Social Networking... say what?

I watched a car commercial today where the girl mentions that she signed her parents up for Facebook and that they only have 19 friends and that she has over 600. It cuts to scenes of her parents engaging in activities in the outdoors and having a blast. Keeping in mind that she believes she has the better social status because of all her "friends". 

It is a reality in the modern age that we interact more often with our friends and family members via text, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media than face-to-face contact. This also means we have more sterile and misunderstood relationships. I have had more than one interaction online where I was misunderstanding or was misunderstood by someone. In between pics of the kids and our latest vacations, we are finding ourselves posting our opinions in an environment where the distillation of these opinions happens only after we have made a fool of ourselves. If I offend anyone, it is purely coincidence and I apologize. If you have hurt me, you are forgiven!

This new way of interacting also includes how we market ourselves in the business world. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Craigslist are important to the success of my business. People interact with us via these sites and I get many customers each week that mention they are stopping in because of an ad I placed on Craigslist. There is a satisfaction to know you are reaching people, but also a sadness that I have no budget for splashy colorful print advertising. I would love to open a magazine and see a 1/4 page full color spread of my sweet little store!!

Sadly, the time may come when our children and grandchildren will not know of a typewriter, or even better a hand written note as anything more than an exhibit in a museum. I hope and pray that a resurgence occurs where old-fashioned communication becomes the norm. I would hate for us all to become like the folks in the movie "Wall-E" that have no personal contact with their friends. 

I do realize the irony of posting these thoughts on my blog, where I am not sure if my personal feelings are even being absorbed by anyone other than myself. If I could write a note to each person that I knew was reading this, I would. 

Have a delightful rest of your weekend! 

xo

Why things are missing...

Hello folks out there in blogger-land. I am assuming this is maybe three of you, maybe! Where have I been, you might ask? Well, I have been here, and honestly, I have been struggling in this mortal shell as of late. It has been hard mustering up the words to say that communicate everything I have been feeling.

For the few that do read my blog, you may have seen a few posts about my pregnancy, and now they are gone. Well, as it turns out, I had a miscarriage about a month ago and was feeling so not interested in reliving those posts, so I deleted them. I guess now I think I shouldn't have because someday I will want to remember how much joy and confusion I had during this time.

During this time, we were also going through so much with leaving our old church, finding a new one, getting health insurance, trying to find Jim a job (we were living off my income), and trying to live with my constant sick body.

Of the many the things I learned, I found out we are much closer to each other than we thought and we also found out that we really have some great friends here in NOLA. So many people filled in the gap for us of those that drifted away and we are nurturing those relationships, while trying to live this new life.

Jim got a great new job in a field he excels in, I am having a decent run here at the store (even though I have struggles with HR issues), and we are figuring out what we want our future to look like. Do we still want children? Can we have them? Will we adopt? All this is so overwhelming and I told Jim I want to wait until the Fall to make more decisions. I would really prefer to enjoy our summer and travel as much as we can.

And through it all, my passion for furniture has had a resurgence. I sold a piece recently and am working on another one that will hopefully have a buyer. God is truly so good to us and it is about time I was more thankful... especially out loud!

Today is also Jim's birthday and I cannot wait to get home tonight and have a little us time to celebrate. Love this man of mine! OJ, Baby...

xoxo

re*du-ing it....

As much as I truly love my job (and I do!) I have a serious desire to get back into my furniture business. I love the creative process and miss paint on my hands, feet, and jeans!

I have three new pieces that I am transforming and will hopefully reveal them this week. I need to get cracking! I also had the most excellent time last week heading up to Mandeville and scouting furniture in my friend, Jo's, neighborhood. There are not a lot of places here in NOLA to find furniture that needs some love and so it was nice to once again see things that were affordable.

Here is a sneak peak at a "before" of one of the pieces that I am working on. I love the lines and the beautiful color I chose... Happy Monday!

xoxo

Really? Really!

