Myspace-March 19, 2007

Josh gave me the most interesting compliment tonight.  I was outside all day today working on a location shoot.  He said I came home smelling like sunshine.  I qualified it to make sure it wasn't sweat but he confirmed that it was in fact "sunshine."

He's my favorite husband!

Thank you Al Gore for the internet

Okay so today I got to see one of my best friends in the world Sam. I sat at my desk in Nashville and she sat at her bookshelf in Maimi and we talked face to face. After my crazy day yesterday I needed that. I took a break from my hectic work (who knew putting together a 1930s tent revival in 7 days could be so stressful) and just talked to my friend-it was really nice. Plus, I've discovered that video iChat can replace the phone and I'm a huge fan of that. I don't like to sit on the phone and talk, and that is what makes me an awful long distance friend. Awful!

This is reason 8,435,878 that I love the internet. It makes me a better friend.

Day of Happenings

So the last two days have been days of happenings. Yesterday Josh got word of a really great project that FYK Architecture pllc is going to be a part of. Yes we won't get paid, but sometimes it isn't about the money. We have been looking for a project that would give us some great design experience and low and behold here it is. So now when we are coming home on our plane from Europe not only will I be so excited about getting home and drinking a Dr. Pepper, but we'll also be stoked about starting this new project.

Then today we met with the MTA COO and worked out what our community group is going to be able to do. We report back to the group tonight so I don't want to spoil it for anyone early. Then while we were at lunch I got a call from a producer in town who is line producing the Billy Graham film that is shooting this month in Nashville. So that is what I'll be working on for the next week-producing a tent revival scene for a "real" movie.

Smiley Weather

So this weekend was full and fun. Here's the Top Ten in no particular order:

1. We had couchsurfers. They were domestic but still new people none the less. Also the guy's mom lives in Paris and might let us use her apartment while she is gone-score!

2. We went to the theater and saw 21. Don't bother if you've seen the preview you've seen the movie

3. Had dinner twice with the Smiths-yep we like them that much

4. It finally stopped raining and I got to wear short sleeves

5. Found a shirt in my closet that would work as the missing element to my Europe packing

6. Bought the rest of our remaining Europe supplies at Walmart, Target and REI

7. Had lunch with our long lost Barclays-we've never had 2 hours go by so quick in a Ruby Tuesdays

8. Walked our neighborhood in our packed Europe backpacks and found out we haven't over packed. That's a good thing because we are taking like 10 things each so we didn't know what we would leave out if we have to.

9. Ran into a potential remodel client we met with on Friday in the "real world." I don't know this for sure but I believe that ups the chances of us getting the project. I'm going to start formal research on that and become rich and famous on my findings.

10. Went to church where Josh worked in the nursery-no great stories this week but it did have him wondering what a miniature Felton/Fykes would act like

This Week is Done

So this week ended my sewing class. Please note I am using the word class loosely because for me some things have to be true to make something a class.

1. The teacher must teach 

2. The teacher must be able to answer question 8 out of 10 times especially if they deal in the most basic knowledge of the subject "taught" 

3. At the end I feel like I learned something

I think that she would say she qualified for number 1-I say she tried but that is not her spiritual gift, number 2 was not the case and number 3-not so much either.

 (Also, just to note-I'm pushing these requirements with the English class I teach every Tuesday night but my students don't have to pay to come to class so their standards should be a little lower, right?) 

I used the class time as sewing accountability which is why I really took the class to begin with so it really was okay. But if you ask me it was kind of funny to go out in the hall outside my class and call my mom to ask her a sewing question but whisper so the "teacher" didn't hear me. Regardless, I have a couple of finished projects. I've already shown you the apron.

This is the money pouch that Josh and I are going to use in our backpack. I know that if I don't have a specific place for our extra money we are going to get back to the states with Euros in all the different pockets of our backpacks.

On a completely separate note it has been raining for days and it just cracks us up when Austin comes back in. She doesn't like to be wet, nor does she likes pictures so this is the best we can do. Happy April Showers to All!

Another Thing With The Hands

In our spare time we are now feverishly working towards an arts festival our church puts together each year called Express.

We should have a total of about 9-10 new completed pieces that we designed for the event. Just another thing to throw in the mix of stuff we're working to get done before we leave the country. This is one of the pieces nailed up ready for Tiff to start soldering together. Tiff and I both design, then Tiff traces, I cut & copper foil, then she solders (must be a woman's touch, 'cause I can never get a joint to smooth out like she can)

I thought I would share our other "hand"y craft. It's a bit of a family tradition, Tiff's grandfather did stained glass as a hobby and did some fairly ambitious pieces in his day. We inherited all the paraphernalia and a pretty good stash of glass because we wanted to learn the craft. So here we are. We do it as a hobby mostly, we have yet to receive payment for any of our time or work, but maybe after Express that won't be a true statement anymore.

Installment 2: Salem

So you've seen the downstairs, lets do the upstairs now.

 When we got the house this is what it looked like from the front door.  This is the "formal" living room and the dining room.  On the other side of the wall is the den and kitchen.  

This picture is in mid tear out because I got so excited about the idea of swinging a sledgehammer into our walls that I forgot to take a picture before we started.  Just FYI the novelty of tearing holes in your walls runs out about six to eight swings in.  So lucky for us, we had plenty of friends who would come take their 8 swings and eventually we had torn out all the walls in our house.

Joshua framed the new walls we wanted to make while architectural work was slow.  Then, praise God his work picked back up and this time around we got to hire people to hang dry wall, do the trim and even paint.  So in our last house the things that took us literally 15 months of our life working almost everyday after work was completed in about 2 1/2 months.  So here is the finished product.

We'll eventually have stuff on the shelves and I have a friend that is going to make us an art piece to hang over the fireplace. We are letting those decisions breath just a little bit since all the other choices had to be GO! GO! GO!