New Years Eve

We headed to Pat and Heather's for New Years Eve. Before they were married, they would host the event at Pat's parent's. Everyone would come over, hang out, play games, then crash on the floor. This year, they hosted it at their place.

The hosts:



We started out with a game of Balderdash. We ran out of pieces so Shannon had to be a little cracker:



But I don't think she minded:



We decided that Shannon was the little voice on Joe's shoulder:



Then he got sick of her:



Then the cards came out:






and Joe started playing with this weird ball:



Then it was midnight:





Many people headed home, as Joe and Heather duked it out for the poker title. Here Heather is, winning:



The next morning we were greeted by a lovely blanket of snow:



Happy New Year!

It's a Beautiful Morning

I woke up this morning to a little music and a little snow.

It's going to be a good day.

Pan's Labrynth

We went to the opening of Pan's Labyrinth (El Labrintino Del Fauno) in Minneapolis last night. After waiting outside in the lower-than 10 degree weather for around a half hour, we waltzed into the Landmark in Uptown and found seats front row, center.

When I went to Sundance in 2005, I found one of the best strategies for having a good movie experience in a crowded theater was to just head for the front. People always think they do not want to sit that close, but they do not think about the fact that if they don't sit that close, they will be spending more than an hour watching a film through the frame of the head of the person in front of them.

It was also one of the best ways to get three seats together. The added benefit was that I had a great spot for photographing, Doug Jones, who plays the faun in the film, as he introduced it. Gorgeous warm lighting pouring out of spotlights on the stage produced some fun images:




Doug Jones played the Mac Moon Man in the once famous Macdonald's commercials. Here he is, impersonating his old character:



I suppose I can cross meeting the Mac Moon Man of my list of Things I Wanted To Do When I Was Four =).

New Year, New Design

The blog has taken on a slightly different design. I can now control more of the colors within it, so I was able to get rid of the green titles. In addition, I will start tagging posts in the future. This will allow you to look at all of the posts of one type at a time.

For instance, if you want to see all of the posts I've made about holidays, either go to the end of a post tagged with "holidays" and click the link, or search for "holidays" in the search bar that appears at the top of the page. I have made "holidays" and "family" tags so far.

Much more to come.

Let me know what you think.

I can explain, I promise...

Alright, I know what you are thinking: "7 days between blog posts? Come on, Brooke, what are you thinking?"

I've been busy; you'll have to trust me on that. But, I have a ton of pictures to upload, I just haven't had time to do it.

So, as a reward/applogy, I will be posting a ton of stuff before the next week begins*. So, keep your eyes peeled. As the pictures appear on the blog, I will explain my absence from the blogosphere.






*I believe that the week starts on Monday, not Sunday. Those who think I am going to get all of these posts done by midnight Saturday might be sorely disapointed. (might)

Six CDs in a Ziplock Bag

One of the greatest gifts I've ever recieved was as set of six mixed CDs from my friend Christie, the music guru. She delivered them to me around this time last year; I still keep them in the worn ziplock bag in a little compartment near the CD player in my car.

There is something about music that acts as a time caspule for my memories. When I listen to those CDs I think about the long drive up highway 5 I took to visit Joe last spring, making runs to Kinkos to print campaign materials during the summer and our honeymoon.

Today, the songs evoked vivid memories of our honeymoon in the southwest. Especially of Utah:

The State of Washington

When I lived in California, I never would have thought the title of this post was a pun. I would exepct people to know that I am referring the area of land in the Pacific Northwest we call Washington. In the Midwest, however, someone might assume I was talking about the political or economic "state" of Washington, D.C.

I don't think I've heard anyone refer to Washington, D.C. as "Washington, D.C." since moving to the Midwest. Instead, people refer to our capitol as "Washington." This may seem to be an inconsequential thing to most people, but it always leaves me wondering: if "Washington" means "Washington, D.C.," what name do you use for the state?

These thoughts were brought on by an article in the Washington Post in which the writer calls her husband, a D.C. native, a "Washingtonian." I was so confused by this, I actually wondered if there was a branch of the Washington Post in Washington state.

I understand that the fact that the capitol has the same name as a state presents a problem. But, doesn't it make more sense to refer to the city by its longer name than to the state by its longer name? Or, to have another abbreviation for the capitol?

Why not do what we do in California and call it D.C.? There aren't any other D.C.s in this country; it makes a lot more sense.

Of course, District of Columbian could inspire even more confusion than Washingtonian, especially if it appears at a page break...

Christmas Day

Most of these moments involve opening or playing with gifts on Christmas morning. I just wanted to state, for the record, that contrary to the message presented by the following pictures, Christmas is not about tangible gifts. For me, Christmas is about God and family; it is my hope that these pictures, while centered on gifts, bring about memories of joy, love, anticipation, happiness and, maybe, even faith (if, but faith in the generosity of friends and family).

Of course, a well-chosen gift can mean a lot. The camera I used to take these was our Christmas present last year.

Christmas Eve Continued

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas Eve.

The Christmas cards we made:



My nephews Josh and Pat:






Tim, Elizabeth and Ali settling in for a winter nap:






and I leave you with this:

The Fog Before The Storm

I took these new years eve in the shadow of a deep fog that was enveloping southeastern Minnesota. They were all taken on the Walsh farm just hours before the place was finally dusted with snow.




















It was nice to take a few moments to bask in the beauty of these things that are often looked as common and uninteresting––the old barn, the dying grass and weeds, the leafless trees. Probably the worst curse of winter is the amount of time I am forced to spend inside under artificial lighting. I felt so peaceful spending half of an hour shooting in the drizzle.

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to say happy new year to those I haven't had a chance to speak to in 2007 yet (and that's a lot of people =).

I'm working on uploading the rest of Christmas, after which I upload new years.

I wish you all health and happiness in the new year.