Laughter for Life

Good evening everyone! What. A. Week. What easily could have been a quick and painless week ended up being a pretty stressful one leading up to my incredible 3 days off. Work has just been uber stressful and it has me wanting to leave in 2019 and hopefully find a more suitable job in my field. I've never been more mentally exhausted in all my life. Just completely burned out, and in desperate need of change.

Thursday was the start of my much deserved 3 days off so it was nice to pick up the kiddo. She hung out and attempted to snowboard on her saucer in the little bit of snow we had. She fell so many times but laughed so hard. She's totally ready to start snowboarding (come Christmas time). I just need to find a board for myself + boots.

 Friday after school, I picked her up and we had the furnace guy here AGAIN fixing something. Hopefully it's good. Anyways, we packed up Mia's overnight bag and picked up Jill from work and drove to Grandma Gail's for Mia to have a sleep over. We picked up a bit of food and Jill and I were off to Milwaukee to the Conan and Friends comedy show. The Riverside is such a nice theater and provided the perfect venue for this event. The crowd was packed and Conan was absolutely hilarious. The comedians were also incredible and each of them had their own unique style of comedy. James Veitch was a definite highlight. My face hurt from laughing so hard. Ron Funches closed the night and was equally great. Conan came back out along with Flula to answer some questions. Some of the questions asked were really stupid so I was bummed that I didn't get to ask anything before they ran out of time. Bugger. Would have loved to hang around to see if he was going to come out to meet up with fans, but we ended up leaving. When we got home, we watched a bit of Trevor Noah before heading off to bed. It was a night of comedy and I sure needed it after this week.

 Saturday, Mia came back home after a successful sleepover and we went to Donuts with Santa. Mia wanted noting to do with him (she didn't think he was the real Santa) and ended up hanging a bit with her new friend this year Vida. They share a lot of similarities and is overall a really nice kid.  We didn't get our photos taken with the big man, and ended up leaving. Mia did make a nice ornament though. We drove out later to my in-laws for a great belated Thanksgiving and birthday for my father in law. It was nice to relax and have a great meal with everyone. Mia always loves it when Tommy visits :) 

Sunday, I way overslept and missed my early alarm for the Chelsea vs Fulham match. Caught 10 minutes of the 2nd half and caught RLC's goal. Great win for the Blues. Need to keep it going. Later after painting, I went to work for the night. 

This week, I have to continue working on the book, I have a store meeting Tuesday and I am literally working every day and won't be off till Saturday. Major bummer. That's all for now, thanks for reading!! 

Snowy

Hello everyone! We realized today that we're literally booked the rest of the year as far as any weekends off. Insane. The week started out crappy with Remi having to return to the vet to have his irritated paw looked at. He had a really difficult time walking and limped around. It was heartbreaking so after taking Mia to school I took him to the vet. After an x-ray, they didn't find anything broken or infected so back went on the cone :( Just the other day, we wrapped it up because he could still find a way to lick it. At least now he isn't limping.

Mia had Career Week at her school so Tuesday, she dressed as a dolphin trainer. she still wants the job and loves dolphins. Thursday was Spirit Day so Mia proudly wore her Carroll University shirt. She always loves wearing her shirt and tells people that that's where her Mommy and Daddy met and fell in love. So many great memories. Friday night, Mia had something special to attend. Jill's Dad took her to the Shopkins LIVE! event in Milwaukee. Mia's been looking forward to that for months. He even got her the VIP tickets so she could meet the girls after the show. Mia LOVED it and they had a very nice little night together. I'm so glad he could take the diva and have this fantastic memory together.  Saturday, I got up pretty early to watch Chelsea fall to West Ham in a shockingly terrible match. Couldn't believe they couldn't get in this one. Such garbage. They play this Tuesday and better not lose again. Can't afford to drop points to teams that shouldn't be that difficult. So that sorta set the tone for me for the morning. The girls got up shortly after. Mia was super excited we got more snow and it was enough to run around and play in. She helped me shovel while Jill made apple pie macarons for her Dad for his birthday celebration we had planned for later.<3 .="" a="" about="" and="" artist="" asked="" been="" being="" blast="" careers.="" designer.="" diva.="" excitedly="" for="" freelance="" friday="" going="" graphic="" had="" i="" in="" maybe="" nbsp="" next="" p="" presenters="" school="" several="" she="" snow="" so="" some="" talked="" talking="" that="" the="" their="" they="" times="" to="" up="" ve="" walking="" was="" woke="" year.="">

After breakfast, we went to the studio to get some Christmas card pictures taken for Jill's family. Mia was beyond silly and wanted nothing to do with it. Pretty frustrating for a kid who knows better than that. Later, we fed the little diva and had an early dinner at her parents house. Her Dad enjoyed all the gift and we sorta just hung out till it was time to split.

