Me? An Entrepreneur?

Who would have ever thought that I would embark on a business venture of my own? But here I am, contemplating it.

I love turning lemons into lemonade, and I love turning a messy, chaotic room into a place of order and peace. And it's not just that I enjoy it... It actually gives me a rush of happy adrenaline. If I'm in a bad mood, give me a messy closet to organize and clean, and I transform into a happy person.

When I married Jeff, his (our) home had been without a woman's touch for three years. So maybe you can imagine how much I, as a new wife, longed to not only clean the place up, but also put my own touches on it, making it my own! I remember the first week we were back from our honeymoon, I dove into the kitchen cabinets with passion, throwing away out-of-date cans of diced tomatoes, wiping down the cabinet doors, and re-organizing everything in a way that made things more efficient and aesthetically pleasing. I attacked each room after that with the same passion - the living room, rec room, guest room, office. Oh my, but I loved redoing that office! Last but not least was the basement ~ that scary place full of memorabilia and old clothes, seasonal decorations and junk. And when all of these things are mixed up together, organizing it all is pretty intimidating. After Jeff and the kids helped me separate all their stuff into the various categories (trash, Goodwill, keep), I set myself loose. And oh my goodness, was it fun! I woke up on those days with energy and enthusiasm, knowing that I was going to pour myself into the productive and rewarding project of transforming that messy basement into a place of order and peace.

When the basement was finished, I realized I had run out of things to organize in our home! (Well, there are Kiff's and Phil's rooms, but that's another story - and those rooms aren't really my territory!) And it occurred to me that I could do this for other people too - and make a little money at the same time. So that's what I'm about to try to do.

It's actually a burgeoning business. Five or ten years ago, the idea of hiring a professional organizer wasn't too common. But these days, it's a different picture. And I think I'd like in on the action. :)

I've been thinking I might call it Sylvia Case Organizing. Nice and simple and to the point. (Funny how my new last name fits this idea so well!)

I've been reading How to Start a Home-Based Professional Organizing Business and doing some online research. My next step is to offer my services free of charge to several friends in exchange for before and after photos and their testimonials. Then I'll start up a simple website and a Facebook page for my business, and go from there! It's nice that my overhead will be practically non-existent!

It's exciting and, to be honest, a little intimidating. But.... one step at a time. :)

Random September Thoughts & Pictures

See how long my hair is growing, Mom? It hasn't been this long since my freshman year of college... 16 years ago. (Yikes I'm getting old.)
What has been captivating the our attention over the past few weeks: The US Open in New York. Go Rafa Nadal!!! And Clijsters!!
No, that's not Rafael Nadal. That's Roger Federer, who got ousted in the semifinals by Djokovic! Can you believe it?! Heartbreaking for Federer. He's such a pro... Losing to Djokovic was very expected.
My fun toes. I gave myself this pedicure yesterday.
Love those signs of fall.

A yummy apple pie baking in our oven this afternoon... Mm.

Sunday in DC

Who doesn't love a spontaneous trip into the city? :)

Jeff has been teaching a Sunday School class over the summer, and I often play and sing with the worship team... Then two weeks ago on Saturday night when we realized Jeff's teaching stint was over and I didn't have any worship team obligations for the next day, we decided to go into DC on Sunday. For a while we've been wanting to visit Capitol Hill Baptist Church (where Mark Dever is the pastor) which, appropriately, is blocks away from the Capitol Building... So we visited there, and I must say, it's always a good thing to experience a different style of worship. I was looking forward to hearing Mark Dever speak, but sadly he wasn't even there that day. CHBC is tame and traditional, but real nonetheless. And it provided meat for some interesting conversation between Jeff and me over our Quizno's lunch. :)

After lunch we visited the National Air & Space Museum, which is always of interest to me and of special interest to Jeff since he's worked on satellites and rockets in the past. He likes to show me all the stuff he knows about it all, and I love to hear how knowledgeable and intelligent my husband is. :)

What do you think - would I have made a good stewardess in the 50s? Hm. My hair isn't too short or styled...



It was a hot day, so we rested for a while by a pool and fountain which was situated among the Smithsonian buildings.
Then we visited the National Gallery of Art. At first I was a little hesitant because I'm not a huge art museum fan... But I have to say I loved our time there; it was peaceful and beautiful.





Here is just a small sampling of the many paintings we enjoyed.

One of my favorites was this beautiful Andrew Wyeth painting. I love his works. (He's the one who did Christina's World.)

Good memories. :)

My New Friend Clark

Meet my new friend, Clark. (I named him Clark. I don't know why, but that's the first name that popped into my head when I was trying to think of a name for him.)

