Rock And Roll!

Ryan. Rock star.

Share your Halloween Decorating!

Hey everyone! Let's post how you decorate for holidays! Here it is for Halloween at the Gillman household:

Dude.

This little thing would be a hell of a lot cuter if it wasn't a) living under my shed; and b) mating with another one just like it.

And of course c) carrying a plethora of disease.

I'd get a cat, but I'm pretty sure these things are bigger than your average cat.

Get away from my flower pots, you mangy rodent!!

Check it out, yo!

I totally framed and insulated that area below the windows myself! Hee hee! Okay, so I had a little help cutting the 2x4s, but I did the calculations, and toe-nailed the middle studs in, and all that stuff. This weekend, I'll screw in the drywall panels, and maybe do a little finishing, and I'll have one upstairs room that is fully insulated. Yay!

The plan is to keep the original recessed look. The new drywall panels will be recessed from the wall about an inch. And then, after I sand and paint the trim, I'm going to wallpaper the new drywall panels. Something white-on-white, maybe with a little silver mixed in.

My office is going to rock.

Fun in St. George

Here's our trip to St. George.
At Steph's house:

At Steph's house fixing snacks:

At Sky Mountain Golf Course:




Saying goodbye at the convenience store:

Always leaving

This has become our life. Pictures of people leaving.

Delays, delays

Why does everything take longer than you think it will?

Over the weekend, my project was to finish painting the downstairs guest suite, and sew the tablecloth for the kitchen down there. Every simple facet of that turned into a convoluted mess. For example, I unscrewed the little clamps that secure the frameless bathroom mirror to the wall, and *wham!* The bathroom mirror slid with a thud onto the counter because no one had glued it to the wall. I think I speak for everyone when I say, "What the?!" Luckily, it didn't break, but I had to remove all the light bulbs on the side lights to lift the mirror out.

Then, in the hallway, another strange full-length mirror was attached to the wall. I could tell this one wasn't glued, which was a good thing in this case. I unscrewed it, wondering why anyone would put a mirror in such a weird location, and as I lifted it away from the wall, I realized why: it was covering a huge hole in the drywall. So painting the hall got put on hold in order to patch the drywall. I'll be sanding the joint compound down and texturing it tonight. Paint on Tuesday, maybe.

Now let's talk tablecloths. Flat, rectangular swaths of fabric that require little construction. Right? Wrong. Oh so very wrong. After two weeks of trial and error (don't ask — my brain just could not figure anything out), two weeks of sewing the wrong sides together, unpicking, mis-cutting, going back to the fabric store for more supplies, running out of thread, et cetera, I finally — finally! — finished the damn thing yesterday. And you know what? It looks as mundane and pointless as any tablecloth ever does. All that work, so people can spill mac & cheese on it. Why do I do it to myself?

Sometimes I feel like I'm making major strides of progress. Other times I feel like an ant, running frantically around in directionless circles.

Is this supercute, or what.

Ryan & Irina featured on today's Google blog.

Nothing spices up 1960's wood paneling quite like...

...a desert silhouette!

Troupe Tarab at the Utah Arts Festival

Not bad for the first performance of this routine!

The Pups Visit Zion NP

Beautiful thunderstorm in Zion over the weekend, so of course I had to go experience it. These photos are right before the rains came through.

Little Red Riding Hood: The Century!

Just wanted to post a quick note about how much fun Shari and I had doing the Little Red Riding Hood century ride. As a mtn biker who doesn't even own a road bike, I found the whole experience delightfully new, fun, and interesting.

One thing that was cool was that I could enjoy the scenery while I was riding, instead of being focused on negotiating technical terrain, and only checking out the view when I stop at the crest of a hill or something. So that was nice.

Another great thing were the people — 3000 other women riders, all of whom were nice, happy, courteous, and fun. I can't believe some of the people who finished an entire century! That's an incredibly long distance, and so many women did it with a smile. Hahaha...

And of course I have to mention the food. Now, mtn bikers, I think, are incapable of ever having an organized ride like this that didn't turn into a race. The closest thing I've seen is the Appetite Seminar (the "Turkey Day Ride") and I'm almost positive the only reason that ride stays casual is that it's specifically NOT organized. There's no way you could have a start time, and not have people pin it, and elbow you out of the way at the starting line. Hahaha... So anyway, with every organized ride basically being a quest to see who is the toughest, you have to bring your own food. Maybe there'll be an aid station where people hand you paper cups of water or Gatorade as you zip past, but most likely you're on your own. If you cramp up, or forget to bring enough food or water, too-bad-so-sad-better-luck-next-time.

Not so at Little Red! Every 10 or so miles was the most elaborate spread I've ever seen. Not only did they have the basics (water, Gatorade stuff, sports gels) but they had fresh fruit, cookies, granola bars, bagels, candy — everything you could possibly imagine and then some! At mile 50 was the "lunch aid station," and seriously, you can't call this an aid station. It was more like a catered resort tent. Sandwiches, drinks, all the stuff from the other aid stations plus a whole lot more.

