At last, an update!

Well, the past few weeks have flown by! Two weekends ago we were in Missouri for Kali’s high school graduation. Last weekend we were in Milwaukee for Theresa’s college graduation. It was great to see both of them be recognized for all that they have accomplished – Kali was valedictorian of her class, and Theresa graduated magna cum laude!

This weekend, we are at home. Plans include spending time with our bipolar cat, eating an exciting Peruvian dinner prepared by Jason, laundry, relaxation, and going to a Saints game! I am teaching Sunday School this weekend, and Jason is playing in the worship band. It should be a great weekend!

Next weekend we will be in Des Moines for the wedding of Greg and Kelsey! Wahoo!!

I have great pictures from the past two weekends, which I hope to add soon (maybe over the weekend?)! In the meantime, enjoy your Memorial Day!

For some reason I have this song in my head… “A-camping we will go, a camping we will go…” Where did THAT come from? Anyways… later!

Balance

I seem to be struggling lately to have a sense of balance in my life. I feel like I’m always playing “catch-up,” always behind on something. Work has been so busy, and our lives outside of work have been equally busy, if not more so. Everything we’ve been doing lately has been great, and we enjoy what we are doing (teaching Sunday school, playing for worship, learning about finances, hanging out with friends and family, etc.), but we are starting to feel the drain of too many full evenings. How do you decide what to say no to? How do you do the things you want to do, and still leave time for the rest of life? How do you live in an intentional way, instead of being dragged around by your schedule? I don’t want to let things stay so crazy that I am rushing around all the time, neglecting the things that really matter, or not doing what I truly enjoy. The balance between free time and obligation escapes me. If anyone has some good ideas about living a balanced life, please let me know!

busy

Hello hello!

Sorry we have been so delinquent in updating lately - I have been SUPER busy at work! All is well here in MN, except that winter has crept back in. We are more than ready for spring at this point!

The main project keeping me busy at work lately is the design for a series of books about the "heroes" of NASCAR. It has been a true learning experience, since I knew absolutely nothing about it before. It has also been very entertaining! A few of my favorite finds:


(this guy is NOT one of the Heroes of NASCAR)


(I'm thinking of getting my nails done like this, to help me keep all my books straight!)


(Perfect for your NASCAR-themed wedding!)

Hopefully I will get a moment to breathe again soon, and then I promise a more substantial post!
b

Update

It has been a long week... we've been so busy! It's all been really good stuff (worship at church, shopping with Mom, small group, dinner with Heather) but I am feeling a little drained. Work has been going really well, but yesterday my boss had to take my lovely Mac Pro to the Apple Store for some major surgery. Turns out the motherboard is fried... they think. This is actually not as scary as it sounds (correct me if I'm wrong, tech people) - I'm gauging that by the fact that I have been told all my files will be returned to me. Whew! For the moment I am working on an iMac... and missing my giant theater-screen monitor. And hoping my computer is fixed before a big design deadline next week!

This weekend will be fun (and fast!), as we are travelling to MO! Highlights of the trip will include: seeing Greg in Des Moines, playing with our adorable (ahem - I mean handsome) nephews, seeing family, and being there to see Jason's dad receive a special award at the Smaller Churches Conference at CCCB. It should be a great time - I just hope we can get some sleep somewhere in there.

Have a good weekend!

B

Snow Day!!!

Wahoo!! Something that I thought could only happen in my wildest dreams has come true - a Snow Day from work! I am leaving at noon, and will be working from home the rest of the day. AND, there is a possibility of a Snow Day tomorrow as well. We're getting snow at the rate of an inch every hour right now! I hope I can go skiing this weekend!

I am a Native

Inspired by my husband...

Sung to the tune of "Welcome Christmas" from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

Minn-a-so-tans!
Minn-a-so-tans!

Welcome Snowfall,
Come and play!

Minn-a-so-tans!
Minn-a-so-tans!

Welcome Snowfall,
Come today!

Welcome, Welcome
Giant snowdrifts,

Giant snowdrifts,
Welcome, Welcome

Welcome, Welcome
Heavy Snowfall

Heavy Snowfall
Snowy days are in our grasp

Snowy days are in our grasp
So long as we have gloves and hats

So long as we have gloves and hats

Giant Snowdrifts!

