Today I want to grant a very special birthday wish to a wonderful & special person Lee Johnson.  DeWayne never met or had a relationship with his biological father.  He was raised by his grandfather and name sake, Herschel Grice.  Along the way, DeWayne has had many wonderful father influences in his life including a super great step dad - Bob.

For those of you who know DeWayne and I understand the special relationship DeWayne and I have with his self described “Godfather” Lee.  It was actually because of Lee that DeWayne and I met.  (Long story for another blog).  His wife Sharon actually worked for us at the studio part time years ago…before she went home to heaven.

Every year it seems I get to hear a new Lee story around his birthday.  Since Edie Grace has really began to swim like a fish - this years stories are all about Lee teaching him to swim.  Obviously Lee is a patient man!

There are lots of things Lee taught DeWayne and most of them we can even talk about in public.  The one thing I appreciate the most is how Lee instilled in him the importance of making the two women in your life the most important.  He enjoyed spoiling his wife and now his daughter and grandchildren.  DeWayne certainly has followed in his foot steps.

DeWayne certainly gets his entrepreneurial spirit, love of politics and understanding that every one can do better if they work hard and stay focused - traits from Lee.  Not a day goes by that we do not think of Lee and the wonderful influence he has had on our lives and the contributions he makes to our community.  We are fortunate to have him in our lives and hope that the birthday fairy brings him everything he desires today!

Happy Birthday LEE!

We have spent the weekend taxiing Edie Grace to birthday parties.  Saturday she traveled to Jesup to a swim party for one of her Pinewood friends, Adley.  Edie Grace was so excited that she was able to dive down to the bottom of the 12′ pool.  She had a blast and enjoyed seeing some of her school friends over the summer. 

Today we went to Monkey Joe’s in Augusta to cousin Mackenzie’s party.  Monkey Joe’s is a cool indoor playground with indoor inflatable’s.  Edie Grace had a blast with her cousin and her friends.  We have had a blast - but we racked up some serious miles in the “TV” car as Edie Grace so appropriately calls it.  There is simply not enough week in this weekend!

Almost daily, one of you tell me how much you enjoy visiting my Savannah Mall Gallery outside the mall entrance to Target and directly above the new soft play area.  We are featuring a watercolor portrait, several canvas portraits and a new slide show of some of my favorite sessions from this year.  Make sure to check it out the next time your in the mall. 

Thank you, Tim, and the Arts Center gang for bringing another great show to the ‘boro!  If you missed it, you can catch this talented group every Friday nite in Savannah, downtown, at the Crystal Beer Parlor.  Saturday’s event was a fund-raiser for the Averitt Center for the Arts and the Emma Kelly Theater, but don’t worry, you can still give a contribution to Tim, Delia, Connie or any of the folks over there that bring culture day-in and day-out to our community.  Speaking of culture, Edie Grace is a participant this week at NoJoe’s Circus Camp at the Arts Center.  She wants you to “save-the-date” for Friday nite @ 7:30 when her camp gets to perform with NoJoe in bringing a circus to the Emma Kelly Theater.

I am so proud of Erica and Emily.  I can’t remember how long I have known them now, but they are amazing success stories!  They are twin sisters and have both just graduated from GSU.  Erica is going to be teaching in Evans County this year and Emily is a journalist.  You will may have even seen Emily’s by-lines in the Statesboro Herald.   I wonder how many times twins graduate college together, on-time?  More girl-power!!!

The Circus is in town…the circus is in town…AND Edie Grace has joined!!!

Don’t miss the show!  Call 212-ARTS to get your $5 ticket.  There won’t be any lions or tigers or bears (oh my!) but there will be lots of family fun.  Edie Grace has been part of a week long clown camp and she says the circus will be great. 

Come join us Friday nite at the Emma Kelly theater at 7:30.

Hope to see you there!

NoJoe’s Circus

Joey “NoJoe” Thurmond and his traveling circus are on their way to the Averitt! Alongside NoJoe, campers from the NoJoe circus camp will be showing off their circus skills! NoJoe’s Clown Circus is a high energy show with a circus theme. With silly magic, goofy animals, great juggling, amazing balancing, and other CLEAN family entertainment. NoJoe, the “WORLD’S BEST MANNERED CLOWN”, will have your audience saying please and thank you before they know it. The audience will not be able to look away for fear of missing what is coming next! You supply the children and NoJoe will supply the LEARNING, SMILES, LAUGHTER, and FUN!

