Hands on Portland

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T19:05:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I walked out of the apartment the other day and saw this brand new graffiti on a storefront. An illegal proposal maybe?

One of Brian's jobs at school was to read over all the valentine's cards his leadership class was going to deliver as a fundraiser. It was an entertaining night to say the least. Ah, teenage love! I like to call this one, "Let's meat"...which could mean a greeting, or a steak dinner.

(side note: if you haven't even met someone, can they really be the love of your life?)

I call this one, "indecisive"

This one is just...well it just is.

Happy Valentine's day all!

Sun & Onions

2012-02-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

The last four days have been beautiful and sunny here in the NW! Brian had Thursday off so we took Olive to a dog park downtown. This is a view from the park, looking out at the I-5 bridge.

Renee hates having her eyes water when she cuts onions. Fortunately she has a very creative husband who suggested an effective way to stop it from happening.

Mmmmmmm...onion soup!

After Olives Bath!

2012-01-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

Olive goes a bit crazy after she gets a bath. Here is a video from her last after bath time!

After X-Mas trip!

2012-01-05T18:58:00.001-08:00

After X-mas we took a trip to the sunny coast (and by sunny I mean foggy, cold and rainy)

We went antiquing on our way there. Brian's favorite find was a guy who was sell REALLY old unopened pill bottles. There was an entire room of shelves like this! We aren't sure it's legal...

Here's a view from our room. This was about as clear as it got. We enjoyed staying indoors, dining at local restaurants and playing card games!

It's beginning to look a lot like X-mas

2011-12-23T18:57:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure if the UPS guy is fed up with us yet - he's been making trips to our apartment all week! YOWZERS! Thanks everyone! We're in danger of covering up our mini tree (or Renee). We're still waiting on Ingrid's box though...I wonder why we haven't gotten anything from her yet...

Renee's Birfday!

2011-12-23T18:48:00.001-08:00

Renee had a beautiful sunny day for her Birthday on the 5th! We dcided to go out for an early walk.

On our way up to the rose garden the sun was streaming through the misty trees. So cool!

It was so pretty!

Renee got a piano for her birthday - she was so excited to start practicing that she couldn't
't wait for Brian to put the stand together!

Welcome to the North Pole?

2011-12-11T17:53:00.001-08:00

Some clever person has switched one of the bulbs on the Portland Oregon sign. We are ready for some snow!

Renee went to Mexico and all I got was...

2011-11-21T21:24:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Renee's recent trip to Mexico we can wear these awesome Mexican Wrestling masks around town!

Matching on Halloween!

2011-11-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

Renee and Olive on going to a dog party on Halloween!

Dr. Zoom und Robot Ralph

2011-11-05T10:29:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago we went to the coast. One morning we stopped at this super old coffee shop that was filled with vintage posters and photos from the area. This one caught my eye as I'm always interested in old poster design and the "Hello Der" was too funny not to get a picture of.

As I was taking the picture, one of the locals leaned over and said, "you know, the original Dr. Zoom is right here" - he pointed to the guy next to him. The guy next to him was less than pleased at being pointed out and crabbed at the guy to "never do that again." for about 10 minutes.

Given his reaction I didn't want to ask for a picture with him and his poster - so I resorted to secretly taking pictures of him with my phone - and listening to their banter about learning math and geometry when they went to school as kids.

I'm kinda worried that he saw me take this one! Run!!!

Read more about Dr. Zoom and his HERE!

Glassblowing!

2011-10-27T20:14:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago Brian got the opportunity to take a glass blowing workshop.

The workshop was only 3 hours, and he thought he would be working pretty small-scale. WRONG! Bring on the full size molten glass!

Here is is rolling it into some colored glass flecks.

It was about a 15 step process and inbetween each step you had to keep it heated in the furnace.

Who needs gloves? Apparently they don't use those...

So cool!

Surprise!

2011-10-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

One of Brian's students was bragging one day that her mom was a very accomplished baker. The next day she came into school early and brought him cold pizza her mom had made the night before to prove it. YUM!

Newport, Oregon!

2011-10-02T21:18:00.001-07:00

This weekend we headed to the coast to relax! On the drive, Renee requested to stop many times to take pictures. If you look closely you can see her in this picture (taken from the car).

Renee's requests did result in some really cool pictures though.

Some of the viewpoints boasted their amazing attractions!

Once we arrived at Newport - we stopped at the Aquarium.

This is a view of the hotel we stayed at!

The hotel had a tram - that seemed to have been built quite a few years ago.

Renee was a little more than skeptical on the ride down to the ocean.

We saw lots of wild seals! They are cute, but we kept our distance!

This is tangled seaweed on the beach.

Exploring the coastline - we found a few caves to climb in.

During the low tide we slipped through a hole in the rock to a giant crater-like hole in the middle of the cliff that they call "The Devil's Punchbowl"

Here's a view from inside the punchbowl

Renee checking out the punchbowl at the mouth of the tunnel.

Here is a better view of the whole thing - it is humongous! Click the image to see it larger

Berry Pickin!

2011-09-16T19:31:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago we headed out to a small farm-island about 10 minutes out of Portland because we heard they have excellent berry picking. You can see the excitement on Renee's face as they pulled us out to the patch!

Renee was very focused.

Here she is displaying a good cluster she found.

Definitely not enough yet.

That's more like it! It was about 90 degrees by the time we finished.

Here is the final haul!

And this is where the berries ended up! Yummy!

Roadtrip back to Portland!

2011-09-02T08:28:00.001-07:00

After returning from Costa Rica it was time to hit the road once again! This time we convinced Carla and Mike to come back with us!

