I'm back, and with a "top ten" in tow!

But first, a preface...

The latest and greatest in my life concerns moving our Imagine Artists business office into a brand new location in downtown Morton! We received the place at the beginning of October and have been diligently working in it ever since. This includes numerous days and nights of rolling mustard yellow paint onto walls, purchasing old, vintage-like furniture, learning how to correctly use a spray paint can, calling people and recruiting their skills (sign-makers, carpet cleaners, internet providers, artistic painters, handy-men, etc.), and much, much more.

We even painted our front door purple.

So a lot of progress has been made... and in the weeks to come, a lot more will continue to unfold. It has been a great experience so far, and being downtown has been spectacular!

Today's Top Ten will focus on some of the top 10 things I like about our new location and being downtown. This post was inspired by my dad, so you can think him that I'm actually inspired to write... tonight, I was driving in his truck with him, and he asked me what my favorite part was about being downtown. And I thought, now wouldn't that be a great Top Ten.

Also, I should add... I will soon post pictures. Kristi and I are waiting until the office is completely done before we go public with it so that we can unveil the entire process in its entirety.

Top 10 Favorites... What would be your favorite thing about being downtown? Vote for your favorite!

1. Surrounding Businesses
It has been so fun getting to know the people in some of the surrounding businesses. We're right next to a bridal store, and the people in there are great! There is a gift shop/makeup seller next to us, and they are also very friendly faces. I'm excited to meet some of the others around us. New neighbors!!

2. The People
Kristi and I work facing 2 open windows (which will soon be covered), but it is very easy to people-watch. We can see people walk by and cars drive by at any time of the day. Every once in awhile, I'll hear a car jamming out to really loud music... or a huge semi will drive by and it feels like an earthquake is in progress. Anyway, it's fun to be in a place where there's a buzz, and at any given time, a friendly face could show up and inquire within!

3. Accessibility to Coffee
I am essentially right in the middle of 2 of my favorite coffee joints in Morton. So there's a chance that my addiction to coffee will not be cured for quite some time. The problem is, I was already a "regular" at these places... so now they really know me. I walk in, and they don't even have to ask me for my order. If I go early enough in the morning, I see the 65+ older mens' crowd, and I get in on the talk of the town.

4. Accessibility to Ice Cream
You know, DQ is just right across the street. Except today I learned that they are closed. Don't know how I missed that one! I thought they usually stayed open until November, but I sadly found out that are shut down for the season. Nonetheless, I know we will pay them many visits when they reappear in the Spring!

5. "Going" to Work
Before, our office was located in... my basement. So now, I actually get to go out my front door in the morning, get in my car, and drive the 5 blocks to work. It may sound silly, but there is something about having a place to be that gives you purpose. Before, I could go to work in pajamas with my cereal bowl in my hand. Now, I actually have to leave. This also helps me to separate work life from my personal life, which has been really great!

6. Picking out Paint Colors
They say that having a business partner is like being in a marriage without the benefits, and let me tell you... there may be some truth to that. =) Kristi and I have made so many decisions regarding moving this business that I almost feel like we are married. Picking out paint colors was interesting. We were actually inspired by one of the unique t-shirts that my mom sells, which will definitely be posted in the office photos when they go up online. Anyway, the color palette was derived from that shirt, and while we definitely changed our mind a few times, we are both satisfied with the end result!

7. Addition of Birds & Fish
IA now has a new look... including some cute little birds that are incorporated on our wall art. Additionally, there are 2 new Beta fish to keep us company during the day. The Betas still need names, and perhaps our hesitation to name them is due to their inactivity. We've both noted how "boring" they are. Yet the do add something extra to our meeting table.

8. Land Line
I think that Kristi and I will both cut our cell phone minutes in half. We now have a land line with a business number!

9. Walk-in Entertainment
I'm usually not a huge fan of sales people, but the other day, a guy walked in wearing a Santa hat. He handed us both a flyer for "singing telegrams" and "greetings in the grass." He wouldn't agree to giving us a demo, but we did talk about doing a trade! Anyone always wanted a bouquet of balloons and someone to sing you a song for your birthday?

10. Downtown Community Involvement
Our location will help us to be more exposed. There are a lot of fun events that go on downtown, including the upcoming Holidazzle. Kristi and I are excited to get involved with the community and help plan some of the events, and make ourselves known around town as the creative team.

