Walls of fun

WARNING: Super Random Post

So walls.....

The sheetrock and spackle that hold your house together.  I like to paint them colors.  Warm and inviting pumpkin color in my office, cool and calming blue in my laundry, bright and cheery yellow in my bedroom, yummy avocado green in my kitchen, there is a neutral khaki in my HUGE den but that's b/c it's HUGE and lots in it.

I'm thoughtful, nostalgic, and visually inclined, so for me, I cover these walls in meaning.
Let me share what I mean:

So our office is a place that Sean and I share.  It's a room that reflects our passion, our mutual passion. Snippets of very happy times for us.

A fantastic show in Norfolk, VA @ the Norva.  A great live show. Artwork by Biffle.

We traveled to NYC to see this acoustic shows of just the brothers.

By far, one of the most exciting, special events ever for Sean and myself.  

Another true treat, we had front row and met them backstage that night.  Red Rocks the previous night.

Another wall are some of my favorite photographs.

The Golden Gate Bridge, jelly fish, zebra, both my kids in front of an aquarium, etc.

This is a drawing by Skylar when she was just 5. 

 And this is over my monitors, from Jaden at age 5.

 

Moving on to our HUGE den...

So on our Ikea entertainment unit, we have these 2 doors that are on either side of the TV.  I ordered a map and split it between the doors.  Then I tackled the laborious task of pinning our black crowes shows we've seen together.  It's been a conversation piece, at times I feel proud and other times I feel like a freak with all those blue pennants.  MANY good times and forever memories.

My good friend, Ginine, and I did this craft together.  Of course the idea came from good 'ol Pinterest.  Where would we be without it?
We traced each family members hands and then used embroidery thread and stitched their outlines.  

 

 A piece of work that I love from a GREAT illustrator by the name of Marq Spusta. 

 

So I blogged about this here.  It's been a great place to swap out candids and snapshots.  Well just recently I uploaded my instagrams photos to Printstigr.am and had them printed.  They came out amazing, however i probably won't use them again due to the long turnaround time.  The prints are just from the beginning of our summer.  I love the neat and tidy look, a change from the different sizes of the candids.

Now on to my Organic Bloom Frames.  I'm a vendor for Organic Bloom Frames.  They have a selection of 16 different styles and 50 something colors.  Can you imagine the possibilities?  Putting my order together I know took 10 years off my life.  I LOVE THEM though.  Very unique and different from your typical white and black square frames. 

My ultimate favorite.  I keep it in my kitchen and always have a 16X20 of my kids.

Another favorite combo.  These are our fall pictures from last year.

 So a few years ago, I couldn't get a picture of the family together, the downside of being a photographer in the busiest time of the year.  So I had caricatures made. These are in the hallway to their rooms.

Yet another year, I couldn't get a good picture for a christmas card, so we did a photobooth type thing.  Easy to get these pictures - goofballs.

 

For the past few years, I order these mini moo cards and have a few poses from each client's session printed on them and then I include them in my business Christmas card.  Last year I did it for my family and also bought a frame that custom fits the mini moo cards.  You can change the formation and orientation of each little card and it's frame.  Link to moo cards.

I also found this idea on Pinterest.  You take a frame, print whatever you want permanently on the paper, frame it, and then you can write temporary things with an dry erase marker on the glass.  I use this one in my bathroom and my husband and I write sentiments back and forth.  It's an encouraging, fun little thing.

 

 This is also hanging in my bathroom.  It's my favorite print from my days in film photography class.  This particular one was taken with infrared film and put in a rustic wooden yard sale find frame.

So there you have it folks.  A tour de walls in Joy's house. 
What about your walls?  I'd love to hear.

Peace and chicken grease.

