The Art of “A Quick Interview”

Kim Kreis at home…Christmas 2021… The original interview below came from Amy Lemley Bailey @womenofalabama on instagram ( www.myscoop.us/) Be sure to check Amy ‘s accounts out as she has a BIG heart for women and especially women entrepreneurs of Alabama. I added a few questions I would have answered that were not applicable but I thought so much FUN…I am getting responses that I am dying over and good laughter…be sure to give me YOUR take! @kimkreisart

Artist

Birmingham, Alabama

Born an “Army Brat” in Tacoma, Washington.

Lived in Japan where my younger sister was born. Traveled and lived

across the United States, settled in Dothan, Alabama.

Married and moved to Birmingham which has been home for 35 years.

Favorite Quote:

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”

C. S. Lewis

Who is Your Favorite Person:

No one else is as important to me or hits all the right notes as my husband, Bill Kreis. Words can not express the love, respect and friendship we share. If I could only speak with, spend time with one person for the rest of my life, it would be him.

Favorite Movies:

Anything with great actors like John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart,

Gary Cooper, Robert Duval and others that live more in black and white from the 1930’- through the 1950’s. Past the ’50’s I become much more choosy but Denzel Washington is high on the list.

My current very favorite movies would be all the Lord of the Rings.

Favorite Binge TV:

Any solid British TV mysteries like Father Brown…there are a lot of them but I prefer real mysteries that are clean and have a good story, good cast, and good character.

Favorite Childhood Memory:

There are too many, but one that I will share is as a third grader/6th grader

running toward the airplanes close to tarmac that brought my father home from Thailand

and then Vietnam. (Back in the day when you could do that!)

What do you like most about Alabama:

I am proud to say I grew up as a “military brat” and so we moved

quite a bit…so what I like about Alabama the most is that I’ve always

considered it “Home”…perhaps that is why “Sweet Home Alabama” was

written.

What do you love about the South:

Alabama is a beautiful state where we range from mountains to the beaches,

but what I love the most is the beautiful people who live here. I love our kindness, consideration, thoughtfulness and beliefs that make it this way.

Favorite Place in Alabama:

Birmingham is the perfect mix of natural beauty, family and friends. It is the perfect blend

of traditional values and the faith community and goodness we need to live in a time such as this.

Favorite Book by a Southern Author:

To Kill A Mocking Bird…

Favorite Music:

I love contemporary Christian music like Casting Crowns, Katy Nichole, Third Day, Zach Williams, Jordan St. Cyr…I also love listening to Rich Mullins and Fernando Ortega.

Combined with the movie starring Gregory Peck and Mary Badham who played Scout and was actually born in Birmingham is an unbeatable combination!

Favorite Book:

At the risk of sounding cliche it has to be the Bible. No other book is alive, always current, or as personal. This book will save your life…it saved mine.

Favorite Places:

My favorite places are anywhere our children/grandchildren are but especially if they are at the beach or Hilton Head. Bill and I have finally recently traveled a bit…and want to do more just the two of us. We especially loved going to Charleston, South Carolina!

Your Mentor:

My beautiful mother, Nadine Seifried. Throughout my entire life, I have witnessed

the gentle strength, guidance, belief in me, and her prayers that have guided

my life choices and helped me recover from the poor ones.

What you wish you could tell your 20 year old self:

I would tell myself to not waste time feeling afraid of my future, of what I would do and

who I would be…because God has guided my every step, through the very good and the very hard, and it has been a life worth living.

Is there anything you do that people don’t know?

Well, yes! I love to wear headphones and listen to a combination of Christian and “Rock” music while running on our neighborhood trails…thank goodness there are a lot of trees with privacy because I like to interject dancing and skipping as well. It’s a great workout and it’s my “nod” to being uninhibited by what anyone else might think of me!

Kim Kreis graduated with a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education and taught the most delightful fourth graders in Wicksburg, Alabama…a wonderful, wonderful blue collar, farming community outside Dothan, Alabama for 10 years. Following her marriage in 1986, she moved to Birmingham where she began a new career as a stay at home mom and a fine stationery entrepreneur for 25+ years. Once she and her business partner passed on their company, Sweet Pea Designs, the next step became obvious…to be an artist with a purpose…