a new card

My niece is celebrating her first birthday on Sunday. I made this cute little card to send off to her. My two favorite parts are the safety pin that goes through the knot in the ribbons and the white writing on the dark brown paper.

Happy Birthday Lilly!

loving it!

I was with one of my most fashionable friends today who is a designer and a hunter of beauty. She inspired me to look around at clothing that is beautiful. So this afternoon I did a little window shopping. These are some of the things I am loving!

photos courtesy of anthropologie.com

cards by belle returns

You may wonder, if you haven't known me for long, why my blog is at cardsbybelle.blogspot.com. What do cards and belle have to do with Rhielle? Many years ago, I was famous for making beautiful home made cards. This was at the beginning of the card-making boom and I thought that someday I might open a business where people could purchase a one-of-a-kind card for their loved one. I soon realized, however, that creating one-of-a-kind cards was not important to people because using a design for only one card made them very expensive. I created a blog where I thought I would showcase some work but then it just turned into a place to write down my thoughts. Now, people turn to cards by belle to read about me!

On Sunday, my father celebrated his 58th birthday. I took him and my mom out to lunch on the next day and gave him his birthday card. I haven't made any of these unique cards in a while. It was fun to put one together again. And, the inside (although you can't see it) the card hosts a gift certificate which makes it great wrapping paper.

Later that afternoon, I came home and made cards for everyone who has a birthday in March. You will have to check back for images, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for those who are receiving them.

ebay fun

I love equipment. In fact, I like it so much that some people would call me names

like,"gearhound," "gearhead," or my personal favorite, "gear-whore." That's right, sometimes I wonder what I would do for some new gear. Now that I have a new career that involves running and using a particular brand of gear I don't necessarily have a chance to use all that old gear. My little sis doesn't run in the same size of running shoes as I do anymore so I decided to get online and sell all this unused gear. Ironically, it isn't worth much, $10 or $15 for a pair of running shoes here and there. But you know what is surprisingly worth a lot more, beer tap handles!

Yup, you read that right! A few weeks ago I was cleaning out one of the homes that Ashley takes care of in Park City after Stella Artois, a beer company, checked out of it during the Sundance Film Festival. Stella had left behind an entire box of beer tap handles. I decided to take them home with me and see if I could list them on ebay and make a few bucks. Little did I know, they are super valuable on ebay and each one went for at least $15 and some went for as much as $25! Seriously, I had no idea.

This little pile of stuff is worth a few hundred bucks. Not bad for a day's work! Lesson learned: anything that has to do with alcohol is worth money...never leave it behind!

November

With a career change, a running conference in Austin, TX and visiting family in TX for Thanksgiving, November turned out to be an eventful month in my life.

The first week of November I accepted a new job as the local area Pearl Izumi sales rep for the Run

portion of the line. I opened a sales rep company, Real Sales, and am contracting as an independent sales rep. This means I also have the ability to pick

up other lines and increase my earning potential

(right now I'm in negotiation with Sol Sunguard and

Nuun Active Hydration). The change came super

fast. I was contacted about the job on a Tuesday and sent in my resume on Thursday. I had my first interview Friday morning, my second interview Friday afternoon, and had the offer Friday night. After mulling it all over during the weekend, I had a few questions for the sales manager and accepted the job on Monday morning. Then I walked in from my car and gave my employer my notice...one of the harder things I have done in a long time.

There were so many great things about working at Salt Lake Running Co for the last 5 years. One of them was my freedom to see an opportunity and

then go conquer it under macro-management. For a lot of employees, a lack of supervision wouldn't work. For me, I loved knowing that as long as I had the company's best interest in mind, I essentially had the ability to do whatever needed be done to complete a job. This skill will

transfer so well to this job as I am solely responsible for the success of my territory (UT,

Southern ID, and Western WY).

The second week in November I went to Austin, TX on behalf of Pearl Izumi for The Running Event, a conference designed to bring run specialty shops together to grow the independent retailer industry. I got there a day early and because my sister, Elspeth, lives in San Antonio just

1.5 hours South, I was able to spend the afternoon with her and her family. We went to a petting

zoo where we saw some of THE FATTEST goats I had ever seen. It was fun to feed the animals and especially fun to watch the girls enjoy it.

Jocelyn and Tahlia were so generous to share their seat with me!

The girls feeding the dwarf-sized deer.

And then dinner at the legendary "Rudy's"

The week following the conference was Thanksgiving. Ashley and I planned to visit family during the holiday and Elspeth had planned to run her first Thanksgiving Day race with me for several months. It was a lot of fun to have her included in my tradition. I even blogged about it while I

was working at SLRC. We flew into Houston on Wednesday morning, and got to San Antonio on Wednesday evening where we met up with Dan and Elspeth on the river walk for dinner.