Time: 7:30pm
Cost: $5.00 per person

If you haven’t checked out Todd and Bob’s brand new space you are totally missing out on the coolest stuff anywhere!  It is so refreshing to walk off of East Main street into a store filled with home decor that would rival anything you may find in Atlanta, New York or LA.  Really!  If you don’t believe me, come take a look for yourself!  One day when I was in their store a lady walked in and said, “Wow, I have just walked into HGTV!”  And that is just how you will feel!

One of Todd’s specialities is silk floral design.  At the new location he has a glass windowed studio so you can watch him create.  Just bring in one of your old pieces that needs updating, pick out some new pieces from his vast array of silks and let him work his magic.  Better yet, come in and pick out a container and the silks and let him create the whole thing!

Whether you need some pieces to update your table for entertaining, patio furniture for outdoor living, water features to bring some Zen to your life or just want to be inspired to tackle the whole house…they can most likely accommodate your every wish.  Todd even offers holiday decorating, but you better call today…his list was full VERY early last year.  If you enjoyed our tree last year…it was a Todd creation!

These images are from their open house and window debut.  (And one from a client’s house.  Todd created the pieces that flank the portrait)  When you go see Todd and Bob…tell them Lori sent you!    

Every now and then a car passes by with a bumper sticker that catches your eye.  One that we laugh about often - we saw on the interstate.  In our rear view mirror this old, beat up car came up on us fast.  Black smoke was pouring out of the car.  Every part of the car was a different color and it was missing one entire fender.  As the car zoomed passed us we read its’ bumper sticker - “Honk if Parts Fall OFF”  Now that guy had a great sense of humor.

DeWayne and I are VERY passionate people.  We are passionate about things we care greatly about.  Maybe you just become more passionate when you stare death in the face and cheat it.  Things seem to take a little different meaning to us than it does to others.  Often we wonder why we see things and understand things that effect us greatly - but no one else seems to care.

This week we saw this bumper sticker and it brought it all into perspective for us.  Why do we care?  Why do we speak out?  Why do we try so hard to make a difference in our downtown, community, state and nation?  Because when Good People Do NOTHING - Evil Thrives.

So we are calling Good People everywhere - keep pushing, keep asking why, keep figuring out a way to say yes - when everyone else says no and together we will stomp out evil - one person at a time.

Thursday night, the Statesboro-Bulloch County Chamber of Commerce hosted Business After Hours at Statesboro’s brand new Holiday Inn.  I think everyone in town was curious to see it because the crowd was wall-to-wall! 

Our client’s and friends, Doug and Karen Lambert, and the group of local investors , have really raised the bar in Statesboro with this property!  Beautiful, comfortable rooms, conference facility space and of course, “EMMA’s” - Chef Jason Scarborough’s newest creation in fine dining.  I think they have really hit the target with this place!

In addition to mingling and enjoying appetizers prepared by Chef Jason and his team, we also got to tour three of the rooms on the fourth floor.  I toured with three other girls and we were all trying to think of logical reasons to stay in a hotel in the same town we live in.  It just is THAT inviting!!!

Welcome to Heath, Dr. Lisa and Hannah their 8 month old daughter.  Heath is the general manager of the Holiday Inn and his wife, Dr. Lisa is Dr. Cichelli’s new partner/pulmonologist.  You all know what a fan of “girl power” I am…Lisa finished her fellowship in pulmonology, had a baby and moved to the ‘Boro with Hannah now only being eight months old.  That IS impressive!!!

It was great to catch up with Senator Jack Hill and his beautiful wife, Ruth Ann.  We owe a big THANK YOU for much of Statesboro’s economic development on the state level to Senator Hill’s leadership and vision. Serving since 1990, Senator Hill has really seen us through an amazing amount of growth and prosperity here in Statesboro and south Georgia.  Senator Hill calls Reidsville home, but I think Statesboro is always in his heart.

We will give a gift certificate for $10 to EMMA’s for the first comment we receive from this BLOG. 

If you don’t win, eat there anyway…you will be glad you did!