We had more people to take turns driving, those of us in the backseat got a chance to relax.

...and relax....

...and RELAX!

Our first tourist stop was Mt. Rushmore! The girl at the gate told us the fog was covering it, but it lifted just as we got to the mountain!

awwww....

Next were the badlands!

Maybe they should be called the crabby lands?

We had to leave Olive in the car for this section.

Pose!

To give you an idea of the scale, here is a picture of Renee and Carla. Click on the picture to see them better! We were amazed by the lack of railings/restrictions by the cliffs!

Click this one to see Brian and Mike!

After the badlands we saw a "billboard" adverising our motel. Apparently the selling point was that you could save money...it made us slightly nervous.

The Motel was hard to miss in the town of Wasta, SD (population 80). It did not disappoint our preconceptions about it.

However, we DIDN'T expect the clerk to tell us our motel room was in a broken down house across the street.

We were also confused at the pool being closed, we got there before 9pm!

In another abandoned section of the motel we saw a sign the motel was a filming location for the movie Thunderheart with Val Kilmer. Of course when we got back to Portland we had to rent it. You'll all be glad to know that we all survived our night in Wasta.

The next day we visited Yellowstone National Park. It was absolutely beautiful.

We saw tons of bison.

There were lots of boiling sulfur springs.

Hey there, black bear!

This picture is unreal. It was amazing.

The boiling spring pools were steam.

Because of the amount of sulfur, the pools have a very "distinct" smell. Here are Renee and Mike enjoying it!

The colors were incredible - be sure to click on this one for a closer view!

We waited for over an hour to see Old Faithful.

Once it finally came, it was what we expected. But now we can say we've seen it.

Directly to the south of Yellowstone is the Grand Teton National Park. It was probably the most beautiful part of the whole drive. Amazing.

Again, clicking on this one will give you a better view :)

After that it was time to hit the road! Portland here we come!

Costa Rican Honeymoon!

2011-08-19T12:47:00.001-07:00

After the wedding Renee and I headed to Costa Rica! After some travel challenges (which involved flight delays and driving 2 hours from the airport to resort at 3am!) we finally made it! The next morning this was the view from our room :)

Here is Renee (considerably happier than during out travels)

There were three huge pool areas - this was the main one with fake islands/beaches and wading pools in it.

The highly for Renee was the fact that wild iguanas like to hang out on our porch!

The resort was right on the ocean - this is a pretty old (very long) dock. IT was beautiful to walk out at night and watch the sunset...or a storm come in.

While we were having a snack in the pool, this iguana rushed out of the bushes at us when we set our food on the side of the pool! We thought he was going to dive right in with us at first!

Renee kept getting bolder and bolder with the iguanas. She wanted to take a really close-up shot at this one sunbathing....

I wish you could have heard the scream when this one charged at her!

We took a day trip up into the rainforest to do some zip-lining!

The views from the rain forest were amazing!

Renee opted for the horse-ride up to the start of the zip-line. Brian (who had food poisoning the day before) opted for the truck-ride. Upon arrival, it was a toss up whose rear was more sore as the truck to the same road the horses did - including driving through rivers!

He we are! suited up and ready to go!

Here's Renee - ready to go!

The first one was the most nerve-racking...

Here's Brian repelling down a cliff!

Wow!

Here's a video to show you how fast we traveled!
This was one of the longer sections :)

A few days later we went to Manuel Antonio which is a national park right on the water! We hired a guide to take us through and show us the wildlife (well worth it!)

We saw Monkeys...

...Gators...

...Spiders (this one's called Zig-Zag because of his weird web!)...

...Sloths...

...HUGE dragonflies...

...can you see the stick-bug?...

after hiking through the hills we ended at the beautiful/ secluded white sand beach! It was amazing!

Here's another video of a "sleeper" plant we saw there. Cool!

Wedding!!!

2011-08-12T18:03:00.001-07:00

On the morning of the wedding there were still a lot of small odds and ends to do...like making sure the table runners were perfectly straight.

While this was happening Renee and Carla scuttled off to get ready. Carla was nice enough to help Renee curl her hair.

Renee may not have been thrilled 100% of the time.

Renee (with the help of mom and grandma) trying to figure out how to tie her sash.

Mike and Brian are pretending to cinch their ties in the mirror.

Here, Brian pretends to be brave while his mother pins on his flowers.

Everything was set-up outside, the weather was absolutely perfect - we're ready to start!

Here come Mike and Carla down our make-shift aisle. Behind them you will see the tent we made for Renee to wait in - All props go to Ingrid who sewed the walls the day before out of scavenged bedsheets!

Here comes the bride and her father (Helmut)

Brian's aunt Carol agreed to perform the wedding - she did an amazing job!

We were definitely at capacity on the deck :)

The kiss!

It was such a perfect day that we couldn't help but escape afterward to the beach to snap some pictures. Renee was worried about getting a tick in the grass - so we sprinted through it to the beach! (below)

The beach was no place for Brain's fancy shoes.

Brian couldn't resist pretending to toss Renee in the water at the end.

But he made it up to her by giving her a lift through the grass back to the stairs.

Once we got back, everyone was ready for dinner!

We obviously had our cake-toppers hand cast from molds we took of our faces! Perfect likeness!

It's not always easy being the middle child between two sisters. Maggie (left), Anna (right)

You can also never have too much grandmotherly advice!

Renee's mother Ingrid and her two boys - Tony (left), Paul (right)

Cut that cake!

Renee brought tiny original oil paintings for all the guests!

The Hartig Clan!

