Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Coming soon....ALASKA

I am beside myself with excitement about our upcoming vacation. As usual, the week prior to a vacation is super stressful with trying to get ahead with work and also trying to run all of the obligatory errands that are related to the trip. I usually spend upwards of 60% of my work-week in meetings - but this week is packed with extra meetings. Additionally, the week I return is when our Board packet would have to go out - which means that I have to prep my materials way ahead of time in the little time that I have available outside of meetings. Oh well - just three more days.

So one of the other extremely cool things is that while we are in Seattle, Alex and I have hired a photographer to do a session with us. It will be a lot like an engagement session except that we aren't engaged. This is partially for us - because we hated our wedding pictures (go figure) - and also b/c we need some good professional work for use on Candidly Elegant's blog.

So we've hired April Greer - she's a really funky chick who shoots weddings in Seattle (and around the world). Her work is awesome and we are SO excited about working with her. You KNOW that I'll blog about our session when we get the pictures.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Bret's Family on Easter

Here are some new photos from Bret and Kim of Emily and Austin in their Easter best....what cuties!







Thursday, April 24, 2008

Save the Date - Miami Heart Gallery

I was DYING for Alex to shoot for this event, but they did all of the sessions in March when he was booked solid with weddings....dangit. This is will be a photography exhibit that is sponsored by my company The Children's Trust. It is designed to highlight children in the foster system who are available for adoption. It will focus on hard-to-adopt children - like those with medical conditions and older kids. I think it's amazing - all of the photographers donated their services.

It's going to be an awesome gallery - I encourage everyong living in Miami to attend.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Tax Returns

Alex and I are getting a tax return…mostly because we have an AWESOME accountant. No more TurboTax for this family. It got me thinking quite a bit, though. Under any other circumstance, if people were given a generous gift – our sense of graciousness for the gift just drives people to try to do something (anything) to show the giver of the gift that we appreciate it. Clearly, this doesn’t happen with the Internal Revenue Service. After you get your tax return, you don’t think to yourself, “Wow, maybe I’ll bake a cake or brownies for the staff at my local IRS office to thank them for this money.” We don’t do that because, ultimately, we feel that we deserved this money – the government owed it to us. So we don’t feel the desire to give back.

Making an effort to give back to the person who gave you something underserved, I think, is ultimately the external sign of whether a person feels that they got something that they did not deserve. You gave me something I didn’t deserve; I recognize that you didn’t have to do that – so I want to show you that I recognize what you did for me.

This is exactly how I think Christians should be. The Bible says that God hates ‘lukewarm’ Christians. I think it is because those Christians feel that they somehow ‘deserve’ salvation. Since they think they deserve it – they don’t have the intense and natural response to give back to God for His gift to us. When a person comes to the realization that, “I am a sinner, I don’t deserve salvation – but God, through Christ, is giving it to me anyway.” Then, that experience drives the need to do something, anything, to show your Savior that you recognize that you didn’t deserve this ultimate gift.

So when the Bible says that God hates lukewarm Christians…I think about it this way. If I gave you $200 because I knew you had lost $200 and needed to pay some bills. I didn’t have to, but let’s say I just happened to get $200 in my tax return and decide to give it to you. If I give it to you – no strings attached – and you say, “it’s about time, thanks”, and then go and buy a TV with it. I’d be pretty pissed, too. I gave it to you because you were going to get your lights shut off without it. Instead you were unappreciative, and you STILL had your lights cut off b/c you wasted the money.

Friday, April 18, 2008

The Children's Trust - prologue

Read below for an awesome article in the Miami Herald on my company. I posted it in two parts. When you read the section entitled Life Saving Act - they talk about school health teams. That is HealthConnect in Our Schools the program that I helped design and manage today. We have health teams in 100 schools today and 164 next year. Before The Trust - only 21 schools in the entire district had any level of health care provided. Now 33% have standard, coordinated care.

If you go the Herald, you can read the scariest thing ever: the comments from ignorant people who think that no one should help care for children. If someone needs help caring for their family then "they should be having children". My only hope is that these are not people who will actually turn out to vote on August 26.

The Children's Trust - Part 1

The Children's Trust has collected about $400 million in property taxes since 2003, but the group's influence is best seen through the small details, like the six African drums, small wardrobe of karate uniforms and hula hoops it funded for a program in Goulds.

''We get to do stuff that most of the other after-school cares can't do,'' wrote Alejandra Pinkney, a fourth-grader who is one of 50 children enrolled in the free program run by Urgent Inc.

The Trust was approved in 2002 as a five-year experiment. Unless voters make it permanent this summer, it will disappear. Many of the programs that depend on its funding -- child-care like Urgent, health teams in public schools, the 211 hot line for parent counseling -- likely would disappear with it.

A diverse group of luminaries are signing onto the campaign, but their timing could hardly be worse. The economy is sinking, anti-tax sentiment is soaring and voters have proven their willingness to take back money from local governments regularly pinned with scandal.