Has it really been so long since I last posted? I am so surprised that so much time has passed. And I have so much to share. And really... is anyone other than Karen (and maybe Barb) reading this? I realized that with 3 small children and a lot of responsibilities at church, Karen has the time to blog. Um - hello. I have no kids. I have time to blog. So... in a quick wrap-up:

I am the Manager at the store now. It is such a great place and even though my furniture dreams took a trip to the back burner, I feel so blessed for this opportunity! Truly - running someone's furniture store is a God-given second place. Plus, I have the freedom to "put my stank" on pieces that aren't selling or were broken in shipment.

We moved into a bigger apartment this past week. It is somewhat loft-ish and so wonderful and I can't wait until I have it all finished to post some pics. My hubs has been such an amazing man to do so much of the hard work during the move and allow me to do the fun stuff. He also let me have the whole huge walk-in closet. I love him so, so much for all the special ways he shows love to me.

While working on a piece for a client today, I got the itch again to work on some pieces. I really love what I do! I also found a really cool old door that I am planning on turning into a table. I am heading out first thing tomorrow to the Green Project to search for some cool old posts to serve as legs.

There is so much more to say, but I will save those things for other days. For now, I will leave you with a pic of the door and a promise to be on here more often.

xo

Loving furniture in a whole new light

Somehow, I found myself in a predicament. I had to do what was fair and honest. In the end, I became the new manager of the store. And it happened during my anniversary. SO... we had to postpone my sweet and thoughtful husband's plans.

Instead, we went out for Indian food and watched our favorite TV shows. Tonight we will have a nice dinner and some champagne. And we will go somewhere when I have a new assistant manager in place.

I keep thinking about how different my life was one short year ago and I am amazed at how different it is. In a lot of good ways. And I am yet again thankful and humbled.

xo

August in September

Yahoo! On Monday, the President of our company came to New Orleans. Today, she took me to August for lunch. It is a really nice restaurant run by the famous John Besh. My bosses' beau is a big deal in the food industry and they treated us like royalty!

After lunch, her beau left us to talk. We had a chance to discuss the company and my future there. She said she has never taken out an assistant manager, that I was the first. She said she sees a lot of potential in me and wanted to take the chance to get to know me better. This really made me so happy and thankful for the opportunities that we have been given here in New Orleans. Even if I don't stay with this company, I am thankful for today.

Along the Road

Joy at the start
Fear in the journey
Joy in the coming home
A part of the heart
Gets lost in the learning
Somewhere along the road

This past weekend, Jim and I took a day trip and drove the River Road that runs along the Mississippi from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. It was such a nice day and we took our cameras. I ended up only taking a few shots because we spent the day talking. Without the radio. No TV. No laptops. Just me and my man :) We dreamed big dreams. We shared our lives with each other without interruption. We spent time together like we haven't in awhile. I fell deeper in love with him on that road.

The road was very winding and it took a lot longer than the hour it normally takes to go from NOLA to Baton Rouge. It reminded me that our life is sometimes like that road. We get a picture in our head about how to get from point A to point B and get behind the wheel of our life. We head towards our destination, expecting for the most direct and efficient route. Sometimes the route is direct and sometimes it winds and takes us four times as long to get there. In the end, we wind up right where we need to be. Sometimes taking the most direct route will get us there quicker, but something is lost along the road. Sometimes we need to take the long and winding road, to turn off the radio and appreciate the time you have with the person you are traveling with along the road.

I learned I like our life together. I like to set off with nothing more than my husband, my camera and a sweater just in case it gets chilly :)

A house in our neighborhood  - we have fancy neighbors!

Jim got knocked out in one punch!

A beautiful historic church

Slave quarters on a plantation - makes you thankful for what you have!

an old Coke machine - it was overexposed but it is kinda' cool :)

We ate dinner at the end of the road. We turned around and went back home. The point of the day was not the destination, but the journey.

Next week is our anniversary and Jim has something planned for us. Truly, it could be anywhere, as long as we travel the road together. The point of our life together is the journey. 

 
Along the road
Your steps may tumble
Your thoughts may start to stray
But through it all a heart held humble
Levels and lights your way.

xo