Love you all! Stay posted for pictures!

T

Fall is officially here.

I can't believe it, but somewhere in between Pumpkin Festival activities and moving into our new office, the weather has cooled down. This past week hasn't done much for me... gray, cloudy skies with cold rain isn't my style... BUT, I will say, I am thankful that the weather up until that point has been beautiful. And I don't doubt that we have some nice, crisp, Fall-like days ahead.

The past couple of weeks have brought about a leap of faith and creative progress! Some of you may know that Kristi and I had been looking to get a storefront for our creative business. We weren't necessarily actively searching, but if we saw a "For Rent" sign, we would make the call. Over the past couple of months, we have been in and out of a lot of different spaces and place in Morton. A couple of weeks ago, we went through a place right in the center of downtown Morton. Great location-- and while the place definitely needed some work, we really saw a vision. We went for it...

And now two weeks later, we're still holding paint brushes. But we've made a lot of great process, and we're excited to open the doors to our new office relatively soon! Family has really been awesome in helping us out, and it's times like these that I realize I sometimes take for granted how talented and supportive my family is!

It's neat to look back even a year ago at this time... I was just wrapping up my last days at the publishing company that I had been working for, unsure about where this business would go. I worked at it full-time for a few months alone, and was soon joined by Kristi... but even to do that, there were no guarantees. Now it's October 09 and we have our very own place! I am excited to see what plans God has in store for this business in the future, and I truly hope we can make a difference for His Kingdom in our work!!!

Enjoy the picture... I often look at my nieces at this age and am slightly envious of their childlike freedom. I remember the days when I could run barefoot through open fields, laughing and screaming... and then suddenly, I'm all grown up and I wonder where the time went. =)


Love you all!

T

I don't want to fall back into the "posting once a month" habit... so here are my efforts at denying that possibility. Today, I'm posting a few fun images that will give you a little "behind-the-scenes" taste of what it is Kristi and I do.

Whenever we go on shoots, there are 2 of us. We love the teamwork and the mixture of different perspectives, angles, and creativity. However, often one of us is testing lighting or experimenting while the other sets up a shot. This results in pictures that we have of each other. We look through our "photographer gallery" every once in awhile and laugh at some of them...

And one thing we have always noticed is that we end up in entirely strange positions! When we are shooting photography, often the last thing on our mind is what we are doing to get the shot... we just do whatever we can to get it. More than once, I have found myself lying on the ground in the strangest ways possible, or crouched down in a way I didn't even know I could pull off.

Take a look at the following gallery and enjoy some of the many images we have had over the course of the past year on some of our shoots!

Love you all!

T

August has come and gone... and my blog has remained the same.

This is what happens when you get busy. And not only busy, but when you return to your blog every few days and see the same post still siting on the shelf, and you allow yourself to think, "Oh well. It's been this way for awhile... why sweat it? Plus, too busy today." Then I got used to that thought, and here I am a month later. However, just recently started hearing from some of my readers. Then I knew it had been awhile. So for the sake of my readers and also for the sake of "August," in which none of it was shared with the blogging world, here I go.

Work. The thing about August is that Imagine Artists did not shoot one wedding. So it's not like we were tied up every other weekend staring at a girl dressed in white and her circle of colorful brides maids. Kristi and I had a summer that was thick with that scene, and although we had the month off, August was a HUGE game of "catch-up." I can't tell you how many images we had to edit a few weeks ago... no doubt thousands... and it seemed like every couple of days, we just added another small photo session on top of it. So a lot of August consisted of making priority lists to see what we needed to edit next, running to a senior session, or visiting rent-able spaces downtown as we are in the process of finding the perfect place for an office.

It's been really fun. I am reminded-- and so thankful to God-- each and everyday that I'm in a job where I love every minute of it. I feel like I get to express myself creatively every day, and the nice thing about being an artist is that ultimately, I get to call the shots. Well, in a sense. There is a lot of wriggle room there, while still keeping into consideration that our business is a partnership. And since my business partner and I have very little in common (that's no lie!), it's been a really cool challenge working together and figuring out how to run a business with two very different minds. Yet I think this concept enhances us. It gives us dynamics. If we both had the same strengths and weaknesses, I think that would be a disaster. We'd both either always be late, or always be early. We'd both either want to take control, or both want to hang back. We'd both either edit in crazy textures and bright tones, or we'd both be articulate and classy. So we have learned along the way to take our differences and make them a strength instead of a liability.

