I stumbled across an old journal last night. Flipping open to a random page, I was transported back to the Fall of 2010. Though I only wanted to read a couple pages, before I knew it I was wrapped up in a blanket on my couch reading every entry from August 2010 to January 2011.
I smiled reading through small circumstances that seemed like such a big deal at the time, thankful for the perspective hindsight brings. It wasn’t until looking back that I realized how many significant events happened in only a six-month span. I moved back to Dallas, watched my sister get married, met the man I would later fall in love with, and amidst all this I managed to launch Art House Dallas.
Funny how much I had forgotten about the very beginning of Art House, when I was a staff of one still working from home and trying to figure out how to do a lot of things I’d never done...like graphic design. I laughed at an entry from August 15th, 2010, the day I tried to design our launch party invite on Microsoft Word because I didn’t have Photoshop yet (yes, my graphic designer friends, this was horrifying to me as well).
The best part about looking back through all these journal entries was recognizing how many ways God provided help through new and old friends, or one of my family members, at just the right time.
Six weeks before our kickoff party new friends like Kyle, Brittany and Cameron reached out to me to get involved in Art House, volunteering multiple hours to set up and execute events for our kickoff. Five days before the Art House Launch, the band that was scheduled to play had to cancel, but my friend Chris from Elementary School, rallied his band Sleeperstar to perform a last minute concert. After the official kickoff, my high school friend Julia and her cousin Janie helped me set up our email newsletter and complicated database to keep in touch with all of our event attendees.
In early December of 2010, a senior in college who I had met with a year before, Marissa, offered to volunteer her time in the Spring and became our first official intern. These are just a few of the stories of people who have given of their time and talent in the early days. There are so many people who helped me launch that aren’t alluded to above, not to mention dozens of others who have come alongside us in the last two years.
We have come a long way since 2010. Now my first intern is our amazing Director of Programs, and we have a team of volunteers and interns who make it all happen. I am eternally grateful for all of you who have cheered us on, and hope that you will come and celebrate our 2-year Anniversary on October 25 at Vino 100. We’ll have giveaways and a photo booth and we’ll toast to the many provisions over the last two years. Hope to see you there!
Jenny
PS: Check out more details on the event and RSVP HERE. Here’s to our awesome graphic design intern, Kayla, who created this beautiful 2-year anniversary artwork.