Orange

Orange, originally uploaded by schoolio.

Date night in orange. :) I went to the florist for something different and came away with this - a single-color arrangement inspired by the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten. What can I say? All the remodeling has inspired a lot of HGTV viewing.

Anyway, I don't know that I'd ever do it again, but it was fun to try. And very orange.

29-1/2

29-1/2, originally uploaded by schoolio.

The 2006 White Castle Crave Challenge. The challenge? Eat as many of the 30-burger Crave Case as you can in 60 minutes.

As time ran out, Jeff closed out the event just shy of a full case. 1/2 burger short as shown here. He still won with a sizable margin (I think #2 finished 24-1/2) but next year, 30.

For what it's worth, he had two practice days:

Friday: 22 burgers
Saturday: 27 burgers

Wow. And he's not a huge guy, either. You can tell by the smile that he was happy and full. Still chewing, as a matter of fact.

Next year, Jeff. Next year. :)

Burpin' Griffin

Burpin' Griffin, originally uploaded by schoolio.

Only a month old, little Griffin was quite a trooper at Guys Night Out. The night was beautiful so we sat outside as he put down six ounces of formula. It was two burps and nearly three hours before he was tired enough to nod off. An amazing little guy.

A shame it's a little blurred. :(

Inner diva

Inner diva, originally uploaded by schoolio.

Anne is leaving again to teach English in China for the next nine months. I don't have many pictures of her and Anne's a bit camera shy so I challenged her to be herself for a photo. Turns out, Anne's a diva. :)

Good times. We'll miss Anne when she's in China.

Tiny scream

Tiny scream, originally uploaded by schoolio.

The photo belies the noise - it really wasn't the blood-curdling scream this photo would suggest. A little cry but he had to let dad know that the solution was inches away.

Nice to meet you, Griffin. Congrats to Jack and Jena.

Bedtime snack

Bedtime snack, originally uploaded by schoolio.

While on a walk through the neighborhood, we ran across this little guy who had stopped for a quick snack before bed. The light was low and he didn't wait for me to get a tripod (how rude! :) so it's a low light handheld shot.

It was certainly kind of him to pose for me.

The toss

The toss, originally uploaded by schoolio.

For me, this is a great conclusion to the happy bride-to-be photo, .

I'd like to pretend that the absence of the bouquet was an artistic choice but it's not true. :( In a last minute move, I quickly ran up to the edge of the bouquet toss spectator crowd and caught this shot. I'm happy with the way it turned out - everyone looking "off camera" and all, but the bouquet would've been nice.

Next time. :)

Happy bride-to-be

Happy bride-to-be, originally uploaded by schoolio.

This bride-to-be definitely did not look nervous as she stood at the altar just prior to the ceremony. Happy as a clam.

Congratulations, Steve and Alysia.

Amore dinner

Amore dinner, originally uploaded by schoolio.

Following the art fair, we stopped off at Amore Victoria and I had one of the richest, most delicious meals I've had in ages. Lobster ravioli with a creamy white sauce, shrimp, and caviar. Does it get any better?

Two cities in the twin cities

Two cities in the twin cities, originally uploaded by schoolio.

Playing with pseudo macro and DOF. And trying to find something to do with the books until they can be reshelved.

As my Flickr friend, Psycrow, pointed out, maybe I could try reading them. :)

Peeling away the old

Peeling away the old, originally uploaded by schoolio.

I chipped in and helped a little by scraping away the old caulk from the door frame. Naturally, I had to pause for a photo. You know - feed my flickr addiction.

Artist at work

Artist at work, originally uploaded by schoolio.

Melissa puts the finishing touches on her old-style Ki at the great Paint-a-Plate event. To be honest, I didn't know what it was until kaycat on Flickr commented on the photo.

A tiny bit of sleuthing uncovered the Wikipedia entry for Ki which reads in part:

The Japanese word ki 気, from Chinese qi, the originally Chinese cultural concept meaning "life force" or "spiritual energy"

After that, I remembered that the stencil had "Energy" on the bottom and which our artist creatively omitted. I can't wait to see the final product.

Feeding Monarch - up close and in person

Feeding Monarch - up close and in person, originally uploaded by schoolio.

I like the Monarch pictures so I thought I'd blog one more. This is a crop of Feeding Monarch suggested by Sabinche. I agree and like this version better - thank you for your suggestion!

Catch my best side, will you?

Catch my best side, will you?, originally uploaded by schoolio.

My favorite of the Monarch set. I think this is his best side but I also like this one against the green background.

Absolutely, positively best viewed large to see the textured detail on his wings but it looks good on black, too.

Can you tell I like this photo? :)