Death by Platypus

I’ve got most everything ready to go for next weekend’s Artisans’ Festival at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Just need to finish touching up a few frames that got chipped and buying some fabric for table clothes. With this weekend’s cold and rainy weather, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Mother Nature is getting it out of her system this weekend and that next Saturday and Sunday will be sunny and warm. And that the economy will rebound during the week and people will be in a spending mood

 I’m very excited about the show. Booth setup is Friday afternoon. The show runs Saturday, March 21st from 9am till 5pm, and Sunday, March 22nd from noon till 5pm. Hopefully, you’ll be able to come by.

Trying to keep my expectations reasonable for the show as well. Admittedly, I will be disappointed if I don’t sell anything to anybody I don’t already know, I would be ecstatic to just make back my entry fee (about $200). Nowhere close to the near $1000 I’ve invested in getting ready for the show. Hopefully, I’ll have more opportunities to show all the work I’ve put together in the near future.

Ah yes, back to not posting. Kids are doing great, new job is better than the old, but still has it’s bumps (I’m two weeks in), mostly ready for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Artisan’s Festival coming up later this month. But most importantly, I posted the first set of new 2009 photos to Alpha Dog Photography!

Most of the shots were from my first trip ever inside the Texas State Capital building.

After wandering in the Capital for a bit, the family and I walked down Congress Ave. to find a neat Italian restaurant for dinner.

After completing my 31 posts to catch up on my fun photos, I had one last set of pictures that I hadn’t yet gone through. The weekend before Halloween, we took the kids camping at Pedernales Falls State Park. This was kind of a warm up for our Arkansas trip the next weekend. The day we got there, the kids had a blast playing in the river and throwing rocks. Turned out, I got several shots of them I really liked. Be sure to check out some of the rocks in mid-toss in some of these.

The next day we went scrambling around on the rocks around the falls, doing our best mountain climber impersonations.

And as it neared time to head home, each kid had to share one of their newfound treasures with the camera.

I have posted a few more sets of pictures on Alpha Dog to finish up 2008. Shots include Port Aransas, our annual pre-Halloween trip to the pumpkin patch, and a camping trip to Pedernales Falls. I have a bunch of kid shots from the Pedernales Falls trip that I will be posting here sometime soon.

Now, I just need to get inspired to go shoot something new for 2009. Weather should be beautiful the rest of the week, just debating Zilker Botanical Garden (probably too early in the year, but might get some more fodder for the show), random small town outside Austin, or the downtown/Capital area. Any ideas?

So my last day at work was on Friday. I have two full weeks off before returning to my previous employer for a second stint. The time off will be much needed, as I focus on exercising, spending quality time with the kids, preparing for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s Artisans’ Festival on March 21st and 22nd, restoring our infested computer, and generally getting my head in a good place. 

The last week at work was good – several people had great things to say about my time there. By the time I left, I actually could stop, think back on the year, and feel pretty good about what I accomplished. It really was a remarkable turnaround for a team that was in very bad shape and under constant criticism from other parts of the agency. While I certainly can’t claim all the credit, I do know I was certainly integral to the positive changes.

As I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what didn’t work for me there, and what did work for me at previous employers, one thing I’ve come to understand is just how important it is for me to have good friends at work. I always knew this was important, but I now know my emotional well-being and ultimately my ability to perform at my expected level is directly tied to this. Not only do I use the friends at work to blow off steam with, I use them to validate ideas or perceptions I have (particularly about interactions with other people) or brainstorm approaches to problems. I’ve been blessed that until this past year, I’ve always worked with friends (and actually, my first few months at my previous employer were also rough until I got to know a few people well).

While I still worry that my anxiety and other issues might rear their ugly heads at my new job, I am optimistic that my existing network of friends and mentors I have there will help me be able to cope if I get in a bind. I am excited about getting myself back on track and putting the challenges of the last year firmly in the rearview mirror. While I have learned some valuable lessons about myself this year, it has been a very painful lesson. 

And rounding out my fun photo catch-up binge is some shots from our annual First Night attendance! The kids and I headed out earlier in the day while Mommy and Grandma were at a Rockettes show. The big hit of the event was the giant wooden clock they built at Auditorium Shores.

During the day, people were encouraged to go and walk through it and write New Year’s resolutions on it. While we were checking it out, this friendly, big guy that was part of the group came up to offer the kids a sticker. Tyler started asking him about the clock. The guy explained that that evening, they were going to set fire to the clock, and then proceeded to show Tyler where they kept the fuel tanks and flame throwers. I think, had he been a couple years older, that might have been the greatest day of his life. As it was, Tyler was pretty impressed with their giant toys of destruction.

After exploring the clock, the kids and I crossed Congress Bridge to see more of the festivities. Mommy and Grandma joined us right before the parade (see some pix on Alpha Dog). Then, we went back over to Auditorium Shores for the Family Finale and the clock burning. Standing about 50 yards away from it, I was expecting them to light the base and wait as it slowly caught flame. Instead, at the chosen moment, the entire clock burst into flames (seems like they had rigged small explosives or something throughout the body of the clock) – causing a big heat wave we could feel from where we were standing. To top it off, after 5 minutes or so, the ashes floating into the air began to float back down into the crowd (including some burning Grandma’s sweater). Needless to say, this all left a lasting impression on the kids – Tyler was still nearly a week later trying to figure out why they set fire to the clock.

While our holidays were packed with our usual assortment of annual traditions, one exciting new adventure was going to Marble Falls one evening for their light walk. The first photo was taken from the deck of the restaurant we ate at first – it was a nice, mild evening and we got to sit above the river and watch for a while. There are an insane amount of Christmas lights and decorations crammed into one little city park next to the water. It was kitschy and fun!

And of course we had to do Austin’s own Trail of Lights. And take the usual kid shot in front of the opening tunnel (guess Quinn wasn’t as in to having her picture taken this time last year).

Was moving some older photos around tonight and happened across this classic Tyler shot from three years ago yesterday. It’s amazing to me how much he’s grown up in those few years, yet I can still see him in there – both the physical features and the personality. He’s such a great kid, and looking at the old photos of him when he was a baby and a toddler makes me never want to forget those days.

During this pre-Thanksgiving hike at McKinney Roughs, we got to watch a group of horseback riders and pet one of their horses. We also got to watch two armadillos rooting through the leaves right next to the trail for about 10 minutes. Amazingly, despite the kids’ noise and wanting to get up close, they never seemed to be bothered by us. Well, until Quinnie tried to chase one down the trail…

Quinnie and Mommy decided it was time to “fly”, while Tyler practices for a future role of bridge troll.

More Halloween adventuring – this time from our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. These photos have been sitting, unreviewed for months. I’ll be posting some to the Alpha Dog site soon. They kids were pretty ambitious in picking out their pumpkin this year… 

And Tyler was particularly ambitious thinking he could carry this one home.

Quinn finds a spot to sit down. Later, while waiting for our hay ride through the fields, Alyssa and the kids get to pick wildflowers.

Tyler doesn’t look too willing to share his pumpkin ice cream with me.