Ouch That Hurts

NEW WEBSITE IS UP!

2010-02-08T19:21:00.001-08:00

HEY EVERYONE, JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW THAT MY NEW WEBSITE IS UP. COME CHECK IT OUT.

www.caseyhurtmusic.com

Coffee Culture gets Elfed

2009-12-04T21:11:00.001-08:00

one of the girls I work with just made this, its all of the timberhill drive through employees (did I ever post that I work there now, not at the cafe?) and I think its so funny! Mainly Garrett's break dancing solo with his huge glasses. The Elves come back every year and never fail to get me!

Elf Video - i guess you can't embed them anymore!

risk

2009-11-25T15:46:00.001-08:00

“Sometimes you have to be apart from people you love. But that doesn’t mean you love them any less. Sometimes, it even makes you love them more.”

- The Last Song

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

- Wayne Gretzky

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

- T. S. Eliot

I had a really rough weekend thinking about the (somewhat immediate) future and all that is holds for us. I was fighting through the sad and really scary parts of it, but knowing that there will be lots of amazing, wonderful, exciting parts too. But the sad parts are kinda overwhelming in the moment. Anyway, these things hit home and I thought I'd share them. I/we love you all a lot

-Lauren

hawaii

2009-11-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

hey guys! I blogged about our Hawaii trip on my website http://www.laurenhurtphotography.com its just easier to put pictures up there for me. So thanks to Jenna's gentle reminders and great patience, we can all pretend we are in Hawaii and get through this terrible coldness that just dropped on us (I've been SO cold lately!)

Other eventfuls,

Jon and Ian are here which is so fun and wonderful. They came up for Casey's show with Tyrone Wells tomorrow night.

I'm still working a ton, photo stuff hasn't slowed down yet but I'm thinking with all this rain it will have to...

We sold the scooter right before we left for Hawaii, thinking it would just hibernate over the winter and then I wouldn't be able to take it to cali (50cc=bad idea). On the same day we turned over the keys, the camry broke down, for good. Now we are barely managing with one car. Looking for another...

we are uber hooked on Fringe, seriously so good/funny and corny at times, but it hooks you

Casey's heading down to LA with the guys this week to do more music stuff. I'm staying here, which I'm very bummed about. But instead I get to go to our family reunion in Cannon Beach this weekend, always a great time with the Esary clan.

Val gave us an old record player and casey got it working again, we've been spending some good time just sitting on the couch listening to carol king, elton john, CSN, and simon + garfunkle, among others garrett and I nabbed form mom's collection. Its good times.

And last but not least! We finally painted our house!! It looks soooooo much better. no more white trash primer streaks everywhere. HUGE thanks to travis wagar, who did the mighty job and did it so well! Thanks trav!

Love you guys, Lauren

since jenna still reads this bolg....

2009-09-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

oh hey jenna! ;)

sasquatch

2009-06-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

yes, sasquatch was monumental, life changing even. I just can't explain it on blogsphere, (that and i'm remembering how much i like real human interaction...) but i feel like this video sums up the whole experience perfectly... wait for it and you'll be inspired too!

all kinds o' stuff

2009-05-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

well first .. I posted a bunch of photos from dox easter on my blogsite, mainly for crystal, but also for everyone else! You can check them out HERE or click the picture below!

also our re-finance went through and with the tiny bit of extra cash (we mainly refinanced just to get the low intrest rate) we got new windows on the house! It was one of the major duplex improvements we wanted to make last year but had to put it off. Erik Vick was amazing, he was so fast and is so great to work with. You should check him out if you need house work done! Casey worked along side him and they got all the windows done in one day. Its so weird how much of a difference it makes, everything is so quiet inside the house now, and I finally have screens on my office window so I dont have to worry about the dogs jumping out!

these are garrett and carolynn's front windows, and thats me waving for the picture :)

casey also decided to cut down the tree in the front yard, so now i think our front porch looks really naked (disregard the obvious white trashy-ness of it too)

and our next (and hopefully last) major duplex improvements is quite obviously to paint(and get rid of those nasty 70's shingles).... our house looks so trashy!

Celebrity Blogging?

2009-05-12T18:21:00.001-07:00

2009-05-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

2009-05-12T09:48:00.001-07:00

oh hey jenna....

he pretty much summed it up for me

2009-05-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

"my passion has never been for photography 'in itself' but for the possibility -- through forgetting yourself -- of recording in a fraction of a second the emotion of the subject, and the beauty of the form; that is, a geometry awakened by what's offered." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

I got a library card today.

and I picked up two books that I'm so excited to read.. Bresson's writings on photography and Sontag's writings on photography. I'm just giddy, I love the library!

vulcan is right.....

2009-05-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

this is for mom and AJ

“ I’ve met [Barack Obama] twice. The first time was a couple years ago, very early on when he had just announced his candidacy. He was in Los Angeles, speaking at a luncheon we were invited to. There was a very small crowd — minuscule compared to the crowd that he gathered later — at a private home in Los Angeles. And we were standing on the back patio, waiting for him. And he came through the house, saw me and immediately put his hand up in the Vulcan gesture." Leonard Nimoy

2009-05-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

love this!

2009-05-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

just perusing the portfolio of Hello-Fi, a web and graphic design group who i really like (and would love to be able to afford for my web design) and i saw this graphic design for a wedding invite. i just thought it was the sweetest thing!

2009-05-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

"we are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams..."

-willy wonka

i guess we don't blog enough...

2009-05-07T20:45:00.001-07:00

hey blog, shoot i feel like i've been cheating on you...... with a little thing called real life, oops

;)

here are some things to keep you pacified, maybe?

this made my day...

also today i was waiting on a portrait order and had some time to kill.. I took self portriats, the prophotog version of a "myspacewhore" photo...

in other news... i did will traylor's sr. portraits (thats the order i was waiting on, to get my editing done)

and made my own proof book display

also, possibly the biggest news in the real life world arena is that after coming back from LA I realized that I'm intending on doing photography as a career and still have a lot of learning to do. I want to give myself more fully to being able to do that and felt like my current job situation and responsibilities didn't allow me to do that in the way I need to, so I stepped down from my job as manager of the cafe in order to devote myself more fully to my photography. Hopefully now when you see me I wont be quite as stressed out trying to juggle a full time job, a full time hobby/future career, oh yeah and a marriage and a life. Also I've been diligently working on my website (like blogmeetswebsite stlye) and it is up and running, however still needs a lot of work, so be kind. but you can see it at http://www.laurenhurtphotography.com

MUWAH

website stuff

2009-04-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

so i'm playing around with some website banner possibilities using the design Jake made me, I'd love some feed back
these are two different variations from the general idea i had

a long drive

2009-04-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

so as i write this casey is on his (aprox) 6th hour of the 16 (?) hour drive down to LA. He left after the easter service this afternoon and is attempting the straight shot drive alone through the night. Please pray for him!

I think he's crazy, but he is determined.

