Joe and Kari

India 2010

2009-08-17T18:18:00.008-05:00

So as I am sure most of you know by now…I am going to India!!! I will be leaving January 2^nd and will get back on February 1^st. I am able to take a part in this trip because of the Rotary Group Study Exchange program (GSE webpage). While I am there I will be learning about my vocation in their culture. It’s kinda like a foreign student type of thing but business instead of school. ;-)

While on this exchange I hope to gain more insight on the Indian culture and how Fair Trade has bettered working conditions for their citizens. Several of our Fair Trade items actually come from India and I have often thought about the individuals who make these crafts and how they incorporate themselves and their culture into their art. By participating in the GSE experience, I hope to be able to bring firsthand accounts of the Indian culture back to our clients in Paris and help them better understand the crafts that we offer as well.

Joe has been pretty supportive of me going on this exchange. I don’t think he was excited as I was, but he is the one who has to stay in Paris while I am in India so I guess I understand that ;-). Covering the shop for the month was pretty much the only obstacle that we were going to have to overcome, but I was going to find a solution!! The solution is possible because of the amazing support and help of our families!! One week Joe is going to take off work and will cover the shop, one week Dave (Joe’s dad) will cover, one week Judy (Joe’s mom) will cover and one week my mom will cover!

We had our first training session yesterday morning in Clarksville, and reviewed information about visas, insurance, vaccinations and uniforms. While we are in India we will be giving presentations to their rotary clubs so we have to have matching shirts and blazers for those. We picked out our 3 shirts, blazer, and pants colors. (Green, Orange and White shirts with black blazers and pants) We also had our first Indian meal! In India they don’t use utensils…instead they use their right hand. The left hand is considered ‘un-clean’ (Won’t go into that….) so you cant us it, not even to tear the bread. It was an interesting experience!! The food was delicious (even though it had goat in it) and I can’t wait till our training next month!! We have to start working on a power point, which

Matthew is in charge of, and will eventually get a blog for the team going. Once we get the blog I will send it to everyone so you can keep up with us while we are gone. Not sure how much face book contact I will be able to make…….maybe I should start backing off face book now so the withdrawals wont be to overwhelming!!

Below is a link to the GSE page on Rotary’s website so you can read more about the program yourself! For all you locals they are actually looking for more applicants for the Africa trip in April right now!! ;)

http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Fellowship/GroupStudyExchange/Pages/ridefault.aspx

This is the picture we took of "Team India" the day of our interviews

James Doorman, Paul Falcon, Me & Matthew Radar

Loft Tour Video

2009-04-23T13:04:00.002-05:00

If the pictures weren't good enough here is a virtual tour of the loft

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmbDgmOQ-m0

I suggest turning the volume down so you don't have to listen to me ;)

Almost ready...

2009-04-23T08:05:00.009-05:00

Well I promised Brian pictures a few days ago so here they are!! The Loft is coming along really nice!! I'm so excited about moving and its taking everything in me to not just pack up one day while Joe is at work and just move us myself....who needs painted walls & a clean floor?? ;)

This pictures is standing at the front of the building looking towards the back. We took down the only wall that was upstairs, it went along the back columns that have different colors of paint on them.

This area is where the small bathroom originally was...we decided to tear it out because it was too small and in pretty bad shape. But once we did it uncovered this really cool little area where you can walk all the way around the stairs. So we are leaving that open and moving the bathroom to somewhere else...not sure where yet...

This picture is taken from the same area as the first picture. We unbricked all the back windows & Bob (our amazing carpenter) built new windows. The wall facing the front is the back wall to our room. It will have mirrors on it and that area will be my Jazzercise room, where i can learn my routines and watch myself in the mirror to make sure I am doing everything correctly!!

This is the other wall to our room. We put the windows on top to help keep natural light flowing. And the door way is double french doors. The little entry way to the right (almost hidden by the column) goes into our bathroom.

This is our bedroom! The inset area on the wall will be Josiah's closet. We got some of the Pax System units from Ikea for both of our closets. His will have doors on them. The door to the right goes into my closet. My Pax system wont have doors since it is behind doors.

