365 days= 1 year

Hello, readers!

You'll excuse me if I'm on a bit of a soapbox today. I want to talk today about a topic on which I know infinitely more than anyone who would possibly read this: photography. I've always felt that photography is the most superior of all the creative arts, simply because it's so tangible. The other arts- music, theatre, dance, painting- while pretty and all, and also a good outlet for crazy people, don't produce anything tangible in the end, anything you can see and feel. But you can see and feel a photo. You can smell a photo, you can taste a photo, and you can hear a photo. To quote Dean James Schnimmond, "I... photograph... as if time were moving backwards... I set the exposure for 2.3 mm antigrade and let the millimax filter the natural lighting exposure output product."

As MJ mentioned in her previous post, I've started a 365 project. In case you didn't know, a 365 project is when you take one photo every day for a year, then share it with all the people who are your friends on facebook. Then a bunch of other people say things like, "I HAVE to know what camera you're using!" and "I love the enigmatic lighting choices. Ambrosial focus dilution." I don't expect the average reader of this blog to grasp the meaning of these comments, or what a 365 project is, or who MJ is or what "previous" means. Try and stick with me, though. It might help to read each sentence twice.

I'd like to spend the rest of this post sharing some of my favorite photos from my 365 project. Here's a miraculous capture from the first week:

Day 5


Wow! I just happened to catch this shot from the passenger window of my car as I was driving home from getting groceries! Groceries really are amazing; without them it would be really hard to cook. I love buying groceries on a crisp fall day while on my way to the laundromat, singin' along with some John Mayer and watching the friendly exchanges of people on the sidewalk. My thoughts are poetry.

Day 14


I went to the Holland box-moving fair this past Saturday. Although I started with the simple aim of getting a picture of this guy moving boxes, I quickly realized that it was the simple yet poignant message of the boxes that really interested me. I also realized I didn't care about cutting off this guy's head. Aren't we, when it comes down to it, just like these boxes? Fragile? Handled with care? Arrows pointing upwards?

Day 23



"Dances with Wolves"

"Motion is... unchanneled thoughts." -J. Adram Yarmovsky

I think this photo shows how much I've grown during the course of my 365 project. I think I've channeled my raw talent into a compelling vision with a clear and strong manipulation of bokeh strobe settings. I took this picture using a 5.6 km refractory on my Nokia 5.1 mhz camera hybrid, with a 2.3576 exposure, my biggest ever!

If you want a copy, poster, doormat, couch, or picture frame with any of these photos printed on it, let me know. I'm thinking of opening a store and selling my pictures, and that would be a great way to get started! And now that you've read this post, you're pretty much qualified to start a 365 project yourself- next time you're driving, just whip out your cell phone, snap a picture, and that's day 1!

"Johnny get your haircut"

Salutations!

Do you like our new background? It's one of the photos that Chris a few weekends ago on our get away in Chicago. He just started a 365 project because he's really been getting into photography. He is actually really amazing at taking pictures. Whether it be on a disposable camera, a cell phone, or even a pin hole camera, they always turn out to be the most gorgeous shots. I bet you want to know what kind of camera he uses...well, I'll just let HIM tell you!

Anyway, Chris and I went to Chicago, and while we were there, we saw this fabulous musical called "Johnny, get your hair cut". It was awesome! Suspenseful, thrilling, and action packed. There was not a dull moment, that's for sure. Some of our favorite song selections from that heart wrenching musical include:

"Life, hold it in your hands"

"I've got a melon, do you?"

"Rainbows from Julie"

"It flows...from me to Jim Henry"

"Braids, barretts and bows- who's got em?"

"Aint nothin' but a shiny head to wish on"

Wow, I could seriously go on. It was that good. "Johnny get your hair cut" might be the best thing Chicago has seen all year- heck, maybe the best thing I've seen all year! Our personal favorite though, might have to be "Rainbows from Julie". It's kind of become our song :) The lyrics just hit me deep. I think you'll see why once you read them.