I'm flying out wednesday night and we are then driving back together the following tuesday/wednesday but we'll take it slow up 101 for a fun vacation road trip.

I'm really ready for a vacation and I'm so glad it is going to be to sunny los angeles to hang out w/ jon, hanna, and the hollywood crew. Casey, Jon, and Ian booked a show at the Mint in Hollywood (apparently a pretty big deal...) on sunday night, so he's headed down early to practice and then I'll join later for a little vacation. I'm pretty excited!

But seriously, if you see this pray that casey stays awake for the next ten hours...

MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: he made it safe and sound, in 13 hours....

Thank you makers

2009-04-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

what a wonderful night last night. thank you makers for all the hard work you put into the good friday walk through, it was beautiful!

here are some pics i shot last night

torture

2009-04-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

we just thought it would be funny!

my 3 loves

2009-04-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

family, just warms my wittle hawt

Eola Hills Reserve 2005 Oregon Merlot, my heart goes out to you

2009-03-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

so I have a new favorite wine I think.... as some of you may know, for the last 4 years my favorite wine has remained very stable,
each year's release maintaining it's own personal glory, this is the Eola Hills Reserve Old Vine Zinfandel --- an incredible (and complex) wine.

However while we were up at Eola last week we tasted their Reserve 2005 Oregon Merlot and boy howdy! (yes i did just say that) It is freaktastically amazing (take that lingo you wine connoisseurs out there!) But seriously, you guys have to get some of this wine. I havn't seen it in any stores or restaurants but you can get it at their tasting room in rickreall for $20 a bottle (a steal for this one) or I think we might start carrying it at the cafe until the new release of the Old Vine Zin developes a little more. They just bottled the Reserve ZIn two weeks ago and we tasted it up against the Merlot and it didn't even stand a chance. It definitely needs some more time to get its kick, but even with that I don't know if this year will take the cake for me, its all about the Reserve Merlot.

if you like wine, please please please go try it so we can share in this delight!!! Or come over cause I bought 2 bottles last week :)

From Eola:

"Flavors include black berries, dark fruit, cinnamon and milk chocolate.
This Merlot really packs a punch. It was aged in Hungarian Oak- the Hungarian Oak really brings out a spiciness that will definitely get your attention.
Not typical at all for Oregon Merlots.
Steve Anderson, our winemaker, makes this big bold rich Merlot very ageable and perfect for that steak on the BBQ!"

love and marriage

2009-03-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

so its official, gare and care are getting hitched on june 9th at Eola Hills (woop woop! best wedding venue eeeever). I went up there with them on wednesday to revisit the old stomping ground and meet with Rich (who also handled our wedding, he's awesome). And care got to see the place for the first time, she loved it and got so excited, yaaay! Since it happened to be such a beautiful day we did their engagement session while we were up there too. It turned out perfect, these guys are rockstars. So everyone congratulate garrett and carolynn, the planning is on a roll :)

welcome little mellen man!

2009-03-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

Welcome baby Lucas, we are so glad you are finally with us!!!

(HD video on my new camera, this one is compressed down quite a bit tho)

toys

2009-03-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

so casey and i had all the great intention of saving our massive tax return (gotta love home ownership!) this year, buuuut instead we bought ourselves super sweet toys.... :)

this is my first shot out of my brand new fancy camera that i still can't believe i actually own...this is also dedicated to crystal cause i love and miss you but not as much as she does...

New Guitar

2009-02-26T16:43:00.001-08:00

So after about six months of debate I decided to buy a new guitar. It's a Guild F50 and it's absolutely beautiful. It looks exactly like the one in the picture. I figure, if it's good enough for the King then maybe I should give it a shot. Now I just need someone to help me out with bedazzling all my clothing. Any takers.

Casey

everything is amazing but nobody's happy

2009-02-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

since we're in the habit of sharing videos, just watched this one and its a goodie!

just a bit

2009-02-21T16:52:00.000-08:00

general updates:

-casey and the tribe guys started an indoor soccer team. I spent the afternoon laying in the grass, reading on a blanket and eating wheat thins and cream cheese while they ran around all sweaty practicing.

- i shot my first wedding last night, it was really cool, but in a way different way than i expected. Sorry i missed your girls night sam :(

-casey is making me take a day off today from anything work and photography related. I really need to remember to do that more often

-we went to darrells for breakfast this morning. that place is so funny but so good!

-casey is leading worship at JBC this evening... should be interesting. the last time i saw him lead worship at JBC he got scolded for having earrings.

-Samantha's maternity shoot was really fun this week. Carries baby coming 6 weeks early freaked me out and i called sam the next day and scheduled the shoot 3 days later. I'll try to get a newborn shoot in with carrie instead!

-we have been listening to a lot of Girl Talk lately, love the eminem/yael naim track

-as i type this i'm making radiatorie noodles with tomatoe sauce mixed with pesto, garlic, and yumm sauce. it was the epitome or hmmm whats open in the fridge, ok lets juts mix it all together and see if it works

thats all for now

The Creative Mind...

2009-02-17T14:24:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone, If you are even the least bit creative then you should watch this video. It's totally worth your time.

Love ya,

Casey

haha

2009-02-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

every time i look at this picture i laugh. Is that terrible?

something about it is just so funny to me... Little baby screaming, about to be eaten by pac man ghost! How is that funny, i don't know, but the image is hilarious to me.

"evil baby hater"

Taxes

2009-02-12T18:11:00.000-08:00

We finished our taxes last night, yaaaaaaayy!!! Show me the money Obama!

for those of you who are dreading the occasion, we used turbotax online and it was super easy. We had to use the "Turbotax Premiere" or whatever cause we have a rental property, but they have just a basic free one too... super easy... maximize your deductions.... haha i'm weird about taxes :)

art saves lives

2009-02-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

to feed the blog, since i feel like its been really boring lately, but real life hasn't been. In fact real life has been the opposite of boring. I'm vearing toward the going crazy side. So brief update on my happenings since last post...

Buisness, yup its a go. I've booked 3 weddings this summer and multiple portrait sessions so far, so i'm just going to keep running with it. I've mainly been stressing lately about how to go about my online presence (website, blog, proofing, priinting, etc.) and a lot of that i sorted out this weekend. I'm working on my site, jake's designing my business cards (they are aaaawesome btw) i got my proofing site up and running with current clients uplaoded (http://laurenhurtphotography.instaproofs.com). There is still soooo much to do, but between a demanding full time job and current sessions on top of that, I'm hoping i can at least cover the basics. Any and all business tips are moooore than welcome as I'm just really not that business minded and can use all the help i can get (i listen to my artist brain spark and fizzle with all this).

I also finished a comission for the coffee culture annex this weekend. Pop art coffee canvases...

and I just finished processing my portrait session with ashtyn from this weekend

go to my photo blog to see my favorites from the shoot
I got a new set of fine art textures for photoshop, so i got to incorporate those into these images, i love them.

Aaaand i got the pleasure of shooting the drakes family portraits, which i havn't touched yet but they are soon to come.

