We Did It!

Approximately 870 Port-A-Potty stops, 436 graham cracker PB and J bars, 11 fearless walkers, 2 nights in pink tents, 2 hot showers in the "Porta-Kleen" tractor trailers, 3 delicious boxed lunch meals, 2 hot dinners and breakfasts, 1 Glee Sing Along, 1 dance party, multiple sing alongs on our walk, 60 miles and 3 days later.....

WE. DID. IT!!!!!!

Thank you so, so, so much for all of your support throughout our 3-Day journey. What an adventure we had this past weekend! As a whole, the Atlanta 3-Day raised over $6 million

for breast cancer research.

How insane is that?!

And $26, 417.37 of that came from Queen Jean's Supreme Team!!

But really, in all seriousness...thank you for supporting a cause that has touched many

people in many different ways.

Also, thanks to all those that came to support our team:

-To all of our immediate family members (Dads, Moms, brothers, sisters, aunts, cousins,

etc, etc) who came out to support our team (special shout out to Aunt Kit and my cousin

Lydia who came from VT and Denver, respectively).

-To the boyfriends and the husbands

-To the friends from High Point Elementary

-To the friends from High School

-To the friends from college

-To Jan, who came to EVERY SINGLE cheering station bearing candy and goodies.

-To my dad and Jan who drove us to Stone Mountain at 5:45AM Friday morning

-To those who sent us letters and packages....what great inspiration!!

-To my aunts who made us water bottles for "Queen Jean's Dream Team" (yep...minor

mistake!).

-To every single person that wished us luck before and during the walk and to all those who

told us congratulations post-walk

Here are just a few "highlight" photos of the weekend:

About to set off from Stone Mountain early Friday morning:

Jeff, Kate, and Blais...QJST Dance Team:

Home Sweet Home for Friday and Saturday night:

Lunch Stop on Day 2:

Icing some injuries Saturday night:

Post walk camp out pow-wow:

Lunch Stop on Day 3:

We made it to Turner Field! Thanks to everyone who helped get us there!

Closing Ceremonies:

Some of our team post-closing ceremonies:

All Hail the Queen!!

Love,

Queen Jean's Supreme Team

Come Cheer Us On!!!

We would love all the support we can get this weekend! We will be decked out in PURPLE (the Queen's favorite ROYAL color!) and there will be 10 of us with our Camelback fanny packs, t-shirts with crowns, purple bandanas, and purple mardi gras beads. Can't miss us!

I never thought I would do this on the "world wide web" but feel free to call or text me at:

404-667-2629 if you are looking for us. We can't guarantee that we'll be able to stop for a long time, but hopefully we can quickly say hello and get a boost of encouragement and energy!

Here is the info on how to cheer us on:

Cheering Stations:

Friday, October 21

Mile 4, 8:15 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Downtown Stone Mountain, Stone Mountain Welcome Center
891 Main Street
Stone Mountain, GA 30083

Mile 14.2, 10:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Downtown Decatur, Old Courthouse
101 East Court Square
Decatur, GA 30030

Saturday, October 22

Mile 13.1, 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Lindbergh City Center
Main Street between Lindbergh Avenue & Garson Street
520 Main Street N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30324

Mile 17.9, 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Peachtree Street between 3rd Street & 6th Street
701 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30308

Sunday, October 23

Mile 10.3, 10:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Freedom Park, between Euclid Avenue& Moreland Avenue
1284 North Avenue N.E.

Closing Ceremony:
After three days and 60 miles, participants will take a final and incredibly emotional victory walk into the Closing Ceremony. Friends, family and supporters should arrive at the Closing Ceremony site at least one hour early to get the best view of the program. We encourage you to carpool or take public transportation. Not only is it better for the planet, but it will help lessen traffic congestion for everyone.

All walkers and crew members should remain in the Participant Holding Area where they will receive a victory shirt, cheer on fellow walkers and crew members and celebrate one last time together before their dramatic victory walk. The Participant Holding Area is CLOSED to spectators. If you wish to meet with a participant before the Ceremony begins, please have them meet you at the Closing Ceremony site. All participants must return to the Holding Area no later than 4:30 p.m. in order to join the victory walk.

Don't forget to continue the spirit of kindness we'll be building on the 3-Day throughout and beyond the Closing Ceremony!

Sunday, October 23
5:00 p.m.

Turner Field
755 Hank Aaron Drive
Atlanta, GA 30015

Spectator Parking
Parking is available in the Blue or Gold lots at Turner Field.

Public Transportation
Please see the MARTA website, Itsmarta.com, for public travel information.

One Week To Go!!!

We are ONE WEEK away from our 3-Day Adventure! Here are some fun pictures from our 2 Day Training adventure! Half of our team was able to participate in our 2 day training and we ended up walking a total of 24 miles (yes...we know this isn't even half of 60...). We are hoping we are not yet exhausted of conversation topics....!!! Thank you again for all of your support and donations towards our team. We are so appreciative and I know The Queen would be so proud. Slash....she actually told me way back in January that we were crazy for walking 60 miles and that we didn't have to do that for her. Sounds like The Queen, right?