And this is our bathroom! You walk through double pocket doors that match the french doors. To the right will be our sinks. We got some vanities from Ikea and some really big sinks (also from Ikea). And the best part about the sink area.....there are 2 sinks!! So I dont have to share with Josiah anymore! ;) Along the back wall is a stand alone shower. Yes there is a window in the shower but we will have a shower curtain that stays closed in front of it. To the right of the shower will be were our tub will eventually go. Right now the elevator is there but someday (after we get moved) the elevator is going to be gone. There will eventually be an elevator at the front of the loft for moving purposes.

This pocket door (directly to the right of hte shower) will go into the toilet room. The flooring in the entire bathroom area will be black cork flooring!! I'm really excited to get that down!!

Our carpenter is upstairs right now tiling the shower so I will get a picture of the tile up in the next day or two! He almost has up all of the tile that we have but it isn't going to be enough. We had to special order more from Home Depot and it wont be in for another week probably. We are hoping to be moved in in about a month or two. Depending on the shower. That is really all that is holding us up. We just need to get some cleaning done and finish the floors. All the plumbing is already run so it will take no time at all to get the sinks and toilet hooked up. Joe is going to be refinishing the floors in the bedroom soon which will take some time. But while we wait on the shower tile there isn't much more to do..... :)

Oh yeah...we also listed the house with a realtor about 3 weeks ago. It has been shown 11 times now and no serious bites. But hopefully that will change soon since we are finally almost done fixing the floors form when the toilet broke. Our realtor is convinced that once we finish that it will sale pretty quick....but I'm not holding my breath... Here is a link to the website listing....http://paristxrealestate.com/detail.cfm?proptype=residential&mls=22562

I Passed!!

2008-12-15T09:22:00.003-06:00

I passed my jazzercise audition Thursday!! After months of hard work I finally got up on stage in Dallas and did my 2 audition songs. "The Party's Just Begun" (which I messed up on during practice auditions) & "Love Vibrations" (the hardest song we had to learn). I made it through both of them & I didn't mess up....at least I don't remember messing up...;) Its kinda blur now!! So starting January 5th at 8:00am I will begin teaching my own classes!! Every Monday, Wednesday & Friday I have an 8:00am class! Today I will start teaching some songs during Kristina's normal class. Today I will teach 4 songs and then work up from there until the 5th!! I'm terribly nervous and EXTREMELY excited all at the same time!!!! :D

The picture below is everyone I went through workshop with!!

Front(left to right) : Sonya, Linda, Deborah, Heather, Me, Alecia, Erica, Starlin

Back(left to right) : Jolanta, Judy, Jodi(also from Paris), Melea, Marjory & Anna

Everyone Passed!!!

Randomnicity....

2008-11-03T08:58:00.003-06:00

My mom has tagged me to participate in a random challenge.
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write 6 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.

So, 6 random things about Me:
1. I have been trying to be a vegetarian since January 15th.
2. Had to cheat every now and again so now Its been about a month and a half.
3. I go to workshop in December to become a Jazzercise instructor
4. I have already voted for Barack Obama and Joe Biden
5. My dog is named after a Star Wars character
6. I have never been a good speller

My randomnicity...Tag: Laura, Christi, Dad, Larr, Shelia, Joe

Election Map

2008-10-29T16:06:00.001-05:00

Obama Tax Cut Calculator

2008-10-15T11:38:00.001-05:00

Join the I'm Inititaive

2008-07-25T09:57:00.002-05:00

If you use Microsoft messenger you could be making a difference with each message you send! And all you have to do is at a few extra characters to your name :) Depending on which code you use Microsoft will make a donation to the charity of your choice. All you have to do is add one of the following codes to your name. For example my name on MSN was just Kari but now it is Kari*hsus So now every time I message someone Microsoft makes a donation to the The Humane Society of the United States. Its that simple....pick your Charity and then add their code to your user name. Its the little things that make a big difference ;)

Text Code Cause

*red+u American Red Cross
*bgca Boys & Girls Clubs of America
*naf National AIDS Fund
*hsus The Humane Society of the United States
*9mil ninemillion.org
*mssoc National Multiple Sclerosis Society
*sierra Sierra Club
*unicef UNICEF
*help StopGlobalWarming.org
*komen Susan G. Komen for the Cure

http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Join/Default.aspx
for better instructions & more info.