Casey is in cannon beach at the pastors prayer summit and i've just been slummin it trying to get caught up with everything (like get home from work, change into sweats, and sit at the computer for another 8 hours) Its craziness.

but thats my life as of right now. woop woop!

real estate thing- 6:30pm wednesday at the library

2009-02-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

Hey guys our real estate agent and our mortgage broker (gary and kris, we call them "the dream team") are giving a free intro to investing in real estate class on wednesday night at the library. It should be really really good and informative. These two are crazy when working together (they are the reason we were in an awesome investment property within a month of contacting them and just refinanced at 5% 30 year fixed). So the class should be really helpful if you are interested in purchasing or investing in this area soon, or at all. Its free and we're going to go, so let us know if you want to go with us and we could meet up, or like sit together! ;)

They are also doing another free class in a month (march4th) that is a general home buyers class, which we might go too also :)

Show Show Show Show!

2009-01-28T17:35:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Casey is playing again at Coffee Culture Cafe this friday night from 7-9pm with Patrick Hammond (really really good, from portland) and I really hope all of you guys will come out for a drink (we are now serving beer, wine, and really delicious appetizers, my favorite being the fondue soooo good) or whatever cause it will be fun... thats all :)

art

2009-01-27T17:03:00.000-08:00

maybe this is for the artists out there (and crafters, i know you dox ladies have been ubber crafty lately) but do you ever just create create create and then something comes out that you just fall in love with that makes you pause for a second and remember why you love [insert activity/gift/talent etc. here]? Well it kinda happened to me last night as i was editing through some old shots that i promised my mom i would send her. I've been really into fine art style protraiture lately so i was trying out some different things with colors and textures and stuff, anyway i came up with this portrait and i havn't been able to get it out of my head since. I just love it, like it speaks to my inner little girl soul of imagination and simplicity. So i thought i would share (i posted it on my photo blog last night, but i just can't get enough of it).

does anyone else, as an artist or creator, have their own sentimental favorites or just special pieces? what are yours?

(click for larger view)

Chinese Art Tea

2009-01-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

so casey got some of this stuff for chirstmas from gracewinds and it is soooo cool! It comes in a little ball and then as it steeps in hot water it blooms into this little creation! I took a picture because i was so excited about it

if you are a tea drinker, you should check this stuff out, watching it is like a little kid waiting for christmas (or maybe its just me)
for you corvallisites i know you can get them at the tea and herd shop downtown

good times good times

2009-01-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

so igot an external harddrive today to store and backup all my photos (its 1000 gigabites, thats crrrazy!) and as i was cataorizing, organizing, deleting, and moving all the ridiculous amounts of pictures i have uploaded onto my computer to put them onto the harddrive, I came across these precious little gems...

Who needs i super nice camera when you can have just as good of a time with Photobooth!

And the most precious of them all.... me realizing you can make videos on photobooth....

hope all of your evening are a little brighter, and i challenge you (for you mac users out there) to come up with some awesome phootobooth pics and post them!

our friends up north

2009-01-11T22:56:00.000-08:00

this weekend was awesome.... it was long over due for me since i worked a week and a half straight (to torture myself after going on vacation) and yesterday was my first day off.
We headed up to portland on friday night to celebrate nate potts 48th birthday (what, you guys didn't know? He just ages well i guess) at the bridgeport ale house on hawthorn. It was so fun to hang out, see nate a grace for the first time in a while, and spend some QT with kevin and helen (which i wish we could do more often too!). Then we just ended up spending the whole weekend with the potts! two consecutive sleep overs (friday night at their place and sat night at ours) church in the morning, and an awesome photoshoot this afternoon! Such a fun and impromptu weekend, i love those. Nate and Grace we will really miss you guys when you move to San Fran!

Watch my photo blog for more pics of the beautiful couple. And I put a post up there asking for couples who wouldn't mind letting me take pictures of them "looking in love" for my portfolio. Also babies, and families... well anyone really if you want/need some pics!

tribe photos

2009-01-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

so tribe leaders photo shoot today.... not gonna lie, they all kinda remind me of my parents church directory, don't hate me guys!
:)

...this is all except for bemma's photo, now everyone will want to go to her tribe cause she's so hip and cool!

community

2008-12-29T14:44:00.000-08:00

last night after the main gathering Scott, who we've been hanging out with a lot up here, lead a 500 person art class called the Cacophony ([kuh-kof-uh-nee] harsh or discordant sound : dissonance 2 ; specifically : harshness in the sound of words or phrases) i had to look it up. Anyway, it was awesome and chaos but really cool to see all these highschoolers get pumped about creating art. One of the projects was creating little houses and building a community of everyones houses. This was my favorite visually cause I like miniture things, especially taking pictures of them.

tonight is our last night here which makes me sad because i don't want to think about going back to work.... i wish i could just hang out and take pictures all the time :) ahh someday, someday

also we picked up this awesome new bible translation that the speaker, Chris Seay (?), has been heading up. Its called the Voice and I love it! You should check it out... www.hearthevoice.com

hangin out

2008-12-28T22:34:00.000-08:00

just hangin out up here still. I've been doing a lot of hanging out in the room and learning some camera tricks and taking pictures of stuff

like presents i borrowed from the hotel's christmas decor
also exploring some flash ideas

and the band rockin out

CBNWWYC

2008-12-26T22:12:00.000-08:00

just sayin hi from snowy portland! Casey, Val, and I braved the roads (they really weren't very bad today) and made it up to portland an evening early to the Winter Youth Conference where casey and the band are leading worship for the next 4 days.
They are all sound checking and practicing right now and i'm selfishly enjoying the beginning of a much needed 4 day vacation. So far its been a fantastic time. We got here around 6, met some cool people, got our room keys and while casey talked to some important people val and i checked out the rooms.

We stopped and casey and my room first and upon entering we saw it was big and awesome and it had a big trader joes gift basket! We immediatly started jumping on both super soft comfy plush beds. (there may or may not have been some squealing involved...)

(this is our actual bed)

I told casey later that in order to take full advantage of the situation we have to each sleep in our own super soft comfy bed, he didn't really go for that idea... But seriously, the beds are amazing!

Then we had dinner in the staff suite and the band went on the practice, and I went on to watch 2 hours of tv (a real luxury since we don't have TV) while reading a photography book. I have a feeling i'm really going to enjoy this long weekend!

snnnooowww!!!!

2008-12-18T22:01:00.000-08:00

i love it, love it, love it

but thats only because i don't have to drive anywhere. Driving alone freaks me out, add sliding around uncontrollably, its just twenty times worse!

But thankfully we live a couple blocks from pretty much everything.

here are some pictures i took on tuesday, my snowy sunny day off!

our street..

some park pictures

sam and joei love the snow even more than i do! We took them out a bunch to play in the park with all the other dogs that came out, it was so funny to watch them frolic like no body's business

and then to top it off, the sunset was absolutely stunning

Baby Evan

2008-12-15T19:10:00.000-08:00

this weekend was wonderful, and crrrrazy. There was so much going on, but in the midst of it i finally got some catch up time with Amanda Wise. She and Evan came over saturday afternoon so we could spend some long awaited time together which hadn't happened since we moved away from the neighborhood.

