A bit of introduction

Hello and welcome to The Candy Project. I have my brother and nephew to blame for my interest in blogging my thoughts. Thanks, guys! I should start off by saying that I'm new at this, so bare with me. The Candy Project is me in a nutshell. I suppose. My life is an ongoing project that keeps evolving. 15 years ago, I was just a graphic designer. I could define myself pretty easily back then. I find that as we age, we take on so many roles. Now I've come to be so many things. Let me break it down:

Graphic Designer:
I graduated Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI in 1994. By then, I had already picked up a full time job in my field. (We're talking print design, his was before most of us knew what the internet was) These days, I freelance, but find a decreasing interest for designing a bag for frozen fish filets for Harris Teeter or a website for Hines Nut Co. There must be more to life...

Wife:
Soon after I graduated in '94, I married Jonathan, who also graduated from Kendall with the same degree as me. We immediately moved down to Charlotte, NC after the wedding. We didn't waste time living somewhere we didn't want to be. We were attracted to Charlotte mostly because of the mild temperatures, but also there was “newness" to the uptown area, and everything seemed so clean. It seems like a frivolous reason to move, but at the time it really didn't matter too much where we lived as we were just starting out. I was able to transfer within the company I was working for, so I had a job. (since this is The Candy Project, I will tell you that my first boss in Charlotte was also named Candy, a sign perhaps?) So, we got a little apartment in Charlotte and started life as husband and wife. Jonathan didn't have a a job, but he was teaching himself some techniques in new media and was able to quickly land a full time gig. We make a great team, so the marriage has worked beautifully.

Mom:
In 1996 we bought our first house with the idea in the back of our mind that we would have children. But, we weren't ready. We spent a couple years in a big four bedroom house by ourselves. Eventually, we cleaned out a bedroom that had become storage and we got busy just before our five year anniversary. We went on vacation to the Cayman Islands, came back and a month later, we were parents-to-be. Ethan was born in January 2000. (Remember all that Y2K stuff? Ha) It was rough going when Ethan was a baby as he had jaundice, reflux and soon after some weight gain issues. But, we got through it somehow. On Ethan's second birthday, we decided to get busy again and a month later, I was expecting. Adam was born four days after my 31st birthday. What a gift. He was an easy baby and continues to be fairly manageable. With two great boys, we decided to quit while we're ahead and not have any more kids. We made this decision permanent, surgically, if you know what I mean. No regrets either. Two kids is our limit; two-against-two. We admire anyone who can handle more than that. Much of my day, the role of “mom” is my biggest one. I have a group of other moms I hang out with (one of them is named Candy, another sign perhaps?) The kids are such a joy. In this blog, you will come to know my two boys and enjoy some of the precious moments that I get to have with these two. I’ve found also when you become a parent, you start to get a whole new set of strong beleifs. I am very much a breastfeeding advocate, and this comes from someone who is currently nursing a 2 ½ year old. There are a lot of opinions out there on the subject, but my philosophy is that every mom should have the chance to make an educated choice whether or not to breastfeed. Unfortunately, there is so much misinformation out there that it makes it hard for any mother to get a good start. I may talk a bit about breastfeeding in my blog. Also, I have some beliefs about discipline as well that I might share along the way.

Seamstress:
I have a beautiful new sewing machine. I seem to have a natural talent for sewing. I have been making some baby slings and some stuff around the house like curtains and slipcovers, etc. I am thinking of doing some hand bags or belts or who knows. I am not sure how far I will go with this talent, but it's fun! I will probably touch on my sewing projects in my blog now and then.

Health Nut:
I’ve been vegetarian since 1990. I am not really a health nut, though, that’s just a label I guess. I was actually overweight most of my life. A while back, I finally got it under control. I work out at the gym a lot now and I try and watch what I eat. For the first time in my life, I’m finally keeping it under control. I’ve been hovering around the same weight for a year now. I’d still like to lose 10 pounds, but I’d consider myself a healthy weight now. I might discuss aspects of weight loss, weight maintenance, vegetarianism, health or just cooking in this blog. It is an area I’m interested in.

