Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Hooray!!!

Aloha Peg's Legs! This past weekend's sale was a HUGE success! We had the best turnout we've ever had for any sale (art or yard) thanks to the amazing support and outreach of the local media and the throngs of Peggy Chun fans and supporters (you can google "Peggy Chun Sale" to bring up some of the news coverage). I am so happy to report that we made more than enough to pay off our remaining medical expenses!!!! Hallelujah!!!

We will be using the rest of the proceeds to get our new business started...the first order of business is a new computer to run our payroll and accounting. Lolo and her husband have been kind enough to loan us their laptop for months now and I'm thrilled that we will be able to finally return it to them!

We're also looking into a sign for our new gallery which will read "Peggy Chun Gallery"! Yes, it is official, folks! We have signed the lease and will be moving in to 1161 Nuuanu Avenue somewhere around March 8. Eric and I are excited to share that we have booked our trip to Hualalai that same week (Woooo hoooo!). We will return refreshed and ready to get the gallery ready - building shelving for our prints, setting up our small office, hanging paintings and merchandising - it is going to be so fun!

Our Grand Opening will be First Friday, April 3rd - so save the date!!! We'll have more info about this event as it gets closer...We are also planning a "Soft Opening" for those of you who would like to get a sneak peak without the First Friday crowds...we'll keep you posted.

We are also happy to report that Elroy has found a great apartment right next to his sister's place on Alohi Way. It is not official yet, but it looks like it is going to work out...he would move in April 1. We'll keep you posted on that too.

So, as far as getting out of the Alika Avenue house...the sale helped to get rid of so much! It is much less daunting now! The plan is as follows...we are taking some time off from the sorting and moving this week to catch our breath, so you hardworking Legs get a break this Wednesday!!!

Next week will be the week before we move in to the new gallery (we are also renting some storage space in the basement of Mark's Garage) so we will really be jamming to get everything in place. We want to get as much done as possible so that we can focus on setting up the gallery (and moving Elroy) in March. And of course, in true Peggy fashion, we are planning a "House Cooling" Party to bid farewell to the Alika Avenue house (any excuse for a party, right!).

Wow, so that's the update. I have to get all of this blogging in at home now since we (perhaps a bit prematurely) closed out our Oceanic Account - we realized a bit too late that it meant that our internet would be turned off too! But it has been a blessing of sorts since it forces us to sort and move instead of watching YouTube videos!

One last note, I have to share that despite the emptiness of the walls and the floors in the house now, it does not feel sad...I was kind of expecting that it would be depressing to hear the hollow echoing of the house once things were moved out...but there is just a sense of freedom, a feeling of rebirth and new life, excitement for what's to come...how appropriate that it is the Spring. I also get a strong feeling of Peggy's approval and joyous pride in all that we have done...I can just hear her laughing and cheering us on...

And so yesterday, I did something to make her laugh even harder...I celebrated those empty floors by strapping on my roller skates and rolling around the house yesterday. I've always wanted to do that and it was everything I hoped it would be! Peggy clearly lives on in all of us...

Friday, February 20, 2009

Peggy Chun Sale in the News!

We made the news for our sale this weekend. First, KGMB ran a short piece called "Peggy Chun's Collections for Sale". Here is the transcript and the link to the online video:

She left her mark on hundreds with her beautiful paintings and zeal for life. Now fans of Peggy Chun can get some keepsakes by the talented artist.

Chun died in November, after a 6-year-long battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. Now, her friends are opening a new gallery under her name. So that means artwork, furniture, and so much more need to be sold from her Nuuanu home.

It's a chance for admirers, to get some pieces from her personal collection.
That's this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, from 8 to 2, at 3115 Alika Avenue.

Click here for KGMB.com Piece

The Honolulu Advertiser came and interviewed us and took some photos of us setting up. Read the full story, called "Peggy Chun's Vast Collection For Sale" and see a video of me and Pat Lokatos being interviewed here:

Click here for Honolulu Advteriser Piece

Below are a few photos from our workday on Wednesday setting up. You'll see me and Pepper in fetching tutus (set of 2 for 50 cents), Betsy and Lolo checking out the jewelry table, tons of tsotchkes (cows and cats galore!), and the living room transformed into our sale show room! Hope to see you all at the sale!





