Winter Relaxation

I was looking at old pictures tonight and came across this picture that really shows what the winter weather does to you on the weekends when its cold and rainy outside and all you want to do is relax with a blanket and of course a warm pup!

Snow Again in Portland

Woke up to snow this morning for the drive to work. Of course it was supposed to snow over the weekend and of course it never did. Just was cold and rainy. This morning was a different story. The roads were covered and ice was in spots closer to home and to work. Was fine the entire time I was on the highway but then the side streets turned to a bit of ice but wasn't too bad.

Our weekend went well. We managed to veg out and watch some movies and some episodes of Arrested Development which were great. Emma borrowed the DVD from a friend at her work....Thanks Sadie!!

I went to another Flickr meetup with some local photographers in the area. It was all about flashes...which of course I do not have but will some day soon. It was great talking to everyone and picking their brains on what they use and like. Great experience. I only had time to upload one picture from the shoot to Flickr but might do more later on. There were 4 models about 20 or so photographers taking all sorts of shots. You can check out my shot here. And the rest of the pictures are in this group.

Puma!!

So it's been a little while since I posted a picture of Puma. He has been busy this winter.....um...walking...and playing with his ball.....and eating.....and well sleeping. Ok not THAT busy but he IS a dog.

Yesterday while I had the day off and Emma was at work I was working on some of my photos and messing with the blogs and I decided to bring Puma in the office with me and close the door. It has been crazy cold outside and I decided to bring our little space heater in the office and use that instead of heating the whole house. He didn't want to stay unless of course....I made it just perfect for him. So I brought his bed in for him to lay on, mainly because if I didn't he likes to sit in my lap while I sit at the computer. Keep in mind he is about 70 pounds!!

The sun was shining in the window and he was giving me this look. I turned with the camera and snapped this!!!



Oh and as I write this...he has his head across my lap....moaning to let him sit in my lap.....what a mistreated puppy he is!!

Actor Heath Ledger found dead!

Actor Heath Ledger is dead, the New York Police Department said Tuesday. Heath Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment. The Academy Award nominated actor was 28. Ledger's housekeeper found him dead in his Manhattan apartment, New York police said.
He died at 3:26 p.m., they said.

The New York Fire Department received a call at 2:27 Tuesday responding to a "cardiac arrest call" in New York.

They found an unresponsive male dead at the scene.

Test Build

This weekend the weather was once again cold and a bit rainy but it wasn't all that bad. At least we had no freezing rain or frost on everything. I decided to start with making the desk that I had planned on building for a while for the office. I managed to get two truck loads of left over maple flooring from Pete and Jen that I am going to try and use for the top of the desk.

I thought that I might be able to just glue up the pieces together since they are tongue and groove and fit together very tight but when I started to put the pieces together they twisted and turned a bit which made it hard to keep flat. At this point I had to change my plans. Emma had a great suggestion of making a test board with some scrap MDF that I could glue and nail the boards to and then I could use it as a base for some of the pictures that she wants to take for her newly designedblog. It worked out and all the boards lined up and were nice and flat. Here is an example picture and and board itself.

Poor Man's Photography Studio

So this is my setup for some of the photos that I have been taking recently for Emma's new Blog chefandphotographer.blogspot.com/
. We went to Ikea over the weekend and bought two $10 lights that work really well. I added some tracing paper to the front of one (removed in photo) that I used to get more light in the front and wasn't blocked by the box. The box was made by cutting out 4 sides and getting some cheap tracing paper at a craft store..$2.00

I have yet to be able to afford any flashes of any kind but hopefully that will come later. I also only get to shoot most of my photos at night and am lacking any natural light...which doesn't exist much this time of year in the wonderful northwest.

A closer look at the Setup

Icy Roads

Once again the roads in the Northwest have become icy and slick! I managed to make it to work this morning but not without being late to work. It was snowing in places which didn't help but at least I made it in one piece!

I had to take the long way into work instead of traveling over the mountain but at least everyone on the road was taking it easy and not driving like mad!!

