Photobooth Friday (finally)

It's been a long, long time since my last participation in Photobooth Friday (Wow. Not since April of 2008?), but I'm glad to say that a trip to the Ace Hotel this past Sunday was worth coming back for.

We (Ava, Ezra & I) call guys with big beards here in Portland "Mr. Beardy" - "Look Daddy! There's a Mr. Beardy!" If you want to see a prime example of a Mr. Beardy (besides myself), check out the dude who works behind the counter at Stumptown right next to the Ace. You'll thank me for it.

Currently enjoying:

• My wife's polaroid collection.
• Hansen's Vanilla Cola: real cane sugar FTW.
• My new(ish) Cintiq 21UX: thank you, Hugh. You're awesome.
• German visitors: Mathias & Jördis (and little Mari), best house guests EVER.
• Almonds: magical nuts that are supposed to change my life.
• Twitter: because Facebook can be annoying. Like real life.
• MY SECOND KID'S BOOK IS DONE.


Not enjoying:

• Third anniversary of my Aunt Bo's passing away because of stupid cancer. I miss her.
• Andrea out of town. Again.
• German visitors having to leave to go back home. Goodbyes suck.
• Waiting to get paid.
• Waiting. Period.

Photobooth Friday: Fools!

My best friend Lane came to town about a month ago. We haven't seen each other for several years. It was so good to hang out and be silly with him. We realized that this was the first time we've ever been in a photobooth together. Rest assured, when you get us two together, there's lots of conceptualizing going on. It was like choreography doing this strip -- we were worn out by the end of it.

By the way, that first frame was a re-enactment of a photo Lane and I did back in college. Har har! See below:


This was probably back in, oh, lessee, 1988? '89?

There's so much history between us, it's hard to know where to start if I ever decide to talk about him here on this blog. He's the closest thing to a brother that I could possibly have -- we're both first-born with one younger sister, so I guess we both longed for a brother.

There's some great stories to tell, but it'll all have to wait until I find a more opportune time.

For Andrea's Photobooth Friday Monthly Challenge: Fools. Yup, that we are.

Photobooth Friday

My Mom came to Portland for the first time last week. Of course, she was only here for the grand-kiddies, not me. I'm not hurt. I understand completely. Andrea and I are only the parental units who've begot two adorable human beings that our parents get to lavish their love and affection (and gifts and sweets) upon. It don't bother me a tall.

This was the first time that my Mother and I got to be in a photobooth together. In fact, Mom tells me that this was only her second time in one altogether. Funny, isn't it? I mean, I guess we weren't the photobooth kind of family. Andrea's family has been doing the photobooth thing for years, decades even. I guess when you don't have one in close proximity then it's not a big deal. So could this be the start of an annual thing? I hope so. It was so funny when we took this strip. Right before, Mom got all nervous. "Why?" I asked her. "Oh, I don't know. I'm just nervous." I reassured her that there's nothing to be worried about. It's just us. As we sat in the booth, we worked out our plan for each shot. The first one, we did the basic smiling shot. The second one features our infamous "twisted smile" -- a strange quirk that's been passed down from, what I would like to believe, generation to generation in my Mom's family. As far as I know, all my aunts do this diagonal smile. (And I just found out that Ava can do it, too!) (Bonus points if you can do it both ways.)

It was so fun to have my Mom here. We had a blast showing her around the city, checking out the great downtown, the streetcar, Multnomah Falls, Cannon Beach. One of my favorite excursions with her was to the Portland Art Museum where they had a Rembrandt exhibit. She's a big fan of Rembrandt, so it was only fitting that we brave the massive crowds on the weekend and get a chance to see these incredible works of art up close. I couldn't help but remember back when my sister and I were very young, when Mom took us to the art museum to look at the classics. We would stand there with her, all of us with mouths agape, taking in all the centuries of figures and self portraits and landscapes and colors and shapes. Art and the act of looking at art is open game for my Mom. And I'm proud to say that she's bestowed this opportunistic trait along to me.

It's come full circle now: while at the Rembrandt exhibit, I stood in front of a huge painting and held Ava up so she could have a better look at the details in the clothing of the figures before her and my Mom was right there beside me.

Photobooth Friday hits the presses!

Let me tell ya: It was a big, big shock to see my entire family on the front of The Oregonian, Portland's main newspaper, the morning of July 17th. We were told that it would be in the living section of the paper, and I, knowing how the paper works sometimes, had already checked out the article online -- at 2am earlier that morning. But there were no photos shown and really, the article reads very weird when there are no pics to go with the words.



So there I was at 8am in our local Safeway, gawking at the front cover of the paper -- the entire Jenkins household posing in glorious photobooth black & white. It was surreal. I couldn't believe it. We had no idea that we'd make the cover. I stood there with an open mouth, mouthing the words "oh my gosh" and realizing that my wife will FLIP. In a good way, of course. I bought 5 copies and zipped back home to show the mastermind of Photobooth Friday our sudden media exposure.

Yes, it's all because of Andrea's fantastic concept of bringing together two favorite things of hers: photobooths and Fridays. Two great tastes, taste great together. Each Friday, she posts a photobooth strip (or a single frame) from her collection and either tells the story behind it, creates an interesting backstory, or just lets the photo speak for itself. She then lists links of other photobooth revolutionaries who've joined in on the fun. She's been doing this since January of 2006 and she hasn't stopped. Not sure exactly how the article got started, but it's certainly been a nice diversion in this house. Our neighbors all got a big kick out of it.

What a great introduction to this new town of ours, huh? I lived in Atlanta for my entire life and what? Nothing. But we're here for a mere four months and suddenly we're on the cover of the paper? Crazy, I know.

Read Andrea's take on all this HERE.

If you want to partake in Photobooth Friday, it's not hard. Just post your photobooth strip on your blog or your Flickr and send Andrea either a) an email with your post url, or b) post a comment on her blog, letting her know. She'll then hook you up on her weekly post. Sweet.

She's started up a Photobooth Friday Flickr group, too. Join in on all the fun!

Photobooth Friday: Me & the kids

Sorry this is a little late for Photobooth Friday, but here it is anyway. On a Sunday. Seems fitting, though, since it's Father's Day today. And already it's been a great one for me: got to sleep in, cinnamon rolls for breakfast, kids' drawings as presents....I couldn't ask for a more perfect Father's Day.

What's that you say, dear wife o' mine? A chance to go to Powell's today? For several hours? By myself?

The day just got better.

Strip taken at the über-cool & hip Ace Hotel in downtown Portland. Words can't express just how much I love my kids. They're the best.