Music+Art

Evening everyone. Not the best ending to my night so let's get right to it so I can pass out for the evening. The week was a fun one for Mia. Mia was off from school Monday so we did some much-needed snowboarding. Didn't stay out too long. The hike up Valley View's big hill is daunting but she made some good runs. We fell a couple times but overall did well. I popped an ollie off one of the rollers as well as a simple 180 to see if I could do it. I wish we had more time for snowboarding but my obnoxious work schedule ruins everything.  Later, Mia went by Jill to help do some envelope stuffing. Not a glamorous job but Mia enjoyed spending time with Jill.

Throughout the week, I continued working on my Joker comic-influenced sketch. It's taken a ton of time, but it's almost done. I've had some struggles blending some of my green colors, as well as the pen not writing well on the some of the colors but I'm mostly happy with it.

Thursday, I photographed at Hillcrest Elementary. Easy Waukesha school to work and navigate. Kids were pretty funny too. For some reason, a small group of 5th grader girls were infatuated with me and kept finding things we had in common. When one girl asked my age and I told them I was 36, they were like "oh wow, I thought you were in your 20's you're almost as old as my Mom!" Sorry? Overall, not a bad day.

Later after I picked up Mia, she had an online Kawaii drawing class. 6 other kids joined this one-off little sketch session. The woman running it was really sweet and Mia enjoyed drawing these little weather characters in her favorite Japanese style of drawing. The only downside was that the diva was SUPER shy and quiet. She shared her drawings throughout the session but never said a word. Bummer. She still struggles with being shy with adults no matter what the situation is. Mia also did some super rare drumming on my drum kit. She used to play it a lot when she was really little and loved it. She still enjoys it and even learned some beats. I was originally going to teach her "Under Pressure" on bass but we ran out of time and Jill was home so we made dinner. Later, we watched Frozen 2.  Mia and Jill LOVE Frozen 2. Me? It's okay. The music is good, art gorgeous. Story? It's alright.

Saturday, I got up early for the Chelsea vs Spurs match. I missed the first goal off Giroud but the replay was amazing. The guy was supposed to leave over the January Transfer Window, but CFC didn't release him so he's putting the effort in to play well and win games. I took Remi out at half time and came back to another goal. Alonso blasted one from a good distance. The match ended 2-1 which means we beat them twice this season. Fantastic! Jill and Mia woke up soon after the game was over, we met up with Tommy and drove to IKEA for the very first and probably last time. We weren't super impressed but Mia enjoyed some Swedish candy and ice cream. The cinnamon roll was pretty awesome too.

We went back home, hung out and had pizza for dinner with Tommy. We watched Frozen 2 again. Afterwards, played board games at "Mia's Arcade" and she drew us pictures as prizes. Super cute. Mia did some reading as well as Jill while I continued my Joker sketch. Mia fell asleep on the couch and I brought up the sleeping diva before we all crashed. Today we didn't do much. Ran to Menards in search of some new light fixtures and or a ceiling fan for the dining room. No luck.

This week, more drawing and we're back in action soccer-wise on Saturday. Chelsea takes on Munich on Tuesday so hopefully we can get a big win. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Gutted But Not Out

Evening everyone. It's totally weird being off on a Sunday, but we'll get back to that later. The week was a rough one at work with almost daily someone calling in sick but we somehow got through it. Thursday, I took some time to attempt to write a drum part to "This Is Halloween". It's a really fun song to drum to, and changes tempo and time signature often. All in all, really fun afternoon playing drums again. I really don't get to drum often so anytime I have that chance, I try to make the most of it creating covers and drumming to fun songs.

