Star Wars: In Concert Recap

My fiancé Eric is a true Star Wars super-fan... almost to the point that I am scared to go through his boxes when he moves in, fearing that in his belongings I might find an adult-sized Chewbacca costume or perhaps some hand-built models of the Millennium Falcon. I am a true lover of the symphony, the orchestra, and of movie soundtracks (my favorite XM station is the soundtrack station)... aren't we a match made in heaven!?

When I saw that Star Wars: In Concert was coming to The Sprint Center, it seemed the best of both worlds: Eric would love it because it was Star Wars (and he would tolerate the symphony part) and I would love the symphony (and would tolerate the Star Wars part). So, I got tickets -- Merry Christmas Eric! We went to the concert on Wednesday night at Sprint Center, and the unthinkable happened.....

We both LOVED it--and enjoyed every aspect of it (including the parts that I had guessed we would tolerate)! It was simply amazing. The live symphony and choir was fantastic and was so closely matched with the HD movie clips that we sometimes forgot there was a live symphony playing the music. The HD movie clips were set to not only live music, but intense laser light shows, smoke, and fire!

Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO in the original movie was the narrator of the Star Wars tale, and did an excellent job of taking the audience through the entire story from start to finish -- Honestly, it was the first time I had ever actually understood was what happening in the movies, which actually made me interested in watching all 6 movies...

All in all, it was a great experience for us both--and we even got to take pictures with all of the characters from the original movies.

For more on Star Wars: In Concert, check out this video--pretty cool!

FOUR FOODIES

I've added a new link in the Hallmarkers Who Blog list on the right. Four Foodies is a blog that will make your mouth water. Two Hallmarkers, a former Hallmarker, and a non-Hallmarker make up the Four Foodies. I'm placing a video of theirs in this post because I think it showcases the Kansas City farmers' market quite nicely. If you love food (who doesn't?!) check out the Four Foodies. They even include their recipes! Yum!

Mayor's Christmas Tree

Did You Know?

The Mayor’s Christmas Tree in Crown Center is taller than the famous trees at the White House and Rockefeller Center in New York City? The Tree is 100 feet tall, making it one of the nation's tallest Christmas trees.

I sure did not know that! - Also after the holidays, the tree is cut into commemorative ornaments and sold to benefit the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Fund, which assists the city’s less fortunate.

Here is a fun FAQ about the tree.

Why I love my job #2,987,501

Why do I love my job? Because I am surrounded by extremely talented people every single day who create amazing artwork that is then given away.

A group of Hallmark illustrators (called the Blink Studio) painted cardboard tubes for a holiday display in the building. When the display comes down, they are going to raffle away opportunities to pick out a tube to keep as your very own. You know my name will be in that hat for the drawing! Pick me! Pick me!

WICKED!

Broadway Across America : Wicked

Ah! Yesterday was the last performance of Wicked, it had been playing at the Music Hall downtown since November 11th.

I was lucky enough to enter the Wicked Lottery, it happens 2 1/2 hours before each show. Basically, you enter in the lottery and if your name is drawn you can get really good orchestra seats for 25 dollars! My friend and I went to the 2pm showing (They only pick 10 pairs per show), we sat on the second row and I had an amazing time!!



This was my second musical in Kansas City. I highly recommend the lottery!

Here's a link to future shows.

Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.

— Albert Einstein

Holidays by Design 2009

This year I was honored to participate in the Kansas City DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) event on 11/21.

The annual event raises money to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the Kansas City area by auctioning off holiday wreaths created by local designers and artists.

It was a beautiful event! Check my Flickr page for more photos.

National World War I Muesum

Veteran's Day is this Wednesday November 11th, and I just found out through The Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association's (VisitKC) Twitter page, that the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial will be offering free admission to the public on this day of honor.

Liberty Memorial is a short walk away from Hallmark, and has beautiful views of downtown Kansas City and Union Station (as you saw on my Autumn post). I've always wanted to climb up to the top of the memorial, I'm thinking of going over on Wednesday!

