Weird

This girl you see below is responsible for surprising us with free tickets to Les Misérables at the Dallas Theater Center. Dafni found them for ONE dollar folks—If I remember correctly, the tickets go on sale and are sold out in minutes. It's a pre-performance of sorts.

The theater is small and modern. Below is a photo in the hallway leading to the restroom. We walked in and were completely thrown into disorientation by the color. I like this shot—it's iconic in a way.

Some walls are magnetic and have yards of chain mail adhering to them. Although visually interesting from a distance…they also look cheap and…well, flat chested up-close. I imagine the walls will be redone at some point.

Friends waiting in the lobby.

The theater is like a giant cube. Inside all the seats are removable, the stage too. It can be formatted to fit any event need. There were no bad seats. We were on the second level and look how close we were to the action!

This particular rendition was fun to watch, although not my favorite. It was set in 1815-1832 France but the costumes did not stay true to the 1800's which was bothersome to me (I mean, some were actually modern.) And let's just say the trouble Fantine got herself into at the whore house was too explicit. The audience was gasping out of shock…not awe.

During some musical numbers, the actors stood at different places around the room. One took a seat next to Adam and kinda freaked him out! It was great.

On another note on some other different random day (can you tell I'm doing a photo dump?), we decided to try the Grub Burger Bar. We'd heard it was good.

And it was! But not for me. I seem to always try something a little too different. I went with a Thai Peanut Butter burger: Creamy peanut butter, roasted peanuts, cilantro lime coconut flakes, and Sambal mayo. Let's just say it was like eating a peanut butter sandwich with meat in it. My fault. I should have known it would be weird. Everyone else was pleased with theirs so I would recommend this spot.

And I just enjoy these shots, so I am posting them. Hah!

The Amazing RACE

Girls Camp this year…oh where do I start? I've put off blogging about it for a few months because I've had to let my feelings about it settle. It was difficult and humbling in a lot of ways.

Some of you wanted to know if I did crafts. I was asked to do the crafts again, but after two weeks of not feeling calm enough to accept the responsibility—I realized my answer needed to be no. If something is meant to be, the kind of angst I was feeling should not have been present.

Consequently it turned out I was needed elsewhere as the assistant camp leader for my girls. So I got to spend my days running around with them instead of hanging out in a craft room.

The theme was The Amazing R.A.C.E. Our youth leaders (girls ages 16 and 17) came up with it.
Remember to Act as Christ and Endure. I thought it was pretty good.

Each ward picked their own color t-shirt and team name. We went with NEON! Neon orange—which I loved because I could find the girls from afar. If we had a bigger budget I would love to get a t-shirt for every day of camp just so I can keep a better eye on everyone.

Last year was physically difficult (due to incapacitating back pain), this year was emotionally difficult. I love my girls, and I think that's why. I want them to have a good time. I want them to participate and build relationships with one another. I want them to make memories, great ones that will last, to build their testimonies that will cause them to come again next year.

However—I think some girls come for their own reasons and with their own ideas of what the camp experience should be. And ALL of them are teenagers. I give you permission to read between the lines here. Read a lot between the lines.

Good thing I love them!

What did I learn? Patience. Better leadership. Greater love. Inner calm, inner calm, inner calm. And appreciation for the adult leaders who helped ME.

Oh yeah, and chiggers. I learned about chiggers.

Don't think it's possible to attend camp and not come back changed. If you want to see what you are made of, go to girls camp.

Rustic Coffee Table by Ultrim

Isn't this rustic coffee table fun? I love the extra storage cubbies on all sides AND that it is on casters. I like being able to move my furniture around with ease. Our space is smaller so we often need to shift things around for events. (Well, face it…when I say events I mean movie watching with friends or having my youth group over. We aren't the hip hosting type—yet.)

All that being said, we don't get to keep it the table. Adam and Nick made this as a spec piece and sent it to Kansas City where Adam's sister Heidi has it in a booth for sale. It's very sturdy and made from good wood so I hope it does well.

If you are interested in having something like this made for you in any color or stain—contact me (or Adam if you have that info). I can send price and dimensions.

Everything is Not Awesome

For about 4 years I've had this GREAT business idea of selling wooden cake stands. I've done a copious amount of sketching and research—and then at last, Adam obtained the right kind of power tools through Ultrim, so we could FINALLY undertake one my more simple stand ideas. You know, just to see if we LIKED producing these lovelies. (And if we still liked one another at the end.)

A lot has been learned. I hate sanding. I understand why a good filler is important. Sometimes exact measurements are not best. Paint does NOT fill in gaps. I love the paint gun—I despise cleaning it. A real painting booth would be worth the investment. Soon, it became evident the storage space needed and overhead costs were also not optimal.

I hoped this would be an enjoyable husband and wife hobby. Turns out our schedules didn't match up for this kind of thing. The discovery of this was the saddest part of our experiment.

I put the stands on my Etsy site with custom size options— and then I made a sale (yay?) I found myself resisting the very thought of filling the order. And realized—the dream had died. And no particle of me wanted to make another stand.

Panicked, and wanting to provide the best experience for my customer I placed a call to my intelligent father and explained the situation. Do I buy all new materials just to fill the order even though it wouldn't be cost effective? Do I cancel with a lame apology? After some thought he suggested I refund the money and offer a discount on other items in my shop. Feeling much better about this option, I notified the customer (within hours of her purchase) and sent her a coupon code.

So, while this business idea was well on its way to becoming awesome…it was not. So, go ahead and steal it if you would like. Maybe for you, everything will be awesome!