Look what's coming to Kansas

Well, well, well. Our own music festival right here in Kansas. I am extremely proud of my husband and our company, Mammoth, for their hard work in this festival. They have been working on it for months already and it goes on sale this Saturday (you can purchase early bird tickets starting today here.)
Kanrocksas is a 2 day festival August 5 and 6th featuring Eminem on Friday night and Muse on Saturday night. This is yet our biggest music event we have produced thus far.
Soooo much work goes on for months producing something of this size and I can't wait to see the outcome in August. I also couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday that Friday.
Please check out the website: www.kanrocksas.com and visit the Facebook page and share with friends. We expect lots of people to travel to this event and are so excited to be a part of something this large that's going to bring revenue to our area.

Over It

Progress is slow. We came back from vacation with high expectations of having most of the remodeling wrapped up. Clearly, we had gotten too much sun & were a bit too optimistic. I am promised some visually pleasing results by Monday, however. In the meantime, we (sans hubby who is running a festival in Little Rock this weekend) are packed up for the weekend and headed to Nana's house. This nomadic life we are leading these days makes me realize how much home is truly my sanctuary. I can't wait to cook a meal again, to sit on my couch and even to vacuum my floors! That's a task I didn't think I would miss so soon. Enjoy your weekend and please do a little laying on your couch for me.

Last Day

On our last full day in paradise, I am remembering that all experiences & opportunities are temporary. The good and the bad. I am reminding myself to let go of expectations and breathe through struggles. I am thankful for the relaxation, the daily naps and the time to just slip away.

According to him, everything is edible

We've been spending a lot of time outdoors the past week and half. Escaping construction noise and dust galore from the home remodeling project. I could have sat outside all day in the sunshine with him...that is until he started eating the mulch.

Getting it together

So, I finally feel like I'm getting my new project underway. Morning Sparrow jewelry design now has a Facebook fan page. Please visit and "Like" if you can. You'll see the FB box to the right. After fighting with Facebook for about an hour I got it to show up on the blog. I feel like I'm an old, grandma when it comes to using Facebook...just never know how to do anything on there. Anyways, I'm just trying to get the word out because I've focused down on what I want to do with the profits...somewhat. All along, I knew I wanted to help fund something for a greater cause. With the profits from the jewelry sales I would like to donate towards micro finance loans for small business owners in under developed countries so that they can support their families and grow their own businesses. Additionally, I would like to zero in on Ethiopia and donate towards orphan care or child sponsorship as well. I haven't really chosen what organization to work with here, so any of you that have adopted from Ethiopia or have any knowledge about the orphan situation there, I would love to hear your suggestions if you know of any organizations you would recommend.
It feels good to have this sorted out. I've been trying to figure out what it is that I want to do now that I'm home with my son full time. Of course, I may always go back to work at any point, but it just feels weird for me to not be doing more than 1 job at a time. Although, so far...motherhood has been the most consuming, challenging and definitely rewarding.
Enjoy your weekend!

Opening up our home

This week starts the beginning of our home remodeling project. This wall is going to be knocked down, in result connecting our family room with our living room and on the other end of the wall, our dining room with our kitchen.

From the living room looking towards the dining room.

From the living room looking the other direction. The family room & front door are on the other side of this wall.

Other side of the wall...from the front door and family room looking towards the dining room. The kitchen & living room are on the other side of this wall.

This wall is my nemesis. It blocks all the light from reaching the back rooms of the house. It's just awkward and chops up the flow of the house. I can't wait for the end results. Our house is really dark so we are also adding a window in the dining room and some lights & sun tunnels throughout the house. I'm actually going to be able to see what I'm doing in the kitchen! Imagine that.

We made it through day one. I'm crossing each day off the calendar, because with a toddler in the mix it makes the mundane tasks of living, such as eating, a challenge. We have a finished basement to hang out in the evenings, but every day this week G and I need to be out of the house during the work day as the first week's construction is the loudest and messiest. This means packing up a car with a pack n' play, toys and a diaper bag and trekking off to visit family for the day.

I am excited to just get this project done and over with. We do a lot of entertaining at our house and I'm looking forward to the new OPEN space. I will post progress photos along the way. Here is what was done yesterday. The 2nd photo above was taken from about the same spot before the drywall was taken out.

From the kitchen looking towards the front door.