Jewish Christian Pagan Agnostic?
I am very open to religion. Jonathan was raised Jewish and I was raised Christian. My boys attend a Methodist preschool currently and they learn a lot of Christian bible stories. Later, they’ll probably go to Hebrew School and study Judaism. But, for me, religion is sort of like a social club, and I think you can be a member of more than one. I tend to think of God as an entity who may be out there watching over us, or perhaps just a good idea. I mean, if there wasn’t a God or a concept of God, where would we all congregate? What would all that renaissance art be like? Religion is a good thing, spirituality is a good thing. It’s all good in my opinion. What I don’t like is when people think that only some religion is good – theirs to be exact and everyone else is just plain wrong. The truth is that nobody knows, - that’s why they call it faith! I may touch on the subject of religion in my blog – what I like about it and what I don’t. We’ll see where it takes us.

Superfan:
This is where my life gets a little bizarre. In 1997, before I had kids, I started freelancing at home. It was great. But, I missed that human interaction I had when working in an office. I think I needed something interesting to break up the day. It was around then that I had rented "The Prophecy" which stars Christopher Walken. I thought, "What an interesting actor!" I had remembered him from an SNL episode that aired on the eve of my 21st birthday. I remembered he was "The Continental" and "Ed Glosser, Trivial Psychic." It wasn't too long after that we rented "Mousehunt" which Walken has a small hilarious part of an eccentric exterminator. I thought to myself "Could this be the same guy? What a chameleon!" I was hooked. Soon after, I found an online community of Walken fans and my interest grew. To make a long story short, I now am coordinator of Walken's fan club. It is not an official fan club, but it’s the first and only international fan club in existence. In 2001, Walken did a play in New York and I organized an event for fans to attend after the play. We invited Walken and about 10 days before the event, I get a phone call from my idol, telling me he'd stop by our party. (this was such a surreal moment – for those of you who know what Walken sounds like, you might imagine.) Well, not only did he stop by the party, but he sat down and chatted with us for about an hour. (and, he brought artist Julian Schnabel with him) We all had wine and food and just hung out. What a dream come true! Since then, I have spoken to Chris a few other times on the phone, and he's written a couple letters for the Club. He also attended another fan club event, a pre-Oscar party in LA in 2003 (I didn’t go, but I was there in spirit!) Another mentionable highlight for me was when he called me on Mother's Day last year. Wow! Not only is he extremely talented and, I'd venture to say, an iconic legend, he's also just a super nice individual. So, anyway, you can say I have a mild obsession with Chris Walken and his films, but the bonus is the experience I've gained in the movie business. I've learned things about PR and event planning, and lots of other things I would have never known about. I've had the opportunity to learn a bit about directing, special effects and makeup (there is a Hollywood makeup artist named Candy Walken, yet another coincidence?) and just a lot about Movies. Walken has made me more of a film connoisseur than before. I’ve endured some pretty bad movies and some unseen good ones in my quest for more Walken. I am sure I will touch on the subject of Walken and film quite a bit in my blog. I will try and post some movie reviews or just talk about observations from the Hollywood biz.

Aimless Dreamer:
So, where to go from here? I recently attended a seminar on The Hollywood Business which was led by producer/ ex agent Barry Weitz. I don't know why I was drawn to it, but I'm glad I went. I told Mr. Weitz that “I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up” The seminar just confirmed I know now more than ever that I HAVE NO IDEA what I want to do. But, for now, I have a screenplay in the works and I think it’s a pretty damn good idea for a film. I am always bursting with creativity and I need an outlet. I also just love film, so writing a screenplay seems like a good place to start. Who knows, with the minor connections I’ve made, perhaps I will some day have an opportunity to pitch it. So, this is the start of my blog, The Candy Project. Me: Under Construction. In progress. Stay tuned…