Monday, February 16, 2009

Special for Peg's Legs Only!!!

Hey Legs! As you know by now, our sale is set for this weekend. We're advertising on Craigslist, Hon Advertiser, Star Bulletin, and the Honolulu Weekly website. BUT...for all you dedicated Peg's Legs Blog followers, here's a little secret just for you! We are doing a special pre-sale for Peg's Legs on Friday, Feb. 20th from 10am to 2pm! And if you come help us price stuff on Wednesday (10am to 4pm), you can get an even earlier sneak peek at our sale items (hint, hint).

We'll be making our official announcement about the new Peggy Chun Gallery soon...so stay tuned! These are exciting times!

HUGE PEGGY CHUN MOVING SALE!

We are moving out of Peggy's Nuuanu home and opening a new Peggy Chun Gallery so EVERYTHING must go!! Artwork, furniture, books, household items, & much more from Peg’s personal collection! Don't miss this amazing opportunity to score lots of wonderful treasures at crazy low prices! Sat Feb 21 & Sun Feb 22, 8am to 2pm ONLY! 3115 Alika Avenue Honolulu 96817. See you there!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Getting Ready for Our Big Sale!






Here are some photos from the past few days. We got A TON of sorting done on Wednesday with the help of the Peg's Legs! We went through dozens of boxes of files including all of Peggy's hundreds of "Scrap/Art Reference Files". We even found the master list of these files and got another laugh at her hilarious folder titles. Here is a sampling of more file folder titles that actually existed:

Bad Art
Black Beard
Burlesque
El Nino
Feet
Juke Boxes
Jack Lord
Marijuana (yes, another one)
Pack Rats
Route 66
Rubber Ducky
Sigfried & Roy
Spam
UFOs
Umbrellas

We are busy getting ready for our big sale at the house on Feb 21 & 22. We will be sending the info to all the newspapers, Craigslist, etc. But we will be having a pre-sale on Friday for all the Peg's Legs so you guys can get first pick! Notice the photo above of Elroy doing some early book shopping! More info regarding next week's sale prep/work schedule and about our new gallery/the move coming soon!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Another Great Article By Lynn Cook

Lynn wrote another great article about Peggy called "If It's Not Fun, Why Do It? An Artist Gifts Us With a Mantra to Live By". The article can be found in the March issue of Generations magazine which can be found at many locations such as Zippy's, Longs, most Safeway stores, Hawaii State Libraries, Cinnamon's in Kailua, The Queen's Medical Center, Kuakini Medical Center, St. Francis Healthcare System, Kaiser Permanente's Honolulu and Hawaii Kai clinics, Borders Ward Centre, several Times Supermarkets, several Star Markets, Big City Diner at Ward Centers and Waipio, city parks and recreation centers...Thanks Lynn!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Organization - Fail!




Had to share these photos with you - I promise I did not stage this! I opened up this bin the other day and the article, "Getting Organized" was on top! The next photo is a zoomed out shot of the same bin to emphasize the hilarity of the moment!

The next photo is a shot of one of the thousands of folders that Peggy had...another one of her favorite sorting methods (along with bins, 3-ring binders, clear sheet protectors, cardboard magazine boxes, and plastic over-the-door shoe organizers). Other folder titles that we have come across in the past few days:

Why Women are Late
Marijuana
Letter from God (Funny)
Guest Owls
Chicken Cake

We are having so much fun sorting through all of her paperwork...everything is such a reminder of how fun, wacky, and hilarious she was! She saved everything because she LOVED everything! Everything she read or came across was a potential painting, party, gift, or project...she saved things for herself, for her friends, for her family, for her students, for strangers...she was a CRAZY LOVABLE MESS and that is why we miss her...and why we are truly enjoying this process as overwhelming as it is...

Friday, February 6, 2009

Roster

We've gotten a great response on our roster and it is turning out great! Thank you to the 25 of you who have responded thus far...I've entered in what I've gotten so far...but SO MANY of you are missing!!! Please spread the word and remind your pals to get their info in...also, I would love some feedback on a couple of things...