We sang happy birthday to Ashley (even though his b-day is in April) so the girls would have a little extra fun. On Thanksgiving morning, Elspeth and I met for the annual T-day race in San

Antonio. It was a 4-miler and I told Elspeth that when she decided to walk I would keep going and meet her at the finish. Well, she never stopped to walk so we ended up running the entire race together in about 45 minutes! I have only run with my sisters a handful of times and I can truly say that this was one of my favorite running memories.

Elspeth and Dan prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner for us and we were able to spend the entire day with their family. Thanks, Allens! We loved spending time with you.

Friday morning we woke early to drive to Hemphill, TX where Ashley's parents live. The drive was much longer than we expected but we finally made it (after visiting the Blue Bell Creamery) at about 6:00 that night. Ashley's sister, Wende, arrived with her husband and two boys about an hour later.

I was able to enjoy a "Texas trail run" running in the neighborhood. It was nice and flat and I got to try out my new Pearl Izumi trail shoes. It was a great run in the perfect temperature!

We finished out our trip to the big state with an NFL football game. It was the first game I had ever been to and we were so lucky because the Houston Texans were playing the Tennessee Titans. If you know anything about football you will know that the Titans used to be the Houston Oilers so this game was the big rivalry game. Ash and I dressed in our best Oilers fan clothing and enjoyed a game where the home team blew the visiting team out of the water! I seriously had a great time.

We got home and I got to work training my replacements at the store before starting full-time with Pearl Izumi.

November was a great month where I got to enjoy the Texas fall weather, family, and a new career. What a great month!

The Story of a Finger

Most people's fingers get hurt once in their lives. Cuts and scars are normal because we all have to go through getting our fingers caught in a cheese grater, touching a hot stove, etc., to learn about the way that life works.

At the young age of 25, my right hand ring finger has endured 2 traumatic injuries. The first took place at the age of 18 months. I wanted to cut something (an apple or cheese depending on who the story comes from) and when I couldn't get help, I picked up the knife just behind the handle and went to take care of things myself. Upon entering the kitchen, one of my older sisters knew of the danger I was in and she swiftly grabbed the handle and removed the knife from my hand. The nerves on two of my fingers were severed but with plastic surgery and some attentive parents, I have full feeling in all the fingers on my right hand.

On 10-10-10, I was hiking Mt. Timpanogas with my good friend, Melissa, and my dog, Hendrix, when we came across another couple hiking with their four dogs that were all off the leash. Because a dog has no defense against other dogs on the leash and we had already had an encounter with one of the dogs in the parking lot, I let Hendrix off the leash to go and meet the other dogs. While being sniffed and smelled by four dogs at once, Hendrix got defensive and started to bark. Then one of the other dogs started to bark at him and they started to fight a little. When it went on longer than it should have, the owner of one of the dogs jumped on his dog and and ran over and jumped on Hendrix, my left arm around his body and my right hand tucked into his collar. When one of the dogs persisted in prodding him while he was being held

down, Hendrix jumped away from me and I heard a loud pop. I thought his collar had broken but when I stood up and saw that his collar was steadfastly in place and then I realized I couldn't move my finger, I looked down to see that my finger was hanging the wrong way. I told my Melissa that I had broken my finger and that we had to leave and she ran down to get Hendrix on the leash and then put the leash around her waist. As we started to hike out, the owner of the other dogs asked if there was anything that she could do, I replied by asking her to keep her dogs under control.

Hendrix and Ash at the top of Mt. Ibapah

Luckily, the morning was very cold and my hands were nearly numb because I didn't have gloves on. This kept any pain I may have had at bay. Melissa drove us out of the canyon after which we called Ashley. It was decided that instead of visiting the closest emergency roo

m, driving back up to Salt Lake to visit our closest Instacare would be a better idea. A couple of hours later, we made it there and had x-rays. That was when I received the bad news. My finger was broken so badly that it was not treatable at the Instacare and I would have to go to a hand specialist. I had a spiral fracture (the bone was broken like a slinky) and would likely have to be set with hardware in surgery.

Shortly thereafter, I came to terms with the fact that this was not your normal finger break and that I would likely be out of commission for quite sometime. My appointment with the hand doctor took place on the Wednesday following the accident and without looking at much other than the x-ray, I was scheduled for surgery the following day. What a bummer!

