Teşekkür Ederim

I'm writing this from Turkey, and that's how you say "thank you" here (pronounced, according to my phrasebook, "te-shek-kewr e-de-reem"). I have surpassed my marathon fundraising goal of £1500 and am currently at £1576 and counting. I wanted to say a final thank you to all the generous people, organizations, and businesses whose contributions--both monetary and material, in the form of auction donations--are helping Sense make a difference in the lives of people affected by multisensory disabilities. And so...here they are:

Caroline and Al Turkus
Lila Matlin
Alex and Karin Krasavin
Deny Soto
Hannah Gersen and Mike Arauz
Gideon Kendall
Davina Pardo
Ches and Irine Rykasov
Jason Lindberg and Nicole Niebisch
Nikki Mondschein
Irene Rosenthal
David Grossman
Joshua Sanders
Frank Samperi
Christine Hung
Mary Jensen-Thackery
Molly Miners
Anne Wedemeyer
Jason and Leanne Greif
Zack Hample
Michael Fay and Victoria Lang
Buffy Stoll
Annie Lok
Laura Campbell
Jen Kipley
Jak Eskinazi and Family
Mindy Adnot
Susan Currie
Betsy and Brian Kelder
Heather Glotzer
Willa Cochran
Susanna Styron
Jennifer and Dan Green
David Golaner
Kim Kahn
Jen Clarke
Lee and Susey Burgunder
Carol and Sheldon Sandler
Jean and Jonathan Sandler
Steve and Maggie Greif
Geoffrey Greif and Maureen Lefton-Greif
Tom and Phoebe Styron
Rose Styron
Mike Sullivan
Margo Wallasch
Terry and Wendy Halle
Jackie and Roger Norden
Amelie and Bernei Burgunder
Alexandra Styron and Ed Beason
Sue and Rick Rizzo
Allan Hillman
Kay and Gary Stevens
Patrick Mulryan
Semper Fido
Argosy Bookstore
Vassar Haiti Project
Folio Fine Wine Partners
Jessica Bruder
Lion in the Sun
Two Boots Brooklyn
Kee Fitness
ChipShop
Cakes by Tony
Fatty Crab
Jess Desserts
Nick Gorevic Photography
JackRabbit
Noah Turkus
Wine Lite Imports

Thank you all!

Well, Well, Well...

I did it. I completed a marathon. The Flora London Marathon, to be exact, last Sunday, April 13, 2008. My time, in the interest of full disclosure, was 7:16:21, which is a wicked, wicked long time to be walking around London. I made two bathroom stops, each of which took around 15 minutes (blast those toilet lines!), the knowledge of which does make me feel a little less slow. My dad and I were together for the first six miles or so, but he kept going when I made my first pit stop, because the longer he's on his feet, the more his back starts hurting. Even so, the dude finished in 6:21:02, which, given that he mostly walked (with periodic spells of jogging), is pretty darn good for a guy five days before his 62nd birthday on his first marathon. On your right, a picture of Dad in action. Do I find it embarrassing that a guy twice my age beat me to the finish line by almost an hour? Maybe a little bit, but here's what I may not have told you: my dad's a hardcore exerciser. Not some big, bulging weightlifter guy, but a consistent, from-the-dawn-of-time fit fella. I mean, look at 'im: he walked a freakin' marathon in khakis and lived to tell about it. Okay, that part's unrelated, but I wanted to stick it in there to give him a little elbow in the ribs. But really, he's been active, as I described it to a friend, since before he was a glimmer in his mama's eye. I simply have not. Sure, some dance and gymnastics when I was wee, dashes of field hockey, lacrosse, and cheerleading, but on the whole, as you may recall my mentioning, I haven't historically been a major mover-around. Here's what I am bummed about: as the race went on, there were parts of the course that were being dismantled as I walked through them. Signs were being taken down, water bottles swept up, and for the most part, it was clear that the rest of London had more or less moved on while I was...moving on. There were terrific supporters almost all along the way, and bless their smiles, applause, and kind words (and an extra big hooray for my mom and Nick, who--on the plus side of very few people's still being on the course with me at the end--walked the last 3+ miles with me), but the marathon just isn't designed as much of a walking event. I'm not the slowest kid out there--heck, this lady on the left took over an hour longer than I did to finish--but during the last couple miles, when I was diverted to the sidewalk instead of the street because they had open the roads up to cars and basically closed the course, it made me feel pretty lousy. I'd come just as far as everyone else had! I am proud of myself, but it's hard to remember what a huge accomplishment this was for me and not to feel as though I'd let someone down when all the visuals indicated that the city had given up on me. Poo on you, Londontown and your endless waits for the loo. Nonetheless, I did it. Got my finisher's medal and everything. I'm not going to do it again tomorrow, but this adventure has opened up a realm of possibility that I had always thought of as everyone else's. Me go, girl.