Apparently everyone wanted to joke around EXCEPT Brian! Yikes!

The Cook Clan!

An unconventional photo of the wedding party.

Oh man. No words for this one...so bad it's good? Maybe not.

Thanks to everyone who came out for the wedding, we had such a wonderful time! We really appreciate everyone's help and we love and miss you all!

All photos are taken by the marvelous Lisa Nowacki! Visit her website - she's amazing!

Roadtrip (Pt. 2) Arriving in Michigan

2011-08-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

When we finally arrived in Michigan (a total of 4 days driving) - we stayed a few nights with Renee's family on the East side. One of the nights there was a really strangely orange sky.

Being outside seemed like you were wearing glasses with orange lenses. It was really surreal.

When got to the West side on Thursday. We got the keys to the cottage we rented to hoast our wedding (sight unseen) on Friday. We had about 4 days to figure out how to perform a wedding and decorate a space we had never seen before! We kept telling people it was a cottage on the lake - as you can see from the above photo it was larger than the typical cottage!

Here is a view from the main living room that looks out to a huge porch that overlooks the lake.

Fortunately we didn't have to do all the work alone! Renee's sister, Carla and her Husband, Mike (our best buds) came to give us a hand.

The first job for Mike and Brian was to clear the main room of all the furniture. The owner of the cottage had no idea that we were hosting a wedding, so we made sure to take pictures of everything so we would be careful to put everything back in exactly the right spot. Since there was no other place to move the furniture TO, one of the rooms was christened "The Couch Room" - and was filled with about 8 couches/loveseats.

Of course being on lake Michigan made for some pretty beautiful "breaks"

We spent one mornign climbing up a very high sand dune.

After the climb it seemed like a good idea to cool off.

This photo was snapped just as Mike was innocently trying to help Carla "cool off"

As punishment for his actions he had to carry Carla back to shore.

NEXT...THE WEDDING!

Intermission

2011-08-05T22:51:00.001-07:00

I will be working on posting more about our epic trip soon...but in the meantime!

I was driving to work today and stopped behind this truck. It struck me that the handles and chain made a perfect smiling face! So cute!

Roadtrip (Pt. 1)

2011-07-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Here's Brian beginning our roadtrip to Michigan (over a month ago! Yikes!)

We started off driving through eastern Oregon (which is desert/deserted) and a wild coyote ran across the road in front of us!

Hey Idaho!

Whoever designed this sign, apparently couldn't imagine that diesel would EVER cost more that $1.99 - hilarious.

Hey Utah and Wyoming!

Olive thought both states were boring.

The only cool things were these giant windmills!

We made a pact every night to eat at a local restaurant. The pact gave us amazing stories...but mostly horrible food. Big Mamou's was the second recommendation by the woman at the front desk of the hotel. Her First recommendation was just called 'Diner'

After our dinners we crashed at the nearest pet-friendly motel.

The next morning it was back on the road!

To Be Continued.....

Traveling!

2011-07-18T15:05:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! Don't give up! Updates are coming! For those of you that don't know, we have taken two cross country roadtrips, had a 2nd wedding ceremony, and explored Costa Rica in the past month. We are finally back in Portland and have literally thousands of pictures to sort through - so expect lots of pictures soon - as proof that we are being honest there is a snapshot of us at Rushmore :)

Scanned Portraits

2011-05-18T20:59:00.001-07:00

Brian: "Do you think you could scan your entire face with our scanner?"
Renee: "There's only one way to find out."

Lazy Sunday

2011-05-15T11:22:00.001-07:00

Some people don't like to get out of bed in the morning...

Kabobs

2011-04-13T20:53:00.001-07:00

Warm weather means it grillin' time! I just hope there are enough 'kabobs for both of us.

Hiking in the Gorge

2011-03-27T11:37:00.001-07:00

This weekend we went hiking in the Gorge. We explored a new trail called Latourell Falls.

Here's a picture of Olive and Brian getting very wet behind the falls.

The trees were all covered in an amazing amount of moss!

Here's Brian holding one of the trees up!

CLICK ON THIS PICTURE! You'll see a panorama picture we took of the falls!

Back to Seattle!

2011-03-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Brian had a National Art Ed. conference in Seattle last week. This was the drive into town (look closely for the space needle)

Brian was on a budget. This was his hotel room...

We posted some pictures of the Experience Music Project last time we went, this time Brian actually went inside for an event sponsored by Crayola! Check out the guitar geyser!

The inside is weird looking...

REALLY weird.

One of the cool things they have is a jam room where you can try out different instruments. Brian and a couple of his art teacher friends are now thinking about going pro. There may be a bootleg floating around somewhere...

After a few days, Renee came up with a friend of ours and we ended up staying a few extra nights with friends of ours that live in the U district. As you can see their house is on a crazy steep hill!

The steep hill allows for a pretty nice view though!

Renee made this mustache thingie out of a twistee thingie.

We found a giant bridge troll made out of cement on the last day we were there! Yes, that's a REAL VW bug in his hand!

Brian climbed onto it's head - this was the view.

Flash Mob Freeze!

2011-03-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

We got wind that a group was going to spontaneously freeze for 5 minutes down at Pioneer Courthouse Square. We had no idea how many people would be involved. This video was taken at exactly 5:25 pm. Pretty surreal.

This is what it looked like from above.

Human Ingenuity

2011-03-02T20:47:00.001-08:00

Some people might look at a ceiling that is far out of their reach and think there is no way they can repaint it. Other people may fashion a device to do the job out of common household objects.

Get ready Home Shopping Network!