"Take a look, Julie's there

If you can't see her, know she cares

She sits above my window pane

In an off center picture frame

The morning brings me sunlight

Afternoons are grey

Evenings could be better

they could be better

but always I can see...rainbows from Julie

Julie made me smile

Her rainbows make me smile

It's almost like her and the rainbow are one in the same

She sends them in a letter or emails at the door

...rainbows from Julie"

Ugh, doesn't reading that just give you chills? Chris likes to sing along and instead of sing "Julie", he'll sing "MJ". "Rainbows from MJ", it's got a great ring to it.

whoa.... Halloween #2!

Hey there everyone! Happy Halloween!

Not only is it Halloween, it’s also what I’m going to call the one-year anniversary of the blog! Granted, we’ve had this blog considerably longer than a year, but up until now I had never really thought about that. Mazel tov!

And what a year it’s been. I love how I’m constantly learning new things about the wonderful woman I’m married to. For example, when we play poker, MJ always bets four spades. What a card! And she never remembers to turn the oven off after she’s done making dinner. At first this made me fear for my life, but now I think it’s soooooo cute.

And it’s amazing, as I look back, to think how much has changed since last year. MJ has some different shirts, I think. Yeah, that one got a hole in it, so we threw it away. It was brown… so I guess you could say she has one less brown shirt.

MJ’s gotten me much more into the spirit of Halloween this year. Imagine, she actually got me to get all dressed up and go out trick-or-treating with her! Unfortunately, the fun turned a bit sour at first, because I guess some of the neighbors had some sort of “problem” with my costume. I was supposed to be a shopping cart, but that turned out to be way too complicated so I just carried around a butcher’s knife and ran into peoples’ cars. What’s wrong with that? Well, according to the neighbors, it’s not “safe”, I guess. If being “safe” means someone’s not running around town in the dark with a giant knife, then I’m not really interested in being safe. But that’s just me.

MJ, as usual, outdid herself with the originality and realism of her costume, as I’ve now come to expect. Here she is, as a credenza:

The funny thing is, I didn’t even realize we owned a credenza until MJ dressed up as one. I told her, “Hey, you look a lot like something we have in the living room.” Then I said, "Go stand in that completely white part of the street so I can take a picture of you."

Anyway, I put my giant knife in one of MJ's drawers (that's not innuendo or anything) and we were able to have a ton of fun trick-or-treating with all the kids. Aside from a few incidents where MJ thought we were bobbing for apples and we were definitely not, we had a great and not at all embarrassing time. I would even consider doing it again next year!

Is that my face I see in you?

Hello friends and blog readers!

Chris and I are knee deep in the fall weather folks. We are fine weather friends, like birds of a feather that flock together. Chris says that autumn is the best time of year. Here are his reasons:

Number 1. Leaves. They fall! This just amazes dear Chris. Chris is just always running around trying and either tape, staple, paper clip or do anything he can to get those leaves back on the trees. I just shrug my shoulders and tell him that that's not what MN (Mother Nature) had in mind. He's just trying to do what he can to keep the earth green, instead of red, yellow, or orange. I admire his green ambitions.

Number 2. Apple Cider. Cider now replaces all other liquids. From September-November, it's all he'll drink. For breakfast, it's Cherrios covered in apple cider. Had a hard day? Hit me hard with an apple cider. Like Chris always says, an apple cider a day keeps the bearded magician at the back door.

Number 3. Pumpkins. Yesterday Chris insisted upon picking our own pumpkins. We hiked through about 3 corn fields before finding the perfect pumpkin patch. These pumpkins, for some weird reason were accompanied by a pack of lobsters. Yeah, we didn't get it either. Chris carved a koala with bunny slippers on in his pumpkin and I carved a giraffe with a cowboy hat. They represented our favorite animals and our favorite article of clothing, Chris' idea of course.

So that about gets you up to speed on our life as of late. Oh, one more thing. Here's a picture of Chris and I on our way into Meijer a couple weekends ago. He insisted that I go to the store with him to get popsicles,..even to the point of almost strangling me. So, like any good wife, I went along. Turns out I needed some 7up anyway.