Brussels-Niedermorschwihr-Colmar-Strasbourg

That's right, folks, I've been walking in Europe. Here, my ratings for the four walks I've done so far:

Brussels: starting at Brussels Welcome Hotel (23 Quai au bois à Brûler, on the Place Ste. Catherine), went to the left of the church, made another left, walked along for a bit, and a left again onto a long street along the train tracks
+ fairly straightforward and easy not to get lost, so long as you remember a landmark (in my case, a construction crane) from the corner you turned at
- lots of people, which meant more people looking at me funny for moving my arms à la marathon-walker
- not the prettiest, visually speaking
- uptight police officer who made me step back onto the sidewalk when I started to cross a street before I saw him coming. I backed up, but he actually made me get back on the sidewalk. So not New York!

Niedermorschwihr: drive into the town (this is considerably easier with GPS), park in the first lot on your right, and head out, following the green hiker signs until you get up into the hills
+ lovely scenery: green and flowery at the beginning, with a stream running alongside, and the hills overlook sweet little towns
+ almost nobody around, and so no one makes fun of how I walk
+/- parts of this walk are quite hilly. As someone who has been training on mostly flat surfaces for a marathon that is going to be mostly flat, I consider this a minus, but you might not.
- if you decide to go a ways and then turn around and come back, it is easy to accidentally take a different route on your return...bring breadcrumbs.

Colmar: starting at Hôtel Colombier (7 rue de Turenne), crossed the street, wound around past Caveau St. Pierre, then up the stairs and to the right, made a left at some pretty purple flowers, followed by some more left turns, including one onto a car-free footpath...ah, forget it--you probably won't be following my exact route.
+ great little path back along a stream in a residential area at the end...which is actually only for residents, but I didn't know that until I looked up the word "riverains" ("residents") after I got back
- somewhat circuitous, and so you have to pay close attention to where you're turning so that you can find your way back

Strasbourg: took stairs down to the banks of the Ill River at Quai Koch, followed the path until it ended at Pont St-Martin (I think?), then wound around twists and turns, trying to follow the river, but not always finding a place to walk alongside
+ the parts along the river were perfectly delightful: right next to nature, not too many people
- difficult to figure out where to go--I wish there were a connected network of riverside walks
- sometimes cobblestoney

.8496 Marathon

I did do the 22 miles...I just didn't write about it. I'm actually writing this on April 1, although the date stamp will probably say it's from sometime in March, because that's when I found and posted the picture. Anyway...here are a couple conclusions I've drawn after walking 20 and 22 miles in successive weeks:

• If you're walking 20 miles, it's a good idea to know where you're going ahead of time. Not planning your route, and instead tooling around the park for a few miles, then starting down toward Coney Island...not the greatest idea.
• Bedford Avenue is one loooong street. I knew it was supposedly the longest one that's entirely in Brooklyn (only possibly rivaled by Flatbush Ave), but man...that puppy doesn't end. Actually, it does end--at McCarren Park. I was there.
• That said, I recommend that if you're plotting a lengthy walk, you either avoid being on the same street for six miles or choose a pretty six-mile stretch for that portion of your journey.
• Rain is a pain in the butt.

However, I did it. And I never would have thought I could. In fact, thinking about it, I still don't think I could. And yet I did. The next walk I do that's that long will be the marathon.

Here Goes Sumpin'

Alrighty, folks, I have mapped out a route among routes, which you can check out here. Think of me on Wednesday in the forecasted rain and wind as I tour Brooklyn on my *22*-mile walk, Tom Wolfe's mega-novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons, providing a veritable literary hootenanny for the ears.

Wonders, Having Frequently Ceased in the Past, Recommence in Earnest

My, I am behind in my posting. Here, then, are some highlights:

- I walked 18 miles about a week-and-a-half ago, down to Coney Island, along the boardwalk, and back home. The walk down was a little boring, but the walk back was an improvement--not only because I was more than halfway through the walk, but also because the houses on the east side of Ocean Parkway are much prettier than the houses and buildings on the west side.

- South Beach has a lovely boardwalk, perfect for a five-mile walk, unless...

