Little Rip, big appetite

We call her "Little Rip" but her given name is Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. She has an insatiable appetite, and her favorite is when we refill the BIG bowl of cat food that goes in the pantry. For the three minutes that bowl is sitting out in the open, she always tries her hardest to make a dent:

2010 U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix

That's the 2010 US Olympic Half Pipe team! We watched them compete, then saw the team announced at Park City Mountain Resort. We also happened to snag FREE 3-day ski passes at PCMC as part of the package.  Hello, those are $90/day. We skied all day and watched half pipe all night. It was bliss.  Of course, all this was brought to me by: Mason.

He painted the gold "medals" (the men's medal went to Shaun White!!!!).....

.....and also designed a hoodie for the event, shown below on a headless model:

The conditions were NUTS on the hill.  It snowed all day, but that meant lots of powder.

Seeing the riders that close was, for lack of a better term, SICK! Shaun White was about 10 feet higher up in the air than everyone else.

After two nights of competition, we watched a concert in the snow and saw the Olympic Team announced.  30 Seconds to Mars played and during the show, Mason and I realized that we'd seen a lot of shows in a lot of places and weather conditions (106 degrees at Coachella!)...but this was our very first show during a snowstorm.  A showstorm.

Wedding Gift Idea: a painting of their engagement photo

So the aforementioned wedding weekend: the groom was my cousin Nicholas, the bride was Ksusha--a lovely and warm Russian girl he met AFTER serving his LDS mission in Russia.  I knew that was your next question, so I just answered it for you. 

Now, having an artist for a husband makes life much harder in some ways, like all-nighters where the aroma of microwave popcorn and spray paint wafts upstairs from the garage amongst the soothing sounds of the electric sander and saw.  But it makes life much easier in other ways, like shopping for the perfect wedding gift.  

It's easy to get the couple something they registered for, and yes, they will be happy with that. But wouldn't you like to be the one that gives them their FAVORITE gift?  My wonderful hubby offered to give Nicholas and Ksusha a painting for their present, using one of the photos from their wedding invitation.  This is a foolproof choice because--hello--they sent this photo out to hundreds of their family and friends, they obviously like it and think they look good in it.  So that takes the gamble out of the photo choice right there.  And you can keep it a surprise.

Here's the original photo:

Here's the finished product:  Spray paint on wood, with a handmade "box frame."  

Title:  Blue Eyes

They LOVED it. It will be the first, and possibly only, piece of art in their newlywed apartment.  Adorable.

Email Mason if you want to commission a custom wedding gift of your own.

See The Precinct on tour! 3 Nights Only!

FYI- If you don't yet understand my humor, the title of this post is completely facetious. I know that having three shows, three nights in a row doesn't REALLY constitute a "tour," but.....come on, how could I resist? 

Here is the info for our world tour, should you be interested in attending one or more of the many stops on this groundbreaking musical endeavor.

1.  Friday February 26

@ The building formerly known as FORM + FUNCTION

3232 S. Highland Drive

Salt Lake City
The Precinct: 8:00 pm

Mason will be showing art.  Hundreds (literally) of prizes will be raffled and silent auctioned off.  The whole event benefits The Road Home Homeless Shelter. 

2.  Saturday February 27

@ Vertical Diner

2280 south West Temple

Salt Lake City

The Precinct:  8:00 pm

3.  Sunday February 28
@ The Urban Lounge

241 South 500 East

Salt Lake City

The Precinct:  7:30 pm

Old Skool.

This photo makes me smile so hard I might break a cheek.  It's my little sister Mackenzie and my cousin Dustin--fresh out of the mid 80's in NorCal.

I lost my beautiful little sister eight years ago, and I just reconnected with Dustin last weekend after YEARS, weddings, kids, and many tours of duty in Iraq had passed between us.  This picture just felt so poignant to me all weekend.  

Here's an updated one of Dustin and I with the rest of the cousins from the wedding this weekend.  Good times with good family. We've been there for each other since we were all wearing socks with huarache sandals and riding around on Variflex skateboards.

I know we'll be there for each other long after we've switched to the one-piece-silver-jumpsuit-of-the-future, too.  A good indication? There's another generation of us already....

We're multiplying at an incredible rate, and this isn't even half of us.

Waitin' Around to Die...

I turned 29 yesterday.  So posting this video today seemed appropriate, now that I'm just pretty much waiting around to die.  Any day now.

This isn't an original, it's a cover of our favorite song by the late, great Townes Van Zandt.  I came home from work one day and Mason was jamming the tune, but with a faster tempo than the way Townes played it, and a Spanish-ish-flamenco-ish feel to the guitar.  I fell in love instantly.  We started singing along and I found a harmony line I liked--et voila! 

Live from The Beehive Tea Room, January 30 2010:

Groundhog Day

 

So I didn't even plan it, but I happen to be only 70 miles from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on Groundhog Day.  I'm here for work, and the trip just so happened to fall on this date, in this city.  Isn't that crazy?! The local news in Pittsburgh is covering it, and they sent their local weather guy to Gobbler's Knob to do the story....it's eerily close to the plot of the movie.  AND my alarm went off today at 6:00...because I set it for 6:00...but I swear I didn't make the connection until this morning, until Google Imaging "groundhog day."  

My family's favorite, yet kind of obscure, lines from the movie:  "Morons, your bus is leaving."  and "Yeah, like the groundhog Phil."  Makes me laugh out loud just to think of my bro doing Phil's voice.

And here's the best find of my search.  Maybe we should consider the possibility that Punxsutawney Phil is sick and tired of being hassled at 7:30 on a Tuesday morning.

PS-Ned Ryerson from the movie is talking to the crowd right now on the news!  Bing!