Giant Snowdrifts!
Pretty Snowflakes!

Pretty Snowflakes!
Welcome, welcome Snowfall!

Welcome Snowfall!
Welcome, welcome Snowfall!

check this out...

well, I (jason) haven't been to nyc lately so i don't have any real interesting pics to share, but i did want to give you the link above. it will give you a more in-depth look at the life and times of jd-daum. on a more current events level, here are the things keeping me busy lately:

• work: mentos, officemax, heluva good, pepperidge farm, airheads, sargento, simply smart, hill's science diet, etc. (very busy at work lately)
• church: small group, planning wednesday night worship, singing sunday morning for worship, being involved in various youth activities
• reading: Psalms, "Tis" by Frank McCourt
• listening to: Johnny Lang, John Mayer, The Fray, Philips, Craig and Dean, Kutless
• illustrating: working on some imagery from the book of Genesis
• dreaming of warmer weather (although I can't complain too much this week)
• making friends at church (kind of exhausting right now but pushing through the front end of a friendship usually is)

that's the topline stuff.

life has been relatively uneventful the last couple of weeks and that is aok with me.

don't forget the link...

New York, New York

What a busy/fun/interesting/educational/well-fed weekend!
I am back from New York, and I really enjoyed my short trip out there. The majority of the weekend was taken up by the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) conference, held in downtown Manhattan. My main purpose in being there was to look for talented illustrators that would be interested in working with us. Of course, as a bonus I got to meet all kinds of interesting/famous people, and learn more about the children's book industry. A few highlights of the conference itself:

• The keynote speakers were amazing! The last keynote speaker was Katherine Paterson, author of "Bridge to Terabithia." She is an incredibly inspiring woman, and had so much wisdom. She told many stories from her life that have influenced her writing, and YES she did say the upcoming BTT movie is worth seeing. I felt very privileged to hear this 74-year-old Christian woman speak on life and writing! (Click here for a great interview with her about BTT) Here is a photo of Katherine during her presentation:



• Another speaker of note: Brian Selznick, an author/illustrator. This guy is basically changing the way children's books are made. His latest book, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," approaches the story somewhat like a movie - he uses many illustrations to help TELL the story, in addition to just showing it. Some very innovative stuff.

• On Sunday there was an awards presentation, including the Tomie dePaola Award. And who was there to give it out, but Tomie dePaola himself! I was very excited, because he is the first illustrator whose work I remember recognizing as a child. He's basically a legend in children's books. And after the awards, I met him and got my picture taken with him! It made my day!



In between all this conference stuff we took in a few of the sights of New York. It was so exciting - complete sensory overload! We walked down 7th Avenue and saw Times Square...





... and found out that "Legally Blonde" is being made into a musical! I know you've all been waiting for that!



We also walked down 5th Avenue, where all the fancy designer stores are, and Trump Tower. We went inside Tiffany's (I HIGHLY recommend going there if you're in NYC), and saw lots of rich people in fur coats, walking their little dogs wearing equally fancy coats. We also saw a guy pushing his two cats on top of a cart, but that's another story....



And there's no way I was going to go to Manhattan and stay 2 blocks away from MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) without going there, so we took a quick visit to the museum before leaving. Here's me in front of their cool sign:



I took lots of pictures of the art inside, but obviously I can't go posting those all over the internet, so here is ONE picture, a close up of a Jackson Pollock piece:



Other highlights of the trip included:
• eating the BEST cheescake I've ever had in my life on Friday night.
• eating EVEN BETTER cheescake on Saturday!
• havinng a weird cab driver who took us through Queens to get to the airport
• eating New York-style pizza. SO good!
• eating great steak (I told you I was well-fed!)

All in all, it was a great time! It was like being in a different world for the weekend. I loved visiting and want to go back (with Jason, so we can drool over all the art and design in the city), but I cannot imagine living there. The light from the sky doesn't reach the ground in some places because of the tall buildings - I couldn't handle that! But for a visit, it was awesome.

Happy Valentine's Day!

b

Big Apple

I'm off to New York for the weekend on business! Should be very exciting - shmoozing with famous illustrators and authors, seeing NYC for the first time, good food... more when I get back!

b

Minnesota = Arctic Tundra

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