Bicycle 101

2008-07-23T09:14:00.003-05:00

Obviously I missed that class!!! This past Saturday I rode in the Tour de Paris.....with 2 flat tires. I made it Downtown and back to the high school and was exhausted! I had fallen way behind Crystal, Dee & Brendan so I just quit early. It wasn't until we got home later that day that I realized just how flat they were! I knew that I had at least one flat tire (another rider pointed it out to me) but both were down and Joe could feel the rim though the tire. Then I looked at the picture that Joe took of me coming through Downtown. You can see how flat they are!!! So considering I was riding on flats..I did pretty good. So, I'm ready for next year, but this time I will check those tires!!!

Drilling in ANWR...Will it make a difference?

2008-07-03T09:05:00.007-05:00

Just another quick post that no one will probably comment on....but I've got to get it out there anyways....it's something that is important to me...

Fast Facts on Drilling and Gas Prices

Drilling will not lower gas prices today or solve our energy crisis.

• Even the U.S. Energy Information Administration has said that massive exploitation of new oil deposits will not produce oil for nearly a decade -- and then will not lower gasoline prices by more than a few cents per gallon.

• Under the Bush Administration, drilling permits have risen from 3,802 to 7,561 between 2002 and 2007. Eight years of increased oil leasing and production on America’s public lands has left us with nothing but high gas prices for consumers and record profits for Big Oil companies.

• More drilling would not affect world oil prices. The US has less than 3% of the world's oil reserves, yet we consume almost 25% of the world's oil.
 Expanded drilling threatens permanent damage to wildlife.

• Offshore drilling threatens dolphins, whales, sea turtles and other imperiled wildlife. Drilling discharges mercury and other toxins into our fragile ecosystems. Such pollution can destroy beaches, and poison and kill the marine wildlife that we all care about. The noise from drilling is also incredibly disruptive to marine mammals. So while oil companies like ExxonMobil would continue to swim in record profits, dolphins and whales could become fatally disoriented, beach themselves and die.

• Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge threatens polar bears and other Arctic wildlife. The noise and disturbance caused by drilling in the Arctic Refuge -- the most important onshore denning habitat for America’s struggling polar bears -- could cause polar bear mothers to abandon their cubs to die.

• Expanded drilling perpetuates global warming. Such drilling would further extend America’s dependence on climate-changing fuel sources that are threatening the very survival of polar bears and other animals.

 The following is a link the the Energy Information Administration's ‘Analysis of Crude Oil Production in the Arctic national Wildlife Refuge’  Please pay close attention to page 9 (which shows the facts of why we would see no production from ANWR for a decade) and page 17 (which says that oil production would have little effect on world oil prices).
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/anwr/pdf/sroiaf(2008)03.pdf#page=1

So PLEASE someone...anyone...i don’t care who you are....PLEASE tell me the good that will come out of this?? Because all I see is waste and destruction. And yes God gave us dominion over the creatures of this world, but what gives us the right to disregard their lives and their habitats???? Why don’t we just send the Hummers to the Arctic and let them run the Polar Bears down now...and get it over with. Because if we drill in ANWR that is basically what we will be doing..........

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

2008-06-16T14:13:00.001-05:00

The news for polar bears is bleak -- polar bears could disappear entirely from Alaska within 50 short years due to a drastic decline in Arctic sea ice.

But Big Oil and their allies in Congress are willing to sell out our vanishing polar bears for a few barrels of oil. Well, I'm doing something to protect Arctic wildlife and our polar bear's last stand -- and I hope you will, too.

It's easy to get involved -- Just take action online at the website below:
http://action.defenders.org/arcticwilderness

Polar bears and other Arctic wildlife are facing a double-barreled threat from Congress and the Bush/Cheney Administration.

President Bush is calling for Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling in his budget. And Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have introduced legislation to link drilling plans to gas prices -- despite federal estimates that such drilling would do next to nothing to reduce gas prices.

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would, however, threaten the most important land-based habitat that America's vanishing polar bears have left.

Please urge your Senators to reject the latest Arctic Refuge drilling plans and permanently safeguard this special place by designating portions of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as federally protected wilderness -- take action online now at:
http://action.defenders.org/arcticwilderness

