Christmas '07

I had a nice visit with my Family over Christmas. Check out what a trip to Brainerd looks like during Christmas time.


















At every family gathering there is an impromptu Foos Ball tournament, provided there is a FoosBall table in the vicinity.

Team Awesome vs. Team Olds. Team Olds usually dominates, depending on how much my Dad has had to drink. They dominated Christmas Eve, leaving Team Awesome not feeling so awesome.



















On Christmas Eve we all head out to my Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner. This year on the menu: Roast Beef, Spare Ribs, lefse, mondu, cheesy hash browns and plenty of apps. That's my Grandpa hittin' up the crab ball.

It was DELICIOUS!

Trust me, you missed out.























My cousin Megan brought her fiancee, Jeremy, to Christmas. This is the first time he has been exposed to all of us. I was chatting with him and discovered that Jeremy has had very little exposure to snow. This limited exposure has deprived him of things like skiing, skating, sledding, snow forts, snowmobiling, ice fishing and the like. In honor of Jeremy joining the Family, we popped his snow cherry and took him sledding down the hill right outside the front door. This was awesome! I'm not sure he was too into it, but we were.
















Because this hill was not fast enough for us, we moved on to some stair sledding. First, the stair case off the deck on the side of the house. It was fast, but not long enough. We then move next door to the stairs leading down to the lake. Perfect. It's fast and a good run.





Andrew got some serious air here!

I too went down these stairs. My trip resulted in this:























A broken sled, as a result of landing on this:


















Hidden Rocks, 2007

I'm not sure if you can see them. They are hidden.

Everyone cleared them except me. I have a bruise on my ass. It's a bit painful, but worth it!























Here is Radio being scary in the eyes.

By the way. Surdyks is selling Absinthe. Seriously. I just now heard this on the news. Whoa!

Just in time for New Years. Careful People. Careful!

Celebrations and Appreciations

Cold Winter nights call for warm Winter gatherings.


















Anna, 2007

Friday night was spent in a cozy South Minneapolis home with two of my oldest and dearest friends.























Friend Feast Table, 2007

Saturday night was spent in a Downtown Saint Paul loft. Fourteen of my most favorite people on the planet were gathered to dine and drink and fight off the frosty nip in the night time air.



Van's Room, 2007

A sleepy Sunday afternoon was spent in Savage making photographs of the most adorable little boy and his four legged friends.
















Fatty, 2007
















Lucy, 2007

Most Photographs-Nicole Olson
Friend Feast Table-Aaron Ripplinger

Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish.

It's almost that time of year.

To get you pumped up for the annual ski vacation, I thought I would give you a small taste of last years adventure.

Blestos dressed as an explorer a la Louis and Clark. Rip and Sam opted for winter ninjas.























Sam demonstrated early on what NOT to do when you are skiing. Despite his injury, Sam was a trooper and took full advantage of the Hot Toddies and good conversation.























Over a friendly game of Domino's, Big Time Fuller shows us her amazing melt face.

Daaaamn Big Time! Tell us how you really feel!























Contrary to popular belief, this ski trip is not just for the die hard downhill ski enthusiast. Big Time, Jules and I went skiing for a total of 3 hours. That is nothing in ski time.

Things to do when you are not on the slopes include, but are not limited to: drinking Gin and Tab, small dance parties, drinking coffee and Jamison, playing domino's, drinking beer, playing Wii, watching the George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer in the critically acclaimed romantic comedy One Fine Day, taking advantage of the whirlpool bathtub, preparing and consuming friend feasts.

So get ready.

This Serious People! Real Serious.

This is really happening.

My Mac is sad. Real sad.

It has been in and out of consciousness all day.

I am sad. WTF?!

Failing hard drives are NOT COOL. I repeat, NOT COOL!

Your thoughts and well wishes are appreciated durring this difficult time.

Thank You.

Art Sales and Caged Beasts

Brian's Photographs, 2007

I have been helping install the MCAD Art Sale. That's hard work! I'm glad it's over. All that work makes me tired all over.


















Arm, 2007

In honor of Scoops' Birthday, we took a trip to the MN Zoo. My favorite are the Lemurs and the Loris'.


















Not a Slow Loris, 2007

Loris' are nocturnal animals. The MN Zoo has two kinds of Loris', a Slow Loris and the Loris shown in the photo above. Did you know that Loris' douse their young with toxic saliva to protect them from predators? They do. Cool huh?


















Flamingos, 2007

These are Flamingos.























Shark Face Killa, 2007

Sharks live at the Zoo too. You can see them get fed everyday. Unfortunately we missed feeding time. They are pretty amazing creatures. Be careful though, if you run into one of these things, they will most likely eat you. Not cool Shark, not cool.