Two Kids Home Alone

Dixie and me, just chillin', eating, hanging out...but we are both kind of bummed. The most important piece of our little family is not here to direct the show. Jamie is on a late night photo shoot for one of Infinitude's larger clients. The shoot takes place in a grocery store, so it has to be done at night, from roughly 10pm - 2am, when there are no customers roaming around.

I am so proud of her and wanted to take a few minutes to tell her that. She really does keep this little house operating as well as it can. The inside is kept spotless, things are organized, clutter and 'stuff' is minimized (very liberating, you should try it), food is stocked, food is prepared, laundry is washed...and the list goes on and on and on. On top off all that, she busts her tail at work and is amazing at what she does. I am so proud of her I could bust!!

Thank you for being the most awesome, amazing, and giving wife in the whole wide world. I love you babe!!

Rain or Shine

Tomorrow, come rain or shine, Liz and I are running in a race called Run for Cover. It's a 10K (6.2 mile) race put on by McKinney Fellowship Bible Church that benefits The Samaritan Inn. After I realized that this race benefitted The Samaritan Inn, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

For my company's 2009 Christmas gift to our clients and partners, we gave them tins of cookies that The Samaritan Inn made and packaged. I was able to go to the Inn in McKinney to pick up the tins - it is Collin County's only homeless shelter. They are completely funded by donations made by churches, service organizations, corporations and individuals. Last year, they had 660 residents and out of those people, 30% were children and over 72% graduated from their program - which means they had an income and housing when they left The Samaritan Inn.

Currently, there are 107 people living at The Inn and 35 are children. I've been getting reminder emails about the race that includes a story about current residents. I wanted to share this one with you:

This week we would like to tell you about 20 year old Samantha. Samantha, like many of our residents, did not have any specific education or training that would enable her to make more than minimum wage, and minimum wage is not a living wage.

At about the same time Samantha came to the Inn, we received information that Richland College had created a unique Machine Operator Training Program. Workforce of Dallas funded the cost of the training for qualified participants between the ages of 18 and 21 and John Trick, our Vocational Coordinator, thought Samantha would be a good candidate. Samantha attended the 12 week program (The Samaritan Inn paid for her transportation and materials), and she graduated at the top of her class.

She was hired almost immediately by the company where she did her on-site work during the program, and the president of the company wrote us the following note:
"Samantha is doing great! She is here on time, stays with her assignments until completed and does whatever we ask with the same level of enthusiasm. Don't know where she got her work ethic, but she certainly has one. Thanks for sending her our way!"

We are very proud of Samantha, and as John Trick wrote in his update, "This young lady now has the means for a self-sufficient life that will never include a homeless shelter again."

Playlist Needs Help

I need to update my running playlist for the race Liz and I are doing this Saturday. Please leave a comment with your favorite song or songs that you like to run or workout to. I like to run to all types of music: techno, rap, alternative, Christian, rock, etc. as long as it has a good beat and is pretty fast.

Katie Lemmon Norwood: if you're reading this, you can save yourself some time by NOT sending me your playlist from your blog back in September. I giggled when I read some of your highly suggested songs. But, I think I did download Toxic because of you.

Dixie Turns 11

Our sweet baby turned 11 this past Sunday, which means it was burger day! We love her so much and hope we have more great years with her.

Here she is with her McD's bag before she devoured her present.













And here's the video of her eating it in 10 seconds. I love how she licks her chops and obeys her daddy! Apologies from Josh for the rotating of the camera.

My friend, Liz

I feel pressure to write a blog about my dear friend, Liz. Liz wrote about me this week and so I owe her one.

Liz has been a buddy of mine since 4th grade. I'll never forget her "look" when she strolled in as a new student at Pinkerton Elementary: short permed blonde hair and a jump suit. But she's blossomed into a beautiful young lady! Here's what I love about her (no, Liz, this is not everything):

-I love her short responses to questions, i.e., Me: "Liz, how was your trip to Santa Fe?" Liz: "Fine." Me: "Did you do anything fun?" Liz: "Yes."
-I love the memories I have of Liz: blaring her music in her Ford Explorer, her "black" days, taking pictures in her front yard before going to George Strait concert, showing me her [horrible] cheer jumps in her uniform in her front yard, her muffins, Bosco, The Animal Club.
-She is always one to call and check in.
-She runs races with me even if she is completely not ready for it.
-She WOULD be the one that would send me a text to tell me she got engaged. That I was NOT happy about.
-She is so kind to help us (the class officers) plan our 10-year high school reunion (and Mindy, too!).
-I love that she lives 8 blocks north of me.
-I love that we go to the same church and can enjoy breakfast afterward every once in a while.

But what I love most is the fact that we've been friends for 19 years and counting! I love you Lizzy Poo Poo!

I Just 'Tuded

As I said in my last post, the company I work for, Infinitude Creative Group, launched a blog. We also just launched our website and I was able to work directly with my past employer, AvreaFoster, to complete that project...that was a lot of fun for me to work with the AF team (who are some of my good friends).

As I sat in our conference room with the Jeffs, the owners, and another fellow, we were brainstorming ideas on what to call our blog. We bounced some silly and serious names around until Jeff M. shouted out "How about 'I Just 'Tuded'?" And that was the winner. Yes we are a training and media production company, yes we have corporate clients that will read this blog, yes we know it might not make you laugh as much as we do, but we're proud. We're proud of our blog description: "Something's in the air at Infinitude Creative Group." We're proud of our sign-off after we write a blog, e.g., I'm Jamie Womack and I just 'tuded!

So check it out...we have some talented writers and we'll be doing a video blog here and there.

-I'm Jamie Womack and I just 'tuded on In the Loop

Harry Potter

Well I did it. I finally finished the Harry Potter series last night. I couldn't put the book down; I probably read about 100 pages last night. It was just too good. This has been a journey of about 2 1/2 years: I started reading Harry Potter a little while after I started working at Infinitude, after one of my boss's discovered I wasn't a reader. He decided to give me a kick start by paying me to read the first book. I was hooked. BUT, like I said, I'm not a reader so that is where the 2 1/2 years comes in. I'd get on a really good run, and then work or The Biggest Loser or training got in the way. Book 7 (the final book) took me the longest. I read 100 pages, stopped for a few months, started over, read 376 pages, stopped for a lot of months, decided to start it over again on our trip to Seattle, and this time I didn't stop.

The amazing thing was that through all of the people I know who've read Harry Potter (including my mom who I got hooked and then she finished about a 1 1/2 years before me) and all of the discussions I've had along the way, I never knew how it ended. I was shocked at the ending, and through parts of it my heart was pounding and my eyes were watering. I wish everyone would read these books...I've been wanting Josh to read them but I think that's a battle I'm going to lose. J.K. Rowling amazes me how she outlined the entire story and tied all of the books together. I'd like to read them all over again, but this time before September 18, 2012.

So that is where our blog description comes from. There was a book that was written about Dumbledore called The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore. The book contained some controversial, though partially true, revelations about Albus and his family. Our blog though contains no controversial content, only truths...well unless Josh ever posts anything on here again and pulls one on you. He tends to find the best times to sneak in a little lie or story that could be true, to see if he can pull it off and get you to believe him.

Stay tuned for a post that introduces our company's blog. It's gonna be a good one.