Photo-A-Day #2468

Today was Allison’s birthday. She started her day with one of the best presents, Andrew smiled a huge smile at her. That was precious. Then she had hugs from Eva. I sorted out our bills, I’m such a romantic. But wait I’ll make up for that later.

I took Eva to school and on the way home picked up some ice cream, a tiny cake (perfect for a small family) had it personalized and also got a sweet card. But that is not all I didn’t just wake up and realize it was Allison’s birthday, nope I got her a pretty sweet gift for her car. She’s been asking for a hands free Bluetooth speakerphone for the car and that is just what I got her. And I even got her a model better than mine. This one can sync with two BlueTooth devices simultaneously. Amazing.

So when it was time to pick up Eva from school Allison and Andrew and I went to do that. Then we drove to Dedham to Legacy place to walk around, but also to take a look at an iMac. Yea, I think we are going to make the switch to a fully Apple family. We’ve got the iPads and the iPhones I think the next logical step for us is the iMac. We’ve been on borrowed time with our current PC and it crashed again yesterday. It was an easy fix this time but again, borrowed time.

LEgacy place was nice I had not been through there before and there are some nice stores. It was also very nice to walk around and get out of the house. We went into a candy store and Eva tugged at my shirt, she wanted me to duck down so she could tell me that she wanted to buy a birthday gift for mommy. She was wandering around the store and while I tried to steer her towards candy that Allison would like Eva wanted to pick her very own thing. Luckily a girl working in the store offered Eva a sample of Cinnamon yogurt pretzels and Eva was sold.

After Legacy Place we went to Patriot Place for the traditional (what has become our tradition) birthday meal at Red Robin. We had some fun there and I took a photo of Allison for WeReward and tweeted that it was her birthday and the Red Robin Twitter account even said happy birthday. Eva emphatically told our waiter that it was mommy’s birthday and that he should tell all the staff. He was very good with her too and she kept telling him every time he came back over, it was a riot. So yes, she did get the Red Robin birthday song sung by the staff and a sundae.

We came home stuffed to the gills and gave Allison her present a Jabra journey, window mount and some new Zagg iPhone protection sleeves. We also served the mini cake. I put a single candle on it and Eva helped me by turning off the lights so we could surprise Allison and sing Happy Birthday to her.

I’ll charge up her new toy so that she can be safe and hands free in the car.

Night rounded out with some DVR catch up and then off to sleep (after I wrote the last few day’s blog posts of course)

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Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Happy Birthday Allison

Photo-A-Day #1528

Today Allison and I had a wonderful day. We went to Billerica, MA to attend a Kiva House Concert. Kiva House Concerts are pretty amazing. Tim and his family open their home to performers and a very small group of fans. They have done over 50 of these concerts.

Pulling up to the house we see that it is in a perfectly normal neighborhood, kids playing out on the uncluttered streets, well manicured lawns, an average everyday suburban home. Walking in we see Ellis and his manager, we say hello and “See you inside.” We head inside and meet Tim, his two dogs Jake and Jasper, beautiful black labs. Tim’s wife is upstairs with their two children in this cute split level home.

The basement playroom is a dream, there are headshots of all the performers who have been to the house including Antje Duvekot, Christopher Williams, Dido and Letters to Cleo. Ellis has been to the house a few times over the years. Also in the basement there are about 20+ folding chairs, a large leather couch, a bar with two stools and sound system that would be fine outside but very imposing inside. We sat in the second row but decided to move to the front for more room. And when I say the front row I mean I could reach out and touch the keyboard. We were no more than four feet from Ellis at any given time.

A Kiva House Concert is unlike any concert you have ever been to. It is an intimate afternoon of incredible music and interesting people. Prior to the start of the concert we learned a great way to make hummus from scratch and various other things. Some people in the room had been at Ellis’ first paid gig, so we are talking longtime fans. We also met some really nice people.

When Ellis began to play we knew we were in for a very different type of show. It was so casual and fun. Ellis and the crowd riffed and chatted. In the first part of the concert Ellis used the sound system, he played the keyboard, harmonica and two different guitars (if I was a more musically inclined person this would be more accurate). While we listened, Tim’s two beautiful black labs, Jake and Jasper wandered the room looking for pets. We were only too happy to oblige. There is nothing like scratching the ears of a beautiful black lab and listening to the raw passion of a song by Ellis Paul. It is something akin to a religious experience.

During the break between sets we had some snacks. Part of the key to being a participant in these concerts is bringing something to share with everyone. There were many fine and eclectic treats. I’ll have to make some of my Choco-Nutty-Bacontastic Cookies. Allison picked up a coupe of CDs including one that we got signed, later.

The second half of the concert Ellis opted to stop using the sound system and moved even closer to the audience. Allison even got to hand him a pick. Ellis took requests during this time and he played both God’s Promise and Words. God’s promise is an important song to us because it is what I used on the Hold On To Hope video for the Machinski family as well as on the DVD that I made of Grandma Theresa’s photos. Words is an important song to us as it was our 1st dance wedding song.

The afternoon was one experience that I’ll never forget, it was amazing. Simply one of the most amazing musical times we have ever had. We’d like to thank Tim and his family for creating The Kiva House Concert series. We’d also like to thank Ellis for being so gracious, funny, passionate and talented.

After the concert we had our photo taken with Ellis and he signed one of the CDs that we bought as well.