1 - Would it be helpful to include on the roster if the person was an "A", "B", private hire, etc.? I'm thinking it might help to identify people? Or is it not necessary?

2 - Please let me know if there are non-Peg's Legs that you would like included on the roster such as any HCA nurses, PC Gallery Girls, Peggy's family - help me think of who should be included!

3 - If there are people that you know that aren't on email or people that you really want to make sure get on the roster, please let me know so we can track them down!!!


Here are the instructions again:

Please email the following to this email pegslegsroster@yahoo.com by Friday, February 13th:

Full Name
Phone (up to 3 numbers)
Email
Mailing Address

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Overflowing with Gratitude

So...I thought that yesterday was just a big workday here at Peggy's. Much to my and Eric's surprise however, it was much much more! I should have been suspicious when Karen put out the tablecloths and everyone arrived with tons of delicious food. I honestly just thought that we were all just trying to make it a fun workday! First Marita walks in with a chocolate cake, then Pat Lokatos with a lemon cake, then Maria Rose with a spice cake! And still, it was all just over our heads that you all were planning a surprise for me and Eric!

Marita was acting a bit weird in the morning and Karen wouldn't let me sort things in Peggy's room, but still I totally fell for it when Karen told me that Marita was just working on some surprise for her daughter or something and that she didn't want us in there until she was done. I even started grumbling to Karen and Kelly about how "over surprises" I am! You see, Peggy was OBSESSED with surprises...after 8 years of Peggy's surprises, you get kind of burned out on them...especially when it's like, "Surprise! I bought 3 full body penguin suits on eBay!" or "Surprise! I bought $400 worth of party supplies on Oriental Trading Company!" or "Surprise! I need Eric to build a puppet storage system by tomorrow!"

But, I retract everything I said about surprises - now, I LOVE THEM!!! We all sat down to eat in Peggy's room and Marita stood up to make an announcement - then she gave Eric and I the most amazing news ever - that the Peg's Legs have been planning a surprise gift for me and Eric - a second honeymoon at The Four Seasons Hualalai on the Big Island! Even as I'm writing this, I still can't believe it! I am so overwhelmed and so excited and so blown away by all of your love, generosity, thoughtfulness...and super sneakiness!

You see, as a wedding gift to us in 2002, Peggy and a bunch of friends arranged for us to go to Hualai for our honeymoon. It was the most amazing gift and we had the best time! It was the perfect way to start our marriage...I know that trip and the fun we had gave us the emotional energy and strength to get through the next 6 years. Ever since our stay at Hualalai, we've fantasized about returning...it is as if you all read our minds!

So when you all surprised us yesterday with this wonderful gift, of course I cried! And thank you, Kelly, for taking so many unflattering photos of my blubbering. Thanks also to Kelly for making me a "surprise ball" in the shape of a heart! It was filled with sexy goodies to go with us on our trip. Marita also presented us with champagne glasses, champagne, a sexy nightie, and a special outfit for Eric (you'll have to ask those there what he got!)...and it was all packed in Peggy's leopard print roll-y suitcase...the one that I'm sure we already gave to Marita for Christmas...the re-gifting continues! You know that's not the last you've seen of the roll-y suitcase, Marita!

Thank you all of you for this gift, I can't say that enough. And thank you to my mom and dad for agreeing to watch the kids when we go, since of course that was the first call that had to be made when you all came up with this fabulous idea! This will be our first trip away from the kids...it will be good for them...and for us! Of course, they LOVE Grandma and Papa's house and we're going to shoot for a weekday trip so that they are busy with school for most of the day. We're working with my mom on setting a date for our trip, looking at sometime in March...we'll keep everyone posted! We are so excited!!!

Well, believe it or not, we actually did get a lot accomplished in addition to our partying! We filled Tiare Finney's truck bed and she did a dump run for us! We went through at least 10 bins of paperwork and even found a few more signed originals including one of Siamese cat (it was folded in half at the bottom of a bin of old paperwork and watercolor scraps!).