''There's a temptation to say, throw out all the rascals,'' said David Lawrence, chairman of the 33-member board that oversees the Trust. ``I believe people can separate this out in their minds as something that's valuable in this community.''

The Trust has avoided even the hint of impropriety, and its steering committee has such diverse members as Republican U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and civil-rights activist Bishop Victor Curry, and Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning plans to tape television ads.

''I can tell you now -- and without hesitation -- that the Children's Trust has my vote,'' said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, highlighting the vote during February's State of the County speech. ``I hope it has yours.''

Its political action committee has already raised $760,000, according to recent financial reports, which is more than it collected for the entire 2002 campaign. Before the Aug. 26 ballot, Lawrence said, he will have enough for a four- to six-week media blitz.

NO OPPOSITION YET

There has been no sign of organized opposition, and Lawrence said recent polls showed ``we'd win this.''

''This will be the most bipartisan, nonpartisan campaign you can imagine,'' said Lawrence, a former Miami Herald publisher who has become one of Florida's leading advocates for early-childhood education.

Notably absent from the list of supporters: House Speaker Marco Rubio, the West Miami Republican who has led the push for cutting property taxes and may challenge Alvarez in a mayoral race on the same ballot.

''I'm conflicted,'' said Rubio, who has not decided how he will vote on the Trust but said he will not campaign against it.

``I'm supportive of their mission, but I'm concerned about the enormous burden people are facing economically.''

He acknowledged the Trust is a tiny portion of tax bills -- about $61 a year on a median house that receives a homestead exemption.

''If the voters vote against it, it's because even though the Children's Trust is a worthy endeavor, they can't afford it right now,'' Rubio said.

``If they vote for it, they're funding a pretty innovative approach to helping the lives of children.''

Programs such as Urgent are among the Trust's most visible, serving 40,000 children. Many of its 6- to 10-year-olds come from single-parent homes that cannot afford other after-school care. Without Urgent, many would be home alone or parked in front of a baby-sitter's television.

The Children's Trust - Part 2

TOUGH STANDARDS

The evaluation process is notoriously stringent, demanding strict accounting and forcing marginal programs to improve or lose their funding.

A few years ago, a visitor to Urgent ''would have seen kids running around, playing kickball,'' said Saliha Nelson, the program's vice president. ``Now we have a fitness program that includes team-building, flexibility and endurance.''

Other activities include the karate self-defense lessons, homework help from certified teachers and the African drumming. A circle of 15 children pound out thunderous, intricate rhythms on those drums, singing a mixture of Swahili and English.

''Am I my people's keeper?'' they shout, some of them shorter than the djembé and juju drums they pound. ``Tell the world: Yes, I am!''

At least once, funding a Trust program may have saved a life.

It spends $11.4 million a year to put health teams -- including nurses and social workers -- in 100 Miami-Dade public schools, with another 64 being added this summer. Those positions had largely disappeared a generation earlier.

LIFE-SAVING ACT

When a girl fell on a playground slide at Paul Dunbar Elementary in Overtown, slamming her groin onto the metal steps, she would not let anyone see the injury.

The nurse, realizing it could be serious, coaxed her into an exam -- and discovered a blood clot the size of an egg.

''She could have died from that,'' said the nurse, Ann Nagy, who visited the girl during her weeklong hospital stay after emergency surgery.

The next major Trust-funded program will be a rating system to help parents evaluate hundreds of child-care centers. The first batch of ratings will be released publicly in early 2009.

Emily Gunter, the site coordinator for Urgent, said the Trust's record is the result of meticulous oversight.

Trust specialists helped Urgent win national certifications and make literacy education a deeper part of its programs.

''They set a standard that has become our standard,'' Gunter said. ``They're making sure the money is going right to the kids.''

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Chelin

That is my name at all Starbucks. Whenever they call me name to give me my coffee, inevitably, that is how my name is spelled on my cup. It's pretty funny and very consistent - at least 3 different stores that I can think of.

If you don't live in my Miami, that is how my name is spelled phonetically in Spanish.

It's funny.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

New Prescription Drug

Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Night of Worship

This past weekend our chuch held a live concert of original music from all of the workship pastors at each of our 5 campuses. It was an amazing night of glorifying God. He has truly blessed our church with talented individuals.

Alex was there for all of the dress rehearsals and the show to document the whole thing. Here is a slideshow of the Night of Worship.

ENJOY!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Before & After - Miles

I think it was Wednesday or Thursday that Alex called me to say that there was a surprise waiting for me at home.

What was the surprise?? It wasn't flowers. It wasn't a gift. It wasn't even a clean house. No, my surprise was that Alex had taken Miles to get shaved. He was fed up with the shedding.

Miles was so pretty.....



Now, I feel like there is a new dog in the house. I miss my old Miles. This one is just ridiculous-looking.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Engagement session at The Fair

I don't normally blog about Alex's work here - but this was probably the highlight of my week last week. Alex shot engagement portraits of Ana and Javier at the Dade County Youth Fair. I LOVE the Fair so this was just awesome. Also, I've known Ana for half of my life, as she is the sister of my best friend, Lourdes.