And all served and maintained by very cute men. :)

Shari taught me all the hand signals that roadies to use (to, like, warn each other when there's something technical coming up, or if they're going to slow down or swerve — I mean, what the heck!) and she basically kicked butt the whole time. I bonked near the end, exhausted, grouchy, and ready to throw my bike into the weeds, sit down, and wait for more hot male attendants to, *ahem* attend to me. But she got me through it. She could have gone much faster (and probably wanted to, as we were so close to finishing) but she was awesome and stuck right with me. We crossed the finish line at the same time, staggered off our bikes, and headed to yet another fantastic food tent, this one stocked with celebratory post-ride items like ice cream and chocolate-dipped strawberries.

We both wore our matching "Super Red" T-shirts on the way home.

Thanks for the fun ride, Shari! I'm looking forward to the next one.

Hee hee!

Even the sewer caps are cute here!

Blue!

Check it out... my blue door!

Pictures of fun!

Cutest darn cookie-eater ever! He loves splashing in the water! I couldn't keep him out of it, this was the best I could do and he still was soaked!
Playing, need I say more?
This is just the beginning, it got so much worse. I brushed off the snow 3 times before I made it to work. By the time I got there, it's only 5 miles?, it looked like a foot of snow had gathered on my car.

Photos!

I Love This Picture!

Just had to share a cute picture we took overlooking the Mississppi River between Chester, Illinois (the birth place of Popeye), and St. Mary, Missouri. In the back ground you can see Horse Island where Louis and Clark camped. It's a beautiful area!

18 Months!

Peyton is now a year and a half old today! Boy time flies! Here are a few pictures taken from my phone the other day, hence the poor quality, I take blurry pictures, plus he wouldn't look at me by the time the camera took the picture! Peyton is such a ham, he smiles all the time and has to do everything his sister does. There is a picture of him swinging like she did.


Peyton is our little cuddle-bug, he loves to climb all over us and give us lots of hugs and kisses! I love my baby boy! :)

Photo of the Day, February 28, 2010

Foreground: Irina and Ryan cheese it up for another one of our "patented" self-portraits. Irina's wearing a nice little baby-blue t-shirt she bought in a surf shop at the beach. She's also wearing a purple string of plastic Mardis Gras beads. The story behind those beads is that there was someone sitting on top of the archway gate/entry in front of the San Diego Zoo, and tossing Mardis Gras beads down to zoo patrons. To be frank, he was only tossing beads to cute children and attractive women. Needless to say, Irina got a string of beads.

I'm wearing yet another clearance-sale polo shirt. This one's from Esprit.

Background: You can see the expanse of the San Diego Zoo stretch out behind us as we take the cable car from one end to the other. I was happy to discover a "sky ride" at the zoo, because frankly I love them. It was peaceful and romantic up there. We could see all of San Diego from the highest point, or so it seemed. The breeze was blowing lightly, giving us a break from the scorching heat. We could also peer down into various animals' homes and see what they were up to. Most of them were sleeping.

Photograph of the Day, February 27, 2010

Foreground: Irina smiles at the camera as Dr. Ahmed watches a crowd of people singing karaoke in the courtyard. The pink scarf around Irina's neck is hand-made Chinese silk produced at the oldest and most renown silk producer in China, which has been making silk textiles for Chinese rulers since the days of the emperors.

Mid-Ground: Gates built in the 15th-16th Centuries provide shade and spatial dimension for visitors of Beijing's Temple of Heaven, a 237-square-hectare area containing temples, altars, gardens, bridges, and a man-made cyprus forest. Vendors and street performers provide entertainment as Chinese citizens and tourists wander the grounds daily for exercise, inspiration, relaxation, and sight-seeing.

Background: Built atop concentric risers of carved marble in the 1400s, the main temple on the grounds rises high over the other structures in the area, and can be seen from virtually every point within the Temple of Heaven. It is a massive structure, and a masterpiece of ancient Chinese architecture.

TRUE FACT

Who is the number one rated male vocalist among entomologists?

Why, it's Jon Cicada of course!

Silly Boy in the Tub -- sorry, they were filmed portrait instead of landscape, you'll have to turn your head!

A Visit to Metropolis!

There is a little town in Southern Illinois named Metropolis, yes, just like the city in which Superman, aka Clark Kent lives and works. Every year in June they host the Superman Celebration. It's a big deal with former actors and actresses involved with Superman movies and TV shows, costume contests, art contests, etc etc. Although we wanted to see the celebration in June, we thought we'd travel on down early to see if we could spy the Man of Steel himself, and check out the city so everyone can visit in June and join in on the fun. This is what we found!