The Balmoral Beach Collection

2008-06-10T14:53:00.005-05:00

Well we FINALLY had our first event at the gallery this past Saturday!!! We had an art showing for Gerald Hutchings. Gerald brought his stuff by one day just to see what I thought about it and see if we would be interested in having a show. I knew right away that I didn’t care what Joe thought...I wanted to have a show!! Just the few pieces he brought that first day were awesome!! I LOVED them! Gerald & Laura (his wife) had been to Australia to visit her daughter and while they were there Gerald took extreme close-ups of the rocks along the Balmoral Beach, which was 15 minutes from their house. He brought 42 or 43 pieces and we had an artist reception for him from 4:00-8:00 on June 7th. It was a lot of fun! And I didn't get to stressed getting ready for the event other than the AC fiasco. We were getting our AC installed and the AC people knew about the event and that it had to be done by Friday. So they are going along just fine...I'm just fine...no stress..................but then the ac guy comes and tells me...."well we are ready for electricity". I just kind of looked at him and was like...."okay.....do it...." "Well our quote didn't include the electrical work....." Okay...no big deal, I'll give Doug a call and he will come get it in and installed and running for us in no time right.... WRONG!!! Turns out the AC guys installed AC units there are bigger than our breaker boxes. (Yeah....figure that one out!!) So I'm told Thursday afternoon that there is no way there will be AC on Saturday. So of course I freak out call Joe pissed off and just generally in a bad mood...as I'm sure you can imagine. Anyways....we set up a lot of fans and left the small window unit in the back of the building running and it works just fine. No one really said anything about the temperature and those who did know said it didn't seem that bad in here, so I felt better :) But other than that the week went fine and the event was a success! We haven’t sold any of his pieces yet, but you never sale anything the first night...people think about it then come back later, so I’m waiting for them. And I've got one picked out for the loft!! Judy took pictures during the reception so I'll get those posted up here later.So our first big show went off great and I'm already looking forward to our next one...hint hint Brian ;)

Seen any good movies latley?

2008-04-20T22:17:00.004-05:00

Across the Universe is a combination of two of my favorite things!! The Beatles and Musicals!! The entire movie is a musical using only the Beatles' songs! It was much different than I expected it to be and I didn't realize how many songs the Beatles had that I actually had not heard before!! It was one of those movies I will be able to watch over and over again...We saw it yesterday and I'm already ready to watch it again! If you haven't seen it yet, you've got to make your way to Blockbuster or Hastings or wherever and get it now! Even if you don't normally like musical movies...its the Beatles!! ;)

Daniel Gallery Tour Part One

2008-03-13T22:52:00.005-05:00

Well I hope this works!! I got a new camera this week and it can do video..So I decided to do a tour of the downstairs! Now those of you who aren't in Paris get to take a walk around the Gallery!

Gallery Tour Part 1

I can't get You Tube to upload part 2, 3 & 4...it just sits there! So once I get it to finally work I'll post the rest of the tour on here :D

Where All My Time Goes...

2008-01-24T15:46:00.000-06:00

Two posts within a couple of days of each other! :) I’m doing pretty good huh!!!

I just thought I would expand on my ‘I’m always busy because of committee meetings reference,’ since I’m sure it seems like committees shouldn't take up so much of a person’s time that they can’t blog! But I’m here to tell you they can!! :D Although I don’t think there is a single committee I would want to get out of if I had to, they do take up a lot of my time! But they are all for the betterment of my community and will be beneficial in one way or another to my future children, so I think it’s worth it. Listed below in no particular order (other than Main Street is my favorite so its on top :D) are all the committees and boards that I am a member of.

Main Street Board – This is a group that is supporting Downtown. We plan different events that happen like the Pumpkin Festival. And this year we are adding at Competition at the Skate Park for kids and Movies in the Park. We are also working on a “Fire Festival” that would celebrate the rebuilding of Paris after the 1916 fire. We are working to have this event up and going in 3 years and then have a HUGE event for the 100 year anniversary of the fire! I could probably make a Whole post about everything going on with this Board…so I’ll just leave it at this for now ;)

Main Street Promotions Committee – This is a Committee from the Main Street Board that I am actually the chairman of. We are in charge of planning the events such as the three listed above! It’s really exciting and I think I found one of my true passion through this committee…Planning Events! I just LOVE being one of the people behinds the scenes getting an event going. Most people want to be the person that gets to go to all these parties and things…I like being the person providing the event for people to enjoy!!

Paris Downtown Association – This is another group that promotes Downtown. It’s mainly made up of different merchants in the Downtown area but also consist of some residents living in the area, and others who just want to see Downtown grow. We were originally called “The Downtown Merchants” but we changed our name and our direction, which is to promote Downtown in general instead of just looking at the merchant side of things. Its really taken of lately and a lot of exciting things are coming out of it, like a fashion show that will be happening in April or May (cant remember when it is).

