Table 177

I got called out last night, by a stranger, and she was right: “So, you’re a photographer. I did some research and looked at your web page. You need to start blogging again.”

I need to start blogging again. It’s been too long.

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Last night was Grand Valley State University’s annual Enrichment Dinner. It’s a fancy-pantsy well-to-do black tie event held at DeVos Place Convention Center, featuring a nice intimate crowd of around 1000-1500 beautiful people, celebrating 50+ years of the school’s rich history. This was only the second year my wife and I have been invited – which was caused by the creation of the GVSU Track & Field/Cross Country Alumni Board of which I am a member of.  The event is fantastic, and best of all, free of charge. When my wife and I went last year, we had no idea what to expect. It was assigned seating at 10-top tables. Last year we arrived knowing one person at the table but left with seven new friends. That was what we were excited for this year, and it did not disappoint.

The school sets up the seating chart, and each table is assigned a ‘host’ to help get the flow of conversation going. Our table was a mixture of journalist, marketing, and design professionals. We even had a local TV  news personality who we watch everyday, sitting at our table. “Sarah, lean over here,” I whispered. “Do you recognize her?” She responds with a healthy nod. After a quick round of ‘hello-my-name-is-___-nice-to-meet-you,’ it’s about 30 seconds later that our host calls me out as mentioned above. A few seconds later I’m handed a business card from the person sitting next to me who runs a local marketing firm and needs a photographer, who she then quickly starts having a dress conversation with my wife, which quickly turns into a conversation of the fine line of looking ‘sexy-elegant’ vs. looking like a hooker, to which the host from across the table asks, “what are you talking about over there?”

“Hookers.”

“Oh good. We’re talking about boobs over here.”

This, was going to be a fun night.

I’ll spare you the fine details, but hours later we find ourselves at Reserve, looking at each other that knowing look of “we need to go rescue the babysitters” (grandma/grandpa), and feeling thoroughly satisfied about the long conversations we had with the marketing firm gal about the finer points of rustic camping, vintage pop-up campers, and the places we’ve each camped at, as well as the long conversations with the TV personality about traveling abroad, genealogy, 9/11, and Al Capone. It was a beautiful, random-subject, evening.

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So back to the beginning: I need to blog more. My last entry was back in early November and it was about my 90 day old son. Well, he’s now ten months old, and Sarah and I are much better parents now. We’ve got a lot to learn yet, but we feel we’ve done a pretty good job getting things settled and back to ‘normal’ around here.

A lot of interesting things have been happening around here and we’ve been busy. Last year finished off great (I know I know, I need to create my ‘2012 selections’ gallery) and there’s been ups and downs so far in 2013. Here are a few highlights that I’ll be touching on more since I’m going to be blogging more now 😉

• We had Carroll baptized at Sarah’s church and had the whole family over.
• I finished building a couple pieces of furniture for Carroll and I’m really really proud of them. Actually, I’m really proud of everything in his room. Of the seven pieces of furniture in his room, I built or rehabbed five of them myself, with the intention of them being in his room.
• My mother has offered to come every Tuesday to watch Carroll so I can be ‘me’ and get things done.
• Around Christmas I hooked up with Pear Analytics have been working for them about 20 hours a week from home, in my underwear (Not really. Well, maybe sometimes).
• My uncle died. He had been suffering from Pancreatitis for about three years and had had an attack in the middle of the night. It was rough and complicated, with complications. He was on life support for two weeks; it was bad. There were glimmers of hope every now and then, hence the long duration, but alas, we said goodbye. He was 70, left behind a wife of 51 years. He was a master carpenter. He built beautiful things. He built their house. He did all the casework. He could build anything out of wood. I’ve recently gained an interest in wood-working and picked his brain on a few things at Christmas – this summer I was going to ask him to help me with a table. Well, that’s changed – or at least the angle has. Last fall on Craigslist I picked up a vintage Saarinen style Tulip dinette set on the cheap and am currently rehabbing the bases and seats. It had a small laminate 42” round top on it. Uncle Mike had a huge pile of lumber curing in his shop, that he personally had rough milled from a Red Oak he found on or around his property. I’m using his lumber he made, to make a 69” oval top (to match the original oval Knoll offered in the ‘50s), and I’m doing it with his tools, I’m doing it to honor him. Everyday I touch his tools, I thank him for having access to them. When the dinette set is done, I will think of him with every meal I eat.
• We put Carroll through Infant Safety Rescue swim classes. It was intense and long; five days a week for eight weeks. But now, at 10 months old, if he were to fall into the water, clothed, even in a snow suit, he could roll himself over and basically do the dead-man’s-float until help arrived.
• Things continue to advance at “The Quarry” as this spring we built a good ‘ol fashioned ‘merican outhouse, added a canopy to the camper and one for the beach, added more chairs, a great counter top for the ‘kitchen,’ and a full size gas grill. And it’s only June 6.
• We’ve slowly been acquiring all the parts to completely redo our bathroom. The vanity is going to be rebuilt with some great contemporary modern fixtures, a new countertop (made out of a solid door I bought for a $1), and huge 22” marble[like] tiles for the shower stall and floor. We have everything, we just need to do it. There’s a bulkhead above the shower that I need to remove and I’m a little intimidated by the timeline and how long the process takes, considering we have only one shower.
• I’ve been slowly working on redoing the fireplace wall. I’ve gotten rid of the orange hearth, blackened the white grout and ribbon, blackened the firebox, added some angle iron trim work, and installed decorative birch logs. I have a plan to rip out and rebuild the cabinets, but this time all the way to the ceiling.
• Between being a stay at home dad, and working ~20 hours a week with Pear, I’ve not been doing much photography, sadly. Although I did photograph a wedding over Memorial Day weekend and had a blast doing so. Hopefully this new push to be more active on the blog also brings the urge to get out and photograph more.

So that’s about it for now. Come back and check this place out more frequently, I promise I’ll be here with new material more often now. I plan on showing off a lot of the things I’ve built as mentioned up above. I may not have done anything with them, but I was diligent about taking photos about my processes as I built things. I will share them with you soon, I promise.

Have a great day, and thank you for calling me out. Talk to you soon.