Stop Hunger Now

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, our team, while in Haiti, came up with what we call the 'Cange Initiative'. 
In getting to know the students at LaPleiade School, we were invested in them, in their lives.  We knew and observed that they were not served a meal while at school.  And we know that some don't get consistent meals at home.  So the least we felt we could do was to somehow ensure that they get at least one meal a day.
So we all decided to team up with with an organization called STOP HUNGER NOW. 

www.stophungernow.org

This organization does a lot, but one of the key ways is to host meal packing events.  This is where an organization such as a church, charity, leagues, communities etc, sign up 40-50 volunteers and come together and physically put together meals.  These Stop Hunger Now meals pack a big punch! Every dehydrated rice/soy meal is fortified with 21 essential vitamins and nutrients.  This can go a LONG way for a child. 
Stop Hunger Now ships containers to needy countries containing either 142,560 in a 20-ft container or 285,120 meals in a 40-ft container.
The team's goal is 142,560 meals to feed the school children of LaPleiade.  This will feed each child a guaranteed meal a day, every day they are at school, for up to 5 years!!  What an impact!

So here we are:
Amber and I are hosting our Meal Packing Event at our church.

Wed. August 29th @ 6:30pm

We will package 10,000 meals!  This is a great hands-on opportunity.  We are seeking 40-50 volunteers to help.  There are a variety of jobs throughout the assembly line process that can accommodate children, the elderly and those with special needs.  

We also need to raise 25¢ per meal.  10,000 X 25¢ = $2500.  This covers the ingredients as well as the paid staff member that comes and trains and makes this event happen.

We need to raise this money BEFORE the event happens.

Please consider participating in this event.  It's a great time for families and friends to be hands-on together for such a needy mission.  

You can sign up and/or donate online:

http://events.stophungernow.org/bethelumc

Of course I want to see my church family there, but I would be honored to have my friends and family there too!

I challenge:

Can you give up a meal out with your family or spouse?  Maybe teach your kids or yourself about hunger while staying in and eating out of the pantry for a night or skip it all together.  

Make a donation with the money you would have spent dining out.  Just a thought......

 

-joy

Vwayaj Nou Travels Again

From my trip to Haiti, came a collaboration with the awesome Amber to form our gallery show, Vwayaj Nou.  This post talks about our initial showing. Since then, we presented the gallery to our church, Bethel UMC, and then were asked to present at the United Methodist Western NC Conference in Lake Junaluska, NC.  This is where upwards of 3000-5000 pastors and other clergy come together once a year for classes, meetings, workshops etc.  It's a whole other blog post about how I felt mingling in with my holey jeaned, nose ringed, embroidered "flower power" shirt donning self among neatly, kempt, khaki and polos of the pastor worlds.  :-)

We set up in a main thoroughfare and were honored to be there.

 Amber blogged about our trip to Lake Junaluska here.
It was also a fine time, b/c we had dinner with members of our team that went to Haiti with us.

Everyone remember Jane?  I blogged about her here.  Well, she annually has a "Haiti Day" at her church in Highlands, NC.  She asked for us to display our gallery there and come to visit.  Of COURSE!
OH.MY.  Highlands is gorgeous!  I don't much go west of Asheville in NC, but I'm sure glad I ventured that way.  The views! The air! The quaint houses!
I digress.
It was a real treat for Amber and myself.  Any getaway, even if it was for less than 24 hours, is much needed for busy moms.  The treat was meeting back up with Jane and Dea!  Dea was in Haiti the same time we were, she came with Jane.  The whole team LOVED Dea and her sense of humor and freedom of life. 

 Also, visiting the states was a wonderful man from Haiti by the name of LaNeus.  He has been instrumental in starting schools in Cange and helping his community in a very impactful way.  He and his family were visiting Jane.

Jane arrange for Amber and myself to stay with one of her good friends, Helen.  She graciously opened up her cozy home and was a perfect hostess. She had a fascinating screen porch where Jane, Dea, Helen, Amber and myself had some awesome late-night girl time.  We definitely call Helen a new friend and by the end of the trip Amber and I were already inviting ourselves back up for another girl porch time.

