Pic of the week....

At the Challenge last weekend they had all these boxes of chalk for kids and spectators to write things on the concrete with at the finish lines and through the course of the race. They were giving the chalk away also to take home... and since my new home project was chalk board/magnetic section of a wall in my kitchen I took some... but not before leaving my mark on LS'09...

I love you Jess - and miss you every single day.

Dallas-Ft. Worth Brain Tumor Walk:

Dallas-Ft. Worth Brain Tumor Walk:

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NBTS Angel Adventure Walk

Happy Monday!

I'm so excited to announce that Juli Gage (Jess' sister) has started a team for the Angel Adventure walk in Ft. Worth on November 7.

This team is going to walk in memory of Jess' and also to help support those that are fighting brain tumors currently and remembering those who have bravely fought before us as well as celebrating with the survivors of this disease.

The walk will be held on November 7 at Trinity Park in Ft. Worth. What an amazing event last year this was supporting Jess and all of the other brave fighters, survivors, family members, friends and supporters!

Click this LINK to donate, join the team, and show your support!

Thank you for all your love and support!

Pic(s) of the week

My pics of the week are themed in nature... :)

As you know if you've been reading for awhile, I am a big supporter of the LiveStrong and Lance Armstrong Foundation.

A few months ago the girls and I started discussing participating in the LiveStrong Challenge in October. The LIVESTRONG Challenge is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's signature fundraising event inspired by hope, courage and the perseverance of Lance and the nearly 12 million Americans affected by cancer. We take to the streets on bicycles and on our feet, uniting individuals to stand together to fight cancer. The LAF and LIVESTRONG believes that unity is strength, knowledge is power, and attitude is everything; which I completely agree.

Jessica was united in strength by her friends, family, loved ones and even strangers; she educated herself about her disease and empowered herself to fight as did her family; her attitude was COMPLETELY unwavering and admirable. I learned more from Jessica and her family than I ever thought was possible; however I do not want others to have to feel the pain that this disease brings not only to the patient but the family and friends as well.

It is important to me to do what I can to "pick a fight with cancer" and help find a cure. I truly believe in this cause and this fight; and I hope you will unite with me to do what you can.

I hate asking people for money - I've only done it one other time; when Jessica was raising money for the angel adventure walk last October; which is another amazing cause. The National Brain Tumor Foundation is another great non-profit group that fights for brain tumor patients and raises money to find a cure.

I hope you can help - any amount is appreciated... $1 will go along away in my book.

Thank you for your support, prayers, love, hugs, flowers, etc over the last 2.5 years. As you all supported me and Jessica in her fight for the last few years; now it's time to unite and fight with those that are still undergoing treatment and fighting their own battle so that we can TRI for a cure!

Click Here to donate and see my personal page: http://austin09.livestrong.org/allie0622

Click Here to donate to either me or my teammates and see our team page: http://austin09.livestrong.org/triforacure

Buffalo Wild Wings made my pic of the week because Newbie has been so gracious and found a sponsor for our team jerseys! One of her friends in Beaumont owns a few BW2 I believe, and he has agreed to sponsor us!!!! That is so awesome and we are so excited!!! THANK YOU RAJ AND NEWBIE!

Hooters, North Richland Hills is also a pic of the week, because my friend Chris is the GM there and he has awesomely agreed to host a car wash and bake sale and all the proceeds go to our fundraising efforts!!! We are hoping that car wash will be in August and the bake sale in September! I am so excited that Chris has graciously offered this to us and is helping us out to raise money for this event. THANK YOU CHRIS!!!!

Thank all of you again for your support, love and prayers!

Have an awesome weekend!!!

Livestrong Challenge HELP!!

Need ideas for a team name for our Livestrong Challenge we are doing in October. We are doing this in memory of Jess and to help raise money to find a cure for cancer.

Brainstorm and leave a comment with your idea...

***Weekend update to follow later.... so fun in NOLA****

We picked a team name... TRI for a Cure...

visit our team page at austin09.livestrong.org/triforacure

Visit my personal fund raising page at austin09.livestrong.org/allie0622

Two Poems....