Enough on business! One other thing I will add... we've been blessed to stay consistently busy and just recently sent out our Christmas Card Special mailer, so will expect to pick up in that area quite soon!

I've really been encouraged lately by God and His faithfulness. He has proven Himself over and over. Now, it's nothing new that my memory is terrible, so one activity that I am glad I do enjoy is to write. I often journal my thoughts and prayers, and in going back, it's amazing to see how God works. I would actually encourage anyone to do this. Sometimes we forget about even the small things that God carries us through. Or we go through something big, and in looking back, if we have a record of everything along the way, we see how God's hand worked in a certain situation.

I recently started a book called "Crazy Love" and while I have not gotten too far yet, I love the theme. It's opening pages really puts me in my place... which is to illustrate how magnificent and Almighty God is. Sometimes I believe that we take the world around us for granted. Do I stop and think about the complexity of the way my body works so that I can take my next breath, or how I'm standing on a globe that is rotating around a giant ball of fire that supplies light and life on Earth, or that if I zoomed out several light years away into outer space, Earth is merely a speck in the Milky Way Galaxy in which we reside, which is really just one of other galaxies out there? Not thoughts that I generally think about on a daily basis... but then, why not? Why am I not daily awed by God? Ultimately, I know that any genuine believer in Christ gets to this spot, but I guess my point is that I wish in my own life, it could be more of a daily attitude.

So there's a snap shot... I could talk about so much more, but have a grocery list of "work items" to accomplish this afternoon and I had an unexpected morning (of sleeping.) So, I will move on for now, and will return sooner than 1 month from now this time!!!

Thanks for reading... love you all!

T

A short video on children. These are among my favorite subjects to capture. I love how candid and uninhibited little tykes are before the camera. Enjoy!

This is what I learned yesterday.

Just because you plan a day at the lake, it doesn't mean it will be sunny.
Some girls and I had an excellent day planned at a lake. Kristi and I planned to take the day off of work, even though we had a lot to do. We have 2 weddings this weekend so we decided since we're working the weekend, this was going to be our "day off." However, we woke up to clouds. And rain. And COLD! In JULY!

Just because I used to rock at Mario Kart, it doesn't mean I'm good anymore.
Back when I was younger, I played N64 with my brother and brother-in-laws all of the time. And I loved it, because it was the one game I played with them in which I was actually competition. Last night I was at my sister's and my 8-year-old nephew begged me to play Mario Kart on the Wii with him. So I did. And I placed 12th twice in a row. But then we played a round called "Coconut Mall" and I got first place, and my ego was restored. I'll tell you... they have sure advanced in Nintendo since I was 8. I used to spend my days with Bubble Bobble, Pacman, Duck Hunt, and Mario 3, and now before I even begin a game I'm instrcuted to "create" a virtual version of myself, pick out my outfit, purchase a car, and create a profile. It's crazy!

Just because there is free food, it doesn't mean I'll eat it.
WHAT?! I know, right. Hard to believe. I went to a Chiefs game last night and it was "Free Hot Dog" night. But I didn't eat one, even though I love hot dogs. This could have something to do with the fact that I had just finished a great dinner that included Monkey bread and Snickers cheese cake, so I was a little full. Don't worry, I still got popcorn.

Just becasue it's July, it doesn't mean it's going to be warm.
Last night we sat outside with jackets on. It was 65 degrees and cold. Felt like September. I can't wait for Fall, maybe then it will be warm.

Love you all!

T

Lately, I've been thinking.

The Lord began working in my heart at the beginning of last week. I had the thought, "Is my Faith evident to others? Am I a Christ-like witness? Can people look at me and know what I am about? Who have I touched lately?"

Not that it's all about me. Certainly not. My worry is that my "self" is getting in the way of being real about Christ to others.

Wednesday night was Family Worship in Morton. One of our Morton ministers had the message about the "4 Cs" ... Call, Conviction, Confession, Conversion. The minister who followed up said, "If you are a believer and are wondering what you are "called" to do, don't sit around and wait for a thunder bolt to strike in order to know whether you should witness or not. As a believer, your call IS to witness." As Christ-followers, our jobs are not to be stagnant and wonder, "Hmmm... I wonder if I should have said something there?"

