February Happenings

When I started this whole blogging thing I thought " Man, this will be so fun and easy. Blogging everyday, showing pictures and projects. Blah Blah Blah!" It seems to be a little tougher than what I expected. The winter months are slow for projects, for me at least. I really have no excuse other than it's winter and it really hasn't dropped below 40 degrees and is hasn't snowed and it's been sunny for the most part. So basically I have no excuse except for pure laziness.

Here are a few things that have happened so far in February. Misty and I took a trip to Chicago for her birthday. It was a blast but guess what, the only pics I have are of an old fashioned made with lime, my new Red Wing boots, and the Carhartt store in Wicker Park which was amazing I might add.

Then it was Mistys "real birthday" and we came home to a fully decorated kitchen with streamers, a cake, and a little art from Ki. It was awesome and sweet and he could barely hold in the excitement.

We had parent/teacher conferences that week as well. I took a couple pics of the art that the kids do in class and it blows me away. The way each little brain interprets the way he or she draws or paints or glues or builds, its awesome.

Then it was Valentines day. Ki wanted to build a robot, but as we started I said "This kind of looks like an army tank." That's all it took to change the direction. Misty said the morning that she dropped him off for school he got real shy and worried about what the teacher and principal might say about having a tank at school. She assured him that it would be fine and it turned out to be a big hit. Here's the "Love Tank" and the soldier that was blowing up hearts (cheese) on Valentines day. He was giving me that Dad I'm tired and don't want my picture taken look.

Hand Made KC - HAMMERPRESS

I could, and sometimes do, watch stuff like this all day long. When is KC, go visit HAMMERPRESS. Something therapeutic about hand made goods these days.


Realtree from MAMMOTH on Vimeo.

The Making of a Tradition

Dad, I wanna look good....

Last Friday night Misty had to work late so me and Ki met here for dinner. He got all excited after he got to pick the place and said " dad, I wanna look good tonight. " I told him to go pick out what he wanted to wear and this is what he came up with. Not too bad if you ask me. He borrowed one of my watches and little bit of cologne and he was ready to rock it. Needless to say he pretty much had every girl in the place giving him compliments all night long....stud!

Checking His List, Checking It Twice

Christmas was busy as usual, but this year like all others, was different than the last. Watching this kid get so excited about Christmas is enough to get any Bah Hum Bugger in the spirit. He couldn't even wait to get the tree up and help decorate.

My mom came to visit and Misty put her in charge of the mantle and living room decor. There was glitter everywhere and while I love the way it looks, I run and hide while this going on. I despise glitter.

We took some days off before the craziness started. One of the mornings I went to the gym and came home to this. Ki with the help of Misty made pancakes and eggs and a special blueberry, strawberry and yogurt parfait. He set the table along with festive napkins and paper plates for easy clean up. And check out that tablecloth, I have no idea where he found this horribly ugly tablecloth but he really wanted to use it.

Hope & Envy

Over the past 2-3 years I have really started to pay attention to mens fashion. I'm not talking about New York Fashion Week runway style, or big box store button downs and denim with overloaded graphic detail. I'm talking about handmade goods, the heritage type of clothing. From denim to hand bags, ties to boots these are all still made in america by craftsman that use the finest quality material and extreme attention to detail. Raleigh Denim is just one of those brands. Courtesy of Need Supply Co.


Meet The Maker from Need Supply Co. on Vimeo.

Pre Birthday Bash

Ki loves hotels. He gets so excited when we get to go to a big city or a beach somewhere and stay in a hotel. This past weekend we surprised him with a little "get away" (only about 10 miles away from our house) for his birthday. There is a new aloft hotel in Leawood that is very trendy and really out of the norm for that area, I don't think I saw one Van Dyke Brown wall or Espresso colored matching tables or wrought iron spindles anywhere. Lots of cool decor and best of all....a pool.

We started the day at a holiday kids fest that had blow up jump play things, live kids music, and all the rude stroller pushing militant horribly dressed worn out suburban moms you could ever wish to see. He jumped and played and danced and got free candy and other swag and I kept a lookout for these evil four wheeled carts full of whiny children that kept running into my ankles.

Next stop was the hotel. As we pulled into the parking garage he got sooooo excited and said " YES! We are staying at a hotel!" We checked in, got our room, people watched for a half hour or so, went swimming for a while (really cool raised infinity type edge pool all the way around might I add), then got ready and went to one of his favorite places California Pizza Kitchen. Went back to the hotel and played some pool and then after about an hour or so and a 30 degree drop in the weather we remembered there was a new gellato place that opened up so we got bundled back up and finished the evening with some awesome gellato.

It was a fun day and he really enjoyed every minute of it. Happy Pre Birthday dude.

Hope & Envy

Here is another quality handmade video that is pretty inspirational. If you listen to what he says, he is basically self taught and builds each frame by himself. Only one person to blame when something goes wrong - that's quality assurance. Hopefully will be seeing more of Horse Cycles in the near future.

ACE HOTEL+HORSE CYCLES = this ... from Matt McClain on Vimeo.