So here are some shots from their session. I know that some of the horizontal ones are cut off - that's because they are sized correctly for the photography blog. To see the rest go to our photography blog.





Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Cultural Norm Confusion

In Miami, the most common way to greet someone is to give them an 'air-kiss' on the cheek. This standard applies in almost all situations: parties, work, church, socializing, etc. It goes for almost anyone that you've met more than one time.

Here is the dilemma and where I stutter in my application of this norm: gringos (aka white people). For example, today I had a meeting with a consultant at work, I've met her numerous times and more recently we are getting more friendly with one another. She is VERY all-American and does a lot of consulting in Idaho, of all places. So I go to greet her in our lobby and on my way up to her this thought crosses my mind: we've now seen each other too often to shake hands, but then I don't know if she's down with the Miami kiss-thing. So I ended up doing a very awkward hug/kiss thing. It was awkward on both sides. Oh well.

This has also happened numerous times when Alex has booked brides from Ft. Lauderdale who are white/gringos.

People from Miami - thoughts?

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Anticipation

We are 3.5 weeks away from our Alaska vacation! I am ridiculously excited. Several months ago, my mom and I were talking about vacations and she pointed out that Alex and I hadn't been on a vacation alone since our honeymoon almost 3 years ago. We have taken a few trips but always with friends or family. At that point, I was on a mission: identify and book a 2-person vacation.

After much research, we decided on Alaska. We love to take trips to places that are unlike Miami. That means: no tropics, no palm trees, no beaches, etc. In fact, we went to Wyoming for our honeymoon and it was awesome!

So we are going on an Alaskan cruise on the Norwegian Pearl - one of the cruiselines newest ships. We like the new ships because they are cleaner.

We leave from Seattle and then cruise to: Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria (Canada).

I will blog more about our plans for the trip as we get closer.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Pooped puppies

We took Pete and Miles to a new dog park today. It was wonderful, by far the best dog park that we've been to in Miami. This was the Palmetto Bay Perrine-Wayside Dog Park. It is a full city block in size and has a lake and fountain the middle. The dogs can swim in the lake. The main problem w/ most Miami dog parks is that they are WAY too small - so the dogs don't really have much to do in there. That's bad if there are dogs that don't really get along well with one another. This one is so spacoius and has so many different areas for them to play in that they just run and play all over.

This was Miles' first trip to the dog park. He had a blast. He played with other dogs, he swam, he jumped off a 4-foot tall pile of rocks (scaring everyone). This was Pete's frist trip in a long whle. He has a history of not playing well with others either due to growling or humping. But he didn't do either (much) today. We think that Miles is helping him to be more sociable with other dogs.

They came home absolutely filthy and tired. So now I'm tired from bathing them both, but we're all happy. That's good.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

the way we were

More and more often lately, I am reminded that I am just not the same person that I once was. "How do you come to that realization?" you ask. Well, because every so often, Alex and I will be reminded of something that we used to like and we try to relive it. It just doesn't work. So here are the latest in a list of things that just aren't as funny as they once were:

1. Mystery Science Theater 3000. Tried to rent it at Blockbuster, they didn't have it. I recalled it being SO funny that I bought it on Half.com for $25. We tried to watch it last week. It was painful and 100% NOT funny.

2. The Big Lebowski. While it's still modestly amusing, it is just not as funny as it was before in my crazier days.

3. (this one hurts). Fletch. This was a Hamilton-family favorite. The movie has a TON of quotable lines. Alex had never seen it. Aaron gave it to me for Christmas and, finally, my husband was able to participate in the joy that is Fletch. Aside from the memories that I have from the movie, it just wasn't as funny as before. Alex doesn't like it at all.

Some things are still funny though:

1. Seinfeld. Stays funny.
2. The Simpsons. Stays funny.
3. Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Still REALLY funny.
4. The Great Outdoors. john candy + dan akroyd = funny.
5. American Funniest Home Videos. Just funny, no 2 ways 'bout it.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Wicked update and other stuff

So it's been a few days since my last post - I really have no excuse except that I've had other stuff to do.

On Saturday I saw Wicked the musical with a bunch of co-workers. It was really an awesome production. I just can't imagine having that kind of broadway musical voice come out of my body - that is really an amazing gift. It was all around a nice day because I met two co-workers to have lunch on the Ft. Lauderdale Riverwalk before the show and we just had a great time.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful.

Monday I got utterly fed up with myself for the weight that I've gained since I got married. Now my best friend, Ann Marie and I are going to be working out together and doing journaling what we eat. That will definitely help keep me on task. She found this website for logging food/exercise called The Daily Plate. It's free and AWESOME. It's like Facebook for dieting. So on Mondays and Wednesdays she and I get together to run after work. And on Tuesdays, a few of my friends at work and I have begun to jog together. So that's good.

I already feel better just from the first 4 days of doing this; if for no other reason than it helps to relieve tension (of which I have plenty). Ann Marie told me to blog about this so that we have some public accountability!