Me, Jane, Helen, Amber and Dea

We have a blast each and every time we have the privilege of telling the story of our trip to Haiti.  It's an honor to show images of the wonderful, selfless people that we met.  None of it has gotten old or redundant, which ignites my passion to be there again.

The final stop of the gallery images will be in Cange, Haiti.  Amber and I will travel there to install the photos in the school and Jane's house.  We will also be bringing prints of the images that the students took themselves.  I look forward to the day that they see them in person!  The last day in Haiti we allowed them to print one picture per person on our portable photo printer and you should have seen the reaction to the print coming out of the printer!  Every.single.student chose to have a picture of themselves printed.  To think, they don't have that!  Something we Americans take for granted!

Good night folks.  Tomorrow I will be posting about the initiative that our team dreamed up to give back to the school in Cange.  How we will be hands on in changing the lives down there.  And it all is happening here in Midland, NC.

discovery

We took a little trip last Friday to Huntersville to the Discovery Place Kids.  I never imagined how long we would be there.  9:45 - 3:30!  I was dragging them out of there.
http://www.discoveryplacekids.org/

I post this b/c several moms have asked about it and I've recommended it to a few.  I thought Skylar (9) would be bored but she was anything but.  I gave her the freedom to roam around, but to check in anytime she changed places.  I think that kept her going.

Jaden - where do I begin?  This kid was in utopia.  I had shown him the site online before we went and he saw the firetruck area and flipped.  There are no words to describe his excitement and energy level when he was in that area.

*WARNING - these pictures are horrible, but it documented our trip.  I didn't lug my big girl camera there but took half with the iphone and half with the point and shoot that was on a wrong setting.

Yes, he wore his own personal fire jacket to the museum.  He was THAT excited!

 Real working levers and buttons!  My oh my.

 This was the extent of Skylar's visit to the Fire Station Area. ("I Can Work")

 Dressing Area - "real fire jackets and helmets"

 His favorite actually was the lightweight button ups that "they wear around the station when they aren't at the fire"

 

"I Can Work" We then headed to the "bank".  Complete with a drive through with tube and video.  We took these for daddy.

 

"I Can Work" Vet Area next.  

 X-rays and different films to choose from.

 Lab area, Grooming area, kennel, dress up

 

"I Can Be Healthy"  This was really neat.  They had booths for parents to sit and be waited on. (not pictured)  We spent a good bit of time here.

 Sinks, Microwaves, Cash Register, Oven, Brick Oven, Blenders, Freezers, Menus, Trays, Food Galore, Cabinets, Plates, Glasses, etc.

 A nice brick oven.

 Ice Cream pizza

 

"I Can Explore - Underwater"

 Submarine Guide

"I Can Create"

 "Town Center" Climbing Area

 

"Town Center" Stage.  A backstage area with a ton of dress up clothes and a big stage area for performing. 

"I Can Move" Airport area with magnets that you can change the flight times and places.  Security Check-In that beeps.  Vests to don.

 Suitcases to scan and an airplane to ride in.

 

"I Can Move" Race Car

 I only included this one so you could see his smushed nose in the helmet. 

 

 "I Can Move" Car Repair Area - Work Orders, Phone to take orders, work shirts and hats, tools for removing license plates, tires etc. 

Skylar stayed in the underwater area the most.  You can connect different tubes and reroute the water.

We took a break and walked across the street to Lupi's Cafe, where they ate ever single bite put in front of them, plus a couple snacks I had in my purse.

We would visit an area and go back to the Fire Truck, visit an area go back to the fire truck, you get the pattern.

 Utopia

 And oh my, there was a fire pole.  In order to get up, I had to push on his derriere, then he would step on my hand (my arm that's stretched completely above my head) and hold on his own for a few seconds and then slide down.  I know we did this at least 30 times.  I was worn out!  But look at that smile.

$8 per person - worth the trip.

There were a lot more areas that I didn't photograph.  Boat, small baby area, ambulance, farm, exercise (rock wall), brick/building area, etc.