The Roadster has landed!  And now it’s starting to sink in that I traded this …

for this …

Today I’m driving from Santa Fe to Denver, where I’ll hang with some close friends for the night. Santa Fe is an incredibly unique city — and it’s very, very brown (which I’m fond of). A city ordinance says that every building has to be brown. That’s my kind of city! Building or home owners get to choose from twenty or so shades of brown; I think that’s generous.

Last night I stayed at the Santa Fe International Hostel (in photo at left), which is by far the best and biggest hostel I’ve stayed in. For $27, I got my own room and wireless Net access and a wonderful cheese danish breakfast. And I enjoyed some conversation with some sweet, sweet people, fellow guests.

If all goes well, I’ll be in Chicago by Monday evening. So far my 1987 Toyota Corolla — packed with all my earthly possessions — is doing great!

I’m in Raleigh, NC, this week to visit friends and attend my good buddy Jerry’s wedding. (At left, see azaleas in full bloom outside Jerry’s house.) Yesterday my friend (and fellow gardener) Carolyn emailed me a photo of my garden and wrote the following: “in case you were missing your babies.” I am! So, like a proud parent, I’ve gotta show you a photo of my one-month old babies. See if you can pick out the lettuce, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, flowers, chard, peppers and carrots. Awwwww … aren’t they cute?!

Thanks to the wisdom of marvelous Mel Bartholomew, author of All New Square Foot Gardening, and Marge, who’s the Queen of Gardening and also happens to be my friend Carolyn’s mom, I built, designed and planted my first garden. No shit. Well, yea, with some shit, some chicken shit — it was part of the compost that we used to create the soil. It’s a bit disturbing (no, very disturbing) to think that my strawberries are going to be nourished by chicken shit. Oh life, I don’t know what to make of it most of the time.

Check out photos of my soil mixing evening and photos of my historic planting day.

I recently finished 3 pieces: 2 small panels (below, the hummingbird and the buffalo) and 1 big honkin’ mo fo (below, the horse, which I still need to hang on the wall).

I used cardboard as my canvas (yep, all those Amazon.com and IKEA boxes are good for something!).

Here’s my secret process: On the Google Images website, I searched for illustrations of a subject I wanted to paint (a humingbird, for example). When I found an illustration I liked, I printed it out (on normal paper), cut it out, placed it on the cardboard (after I had painted my background color), traced it, then painted it (with inexpensive acryllic paint). Yea, Baby! Now that’s hot (for someone who can’t draw)!

My style is probably best described as … um … “minimalist.” This is truly Zen pop art (whatever that is).

It’s been so much fun to come up with a vision for my living space (including the art) and then create the art for it.

I spent a few days at my sister Amy’s house in Minnesota with my dad, mom, sister, brother-in-law (Chris), nephew (Christopher) and niece (Sophia).  We built forts with bed sheets, pillows and chairs; went on secret missions with Spider Man; and played ice hockey.  Sounds like a real “Guys” Christmas, huh?  Don’t be fooled:  Sophy joined us for all of it — and she’s the one who instigated most of the wrestling on the bed.

Check out my photos of Christmas morning.  It was a treat to experience Christmas morning through the exuberance of Christopher and Sophy.  At one point I thought they might explode!

I’m loving my new place — it’s a quaint, charming one-bedroom apartment (with a BEAST of a gas heater — see photo at left — this thing kicks out some hot shit). The best thing about my place is the location: my good friends Jon and Carolyn Freeman live in the apartment above mine (and I get to see them almost every day!); it’s in the heart of Hillcrest, a lively walking community; and it’s just four blocks from Balboa Park, which is massive in scale and beauty. Anyway, check out the photos — I included short descriptions with most of ‘em.

Yep, that was a first — being outdoors for Thanksgiving.  I hung out with Jon and Carolyn Freeman and about 20 of their relatives.  (Jon and I were interns together at Willow Creek Community Church; he and Carolyn now live in the apartment above mine.)  I had a blast!

We hung out on Fiesta Island, in the middle of Mission Bay, eating turkey, Pauline’s lemon-glazed persimmon bars and playing beach soccer.  When the sun went down, we built a bonfire, ate pumpkin pie and had some laughs.  It was really great.

Check out my photos of the day.

Semi-structured nuttiness — that’s how I’d describe the last few parties I’ve thrown. My birthday party last night included activities such as “The Lost Sayings Of …” and “Pitch a Movie Idea.” Essentially I forced everyone to think, be creative, do improv and perform. Nice, huh? They all were such good sports! Oh, and we did a relay race around the pool — I’m a sucker for a good, nutty physical activity.

I turned 34, and my good buddy Wolffer, a fellow Chicago native, referred to age 34 as the age of “Sweetness,” in honor of Walter Payton. I like that. Speaking of Chicago, last night we devoured some Chicago-style hotdogs, thanks to my mom, who ordered Portillo’s hotdogs (and all the fixings!) and had them sent to me. Thanks, Mom — everyone loved the dogs!

Spanky and Randy (at left) aren’t blood, but they feel like “family” — and it was fabulous to be reunited with them both!  (Spanky’s looking good, no?  That’s one sexy surf monkey.)

In a span of three days, my family and I celebrated four things:  my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary, my dad’s retirement, my grandma’s birthday and my dad’s birthday.  Yowsa!  It was good to be together.

Check out my photos of the family parties.