She also graciously let me take some pictures of evan, which i had wanted to do for a while now. It was so fun and different working with a baby! Evan is one of the most joyful babies i know, kinda like the rest of his family!

here are a couple of the shots i really liked, there is another super cute black and white one on my photo blog if you want to see more!

family photos

2008-12-10T20:52:00.000-08:00

so i'm doing family photo shoots pro bono this season to practice. Hit me up if you want to pencil something in ;) I'm always looking for models!

here's some out takes from this weeks shoots

pete and jenn, emma was running away an doing something funny..

the wise clan, they were so much fun to shoot! This pic was my favorite, they know how to work the camera..

And they are crazy i tell you!

The Sword Ceremony

2008-12-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a big weekend for casey! He and pete graduated from seminary!
Yaaay, go casey! And go pete!

We rode up with pete and jenn to portland on saturday night. There was a nice dinner and then a nice ceremony following where all the teachers and mentors prayed over the graduates. Then they whipped out the big price, a Sword. Each of the graduates got a real live "i can stab you thru the heart while riding on my horse" sword. I think casey and pete should celebrate by having a sword fight.... Here are some pics

The Swords

me and jenn took funny pictures of each other before dinner

Casey graduating

Pete graduating

Bob graduating

The men and their swords!

my regards to the chef...

2008-12-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Thank you whitney and sharon for one of the most amazing meals i've ever had! Friday night we were invited to a dox staff holiday dinner and it was so very delicious and so very fun. Definitely one of my favorite nights of the year. But i have to especially comment on whitney's dessert.... so amazing! I took a picture of it with casey's camera so i wouldn't forget..

the camera phone picture doesn't really do it justice, but nonetheless, a big round of applause for chefs whitney and sharon for their amazing work and love, and waiters jeff and brad for your great service and poetry :) Thank you guys

Some things i've been doing...

2008-12-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

now that we don't have a gaggle of friends living with us...

- spending entirely too much time on the internet looking at pictures
(my favorite sites: flickr.com, modelmayhem.com, istockphoto.com)

- Taking vit. D, a miracle vitamin for us SAD prone northwesterners if you ask me..

- Listening to Christmas music!! Yeeeessssss... But mainly when casey isn't home, cause he hates it but i looove it! My favorite is pandora station "snow angels" by over the rhine

-Cleaning, like crazy, including catching up on three weeks worth of dirty laundry

-Working, a lot more, mainly catching up from taking a half week last week to spend time with the jon, ian , and hannah (yesterday was an 11 hr day at the cafe)

Life is back to a slightly slower pace around here, but I still miss my home buddies :( Hannah flew out on friday, back to New York where she is in a dance production, and Jon and Ian drove back to LA on Saturday because Jon started shooting the TV show on monday

can you believe it?

2008-12-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

i filled up my tank for $1.71/gallon

Does anyone know what's going on?? It's kinda creeping me out...
$4.50 to $1.70 in a matter of months is a little too extreme to be comforting :(

who is this person?

2008-11-27T15:04:00.001-08:00

you think to know but you have no idea...

(for the answer, and more pics of my twin sista from another mista, check out my photo blog)

pure craziness

2008-11-18T22:23:00.000-08:00

life got real crazy fast, no kidding!

in a nutshell..... casey just got back from a week long trip to hawaii to marry off his little sister. The day after he left, Jon (aka cussing jon/hollywood jon) and Ian (aka no nicknames yet) arrived from cali to start working on their recording project with casey. Jon, Ian and i hung out for a while as casey was in hawaii and then i left them to tend to the house and dogs as i left for a family reunion at the coast for the weekend. During which i also made the trek into portland to do a photo shoot with lavenda memory and caylan wagar (caylan doing makeup). right before i got there (hour and half drive) the main model cancelled! so they asked me to model, which was really fun, but i think i like being on the other side of the camera better. You can check out some of the pics of me on caylan's page and some of the pics i shot of joelle on my photo a day blog or flickr page.

shot of joelle, another model, during the shoot

The family reunion was so wonderful. It always feels so good to get away from normal life for a little while. Although i really wished casey was there with all of us, my family is so wonderful and i love hanging out with all of them.

Walking down beautiful cannon beach!

claire playing chicken with the waves

i drove home monday morning to be reunited to my amazing husband once again, as well as our dear housemates, and now things are starting to settle into normal agian... wait i dont think there is normal when jon and ian are here.... :)

did you know...

2008-11-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

Beekman's Palace Antique Mall on western has an entire room dedicated to Hawaiian shirts.... mmm hit it up

GObama

2008-11-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

i found this on flickr and thought it was funny...

I know we have a mixed audience on this blog (something i cherish) so i know some of you are probably disappointed by the outcomes of this week. But i'm so proud of our nation. We have certainly come a long way! I've been talking to a lot of people at the cafe this week who tell me about how they remember what they were doing when MLK was shot, or what it was like watching the civil rights marches in the news. Its amazing that was only 40 years ago!

One of my favorite things about Obama is his vision to empower the people with the responsibility to change this nation as well. To serve and care more for the people in need, not just ourselves. (Hmmm, where have i heard that call before??)

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who wont agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government cant solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation... This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, its that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people." --Obama's Tuesday night victory speech

Our nation is at a pretty cool place right now, People who have felt helpless and abandoned now feel like they have a voice and a hope. Pretty cool.

And for those of you who really think he is the antichrist... just think, that means we'll be meeting our savior sooner! And that the Left Behind theology is officially debunked cause we're all still here right? :)

Pumpkin Seeds

2008-11-02T21:19:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite things about carving or baking pumpkins/squash is roasting the seeds afterwards. Thats what i spent this evening doing. I saved all the seeds from the 11 pumpkins we carved and roasted them all and we are going to have them as a snack for our next tribe meeting.

The recipe i use and love is:
for about 4-5 cups of seeds

rinse seeds and let drain
mix seeds in a big bowl with 4 tbsp melted butter 2 tbsp worchetershire sauce 2 tbsp garlic salt
spread evenly on a big greased baking sheet (i use tin foil over the baking sheet for easy clean up)
Bake at 350 for about 30 min or until golden brown, stirring every 5 to ten min

and out pops a delicious snack high in protein, zinc, and amino acids mmmmm
(Also the picture above is from the batch i did today)

Last year I even tried roasting acorn squash seeds and loooved them too

What are recipes that you guys use?

