Saintly City Cat Show

I'm going to a cat show this weekend with Mom and Grandma, to see all the best that the cat world has to offer. The show is part of the St. Paul Winter Carnival ("The Coolest Celebration on Earth!"). I was looking online to find some info about the show and I came across these pictures, which cannot go without being shared. This is the crowning of the winners of the cat show, done by the Winter Carnival royalty.




I sure am writing about cats a lot lately. :-)

Who knew cats liked bagels?

I was blissfully unaware of this fact until this morning. Apparently the new package of Sarah Lee bagels sitting on the counter was too tempting for Mocha. With what (judging by the shredded plastic) must have been a zeal for bagels unmatched by any human, he tore open the package with his teeth, took out a bagel, and ate part of it while strewing bits of bagel all over the living room. He also gnawed on a second bagel, but left the rest in the package in case someone else wanted the other half.

Jason was the unfortunate soul to discover the mess this morning. Oh, the wonder of cats.

In other news, it was my birthday this weekend!! My wonderful husband planned out the whole day, which included excellent homemade pizza and Pepsi for lunch, and then a surprise trip to the spa for me! I had a full-body massage, seaweed facial, and manicure. SOOOOO nice. My favorite was the facial – having someone else put all kinds of nice-smelling creams, cleansers, etc. on your face, while massaging it, is just GREAT. We snacked on some excellent cheese, and later went to dinner at Figlio in Uptown. It was a very nice birthday. We also had dinner with Mom this weekend, and got to relax/catch up on sleep, AND got four loads of laundry done! Can’t beat that!

A New Member of the Family....

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas....

This past Sunday we officially began our series of Christmas celebrations for the year. It was Jason’s first experience with a Niles family Christmas (and the uniqueness of them), so he was initiated during the “Human Christmas Tree” game. It was a great time for all.







On Sunday we ALSO purchased our Christmas gift to each other – a digital camera (you can probably guess that)! We expect our blog to be much more visually interesting from now on. I LOVE having a digital camera, because I don’t have to think twice about taking a picture and using up film, so I can afford to take more pictures like this:







And here’s a picture of an extremely handsome man, with our apartment in the background:




And our Christmas tree:




The holidays are crazy as usual, as we try to figure out who will be where on what day, and where WE will be, and what gifts to purchase, and how to work it all into our busy schedules. I’ve been struggling a little more than usual this year to not be overwhelmed with it all, and to remember the true purpose and meaning of Christmas. It seems like there is a constant threat (especially during the holidays, but also during the rest of the year) of being engulfed by the daily To Do lists, and getting carried away with the “whats” instead of focusing on the “whos.” Luckily I was able to just RELAX at our first (of 7 or 8) Christmas celebrations and spend time with family, and I hope that I can continue to focus on the people around me, and the Savior who was born for me, rather than how many Christmas cards are left to be sent out (they’re on their way, I promise!).

And if things ever get too out of control around here, I will just buy gift cards for everyone and call it a day.

Merry Christmas!

Just when we move north....

OK, I know that actually the snow is really bad in areas, and people don't have power, etc. But to those of you who are just enjoying a snow day at home, I am a bit jealous. We have nothing but dry, brown dirt up here. It's December - we need snow!

I start my new job on Monday!!

Wahoo!

Dear friends and family,

The 2006 Daum Job Search has officially ended! The day before Thanksgiving I received - and accepted - a job offer! It is with a company that works with book publishers to design, edit, and create educational children's books. The company is really small - it will be 4 people including myself - and I will be the production artist/designer for the company. I will probably start off doing lots of layout stuff for the books, but as I am at the company longer it will progress into more creative work, and potentially some illustration. I am really excited about this opportunity! Since it's such a small place, I will have lots of input, and be able to have a great deal of variety in my work, which I like. The location is great, too - it's only 15-20 minutes away from our apartment. I'm not sure what day I start yet - I'll find that out this week.

The amazing thing about this job is that I applied for it way back in July, and the owner of the company put it on hold until now, and contacted me once it became available again. The right job has been there all along, things just had to fall into place for me to get it! Jason and I are so excited about how blessed we have been throughout the move/job search/everything! God has provided for us in every way, with perfect timing. Thank you to everyone who has prayed, hoped, asked, or otherwise supported both of us in our job search!