- My nano flat-out stopped working when we were in South beach a couple weeks ago. I would start listening, and after about 30 seconds, it would reboot itself. This then happened over and over, whether or not I was listening to it.

- This began happening at the very beginning of a five-miler, and the walk just seemed endless without a soundtrack, so...I started running. Never thought I'd be saying that. It was just for a few minutes, but I was interested to notice that I didn't keel over or anything like that. Maybe running's not so bad after all. But maybe it is.

- Finally, we reloaded the iPod software from iTunes onto the nano. And since then, you won't believe it, but...my Nike+ sensor has been working perfectly. Absolutely flawless (knocking on my wooden bedside table). Was that the trouble all along?

- Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, is a terrific listen. I still have a few hours to go, but I'd better find something good to follow it, because it's going to be a letdown to get to the end. Plus...

- I'm doing 20 miles for my next long walk. Wow! Trying to map out an interesting route for that one, and have been consulting write-ups of Brooklyn neighborhood house tours to see where I could see some pretty stuff as I go. I thought of doing a walking tour of all the major private schools in Brooklyn, but I don't know if I'll go with that.

- For some reason, this week's scheduled "long" walk was only eight miles. Odd.

Sweet Sixteen and Never Been So Unexpectedly Soaked on a Walk

It rained this morning. I was expecting this; I intentionally waited to walk until after noon, because by that time, the weather was supposed to have cleared up. And clear up it did, with the exception of a few moments' sprinkle...until my last lap through Center Drive in Prospect Park (I'd calculated that 16 miles was three laps all the way around the park, two through Center Dr, and the trip to and from my house). Then it started to rain lightly...and then it poured. I hear that's what it does when it rains...At any rate, I walked my 16 miles, and I'm feeling pretty good now, five hours later. And now, for some truths:

Resolved:

- Marathon training on a treadmill is laaame, and even doing it for just four miles last week made me feel like this little dude on the right.

- My new Nike+ sensor is even worse than the first one, and is already acting up. I'm done with these pieces of rubbish, and am planning to get a better piece of equipment of some sort.

- Something funky is going on with one of my toenails. The nail of the longest toe of my longer foot must be clunking into the front of my walking shoes on my long walks (and probably the short ones as well, but without the same impact), and, well, it's funky. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

...And Your Husband Dresses You Funny

If I'm being honest, the only part of what I'm wearing in this picture that Nick influenced at all was a layer of long underwear that you can't see. When he peeked underneath my second shirt and saw only tummy, he was horrified enough that I was going outside in so few layers that I decided to add another foundation garment. But he did try to dress me in several floppy-sleeved jackets (floppy on me--not on him) that I turned down, and it is his proponency* of Turtle Fur that has led me to even consider wearing that neck warmer. But the dorky bottle belt? All me--and Dawn Dais.

Here's the point: I walked 15 miles today! I'm a rock star. A rock star who performs sitting down for the next day or two. I decided to do my walk in Prospect Park, as semi-suggested by the coach I met with on Saturday (more on that sometime soon). So I did four laps of the park, and that, plus 12 blocks on Prospect Park West, plus the distance to and from my house, is roundabout exactly 15 miles--maybe slightly more. I'm proud of my old Nike+ sensor for giving me a good 7.89 miles before giving out. I decided not to use the new one because I still hadn't calibrated it yet, and so I used the old one as far as it would take me, not sweating it when it konked, since I was covering a known mileage. The walk took me around four hours, which brought me within 25-30 minutes of finishing A Thousand Splendid Suns. I listened to the end of it a few minutes ago. Quite a book! Really great stuff.

In addition to being more or less properly dressed for today's outing, I also didn't suffer any bouts with the ol' peg leg, which was a huge relief. After my 13-miler, I was worried. I do find, as far as chafing goes, that it's easier training in the cold than it was in warm weather. There's just more between my skin and my skin, which minimizes the rubbing. I also used BodyGlide for the first time today, but probably didn't particularly need it. And the Fuel Belt worked out great--far better than the water-bottle-with-handle-grip that I used for my walk in Florida. The walk was tiring as all get-out, but doable. Pretty darn cool.


*word coined by me, early a.m. 2/12/08 (Happy Birthday, Mom!)

The Straw That Broke the Walker's Patience

Okay, that does it. I finally went out and got a new Nike+ sensor. I've had it with losing audio support and mileage reports partway through my long walks. Often, after a long-walk konk-out, the sensor will work perfectly on my short workouts in the days that follow, lulling me into a false sense of electronic functionality. But today, even that fell by the wayside. I got the "activity stopped" message twice during my five-miler. I'll show you activity stopped, ya dumb-bunny piece-a plastic. Hopefully the new one, once I calibrate it, will serve me more faithfully than its predecessor--for a couple more months, anyway. At least they're only $30.