2008-10-31T13:37:00.001-07:00

Pun'kin Carving

2008-10-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

We had a pumpkin carving party at tribe this week, soo fun! And chaotic, 15 people, our small living room floor lots of steak knives and pumpkin guts (being flung at eachother) while you do the math here are some memories...

the goodwill

2008-10-27T16:41:00.000-07:00

I remembered today how much i dislike shopping at goodwill. Now don't get me wrong, I am a die hard thrift store shopper. But goodwill is a whole different ballgame. Today I was out running errands and trying to find some pieces for my Halloween costume (we all dress up for work and this year we are doing an alice and wonderland theme, I'm the caterpillar) and decided to stop in at goodwill. Almost immediately I remembered why I never go in there... First, for some reason it just seems claustrophobic (I don't know if I can use that as an adjective, but you get the idea). Has anyone ever noticed that? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it always smells funny, and the isles are you small and crowded, and there are always so many people in there... i don't know, but it freaks me out. The other main reason is the PRICE of everything! The Corvallis Goodwill is so expensive! Especially considering they get everything for free and their "non-profit" business practices are debatable. I was looking for a plain green shirt for my costume and eventually found one... for 5 dollars! Now you may be saying... oh 5 bux, thats nothing, but for a used, stinky, stained green tee shirt, i would say thats a little steep. I could go to Ross and get a brand new cute shirt for that price. Craziness I tell you, what is this world coming to?
Oh yeah I'm also admittedly reeeeeallly cheap.... (well i like to say frugal)
I guess I'll just stick to my "real" thrift stores..

Phlog

2008-10-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

I started a new photo blog where i'm trying to post at least one picture a day. Since i made the goal to take at least one picture a day, i thought, hey Maybe i should share them. So this is my attempt! there's a link to it on the side menu bar, you should check it out...

Teddy Bear Picnic

2008-10-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

i discovered a new layout toy, this is my first creation with it! what do you think?

SNEAK PREVIEW

2008-10-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

this afternoon i did my first ever set up photo shoot (aka giving grown woman an excuse to play dress up again) It was sooooo fun. Hanna and Chelsie were my fantastically beautiful models (seriously, they were HOT) and even a little neighbor girl joined us because she wanted to play dress up/make up with us too :)

Casey has left me alone this fine evening to go drink whiskey with pete so i'm now sitting in front of the computer with a glass of wine and the RENT soundtrack (beltin it out, yeah, i just can't not) and going through all the awesome pics we shot today. Thank you to my lovely models, i hope you guys had as much fun as i did!

here's a sneak peak, more to come later

editors note

2008-10-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

today at church i learned that it is not ok to say Y'all unless you are a red neck or a gangster thug, but ESPECIALLY not ok if you are a pacific north westerner. So in that light i apologize to all of you who were offended by the usage of said second person personal plural pro noun in my previous post

-lauren

2008-10-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

i hope i don't bore you guys with picture stuff, its just all i've been doing lately...

thanks jenn for the advice on taking pictures of myself :) I use it as a last resort if i can't find anything/one to take pictures of that day, cause it gets old after a while!! But i really liked how this one turned out today, so i thought i'd share... its kinda "vogue" i think.. what ever that means

also i think i'm going to start another blog for photo stuff, so i don't take up all the space on here :) i'll keep ya'll posted if you want to keep watching

ps shout out to elizabeth the stalker! haha thanks for "outing" yourself today ;)

blog stalkers welcome

2008-10-15T22:39:00.000-07:00

CASEY

JACK

who will be my next victim?!

models wanted

2008-10-14T18:35:00.001-07:00

so i'm itching to take some pictures. I'm setting a goal for myself to go out and take pictures of SOMETHING at least once a day, and i prefer people. So if anyone would be willing to go out and let me take pictures of them sometime this week or next i'll buy them a coffee or something!!

let me know!

joei the sweet and samson the annoying

2008-10-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

miss josephine kelley is the newest addition the the hurt household. She has been so good, and sam loves having his best friend to hang out with all the time. At first sam was super jealous and controlling of our attention but they have finally settled in together. All they do all day is wrestle, make out, and sleep. They are so funny.

This weekend we took them out hiking at peavy arboretum. They were in heaven running up and down the trails, racing each other, and then running back to us. They made some friends at the logging lake, scared some horses, almost killed a lady, and ate some horse poop (then almost immediately had diarrhea)

running like crazy in the meadow area

Joei swimming in the lake. Scotty and Crystal trained her well because she was always the fastest to get the ball/frisbee/stick/whatever was thrown out there

drying off of course

samson in the light

pooped on the ride home

and even more pooped afterwards

Joei is such a great dog, she's so sweet and polite and snugly. She makes sam look like an annoying younger brother... oh wait he kind of is.

We miss you terribly scotty and crystal, and joei does too, but she's being a good little lady for her foster family!

food photography

2008-10-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

maybe my calling is food photography, haha, its so fun/funny.
Today i worked on a project for the cafe. We just started making all our cold sandwiches made to order so they are extra special and yummy (come in and have one). We were brainstorming ways to let people know what was going on, and I made a sign in the process. I don't know if this is what we'll end up using in the long run but it will work for now...

first i took this picture...

Then i uploaded it to flickr and used their cool editing stuff to make it look like a cool sign (jenna i'm loving picnik!)

what do ya think? Would you order one?

Slideshow!

2008-10-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

So, thanks to jenna's suggestions, i jumped on board the flickr train and got a pro account so i could upload all my photos to it and not kill my computer like i have been doing lately. The thing that sold me mostly was the slideshow feature. I havn't been able to find a good slideshow that doesnt crop out parts of your pics when showing them, but flickr's seems to do the trick. So my first slideshow production to test out on all of you is the set from emma's birthday party! I had so much fun shooting it mainly because everything was so stinkin cute. And it meant a lot to me that pete and jenn enjoyed the pictures so much, that why i love doing this. I Hope you all like them!

happy birthday emma!

2008-09-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

happy birthday emms, thanks for having a great party!

camellia lounge/portland love

2008-09-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

case played at the camellia lounge in portland last night. has anyone been there before? i had never, but i know valeri used to play shows there a lot. Its a cool little spot in the pearl. Tea room in the front and then cool comfortable lounge bar in the back. Casey had a great show too, this group of girls that was there before we got there came up to him afterward and said they saw him live like 5 years ago and had his cd memorized because they listen to it so much. They looked him up online and found out he was playing last night so they drove up from salem to see him, cool huh? we thought it was pretty cool.
We ended up staying at the White Eagle agian (our favorite little haunted old brothel) because its the cheapest place we could find and the only portland area mcminnemins with a room open. I guess we are becomming regulars there. But this time we didnt get the room right above the band, that was nice!
This morning we got up and went to breakfast/coffee at the crepe place on 23rd, Vivace. So very yummy, i could eat crepes for breakfast everyday. I had #21 -ham spinach mushroom tomato and swiss, and an espresso macchiato. Casey had #10 -the fresh in season fruit mix and a short americano. mmm. If you are ever in the neighborhood, i would suggest this place. very niiice
Then we walked around hawthorn and i took pictures of stuff and its was really fun, then we drove home. Short but sweet little portland trip this weekend. It was really nice to get away, even if it was just a little less than 24 hours :)

yes

2008-09-26T20:24:00.001-07:00

i dont know how it happened, but it did. YES

Zia and walking on the danger side

2008-09-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

This morning casey and i got the chance to spend the morning together (doesn't happen very often because of our opposing work schedules) so we went out to breakfast, thanks to crystals suggestion. We wern't sure were to go so we just drove downtown and walked around. Broken yoke had a line out the door so we went next door to ZIA. I had never been there before and there wasn't a single other person in there besides the waitress! We had coffee (they serve corvallis' very own oregon legacy, very good!) and then the most amazing breakfast we've had in a long time! The food was deeeeelicious, i can't believe i had never been there and that we were the only people in the place. So i just wanted to plug Zia, i know many of you have been there, but if you havn't, then get your buts down there! I would suggest weekday mornings if you can, thats when the lady said they are really slow. I had the breakfast quesadilla with added tomatoes and guacamole, and casey had the Zia breakfast burritos. They were great big portions, and very reasonable prices. Go Zia!

