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.