In other news, I finally got in touch with the marathon coach that my mom and husband have contacted at various times with the thought of giving me sessions with him as a gift. We've been e-mailing back and forth, and it looks like we're going to meet up over the weekend. The first bit of wisdom he shared with me was that beginning marathoners' long walks shouldn't make up more than half of their weekly mileage. So I should be walking either farther during the week or less far on my long walks (guess which one appeals more?). Interesting. I'm sure I'll return from our first session with lots more to work on and think about.

In Case Anyone's Counting (Other Than Me)

It's been almost two weeks since I posted last. I haven't stopped training! Here's a rapid-fire catch-up:

Monday, 1/21:
Distance: 4.01 miles - Time: 55:15 - Avg Pace: 13:46/mi.
Calories: 467
Soundtrack: Beloved

Wednesday, 1/23:
Distance: 4 miles - Sensor gave out
Soundtrack: Beloved

Thursday, 1/24:
Distance: 4.02 miles - Time: 57:41 - Avg Pace: 14:20/mi.
Calories: 469
Soundtrack: Beloved

Monday, 1/28:
Distance: 4.07 miles - Time: 57:32 - Avg Pace: 14:07/mi.
Calories: 474
Soundtrack: Beloved

Tuesday, 1/29:
Distance: 4.07 miles - Time: 57:276 - Avg Pace: 14:06/mi.
Calories: 474
Soundtrack: Beloved

Thursday, 1/31:
Distance: 5 miles - Time: 1:10:17 - Avg Pace: 14:02/mi.
Calories: 583
Soundtrack: A Thousand Splendid Suns (think this was the first listen)

Saturday, 2/2:
Distance: 5.16 miles - Time: 1:12:41 - Avg Pace: 14:04/mi.
Calories: 602
Soundtrack: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Sunday, 2/3:
Distance: 9 miles - Dumb sensor konked out
Soundtrack: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Super Duper Tuesday, 2/5:
Distance: 3 miles - Time: 42:53 - Avg Pace: 14:17/mi.
Calories: 349
Soundtrack: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Thursday, 2/7:
Distance: 5.18 miles - Time: 1:17:18 - Avg Pace: 14:54/mi.
2 sensor malfunctions
Calories: 604
Soundtrack: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Peg Leg

Well, well, well...I walked a half-marathon yesterday. Not an actual, established half-marathon, but over 13.1 miles. That's the good news. The bad news is that for the last mile or mile-and-a-half, something on the outside of my right thigh--I'm told it's probably my glute--was not right, and I more or less hobbled that last bit at a pace that had my husband wondering if I'd ever make it home for lunch....or dinner. We're in Orlando for the weekend, and so I was also walking in warmer weather--and therefore less clothing--than I have since my training began. This led to some unfortunate chafing under my right arm, leaving me uncertain as to whether to drop my arm to my side and risk that hand's swelling, or keep the arm bent in correct racewalking form (which aggravated the chafing). I folded up some paper towel (which I got in the blessedly well located Ft. Gatlin Alliance Church, the ladies' room of which I snuck into just after turning the corner from Lake Margaret Dr. onto S. Bumby Ave.) and slipped it under the arm of my tank top, which temporarily relieved some of the rub and got rid of a little of the troublesome sweat (more information than you wanted, surely). I looked online for a picture of the aforementioned church, by way--I've never been one to withhold credit and thanks from brilliantly situated indoor plumbing, regardless of the belief system that put it there--but was unable to find one.

"Where are the stats?" you may be asking. I, too, would love to see them. But, alas, after a couple brief konk-outs earlier in the walk, my deadbeat Nike+ sensor plain old stopped working around 6.5 miles. Not being able to cheer for myself when I was halfway through the walk or when I had just a mile left--because I didn't know when those points were--really took away from the experience. I'm proud of myself, but boy, am I frustrated. Not just the sensor, not just the chafing, not just the temptation to re-nickname myself Hopalong, but everything together. The idea of doing two consecutive half-marathons is, at the moment, too daunting to seem possible. I hope it gets easier.

The Benefit! (Photos by Zack Hample)

Double-Digit Midget

(The title is what my camp friend, Tricia Lillich, called me on my 10th birthday.)