Yesterday afternoon I desperatly needed to get out of the house (i came home from church and watched TV for 3 hours. Sick...) So i joined garrett, carolynn, and my best friend jack danger on a nice walk around the neighborhood. Here are some shots of jack i got before my camera died (oops!) He's the best model i could ask for...

cool things

2008-09-16T18:49:00.001-07:00

well first, today samson was a bad boy and decided to eat a pillow for lunch....

but yesterday casey suprised me with a "i love my wife so much and want to spoil her" gift and gave me 2 new camera lenses! I was so shocked that i pushed him and said "no way!" and then started crying (this was at work)
he's the best most awesomest husband ever. Thank you love
so now i have a cannon 50mm 1:1.8, so the aperture can go really low and let in alot of light without having to slow down your shutterspeed a bunch so you can get a nice clear picture. The depth of feild is also really short with the low aperture so its really nice for portraits because your focused subject will be clear but anything before or behind it can be really blurry. I love this.
the other lens is the super sweet cannon zoom lens with image stabalization with allows you to take pictures in lower light or at a slower shutterspeed and still get a really clear picture, i don't get it. i think its magic!!

so here is me playing with my new toys...

ilovetakingpictures

scotty and crystal

2008-09-11T20:38:00.000-07:00

so scotty and crystal came over the other night and got the pictures from the big night, and you can see a slide show of some of them on their blog. I thought i would share some of my favorites/really funny ones too :) it was such a fun night!

first some sentimental black and whites...

and then the funny/incriminating ones :)

and many more... but i'll be nice, hehe
thanks guys for an awesome party and an awesome night!

back

2008-08-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

yup, we're back from vacation, its true. and we've been back for like a week and a half, but its been non stop craziness since getting back. And blogger wouldnt let me upload any photos so i gave up for a while, but here we are again. Vacation was so awesome and we had such a good time. Casey has been ready to get back to work, but i wish i could curl up on a beach blanket again and not think about anything for a little while longer :) but c'est la vie

some highlights from vacation:
we arrived safely, this is the view off mom and dad's back porch, the ocean is right behind my big hair :)

we hiked around Iao Valley, this cool place up in the mountains

we played in the water ALOT
including more paddle boarding

and some pretty killer snorkeling with dad (thanks for not letting us drown) where we saw lots of amazing fish, including a shark and a manaray
these are some cool fish like the ones we saw in the ocean, but i took these when we went to the aquarium, if only i had a super cool underwater camara like scotty and crystal!!

but the best part of all, i got to see my baby love sit back and relax, and just hang out

i love vacation. since getting back got about 4 hours of sleep before launching into a week of working 10-12 hour days and going crazy with stress and frustration (training new staff, while shorthanded, and buisness almost doubling b/c of school starting again) but things are better now, hence i'm blogging. So cheers to the start of fall

our new favorite sport!!

2008-08-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

we wish we lived in hawaii like mom and dad so we could do this every morning too!

paddleboarding is the new craze over here and its so awesome! Its an intense workout because you stand up on this board in the ocean and you have the use your whole core and legs to try to balance in the water and then use your arms to paddle and push you across the ocean. But its also super relaxing because you are really far out from shore (unless you surf it in like casey in the first pic) and the water is totally clear so you can see bright fish and sea turtles swiming around under you. And if you get tired you can just sit down and float around. You can just take these all over the place offshore around the island, its great. I will miss this!

We also wish we could do this all the time...

reading on the beach

boogie boarding

coronas and sunsets on the beach (well actually "the Hill" which is a grassy hill right above wailea beach)

and chillin with my new bff, pepper

ALOHA from maui! We'll be back on thursday with nice tans and rested souls... love you guys

ugg...

2008-08-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

i forgot how much i love my uggs until today! I just put them on with a big hooded sweatshirt in celebration of this blustery day/evening, also in winding down from my 12 hour work day, ugg.... I used to think uggs were silly because of the whole ugg/mini skirt craze, not to mention over priced. But then i got a pair at half price with my footwise discount and the rest was history, my favorite article of cold weather clothing. (as long as they are never word with a mini skirt)

nate and grace, holy matrimony

2008-08-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

nate potts and grace bergman called it good on friday night at zenith vineyards, out between salem and mcminville. It was really beautiful. Grace has amazing taste and she planned everything down to the last detail it seemed. They had a theme of old movies, so the colors were shades of black and white with little bits of warm colors here and there and they had dance scenes from old black and white movies playing in the background of the reception. And the vineyard was gorgeous, i had never heard of it, but its definitely one of the most beautiful I've been to in Oregon. Casey was the Dj, which made for a very late night for him (and a little chaotic) but he did a great job. And i got to meet and hang out with all the other wives of the bridal party while their men were off doing important pre wedding things. We also got to see mark and kelly, who we miss a lot around here!

I am really happy with how these turned out, but it helps when the wedding is already so beautiful! I've been thinking lately about doing more with photography which has always been a passion, but just an un-serious hobby of mine. I'm thinking about taking some more classes and maybe investing in photoshop for greater processing capability, which i would also want to take a class in. Does anyone know of any or have any advice? the more the better... Also, pictures from scotty and crystal's to come soon!

ari's big day

2008-08-11T17:41:00.001-07:00

Ari turned 1 and we all celebrated! Here's some pictures

the happy birthday boy

babies everywhere

emma didn't any one ever tell you drinking and driving don't mix?

oops, sorry to break the news

oh hey joel

ready, set, smile!

oh hey bella

and then emma and ari started fighting...

emma went for the crotch shot

and everybody got upset.

now for some western photos...

Happy birthday Ari, we had such a great time at your party. Thanks for having us!!

things i meant to blog about but never did Pt. 1

2008-08-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

so a couple weeks ago i highlighted my hair for the first time ever. when i get bored i start doing crazy things to my hair... i had Carolynn put carmel highlights in and they turned out kinda intense (maybe partly because we just used bleach) so i put some red and dark brown over them to space it out a little. Anyway i was pretty proud of our spontaneous evening venture so i wanted to blog about it but i never had a picture of myself to show what we did (i'm usually behind the camera) but this weekend i got one, so here we are... :)

before

After (i also cut it that night)

while looking for a "before" picture i found this awesome one of casey i thought i would share..

