il gatto di combattere: October 2008

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

We've got a niece!

Tonight at 6:47PM - our niece Elliana Mae Allen made her grand entrance into the world. 6lbs 14 oz, 19.5 in long - Joshnita and Sabrina are doing well by all reports. Congratulations!

In other news: Erin is out of town for a very long time - which makes me very sad. Right now she's in Honduras (for two weeks.... then Argentina for 5 weeks) with other Baylor students and doctors providing medical aid in remote villages.... and by remote I mean: no access to internet or phone. I'm really not a fan of the complete lack of communication - all the mundane things in my life become funny and vibrant when I can know I can tell Erin about them when I get home. I've pretty much just been hanging out, eating Pumpkin Pie, and listening to sad guy music for the past couple of days.

On to other things: I've been really fortunate to have opportunity to work with a local Homeless Agency called: SEARCH (http://www.searchproject.org/) since I've been here in Houston. This June I hooked up with a group of people trying to organize a large-scale benefit for SEARCH. Over the course of several months this project has really crystallized and I'm getting really excited about it. The idea is to get volunteers to raise $100 to sleep in a box overnight in order to raise awareness and heighten empathy for the plight of the homeless in our city. Right now there's over 14,000 homeless in the city of Houston and 2,000 are children under the age of 5. That's my entire high school full of kids with no place to sleep. We've been working to put together an entertainment program for the evening leading up to the sleep out - and this week we confirmed that one Mr. George Clinton will be performing.

I'm really pumped that George Clinton is going to perform and I'm excited for the media attention this event will grab. After Hurricane Ike - the homeless situation is even worse. There are so many people in need and organizations like SEARCH do an amazing job of providing comprehensive care to get people back on their feet and into stable jobs and homes.

If you're inteterested in checking out sleepout - we have a website (http://www.sleepout.org/) and if you're super interested in sleepout you can check out my fundraising page at: http://www.firstgiving.com/jakeumbriaco

It's sleepy time now.....

Monday, October 20, 2008

Lessons in Flower Arranging . . . and Kyle & Beth's Wedding

Recently I had the opportunity to help one of our friends from church, Jody, do the flowers for the big wedding of our other church friends, Kyle & Beth. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, interesting to learn, and the end-product was very beautiful. As an added bonus, we got to stay and visit with Brandy!

Jody & Dawn working on the reception centerpieces

The guest table arrangement

The church arrangements...these were wired to long candle holders on the end of the pews, unfortunately I don't have a picture of the final product, but it was beautiful

Mother's bouquets

Orchid hair clips for the groom's nieces

a bridesmaids bouquet

the major reception centerpieces--curly willow with orchids and hanging candles, which transformed the ballroom

Jake & Clint

Jody & Clara

Jason & Julia

Clara kept dragging Jake out onto the dance floor :)

At the end of the reception, in apparent New Orleans tradition and because Beth loves beads, we tossed beads at the happy couple as they left. This is what I did with my beads when I got home :)

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Glacier National Park

My Mom, Allie, Aspen, and I took a drive up through Montana and to Glacier National Park...it was beautiful, especially with all of the fall colors, perfect weather, and amazingly clear water.