Monday:

Distance: 3 miles - Time: 40:26 - Avg Pace: 13:26/mi.
Calories: 350
Soundtrack: The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton

Tuesday:

Distance: 5.02 miles - Time: 1:08:12 - Avg Pace: 13:33/mi.
Calories: 586
Soundtrack: The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton

Thursday:

Distance: 4 miles - Time: 56:04 - Avg Pace: 14:00/mi.
Calories: 466
Soundtrack: The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton

Sunday:

Distance: 10.01 miles - Time: 2:23:21 - Avg Pace: 14:18/mi.
Calories: 1167
Soundtrack: Beloved

I know I haven't written in ages; the fundraiser swallowed me up this week. More about that in another posting. For now, let's talk walk. I gotta say, if you're going to be walking 10 miles in windy, 20-someº weather (or -6º, as my British upstairs neighbor referred to it in horror when I met him just after I'd been out and told him what I'd done), having Toni Morrison read to you is a pretty nice way to spend a couple hours. In fact, overall, it was a great walk, which I found on the USA Track & Field website, a gem to which I was directed by the lovely Anna Schmidt, a marathoner friend. This was my route. When I mapped it out on Google, starting from and finishing at my house, it came out to 9.81 miles, and given that I crossed a bunch of streets in there that aren't accounted for by the map, I have no trouble believing that I actually walked 10 miles. 10 miles! What am I, crazy? I learned an important lesson about something I thought I had known. It had been my impression up until today that even when it's cold outside, I can dress fairly warmly, and stay plenty warm when I walk. This especially goes for my hands. Almost every time I've worn gloves, I've ended up taking them off after a bit. And today, as usual, I warmed up...and then got cold. After 6 or 7 miles, I was chilly, thanks in part to the wind and in part to...no longer warming up, I suppose. My hands were especially chilly, and I ended up pulling them inside my sleeves a couple times as best I could, which was fairly effective.

A really neat part about today's walk was all the different neighborhoods I got to walk through. The languages I saw on the shop signs around me went from English to Hebrew to Chinese to Spanish, and the faces I saw varied accordingly. Most of the Hasidim didn't much look at me, with the exception of one lady, who gave me a thumbs-up, which totally made my day.

So next time: gloves, and a hat instead of just a headband. Aside from that, good times. My sensor briefly turned off for a couple minutes, but was otherwise well behaved, the Chocolate Outrage-flavored Gu I downed after five miles was utterly palatable--like a mouthful of cooled hot fudge--and I burned over 1100 calories. Not bad for a day's work.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Tuesday:

Distance: 4 miles - Time: 57:26 - Avg Pace: 14:19/mi.
Calories: 467
Soundtrack: The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton

Wednesday:

Distance: 4 miles - Time: 56:20 - Avg Pace: 14:03/mi.
Calories: 466
Soundtrack: The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton

Saturday:

Distance: 7.01 miles - Time: 1:40:27 - Avg Pace: 14:19/mi.
Calories: 817
Soundtrack: The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton

Good news: my sensor is working again! It just took some fiddling with the little button on its back. And really, that good news is far more good than the bad news is bad. But the bad news is that since it started working again, my times have been much slower. So maybe it needs to be calibrated again? Or maybe I'm just not moving very quickly. One of those. Other bad news is that I discovered that the photos I've been using for this site may be royalty-free, but I'm still supposed to be paying to use them. Since subscriptions run $399 a month, I've moved on.

My feet were feeling a little odd earlier in the week, but after today's seven-miler, they're feeling fine. Seven wasn't that hard; I was also pleased to find that I was able to do the whole thing in and around Prospect Park with little backtracking. Went around the park road and tooled around on some of the nature trails within. There's more park to this park than I realized.

Technical Difficulties

Saturday:

Distance: 3 miles - Time: 40:14 - Avg Pace: 13:23/mi.
Calories: 350
Soundtrack: The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton

Today:
Distance: ? - Time: ? - Avg Pace: ?/mi.
Calories: ?
Soundtrack: The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton

Half a mile or so into my walk today, my Nike+ sensor ceased to exist, according to the bit that plugs into my iPod. It told me my activity had stopped, even though I was still moving, and then couldn't locate the shoelace-top sensor when I tried to reset it. Not cool. I tried several more times to get it working again, including pressing the mystery button on the sensor's backside, to no avail. So I walked around Prospect Park, tried to calculate how much farther I would need to go after that in order to get me to five miles by my front door. I think it turns out I was a couple tenths of a mile short, but whatcha gonna do? After reading some forum entries on the Nike+ website, I believe to have gotten the ol' boy working again; I'll keep you posted.