School Assemblies

2011-02-07T22:25:00.001-08:00

Brian's strategy during school assemblies is to wait until everyone is seated and then go squeeze between the most troublesome kids to try and keep the order. Not always an easy task in middle school. This photo was snapped of Brian and some of his new "friends" by another teacher.

Movin' on Up!

2011-01-31T19:57:00.000-08:00

As some of you have heard, Renee recently moved to a new studio in her buidling - thus doubling the size of her previous studio. We built the "wall" in this photo using old doors (one which was free, the other we bought for $1).

This is the main lounge.

The jacuzzi room is through the door to the right.

Brian's Been Busy!

2011-01-22T19:06:00.001-08:00

As some of you know, Brian has been accepted into the graduate illustration program at Savannah College of Art and Design. Recently (in his free time - haha!) he has been working on drawings for one of his classes - we thought you might want to peek at one!

Brian's Specs!

2011-01-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

Brian just got some cool retro specs! Now he can look super smart!

Merry XMAS & Happy New Year!

2011-01-06T17:19:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011 everyone! Hope you all had a great holiday season, we certainly had a blast celebrating it with you! Sorry for the lack of posting recently, we are working hard to update more frequently with shorter posts in hopes that we can keep you all up more regularly!

THNXGVNG

2010-12-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

Renee's mother was visiting for thanksgiving and we somehow convinced her to wake up early and help Renee prep the turkey!

Olive needed no convincing to get up early and "help" out in the kitchen.

Thanks to Renee and Ingrid the Thanksgiving spread was a full one.

Renee scoops her first helping of stuffing (it wouldn't be her last!)

Ingrid chews on some tasty bird.

Paul's shirt does the talking.

Brian is all too focused on his gravy.

After Thanksgiving we had a small friend of Olive come to stay with us. Ben turned out to be an even more avid cuddler than our little Olive did!

Brian's "snow" day

2010-11-29T19:48:00.001-08:00

Brian got a call from school at 5:30am that he had a snow day. At first we were confused because we didn't know it had snowed. Then we took a look outside and SURE ENOUGH! Looks like the roads were VERY dangerous :D

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T22:57:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloweeeeen! Here are our 2010 costumes!

The Surgeon

The Lobster

The Perfect Housewife

Super scary faces, lot of Halloween fun!

Pumpkin Carving Party!

Denver in 26 Hours

2010-10-09T19:08:00.001-07:00

Last Weekend Warner Brothers flew us out to Denver for a Muse concert because Brian designed a poster for the band. Due to Brian having to work we only had time for a crash course Denver tour!

Saturday, 6:28 am - We waited to board the train to the airport.

Saturday, 2:03 pm - We land in Denver!

Saturday, 4:08 pm - We walked down to the Denver Museum of Art and to our excitement entry was FREE because it was the first Saturday of the month!

Saturday, 4:42 pm - Brian is confused.

Saturday, 4:52 pm - a view of the famous gold-topped building of Denver....or something.

Saturday, 8:40 - We take our seats at the Pepsi center!

Saturday, 8:47 pm - Muse take the stage!

Saturday, 9:37 - This is Matt, the lead singer of Muse. You can get a good idea for the tickets that Warner Brothers hooked us up with!

Saturday, 11:35 pm - We head back to the hotel after the concert. Denver has some pretty cute shopping districts!

Sunday, 9:34 am - We happened upon this car. Interesting parking technique.

Sunday, 10:12 am - We found out that the car was actually a sculpture outside of the Denver Contemporary Art Museum. Inside the museum we found the second sculpture/cave. Most of the "scales" are made from butterfly wings!

Sunday, 10:17 am - We found this cool window in the art museum and Renee wanted a picture in front of it.

Sunday, 10:19 am - The picture turned out so cool that we decided to take some more...

Sunday, 10:22 am - Using the timer on our camera opened up a whole slew of possibilities!

Sunday, 10:23 am

Sunday, 10:26 am

Sunday, 10:27 am

Sunday, 10:34 am - leave it to artists to make art in an art museum!

Sunday, 7:13 pm - Our plane landed

More Mini-Moon Photos!

2010-09-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Our first morning of our Mini-Moon we decide that we want a good breakfast, so where do we go...to Portland. Yes, we drove 20 min. back into Portland, about 6 blocks from our apt. to have breakfast. It was really good though. Here you see Brian with his french toast!

At the hotel there are large outdoor porches to lounge on, read, or relax. We found this one porch with this deep bench-thingy. Brian loves this image because he says it makes me look like a true miniature person, "the smallest thing ever" - Brian

Ruby's Soaking Bath

These photos were taken the last morning of our stay, around 8am, we decided to go in one last time before check out.

They also have showers in the soaking baths that Brian is trying to use...it was off that morning.

Here is our "Experimental Image" section. We found that my digital camera can select a color and have that be the only color in the image, making everything else black & white. We had fun.

This one of Brian is crazy, if you look at the background you will see that every persons face is in color too.

This seemed to be a popular spot for people who wanted to hear the concert but not pay for the concert.

They told us that we couldn't stand right at the fence and look in because we would be blocking a fire lane...this was our solution.

And this is our view of Ray LaMontagne

Dancing Newlyweds

2010-09-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

This past summer we took dance lessons - this video is proof that they paid off!

And Then They Got Hitched!

2010-09-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

On September 9th, 2010 we got hitched!

When most people imagine their wedding day, the first thing they think about is going through an airport-level security screening complete with metal detectors and x-rays of the rings. Ahhhh tradition.

The wedding was scheduled for 5:30 and since the courthouse officially closes at 5:00 we got to walk through the deserted building.

