Monday, July 27, 2009

We Talked About it, and We Did It

Some people just have a gift for saying memorable things. One of those people is my good friend, Cindy Dupree. Hardly a day goes by that I don't quote her in one way or another. She has unbelievable stories, funny quips, and she has mottos. One of my favorites is, "You can sleep when you're dead." Another is "Once you've seen one sunrise, you've seen em' all." She truly has a supernatural energy when it comes to making the most of life. We have been to Paris together, met lots of famous writers, politicians, actors, and singers, sat on the front row of incredible Broadway shows and shared laughs and tears. But this blog isn't really about her, she just gave me the title, and she didn't even know it.



When it comes to good ideas, sometimes it seems like they're a dime a dozen. I find that what makes a good idea really a good idea lies in the follow through. In other words, at some very important point, you've got to quit just talking about a particular thing and do it. So that's what we did this weekend.

You've heard me talk about our new business quite a bit over the past few months. And the talking is important, don't get me wrong, but we got to sweat a little bit, well, a lot, at our sale this weekend and the weeks leading up to it, and it paid off.

With a little help from some great friends and family, I can honestly say that Amanda and I exceeded our financial goal, learned a great deal, and had some fun, essentially playing store in our den and dining room this past Saturday.

It was the grand opening event of our new online store called awaken. http://shopawaken.etsy.com.

I guess it all started some months ago after we had both read "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and were trying to come up with a business idea. From there, we had a few false starts, but finally agreed on something we could both get excited about... something we already did. We take what other people might think is useless, and make it into something valuable.

So the morning of the event, we are set to open our doors at 10:00.

9:03, I am on the phone, trying to find someone who could custom cut a mirror for the frame that sat empty, leaning against a corner in our otherwise finished showroom/den. I have called every glass cutter in Murfreesboro only to confirm that they are all closed on Saturdays. Finally, I found someone who could do it in time. Thank you, Farrar Brothers Ace Hardware. The very tattooed glass cutter there had a scrap piece of mirror that could be discounted and would fit perfectly into my frame after just a few cuts. Great!

9:36, I'm tightening the last screw to secure the prized mirror into the frame and hear a quiet but horribly ominous crack. I say a few words that I later had to ask forgiveness for, and we begin the process all over again. Since I still have signs to hang, Momma and Poppa B offer to go get the replacement mirror, which, will cost twice as much because there is no other scrap large enough to fit my frame.

9:59 I, oh so gently, tighten the final screw on the new mirror and the doors open to welcome our first customers.

10:02 Thank the Lord for family and home folks. Dennis and Susan Chambers were up from Arab, and Amanda's amazingly talented Uncle Norris (norrishallstudio.com) and his wife, Linda followed close behind them. The day progressed and we welcomed customers that were not even related to us, they bought things, got receipts with our new logo, ate Basil Cheddar Ham Biscuits, homemade mini blueberry muffins, and drank fresh peach Bellinis. It was all we hoped it would be.



Here are Ashley and Steph modeling with some of our merchandise. The mirror I mentioned is pictured in the background here, and in close detail at the top of the page. It is one of the few pieces still available for 125.



We talked about it, and we did it.

These are a few of my favorite kids

In the last few weeks, we have gotten to spend some summer days and nights with a few of our favorite people, not the least of which have been kids. I have to share a couple of the photos, and I must say that this is by no means all of our favorite kids, just the ones who happened to be mugging for my iPhone on the last roll.


We love to have company. There is something about having overnight guests that takes me back to the excitement of packing my little red white and blue flowered or "flair-dy" as we said it, suitcase and going across town to have a "spend the night party" with friends as a kid. It's better than just spending casual time together, because when you have all talked and laughed until you can hardly keep your eyes open a second longer, then you wake up and share your morning ritual with your sleepy headed friends, you get closer, more like family. Last weekend we got to host two groups of great friends. Among them were Bryan and Ashley Johnson. This is Bryan (his blog, http://abryanphoto.blogspot.com/, has some of the coolest photography you will ever see) reading to his boys, Gavin on the left, and Noah on the right. It doesn't get much sweeter than that.


Well, OK, maybe a little. This is Stephanie Kling (she has an amazing crafting blog, http://birdsandtrees.typepad.com, that helped inspire me to start my blog) holding her nephew Tripp Sommerville. They, along with Steph's husband James, and Tripp's Mom and Dad, Emily and Nelson, were our other group of weekend sleepover friends.


Here are our African friends doing their thang. When they sing and dance, God's grace is everywhere. It is so cool. If you pray, pray for them. They have so many things to learn and so many cultural changes to adjust to, but as you can see, they are still singing!


It may not look like there is a kid in this picture to you, but to me, the good looking guy who outweighs me by thirty pounds or so and is almost a foot taller than me on the left, will always be my little nephew Blake, or Blako Beam. He turned 17 this month and that makes my head spin. I will never forget the moment when my teary eyed brother, Steve, walked out of the delivery room in his yellow disposable hospital apron holding each one of his three kids. Blake is sitting by his Mammaw, the first lady of Arab, Alabama, and my pretty Mamma, Olethia, at the big horse show at the city park where I was bringing home the bacon playing the organ.


This is little Miss Isabella Hardison. We spent a fun evening at the Uncle Dave Macon Days folk music and arts festival a few weeks ago with her sister, Georgia, and their Mom and Dad, Mark and Ashley. If she didn't already have me tightly wound around her little finger, she sealed the deal that night. What is it about a kid's affection that makes us so happy!? I'm a sucker for it. She sat there in my lap while we watched the freestyle buck dancing and clogging competition and we both ate up every knee slappin', banjo pickin', foot stompin' minute of it.

