jameyjohnson.org

Great Vibe in Uptown...Salsa dancing!

Edwinna and I with BRUNO, our latin salsa dance instructor. Four Season Dance Studio has a great environment, uptown vibe, very eclectic, and fantastic instructors. Great place for a (sexy) date with your wife...watch out "twinkle toes" jamey J. johnson coming your way soon! 

 

 

 

 

Kind words from a innovative photographer, and good friend.

 I found these kind words from Simon McConico on the internet about me a few days ago.  Encouragement is like oxygen to the soul...let me tell you about Simon; he is a very innovative photographer, good friend, and is also going to get married April 3rd, 2010 to a fantastic woman, Nicole Henzel.  I am very happy for Simon, and wish the best for both of them...Edwinna and I love you both.

Thanks again for the kind words Simon...

(From Simon McConico):   "A little while ago Jake and I went up to Minneapolis to shoot a wedding.  The day after the wedding we stuck around and shot some promo material for Christ Church International’s new website that is in the works.  After we shot that we hung out with Jamey who is one of my mentors and a good friend.  Some people just have a cool, down to earth vibe and that is very Jamey.  He is the pastor of Leadership and Development at CCI and does his job well.

One of the things that I really admire about him is that he is good at reading people and encouraging people.  We went to the Tea Garden (wish they had one in Wis.), and chatted for a while about Valo and the big ideas we have for our company.  He gave some great feedback to our thoughts and encouraged us to keep going after our passions.  Here are a few photos that we took when we were walking around in South Minneapolis."

Simon took these photo of me about a year ago.  If you need photos taken, HE IS THE MAN! 

  

  
 
 

The best gift of 2009

 
 
  
Your my best friend! 

  
 

Vanilla/Chocolate Mocha

I love Starbucks!  Especially Chocolate/Vanilla Mocha's...with a touch of sweetness.

Self-Esteem Builder

Everytime my wife looks at me she has this weird bubble over her head.  The crazy thing it's been there for over 11 years now...what does your spouse's bubble say about you?

Friendship

  This is a picture of my good homie and I in Orlando Studios, Florida...although he does have a tendency to muscle me around sometimes.

Hellish Weather

   

It was only like yesterday that Edwinna and I were wearing shades in 90 degree Minnesota weather...Oh my, how times have changed!!!

FEELING JOY!

My wife (African-American female) was on the phone talking to her friend, Linda Davis (a African-American police officer in Chicago), and with utter enthusiasm she shouted the words, "This is history girl!" Edwinna was referring to the first African-American President, Barack Obama.  I just sat, listened and watched with utter pride and joy as my wife broke out with tears and excitement to her friend.  And I thought to myself, "if you have never walked in African-American shoes, and never experienced the deep level of historic struggle, there is no way to understand the depth of joy that November 4th 2008 represented for African-Americans." 

(These are just a few of the recorded phrases from my wife's conversation with Linda):

• "my grandma would be so proud" 
• "I can't believe this"
• "we made it"
• "tthrough all the struggle"..."even the struggle that people didn't even know about"
• Oh, my gosh Linda"..."I feel so emotional"..."my vote counted"...a black president in office!
• Rock the vote girl!"
• "Do you know how many black folks died...blood was shed...this is so historic, only if my grandparents were alive today"
• "I feel in a state of shock and I don't know what to do...Obama the first black president"
• "I feel wonderful...I feel so proud...this is for all the people who died and shed blood for us this is for them too...the first black president...Oh my gosh, Obama!!!"
• "This is so historical...I've never seen nothing like it...I'm so excited...it's so inspirational."
• "look at all them black folks on stage...he won!" 
• "YES, WE CAN!"

And with complete joy in both of our hearts, we both started to do "Obama Hustle!"

Congratulations to Barack Obama, the first African-American to hold the nation's top leadership position.  “I’m asking you to believe.  Not just in my ability to bring real change in Washington…I’m asking you to believe in yours.” - President Obama

Balance or feel the STING

Have you ever felt the STING at home before?  What do I mean?  You know, the STING your spouse gives you when you have spent so much time putting WORK before FAMILY.  We all have had times when we have had to put quite a bit of time at work out of necessity.  However, it can become very dangerous to your interpersonal relationships if you don't find some kind of balance work and family, and life. 

I came across this article (not sure where I found it) that gives some helpful advice about balancing work and personal life.

• Spend time with God - value your spiritual walk.
• Family comes first- if work occupies most of your thoughts, you've got your priorities messed up and your headed for disaster.
• Remember DATE NIGHT - I mean sexy date nights...not McDonald's!

• Find "you"time - find your own personal growth time.

• Eliminate distractions - don't always go to the Internet right away, and leave your cell turned off for awhile.

• If you can leave your work at the office

• Get back to reality - Vegin' on T.V. isn't always good.

• Divide your time equally - plan how your will spend time with family and friends (you value planning at work, right?)

• Actions speak louder than words - your loved ones know where your priorities are.

• Communicate - Talk about your relationships with your loved ones - value connecting.

• Get out of town - vacation baby, vacation!

Happy Birthday Edwinna!

 We celebrated my wife's birthday over the weekend (yes, we give each other 2 days of celebration time).  We had a great time!  Here is what we did:

Saturday, August 30th

• Went to the Original Pancake House (great banana pancakes).
• Visited the Minnesota Zoo
• Help my wife pick out her gifts at the Mall of America (went to at least a zillion women's clothing stores).
• Picked up a BBQ pizza at The Italian Pie Shoppe, and watched season 2 of Desperate Housewives.

Sunday, August 31st

• Had lunch at Big Bowl w/ family and friends.
• Ice Cream at Dairy Queen.
• Finished watching season 2 of Desperate Housewives together.