Judge Bloch was a jovial guy. This picture was right before we began - our friend instructed us to "look nervous" - 2 out of 3 of us understood those directions.....the shorter two.

After that it was all smooth sailing!

Judge Bloch told us this is known as "the money shot"

After the wedding we chatted with the judge in his chambers. We talked about art, rocks and our friend Lori persuaded him to put on his robe and pose with his gavel. We de-friended soon after.

Just married!

Seriously.

The guy on the bench kept clinking his glass.

Here's the entire wedding party! Left to right: Nancy (Maid of honor), Brian, Renee, Lori (Best woman), tree.

Take THAT threshold!

We love you all very much and are very excited for our ceremony back in Michigan in June!

Bizarro Dairy Queen

2010-09-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Right across the street from Brian's school is a Dairy Queen....but it's no ordinary Dairy Queen.

It is a non-franchise Dairy Queen - which means they make their own menu. Don't even try to order a value meal, they don't even have them. It's the only DQ where you can order such gems as, "The Chas Special" and "The Hillsburger." What are these sandwiches? Only one way to find out!

Unlike other DQ, your meal comes on a real plate. This is "The Hillsburger" - the largest of their sandwiches we were told.

We were warned by a colleague that they love to put on a lot of mayo and "Special sauce" on their sandwiches, so we asked for it on the side. We were glad they did when for our one burger they gave us two ice cream dishes FULL of each!

Here you can see Renee demolishing her half of "The Hillsburger" in all it's glory.

Mata Ray Night Snorkel

2010-08-26T20:57:00.001-07:00

On our second to last day we signed up for a night snorkel session with a company that Racheal and Christian are guides for in their spare time - After the sunset you take a boat out to a very specific spot in the ocean where the Manta Rays come to feed on plankton. It is apparently one of the top 10 dives in the WORLD!

This first video gives you a good idea of the whole process. (Click on the videos to see them larger!)

This second video gives you a better idea of how big they are - also look for the Manta with the broken fin in front. We saw her a lot during our dive and she looped under us so close that her belly brushed ours! Brian had to pick up his flashlight so she didn't run into it!

Critter Videos!

2010-08-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Hawaii

2010-08-26T20:12:00.001-07:00

On our last day we made one final trip in a last ditch effort to find the elusive dolphins. Our first stop was to a place called "2 step" (above).

As we swam out in the ocean be began to hear some chirping sounds. And then all of a sudden we were surrounded by dolphins! We counted at least 24 swimming with us!

We were so close that one almost hit Brian! *NOTE* we didn't take these pictures but someone else who was at 2-step did!

For our last dinner we tried Poké, from Da Poké Shack. Poké are large chunks of raw fish that is seasoned over rice. It was actually really good.

Last sunset from Christian and Rachael's apt. there view was amazing! This is LITERALLY the view from their living room!

Rainbow!

2010-08-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

2010-08-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Here is Rachael and Christian in front of the rainbow

This is the lobby to the King Kamehemahe Hotel that we stayed at in downtown Kona

Here is our room. It was beautiful and super close to the downtown strip, which we walked to many times for frozen yogurt and dinner!

Our ocean bay view from the hotel room

Brian at the infinity pool

LAVA! Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

This particular lava flowed between 1999 - 2004. They have different areas that they have mapped out for each year the lava flows. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park displays the results of 70 million years of volcanism, migration, and evolution! It is very weird to walk on land that is younger than we are.

The wind was insane

Brian in a lava tube

In the lava tube looking out

Palm Fun!

2010-08-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

BEAUTIFUL HAWAII

2010-08-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

This is Kaekalakua Beach

Here is Brian being silly with the tiki. He camouflages in so well ;)

We found Hermit Crabs right by the beach. There was around 20 of them. The one below is one of the larger ones the the second image is one of the tiny ones. They had blue eyes and black/white stripped legs. Really cool looking!

The Coffee Cafe

2010-08-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

Today we when snorkeling in the morning and saw 2 sea turtles! We also so saw a puffer fish as well. We then when out to eat at the Coffee Cafe south of Kona, located by Keakalakua. It was great! This is the view from the cafe

We also had geckos running all over the porch! They are beautiful and were just hanging out and sun bathing.

The Seahorse Farm!

2010-08-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

We are staying with some friends of Brian's from Holland, Christian and Rachel. We have been having such an amazing time here and all with their help! Our first morning we had the privilege of being woken up by one of the local roosters. I named him Johnathon Livingston Chicken...that ones for you Ingrid!

I also have some images of our trip to the Seahorse Farm! It was really amazing. Christian works there and give some of the tours as well, he did such a great job.

Here is Christian as our faithful tour guide!

We were able to hold the Seahorses too!
Brian's was named Jupiter

My little guy was named Brutis

Brutis was so cuddly :) He hung on for such a long time and relaxed and reclined in my palm.

One ring......

2010-08-16T11:55:00.001-07:00

For those of you that don't know yet - we are ENGAGED!

This is Renee's ring, which is from a high-end antique jewelery store literally around the corner from us. It's from the 1940's! You can click the images for a close-up if you'd like.

Quote of the Day! 8.11.10

2010-08-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

"Where's the stick of butter?!"

- Brian after we both left Olive in the room with dinner leftovers on the coffee table. Only the paper wrapping was recovered.

Brian's New Computer

2010-08-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Brian's new widescreen 27" iMac is quite the beast!

It has a completely wireless keyboard AND mouse which gives Brian more room to work on his drawing desk.