Today, I didn't accomplish much before work, sadly. This week, I need to kick it into high gear on this book for Mia. I need to average about a page a day to get it complete. Luckily, tomorrow I'm off and after my eye appointment, have the day to work on it as much as possible. I'll have to do my daily sketch for Mia as well. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Mahalo and Aloha

Good morning! The summer is coming to a close before we know it. Not a lot of days left to enjoy before the busy school year. Wednesday was Mia's last day of Princess Dance Class, but first she got to hang with her pals Gracie and Hannah for a while at the park. It was pretty warm but the girls didn't mind and had a lot of fun.

Last day of dance was fun. The kids had a tea party and danced. Mia may be signing up for a more advanced dance class that she hope she can perform on stage in front of people. I don't know how she got so interested in dance, but it's pretty cute. At the end of the week, we had planned on attempting to watch the meteor shower, but instead got some Mother Nature showers instead. Thursday it was was too cloudy and Friday we got dumped on with tons of rain. Talk about disappointing. Saturday, we went to my good friend Andy and Jess's Hawaiian goodbye party. The couple plus their adorable dog are Miley are leaving in November for Hawaii. Mia was shy at first but LOVED their dog. "Daddy, take a picture of her so I can pet your phone later". I can't wait till we get to return to Hawaii. Mia will be 7 and it'll be her first time at the place we both love so much.

Later, we had a late dinner and made another attempt to watch the meteors. We probably went out too early but with Jill's new phone app, we could check out some constellations. Mia fell asleep while we drove around in the peaceful night. Sadly not too far from us, it was a different story. Milwaukee had some riots going on at the North Side. The BLM group had started fires, burned down the community all because an African American man was shot by a cop, who coincidently was also black. The man had a stolen gun and pointed at the police officer. Hardly a good reason to suggest that racism was in the cards that night. I can't turn on the news without some horrific incidents happening so we don't even have that on when Mia's around. Too much hate and problems.

Yesterday, Mia went to the zoo with Jill and Tommy while I went to work. She got her picture taken with a harbor seal after the show. Glad they had a lot of fun. Today is the first game of the season for Chelsea FC against West Ham. Sadly missing it, but hoping for a big win to kick off the season.

This week, sock monkey class on Wednesday, maybe hang with friends after and we leave for Iowa on Saturday morning.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

A Flood of Goals For the Torrent, A Major Win For a Penguin

Good morning everyone. Hope you got to enjoy the gorgeous weather we've been experiencing. Mid week, Mia and the majority of her class friends met at the park for a day of fun and a picnic. She was especially cute following her boyfriend Trey around, although she says he doesn't quite know that he's her "boyfriend" because she's afraid he wouldn't like it. They hung out and every time he'd lay on the ground, she'd lay right besides him. His Mom and myself kept laughing about it. It was fun watching all the kids run around and play. After wards, we ran to Smarty Pants and grabbed her graduation pictures. They turned out very nice.

Thursday morning we ran to the Stefans Tent Sale. We rarely ever buy anything but Mia loves looking around the different deals. She especially wanted her very own pair of pink goalie gloves, neon green goalie jersey and a new pair of boots. Sorry kid, we didn't sign you up for soccer this year because you sorta didn't end soccer well last Summer. Friday, I had the day off for the Milwaukee Torrent Kickoff Party. My Dad and I drove to Brenner Brewing Company on the very warm evening and got to try the Barons beer (which was very tasty). We got our free shirts, and I introduced him to coach/owner Andi Davi. The event was a lot of fun, and I even was interviewed later in the evening on the live 2UpFront podcast that broad casted from the event with Flood founder Derek. We had a lot of fun and I even hyped the Torrent fans. After, we hung out at my parents for a little while before calling it a night.

Saturday Mia had a zoo class and had an absolute blast. She made a polar bear costume, penguin art and learned about both North and South pole animals. I on the other hand, went to the very first Milwaukee Torrent home game. Packed the bag with some cameras, mask, tons of water, drum sticks and my Flood scarf and drum before heading down to Glendale in the 90 degree heat. It was a long long wait, but the day finally came. I tailgated with some fans before heading into the game late with the Flood founder. We had a bunch of stuff to bring in, including the large flags, the James Weber FatHeads and his two kids. I pounded and pounded throughout the game destroying my voice with the chants. I couldn't tell if the fans were chanting as well, but we didn't get the best turnout for the actual Flood section behind the net. The overall attendance was 673 fans. WOW. On a hot day that's pretty solid. The Torrent beat the Twisters 5-0 staying top of the table. A fan bought me a water in the first half "you look like you could really use this!" Thank you so much! Ian Bennett deservingly won Man of the Match with a pair of goals. He was really hoping for the hat-trick and we did a quick interview post game. A few fans were high-fiving me on their way out after the game. I won't be able to make the next home game in July, but  I will the last few games. Hopefully, we can get more fans to join in The Flood the next match. It was an amazing experience and I can't wait for the next home game. A group of fans drove 14 hours JUST for this game.