The Arts Downtown – The Arts Downtown is a really small group of the galleries located Downtown and is considered a subcommittee of the Paris Downtown Association. It was started to just promote the Art that is downtown, and to try to have more art events and make Downtown more of art community type atmosphere.

Keep Paris Beautiful Board – The name probably gives you a hint about this Board. We do what needs to be done to Keep Paris Beautiful. Such as pushing the city to tear down old buildings, and we help fund things such as the Trail de Paris and some Leadership Lamar Class projects. I’ve actually only been to one meeting for this group, so I’m still learning.

Keep Paris Beautiful Education – This is a committee from the Keep Paris Beautiful Board that focuses on educating people about Keeping Paris Beautiful, I guess that’s the best way to describe it. Right now we are focusing on getting recycling available to the schools, which as most of you know, is something that I’m also very passionate about!

Holiday in Paris Committee – Obviously this is another committee whose name says it all…we plan the Holiday in Paris event that happens in December. Right now we’re kind of taking a break and will get going again in July probably. We did have a recap meeting in which I was given the responsibility of the Art Walk!!! Joe and I have some ideas on how to improve this, so I was really happy when I was able to take it over!

Tour de Paris Committee – Another committee that is all about planning an event! We have our first meeting of the year in February and we will start getting things taken care of. This year we are working on moving the route so that it will go through Downtown!! I get to be in charge of getting the numbers for the riders and Goodie Bags, which I found out last year, is actually more challenging that it sounds!!

Ambassador Club – For this group I just have to go to Ribbon Cuttings any time there is a new business in town that joins the Chamber of Commerce, and we have monthly meetings to just talk about what we did the past month and what is coming up the next month. I won the Ambassador of the Year award for this group this year!

Leadership Lamar – This is just a one year class that I’m in. We basically just learn about different things that are offered around the county and get to tour different places, such as Kimberly Clark, Campbell Soup, The North Campus of the hospital, and the new Police Station. Plus we have a class project that we have to work on and our project is Ryan’s Heart…the new boy’s home for homeless or abused boys ages 14-18. The other shelter in town can’t keep boys over the age of 14 and families were being split up. This facility will give the boys somewhere else to go now instead of having to go to Tyler, which is the closes facitly that they could go to.

Save the Grand – This committee isn’t actually in place yet but there is a lot of talk going on…and when it happens you can bet your butt I’ll be there!!!!!! :)

Well…I think that’s it!! Hope that wasn’t to boring for ya! But I thought I would leave y’all with something to read while we’re gone!! Although I’m sure if we have internet in the hotel at Vegas I’ll post and let y’all know how things are going :)

We're Still Here!

2008-01-22T20:59:00.000-06:00

Yes, we are still here! Time is just flying by this year!! Its almost the end of January already!! So what has been going on in the Daniel household since the last post? Well obviously there were the holidays…which all went by great...never really felt like Christmas this year for some reason...but what ya gonna do? Then of course there is the shop...I'm there all day every day now. I keep thinking I will be able to get back to blogging since I'm alone all day, but there is actually a lot to do! :) Well then there is also all the committee meetings and then there was Max :)

Joe & I got to be foster parents for 5 days. Max was a Golden Retriever that was found in our neighborhood on Christmas Day. Long story short...it was either us take him or he was going to the shelter, and I wasn’t going to let that happen, so we got him! He was so sweet and playful and I wanted to keep him so bad, but we don't have a big enough back yard for him and he would have eaten us out of house and home!! I finally found him a home with a friend of mine!

Well now we are getting ready to leave for Vegas Friday morning!! We are going to a Framing Convention at the Hilton. We are staying at the Sahara and will be there until the 30th. Then we will head home and stop at the Grand Canyon...which at first I was really really looking forward to...but then I got to thinking...its going to be REALLY REALLY COLD!! So I've got two scarves lots of sweaters thick thick socks and gloves!! I should be okay...but we'll see!

And some sad news...I did my usual visit to broadway.com (Someday I will get to go...until then Broadway.com is my little fix) and on the home page is the news....No, the news of Clay Aikin staring in SPAMalot, that just makes me sick...no the sad news is this... " After 12 amazing years on Broadway, the beloved musical hit Rent is closing. Now you've got less than 525,600 minutes to see it again!" Rent is closing!!! And I won't get to see it! June 1st is the closing date and I know it won't be until next year (if that soon) before I get to go! So no Rent and Clay Aikin in SPAMalot....if only I could go back in time!! All I can hope for is Clay Aikin will be gone....there will still be no Rent...but there will still be Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Lion King & others!

