Store

Here are a couple shots of the Store. We are so excited about it. You would think you were in SoHo. We have had at least one sale per day! These shots are from the loft and the stairs that are in the store. Of course, one of our rugs is on the floor.

Well I did it I did the 1/2 Marathon in honor of Gary and in memory of the family members we have lost to cancer and yesterday we got the news that his cancer appears to be in remision. Yippie

Wish you were here!

The rolls will be ready soon

The Store is Open!

After a long night of set up, the Store at Grant Design Collaborative is now open for business! We opened around 1:00 this afternoon and had three customers shortly thereafter. We also had three sales! Granted, they were our friends, but it's a start. The Store looks smashing, and the team did an excellent job on all of the products and set up. Here's a photo of Jim at the sales desk with his amazing hydrangeas from our garden. Tomorrow night, we will be open for the first Fourth Friday block party in Canton, so we hope to sell a lot of crap!

It will be interesting to see where we go with the Store, so stay tuned for more updates!

By the way, if any of you want to order our rugs, we can now sell them through the Store at a discounted rate to friends and family. Look at them online here, and let us know what pattern and size you want: http://jaipurrugs.com/SearchEngine.aspx?category=Hand+Hooked. We can place the order with your credit card and ship right to your door! But hurry if you want one, the first order is selling out and backorders will not be available until September!

The new iPhone

Should I get one? I seem to be the last on earth that doesn't have one. Will my blackberry hate me? Maybe if we sell the house.

Oh Tonya, It's a Tragedy!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/23/songwriter.indicted/index.html

View From My Window

06/22/09 4:10 pm - 90 degrees, stormy, humid

Friday in Fargo

Friday night in Fargo is so exciting! Tonight we had scalloped potatoes with Theone and then painted all the trim in our office. Tomorrow Bob will finish the walls while I work a booth at the Fargo "Pride in the Park" festival. Bob is marching in the Pride Parade on Sunday to help carry the Microsoft Fargo banner. I'll see if I can get some photos.

Everyone Must Be Busy

What's going on?

Going Green

To support what's happening in Iran, WarroadRoots is going green. It's fascinating to follow it on twitter. History is being made. The revolution is being twittered!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Tyler Edward Arrington, our family's latest high school graduate.

I wish you success in anything and everything you choose to do with your life. But mostly, enjoy it all.

View from My Office Window

1:50 pm, June 15, 2009

Reality on the Other Side of the World

Fascinating - You can follow what is happening in Iran on twitter. It's pretty incredible. I heard the government shut down twitter on Sunday, but it appears to be back up now.

Here's another for you

Guess Who?

Can anyone guess who these cute kids are?

Slow Week

What a boring week. I'll post over the weekend. I wanted to find some music to start the weekend, but Youtube is so slow. Just like the week. I did get two new crowns today. Yippee.

What's going on in your life?

It's a Jungle

The drought is over. We have had a great deal of rain this spring. It's amazing to see the difference between watering and rain. There's nothing like water from mother nature. Here are a couple garden pics.



Back yard



I love the color of this day lilly.

Time to Start the Weekend

Fierce. As the kids say.

Hey you Seattle people

What do you think of the orange Space Needle?

How Lara Became A Principal

(by Rick - Lara would never write something this self-congratulatory, it's not her way.)

Last night, the Lucia Mar School District voted 5-0 to approve the Superintendent's recommendations for public employee appointments. Included in that slate was for Lara Storm to be the next principal of Fairgrove Elementary School in Grover Beach, California, where she has taught sixth grade for the last 5 years.

The board room was packed with teachers and other district employees. A few were there to hear who the new principals and vice principals would be, but most were there to support the teachers of the year that each site had selected, as well as the district wide teacher of the year. It was standing room only.

Lara's appointment was part of the first agenda item, but was mentioned second in a string of about 5 appointments. The Superintendent gave a brief introduction of each appointment and concluded with his statement that excellent leadership was bolstered in the district with these appointments. As he went through the appointments, the applause varied from polite, to enthusiastic. But when Lara's name was revealed as the Principal of Fairgrove, the crowd cheered, many people that were seated stood up, and the Superintendent and at least one board member remarked about how enthusiastic the applause and cheering was.

People were cheering because in Lara's 5 years in this district she has established her reputation as an excellent teacher, an innovator, and a talented instructional leader. Plus, just about everyone loves her. But at least some of the excitement was the sheer surprise of this appointment. Almost no one in the room saw it coming.

Lara interviewed for this position the Thursday before Memorial day weekend, and had a second round interview the next day, Friday. That afternoon, she was toldthat she was totally capable, but that they needed to get her some more experience first. Just as promised, the next Tuesday, Lara was scheduled for an interview for assistant principal at one of the middle schools in the district. By then, word had gotten around Fairgrove that Lara was not going to be their principal. Some people had ideas about who it would be, but no one "knew" for sure.

After the assistant principal interview, Lara was called back to discuss something with the at the district office. The next day at work, because she was still under a confidentiality order, she couldn't tell anyone that she had been nominated for the principal job, because it hadn't been approved by the board yet. Everyone, knowing Lara and her accomplishments, assumed that she was going to be nominated to be assistant principal at a middle school. One friend even brought her flowers and a card.

For the last year, I believed that that's exactly what would happen. I knew her reputation and hard work would carry her far. I wasn't ever sure that she would get the job she did. It's a testament to the people in the district that they recognized her record and put her in place. The people in charge there are focused in on delivering quantifiable results in student learning, and Lara has been accomplished in that her whole career. In the end, that's what matters. They recognized that. We both appreciate how rare that is and how special of an opportunity she has been given. I think everyone reading this knows she won't let them down.

As soon as the cheering subsided, the text messages started coming. People thought she had been keeping the secret for the last two weeks. Believe me, if she had been, she would have deserved an oscar. But she didn't.

She's going in with the staff behind her and with a good knowledge of all the workings at the school. I'm excited that she's going to have the opportunity to positively impact the learning of even more kids now.

I've been saying this for years, and I'll say it again: I wish I was half as good at my job as she is at hers. I'd have taken a multi-million dollar verdict from someone by now!

I'm Kinda Diggin'

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