God looked around His garden
and He found an empty place.
He then looked down upon this
earth, and saw your tired face.
He put his arms around you
and lifted you to rest.
God's garden must be beautiful,
He always takes the best.
He knew that you were suffering,
He knew that you were in pain.
He knew that you would never
get well on earth again.
He saw the road was getting rough
and the hills were hard to climb
So he closed your weary eyelids,
and whispered, "Peace be thine."
It broke our hearts to lose you but
you didn't go alone,
For part of us went with you
the day God called you home.
(Author Unknown)

When I am gone, release me, let me go.
I have so many things to see and do,
You mustn't tie yourself to me with too many tears,
But be thankful we had so many good years.
I gave you my love, and you can only guess
how much you've given me in happiness.
I thank you for the love that you have shown
but now its time I traveled on alone.
So grieve for me awhile, if grieve you must
then let your grief be comforted by trust.
That it is only for a while that we must part,
So treasure the memories within your heart.
I won't be far away for life goes on.
And if you need me, call and I will come.
Though you can't see or touch me, I will be near
you'll hear all my love around you soft and clear
And then, when you come this way alone,
I'll greet you with a smile and a "WELCOME HOME".

Gone but not forgotten....

I cannot begin to even mention every person that has called, emailed, texted, facebooked, myspaced, etc their condolences. Thank you so much to each of you for your outpouring of love, support and prayer. I don't think I could have made it through the last few days without each and everyone of you.

I still cannot believe that Jessica is gone. It is so hard to wrap my head around the fact that she has left our earthly world. I take comfort in knowing that she is in heaven completely healed and sitting at the right hand of our Lord. I know she was greeted in heaven with "Well Done My Good and Faithful Servant" but it still is hard here for those of us that survive her. For the last 16 years of my life I have talked to Jessica nearly every day... minus the last few months because of her cancer... I can't stand the thought of not being able to call or email her or text her silly little things that we shared. It's hard to imagine that she won't be standing in my wedding when I get married, or be there at the birth of my children, or be the two little old ladies at Luby's having lunch...

She was my best friend - through and through. We went through alot together since we met in 7th grade...and now I know she will watch over me and protect me through the remainder. She is my angel...

I have prayed daily for 2 1/2 years that Jessica would beat this disease. That she would be the one that lived to tell her triumph over cancer... but that was not God's plan for Jess. Jessica bravely defeated this disease and she lives in heaven... it is the cancer that is dead.

I just can't say thank you enough to all of you who read this blog and prayed for her. Your prayers were felt by many. Please continue to pray for Bo, Ronnie, Stephanie, Juli and James as well as Jess' countless friends.

She will be missed by many.... until we meet heaven I will miss her everyday...

BFFASSFEAEAEAEAE....

This was something that Jess and I wrote at the bottom of every note during our grade school years and every email there after... BFFASSFEAEAEAEAE...

It stands for: Best Friends Forever And Secondary Sisters For Ever And Ever And Ever.....

She was my "secondary sister"... I will forever miss her

Jessica Ashley Gage Bonesio....

My precious best friend has gone to dance with our Heavenly Father....

Please pray for Jess and her family during this incredibly difficult time. Don't take for granted one moment with your family, friends and loved ones... you never know when they may be taken from you.



Jessica was the best friend a girl could ask for. I will miss her everyday until we meet in Heaven ...

I love you Jessica Ashley - I can't wait to see you again...

Pic of the Week:

My best friend Jess....

www.jessicagage.com

Pic of the week

Today my pic is something that many people see and wear but for me it has special meaning.

The LiveStrong Bracelet.
As I have blogged on here many times before, most recently HERE; My best friend of 15 years Jessica has been bravely fighting brain cancer for over two years.

At the beginning of this year, after a year of chemo, radiation, etc, Jess started noticing that she was loosing her balance - long story short she has had some major setbacks in her fight against this awful disease.

When Jess was first diagnosed I made her a scrapbook of survivor stories. Most of these stories came from the LiveStrong website. I found all survivors of brain cancer and put them together in a scrapbook to encourage her and help her remember that she can survive this awful diagnosis.

I also ordered her the survivors notebook that the Lance Armstrong Foundation offers for free. It includes tools, stories, and reading topics for cancer patients. Jess also had me read Lance Armstrong's book "It's Not About the Bike" This book is about Lance Armstrong's personal fight with cancer and all the trial and tribulations he went through as a cancer patient.

When Jess was diagnosed we all began wearing our LiveStrong bracelets. This bracelet had no meaning to me before the day she was diagnosed and now I don't go a day without wearing it; in fact I rarely take it off.

Cancer is a disease that will more than likely affect everyone at some point in their life. It is horrible and devastating. It does not discriminate.

Just take a moment today and think about someone you know who has fought or is fighting the fight that is Cancer. Say a prayer for that person or people who have bravely fought this disease. If you haven't been personally affected - take a moment and give thanks.

Pic of the Week

I didn't have a chance to post this yesterday - I was working from home b/c my pink eye has returned... ick...

