birthday recap

Last weekend was my birthday.  Thanks to all for the facebook well-wishes.  I had a near perfect day.  Aside from the sciatica I've been dealing with lately - Saturday's events went off sans hitch.

To start it off, Ashley made a delicious chocolate chip coffee cake, with streussel.  I had no idea what she was making at the time, but it was an awesome surprise.  Coffe cake is probably my favorite food.  Even those hostess ones rank pretty high up there on my list.

After a lazy morning, our day got even lazier and George took a nice nap, allowing both of us to take naps ourselves.  Ashley had just got back from a trip to see her parents and came in on a late night flight.  So she and George were exhausted.  I was exhausted because the last two weeks I've been waking up at 4 am from sciatica pain, unable to get back to sleep.   Suffice it to say, the nap was a great birthday gift.

After our naps we hung around some more and played - and then headed out for dinner at Famous Dave's.  Ever since we moved to Bozeman I've had my eye on that place, and told Ashley I wanted to go there for my birthday.  Its not that its the best bbq around, but it is pretty darn good.  The portions are very generous and the atmosphere is perfect for a rambunctious toddler.  Ashley was a little worried that she'd be put off by the smell, but when she got in she immediately was reassured that she was in the mood for barbecue.

Here's a picture of George & Ashley pre-meal.  Do you like Ashley's scarf?  I always give Ashley a hard time about her scarf "fleet" because she could probably cover half the necks in Bozeman.  Despite this, she always has an itch for more and this one came courtesy of me from a cute little shop downtown.  It was a good find if I do say so me-self.

We ordered some miniature corn dogs for George. He had a couple, but was more interested in peeking at the people sitting on the other side of the window from us, and telling hilarious jokes.  You can see that he's in the middle of a punch line right here:

The Pulsipher family, January 22 2011.  This is the only good picture I got of my friendly mutton chops.  I grew it in Ashley's absence.  I saw this style on a guy when I was doing some work up in Whitefish and I thought it looked pretty bad-a so I tried it for myself.  The jury is still out on whether or not it's the style for me - but it was something fun to do.

It was a great birthday and a perfect one with my family.  Every day we get a little more comfortable and happy about our new life. Hope you are all enjoying your winters.

on beards

So we're in the thick of winter up in here and one of the many logical things to do in the winter (from curling, sledding, warm breakfasts, etc) is growing a beard.  Aside from having winter utility beards can be both fashionable and fun!

As my beard has grown longer in length, Its started to become somewhat vagrant-esque, due to my lack of hair density.  It's ok... it's my lot in life. You've got to dance with who brought ya, right? I do like the fact that I have quite a bit of blond and red in my beard.  It's like the beard of many colors!

Here's my beard in a festive setting:

Here's my beard in an action shot!

As I mentioned earlier, I needed to trim it down a little because I was looking a little worse for the wear, so I purchased a beard-trimmer on amazon.  Everything seemed to be cut and dry until I read the instructions.

There were four things that I thought were kind of funny, as numbered in the image above.

1+2.  I like that it says that there are "three factors" in determining "which beard style is best for you."  But it leaves me in suspense, not telling me anything and then directs me to a defunct link or a professional hair stylist.  A small info graphic with different head shapes would be great here.

3.  This description really confuses me, but immediately makes me think they are trying to get me to grow a Count Rugen.

4.  This is actually good advice.  Cutting the perimeter of your beard should be UNDERNEATH the jawbone, not along it.  This is a mistake that many novice-beard-growers make, and you end up looking like an MLB pitcher or an extra in the community theatre's rendition of Henry the 8th.

Here's a helpful link if you need direction on beard trimming.

I realize that 85% of the readers of this blog are female so... this may not pertain to you, but it may pertain to the man in your life!  I'm fortunate to have a wife who is pro-facial hair.  I hear many guys say that they "can't" grow a beard because their wife doesn't like it.   So... good for them to accommodate that preference.

Some other random thoughts on beards.  Growing up, my dad almost always had a beard.  It's a great beard - and I think that a lot of my fond feelings concerning beards center around my dad's beard.

My friend Chad can grow the best beard... I mean, like world championship caliber 

So what say ladies and gentleman of the jury?  Are you pro-beard, or anti?

new years eve, bozeman style

Happy New Year's everyone.  2011 looks to be a promising year.  2010 was full of joy, and sadness as we left our dear home of California.  Though we miss our friends so much, we are trying to make the best of our new surroundings and fortunately have fallen into a crowd that spares no expense when it comes to fun.  This year started off with a bang, as we partook in our neighbors tradition of Flaming Snow.

So I'm sure you - like me are unfamiliar with the tradition of flaming snow.  Legend has it that this tradition was born out of some idle eager minds, looking to have some fun.  As I'm sure this is your first exposure to the past time, I'll walk you through it.

Step 1:  Procure gasoline laced snow and gather it in a shovel.

Step 2:  Light it on fire and prepare to launch it trebuchet style

Step 3: Launch flaming snow into the air creating a nordic spectacle the likes of which ye have never before seen.

