Well, I'm sitting here in the office on a late Sunday night. There are twinkle lights in our window. There's an empty popcorn bowl on the ground beside me. There's music playing from my speakers thanks to itunes. And I just finished up with about 2 hours of work on my church website job... still have many hours to go!

Kristi and I were busy at the end of last week getting the shop ready for Holidazzle! My mom did an awesome job of helping spruce up the front end of our place with her fun holiday items. We hung Christmas lights, painted snow on the windows, and lined up a bunch of yummy treats to serve on Friday night and Saturday. Friday night was a great turnout! We had a ton of people come through... so many, at times, that it was hard to move!! I think it was a great way for people to see our place and find out what we are.

Saturday and Sunday evening of this weekend was the Benefit Dinner. I sang in it this year. It's always a blessing! It's so neat to see how the songs come together, and it's really powerful to stand up on both of those nights and sing praises to the Lord in such a big choir. It sounds so cool! However, I will be thankful to have 1-2 nights now available in my week again, especially since my life only keeps getting busier!

Here are a few random highlights from my weekend:

1. Between Holidazzle, the Benefit Dinner, and church, I wore a total of 5 formal outfits. The wardrobe forecast for this next weeks looks like "casual, cute, and comfy."

2. I went bowling and scored a 63. I'm really good at bowling.

3. On Saturday night I ate 3 desserts. Creme brulee with berries. A banana split. Cookies 'n Cream shake from Steak 'n Shake. Tonight I ate 1 dessert. Peanut Butter Pie from One World.

4. I played a game where everyone picks a packet of sugar to put in their mouth, except that one of the packets has salt instead of sugar. Then, based off of everyone's facial expressions and reactions, you have to guess who has the salt in their mouth.

I picked the packet with the salt. My tongue almost burned off.

5. Frank Sinatra: A Jolly Christmas (purse) officially made his debut at the beginning of November and he's been accompanying me most everywhere!

Have a lovely day! Love you all!

T

When I was at the conference this past weekend, my heart was moved to support a beautiful little girl from Honduras through Compassion. One of the speakers at the conference put it well: "We are often more concerned about our standard of living than we are about others living." He suggested that instead of buying the pumpkin spice latte that we think we need, just put a lot of sugar in some coffee. =)

This spoke directly to me, as I often treat myself with the luxuries of life. A specialty coffee drink, a big dessert, a new pair of shoes that are too fun to pass up. Do I need this stuff? No. But does it deliver some sort of temporary satisfaction? Absolutely. So much so that after awhile, I almost feel entitled to these things.

So, I made a deal that I would cut back my purchase of coffee drinks to one a week. To some of you, that still may seem like a lot... but you don't understand... my office is located in the center of 2 of my favorite coffee shops in Morton. Furthermore, I have a mild addiction to Starbucks. But I also have a coffee maker at home... and it works just fine. So if I can save even $5 a week on coffee, that money can now go to help this little girl in a country where just having 2 meals a day is a luxury.

The problem is, I told this all to Kristi. Yesterday, I was craving yogurt + berries from Eli's. But then, I also wanted a coffee drink to go with it.

"Taryn, it's only Tuesday," Kristi pointed out. "Are you going to be able to make it the rest of the week if this is the one you get?"

"Absolutely," I said. "No problem."

I was wrong. Today, we had a photo shoot in Peoria so swung by Panera on the way home for lunch. What did I want? Their mocha coffee drink. It's glorious. It really is. But thanks to Kristi's accountability, I said no.

And you know what? It was sad at lunch time, but as I sit here and type, it's not like I'm still in turmoil. It's often hard to deny yourself in the moment, but after the fact, it's always worth it. Whether it's a coffee drink or a serious sin you're denying, in the end, you've saved money, heartache, and guilt.

All afternoon and evening, Kristi and I jazzed up Imagine Artists with the help of both of our moms. There are now twinkle lights dangling from the windows, snow lining the edges, ornament-struck topiaries, and many sparkly gifts and items that will be on sale through the holiday season. It really all came together quite well, and I'm super-excited for the Holidazzle event this weekend! Stop on by and see us at our open house... we will have wonderful treats, specials, and gifts for sale!

Well... I should wrap it up. Just wanted to write a little, as I plan on holding up my end of the deal w/the blogging. I'll write if you read. I'll write even if you don't... because I love it. =)

Love you all!

T

So, I've decided to try to update more regularly by giving myself an easy blogging task. My job is to post something every day or so about the day, most likely concerning office life. Since that seems to be consuming a large portion of my time right now, that's probably what I'll write about.

However, I'll note that I just returned from an awesome weekend in Dallas, Texas! I road tripped down there with an SUV fulled of 6 others. We left Friday morning at 4am, arrived in TX about 4:30 pm, and attended the 1st session of the conference that night at 7. We heard Kay Warren & Francis Chan-- excellent speakers with great messages! God was surely present.

We stayed at my former room mates' relatives' house, and they were gracious enough to keep up on short notice! It was wonderful!! It seems as though everyone is so welcoming and warm down south. Saturday's conference started at 9am. The first speaker was Matt Chandler- he was excellent- and then we had 2 "connection sessions" + lunch with a ministry review of choice. I chose Prison Fellowship, as I've been getting actively involved with prison ministry at my home church. My connection sessions were also both good; one was about how to use art in the community, and the other was question-based discipleship. The last speaker of the day was Donald Miller.

The group walked around downtown for awhile, grabbed some supper, and then headed back about 7pm. Somehow, I ended up staying up all night long. I got myself into multiple AWESOME conversations; and at about 3am, I finished off the road trip as co-pilot for the 3-7:30 am shift. This was after sufficient snacks (popcorn, donuts, a banana, apple, etc.) We arrived home in the morning and topped it all off with blueberry pancakes.

I then did a mad dash for Morton and attended first service (a bit tardy, but I did make it) and stayed over the noon hour to serve as computer/website support, helping people in our church get signed up for the "Barnabas Group," a great service split into 8 groups to serve as help and outreach.

I went home after this and crashed for about 3 hours... then woke up to go out to dinner w/my family for my sister's birthday. Enjoyed steak and ice cream, went back home and slept for an hour in my cozy bed, and then woke up at 9:30 pm to go to my 3rd shift job.

Today is Monday, and it was a busy one in the office. We have a lot to get done this week, including preparation for Holidazzble this weekend!!! We will be hosting our open house this coming Friday/Saturday, so stop by if you're in the neighborhood! It's going to be a great time. We'll have snacks, handouts, and a raffle.

Tonight was "Girl's Night Out" for my sister, Tonya (we love to celebrate birthdays for about a week in my family!!!) I then came back to the office at about 9:30 to do some website work for my church web support job, 1 of 3 jobs in which I am currently employed =)

So on top of my busy life, I'll just throw in the responsibility to keep this blog updated =) Actually, I think I should do it... writing is good for me, and it's actually really a relaxing technique when I make the time to do it. I really love it, so hopefully I can pull it off... hold me to it!

Love you all!

T

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