It's not like we need to shove the salvation message down everyone's throat, but it's an attitude of being aware. Taking opportunities as they come. Establishing relationships. Showing people who you are... so when the time does come to "say something," the groundwork is laid. And sometimes it will be more spontaneous. The goal is to be clothed with the Armor of God, have a Christ-like attitude, and "live" the true joy that comes forth. Sometimes it's the nonverbal witness that speaks louder than any words can. We should appear "different." A "different" that stirs others up and makes them wonder, "Where is their source of Hope coming from? What is the joy I see in their face? How did they get through that tough time in such a way?"

Sometimes, I realize that my perspective is so off. I miss opportunities because I think, "But Lord, shouldn't I have some sort of amazing spiritual experience here?" Not necessarily. Often God wants you to work exactly where He has you... such as, the co-worker you've sat by for 3 years, or the brother who has a hardened heart and it's easier to say nothing at all, or the friend who is the nicest person in the world but lives a dysfunctional lifestyle. You don't need a random stranger off the street or a new face at church to "witness." Often the most obvious candidates are just a close friend or family member away. And sometimes they ARE in the form of a new face or random stranger. But let's not forget those who surround us!

What amazes me, as I look at this concept, is that we are talking about souls. Human, living souls. Anyone who believes... are you not filled with so much hope and joy that you will one day get to spend eternity in Heaven? Imagine not having that inside of you. Imagine living a life of sin, emptiness, and despair. Imagine filling your life with activities in order to distract your numb mind and hardened heart so you don't have to face the Truth of the matter which is the consequence of a burning Hell to anyone who does not believe. It's not just a, "Well, I said something but I don't think she received me well. Oh well," type of thing. It's a person's very life! It's a big deal.

While I say that, let me make it clear that we, as humans, do nothing to "save" people. It's totally Christ. We are vessels. We are spreaders of His love. We are children of God. We can show true joy. But we do nothing next to Christ but let Him work through us. It's His death on the cross that saves us all from eternal despair, and it is that blood that covers every person.

We may definitely be used in the process, but really, it's not about us at all. We are just being used by Someone so much greater in order to glorify the King.

On Thursday night I went to a praise singing. There was a talk afterwards that also touched my heart, containing the same theme as the night before: Christ's work to save others and what are we doing to witness? How have we suffered for Christ?

I thought of my own life. The majority of my work is with a business partner who is an amazing Christian friend. While we can be a spiritual encouragement to one another, it's not as if I have to worry about her soul. We do have customers, and we have discussed that one of our goals is to be a Light to those who are unbelievers. Beyond that, though, it's not like I'm daily surrounded by massive amounts of unbelievers who desperately need the Word.

That sounds like an excuse.

And it is. No matter what, there are always people in my life who need Christ. I don't have to go far to find them. As I was saying before... often, they are closer than I would like to realize. After so many tries, witnessing should not become "old news" with a certain person. With that being said, we are not called to be annoying, pestering Christians but as loving. Our attitude of joy and love towards someone should not change just because he/she refuses to listen. Furthermore, sometimes we may face opposition or actual "suffering" for the cause of Christ. Fortunately for most of us, in this day and age and our current culture, this does not mean being stoned, persecuted, or thrown in jail. However, sometimes it DOES mean being put down. Feeling rejected. Being made fun of. Standing alone. Walking away when everyone else stays. Being the odd man out. Showing a different action instead of going with the crowd.

Are we ashamed of Christ? Do we let others and what they think of us become more important than Christ in us? Do we hide Him away in order to blend in or "stay cool" at the very cost of being a witness of His Love and sharing His Story?

It happens in my own life a lot more than I care to admit.

I'll end with a song that we sang on Thursday night. The lyrics really stood out to me.

The Stand

You stood before creation
Eternity within Your hand

You spoke the earth into motion
My soul now to stand

You stood before my failure
Carried the Cross for my shame
My sin weighed upon Your shoulders
My soul now to stand

So what can I say
What can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

So I'll walk upon salvation
Your Spirit alive in me
This life to declare Your promise
My soul now to stand

So what can I say
What can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

So I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all

So I’ll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

Love you all!

T