 Later, we had practice. Despite being short Alice, we had a pretty solid scrimmage which would showcase seriously good communication. The kids looked ready for the big tournament ahead. Saturday morning, I watched Chelsea beat Newcastle which gives them 3 big wins in a row. Things are looking solid so far for the Blues. Next was our first match of the tournament for the Ice Breakers. Was it the long obnoxious break in between games from poor field conditions that through the girls off the first half? Perhaps. Was it the fact we were short a crucial member of our team due to a broken toe from 3 weeks ago? Most likely. Where the refs missing way too many calls? 100% yes. Whatever it was, our poor girls were struggling and were trailing 0-3 at HT. I saw something I haven't seen for the first time this season. A group of seriously pissed off kids. Olivia through her goalie gloves frustrated that she didn't want to play goalie anymore. Cecilia was visibly angry and all in all, we just needed to get back into the game. The girls needed to focus big time. 2nd half was a glimmer of hope. They started strong and Alice got us back in the game with a quick goal. Ally, Ryan and Alice were giving it their all and with every chance they had, they just couldn't bang in all the goals needed. Linnea put a 2nd one in giving us a little more hope. It's 2-3 and the tension was growing. Girls were pushing hard on both sides. Mia was struggling with keeping up with the pace but her and Cecilia were still digging. The last few minutes, we decided to push our defense forward and then Olivia from goal. Cecilia's Dad thought "we've got a minute or so left, let's give her a chance. They caught us and despite Olivia making it back in time to dive on the ball, the ref (who wasn't shy of making horrible calls) gave the goal to the Panthers. One more goal from the light pink team sealed the unfortunate loss to the Ice Breakers knocking us early out of the tournament. The refs for some reason, didn't pay attention to the game time and it extended another 4-5 random minutes. We had some seriously upset girls and tears from Linnea who was great in defense and her goal was sick. They couldn't believe we couldn't pull off the win, but we still have a title to play for next weekend against the Lazer Hornets (yes, that's how they spell it) who would play against Mia's friend's team next after our game. Apparently, that game got out of control and after two overtimes and a shootout, the Pink Panthers beat the Hornets. The coach on that team lost it at his kids and the parent supporters were yelling at him to relax. Can't wait to play them next weekend.  Normally, I would have some photos to post from the match, but Jill wasn't feeling great and none were taken with the exception of one I snapped from the side lines and one my sis got. Oh well.

We had some dinner later and relaxed the rest of the night. I watched the Torrent beat DCFC in Detroit during the live feed. Despite the fact that DCFC already had the title, to see the Torrent beat them for the first time was awesome.  Later, Mia brought up that if Cecilia plays with her, she'd like to join SC Wave to insure she'd get to play more soccer. She's got a variety of friends that want to play as well. Ironically, I got an offer for an assistant coach role a team that would have 2 players leaving in the Spring. That would be a perfect option for Mia and Cecilia, but what about two other girls that want to play with Mia? Who knows. We'll cross that bridge come December when Spring sign up happens.

I had a hard time sleeping thinking about what could have happened if we did this, or didn't do that...Ugh. I talked to Mia the next day about being a good sport and going to the Championship match between the (dark) Pink Panthers and the (light) Pink Panthers. She brought along our DSLR Nikon to snap some photos at the match. This was a good exercise to learning how to handle a loss, while at the same time showing love and support when your friends can use it sports-wise. They were stoked she came to cheer them on and in the end, the BFF's team got the win 2-1. Great match despite a lot of heavy pushing, some profanity and losing reffing once again. It was super weird being on this side of the field, and honestly tough not to be giving advice, but it was a great time cheering with Olivia's Dad and Scarlett's Mom and daughter. In the end, Mia was excited for her friends and glad she came. On top of that, she snapped some great photos. It was her first time shooting a soccer match so it was fun to watch her in action. Seeing the girls with the trophies sparked a fire in her and gave her some motivation for our big match this coming Saturday. We'll need everyone 100% for this game and hopefully, we can grab the win and secure the title with a full undefeated season finish. I'm not going to lie, I'm totally nervous for our girls, but I'll do my absolute best at our last practice. Trick or treating this weekend as well. Speaking of which, Mia's made the decision to return her Spider Gwen costume. The material made her itchy and the mask made it hard to breath. Ugh. Oh well. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Cousins Weekend