Happy Halloween!

Aren't they adorable???

Rubber band ball vs. the Sun

I, Jason, can't list the amount of things that have been going through my head in the last couple of weeks. Today is Wednesday, and we have been here over a week now. I have been working at INNOVA (innovamarketing.com) for about two weeks total, and just now had time to put stuff in my desk drawer. We are trying to unpack a few more boxes, settle our finances with a new bank, hang stuff on our walls, get involved in a new church and Bible study, learn our way around the area, and celebrate our one year anniversary in the middle of it all.

Work has been fast paced for me. And to reference the title of this post, it has been centered around one very large rubber band ball. I can't tell you the exact weight of it right now (we're holding that secret info for the press and the world records people), but I can say that it is over one and a half tons. Very large ball...lots of rubber bands. It is the center of a marketing strategy we're doing for a large office supplies store in Chicago. Anyway, I'm starting to feel the weight of this ball as the deadline for the event draws nearer. (Other details about work: I share an office with a guy my age...we get along great, small company...nice people, I don't have to drive far or get on the freeway, my office is green...err...avacado, I do everything creative and some things that are not, um...that's it.)

With everything going on I am starting the long, arduous, head-on fight with a cold. And, for all of you moms reading this, just know that I am doing everything humanly possible to fight it...including extra sleep. : )

Have a great day!

A New Year

Yesterday was our first anniversary! I can't believe it's been a whole year already - it seems like just a few months ago I was busily sending out wedding invitations. But here it is, fall again, in Minnesota again, yet so much different than last year. It's exciting to be starting our second year together in a new place, with new things to do, new job(s), new friends to be made. It's also very overwhelming - so much change in so little time. I knew that marrying Jason would be one of the biggest adventures of my life, and so far it has been! I am excited to see what this year holds for us.

Our anniversary weekend was so fun! On Friday night we saw "Little Miss Sunshine" (GOOD movie). On Saturday we went up to Northwestern College for a Jars of Clay concert featuring MATT WERTZ! It was great, Matt was great, Jars was great, I want all their CDs (especially Matt's). Then on Sunday evening we had dinner at W.A. Frost in St. Paul, a beautiful, fancy, REALLY good restaurant. I had squash ravioli, which sounds weird, but was awesome. It was fun to have a chance (and an excuse) to live it up in the city for the weekend.

Our apartment is getting more settled looking. I hope to hang up some pictures tonight, and make it look a little more homey. There are still some boxes around, but not for long! I am still searching for a job... blehhhh..... I DO have some freelance stuff going, which is very nice, and I may take some kind of random part-time job just to pass the time (and make a little money).

We miss all of you in Missouri (and elsewhere)!

We're Here!

Surreal... I am currently sitting in a Caribou Coffee (the Minnesota version of Starbuck's, only better) on my Mac, sipping a mocha. It is snowing outside. And it feels so good! The apartment is still in shambles, Jason and I are exhausted, and there's a lot to do, but it will get done and things are just GOOD. We love our apartment - it's such a joy to live in a place that looks nice and new, and that cleans up to a satisfactory shine, and that doesn't have poisonous spiders (they can't survive the winters up here). And granted, my husband may not look so favorably on the fact that it's snowing on October 18th, but a nice snow is one of my most favorite things.

We are so blessed.

If you didn't get an e-mail with our new address, let me know and I'll send it to you. Phone number coming soon. Oh, and just so your know, we have 2 bedrooms, so you should come visit - chances are we can play in the snow!

Love,
Becky

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

From Meadville...to Minneapolis

We're Moving!!

Jason has accepted the job in Eden Prairie, we have put in our notice at work, and we are looking for a place to live! Everything is happening REALLY fast, and we'll be in MN before the end of the month! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us - it is amazing how things are working out and falling into place. I just hope we can find an apartment this weekend!

The Speed of Life

Isn't it funny how no matter how many times you think about, hash over, discuss, and overanalyze a potential event in your mind, you are still overwhelmed and unprepared for the reality of it? I am so excited right now, but also kind of scared about making a HUGE decision. We may be moving within the next few weeks!

