the grandest of opening parties

Tonight was our Grand Opening Private Party event for the supporters of the store. We had an amazing time!

Ryan is pictured here with Jeff, the owner of our franchise store, and Aurelio, the CEO of c28 and NOTW (Not Of This World...all about Jesus; our main clothing line).

Awww... Jeff & Amy with their yummy gift from Aurelio.

The awesome merch...many hours of work!

Robert, from corporate, is shown using his amazing gifts and talents for working with customers! His abilities are "sick," as the Cali people say...

a work in progress

getting the word out

We spent our entire day promoting the store at a large outdoor concert venue called WayFest. You can see the main headlining bands listed above. The day was awesome. We were able to make contact with over a thousand people. We had our merchandise set up on display, passed out 10% off-coupons to the store, brochures, stickers and entered people in a drawing to win a $200 shopping spree or 1 of 4, $50 gift cards. The only thing that would have made today better was actually selling our merchandise...but alas, our merchandise is not here until Tuesday and everyone will have to wait exactly 6 days until we open.

(Notice Ryan grooving to the tune of Barlow Girl...he is pictured with Shea, one of our super-cool employees.)

There were times today when we could hardly keep up with all of the people stopping by our informational booth. It was CRAZZZZY!

Ryan and Emily workin' the booth. Are these 2 old enough to be running a retail store?

Don't worry...I was at the event helping too, but now as I sit here on my couch and blog about the day I am longing to put on my amazing aroma therapy socks that I was sent in the mail earlier this week. Many thanks to my cool mother-in-law for including me in the funky socks exchange (I would put a link to her blog, but it doesn't exist yet...don't you think Mary Ann should have a blog? We do.)

humans are funny

I had a friend in high school who always said, "humans are funny." They really are.

Last night Jeff, Amy, Emily, Robin (Emily's Mississippi friend), Ryan and I grabbed some food at a place called Too Jay's . Our waitress, Pam, was so funny and crazy...as was the woman who wasn't our waitress, Robin, but who chimed in on talking to us, checking on our food, refilling our drinks. By the end of our meal Waitress Pam thought it was my birthday and that Ryan's was the next day (that's how I knew we were meant to be as husband and wife)...and Waitress Robin thought it was Emily's birthday... In the end Emily ended up with a huge piece of amazing carrot cake, Waitress Robin realized we were Christians and apologized for anything she might have said that was offensive and she wanted to work at the store. It was a very comical meal.

Things are really coming together on the build-out of the store. I keep forgetting to take pictures as the construction progresses, so make sure to read Jeff's blog to see what things are looking like. Ryan and Emily are interviewing potential staff this week and we are gearing up for an outdoor concert we will have a booth at on Saturday. I will make sure to take pictures and post them this weekend.

We open in a week from Saturday...we're so pumped.

I Am Sad

I know this sounds really silly, but I am devestated that Ryan and Reese have split. I hope they get back together.

Click here to read more from the USA Today article

idleness

Staying at home. Some people, men and women, aspire to not working or retiring to leisure at some point in their lives. Count me out.

Not interacting with people is not my cup of tea...I feel a little idle these days. In my little over a week of un-employement and staying-at-homeness, I have really gained a sense that there is work to do, in a spiritual sense, for me, employed or not. Ryan has let me tag a long with store business and has kept me in the loop on what he is doing, which has allowed me to connect with people. I also finally met our neighbor today and look forward to hanging out with her more. People were created to glorify their creator and there is something inside of us that desires to connect with others. We were created for joy! As more days go on I find myself less interested in the final un-packing and decorating details of our new place and I end up wasting my time online, going through picture albums and planning meals farther in advance than I ever thought I would. Ugh. I'm fighting the idlesness...

"I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." -John 17:4