Here's a valid question though: Is Chris' foot on the ground, or in the air? The world may never know...

Summer recap

Yes, all the rumors are true, folks. We had a great summer! Here are a few pics from our grand adventures...

Here Chris and I are waiting at the airport and found mini Amber and Creams! Which one is Amber, which one is Cream?!?!

Here we are with our friends Zach and Kara in California. We had a good time with friends and created many memories.

Lake Michigan sunsets- foot on the ground or in the air?

Who's that beach bum?

Rah Rah Rah Woo woo!

Overall, a great summer, good buddy.

Seven Songs about Not Stopping

Hey there, fans of us! Gosh, it sure has been an incredibly long time since I updated this thing. That's because MJ and I have been busy with an extremely exciting, highly creative project: our very own album, Seven Songs about Not Stopping!

The album has more than seven songs and none of them are about not stopping, but that's ok, it's more of a "concept album" anyway. Here are the tracks:

Please don't
Did you just say...
Seaside ballad for the lost lobster
Wenn dein mutterlein tritt zu tur hinein (techno remix)
For Jackie, who had too many cookies
This song contains a thinly veiled reference to MARIJUANA
Interlude
I left my Chihuahua at the train depot
White Wedding (racially sensitive remix)
Did you just say.../yes,yes, I did
Got my Chihuahua back

MJ and I spent a lot of time editing this baby to make it the astonishingly original masterpiece that it is. I always like how on some of those beatles albums they control what comes through which speaker.. you know, you'll be listening and realize you only hear the banjo through the right speaker or whatever, and the buzzsaw through the left. So for this, I really wanted to take that to the next level and have all of it just coming through the left speaker, or the left ear if you're wearing headphones. So don't panic that your stereo equipment is broken when you're listening to it, ok?

MJ and I recorded all the instrumental tracks ourselves, which was difficult, to say the least. Fortunately we both play oboe, so towards the end you might notice that most of the songs are just oboe duets with the occasional interuption of people yelling/tripping over things in the background. However, this is kind of hard to notice if, like me, you only listen to music when you're driving on the highway with the windows down all the way.

For a sample of our work, go to this website! If you want more you're going to have to contact us directly, though:



We are so excited to start taking this on tour to the most pathetic coffeehouses around the country! We've already used my late aunt's money to build a tour bus that runs on fumes from burning paper, and done some mildly offensive spray-painting in my neighborhood, which MJ tells me is prerequisite for this kind of thing. Disestablishmentarianism, I guess. Ooh, I should have spray-painted that! Man. Oh well, what's done is done. I did some pretty cool stuff though... I tried to spray-paint a guy being guillotined, but I'm not really good at drawing so I think it just looks like a dinette set. Whatever.

Get listening! And hey, check in with us again soon. Now that the crazy summer of rebellion is over, we'll be updating this regularly again. :)

Oyyyyyyy, SPRING is at the door!

"Ahhhh, spring time...the time when people are falling in love; why even married couples get a little frisky!'

Oh, truer words have never been spoken. Chris and I were so ready for spring to get here, we kept paper chains awaiting that lovely day, March 20. To celebrate, Chris and I took a trip to IKEA, our favorite everything store, to buy a new faucet! Every time I would wash my hands, I would have to squat down real low to reach our faucet. "Enough is enough!" I said one day, and Chris and I went on the search for the perfect faucet.

Here I am at IKEA taking a look at a few of the faucets...



While at IKEA, we found a newly engaged couple getting their engagement pictures taken! We immediately struck up a conversation about engagement photos and what kind are the best. We recommended that ones where people are doing things they would normally do, are the best kind. Scooter and Jazmine were great. You can see the true love beams in this one.



Overall, it was a great trip and we got this new age faucet that shoots out lasers that turn into water! Pretty economical, huh?



Happy Spring to all!

MJ and Chris at the Olympics!