Auction Catalog

A selection of the items on offer at the Brit-tastic Fundraiser Party and Silent Auction on January 19:

Tiffany & Co. Elsa Peretti® Open Heart Pendant (Value: $125): Sterling silver pendant, .5" wide, on a 16" chain




ChipShop Gift Certificate (Value: $50): $50 gift certificate to ChipShop, whose wares were voted Best Fish and Chips by the Village Voice. Redeemable at Park Slope (5th Ave and 6th St), Atlantic Ave (between Clinton and Henry), or new! Bay Ridge location.

JackRabbit Gift Card (Value: $25): $25 gift card to JackRabbit, named the official outfitter of the Jessica Greif London Marathon Experience. JackRabbit sells swimming, running, cycling, triathlon, yoga, and other fitness gear, and their staff and attention to detail are top-notch. Redeemable at either their Manhattan (14th St between 5th and 6th Aves) or Park Slope (7th Ave between Garfield and Carroll) location.


British Chocolate Lovers' Gift Basket (Value: $30): includes Maltesers; Mars Bar; Flake Bar; Crunchie Bar; Nestle Yorkie Bar; Nestle Aero Bar; Curly Wurly; Cadbury Dairy Milk Bar; Terrys Chocolate/Orange; Nestle Lion Bar; Chocolate Buttons; Cadbury Caramel Bar; Cadbury Fruit & Nut; Bounty M/C.


Wall Hanging Sculpture (Value: $100): Wall hanging sculpture made from tin out of oil drums that are cut, carved, and designed by Haitian artisans





Private Dog Training Lesson (Value: $105): One hour private dog training lesson. Extra time (over one hour) is billable at $30 per additional half hour. No aggressive dogs. Lesson conducted at Semper Fido’s business location in Brooklyn, NY. For in-home session, travel fee will apply.



Lion in the Sun Gift Certificate (Value: $25): $25 gift certificate to Lion in the Sun, “Park Slope’s Paperie,” located on 7th Avenue and 4th Street.




“Party in Brooklyn” – A Small Art Book (Value: $25): 5” x 6” art book, mixed media




Catered Dessert/Brunch Event (Value: $150): Four different baked goods for up to 20 people, variety to be agreed upon between donor and highest bidder, but may include cookies, brownies, cupcakes, quickbreads, muffins, cinnamon buns, and more.





“Projection” – 8” x 10” Black and White Photo (Value: $75) : 8” x 10” black & white photo, archival-quality ink-jet print, in 16” x 20” frame






One-on-One Personal Training(Value: $200): Two one-on-one personal training sessions customized to fit your needs, goals and abilities. Training sessions can be held at K’an Bealer’s apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn, in her home gym, or at a private gym in Union Square. K'an will consider coming to your house if you have the right equipment and schedules mesh.

Two Boots of Brooklyn Gift Certificate (Value: $30): $30 gift certificate to Two Boots Brooklyn Cajun and Italian Restaurant and Bar, located on 2nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.



Fine Art Nature Photographs (Value: $120 each): 20" x 30" photographs: Brooklyn Bridge from DUMBO; Bryce Canyon, Winter Sunrise; and Oceanscape Abstract, Maceio, Brazil (seen in that order below--click to view larger)



























Interior Design Consultation (Value: $390) Gift certificate for two interior design consulting sessions. Each session to last approximately three hours. First session will review client’s goals and existing space and strategize. Second session will include a follow-up and shopping trip.




Leather-Bound Tom Jones (Value: $85): Hardcover leather-bound copy of Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding, Easton Press Edition.





Burning Book: A Visual History of Burning Man (Value: $28.95): Hardcover copy of Burning Book: A Visual History of Burning Man, by Jessica Bruder






Custom Cake (Value: $100): Custom 9” single-tier (round or square) birthday cake or 30 cupcakes (vanilla, chocolate, marble), filling of choice, buttercream icing exterior, decorated to suit bidder (not to exceed retail value), situated on a foam base and boxed. Notify donor no later than two weeks prior to event. Delivery not included.



2004 Luce della Vite (Value: $75): One bottle 2004 Luce della Vite, a “Super-Tuscan” wine from the Montalcino region of Italy.


Fatty Crab Gift Certificate (Value: $100): Gift certificate to Fatty Crab, Zak Pelaccio’s Malaysian “street-food” restaurant in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District


Interested in bidding on something you see here, but can't make it to the benefit? Click here to drop me a line and let me know.