Jeff's Birthday and Election Day 2008

Obama portrait by Wouter Tulp

November 4, 2008 was the day for change. Jeff turned one year older and Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. Things were looking up! 

I asked Jeff what he wanted for his birthday and his response was to have Barack Obama as President. Well, seems his wish was granted! I asked my friend Xochitl, who's a talented cake designer, to decorate a birthday cake for Jeff with Obama's campaign logo on it. I think helped him win. Okay, maybe not, but it was the next best thing I could do just in case Obama didn't win. 

Jeff and I spent the night of his birthday glued to the television and eating cake. Finally, late that night, it was announced that Obama had won the election. There was no denying that this year was in for change. Obama made history as the first black (or at least half-black) man to be elected into office as President, and more importantly, he would grant us hope for our country again. 

Jeff's birthday fell on a Tuesday night, so we decided to officially celebrate it the following Saturday, by going out for sushi at our favorite sushi place Silhouette, followed by a dirty martini on the Stephen F. Austin Hotel's balcony, which overlooks the state capital on South Congress Avenue. Good food, good drinks, good atmosphere - I think he had a good birthday.

Happy birthday Jeff! I love you!

Letterpress

Recently I've been enamored with letterpress designs on cards and such. They have such an old yet simple and elegant look to them. I especially love the tactile element they give. It seems they've come back in popularity too. Recently, when researching wedding invitation ideas with my friend Anne, we came across a lot of designs using letterpress. Here's an interesting and informative video on the process and the machines used in this old form of printing.

FireFly Letterpress from ilovetypography.com on Vimeo.

Here are some beautiful and more graphic, as opposed to typographic, letterpress cards from Elum.

Halloween 2008

Jeff and I as zombies

Jeff, Kara and I as zombies

Clockwise: 1) Sandy, Jeff and Joseph. 2) Craig and Sean. 3) Fraggle Rock and Paula.

Clockwise: 1) Run Club - Kiki, Paula, Ryan, Pilar, Joseph, Sandy, Freddy, Kara, Me. 2) Xochitl, Jason, Joseph, Kara. 3) Tania and Freddy.

What a blast this year's Halloween had been! There's no better way to celebrate than to reach into your inner child and dress up! I was informed by one a fellow running buddy Sean that he'd be having a huge Halloween party at his house. Apparently every year it had been such a blast with everybody in costume. I knew I wanted to go, but I was convinced it would be that much better if I could somehow get Jeff to go, which would require him to get in costume. As long as I've been with Jeff he's never dressed in costume, unless it was for an improv or sketch comedy show. He's never participated in Halloween. I've dressed up several times, but he'd always stay at home. That is just not acceptable in my eyes! 

So, after many suggestions for costumes, he really got psyched about simply being zombies! Well, then I decided that if that's what we're gonna be, we better be good zombies! I had gone back to Colorado earlier in the month, which gave me the opportunity to visit the best costume and toy store ever, The Wizard's Chest. My good friend Anne went along with me, and the girl behind the makeup counter managed to teach me how to make a great bloody and bruised wound. Awesome, except she used my arm and Anne and I got several scared looks as we walked out of the store. I guess that was a good sign. 

My friend Kara participated in a worldwide competition for the largest Michael Jackson Thriller dance (Check out the video below. She's in the second row on the right side in the torn black dress), which meant she was already geared up to be a zombie alongside Jeff and I for the party. Awesome, a zombie clan! 

We met up with friends (mostly from Run Club) at Sean's party. It was so much fun, with a huge turnout of people in all sorts of costumes. We danced, acted silly, and the night finally ended after the costume contest (no, we didn't win, but Fraggle Rock/Muppets did deservedly).