Jason has been offered a job with INNOVA Marketing, an event marketing firm in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. We are considering accepting it - we have to let them know by Wednesday. There are lots of things that have fallen into place that seem to be saying this is the right time and place for us. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Interviews!

I wanted to let you all know of a recent development for the Daums -
we are driving up to Minnesota tonight, and we both have job
interviews tomorrow! This all kind of worked out over the last few
hours, and it's a little bit stressful, because we both just got back
into town late last night (Jason was in Chicago, I was in Ohio). It
will be a really quick trip - we are leaving after work tonight, then
coming back after our interviews tomorrow, because Jason leaves on
another trip on Saturday night. We would really appreciate your
prayers for our safety as we travel, and for the job interviews. Also
for our health, as we are both tired from travelling, and I am sick.

Here's the info:

My interview is with a company in Minnetonka called Marketing
Architects. They do lots of radio advertising and promotion. It is at
10:30 am.

Jason's interview is with INNOVA Marketing, an event marketing firm.
This will be his second interview (the first one was by phone), and
it's between him and one other candidate! It is at 1:00 pm.

We are really excited for these opportunities, and that it worked out
for us to travel up to MN at the same time. We will keep you posted on
what happens! Thanks for your support!

I hate spiders!

This - a venomous brown recluse spider - is what I found in our bedroom last night. I had to Google "brown recluse" to figure out that's what it was - we don't have spiders like that up north! It was on the floor, frozen like a deer in the headlights. As I swooped down upon it to trap it with a glass, it made a break for my husband's tennis shoe. Luckily I caught it in time - I may have saved his life! It is still under the glass at home, which I taped to the floor for good measure. When Jason (the one officially in charge of disposing of spiders, a position he grudgingly acquired due to lack of competition for the job) gets home, I'm sure the spider will meet a swift death.

Movin' On Up

Wahoo, I have a new cubicle! Correction - I HAVE a cubicle now! The Art Department brought in two new guys today, and they need to be next to each other for training, SOOOOO I got upgraded from "lame semi-cubicle desk thing for the new guy" to "actual 3-walled cubicle." I no longer have to sit in the middle of a different department, listening to every single conversation that all the women around me have (about moles, Oprah, and colonoscopies, among other things). I no longer have to answer random questions from people about whatever is on my monitor at the time, because anyone passing by can see my entire work area. I have my own space, and it is awesome. Although kind of empty - I need some decorations.

Clarification: I am still in the Art Department (the Creative Services promotion is looming, but moving VERY slowly), just in a better spot. Hopefully I will soon be moving again, into an even better cubicle in Creative Services.

Nightly Conundrum

I've almost been pushed/inspired to write a song titled "What Are We Going To Do Tonight?". I presume it would be a big hit on KZBK 96.9 FM (local pop station) as I imagine everyone else in the area asking themselves and loved ones the same question on a nightly basis.

It happens every night. Well, maybe I'm exagerating a little, but because of the frequency of the problem that seems to arise often but have few answers I feel like it is a nightly quest for adventure, for real entertainment that we are on. Being creatives we don't shy away from the brainstorming sessions or the challenge of rising above the blank canvas that is rural northern Missouri, but at the same time any artist knows the pain in staring at that great field of white and the comfort that coming back to an underpainting verses a white rectangle can have.

Simply put we would prefer an underpainting of entertainment to spring from. A start, a beginning, a list of ideas, a mall would be nice. (Let it be known that a list of ideas has been made for quick reference, but the very idea of having to reference it is depressing enough to put one out of the mood to do anything on it.) Yes, we are bored (I, Jason, imparticularly), but we are sharpening our brainstorming skills by devising weekend long entertainment. Let's take this coming weekend for example.

This evening, Friday evening, we will be dining out doors, by a small lake, over a fire with hotdogs and smores. We will then enjoy lakeside/fireside casual conversation and then progress to watching a movie rented from Blockbuster (major source of entertainment around here.) Saturday will consist of Chatauqua In The Park. This is an event held in the Chillicothe (Home of Sliced Bread) park and will include crafts, food, boothes, and live entertainment. This is probably the most exciting form of entertainment we have taken part in for weeks. After the many joys of Chataqua In The Park are...enjoyed we will move on to grocery shopping and an evening at home revelling in our good deals at Hy-Vee and WalMart concluding our Saturday thusly.