PS i finally got pictures up from our anniversary weekend so check it out if you'd like :)

anniversary weekend

2008-08-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

casey and i spent the weekend up in portland/camas as an anniversary get away. He had some shows up there friday and saturday nights so friday night we decided to make a date of it!

Friday we drove to portland, checked in to the McMennimins White Eagle hotel in north portland and then immediatly left for caseys show in Camas, WA. Camas is like a 20 minute drive from there and it took us over an hour to get there because of traffic. We both decided we hate traffic, especially when you have to get to a show. But we got there just in time for casey to jump out of the car, set up quickly and start playing on time while i parked.
He played at there little art and music festival (think the davinci days the first time they ever did it). They closed down the main street which is almost exactly like main street in mcminville, and had 6 stages set up, one on each block, and then artists booths and food booths in between. It was the first one they have ever done and are hoping it will keep growing.

After the show we drove back into p-town and went back to the hotel. The hotel was an old brothel and is considered one of the most haunted buildings in portland. As casey and i were trying to fall asleep (which was a bit hard considering our room was directly above the stage where the band was wailing until 2am) a lady was giving a ghost tour right outside of our room. I thought it was pretty interesting (you can hear everything through the paper thin walls) until she said (wait i'm really getting something here, my meter is going off like crazy!" then i was a little freaked out! But staying there was actually really fun, i don't know if i would do it agian unless i was there to see the band, but it was definitely an experience!

The next morning we met up with our friend crystal and had lunch, randomly walking into a place and sara nolde was our server!! and she was a great server :) The was made our was down through the chaos of portland right now and went to check out FLUTAG, the red bull flying competition. There were 60,000 people at waterfront park and many more streaming through the torn up construction streets of portland, it was crazy, but so fun to see the festivities and everyone dressed up and wild.

Then we drove back out to Camas where casey played another show at Twilight Pizza Bistro, this awesome place in downtown Camas , and one of casey's favorite places to play. He had a great 2 1/2 hour set, a bottle of Red Guitar (a great wine you should try) and a large alfredo base margharita pizza with white meat chicken and bacon. MMMMMMMMMMMM

After the show we just drove back to corvallis and talked about crazy random stuff the whole way home.

i made dinner from a box tonight and i'm proud of it

2008-07-31T22:20:00.000-07:00

so a couple of weeks ago i decided to go grocery shopping while i was board and extremely hungry... bad idea. You know what happen next i'm sure. I bought a bunch of random things just because every thing sounded so good. needless to say most of those random things have been sitting in my cupboard waiting for me to be that board and hungry again to do something about it. Well tonight i broke out the boxes. That fateful evening i picked up two Casaba foods products because the picture on the box looked so good - falafel and tabouli salad mix. And while making them tonight i realized they were suprisingly easy to put together and suuuuuper yummy. So for all of you who want something fun and yummy and different, but are too lazy to make something from scratch then i would recommend the two, especially together, i just got them at winco and they were like a couple bucks each.

oh yeah, i also fried some zucchini from carolynn and garretts garden and made my own tahini sauce

Writers Block Party

2008-07-31T17:23:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, I just wanted to tell you about my songwriters blog I started. Come Check it out.

Casey

2 years of good clean fun

2008-07-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

two years ago on this date, what were you doing?
I know what i was doing, and a lot of you too, for that matter...

cheers to 2 years being married to the awesomest person i know...

i love you baby

preach it brotha

2008-07-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

so casey officiated his first wedding a couple weeks ago and i finally got some pictures together! He did an amazing job, i was so proud of him, and megan and andy loved it. Casey and megan have been friends since casey was in high school. And she looked absolutely beautiful, in fact the whole wedding was beautiful, but you can see for yourself!

he didnt make it until august...

2008-07-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

We're BAAAAACK pt 2

2008-06-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

So we pulled through, only made possible by some awesome friends who knew what they were doing when we didnt (aka scotty k) and we have a wonderful home that we absolutely adore...

living room/kitchen

in the living room we painted the walls, window ledges, doors, and door frames. We replaced all the molding around the floor and then knocked out a wall between the kitchen and the living room, built a pony wall and made a bar between the two rooms with new lighting and a table top.
In the kitchen we moved the fridge (it used to be on the wall we knocked out), painted the cabinets and walls, and replaced the pee yellow counter top and all of the light fixtures. moving the fridge to the other end of the room and knocking out the wall totally opened up the whole house and its by far my favorite thing we did.

i'll take more pictures of the kitchen when i finish the mounds of dishes to be done... oh yeah we had to replace the dishwasher too because the first time i ran a load of dishes in it, it just died mid load..

the upstairs bathroom was our other big project and it turned out great, its a totally different space.
We (and by we i dont mean me, i mean casey) tore out everything but the toilet pretty much. They replaced the tub surround (it used to be lavender and moldy), cabinet, sink and faucet, mirror, shelf, shower rod, and all towel hooks and stuff. and we painted.

yay for homes!!
and we just got the keys to the other side of the place (its a duplex, i don't think i ever said that) and its a mess to say the least so even though we just had our first week of rest, looks like we are going to jump head into craziness again, but don't worry i'll keep better updates. And garrett (my brother) and carolynn and baby jack are going to move in next door on the first of july so we have to have everything ready in a little over a week, wish us luck!

We're BAAAAACK

2008-06-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

ok i know most people have quit our blog out of frustration, but i'm just going to say we're back and ready for blog world again! Thanks all you who have held in there with us through the hard times, for all the rest of you, well no love for you...
now its time to update you on the last month of our lives (aka pure chaos)

well first we bought a house

its a nice house, we like it alot.

then we tore it apart and built it back up, we made it much better

kitchen/living room

upstairs bathroom

then we had alot of fun painting!!

a lot of fun....

then we put stuff together

seriously Hurts

2008-06-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

wow, we havnt blogged in so long. jeeze. Well mainly cause we're really tired. The day after our last post we got the keys to our NEW HOME! Then the day after that we started tearing down walls and ripping out cabinets. We've been going and going ever since. I took pictures of the process with the intention of blogging them but we havnt had internet set up over here until this weekend. We are finally starting to feel at home here, all the boxes are unpacked and there's paint on the walls. There may not be any cupboard doors in the kitchen and open lighting fixtures around, but its home none the less, and on my side of the family thats pretty normal... (atleast we arn't washing our dishes in the bathroom sink ;) so anyways, we are sooo happy, and if you havn't seen the place come stop by anytime or come to our house warming bash on the evening of friday the 13th!

pictures soon to come once i find my uploading cords

Tag?

