Steve Jobs will thank you...

If you see a yellow wristband on someone... 

you probably immediately think of LIVESTRONG...

Remember Dorothy's ruby red slippers? 

Nowadays you'd question whether she was wearing red because she was helping raise awareness for AIDS research... 

So what would you think if you saw someone wearing these?

Aside from the shock that someone would actually wear them... ha! You probably don't know....

Just a few weeks ago Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away from Pancreatic Cancer. Although a lot of people changed their Facebook profile pictures to the black apple symbol with his face profile as the "bite" out of the apple... The official color of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness- is purple.

This month especially you're seeing a lot of Pink. 

NFL players are rocking pink socks, pink mouth guards, pink shoes. Race for the Cure 5k's are inundated with pink feather boa's and tutus, and companies from Kitchenaid... all the way down to NASCAR are sporting pink right now.

   

A portion of the proceeds for most of the specialty colored products go to support breast cancer research. 

We get it! 

Last year my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The only way I found out was because while I was home one day she couldn't go to the lake with me and walk because she said she had a doctors appointment. 

For what I asked?

"Oh they removed some cancerous tumor from my breast a few weeks ago and now I have to go in for radiation. It only takes a few minutes. I'll meet you at the lake"

What?

She was very nonchalant about the whole thing.

 As she walked out the door I looked over at my dad with my eyes bulging out of my head, and a look of confusion on my face...of course his face was all winced up as he held back tears. Hello? Why wasn't this a part of the conversations I'd had with them over the past month? She'd go on and on about the stitching for the new place mats she was sewing for my "casserole night" dinner parties, but failed to mention anything about having cancer. That's my mom. 

I could just imagine what went through her mind when they told her. Here are a few I'm sure would have rolled right off her tongue... or maybe even did...

"Suck it up"

"I'll offer it up for penance"

"Tough Shit"

Well she probably wasn't that concerned, because funding has been phenomenal for breast cancer, and she didn't really have much to worry about...

Well either way, sending her a bouquet of pink flowers to commemorate her being cancer free the following October - wasn't something she'd really be that impressed by. She's too practical. 

"Flowers die.What a waste" 

 So I decided that, thanks to all that research, she was able to fight it... and my way of giving back, was to say "yes" every time I was asked at the grocery store if I wanted to donate to Breast Cancer research. Remember I'm very forgetful, so sometimes I'd find myself at the grocery store more than once a day... and then of course there's the pharmacy, and Target, and every other retailer in the world... I felt pretty confident I did my fair share of funding that month. 

Well, one of my good friends is celebrating a birthday in October, but for her, the month of November is really a month to celebrate.

 Her father passed away from Pancreatic Cancer, like Steve Jobs, just before we became roommates. I was aware of the low survival rates for that kind of cancer, but I was floored with just HOW severe and un-talked about, it really is. 

Luckily, that same year Randy Pausch made a splash in the awareness community when he held his "Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University. But this time, his lecture wasn't for his students, it was for his kids... It was his last chance to give them guidance.
His diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer...was a death sentence.

Then Oprah took notice and the whole world heard his "Last Lecture", and we all lost our marbles.... 

And then, it was etched in history... as it was published in book form as "The Last Lecture". 

For the first time... It brought it to the forefront Pancreatic Cancer - and it's severity... as the deadliest form of cancer out there. 

When her dad was diagnosed...My new roommate had quit her job and moved home to help her mom care for him in his last days. As we talked about it, just a few days after she moved in, I was amazed at how poised and serene she was given that he had died just a few weeks prior. I of course was a teary mess.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when just a few months later she was asking for a ride to the airport. 

Where are you going I asked...

"A meeting at the White House to try and get more attention and funding for Pancreatic Cancer "

Talk about taking matters into your own hands. She was only 27 years old!

She came back with pictures and memories... but more importantly... she was armed with a plan. 

There were a lot of advocates holding events to raise awareness and she wanted to join them. The next thing you know we were at a park on a Saturday morning decked out in purple walking with about 100 people to raise money for research. 

Then I was making curry guacamole in a funny costume to raise money, and she was off to meetings and D.C. again and the next thing you know it's time for our fundraising walk again, only this time... it's at a different park. 

What's wrong with the old one I asked?

Won't hold 700 people she responded... 

She raised $70,000 in money for Pancreatic Cancer research that year at that walk alone.

So what do you get one of the most amazing people you know, who has a thing for purple... and you've promised not to buy anything new for a year?

Well as I perused AmVets the other day (thrift store)... I couldn't help but spot the sparkle of purple sequins on a size 9 high heel. Her size. But there was only one. I had employees looking, kids looking, I was even digging under bowls and other shoes and nothing... 

It was so reminiscent of Dorothy clicking her shoes together, wanting them to take her to a better place...

I wanted those shoes to signify my commitment to my friend and her efforts to get people suffering with Pancreatic Cancer to a better place, a chance for a cure.

I had to get it.

 One is better than none I figured. 