More photos are on Flickr.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Ellis Paul – Kiva House Concert

For the past two years I have heard more about knitting than ever in my entire life. That was because Allison started knitting two years ago. There is a yarn store down the street from us called Yarn it All and they were offering classes. Allison said one day, “I’m thinking about taking knitting classes” which meant that she was going to be taking knitting classes. We are very similar in that way, when we express that we are thinking about doing something that means that we’ve already thought about it and are going to do that something. So Allison started knitting. She picked it up right away. Her skills are amazing, I think. She’s made hats, socks, sweaters, blankets, prayer shawls, and baby blankets. She even made the entire family, including the cats, some Janye Cobb hats.

Allison has taken her love for knitting everywhere. She knits in the car, on planes and she even knit all throughout IZEAFest 2008. She has also taken her love for knitting online. She is a member of the online community for knitters called Ravelry.

Ravelry has become a part of our lives, Allison has met interesting people through it, she has found great new patterns to knit as well. Ravelry is looking for a new member of their team, someone who will work 20 hours a week as a communication liaison between the community and Ravelry. I think that this job is perfect for Allison. We made a decision when Eva was born that I would work so Allison could spend time at home with Eva. Allison did have a full time job up until the day before Eva was born. She was an Office Manager for a Management Consulting Firm. In that role she was technical support, communications manager, travel agent and all around dynamo.

Allison staying home with Eva has worked out well and we would love to continue to keep things this way. However, in order to continue to do this we both need to pick up side things from time to time, I have blogging and Allison works about 9 hours a week for a friend of mine. This does leave her plenty of time to fulfill the 20 hours a week with Ravelry. I think the responsibility and challenge and fun of a job like that would be amazing for her. She loves people and community so a connection outside the home and talking with other adults is just the thing.

Allison has incredible writing skills and she loves to communicate with people. We go out places and she has found out life stories of at least 4 people while I barely can remember names. She genuinely cares about other people and making a connection and that is one thing that makes her perfect for this job. Her compassion and understanding make her a perfect person whose primary job is to communicate with an online community. Allison is also perfect for this because she has the technical skills needed for the job, she knows how to create blogs, use twitter, utterli, facebook, flickr and a host of other online resources. She is also extremely familiar and skilled with the Ravelry site and forums. When she doesn’t know something technical she learns about it and solves the problem.

Allison also recently bought herself a netbook so she is able to be both mobile and connected at all times. So this part time online job with Ravelry would be a perfect fit for Allison. She’s even taken renewed interest in her blog and will be posting much more often now.

So if Ravelry is looking for a skilled knitter who is a great communicator, problem solver and a compassionate hard worker then they should really consider Allison for this job.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

A Job With Allison’s Name On It

Photo-A-Day #1420

The other day our friend Mo of We’re in a Fight, told us that the woman behind Bare Escentuals was looking for pictures of people who use the product. Well, Allison uses the product. She uses the heck out of it. she has all sorts of containers and brushes and many things that are a complete mystery to me. She even has them all labeled.

Eva watches Allison apply her makeup and Allison gave Eva one of her worn out brushes. I didn’t even realize these things could wear out but they do. Eva takes the brush and brushes her cheeks and says “buff, buff, buff”. This is part of that secret application process that I am perfectly fine being clueless about. We’ve tried to get Eva to do the “buff, buff, buff” thing on camera but she’s a difficult one to catch when you want her to do something specific. Believe em she does a bunch of cute stuff but if you aren’t right there at that exact moment with the camera you aren’t getting a repeat performance.

Case in point, tonight Eva said her name for the 1st time. She said it clear as day and said it many times. I rushed into the bedroom where Allison and Eva were talking and fumbled with Allison’s camera to make it do video. I did catch her saying it but what was funny was that each time Allison said, “Say your name” Eva would say “Name” Then she would say “Nate” and then pick some other word. Eventually she got back around to “Eva” and it was so cute! She really stresses the “E” and totally drags out the whole name to make it sound like a name much longer than 3 letters.

Back to the photos. Allison was trying to take some photos of Eva with her camera and the Xshot for this task but Eva was being squirmy. The Xshot is a great product but sometimes a wiggly kid makes things difficult. So, I grabbed my camera. It still had the telephoto lens on it which actually worked in this base because it didn’t distract Eva. However, and here is a Photography Tip: Check your settings before you start firing. I’ve been trying to get off auto lately and so I had my camera set on manual. The lighting was great but the speed was too slow so my 1st 10 photos were totally blurry. Those were the best ones overall too. Eva was still enjoying playing and wasn’t being fussy. Once I realized my mistake I just flipped quickly to auto to fire off some more shots. This was the one I ended up with, best of the bunch.

Ugh and I cropped my image at 1/4 usual size. Great. I’ll fix tomorrow with larger photo.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Buff, Buff, Buff!

Photo-A-Day #1406

Today was my telecommute day. I enjoy those days because one of the high points is when Eva wakes up. She always has a super smile for me when she sees me on those mornings. It is the best feeling. That smile is just such a joy. Eva and I played “chase” this afternoon. Here is a video I made of “chase”. She loves it.

Today I received a “Postie Pack” from IZEA! There was a yo-yo, finger puppet, pencil, set of magnets and an IZEA hat. I wore that hat most of the day. I then decided to step into BenSpark’s PhotoBooth and take a few shots. This one below ended up as one I decided to use as my new Avatar.

I had been thinking that I didn’t have enough self portraits for my new set of business cards. I have a set of Moo cards to order because I have a really cool event coming up in March.

Today we received a couple other packages. The first one was a second car seat for Eva. We needed a second one so that anyone else watching Eva could have a car seat to use. The other one was a Valentine’s Day gift for Allison and it was so tasty. I won a $70 credit from Dad-Blogs and ProFlowers. So I ordered a dozen roses that arrived yesterday and then a dozen hand-dipped Chocolate covered strawberries. Prepare to salivate. Photos below.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Playing in Benspark’s PhotoBooth