Clark, the Praying Mantis.

As soon as I saw him, I ran inside to grab my camera. Clark noticed my frenzy and calmly kept his eye on me the whole time.

The whole time.

See those two teeny black dots in the middle of his eyes?
Reaching the summit. Eyes still on me. While those two black dots might seem freaky, they were actually really cool. Knowing that he was looking at me, I knew I was really interacting with him - another one of God's creatures.
Calmly relaxing on the top. Eyes still on me.
I wasn't sure if we were having a staring contest or if we were making friends, so I opted to be friends with him. This is where I named him "Clark." Then we just chilled together for a while. Clark and Sylvie, just chilling and staring.
Everywhere I moved, his head turned. I moved around to the left, and he followed, eventually moving his whole body to face that way.
I stuck out my finger to see what he would do... I couldn't take a picture of it, but he climbed up onto my hand and arm. I sort of freaked out and then deposited him on the table. Eyes still on me.
So... I put my feet up and we had a nice little visit.
Until Jeff came out. Clark was a little scared of Jeff.
He decided to leave. I asked him to stay, but he slowly and steadily made his way in the opposite direction. Sadness.
Jeff even tried to make up by putting a dead bug next to him to see if he would eat it. I guess Clark only likes to eat live bugs.
He jumped off the table. That was that.

I wonder if I'll ever see Clark again.

(I think I'll make this into a children's book!)

A Butterfly

How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. ~Psalm 104:24

My New Favorite Room

Taking an unattractive room and turning it into a completely different place - a warm and inviting and beautiful one - gives me a thrill. Here's our office, and I really should have taken a "before" shot, because without one you can't really appreciate the transformation, but maybe I can describe it well enough to given you a idea... The walls were practically white ~ actually a really really pale pinkish sort of color, which the previous owners apparently thought was an attractive color. (Not me.) And the desk was facing the window, with the bookcase, a filing cabinet, and a a taller black bookcase along the walls. That set-up wasn't too bad, but the whole room just needed a face-lift - and I do love changing things up. Jeff took care of the paint job, and I went in the next day and put my own touches on everything. We decided to put the desk in the middle of the room facing the doorway instead, took out the tall black bookcase, and everything else sort of fell into place. Now I absolutely love this room! Before it was just a generic room with a desk in it. Now it feels like an office, and I love it. I feel smart just walking in. :)

Jeff worked from home today (a rare treat), so here he is in his t-shirt and shorts on a conference call, enjoying the new space.

Visit with the Bennetts

First ~ thank you for your encouraging comments, Cheri and Aunt Carol and Kendal. :) I'm still in a frustrating place but learning in deeper ways that I depend on God every day. I guess we all do, don't we? :) I was reminded again today that God is the one who does the work. I simply can't do it in my own strength. And so often when I get up in the morning I start right into my to-do list without asking God for strength and grace for my day. Not very smart... Good fruit rarely (okay, never) results from independence from God.

Anyway... This past Thursday and Friday I was able to see the Bennetts who are visiting from China! I hadn't seen them in at least two years, some of them longer than that. They were staying with my parents in Lexington on Thursday night and leaving on Friday, so I went down for that time period too. Jeff couldn't come with me since he was working and all.

Kim Bennett is who invited me to go to China back in 2004, and he and his wife Jing are still in ministry there. They have two sons, Elan and Ray, and a little four-year-old girl, Angie. Angie was born after I left China and I find it highly unfair that she knows more Chinese than I do! :) She is a sharp little girl and definitely has a gift to be a teacher. She very attentively corrected my Chinese as I tried talking to her. Love it! I had a ball getting to know her and reconnecting with the rest of the family too.

On Thursday night we had a big dinner with the Bennetts as well as the Schneiders, Grandpa & Grandmom, and Patrick (a VMI cadet who spends a lot of time with my parents). A full house, good food, good fellowship, even the celebration of Kim's birthday which he had forgotten about... :)

Here's Grandmom with Kim and little Angie:


Angie and Maggie on the back porch... Gorgeous girls!
The whole crowd, minus Patrick who was taking the picture:
Grace, Jing, and Angelika Grace (who was named after Grace Schneider)
Angie and I spent a good amount of time on Friday playing with Rummikub tiles... I practiced my Chinese with the numbers and colors on the tiles and other things throughout the room, and she corrected me as needed (which was often)... and she was meticulous about getting that row of tiles in perfect order. So cute.

My new friend and me about to say goodbye:
We love you, Bennetts!