And of course the screen is HUGE! Which offers great space to work on illustration work...or view the coolest websites ;)

Quote of the Day! 8.7.10

2010-08-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

We're starting a new thing here on Hands On Portland - a 'quote of the day'

Here's one from today.

"I've saved your life three times today, at least let me buy you a cup of coffee"

- Strange foreign/homeless looking man talking to Renee after getting out of his BMW - Renee declined.

Package Arrival!

2010-08-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

Brian finally felt the need to upgrade his laptop for a slightly more professional design computer. These two boxes just came in the mail! Stay tuned to see what's in them!

Salem Art Festival

2010-08-03T21:29:00.001-07:00

A few weekends ago we took a trip to Salem, OR for a three day art festival. Apparently the Salem Art Festival was named one of the top 50 in the country, so Renee was very flattered to have gotten in. It took place in a beautiful park in Salem and we spent three perfect days hanging out in the shade of the gigantic trees.

Here is the artist herself; hard at work.

Over 200 artist from all over the country set up there.

This gate ran along the entire perimeter of the park. Gotta keep those crazy artists contained!

It took us two car trips to haul everything down to Salem. On the last day we were nervous about trying to fit get it home in one trip. Fortunately Renee had apparently sold just enough work that it was possible. One more painting and we might have had to come back for it!

Threadcakes!

2010-07-28T20:33:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, we have both had our T-shirt designs printed on Threadless.com

What you probably don't know is that there is a national cake baking competition that takes place every year where pastry artists pick one Threadless shirt design to make into a cake!

Out of the literally thousands of designs to choose from we were both shocked and honored to see the following cakes based on our shirt designs. If you want to see more of the baking process click the link below each cake image!

VIEW MORE CAKE PICS!

VIEW MORE CAKE PICS!

Paul's Packin' it Up!

2010-07-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

I think Paul really wanted to take someone with him :) She didn't seem to mind.

Perfect fit!

Multnomah Falls

2010-07-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

Paul loved hiking the falls. We went all the way to the top of the waterfall and then hiked up the river which is filled with large rocks to climb on. It was so much fun!

Here we are at the top of the falls at the look out point

We started to make our way up the river, I was a bit slower than those guys :)

It was so beautiful climbing up the river and being able to be all alone, just the three of us.

I was having some troubles...but I didn't get wet!

New Friends

2010-07-24T17:38:00.001-07:00

The Dog whisperer

More from PPT (Paul's Portland Trip)

2010-07-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

Paul discovers the perfect wake-up alarm!

Video Game Night!

Paul and Brian playing Resident Evil until 1:00am! Well, more like Paul playing and Brian coaching him through the levels.

Paul at Cannon Beach!

2010-07-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Here is Paul at Cannon Beach trying to convince Olive to come in the ocean....she is not convinced.

Paul is here!

2010-07-22T23:16:00.001-07:00

On our first morning we walked up to the Rose Garden with Olive. Paul walked Olive the whole time - they are already good buddies :)

We then took him downtown and then to our favorite sushi place by our house, San Sai. He liked it so much we ate there the next day too! I think Portland is growing on him!

Back to Bend!

2010-07-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

Renee recently had an art opening at a Wild River Gallery in Bend Oregon. Brian's grandparents just happen to live in Bend and his Grandmother made it out to the opening where Renee was doing a painting demo.

I believe this was Grandma's favorite. It's a fixer-upper, but I'm sure Grandpa is up to the challenge.

We wished Grandpa was there so he could identify this mountain for us...all Brian knew was this it, "Wasn't Mt. Hood"

While in Bend, Brian's Aunt and her family came up to visit from California. Here is a rare picture of three generations of Brian's family! From left to right: Brian, Uncle Bob, Aunt Bonnie, Grandpa, Cousin Daniel, Renee, Olive, Grandma.

One of the main focuses of the visit was to finish this puzzle. Renee was very determined to get it finished before leaving. Some might call it dedication, some might call it obsession. In any case here's the proof that it happened.

Mt. Hood Cabin

2010-06-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to stay the cabin of one of Renee's clients. It was about 10 minutes away from the top of Mt. Hood.

The trees were furry up there.

A few minutes away there was a really nice hike through the woods. Parts of it were an old broken down highway. My car was dwarfed by the rock face.

We found the waterfall that everyone was talking about.

This tree was cool - you could literally stand under it.

Renee took about 50 pictures of this banana slug. But Brian put his foot down (not on the slug) when she wanted to take it home with her.

We found a hidden trail and explored the forest a little.

wait...maybe THIS is the waterfall they were talking about.

After we returned we made a nice fire. Our friend Lori came to chill with the first day, which was awesome cause she was a mean fire builder. Unfortunately because of the fire we needed to chop more wood...something us city folks aren't exactly used to....

Bike Jousting

2010-06-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Pedalpalooza here in Portland. They have all kinds of biking events, but one of the more unique is the bike jousting. Two people ride at eachother at top speed and try to knock each other off bikes. It's much more dangerous than it sounds....especially when there are no pads involved. It usually only lasts 1 round, but these two guys on their tall bikes were pros!

You can tell how good the bikers are going to be by their outfit.

Here's a video of how one finally got the other off!

Lisa!

2010-06-13T08:00:00.001-07:00

We had a visitor last week - Renee's best friend, Lisa!

It just happened to be Lisa's birthday while she was here so we made sure she got a large birthday cake.

IKEA assembly

2010-05-31T10:54:00.001-07:00

We have been trying to setup and furnish a room in our apartment that was left empty after Renee moved her studio out. Yesterday we made a trip to IKEA and bough a bench/storage unit that came unassembled.

Eventually we put the main part together...

Then it was time to assemble the drawers.

