old faithful

yellow stone's



mine

day two

this is probably why
lauren is smarter than me
when we first saw mouse poop on the counter
i put the mouse trap on the counter
logical i thought
she said no
this morning i was glad she said no

tonight we had no kills
maybe they saw our blog and spread the word
maybe there were only two
only morning will tell

but i went to lowes this morning
and bought the old school wooden traps
the new school plastic grabbers
and a mini have-a-<3 live trap
i put all three out
now the mice have a choice
of which way they'd like to exit
this world hey now know
if they choose to go for the choke hold
i will feel a little less sad
if they choose the plastic see-saw
they will ride with me to work in the morning
and enjoy the field behind the warehouse

November Photo Challenge

so we started a photo challenge
just for fun
to give ourselves a challenge
with photos
november's challenge: old school
to see the other challenge participant
http://lyrynkay.blogspot.com/

here are ours:


stephen's



lauren's


next month's challenge: twins

day one

so it had to be done
we woke up two morning in a row
and found mouse poop
all over the counter
it was a good reason to disinfect the kitchen
but we took it one logical step further
we set the mouse traps that were under our sink
that should've been our first clue
that we had mice
our apt came with mouse traps
so we took brian's advice and dolloped some peanut butter
we came home to mr. mouse
the mouse trap had him upside down in a choke hold
lauren was visibly upset
and i admit
i was too
we want them gone
but we don't want them to suffer
or really to die
i don't not like mice
i guess we could buy a mini have-a-heart
maybe we will
but we already did it
this little guy was probably cold and hungry
found a hole in a big barn
wandered in to keep warm
saw that someone left some food out
life ended

so i guess if we will consciously murder mice
we should make sure they are remembered
so here's to you little guy

kissing angels

trinkets
nick-nacks
figurines
i have no place for them in my heart
joe [my father-in-law] does


we can agree to disagree
our thanksgiving trinkets conversation
might've opened my eyes to trinkets
tonight i saw this trinket cluster in a whole new light

deodorant

this thanksgiving i would like to roast a turkey
you don't realize how much you like something
until you try something new and don't like it
you then realize that you've under-appreciated that old faithful
in this case - my axe deodorant - "touch" to be scent specific
the other day as i approached running out
i made a last min decision at Giant to try something new
i love trying new things - and so i did
this "new" deodorant should be categorized as an odorant
i actually think it makes me smell worse
after the initial application i smell great
but within minutes
Lauren is scrunching her nose and turning her head
here's to you deceitful, money making deodorant
may you sit on the shelf until the maker gets the message
and may they return to making what they're good at
my favorite old school shoes
happy thanksgiving


the odorant



the favorite old school formel 1's

neighbor of the $8 mimosa

to your left
if you could turn around
you would find French Roast
no better place to escape the cold
while exploring the New York City streets

tonight

we were graced by one of our most dear friends
we danced
we sat
we laughed
we cried
we ate
we sat in silence
we cursed
we prayed
we sang
we smiled
we fell asleep (i)
we said hello
we said goodbye
we drank
we talked
we shared
we listened
we hugged
we kissed

brown

Leslie, Bee, Tim, Mom, Dad

november beach

smiling horizon

clouds that surf

foster learning the basics

don't take any more lovey

ooohhhh take one of us

two monkeys

they taught me how to play ball

bee air

soaking up the sun

and the kisses

patiently waiting

ooohhh take another one

"foster, do your silly face"

foster in the middle

toilet paper toss

father teaching son

cheesing

looking for LaLa

simply reflected

"fossi do it"

Air LaLa now ready for take off

Rowan + Dad

"hold on to his ears"

cloudy hair

my queen

upon meeting Lauren for the first time
my aunt Leslie was quite impressed
aunt: "boy Stephen you got quite a catch"
me: "i know, that's why i picked her"
aunt: "you better hold onto her;
you gotta treat her like a queen"
lauren (all weekend): "i'm a queen"

fall

the only redeeming quality about this weather
besides of course the earth being watered
is the beautiful textures

scarecrow

family and foes

my least to most favorite things in life
(in particular order)
praying mantis
mom & dad

a beautiful saturday
planting rowan's tree
ended with my angelic
kind, compassionate, floating
unsuspecting mother
sneaking up behind me
with a praying mantis

she knows they are my
single fear in life

yet she still decided to
make me jump out of my skin

i still love her

ever

last friday night
we attended
what i consider
the coolest party i've ever been to
the best part about it
it was brownstone
it wasn't just some random club
or swanky bar we happened upon
in manhattan
it was the celebration
of the brain-child
of one of the most
tasteful
diplomatic
wise
creative
compassionate
generous
honest
friends i know
and that made it
the coolest party i've ever been to

it had four of my favorite ingredients
friends
good music
free drinks
unique space

golden arches

thanks to these...

i got this...

and i love this...
i love this that i drive by everyday
but never see
because i'm too busy
too busy driving
and singing
and texting
mcdonalds is usually the last place
i look for beautiful things
but today
maybe because last night i ate it
i had a heightened awareness
of what beauty
was tucked right outside
my local mcdonalds

so much of my...

i have major obsessions with the following:

by obsessions i mean i have alot of
or always try and convince myself
i need the one i'm looking at

shoes
bags (book & shoulder)
guitar pedals
amps
glasses

(the cool kind you see in movies
that people serve hard liquor in)

underwear (briefs only please)
jackets
lenses

and i love it

it did count ((i think))

so that whole thing about your vote not counting
(assuming you are a republican)
that was my tribute to our educated vote
i felt like i hadn't been pulling my weight
these past few months
hadn't made enough blasphemous claims
about people i've never met
a tribute to all the
un-researched
un-processed
un-validated
un-clarified
right wing propaganda
yay we're christians
and if you delete this or vote for Obama
you're not a christian
e-mails i've received from
family, friends, coworkers, pets, strangers
i wanted to start something
that could be dangerous in the hands
in the minds
of someone who believes everything
they hear about what they want to hear
anything that supports their belief is truth
i feel like our educated vote
is nothing more than tuning into
the radio station
news channel
news paper
that isn't too liberal
or too conservative
to talk about what we don't want to hear
i just wanted to stoop to that level
i wanted to contribute

i feel better

sunday brunch

we didn't invent polka-dots





i love going to my parents
i get that good 'ol raised on the farm feeling