Away we go!

This is either a pronouncement of Midwestern travel, or an invitation
to sack our house. You decide!

Blocksma Christmas Card 2009

Hi Friends. This year we decided to eschew the traditional Christmas card mailing for the electronic proliferation of our annual conglomeration of adventure photos from the past year.

I'll let the photos do most of the talking, but it has been a very good year for us: with our time visiting Pops in the spring, our vacation to Cali to see good friends and food in the summer, the time we got to have Jo in our house and my move back into the academic world this Fall. We'll be embarking on the Christmas journey a week from tomorrow, and will be sure to record some dispatches from the great white Midwest when we get there.

Til then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

(Oh, and head over here to watch the video in a larger high quality. well worth it.)

Music for your ears

Hey kids, stop what you're doing and go over HERE.

That is a link to the Everyday Joe's site, where there is a zip file full of tasty tunes for your earholes, made entirely of groups that we've enjoyed as guests at our little shop through the year. The entire compilation is quite fantastic, and you will be a better person for downloading and listening. That is all. (Go!)

The Belated Turkey Day Post

Wait, it's December? When did that happen? Hm.

We had a very merry thanksgiving this year, but it was also very bittersweet. Our brother Matt (H) made his first trip ever to the mountains a few days before thanksgiving day. It was really great to show him our town, our house, some of our favorite views and making him sleep on the floor once my mom came out as well to join us. It was a nice full table, including our friends Becky and Jevon who came up from Denver to join us just like last year. Liz once again did a marvelous job with the bird, and there was nary a complaint on the day. Though the Lions could have played better.


Once we had completely gorged ourselves at dinner on thursday, and watching JoAnna and Liz beat everyone at Catan, we drove up to Rocky Mountain for a nice snowy hike up to some of the lakes from the Bear Lake trailhead.


The week itself went quite quickly, and at the end of it they all packed back into Jo's car and drove back across the country for JoAnna to start the second trimester of her senior year back at TK. We really loved having her here, and the house already feels much quieter, slightly emptier, certainly filled less with shoes.


But soon enough we'll be doing the midwestern drive ourself for Christmas in two weeks, so we'll be reunited with the whole fam-damily soon. Until then, I'll be living under this pile of books over here before my finals next week. (Guh)

(Pictures over on the Flickr)

A day in the life....

Yes, not going to work in the early morning dark is nice.



On the flip side, every one of those books is for a single paper due on monday. Guh. Pick your poison.

Friday Fun

Friday stock photography has to be put on hold this week, as I have done NO reading with any decent shots and can't bear to think of spending the time. (I have the first eleven verses of Phil. 2 bearing down on my head like 1000 pounds...)

SO, instead you'll get something even better: Charlie Day's kitten mittens. (click through the image for the goodness) You're welcome.

Friday Fun with Stock Photography

This week has been mostly studying for midterms, and not a whole of new, exciting reading to pick from. BUT, I did remember this gem from a few weeks back, and thought it might make for an interesting thought exercise.


What is it do you think that these two gentlemen are discussing? From the fashion, it is most certainly the early 90's... maybe the new Boyz 2 Men album? Perhaps Clinton's approval rating? Maybe about something 'rad' and/or 'tubular'. These are the riveting possibilities of a windowless office 16 years ago...

How I Spent My Winter Vacation, by the Blogsmas

Having a snow day is almost as awesome as an adult as it was as a kid, and Wednesday night found Jo and I watching the weather, checking the tv, and of course, jumping up and down when the phone rang (even better than having a snow day is knowing the night before so you can stay up late). We spent the day doing pretty much what kids do on their snow days, with hot cocoa, art projects, movies, and board games. We fit in a half dozen games of Settlers of Cattan, our new addictive board game, and JoAnna and I crafted to our hearts' content. Jo made some cards and Christmas gifts. We made a pumpkin pie and roasted the pumpkin seeds. I made some homemade napkins from fabric scraps. Doug tried to do homework, but was probably not as successful with two girls dragging craft supplies all over the house and cajoling him into playing games with them. We had warm, hearty dinner of braised short ribs, spaghetti squash with parmesan, and braised carrots, then went back to playing games and watching movies. All in all, a very successful day. And last night, I got a call that school would be canceled AGAIN today, so I have time to chronicle these adventures (and clean up the mess from yesterday). Because we don't have this kind of weather all the time where we live (especially not in October), it is nice to settle in and watch the snow fly, knowing that in a week we will be back to sunshine and fall weather.

just in time for Halloween

This just in: local bear is covered in snow. He is reportedly feeling "beary chilly" and wanting to go inside for a "cub of hot chocolate"

More at 6. Back to you!

Friday Fun with Stock Photography

Ok, so the above guy is not a piece of stock photography, but a curious little bugger who got incredibly close to the work truck this week in North Dakota. I asked him his name, but, instead of waiting on a reply we bid a hasty retreat.

And come to think of it, the image for this week isn't technically a piece of stock photography either, but a very specific picture of Ethologist Konrad Lorenz hanging out with the geese he tricked into thinking he was their mama. So, no, while it doesn't exactly fit the bill of the post title, the shot was too fantastic not to share. Happy weekend, all.