Well I've got to get to packing!!!

Give Peace A Chance

2007-12-10T15:18:00.000-06:00

Saturday, December 8th, was the anniversary of the death of John Lennon. While I didn't make time to post about the anniversary I did think about it. Mainly I thought of John, what would he be like today? Would he be making the rounds with Yoko to hotel rooms across America? Would we be standing outside in groups singing "Give Peace a Chance"? Would we see more "War Is Over If you Want It" billboards around the states? And how thick would his FBI file be today???

Just a week before that on November 30th was the anniversary of George Harrison's death in 2001. On that day I remembered where I was when I heard he had passed away from cancer. I was driving home from school when it came on the radio and yes...I did cry a little bit.

Luckily we still have music from these men that will live on forever, and continue to inspire us and future generations.

Michael Vick Sentenced!

2007-12-10T14:07:00.000-06:00

Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison today for his part in dogfighting!! While I don't think 23 months is long enough it has put his football career in jeopardy, so there will be life long consequences so that kinda makes up for it! If he serves his full term he will not be released until October 2009 which would take him out of three seasons in a row! And according to a ESPN reporter it is unlikley he will be able to get back in the game after 3 years out. Hopefully this will set an example for other sick individuals out there that are taking part in this kind of disgusting cruelty! If a "celebrity" isn't going to get away with it...you sure as hell won't!! Originally his trial was only calling for him to spend like 13 weeks in jail, but because he lied about the involvement he had with actually killing innocent dogs, he was sentenced to a longer term.
With so many people out there with a blasé attitude of...."it isnt like he killed anyone...its just some dogs..." it makes me reallly happy that he didn't get away with it and our court system made a stand that yes its cruel and uncalled for and no we wont let it happen in our country without consequences!

If you want to read more about the trial just google "Michael Vick" and the news reports will jump out at ya!!

Just thought I would share the good news incase you all had not heard yet!!!

2007-12-05T10:57:00.000-06:00

I promised Pictures so here they are :D

Here is our Christmas Tree this year :) Real quick I feel like I need to explain the fact that it is a real tree, its kinda confused a few people. The first question I was asked about our tree was basically...'but you cut down a tree, isnt that kinda the oposite of what you guys are all about.' That is why I need to explain ;) At first I felt the same way....but after doing some reading it is actually better to buy a real tree, because in short.......Christmas Trees are farmed and each time a tree is cut down from one of these farms it is replaced by at least one tree, and sometimes more. The amount of trees that are grown for this reason help to remove from 40 to 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. So if these trees weren't farmed that carbon dioxide would still be in the air. And you think artifical trees will last you 10 to 15 years...think how long they sit in the landfill....pretty much forever!! Besides Christmas Tress were originally put up to show life in the dead of winter, and they smell good ;)
We opted for a tree that had not been cut but instead still had the roots in a pot, so that next year it will be bigger and we can use it year after year....or until Joe & I kill it like we have almost every other plant we have had :(

This is a view from the door looking towards Joe's bench. This is where he does all the "clean" work for framing, so that customers can see the process. Thats my most important customer there, Sophia...oh and my dad is the guy holding her ;)

This is another view from the door looking towards our moveable walls. We have 1 big one and 2 small ones right now but will be building more later on. We've got them on wheels so that we can easily change the set up! That is all Brian's art that you can see on the walls!!

This is the setup we had for Amy's art during the first weekend of the art walk. We had her prints and her originals sitting on the bench. We've brought in some shelving from our house that we have them on now for the next weekend.

And this is a view from the outside look at the new store front!! I've got to get pictures up in a album thingy on pica or whatever showing the process from the old store front to this!! Remember it had the glass all the way across the front with that UGLY green brick!! Well its not done yet but thats it so far! Our carpenter is an amazing guy and did so much more than we had imagined when we first decided on doing this! It took a lot of hard work on his part and then a lot of painting on our part to get it looking this great! Plus an interesting night and a Kari freak-out to get the glass out....but thats another post ;)

I'll get more pictures up soon! But for now...I've got to get back to work

We're Open!!