We also began organizing the photos...we are doing away with Peggy's binder system (sorry, Peg) since it just takes up too much space. She has tons of binders with those clear inserts with photos on pasted on paper and then she labeled the binder with something like "1970". But many of the binders only have a few photos, so we are taking all of the inserts out of the binder and stacking them in piles chronologically (40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, etc.) and then we'll box them up to deal with with them later. Really, they should be scanned...that will be a fun project. Luckily, we have a lot of negatives and you can take those to Costco and they'll digitize the images...then we can see what photos we have and what we can toss once they are digitized.

OK, well, that is it for now. I am going to go and sort more today. We really are making progress and it is so fun to go through all this stuff. It is like treasure-hunting! We'll shoot for another workday next Wednesday. We are planning to do a big art & yard sale Feb 21 and Feb 22, so mark your calendars!

Thanks again you all...Eric and I just can't express enough how loved and blessed we feel. Thinking about going back to Hualalai after these last 6 years is so cool...talk about a full circle moment...it is just so poetic and beautiful...I'm going to start my blubbering again...Have a great day everyone and enjoy these photos from yesterday!



Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Sorting for Peggy

Well, we know Peggy is smiling down on us because we're finally doing all her sorting projects! Yesterday Kelly and I sorted through over 4 of her famous "To Sort" plastic bins. Though it is time consuming, it is actually kind of fun and entertaining to go through all of her paperwork - and we do have to go through it all because there are so many treasures...buried in a lot of crap.

That's sort of the theme of all this - treasures buried in crap. For instance, in one bin we might find a combination of old family photos, special fan letters from children, unopened mail, Jehovah's Witness pamphlets, Valentine's Day cards from Elroy, old unopened business mail (we found a $90 check for prints sold from a company that went out of business last year), business cards, old magazines and newspaper cuttings, and silverfish. So it takes time to go through each piece of paper, but it is very satisfying to see those empty bins when we are done. We did manage to fill our whole trash bin yesterday, so we are making progress - slowly but surely.

We are planning a big workday tomorrow. Marita is bringing some food and her boundless energy. She leaves next week, so Wed will be her last workday with us and she is ready to make some progress! Eric will here to make executive decisions and move heavy stuff! We are ready for help this time and will have projects set up for our helpers - we plan to do more bin sorting, so we have set up some sorting stations in Peggy's room. We'll start around 10:30 and go until 3:30 or 4...Hope you can join us - it will be fun! See you tomorrow!

MDA ALS Support Group - Next Tuesday

WHERE: Queen's Conference Center RM 201
WHEN: Feb 10, Tuesday, 6-8 pm
PARKING: Across the street at Kinau Hale FREE!
POTLUCK: Divina tells us that Nancy is bringing red velvet cupcakes, to celebrate Valentine's day in advance and Divina is bringing Support Group-famous ministrone soup.

This meeting is on caregiving issues. I will be there to share along with Suzanne Maurer and Tanya Mau (John's daughter who came home to take care of John when he was diagnosed with ALS). Divina has also invited everyone she knows who has taken care of a family member who had ALS. This is our opportunity to share with those who are now struggling to cope with the caregiving dilemmas of loved ones with ALS. It is our gift to them - to be able to share what we know! Please join us if you can :)

Monday, February 2, 2009

Peg's Legs Roster

Hi all! We are creating a Peg's Legs Roster for everyone so that we can all keep in touch with each other by phone, email, address. So, if you would like to be included on this roster, please follow these instructions. Please email the following to this email pegslegsroster@yahoo.com by Friday, February 13th:

Full Name
Phone (up to 3 numbers)
Email
Mailing Address

We want to go to print by March 1, so please spread the word and help us get this project done!

Trunk Show by Lynn Cook's Daughter

Matters of the Heart!
 
Trunk Show by Terry Nokell, The Logger's Daughter
First Friday, 4 - 9 p.m.
Original designed fashions, silver jewelry and ceramic masks.
Terry's designs are carried by the Louis Pohl Gallery, The Contemorary Museum, The Shop at HiSAM, and Silver Moon in Haleiwa.