Sunday, work work work. The weather was much cooler. Work was very busy, and after an issue I don't feel like going into again, I was stuck till 11:15pm. After work, I found out the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup. Incredible. A few bad seasons and a rocky current season pre-playoffs and the good guys took the cup. Very proud of the Pens. Been a favorite team since the early 90's. It really sucks how little hockey I can watch due to my work schedule, but I do try to catch highlights when I get home.

Saturday, first of 3 sessions for my 1/2 sleeve tattoo. Can't wait. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Falling Like Rain

Hey folks. Okay, first off the bat. I have NO idea what in the hell happened to the blog. Last weekend in Illinois, my phone tried to sync with something and for some reason, every picture that was on my blog was deleted. So, if Blogger can't retrieve the pictures, I'll have to go in and find every single one of them. A very tedious task to take on, but I'll do it if I have to. I almost debated about starting a new one to avoid the task of finding every single picture again, but since I've got some great followers and readers here (thanks guys!) plus I've got two+ years of entries, I didn't want to just delete everything.

Anyways, Friday we made a last-minute trip down to Illinois for a funeral/wake service. Well, sort of. Jill stuck around for it, I had to head home for work. Jill's good friend's Dad passed away, so with the drop of the hat, we were Illinois-bound. She spent most of the day with her friends, Mia, I and Grandma hung out for the day. Monday, they came back. It was great seeing my girls again after work.

Today, nothing too exciting happened during day. Went to the sports store in search of another pair of soccer socks. I turned around and I saw Mia with a box of Nike soccer cleats. "Dadda, I try these on?" Sure why not! She tells me "I sit on the bench, take my shoes off and put soccer shoes on.." We did this for about 10 or so minutes. She tried on a slew of different cleats. She just had to see all the different colored cleats. I also found her stacking soccer cones too. When I said "hey we gotta go" she replied "No, I"m busy right now Dadda". After a visit to Jill's work, we soon went in to visit Grandma and lastly Grandpa.

Later, we went to dinner at Rock Bottom in Milwaukee by the Riverwalk. Our good friend Leanne was supposed to meet us there, but somehow one of us went to the wrong restaurant.  Oops! Great dinner, fantastic beers and we still met up with Leanne to chat before the performance. I've got my half bro coming into town this weekend for a big family pic nic thing Saturday. Should be a great time. I also got word that they are FINALLY starting the adult pick up soccer THIS Sunday, but I'm already scheduled to work 11-7 so I'll miss the first game, sadly. No big deal. The season will be nice and long. That's all for now. Thanks for reading. Hopefully I can fix the blog soon :P

Luciferian Blues

Hey friends. Man, today flew by. Mia and I headed out to Eble Ice Arena to watch Uncle Andy play some pick up hockey. Now, she's been there a few times, but I swear, today she REALLY loved watching today. She saw the rink when we got in the arena and said "HOCCCKKKKEYYY!" She pounded on the glass, waved to the goalie, cheered on the few goals that were made. It was awesome. Best part is that she even wore one of my toques winter hat) on her head. She hates wearing hats these days. Every one of them. But I told her today "you have to wear the hat if you want to watch hockey" so she put up with it. After the pick up game, and Andy came out of the locker room, she gave him a big ol' hug. Awww...

We drove around visiting Jill, Auntie Ashley, had some lunch with Grandpa and stopped by Grandma. On the way to Grandpa's, she napped for about 15 minutes. When I brought her into the house, she didn't wanna sleep anymore, and just played with us. Later, Jill and I were able to watch both episodes of Modern Family. The one had the oldest daughter going off to college. It was pretty sad sorta too. Jill and I both don't know how we'll be able to contain ourselves when Mia goes off to college many years down the road. I don't know what I'll do...

The other day we had a great time on a rather windy bike ride, followed by some soccer training. Mia would say "go get the ball Daddy" when I'd boot it across our large back yard. Super fun. Can't wait to boot it into a goal on a team some day hopefully sooner then later..

Been tough feeding Riley (the last guinea pig) and not seeing Devany. We really miss her. Mia even too!

Last but certainly not least, I've been putting in some late hours trying to knock out three solid soccer logo concepts for my MLS Milwaukee FC project. Posted today the three to see which one would be the logo my friends would like the most and make it on the jersey. Now that it's figured out, I can work on the 2nd part in the near future. PLUS I need to start my Dad's birthday gift PLUS a tattoo for a coworker PLUS PLUS that Lil Wayne portrait for a girl too. SUPER busy here. I will prevail and pull it off.