KC Massacre

Hey Folks,
I know I have been gone for a while, but I'm not gone for good (not yet). Things have been absolutely insane with all the cool new products that Hallmark has been working on, but that's another blog for another time. For now, I just wanted to show you some of the cool stuff that was going on at T2, a video production company in the Crossroads of KC. Enjoy their horror movie inspired First Friday massacre...



I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween (and sent lots of Halloween cards).

love,
Josh

Beautiful!

Moving from Florida to Kansas City and experiencing autumn for the second time has been really wonderful. Most of the trees in the city are changing, so yesterday I took the time during my lunch break to appreciate the colors and take a few photos. Some I took right outside our buildings, and the others I took at Liberty Memorial. Enjoy!

Ripple Glass

Keeping with the theme of Jeanee's recent post on climate change, I'm excited to post about a new Kansas City company that is impacting local recycling efforts in a big way. Under what is being called "the nation’s first self-contained metropolitan recycling system," Ripple Glass, which launches starting on November 1st, will help shatter the reluctance of Kansas City residents to recycle glass containers.

The Kansas City metro area has a pretty solid curbside recycling program, but that program no longer includes the pick of glass bottles and jars (pickup of bottles and jars in ended in 2003 due to the hazards of sorting broken glass and the problems of separating broken glass from other recyclables). When curbside pickup of glass ended, there were very few locations to recycle glass, so accessibility became an issue, and participation in glass recycling dropped drastically -- KC residents currently recycle only 5% of their glass, compared to the US average of over 28% -- eeeek!

That's where Stacia Stelk, Mike Utz, John McDonald and Jeff Krum, who also work for Boulevard Brewery, came up with a plan. Mike and John actually came to Hallmark about a year ago to present the Ripple Glass idea to Hallmark's Eco Team, an internal interest group focused on Hallmark's green initiatives. I was fortunate to see them present at that time. Their plan was simple: KC metro residents would be able to recycle their household glass (bottles, jars, etc.) at multiple area locations, the glass would then be picked up by a local company, taken to two local companies (Owens Corning and CertainTeed Corp), and recycled into fiberglass insulation and other products. They had me at hello, so to speak.

It took a little time, but they've now got all the logistics figured out, financing (by several local businesses) secured, and are ready to launch! I'm very excited that Hallmark has agreed to participate in the Ripple Glass efforts by having a glass drop-off bin right outside out building!

Read the full Ripple Glass story here, and if you're a KC local, support this program! With over 60 glass drop-off locations, 95% of metro residents will have less than a 5-minute drive to a drop-off location -- you have not reason not to support Ripple Glass! Thanks to Stacia, Mike, John and Jeff for seeing an opportunity to making a difference -- and to taking it!

Blog Action Day: climate change

Blog Action Day is today, October 15, 2009. Thousands of bloggers will unite to blog about a particular issue that is affecting our world on a grand scale. This year the topic is climate change.



Today I blogged on my blog about the connections between climate and food.

I talked about purchasing sustainable local food. Sustainable agriculture involves food production methods that are healthy, do not harm the environment, respect workers, are humane to animals, provide fair wages to farmers, and support farming communities.

At Hallmark we just completed the summer of a community supported agriculture program. Every Wednesday we picked up a bag of food from local Kanas City Farmers through Hen House. It was fun to get vegetables I'd never buy in the store. But next summer I need to be more adventurous and try to make more recipes. I threw some of the scary squashes away :(

Also, here are some local Kansas City spots that are supporting local farming.
In Kansas City, Bad Seed Farm Market is a local, natural & sustainable food producer marketing to nearby, conscientious consumers. Their farmer's market is open every Friday night, 4:30 - 9p (May thru Nov. 20th). They have a winter farmer's market also.

And... The Farmhouse in Kansas City has bi-weekly farm-to-table-dinners. Four courses meticulously planned for your enjoyment using only the most fresh ingredients available from the farms that week.

Buy local. Eat local.