We've Been Busy...

Hello lovelies!

Sooooooooooo….. we’ve been busy the last few months…really really REALLY busy!!!!!!….. everything has been for you Brave Girls… for Soul Restoration…. for future fantastic classes and surprises…. and it’s been a family affair……and we want to share with you all the fun, crazy, unexpected, fantastic things we’ve been up to!!!!!!! Today I sat down and made a list of all the things that have happened in the last 6 weeks and all I can think is…. no wonder we feel exhausted!!!! But GOOD exhaustion!!! ACCOMPLISHMENT exhaustion!!! I want to include them all in this blog post but there are soooooooooo many things…. we have tons of pictures to share in upcoming blog posts….. but check out the list of what we’ve done (and that will give you something to look forward to seeing soon)!!!!

So here’s a general list of what’s been going on around here in, seriously…SERIOUSLY only that last 6-8 weeks (WHEW!):

Filmed new videos for Soul Restoration….
Huge Magazine Shoot with Where Women Create (can’t wait to share all about this!!!!)….
Madi turned 15 years old and we celebrated…
Madi got braces and she celebrated….
Guitar Lessons… once a week… still going strong (and we ROCK by the way!)…..
We celebrated Marq’s birthday (my most handsome 40-something hunk of a husband)…….
Brock moved out on his own (what the heck? When did he get old enough to do that?)……
…and turned 20…(what the heck, when did I get old enough for this to be possible?)
….. and got ENGAGED!!!!!…(what the heck??????????? this part is wonderful, actually and you will know more later)
Jake (Kathy’s son) left for Italy… and will be gone for TWO years…..
Celebrated artsyness with an Apron Challenge…(so fun!)
Jeff and Kallie moved back to Idaho….(YAHOOOO!!!!!!)

Baby Shower for Jennifer….(she is our baby sister)

Welcomed Matt and Jennifer’s Twins…(after she spent months and months on bedrest!)

Did an amazing photo shoot with these precious new baby twins…(pictures to share soon!)

Filmed Kim’s audition for Biggest Loser…..(A HUGE POST ABOUT THAT SOON!!!!!!!! AHHHH SO PROUD OF HER!!!)

this is me and Kim….she is my best friend from High School…and she works for BGC now!

Malary attended her Jr Prom in Vintage Vera Wang and COWBOY BOOTS!!!…(pictures coming soon)
Took a cruise with Brave Girl Camp Alumni (why not throw a trip to the Bahamas into all of this craziness?)…..
Nominated and won The Domino Project… just not sure what that means yet….(but it is BIG…sponsored by Amazon.com)
We lost Marq’s grandad..Pompie….(so sad….)
Brave Girls Club took on THREE full-time employees……(Brock, Kim & Jeff…..the best of the best!)
3pm Dance Parties….(yes….mandatory…videos coming soon)

ANNNNND……..

We’ve been working together as a family and with our friends through all of it! Dream come true!

ANNND….

Made 377 trips to Sonic… Made 1000+ yoyos…

AND….. WE FINISHED THE CLUBHOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! (2000 sq. feet that started as 4 concrete walls and a concrete floor and turned out better than Alice in Wonderland/Disneyland!)

THIS CONSISTED OF:

Found the perfect spot for our clubhouse… framed the walls for TEN video sets…..built 12ft shelves to hold all our supplies for Brave Girl Camp…..put together shelves to hold all our treasures…..built light strings…..hung up over 900 sparkly wonderful lights……shopped for lots of decorations at thrift stores……picked out paint……painted…changed our minds…painted again……organized……unpacked lots of boxes and sorted them…….picked out fun..funky..vintage.. comfy furniture…..wall papered……sewed curtains….sewed pillows…..refinished furniture……painted furniture..and repainted furniture……made art…BIG ART…….rolled out linoleum for our artsy space…..laid carpet for each new set….welded pieces of metal and treasures into beautiful vision boards…..designed stuff…..repurposed stuff..LOTS of stuff..and created ART……made a curtain out of funky frilly skirts….hung a HUGE red theater curtain….Kathy’s blonde hair turned blue from the paint….went to home depot 100 times….backed up our trucks and cars and unloaded them 100 times….friends showed up…..family showed up….we had dinner parties….we had dance parties…….

And in the middle of all of this craziness……..

(and we can hardly believe this ourselves!)

We recorded and released a music CD “RESTORE”!!!!!!!!!
Our niece, Stephanie Leavell is such an incredible musician….. she graduated from Berklee School of Music in Boston two years ago… and is now a Music Therapist!!! She is amazing… can play the harp like an angel… her voice is phenomenal… and she teaches US guitar!!!! We have used Stephanie’s music for background in our first Soul Restoration videos… and Brave Girls all over the world fell in love with her!!!! Sooooooo… during one of our guitar lessons…. the idea of “Restore” was born!!!!!!!!!!!

Stephanie wrote most of the songs, Lynda wrote one and Brock wrote one.  Stephanie’s INCREDIBLE husband Brian recorded and mixed the music, Ryan (our nephew….Stephie’s brother) played the marimbas and the bass, me, Kathy, Lynda and Stephanie sang and Brock played the song he wrote.  The entire experience was unreal and we can’t EVEN believe how much talent surrounds us…how lucky are we?!?!

We got just a few shots of the actual recording….

Me and Kathy

Beautiful sisters... Lynda and Kathy

Our amazing niece Stephanie

Inside Cover of CD

Our CD is now available to order in the Brave Girls Club store….click here… Brave Girls Club Store …..you can also hear samples of the songs there…it is worth your time to do it!!!

I am sooooooooo over the top excited!!!!…. Can’t wait to share more pictures with you…. very VERY soon!!!

SO much has been going on that we had to start out with a blog post to tell you about what the upcoming blog posts will be….but you are important to us an we wanted to keep you updated……there’s SO MUCH MORE coming up that I haven’t even talked about…stuff you have been asking for…stuff you have dreamed of…stuff that is going to blow your beautiful mind.

Hope you know how much we love you!

P.S.

I have also been working on a new fabric collection that will be out this Fall with a company called Blend….and my gift and home decor collection through Demdaco will be out in just a few MONTHS…lots of incredible stuff going on!!!

xoxo
melody