Thank goodness for the new tires we bought for the car. I don't think I would have made it in the parking lot with the old slicks I had on the Mazda!

Tornado!!

Yesterday while I was at work, one of the guys I work with mentioned that he heard on the radio that a tornado touched down in Vancouver. I didn't think much about it but I guess it turned out to cause some damage. Our friend Paul was near the storm when it happened but he was fine. You can read about it here.

Once

Recently Emma and I received a movie called Once through our subscription to NetFlix. It was a great story and I highly recommend it to all. We have had some hits and misses with many movies that we have received through NetFlix but this one was by far one of the best. It stars Glan Hansard and Marketa Irglova who are the singers and actors in the movie.

If you see it and don't like it....well too bad....but it turned out to be a wonderful movie on a rainy Oregon day!

Oh and we also went and saw Juno in the theater....it was also a great film. Read an interesting article this morning about the author of Juno. Read it here.

New Look to Our Blog

So last night after working again on the truck to find that stupid leak that didn't get fixed the first time, I decided to mess with the blog structure and design. I had read on another blog on how to change the header and to create your own picture and title so I decided to see if I could change it. It took a while but it seems to be showing up well on the screen.....after an hour of tweaking! I also changed the main template that the blog is made up of. I hope everyone....at least the few that read this...like it.

Emma is back to work again this week. No fun. Especially since she has to work nights which means we get to see each other on the weekends. We do get to see each other for a brief amount of time at night or in the morning but one of us is usually asleep. Oh well...its not supposed to be forever...I hope!

The weather has again made it tricky for getting to work. Lately its been cold enough to snow in the higher elevations and it makes it hard to find out which way I need to get to work in the morning since I drive over a mountain each day. Luckily with the new tires on the car I can feel a little bit safer. The old ones were a little bare.

1 Year Anniversary

So yesterday was our first anniversary! We took it easy for the day but ran into a few bumps during the day. We started with a nice breakfast at one of our favorite places to eat the Tin Shed. Then we decided to start on our project of refinishing an ottoman that we got for free on Craigslist a while back. I will post some pictures later when its done.

Then I ran into a problem with the truck leaking water in the cab. It was sometime last week when we noticed that the carpet was wet and we couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It's the rainy season this time of year and when the truck was parked outside of the garage it would take on water. To make a long crappy story short, I managed to take the entire inside of the truck apart and pulled up the carpet. By this time the rain stopped and I used a hose to test out where it was coming in. With the help of my dad over the phone, we found out that it was coming in from the back window. I bought some silicone sealer and ran it along the outside. We will see how well it worked. So much for a nice relaxing day for our Anniversary.

Emma did however make a wonderful dinner of which I am sure she will post soon enough on her blog.

It's hard to imagine that it was only a year when it seems like much longer with everything that we have done. We managed to completely remodel the bathroom and the office. We went on many trips which included our Alaska cruise and many camping trips. We also installed new windows in the house. It's really been a wonderful year with everything that we have accomplished.

Lastly, I just wanted to say how wonderful it is to have Emma in my life. We really have become much closer this past year and I look forward to many many more years with her in my life. I couldn't ask for a better wife and friend!!

Happy New Year!!

So the new year has started and came with good news!! Lance and Suzanne have gotten engaged!! He called New Year's Eve with the good news from Hawaii. They are on an extended Christmas vacation staying with Suzanne's family. We didn't get many details about the nuptials ahead but I am sure they have started the planning of the big day! We are all very excited and look forward to the event!

Not much with us to report. We have been taking it easy and hanging out around the house and enjoying our time together. Emma has had the past 2 weeks off and I have had 8 of those days off as well which was really nice. Since she has been working nights and will continue to do so after the holiday break, we are getting in as much time together as we can. Puma is really enjoying having us at home as well even though he would like to be outside more but with the weather this time of year it can be hard.

I have been practicing with taking more pictures of the wonderful goodies that Emma has been making. She has been updating her blog with some of the pictures that I have taken which is fun to read about the food. How lucky am I to get to eat all the wonderful food that she creates!!