If you do not have kids in your life, I'm sorry. If you do, please don't beat them in the Wal-Mart check out line or yell at them in public. It makes you look so stupid, and they are smarter than you think. I know, it's easier for me because I can usually send them home with their parents when they misbehave, but still, come on people. Lord, please grant us all wisdom and grace when it comes to caring for our most precious gift, your children.

Friday, July 24, 2009

New awaken photos


The big day is tomorrow! Here are some more photos of what we will have for sale at our grand opening event for our new online home store called awaken. Our den has been changed into a furniture and accessories showroom, and our dining room, a contemporary art gallery.

We will begin at 10:00am and finish at 3:00. Any of you who are in the middle Tennessee area who would like to see first hand what we have to offer, stop by at 320 E. College St. We are just off the square behind the Episcopal Church.

Leaf stencil set on cedar planks. 50.

Maple leaf clock sconce. 65.

Giant framed mirror. 165.

Black and white contemporary art. 35.

Thanks Christina Stiefel for our cool new logo!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Awaken!

I have mentioned in this blog that Amanda and I have a new business based on our belief in redemption, or giving new life to old things. In other words, we are "Awaken" -ing the potential in wood from old fences, Mamaw's old furniture, thrift store and yard sale treasures, whatever we find that needs a new lease on life. We are planning an event to kick off what will be our online business called Awaken. You will soon be able to shop for furniture, art, lighting, and handmade accessories, all custom, one of a kind, by Amanda and I, and inspired by products you would expect to find in stores like Anthropology, At Home, and Pottery Barn.

The grand opening event will be at our home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Saturday, July 25th. Basically, we are transforming the front rooms in our house into a temporary showroom where our sale items will be priced and available for purchase.

Here are a few of the things that we plan to offer.
Black and White Retro Rocker. Our friend Patrick at Patrick's Upholstery in Arab did a jam up job giving new life to several things for us. Amanda found this sixties mod glider at a Murfreesboro yard sale and picked out the cool, clean, off white linen fabric for it.


Over sized Turquoise, Brown and White Cherry Blossom Branch and Bird art with cedar fence frame, 5ft 7in x 3ft including frame. I painted this simple piece with the huge frame in mind. I made it from a cedar plank fence that my dad had torn down a few years ago.


Retro lamp with hand painted shade. This lamp was just crying out for some new wiring, paint, and a shade at the thrift store where I found it. I saw the pattern I painted onto the shade in one of Amanda's Domino magazines. There are some little pink birdies in there if you look closely.


Antique white mirrored wardrobe. This was our find of the day when we went to the five hundred mile yard sale after the Strawberry Festival in Springfield, Tennessee a few months ago. We gave it the bright bird's egg blue interior and a fresh, weathered white exterior.


White wire tea light candelabra and plant stand on farmhouse table. These wire pieces were also from the Strawberry Festival day. I made the table they are sitting on and will post more photos later.

I look forward to your input and hope to see you at our house Saturday the 25th of this month!

Beef Bulletin


Here is our cow. He is the black one in the middle, walking along in his grassy field, celebrating Independence Day in my parent's pasture. Today he is in the cooler at Weaver's Meat Processing in Hartselle, AL. In two weeks he will be in my freezer.

We are experimenting with him. Locally grown, grass finished beef is near impossible to find unless you are near a big city, and even when you do find it, it is outrageously expensive. So one day, my wife, Amanda said, "Wait a minute, aren't there a bunch of cows in your Dad's pasture?" And that got us to thinking.

There are all kinds of benefits to consuming beef this way. First, your money is going to someone you know, leaving out all the middle men who would most likely be getting that meat from all the way down in Mexico. Second, grass finishing beef eliminates a great deal of cortisol, or the bad cholesterol that is caused from the stress that the final part of a feedlot cow's life brings on. In addition, grass is a more natural and healthy diet for the cow than the feed that is designed to fatten the cow in the months it is confined before slaughter. (In the best cases that feed is a mostly corn diet, but it can often consist of dead chickens mixed with poo, and even parts of other cows. A healthier cow, to me, logically translates into healthier meat, and a healthier me.

When he makes his way onto our table, I will post more info to let you know prices and how the meat tastes. If all goes well, we will be offering more cows available for you to purchase at a much lower rate than you would be getting at Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods.

Dad's farm is at 734 Copeland Road in Arab, Alabama, and his cows, though not "certified organic" are all natural, organic. The pasture is pesticide free, the cows are free range, and they are not fed hormones or anything else that could potentially contribute to early puberty in girls, cancer, or extra limbs caused by mutant Mexican A-Rod steroid steaks.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Our Lake Adventure

This was a weekend full of huge adventure, family, food, music, fireworks, and fun. At some later point I might have some wisdom, (and more pics) to offer to inspire, uplift and amuse, but for now, here are some pictures from our time on Guntersville Lake with the our dear friends the Phillips and the Scotts.


Amanda B. and Amanda P. were perfectly cool aboard the inflated float of wild speedboat fury, but I think our sadistic chauffeur, Brian, took it a little easier on them than on us guys.


Christopher more than held his own on the crazy float while Brian hot dogged that boat like he was at the water version of the Indy 500.


After eating several gallons of lake water, I really had an awesome time.



Lynne said that, among many other things, "her boys" Jacob and Adam, could stand up on the moving float, and that sounded way too much like a challenge for me to pass up.
Somehow we missed getting pictures of everybody, but Jacob's sweet fiance, Mallory, also came along for the adventure. We packed a lake picnic which we all enjoyed while hundreds of tiny bats entertained us as if on cue at sunset at the "Bat Cave." This is a well kept local secret and I think the Scotts and all the lake dwellers around there wouldn't mind keeping it that way. This place is truly breath taking. Surrounded by rolling hills and gracious southern charm, Guntersville Lake is a hidden jewel in the middle of Marshall County, Alabama.