In my surgery prep, the Doc came in to tell me that he felt- based on the x-ray- that he would be able to fix the break with three screws and wanted to prevent putting a plate in to reduce the chance for hardware removal later on. When I woke up, the first question I asked was for water, the second question I asked was how much hardware I had. I was told, "six screws and a plate." My husband informed me later that the break was much more complex than the x-ray showed meriting much more hardware. In my follow-up appointment with the Dr., I was told that if I promised to never wear any rings on my 3rd, 4th, or 5th fingers, I would not have to have the hardware removed. Considering that I rarely wear jewelry anyway, I considered this a fair trade!

I was given a custom splint for my hand and physical therapy to do at home and sent on my way. Nearly three weeks after the surgery, I am making progress on the movement of my ring finger but still have a very limited range of motion. Other than extreme tendinitis, I have very little pain in the finger but the stiffness makes my brain want to reject it as a broken piece and never use it. I have to be very conscious of the use of the finger to make sure that I don't neglect.

After it all, I have learned how mortal I am and how just one split second can change my life. One second I am healthy and active and proud; the next moment I am being humbled and scheduled for surgery. I am battling this thing psychologically as much as I am physically but I am sure that everything will turn out fine in the end. As long as I can get my hand in a glove and wrapped around a pole for ski season in a couple of weeks, I should be happy, right? Oh, and I want my

good handwriting back. I never realized how much you need all of your fingers to write with good penmanship. I guess it is the same as a singer never getting braces for fear that it will change his/her acoustics. Do you want to know the worst part? Melissa didn't get to summit Timp, something that was on her list of things to do this year, all because of my dumb 'ol finger!

Signing off...

Long Time, No See

I was just reading my sister's blog, where there is a link to my blog, and I noticed that I haven't updated this thing in 7 months. So let me make a list of excuses as to why so that you know what I have been up to over the last 10 months.

January

• Made resolutions (I just checked and the list is looking pretty completed!)
• Went skiing in Steamboat Springs
• Visited the New Belgium Brewery in Ft. Collins- voted one of the Top 5 places to work by Outside Magazine
  
  

February

• Purchased my first web domain
• Developed the Park City Mini Trail Series concept
• Officially changed my name to Widders

March

• Applied for the Park City Mini Trail Series to take place
• Developed the R-U-N? Events Logo
• Completed the Canyonlands Half Marathon in 1:45
• Moved and marketed our new, 8,000 sq ft location for my "real job"
• Applied for and received a business license for R-U-N? Events

April

• Skied Snowbird for the first time (and Baldy!)
• Basement Flooded due to electrical worker error (never hire Park City Electric!)
• Opened a business checking account with Chase Bank
• Completed the Salt Lake City Half Marathon (1:52, I think)
• Got my first R-U-N? Events Junk Mail
• Finished Spring Semester

May

• Put on the "Grand Opening 5k," my first real event, for my 'real job'
• Park City Mini Trail Series is approved by Park City
• Went to Atlanta for a Bar Mitzvah and visited the Coca-Cola Museum
• Opened Photoshop for the first time and created my first advertisement
• I have R-U-N? Events business cards
• Completed the St. George Triathlon- Olympic Distance
• Completed the Daybreak Triathlon- Olympic Distance

June

• Appeared on Good Things Utah to do a bit on Trail Running and my events
• Started Kitchen Remodel
• Completed my first event with just over 75 participants!!!
• Buying Season Starts at my 'real job'

July

• Appeared on Park City TV to advertise my second event
• Put on my second event with just under 100 participants
• An article was published in The Park Record about the second event
• Went to San Fransisco and Sonoma County where I...
• Completed the Vineman 70.3 Triathlon- the hardest thing I have ever done in a single day
• Got my kitchen back after the remodel
• 
  
  

August

• Turned 25 and worked 15 hours on my birthday (I must be an adult now)
• Turned in my final Portfolio for school marking the finish of my degree
• Put on my third and final event with just over 100 particiapants
• Went on my first river rafting trip on the Green River
• Bought and iPad- then returned it for a Mac Mini

September

• Cooked for a full week in my new kitchen
• Hiked King's Peak
• Went to Boston for a New Balance Conference
• Received my diploma in the mail

October

• Took 6th in the Wasatch Woman 10k (7.2 miles in 52 minutes)
• Broke my finger (more to come on that soon)
• Surgery
• Las Vegas Running Vacation instead of Ragnar Relay
• Hopefully no more drama!!!

So now you know, and hopefully understand, why I haven't been blogging all this time. I can definitely say that with a little spare time due to my hand being broken, I have enjoyed catching up on all of your blogs so thanks for keeping them updated!