Step 4:  Repeat steps 1-3 as mob dictates

New Years Eve was awesome.  Weather clothing was a must as it was -17°F.  The cold front didn't damper the mood.  We had plenty of spirit, snow and gasoline to welcome in the new year.

Like Ashley, our neighbor Tyler served his mission in Russia.  Just when the party was looking like it would fade, Ashley and Tyler treated us all to some Russian folk dancing that kept everyone clapping until sunrise.

 

After the folk dancing demonstration, we ushered in the new years with the classic "2011" gas tribute.  I have a cool sequence of this lighting up on flickr if any of you are interested.

Here is a picture of Ashley at the foot of the 2011.  She was just about to run through it barefoot before I stopped her in the midst of her new year's fever.

Here we are... wishing you all a happy 2011 from Bozeman Montana.  George would've liked to join the festivities but he was soundly asleep in his bed.

ginger bread extravaganza

Last week we got together with our neighbors the Barnwells and had a ginger bread house raising... much like an Amish barn raising.  It was a lot of fun.  Here are the entrants:

Chelsy went for the classic, candyland approach.  Picturesque, quaint, delicious!

Ashley went for the... "big on landscape, little on house."  Unfortunately she didn't finish as she got distracted by the party and putting George to sleep.  She didn't want the paparazzi (me) to take a picture of it.

I went for the classic, Frank Loyd Wright's Falling Waters.  I have never gone for something so ambitious and I was certainly limited by the medium and patience, but I was happy with the overall end result.

Tyler went for the ultimate neo-gothic castle.  Fresh with suspension bridge held up by licorice strings!

Look at that attention to detail!  Tyler definitely wins the craftsmanship award.

Here's Ashley's submission.  As she was putting the finishing touches on it I heard her say under her breath, "Ashley, you've done it again, another masterpiece."  : )

We also went to see Santa at our Church Christmas Party.  As we placed George on his lap, George kept his arms stiff as a board, as if he wanted to keep contact at a minimum at all costs.

We hope you are all having a great Christmas and Holiday season.

Merry Christmas

You probably already received this in your email, but just in case:

Also, I'm curious. How does this year's rate compared to 2009 and 2008? Cast your vote here.

I was also thinking of funnier captions than "Happy Holidays."

I was thinking of:
"Don we now our gay apparel."
"Have a Royally Awesome Christmas"
"Montana's really rubbing off on us...

Any ideas there?

it's winter

Slowly - but surely - we are coming to grips with the fact that it's winter here in Montana.  As we had been winter-free for nearly four years, we weren't exactly sure how we'd adjust to the cold slap in the face that is a Montana winter.  We've braced for it, and made adequate preparations.  We've bought our winter coats, snow tires, shovels, and dusted off our mittens and hats.  It kind of seems comical that we even owned a pair living in Los Angeles.

Something that was ironically fortunate, was that the first "real" cold week was a string of days that were in the negatives.  It was serious cold.   It has since warmed up... and now we find ourselves enjoying the 20's and 30's quite well.  We have got a lot of snow (at least two feet I'd reckon) since it started, and I am now a firm believer that if you want to enjoy snow, there's got to be a lot of it.  A couple of inches and it's just annoying.  A couple of feet - now there's a party!  We've got several strategies in place for enjoying the winter... with more to come I'm sure:

Ashley and George pause from a fun day in the snow.  When the sun comes out and its 30, it's quite easy to spend a comfortable few hours out playing.  We go as long as George can handle it... wear him out.  And just when we think he's ready to go in...

... we put him to work shoveling the snow.  Nothing like burning off the ole "Thanksgiving five" with some manual labor!

We cut down this beauty, for the steep figure of $5 smackers.  It is probably about 7 feet or so (our first full sized tree) and I'm absolutely in love with it.  At night we turn off the lights and though I'm supposed to be watching season four of prison break (a death march right now), I can't help but look at this beautiful tree.  It's got everything I want.  The look, the feel, the smell of a family tree.

We also are experimenting with George's housewear and lounge looks... everything from the...

German tourist at the beach, to the...

Indie hipster in Brooklyn picking up a redbox rental for him and his sweetheart.

Last Saturday they closed down Main Street for the "Winter Stroll."  Bozeman has a great civic scene... lots of events and tons of kids out.  We meandered our way through the caroling and crowds and settled in on some delicious fry bread, pizza by the slice, and hot apple cider.  So much fun.

George enjoying fry bread

Ashley caught this spectacle on Sunday afternoon.  It was quite cold, but the sun was out. It had completely frozen everything on the tree... reminding me of an image of bronchioli from a 7th grade biology book.

I'm sure there are more adventures to come.  We're kicking around the idea of becoming snowshoe or cross country ski-enthusiasts... though I may also take up snow-sculpture.  We hope you all are enjoying your winters, near and far.

retiring the food blog, now on to death defying adventures

8 foot plus icicle on our roof.  I knocked it down with a shovel and it seriously almost knocked me over. 

Photoshop recreation and scale so you can see the magnitude of this bad boy.