As I checked out, the cashier asked if I wanted to complete the pair as she pulled another purple sequin shoe from a box... :) Everything happens for a reason you know.

It's still October... but it's almost November and as I watch my mom and so many others diagnosed with breast cancer who are greeted with survival rates from 15-93%...

I can't help but think about all those people who hear a Pancreatic Cancer diagnosis... and doctors who can't promise ANY rates of survival. The best they can offer is a max of 5 years

... to live. 

I'm hoping those shoes will remind her to never give up, and I hope this blog will reach a few more people who might think about November as Pancreatic Purple month and help. Randy Pausch, my friends dad - Jerry Vanderkam, Patrick Swayze, and now Steve Jobs....

Maybe K-Swiss could make a portion of the flying purple people eaters go to PanCan...

Or maybe next year I'll be able to order her a purple Kitchenaid Mixer and have a portion of the proceeds go to what matters to her most.... Kitchenaid? are you listening?

My dark (chocolate and sea salt) secret

I can't seem to escape it. Even at the airport!

The one on the right says Salted Carmel Mocha Frappuccino. They traded "chocolate" for "mocha" but it's not like we're idiots... I get what you're trying to do...

If it's at Starbucks, it's going to be on every street corner, in every city, everyday until my scale tips 300 pounds... 

First it was those dark chocolate salted caramels from the restaurant Purple, in Seattle... I think I could lay sole blame there... I had to suffer through the delicous decadence of three whole pieces all by myself in June, and then AGAIN in July! They're like drugs... In fact... I still have 2 in my freezer at this moment... that feels good to get off my chest. I have no idea how I made it home without eating them but I did. The saddest part of this story however is that... I am so mad for these little buggers that I can't stand the thought of ever being denied them... I flew them 1,254 miles back to my home... for my own peace of mind!

But it didn't stop there....then it was dark chocolate almonds with sea salt from Trader Joes. I was so grateful I couldn't find them  at a TJ's close to my house... until the other day. They're hidden back by the wine... also not fair. 

I stopped frequenting that section because my self control around these things is embarrassing. 

But these!!! they put these suckers right at the checkout!

Then... it was my birthday. What do you get a girl who is trying not to accumulate more "stuff" but for whom food is fine...?

My name is Ann and I have a dark chocolate and sea salt addiction... I pray it's not contagious. Mom, you should pray too...

dark chocolate + carmel + sea salt = more please

Since food is one of the few splurges I have this year, let me tell you... I sure am enjoying them more than ever :)

A few weeks ago while I was in Seattle for the Rock N Roll Marathon, my friends came in from Whidbey Island and took me to one of the most amazing restaurants I'd ever been to - Purple. The lobster mac and cheese couldn't be passed up and was amazing,

 but it was dessert that almost created a scene right there in the middle of a perfectly sophisticated restaurant.

Upon arrival of the dessert menu (something I almost always torture myself with - I shouldn't even look but don't you just wonder???) Well I didn't even get a chance to read through the list before the menu was snatched out of my hands as my friend mary addresses the server with our orders.

Mary: "We'll have 3 of your dark chocolate sea salted carmels"

Server: "They come 3 on a plate, so one plate right?

Mary: "No. Like, she needs 3, she needs 3, and I need 3"

Really? I thought...

Mary: "Trust us"

Soon after three plates with three chocolates on each were handed out. No words were spoken from the other two, so I followed their lead and bit into the first piece.

You know that feeling you have when you taste something so ridiculously good that you almost put it back on the plate as if it's poison? I mean there's food for sure that you take a bite and then ravenously go in for another because it's so good. But then there's the kind that is so darn good, it's almost hard to comprehend, and so your fork just puts it back almost in denial?? These carmels, are deadly.

They were so good, that the next night we ate at a different restaurant just to mix it up (not sure why we always feel the need to do that too, but whatever) but as we walked home that night we instinctively ended up back at the dark chocolate sea salted carmel restaurant and ordered 3 sets of 3 to go... All of us shaking our heads in disapproval and yet anxiously standing at the hostess stand like rabid dogs.

Good news for me, I was back in Seattle just a few weeks later for TriRock Seattle. This time I wasn't in the city... but as you know now, I tend to obsess when I love things. I had visited the website for the restaurant as we waited that second night and knew they had a few locations...

As I sat explaining these delightful little squares of perfection to my co-workers it dawned on me, there might be a suburban location... right?

When I google mapped it in my phone - to my astonishment, the original location was just .5 mile away. Frantically I called the restaurant and ordered a dozen, sure to impress my new friends I even offered to go inside and get the beautifully tied up boxes in my ridiculous swim cap dress.

It really makes yout think twice about wasting calories on sweets that aren't that good. I love sweets... like more than the average person, and it's a problem. So... to try and remind myself that I should hold out and just splurge for sweets that are truly outstanding, I took that ribbon and tied it around my wrist...If I eat too many sweets with this bracelet on, my wrists will turn Purple and I won't be able to go to Purple anymore...