Ta DA!

The many uses of our new piece of furniture!

How to Fill a Car

2010-05-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

It's festival time for Renee again! We also get the opportunity to flex our spacial packing skills as we have to fit all of Renee's gear and paintings into Brian's 2 door Ford Focus. Mission complete!

Olive the Cat.

2010-05-09T10:35:00.001-07:00

Happy Mother's Day! It's been a whole month since the last post (YIKES!)

It was sunny and 70 yesterday and so we finally opened the windows in our new apartment. Apparently Olive had been waiting for this moment as she jumped up onto the windowsill and layed down just like a cat. In fact she is doing the same thing right now, as we speak!

Seattling!

2010-04-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Spring break gave us an opportunity to re-visit Seattle for a few days.

We stayed in a hostel with view of the world famous Pike's Place Market across the street.

Brian was shopping for a new winter coat while we were there.

The Experience Music Project is pretty cool looking. Designed by Frank Ghery.

This guy had quite a few windows to wash.

Renee noticed that the building looked like it could use a little extra support.

Video of Brian and Muse!

2010-04-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE to see a video that the radio station posted of Muse announcing the winner(s) for the poster contest mentioned below.

Muse Poster!

2010-04-04T20:00:00.001-07:00

Brian Recently designed a poster contest for the band Muse!

Out of 300 entries his poster made it into the top ten and he got to meet the band and they signed his poster.

Here is Brian with the band. The told were split between his poster and another poster and ended up giving the official grand prize to the other poster. However, they liked it enough that they gave it "2nd" place and gave Brian two 3rd row seat tickets to the show.

Here is a picture from the concert, just to give you an idea of their stage setup. Cool!!!

Sistah!

2010-03-28T09:02:00.001-07:00

Brian's sister Anna came to visit last week!

Renee had this idea to get us to lean back on a slanted parking lot but take the picture so it looked flat...not sure if the illusion worked as well as she thought it would.

Here we are at the Pittock Mansion! Thanks for the great picture self timer!

A visit to Portland isn't complete with some Voodoo donuts!

Brian's Birthday Weekend!

2010-03-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY BRIAN!

This past weekend we went to Cannon Beach with Olive. She had lots of good exercise on her bad leg and we had a great time in the 70 degree weather!

We really have forgotten that it's still March with all this warm weather we have been having.

Then on Sunday night we meet a few friends to have a birthday dinner together! It was really nice to see everyone and super special because Brian's sister Anna was in Portland!

We all came back to our place to sing and have birthday cake!

Now our place is all decorated for Brian's Birthday!

We are going out to a birthday dinner tonight and he can open all his birthday presents too! Happy Birthday to you Brian Cook! Yahooo for 26!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

2010-02-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

Renee woke up today with a plan....

a plan to make cupcakes for everyone in the building.

Lots of eggs and 70 cupcakes later the task was done.

Brian's Commute

2010-02-06T22:33:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures from Brian's drive home from school every day. Last week he had a few nights and the sun was setting by the time he left.

One of the cool things about his commute is that he drives directly toward Mt. Hood on the way home.

Olive Post Surgery!

2010-01-24T16:49:00.000-08:00

Our little girl is recovering nicely! She has 2 more days in her cast then she moves on to just having it wrapped up. I think shes excited to get up and walk around.

It's Vegas Baby!

2010-01-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

What happens in Vegas...is on this blog!

At the Venetian Hotel

First night out on the town with my sister Carla and her husband Mike! We had a blast!
This is Carla & Renee on Fremont street at night

Paris Las Vegas at night!

Sigfried & Roy statue

Watch out Brian! Grrrrrrr!

All the different colors of M&M's

The first illustrations of the M&M candies, drawn in 1954, Brian loved seeing all the different illustrations starting at 1954 through 2010! It was really cool to see.

Excalibur at night

We stayed at the Golden Nugget and they had an amazing pool. The slide went from the 3rd story down through a shark tank, then into the pool! It was amazing. They had over 10 different kinds of sharks in the tank!

In front of New York New York!

Before we went into Excalibur

The night at the GAMGA (German American Masquerade Association) Masquerade Ball!

Carla & Mike in their masks

My Grandma & Grandpa Dancing at the ball. My Grandpa is wearing his Prinz hat for the festival.

This is our table representing Michigan for the festival. If you ever want to see a group of adults return to childhood give them a few balloons to play with, I have never seen faces light up so fast! They had a lot of fun!

Brian, Renee, Grandma, Grandpa, Mike, and Carla at the Masquerade Ball

At the Palazzo, what an amazing view!

This ones for Ingrid!!!
Can you believe that a Bonanza Gift store doesn't have Bonanza souvenirs?! No joke, not one Bonanza item in the entire store! Sorry Ingrid

Our last night in Vegas at the GAMGA ball!
Grandma & Grandpa in their Prinz & Prinzess outfits

Mike & Brian in their festival hats for the GAMBA ball, they looked so cute! Just like elves!

All of the GAMGA royalty!
Grandma & Grandpa are on the first level on the left side

Our last morning together, we are all waiting for our airport shuttle to arrive

We had such a nice time in Vegas together, it is always nice to get to see family and to check out Las Vegas!

Brian's New Home Office!

2010-01-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

Check out Brian's new Drawing desk from IKEA! Built in light table!!!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T15:35:00.001-08:00

One of Renee's Christmas gifts was an old Super Nintendo system...this is how we spent our new year ;)

Happy Holidays from the Portland Elves!!