Greetings. Dead exhausted as I type this, but I'll try to get through it before passing out. The week was a fun one. Spent a lot of time with Mia outside hanging and she did a little art while relaxing in her hammock. Wednesday, Mia proudly showed me some new bass things she's learned at lessons. She's slowly starting to show progression and a bit more confidence which is fantastic. Thursday, Mia picked up a pair of Nike Neymar Hypervenom boots off the Facebook Marketplace. After a few weeks of convincing her cleats were getting too small on her, she finally agreed and we got these for a steal. $10. Not bad for a used pair of pristine boots. Too bad they're Neymar signature but it's all good. Mia digs them and is looking forward to Fall soccer. We drove over to Guitar Center for fun and she played a pricy Fender bass, did some drumming on the E-kit. She somehow has double bass drum techniques down. I've never even explained it to her other than "both feet usually go pretty fast if you want to do blast beats" and she quickly got the hand of it. Later, we went to the studio for some lemonade photos as well as a few fashion pictures for the kid. We even got Remi in on the ad. Never easy getting him to cooperate, but eventually we got the shot. All in all, awesome day with the kid. A little lunch, new cleats, some great photos and later, we put together the ad and published it for the public to advertise Mia's big charity sale.

Friday was mine and my twin sister's birthday. I decided to not take off and work like any other day. Work was pretty busy but the day wasn't too bad. Mia made me a lunch before taking her over to her Grandma and Grandpa Ridenour's house. There, she made me a cute little square piece via sewing machine with a "C" on it for Chelsea. Soo sweet. When I got home from work, she also gave me a cool tropical t-shirt and a soccer ball cake. Awesome.

Saturday, we went to Dave and Busters for lunch. Never been there before but it was a great time. Food was alright, but the games were fantastic. The highlight was the incredibly fun Star Wars pod game. Raced on a speeder bike on Endor shooting at scout troops. Total blast. Cheryl really enjoyed it too. Mia did a fun but difficult plane game, a ring toss one and a few other different games. All in all, great time.

Later, the boys Easton and Camden came over for the weekend. Jill planned a lot of fun activities like  bingo, crafts, Nerf Gun battle, silly string, etc etc etc. The kids woke up today at 5:30am and I think I got about 2 hours of sleep. We went to the park for a few hours and rode around our driveway as well. Later, they were picked up by their Grandma and said their goodbyes. Tonight after work, I discovered my house completely dark with Jill and Mia fast asleep. Clearly, worn out from the weekend. On that note, I think I'm going to crash myself. This week, maybe some art lessons, I've got art to create for our upcoming sale and Mia is heading to Ohio Saturday. I'm going to go to the Torrent match Saturday.

In a few weeks, I'll be getting my tattoo done of a very cool drawing Mia made for me. Can't wait.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

One Last Dance

Good evening everyone. Quite a week with a fun weekend, so let's get started. Throughout the week, Mia's been wanting to explore as many music stores as she could. First stop was Guitar Center. She sat down at this pricey e-kit equipped with a double bass drum pedal, and immediately went to town on it. I explained how drummers who play double bass play really fast and she figured it out quite quickly and surprisingly stayed in time while drumming with her hands. HOW? She constantly impresses me with things she can do. We made our way over to the bass room and she plugged in a very bright green Jackson bass guitar and instantly fell in love with it. She never heard my bass guitar  plugged in when I play it because as a baby, she broke the knobs. She loves the low sounds of the bass and really really really wanted it.