2008-05-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, it's me sampson. Sorry for not blogging as much lately, Dad took away my computer privileges after I ate the wall charger. Anyway, I got tagged so I guess I'll give this a shot.

four jobs I've had:
1. Sitting
2. laying down
3. playing dead
4. sleeping

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. all dogs go to heaven
2. Milo and Otis
3. Homeward Bound
4. I Am Legend

Four places I've lived:
1. Jackson street apartment
2. South Town
3. Sleep overs with my cousins Jake and Misha
4. I stay over at my girlfriend Joeys house sometimes too.

Four places I've been:
1. To the Park
2. To bubba's house
3. To the River
4. To the park again.

Four TV shows I watch: (I don't watch TV but if I did)
1. Snoop Dog's : The Father Hood
2. Oprah
3. As the world turns
4. Animal Planet: Emergence Rescue

Four people who email me regularly (doesn’t include blogging comments):
1. Petco
2. Joey
3. Bubba
4. Chewy

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Juanitas Chips
2. Leftovers
3. beer
4. Apples

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Egypt
2. NYC
3. The north poll
4. australia

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Walks with my Dad
2. Sleepovers at Joeys
3. hanging out with bubba, (as soon as he gets over this humping thing)
4. Just hanging out with friends, playing at the park, stuff like that.

I Tag
1. Joey
2. bubba
3. Chewy
4. Jake

sammy whammy baby puppy noodle

2008-05-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

well our little man is growing up. today is our baby's first birthday. his dad spoiled him with a big teaser ball, a flying squirrel, and big meat knuckle, a bunch of pigs ears and a long walk. We love you samson!! Happy Birthday!!

my turn!

2008-05-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

i got tagged, yesssss

four jobs I've had:
1. barista -6 years and counting
2. sushi waitress
3. shoe sales
4. cafe manager - woot woot

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. gladiator
2. empire records
3. hackers
4. run lola run

Four places I've lived:
1. south town
2. house of charis - 23rd and harrison
3. above the barber shop - 3rd and monroe
4. across from the court house - 4th and jackson

Four places I've been:
1. england
2. Israel
3. france
4. Thailand

Four TV shows I watch: (I don't watch TV but if I did)
1. csi las vegas
2. the news
3. design on a dime
4. 24

Four people who email me regularly (doesn’t include blogging comments):
1. junk
2. junk
3. junk
4. mo junk

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Sushi
2. felafel
3. cheese, mainly bre, cambazola, and goat cheese
4. fruit, any kind as long as its ripe

Four places I would like to visit:
1. greece
2. NYC
3. Prague
4. australia

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1. owning/remodeling/decorating our for reals home
2. going back to maui to see the parents
3. summer bbqs and softball games at the new place (park across the street)
4. just hanging out and loving life/hubby/friends/family/dog/work etc.

I'm Serious...

2008-05-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

Four jobs I've had:
1. Corn Biologist
2. Barista
3. Bag boy @ the Canned food Outlet
4. Worship Pastor

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. Fight Club
2. Snatch
3. Oceans 11
4. Forest Gump

Four places I've lived:
1. Carmen Surdan, Mexico
2. Kihei, Maui
3. Jacksonville, Oregon
4. Corvallis, Oregon

Four places I've been:
1. Hershey, Pennsylvania
2. Israel
3. Africa
4. Thailand

Four TV shows I watch: (I don't watch TV but if I did)
1. The Office
2. The Daily Show
3. Who's line is it anyway
4. 21 Jump Street

Four people who email me regularly (doesn’t include blogging comments):
1. steepandcheap.com
2. sonicbids.com
3. Katie Duke (once a week weather I need it or not)
4. Pete

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Sushi
2. Whiskey
3. Beer
4. Sushi

Four places I would like to visit:
1. England
2. Argentina
3. Prague
4. Greece

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Buying a House
2. putting out an album
3. getting an electric guitar
4. My wife

holla...

2008-05-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Tom "Hotness" Mellen on the win in the hottest man competition. Denny nice work on second place. you've done well. Keep up the Hotness.

Late Night,

2008-05-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

Can't sleep tonight for some reason so I just that I would pull a Katie and tell you about my new favorite movie. The movie is called Revolver by Guy Richie. I'm not sure what to say about it really other then it's competing with Fight Club for my favorite movie of all time. That says a lot.
That's all I have for now... Peace

Casey

remember to ret rer in ro rour hearr

2008-04-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

in light of the recent rock band extravaganza, this video is dedicated to my favorite asian, jenna

love lauren

Congratulations ...

2008-04-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

To Mitch, you won the strongest man competition. Nice work to Tom for beating Pete out at the last minute and so sorry to Kurtice. Better luck next time.

WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE!!!

2008-04-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

so after three counters and a stressful 4 days of not hearing anything, we finally got the verdict that OUR FINAL OFFER WAS ACCEPTED!! We will be buying the funky turquoise duplex on 20th. Casey didnt want me to post the price online so if you want to know the final logistics you can ask us. The sellers final contingency was that he didnt want to do any repairs, so us buying still really depends on the inspection, because if there are a ton of repairs we will have to go into negotiations again or just not buy it. But that will be on wednesday which is also when we got to view the other side (we've only seen the currently vacant side). But if all goes well on wednesday it will pretty much be for sure!! We close on june first so we have until then to save a crap load of money for the closing costs and down payment. So if you find any change on the street or in your couch that you would like to donate, we are saving every penny :) We are also already planning a big bbq softball (maybe kickball? we'll have to take votes) game in celebration once we move in because it is right across the street from porter park which has a huge softball field. We'll post pictures soon, but i thought you all should know! yeessssss, we are so excited! hip hip hooray!

Ode to Kurtice...

2008-04-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hey kurtice, I just wanted to say thanks for the apology yesterday. My words can't express my feelings for you so I made this video instead. I hope you like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU&feature=related

God bless us, everyone.

Casey

another day goes by

2008-04-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

negotiations are hard. I can't help but think of each counter offer as a personal attack on me (even though i know thats not true). So stressful and emotionally taxing...

pure crazyness

2008-04-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

i know this seems like out of the blue, but really its just because we haven't blogged in so long.....

today was a big day for us, we made an offer on a house! yeah seriously!

We've been looking for a couple months now (since our duplex went up for sale) and a couple weeks ago we finally met with a Realtor just to have him keep his eye out, not thinking anything would come of it very quickly. But after meeting with him and explaining what we were looking for he said he knew of a place that wasn't listed that might be perfect. Sooooo after doing our homework and figuring out pre-approval stuff, we finally saw the place yesterday, it is awesome (at least to our low income, first time home buyer standards) and we wrote up an offer this evening. Gary, our agent is going to submit the offer tomorrow morning and we should hear back by tomorrow at 5pm whether they accept/reject/counter...
Its a funky turquoise duplex right down the street from scotty and crystals, which is only 2 blocks from my work. Its 2200 sqft, each side is 3 br 1.5 bth. Its definitely a 70's style funky old building that needs some elbow grease, but nothing more than we would expect for our price range. anyway we're really excited and will let you know how tomorrow goes!!