This isn't necessarily a "Pic" ... but I made it into one. This is a screen shot of my friend Della's Fundraising Page for the Relay for Life. She will be a member of a Relay for Life team in College Station and she will be walking for numerous reasons. If you have a few extra dollars and can donate to her team that would be awesome.

As you know cancer has affected me personally in ways that are indescribable. Jessica has been my best friend for 15 years and is in the fight of her life with this horrible disease. If you have a second please visit her website at www.jessicagage.com and leave her a note of encouragement or better yet - stop reading this and say a prayer for her.

There are many other people that this disease affects daily. I hope that no one reading this will ever have to know the affects of cancer on someones life. If you have a one dollar or one hundred any donation to find a cure for cancer is worth it.

Here is the link to her donation page - DELLA'S DONATION PAGE (CLICK HERE)

two weeks...

I haven't blogged in two weeks almost... I'm slacking!!

Tri training is going great! Cayla and I are training together now for two hours on Saturdays. It is so nice to train with someone ... I wish we lived closer so we could work out together everyday!! We are just under two months until race day and I'm getting more and more excited each week... but that also comes with more and more nerves.

I'm super nervous about the bike portion of the race. I was initially most nervous about the swim but now this bike part has really got me freaked... I think I need to spend some time "getting comfortable" on the bike. I'm afraid if I don't feel comfortable I'm going to seriously injure myself or someone else...that would make for a nice post though...

I am also three weeks out before our annual girls trip. This year we are headed back to Fredericksburg the first weekend in March. This will also conclude our "Operation Get Fit" Challenge that we started in November. I'm not sure if I initially blogged about this or not but back in November, all the girls, took part in a fitness challenge to get ourselves back in shape. This was about the same time I decided I wanted to do this triathlon so it worked out perfect. We put $50 in a pot... $25 will go to the biggest percentage of weight dropped and $25 will go to biggest drop in BMI. This has been the best thing ever.... I have completely embraced this challenge and feel better about myself now than I have in along time.

In the meantime...

I saw "He's Just Not That Into You".... such a cute movie! I highly recommend reading the book first though. I read this book when it was first published in 2004 and fell in love with it so naturally I was stoked when I saw the previews for the movie.

It is so cute. And although I don't agree 100% with every part of the book/movie it is a fun, mindless, romantic comedy that even the guys would enjoy. So buckle down, pay the $100 it costs to go to the movies now-a-days and see it!

Continuing on to my TV addiction...

American Idol is in full swing! WHAT WHAT!! I love A.I. ... I love the tryouts, Hollywood week, everything! I get sucked in EVERY YEAR!

We are into our top 36 now and the first group sings Tuesday... I will throw it out there... I love Kai Kalama. He made me cry during his audition in San Francisco and I was soooo happy when he made it through. Even if he doesn't win.. he's a winner to me :)

Family Stuff:

Coop turned 3 on Friday! I can't believe he is 3!!! It seemed like just yesterday he was this tiny thing! It is also hard for me to grasp that Shelby is going to be 1 in two months. I was able to see all three of my precious nieces/nephews on Saturday for Valentine's Day. I played Cupid and delivered them all their Valentine Goody Bags... as far as I'm concerned they are my perfect Valentines!

I did have a slight emotional moment when I left Paige and Nick's... Shelby started to cry when I was leaving and it made me cry. I love that little girl so much she is sooooo cute and soooo sweet. She would just cuddle with me and love on me; she is really starting to take on a personality.

I was equally excited to see Kaylee and Cooper on Saturday. I just knew that they would love their goody bags. AND I only gave them one thing of candy each so Anna wouldn't yell at me. They each got a heart shaped Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.... it's my favorite and I knew they would share.... I totally had ulterior motives. Kaylee and Coop always make me smile and after a long day at the gym their hugs and kisses were just what I needed.

I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful family!!!!

On a serious note:

Please continue to pray for Jessica. Her chemo regimen now is pretty hard on her and I ask you to lift her and her family up in your prayers for continued strength, healing and peace. If you get a second visit her website and leave her a note of encouragement at www.jessicagage.com

Have a great Monday!

Thank you!!!!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

Jessica has reached her goal for the NBTS Angel Walk plus some!!

Thank you again!!

Updates coming soon....

Please Donate

As many of you who read this know... my best friend Jessica was diagnosed nearly two years ago with a brain tumor. Jessica has not let this diagnosis of cancer run her life and neither will her supporters! Please if you can visit her webpage www.jessicagage.com or visit the widget below. We are trying to raise money for the Angel Adventure Walk in November. These funds will support brain tumor research and aide in finding a cure for this horrid disease.

Please visit and donate if you can - any dollar amount will help!
Team - Love For Jess