Huh, I learned something about me today...

So, I guess I'm a heavy sleeper. Apparently there was a massive storm last night with trees and debris crashing down, utility poles snapping, and a few roofs being torn off of local dwellings, and I was oblivious to it all... good thing it wasn't serious or anything - sheesh.

If anything, this answers what I've sometimes wondered - if an intruder broke in in the middle of the night to rob me, what would I do? Well, apparently not much. Guess they could turn the lights on, make a few phone calls, maybe make them self a sandwich and play some music while they worked and I'd be none the wiser.

Funny thing is that I have no recollection of the noise and chaos of the storm, but what finally woke me up at 4:30 in the morning was when I was burning up in the absence of AC and a working ceiling fan with the power out. And I remember being annoyed about 7:30 this morning when I heard chainsaws workin' away outside, and I was thinking to my self, "What the hizzy?" I still don't have power, so I'm sitting at the Corner Bakery down the street takin' advantage of the free wireless and a not-so-free chicken panini sandwich...

Here's a few images of what I saw in the neighborhood when I finally walked outside a little later.

Something's brewing

I've been planning & working on some new things for while now, and I'm stoked about one of the first thing on the list rolling out hopefully by the end of the month. Stay tuned.

Meet the LaScola's

Admit it. It's just fun to say, isn't it? LaScola... I'm hearing the song, 'That's Amore' in my head (and now you probably are, too) as I let it role off the tongue.

My friend, Sarah (LaScola, it never gets old), had her brother, Matt (awesome name), his wife, Sandy, their little pride and joy, Joe, and her mom, Sally, in town recently, so we went to a local park and documented the fam before the next installation in the LaScola (nope, not tired of it yet) family arrives later this year. Congrats, Matt & Sandy!

Sarah just moved into her new house in Frisco and was nice enough to have a bunch of friends who didn't have family in town over on Easter for a HUGE dinner. We had a an Easter Egg hunt for little Trinity and Joe, although "hunt" might be a bit of a stretch - Trinity's mom and dad (Jerry & Tina) brought over somewhere in the neighborhood of about a million plastic eggs filled with candy, so Jerry, Matt & I ran out of hiding places in the back yard and just started tossin' them smack dab in the middle of the yard after a while. Trinity and Joe were practically trippin' over 'em as soon as they walked out the back door.(BTW, Sarah, did you ever get the egg out of the tree or are you still staring at it bitterly every time you walk outside?)

Here's a few images from our party in the park the day before.





























Thanks, Sarah!

A little bit o' culture

I had a photo session down in the Deep Ellum Arts District late this afternoon with two of the most adorable little sisters (more on them in an upcoming post), and this just happened to be the weekend for the Deep Ellum Arts Festival. Main Street was closed down to traffic and filled with local artists displaying their work, and there were three staging areas with local bands belting out their tunes. And of course, what would a festival be without corny dogs, funnel cakes and turkey legs - all of which I managed to avoid eating. Not that I didn't want to, but I was too lazy and impatient to wait in line to buy tickets to get the greasy goods. Back to the point.

As I weaved in and out of the crowd going from booth to booth, I was really impressed - and in a couple cases frightened & confused - by some of the work I saw. And regardless of what I thought, it's interesting to see how others think and see when they create their art. Some insanely talented people out there.

Beau Ethridge is one of those people. His work was fascinating to me. I don't even know how to describe it except that it had an urban, gritty feel to it.


Random skateboards that had been painted.


I wish I could remember the artist that created these, but she had these amazing glass mosaics that she framed when she was finished with them. Cool stuff.


Meet Spike. He was a bit camera shy, but can you blame him? Poor little guy.


And of course, I can't get enough of the vintage cars.


Then I found the Iona Handcrafted Books booth, and I was hooked. Mychal Mitchell (pictured below) and Edward Bailey, based in Austin - have been making these breathtaking journals and photo albums from all natural materials by hand for over 10 years now, and they are truly heirloom quality works of art. When I asked Mychal, she said she was inspired during a trip to Italy 15 years ago where she would see artists carrying around small books called Vade Mecum, which is Latin meaning "to go with me", and she decided she wanted to make these available here in the US. I couldn't resist, so I bought one to go with me. I'm stoked about it because I've got a cool idea about how I'm going to use it.


Here's an image showing just a small collection of the the sizes and finishes they had in the booth.


Here's the one I bought... couldn't wait to look at it when I got home.

If John Elderidge Could See Me Now

I just posted about John Elderidge's book, Wild at Heart, not too long ago where he talks about one of the biggest issues men face today is that society seeks to create 'nice guys' by trying to take away the very warrior nature God instilled in them.

Need I say more?



I'm not sure what happened to my common sense that allowed Skye Hardwick to capture this shining moment of masculinity in all it's glory at her Austin workshop last weekend. I have no doubt that men everywhere feel so proud right now. Hey, at least a had a little 5 o'clock shadow goin' for me... that looks kinda tough, right?

In the words of arguably history's most emasculated male cartoon icon Charlie Brown, "Good grief."

It's time's like this I wish I had an 'undo' button for life.

Kool Kids

So this weekend at Skye Hardwick's Soulographer Workshop, we had about 18 little kiddos running around Pioneer Farms in Round Rock, TX (near Austin). These little models were awesome and so freakin' cute - I wish I could've gotten to all of them.

Skye does truly artistic work with children, so it was great to see how she does it all. Check out some of her breath-taking images on her website.

Here's a few of the fun images from our photo shoot Saturday afternoon.































And finally, little Gabriel was amicable to letting me try out his cool guitar. Somehow I think it's only cool, though, 1) if you're a cute little kid or 2) you actually know how to play a guitar.