Well hello! I know it's been a really long time since we last updated the blog, but we have a good reason! You see, MJ and I have been competing in the Olympics!

This isn't something we've ever mentioned before on the blog, but MJ and I are highly trained synchronized pole vaulters. I've been synchronized pole vaulting ever since I was 5 and begged my parents to let me take lessons- I had been watching Mom and Dad on the pro circuit for years, although shortly after I entered high school they decided to vault in Disney's "synchronized pole vaulting on ice" show so that I could have a little stability in my life.

One of the first things I thought after meeting MJ was that she had what we call in the business the perfect "synchronized pole vaulter's foot." On our fourth date or so, I convinced her to come out to the synchronized pole vaulting rink and give it a shot. MJ was so gutsy- she didn't even want to use training skates, or for me to lay down the protective layer of snow we use to prevent people from snapping their necks off. I knew then we could be a great team, if she didn't snap her neck off too many times.

So yeah, that's the background on that one. MJ and I felt so honored to be one of 3 teams representing the U.S. in Vancouver this year!! We may not have medaled (obviously; if we had we'd be national heroes by now), but we sure had a great time and met a lot of wonderful people. Here's a picture of us with the team from Sweden:


They got silver!

A word of explanation... it's too small to see, but my name tag says "accompanist". You see, in synchronized pole-vaulting the "upper" vaulter is referred to as the "accompanist". If the "accompanist" fails to complete the jump but the other person (the "soloist") does, the team can still be awarded points. If the "soloist" misses the jump but the "accompanist" does not, it is an automatic disqualification. Actually MJ is the accompanist in our team and I am the soloist, which is part of what makes this picture so hilarious! We were a bit out of control.

Like I said, we didn't medal. In retrospect, a drinking contest may not have been the best way for MJ and I to kill the time before we had to go vault. Nonetheless, I think we're both very proud of our performance, and we're really hoping to be ambassadors for the sport back in the states. There are so many hard-working synchronized pole vaulters here who need our support! They shouldn't all have to go to Denmark to get endorsements deals!

Well listen, since we're back home now and won't be having so much excitement for quite a while, you can expect us to be updating the blog more regularly. Thanks for hanging in there with us!

2010!

SO YA, IT'S DA NEW YEAR!

Heeppy 2010 ya'll! I hope the new year has greeted you with a lollipop and a mug full of pipe cleaners. 2010 so far has been pretty sneaky. Things that I keep thinking are going to happen never do. Like, for example, the sun rising; yep, still waiting for that one. It's been pretty dark these days; that's so 2010 of you, sun.

Also, Chris keeps telling me that my favorite band "Big Monday" has a new album out. I have joyously run to the store several times to see if it's there, but it's not! (Turns out it comes out in a week- can't wait!) Chris knows how gullible I am. He actually convinced me that he was a sextuplet for a few months. I finally found out it wasn't true when I went to Chris's parents house for the first time and saw a picture of Chris as a child in a brightly colored frame that had the words "Our only child" boldly written with ABC block letters. I saw this and immediately thought "I'm gonna go eat dirt".

Anyway, we spent New Years at Zach and Kara's with a few good friends. It was a great time. We all had a sockpuppet making party and then put on a New Year's puppet play with them.

Here's mine, pretty cute if you ask me.



Chris's looked like it was in a constant state of shock.



Or maybe it's more of a state of confustion...alabama? Chris says it's from Beavertown...wherever that is.

We did the play for Yams the recycling dog who showed much appreciation by barking at appropriate times.

The night ended with a toast to the new year. We were all out of bread to make toast, so we had to use champagne. It actually worked pretty well. Chris and I could even drink from our glasses in a cool way. This picture was taken before Chris spilled all the champagne in his glass on my sock puppet...yeah, i know...



I suppose that about covers the really important things in our life in 2010 so far. Oh, also you should know that Chris and I have decided that "twenty ten" is the only way to refer to this year. Please join us in speaking this year in decades only.

Mazeltoff!