party every year, usually for a small circle of friends. Despite the casualness, it is festive. This year, I'll be opening it up a bit to try to help meet my fundraising goal.

Biking

On this rainy day, I took my bike off my trainer and dropped my bike off at my neighborhood bike shop, the Angry Catfish (which also is a stellar coffee shop), for a tuneup. I will be getting black tape on my handlebars, to replace the dirty white tape that is falling off (will the black tape get hot in the sun?), I will have my front derailleur (again, always), have my rear wheel straightened out a bit so it is more true, and have brake cables and cable housing replaced. Because my bike is now out of the house, those of you who caught the Jayhawks' (the band, not the sports team) reference will appreciate that I spent a fair amount of time on my rowing machine today because my "pretty little hairdo don't do what it used to." 

Routes

I got some good rain gear recommendations from Dan's friend Chris a couple of weeks ago, and intended to order some of that, a rechargeable bike light online, and some dang tire-changing levers that I like (why do I keep forgetting?), but got distracted. As my team's route captain, I put the finishing touches on another bike route today, updated the description, and put dates on the calendar for group training rides. If you live in the area and can make use of any of the maps I put together, go for it. Feel free to check out the calendar, too, if you're curious. You can find all that stuff here: https://drive.google.com/?tab=mo&authuser=0#folders/0B9k7D3xH5liBLTdQaVlkMWlUY0t2Yko0WE80TGlRUQ. (Please don't distribute those from the MN Bike Atlas, since those probably are copyrighted.)

March 11-17: MS Awareness Week

Want to make others aware about MS, the MS Society, and MS Society events (and, well, let's admit it, help me meet my fundraising goals, too)?

• Share my emails and blog posts with others who may be interested;
• RSVP for one of my tea parties and bring a friend (preferably one who wants to donate to the MS Society);
• Sign up to participate in an event - either one I'm doing or another one;
• Contact your local MS Society chapter to learn about volunteer opportunities, such as helping in their office or at an event (this is a great alternative if you're unable to make a donation and the volunteers for the bike rides are very loved; the site for the chapter serving MN and neighboring states is: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/mnm/volunteer/index.aspx); 
• Let me know in the next couple of weeks if you have a big group of people that wants to go to a Twins game on 4/27 - I can order tickets for the Home Run Porch section for $18 each (normally $17) and $5 from each ticket sale will go toward my fundraising goal; or 
• Make a donation for my MS 150 ride, if you had been intending to, but haven't gotten around to it yet. (I'm at 27% of my goal so far - thank you for your support, financial and otherwise!) Here's the link: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMahoneyMS150.