2007-12-01T23:12:00.000-06:00

Well, we are Finally unofficially open for business!!! I turned the sign to Open at 5:00 Friday for the annual Holiday in Paris Art Walk. We had an okay turn out for the Art Walk, mainly family and a few couples we didn't know. And then had a great turn out for the Progressive Desserts after the Paris Community Theater's show. Joe and I didn't get home and in bed till 1:30AM!! I wish I had remembered to take a picture Wednesday night...It was a mess!!! We still had plastic hanging from the ceiling sheet-rock dust every where...walls still not painted and of course...no art in sight! We had Me, Joe, My mom & Dad, Joy & Joyce & Judy for a little bit, helping just clean up. The difference we made in just 2 hours was unreal that night!! A guy stopped in on Thursday (just walking by) and was curious what we were about to be putting in the building. I told him our plans with the Gallery & Frame shop, and then I told him we would be opening the very next day.........He just looked around gave me a funny look and said "oh....really???" Our mailman wasn't even sure I was going to make it!! But we did!! We didn't have any art out except a few of Jerry's sculptures and one of Brian's paintings ;). But we worked though the Art Walk and in the time between the Art Walk and Progressive Desserts and we got the rest of Jerry's stuff downstairs and got Brian's art all up on the walls. I'll get more pictures up in the next day or two so you can see how it looks!!

Peanut Oil?

2007-11-09T13:35:00.000-06:00

Did you when the diesel engine was invented it was actually invented to run on peanut oil? The Petroleum companies actually converted the engine to run on diesel fuel....

The video below is the Winner of the Environment Preservation Award at the 2006 Activist Film Festival. Freedom Fuels takes an in-depth look at renewable fuel sources....and its worth a watch!

If the video doesn’t work just follow this link...http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1155295707/bclid921117040/bctid507841597

Enjoy!

Top Five

2007-10-21T21:50:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update :) I made the top five!! We vote on Wednesday this week to see which project we will be doing. I was #3 on the top 5 so we will see how it goes. There are some problems with the #1 project that our class president is just sure we are going to get sued over...but it wont happen...she just doesn’t like the project and is trying to shoot it down in my personal opinion :) The project is a boy's home for homeless boys...she thinks some parents will sue for harboring a runaway........but that’s not what the home is for....anyways its a long story which means a different post later when I have time :D
Just wanted to give a quick update...

Presentation

2007-10-01T18:52:00.000-05:00

Just a quick little update :)

I did my presentation today for recycling! I don’t know that I've been so nervous!!! I was the 3rd person to present and the other two projects were really good so that made me even more nervous!! But I stumbled through pretty good I thought and only forgot to say one thing...but it was on my handout so that’s okay! :) I didn’t get to get much feedback from the class as I had to leave early for Jazzercise, but they were all listening to me and had a few questions, that I was prepared to answer, so that made me feel good. Now its just waiting to see how the votes go! :)

Where has the time gone?!

2007-09-29T10:30:00.000-05:00

I just realized yesterday that next week is October! Can you believe how fast time is flying!! Things have been crazy for me these past 3 months. Once I found out I was only going to be working 20 hours a week at the Chamber, my first thought was, YES! Finally some time to blog! ;) Oh, but the opposite happened, I seemed to have just as little down time as before! Yeah I had more time to be at home and work on the house, but still no time to catch up on everyone’s blogs and blog myself. Well one look at the calendar and I realized why……I’ve got Ambassador Meetings, Holiday in Paris, Leadership Lamar Classes, Tour de Paris, Paris Downtown Association, The Arts Downtown, Ribbon Cuttings, Jazzercise and Paris Main Street Board Meetings. I have somehow become one busy girl!! ;) But the thing that has taken all my time in the last week is a presentation I am getting ready for on Monday. I don’t know that I have been so nervous in a long time!! The presentation is for my Leadership Lamar Class. Each year the class does a project and we have a lot of people come in and tell us about different projects that we could do. Why so nervous you ask…you think I tell stories and stuff bad on here…well get me in front of a crowd just staring at me and listening to me and I ramble more than I do here!! But I’ve got all my facts down on paper (100% post consumer paper;) ) to pass out to the class and all my notes ready, so I think I should be okay! I’ll let yall know Monday night how I did. We wont make a decision for another week or more, so after a nervous presentation I have to wait at least a week to find out if anything is going to come of it, and I’m not a patient person! ☺

Happy 100 Post

2007-09-29T10:22:00.000-05:00

Wow...it only took like 3 years to get here ;)