The next day, we went to Cascio. Mia immediately wanted to look at bass guitars but alas, they didn't have any nearly as "cool" as the one she discovered at GC or that actually fit her.  She still had fun exploring the E-kits, banjos and ukuleles. Later, we picked up Jill from work before making dinner and calling it a night. The movie for the evening was Ralph Breaks the Internet. Such a great movie. I didn't have any art lessons this week, but will be getting back in this coming week. Mia had rehearsal Friday for her big recital the next day. Saturday, we made some pancakes, did some cleaning, cut the grass and later met up with family for Mia's recital. Her last dance. She has been a part of the Dance Academy LTD for the last 3 years and decided at the half way point this year would be the end of her dance career. 3 years of ballet and tap, 2 years of jazz. She'll claim that it became "too easy" for her, but deep down I know that it just wasn't as fun anymore. After the recital, she admitted she'd miss the rehearsal/recitals but really disliked the practice for some reason. She's most excited about her new adventure that starts this week. I'll post about that soon :) Thanks go to both our families that could make it including Auntie Ashley and Uncle Tommy. After wards, we went to YoMama for some fro yo before calling it a night. I gave my very special Father's Day gift to my Dad as well which was 2 tickets to see Fiorentina vs Chivas in Chicago at field level. I swear to God, I've never seen him more excited. I had a really hard time this week coming up with something fun and unique for Father's Day, but decided the old man needs more experiences than "things" so this was a good idea. He'll probably never ever get to another European game again, so why not sit him as close as possible? I'm looking forward to it as well as he is.

Today, Mia made blueberry muffins for Father's Day with Jill and we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone before I went off to work. It was a nice little moment with the kiddo. Her and Jill got me a cute pineapple shirt and Mia made a fun card.

This week, I'll polish off the rest of my resume before sending it out to jobs, I've got an art lesson, Mia and I are planning on some much-needed soccer at the park and hope the weather improves. The last few days have been weirdly cold. Mia starts her new adventure Tuesday evening as well which she couldn't be more excited about. That'll do for now, thanks for reading!

Ship in a Bottle

Greetings! Usually, I try to type up a new blog entry Wednesday night, but unfortunately, Jill's been pretty sick all week, so I had to skip last night. No big deal, right? Yesterday was Mia's birthday, but we celebrated on Saturday with both Jill's and my families at a hotel near by (that my in-laws were staying at). It was a fantastic time, despite Jill getting pretty sick later in the afternoon. Mia got lots of great gifts, got to play in the pool, play some games and overall, enjoy spending time with everyone. Later in the evening, she wanted to roam the hotel in search of kids, the elevator (which she calls alligator) and of course, a band in the bar to watch. Hopefully the weather improves soon because she got a lot of great outdoor stuff!

Yesterday, I took Mia over to visit one of my best buddies who recently told me him and his wife were expecting a little one. We haven't seen him since Mia's 1st birthday party, so a visit was clearly in order.  She was quite shy at first, but eventually warmed up to him. I thought she'd like his cats, but she wanted nothing to do with them. I later found out as soon as we left that she likes "little kitties, not BIG kitties Daddy". Sorry kid. I'll remember next time. Mia also visited with Grandma at work (gotta get that birthday cookie, right?) and later, I took her to the music store. Probably one of my highlights of the day (besides seeing my best bud) Mia was playing probably the most expensive electronic drum kit at the store. AND she was playing it quite well! We sampled different kits, and she even wore the headphones too. It was quite adorable watching her play with her little crown on. Before we left, she pointed and named the different brass and wind instruments. Other then that, that's about it for her birthday. Hopefully the next one, Jill isn't feeling so horrible, because she felt so bad that she couldn't do anything with Mia all day. A year ago, we were in sunny Florida. Could REALLY use some of that nice weather right about now. Mia saw her helmet in the garage yesterday and kindly asked "Daddy, bike ride?" so I took the bike out and we rode a bit in the cul de sac. Luckily, it wasn't too bad out :)

Lil Wayne portrait is coming together nicely. After this, I've gotta get moving on sports portrait. May have to start it sooner then later. This weekend, it's Easter on both sides of the family. Hopefully Mia can handle the drives. That's it for now! Thanks for reading