Curious

Does anyone actually see this thing anymore? I forgot about it... ;-)

India 2010

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

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...

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!!

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....

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

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