2009-12-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

New Coats

2009-12-13T20:18:00.001-08:00

As some of you have heard, we are moving into a brand new apartment in our building. We got a chance to paint the walls this weekend. (the yellow layer was our failed first attempt).

Olive is overseeing the work.

Here's one wall that we already finished!

Renee's 27th Birthday!

2009-12-08T19:56:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful day on my birthday. Brian made me crepes in the morning and then we went for a walk around 23rd stopping to get some chocolates. Then sushi for dinner! Thank you everyone for sending me treats and gifts, it made my day so special :)

Ingrid & Olive

2009-12-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some images of Ingrid and Olive that I came across yesterday and realizes I never posted them. They are just to cute not to put on our blog even 6 months after she came to visit us!

Brian's Off Day

2009-12-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

Brian and Olive cuddling up on his off day.

Proof of Hard Work!

2009-12-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

This is Brian's office at school! The trimester ends this week and as you can see, thigns have been hectic!

Black Friday Deal$!

2009-12-02T19:35:00.001-08:00

We woke up at 9am to head out fro Black Friday! Our favorite find was free breakfast at IKEA! yay!

Thanksgiving!

2009-12-02T19:31:00.000-08:00

Our good friend Lori and her pug Herbbie joined us for Thanksgiving ham this year! Tasty!

HALLOWEEEEEEEEN!

2009-11-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

Cutest Lobster ever!

Dr. Cook & the second cutest lobster ever!

Sarah (Gracie's Mom) dressed up as a zombie bride. We painted her neck and other bloody areas.

Gracie in her Bad-A scull shirt

Pumpkin Party Bananza!

2009-10-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

We had a great pumpkin carving party at our place to kick off Halloween!

Here is Sarah (on left) & Lori with some pumpkin guts!

Liz imitating her very petite pumpkin.

Brian with his lopsided pumpkin, trying to make the best of it.

Our finished pumpkins!

Fall Is Here!

2009-10-20T19:23:00.001-07:00

Olive in the leaves!

The Girls Sleeping

2009-10-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

All the girls passed out, well almost everyone...oh little Gracie!

Olive thought it was the most comfortable to sleep on Gracie's Head, but Gracie wasn't about to kick her off.

Check This Crazy Bug Out!

2009-10-16T20:49:00.001-07:00

I found this bug walking home from my studio and had to bring it home with me to photograph it. It was already dead when I found him/her in the middle of the road. I wish I could have photographed it next to something for a size comparison, but I would say that it was at least 1.5 inches long and about 1 inch wide. It was huge and really beautiful. I thought that the fur that is on it's stomach is really unique as well. I have never seen anything like it or any insect as large.
Does anyone know what kind of bug this is?

The Swifts!

2009-10-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

This is a video we took of the these local birds called Swifts. They meet in this chimney every September into October and do this tornado dance into the chimney at sunset and sunrise. It takes the birds about an hour to all make their way into the chimney. The chimney is attached to a school and is no longer used for heating but they left it standing for the Swifts. The school is only a 10min walk from our apt in the NW of Portland.

Art Prize!

2009-10-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

Renee by her painting for Art Prize which was hung at the WMCAT (West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology). It was a wonderful facility and I was happy to be a part of it all.

Helmut and Paul came to see my work in Grand Rapids, we had a lot of fun looking at all the work and talking about lots of art. Helmut really liked the sculpture below, it was made of aluminum and was about 9 feet high. I never did meet the artist on that one Dad or find out how it was made, sorry about that :) Maybe next time.

Mom, Carla, and Mike came to see me on the opening night. It was so nice to see such encouraging faces.

This was one of the works of art that was displayed at different locations around Grand Rapids. On the day Helmut and Paul came into town it was moved that morning to the Rosa Parks Circle so we had to go check it out. Believe me it was really wedged under that overhang, don't think we didn't test that out ;)

Mom and Carla really liked this sculpture which was made of all balloons! It was one of my favorites as well.

Janet and Mark came to see me and my work at the WMCAT. They are looking at a clay life-sized whale sculpture that was also in the WMCAT building.

Thank you all for coming to support me and my work during Art Prize, it really means a lot to me!

Olives New Friend Gracie!

2009-10-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

This is Olive's new best friend Gracie. Or as we call her Grace Face, Gracer Eraser, and Gracie Bear. She is a Chihuahua mix and is so so sweet. She belongs to a new neighbor of ours Sarah, who is just as cool :)

Getting comfy together...well everyone except Brian.

Back to school.

2009-09-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

School starts Tuesday and here are some pictures of Brian's brand new art room at South Meadows Middle School.

Here's a view of the front of Brian's classroom (notice the absence of unpacked boxes)

A view from the other side. The door on the right is the kiln room.

Although the new school has state of the art technology, Brian still found it important to smuggle in a little "old technology" that was almost thrown out at the old school.

There are 3 of these sinks in the room. It's awesome that they are away from the counter because at least 3 kids can clean up at each one at the same time!

A view of the storage room....still a work in progress.

Brian's office (the other teachers are jealous)

His desk in the classroom (again...the sign was something he brought from the old school)

And here's a view of the main office. Brian put up the 7'x5' mural that his students made last year. You can see it perfectly through the windows which is pretty cool.

And another view.

Time for Brian to start work

2009-08-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

Brian is clearly starting to have WAY too much time on his hands with this whole, "summers off" thing.

Napa

2009-08-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

On our way home we stopped at Napa to check out all the wineries.

The land was beautiful - Renee took about a bajillion pictures.

Winery.

Here's Renee at a cute little downtown ally.

Brain inspects a cork tree.

The trip was loads of fun, but it was nice to be back in the old OR.