That's it for now. Can barely keep my eyes open. Thanks for reading!

Let The Stars Play

Evening friends & readers. It's been a pretty good Wednesday off, as usual. Spent some time with my pops. Mia was actually pretty happy around him. Sometimes my dad comes off a little strong around her and she gets slightly frightened. Even got a nice picture of them. Later, she shared some sea food salad with my Mom on her work break. She didn't nap on the ride home, but that's alright. When Jill came home tonight, she got super excited! "OH BOY OH BOY!" I couldn't stop laughing.

Tonight on the drive to the store, she did something that blew us away. She started rattling off the ABC's. The letters sounded well-enunciated and she finished it off with "Now I know my ABC's, no more monkeys jumping on the bed". We couldn't stop laughing. When I pulled out my iPod touch to try to video record it, she stopped after about 10 letters. Ah rats! Oh well. Hahaha. Jill & I were discussing tonight how amazing she truly is. She can be a pain at times, but man this kid is the center of all things beautiful. Her smile, her eyes, her laugh, it's pretty amazing.

Making slow process on my MLS Milwaukee team logo/jersey kit. Did some sketching at work the other day and I think I've got a pretty cool concept on where I want to go before I take it to Adobe Illustrator. Was asked my a girl to do a Lil Wayne portrait. One of our third shifter's daughter loves him and asked very nicely for me to do it. Defiantly not my cup of tea. To be honest, I can't stand his auto-tuned voice but that's alright, I'll nail this. No time table for it which is always nice. I've got to work on the third shifter's tattoo as well. She asked first, so her daughter's portrait will wait. So my art plate is getting more and more full, but that's the life of an artist.

Saw that it was national news that the new iPhone 5 specs were being announced today. It's pretty crazy that everyone all over the world was tuned in to see what the magical elves at Apple had in store for the masses. It's mostly because the iPhone is the major competition against Droids and that Samsung Galaxy iii thing.  I love Apple, and the programs and products I've been fortunate to use, but my life won't change if the new screen isn't as big as other smart phones, or whatever complains people will have right off the bat. It's funny. When I started the graphic design program at W.C.T.C, I had to learn how to use an Apple desktop. Man, was it different then the PC's I learned everything on. I dare you to find someone with a Macbook Pro that even knows what a zip disk is! I dare you! That's how we used to have to save files on! These big zip disks. Not small practical flash drives. When I transferred to Carroll College, zip disks there too for the art majors. It'd be nice if Jill and I can upgrade from our basic phones to an iPhone but it doesn't have to be the newest toy. A 4 or 4S would suffice. We'll see come March 2013'.

Enough ranting for now. Later people.

Sing Out America

Hey dudes and dudettes. I've got a fun story to share from my day off yesterday. Didn't get to write about it last night since Mia decided she didn't want to sleep and would rather play last night. Crazy Kid. Anyways, so yesterday I was upstairs with Mia. We were playing with Remi. Like a normal day. She enjoys walking through our hallway and discovering him laying on our bed. I looked over to the corner of our room and saw my bass guitar. It's a black Ibanez. Nothing real special about it. I bought it when I was 17 years old. It was a time in my life, when I had played drums quite a bit and wanted to branch out and try a new instrument. I'm not that great, but I'm good enough to read tabs correctly and figure things out by ear at times. Anyway when I noticed it in the corner, I thought "hmmm I wonder what Mia would do if I played the bass with her...?"

So I pulled out the beat up bass and we had a total blast. I was strumming it, and she found it fascinating! She would hold the strings down and watch me strum with this major smile on her face. Like "Dad, how are you doing this??" It's been the highlight of my week. Today during her photo shoot at the studio playing with my Pearl Piccolo snare drum come second. I was showing her "Mia, hold the drum sticks and hit the snare like this" and quickly she'd figure it out. She seemed to enjoy throwing the sticks more though, but that's alright. She's got the music in her blood, her soul and her heart. Just like her Dad.

Tomorrow, maybe we'll play a little bongos. It's been a while. She's been enjoying walking and wobbling around the house more and more. Exploring the rooms and seeing what she can play with. Won't be long before she's doing it without holding on to my hands. Then I'll have to chase after her. Good grief. On my way to a work leadership thing today I put in Decibully's World Travels Fast record in the car. Almost forgot how perfect that album is. They were one of Milwaukee's finest bands live and on record and sadly, most of the people here probably aren't that familiar with their work. But then again, that may have been a good thing because they may not have gotten the same experience from their music that I did. Easily one of the most creative bands I've ever heard. Anyways, back to my bowl of grapes, then to the showers, then to sleep. Peace out kids.