Nancy, Hart, Kate W., and Austin

(early on during our 16 mile day)

Delirium sets in as Kate W., Hart and Nancy start picking peaches from a random person's yard:

Lesson Learned: Stretch at all stoplights!

Struggles begin to set in...but they still have high spirits!

We gained Melissa and Sam for Day 2! Don't those Camelbak fanny packs look great?!

Please continue to check our blog for details on how you can cheer us on from October 21-23!!

All Hail the Queen,

Queen Jean's Supreme Team

Team Update

3 weeks and counting until the 3-Day walk!!

Here is our current team total thus far:

Goal: $25,300.00

Achieved: $22,459.37

Thank you so much to all of our supporters!!! We are almost there!!

Introducing....Kate Kotsko!!

Asheboro, NC

Getting ready for our kickball debut

Name: Kate Kotsko
Hometown: Port Huron, MI
Current City: ATLANTA, GA WITH ABBY!
College: UGA!
Major: Social Work
Occupation: Recruitment Manager at Teach For America
Connection to the Queen: one of the Queen's many admirers/Abby's college roommate
One "Must Have" for the 3-Day: I think I will bring my Jean bag. She made me this kick butt, homemade bag in college. I absolutely love this bag - one of my fave gifts EVER!
Favorite Quote: "it's a thing that happens to you. when a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real." -The Velveteen Rabbit
Favorite Elementary School Memory: One time a clown came to our school, and he chose me out of all the little kids to be his "special helper" during his magic/clown show. Well, it turns out I'm terrified of clowns. I bravely walked up to go help him, then I simply burst into tears and had to be taken out of the gymnasium by one of my teachers.

Favorite Craft project you've ever made or had given to you by someone: Actually, I think I would choose all my homemade gifts I gave to my fam for Christmas. One time I painted a plaque for all my siblings and pasted the poem, "I Carry Your Heart" by e.e. cummings on the plaque with a picture of us as little ones. They probably threw it out, but I thought it was nice!

Funny Story/Memory of the Queen: In college, Abs and I bonded over the fact that our families both still used colored Christmas lights, rather than the plain, boring white ones. Abby quoted her mother's reasoning for the colorful lights to me, "We celebrate diversity in this house." :)

Introducing...Brittany Grossman!!!

Name: Brittany Grossman

Hometown: Acworth, Georgia

Current City: Athens, Georgia

College: University of Georgia

Major: Early Childhood Education

Occupation: Pre-K teacher in Barrow County

Connection to the Queen: Friends and sorority sister of Abby

One "Must Have" for the 3-Day: For me it is going to have to be the blister kit! Got to be prepared for the inevitable.

Favorite Quote: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." -by Albert Einstein.

Favorite Elementary School Memory: I am a huge dork and loved school growing up, which is probably why I returned to elementary school as soon as I could! I think the best memory was in fifth grade when we got to go to Jekyll Island on an over night field trip.

Favorite Craft project you've ever made or had given to you by someone: Teaching pre-k you would think I would be crafty, but sadly I am not the best! The one thing that I have made and loved is an old window that I scrapbooked pages for each window pain. Not very exciting but a pretty big thing for me :)

Funny Story/Memory of the Queen and/or one of her kids (AKA: if you have a funny Jean story or if you didn't know Jean, then write a funny story about Nancy or myself): I wasn’t lucky enough to know the Queen, but have truly been blessed being friends with Abby. I think the past year there are many great memories from dinners and margs to the first steps of training for the walk. I think my favorite memory was our beach trip this past summer. I have never been able to travel with someone else who loves the beach the same way!

Introducing...Hart Hewlett!!

Name: Hart Harris Hewlett

Hometown: Born in Salt Lake City, Utah

Current City: Atlanta

College: University of Georgia

Major: Advertising

Occupation (if applicable): 6th grade teacher at the Schenck School; teaching math, leadership, writing, grammar, and social studies

Connection to the Queen: avid worshiper and friend of Abby's

One "Must Have" for the 3-Day: underwear and white wine

Favorite Quote: "Life isn't fair, that's why bras come in different sizes

Favorite Elementary School Memory: Running for class president in 5th grade with the campaign slogan "Woman of America, Hear Me ROAR! " (and then I actually growled like a lion)

Favorite Craft project you've ever made or had given to you by someone: My favorite craft project was stolen off of a blog from a sorority sister. She is my idol (Laura Bolton) and I would copy anything she did. She showed me how to make small, paper mache birds, covered in magazine clippings. I have a virtual aviary because of her. My paper birds live in my bookcase, in my kitchen, in the plants, and top wedding presents.

Funny Story/Memory of the Queen and/or one of her kids: Miss Jean was FAMOUS for wearing her christmas sweaters. Every year at our high school bible study christmas party, she would grace the room with some sort of cotton, red and green, feathers, sequins, and smiling grinch sweater. Any hoo, one year I gave Miss Jean a compliment on her fluffy, light up sweater and she simply said, "Hart, I'm a teacher, and parents love this kind of shit." As a second year 6th grade teacher, this has become my philosophy on dealing with parents...