So, maybe I overreact. Maybe I am high maintenance, but there is nothing left at Blockbuster. There are no parks or lakes left to discover within a reasonable distance, and there are no more ways to describe the boredom of the last few days except by adding that there is no work to be done in the office, which only gives us more time to figure out what we're going to do once we get home.

BABIES!!!!!

Hi everyone! Here are some pictures of our new twin nephews, Cole and Tate. They are absolutely adorable! Thanks to Chelsea for the pictures!




The babies, only a day old!



The Johnson family: Natalie, Reid, Cole, and Tate.




Reid with his brand new sons.




Uncle Jason making faces at his nephew.




Me holding... I think that's Tate?




Cole and Tate, almost a week old!




Grandpa Daum and his new grandson.

What do you get when you take a yearbook, two babies, and Frodo and mix them all together?

How quickly time flies! After 3 weeks of time off at home, I am heading back to work at Walsworth tomorrow. I will still technically be part of the Art Department, but for the time being will do only Creative Services work. (Creative Services is the department Jason is in, the department I have wanted to be in, but there hasn't been a position open.) A position has opened up in Creative Services, and as soon as they get to all the formalities - paperwork, interviews, etc - I expect to be promoted to that department! The work I will be doing for now is kind of a temporary position, to 1) get me back to work sooner, and 2) help Creative Services get a jump on the 2007 covers. I'm excited to be moving forward in my career, and get into a more consistently creative position! We are still looking for jobs in the Twin Cities, and sticking to the plan to leave when one of us finds a position, but this will be a great change until that time comes. (And no more getting up at 5:30!)

Job searching has been slow, at times frustrating. We seem to be waiting on a lot of companies to look at our stuff. We know that the right job will come along at the right time, and are trusting that God knows exactly where we need to be, and when. But it's definitely not easy! We are so anxious and excited to get to the Cities and enjoy the art, culture, and expanded shopping opportunities (i.e. not just Walmart) that are there. Prayers for contentment during the rest of our time here would be great.

There is exciting stuff going on in our families lately! Natalie (Jason's sister) is having twins tomorrow! Yay! I am SOOO excited to be an aunt, and Jason is excited to be an uncle! We are both happy that we're here to be a part of that, and will enjoy playing with our new nephews! Emily (my sister) just left for college this past week, and seems to be enjoying it so far. Wahoo for college!

In other news, Lord of the Rings has overtaken our house. Jason is now the proud owner of the entire super-extended, multi-disc, hours-and-hours-and-hours of stuff to watch, all-the-Elijah-Wood-you-can-handle LOTR trilogy. Each of the three movies (which are extended from their 3-hour theater version into about 4 hours each) comes with several discs of "extras." He has made it through ALL of the 1st movie stuff, and we are currently digging into the second. I expect him to start dressing in a green cape and calling me his "Precious" any time now.

That's the latest on us, we'd love to hear from you!

-Becky

Life with the Daums

It stormed here late last night... the power at our house kept going on and off, on and off, over and over. It was driving us nuts because every time the power came back on our answering machine would talk to us. Finally Jason got up and unplugged the phone - and the power went out for good - so we got some sleep. Until it got so hot that he couldn't stand it, and he got up again to open all the windows and try to cool down the house. So it was kind of an interrupted night, but it will be worth it if the weather actually cools off for a while.

Jason is on his way to sunny Orange County for the largest yearbook workshop in the country! It's his last big trip for a while, thank goodness. And tomorrow I am on my way to Milwaukee to visit Theresa - 8 hours in the car, and then fun times in Wisconsin! Please pray for safety for both of us - I get nervous when he travels, and I know he gets nervous about me driving for that long.

In other news, I am officially laid off as of tomorrow! I am very ready for a break from work, and I'm excited to have time to relax, really dig into the job search, and get some things done around the house.

Also, we just decided 2 days ago that we will be going camping next weekend, and we are SOOOO excited about it! We have most of the camping stuff we need and have been itching to use it since we've been married - this is the first weekend we actually have time to do it. We will be going down to Lake of the Ozarks, and staying at the state park, where we can go spelunking, fishing, swimming, boating, horseback riding, hiking, and more! Here is a picture of our campsite!



Things are busy around here, but exciting!