05.31.09 candlelight vigil

It's been a pretty awful day for Wichita and it was nice to have a quiet end to it.

05.30.09 yum!

Ice cream cupcakes! Aren't they cute? I got them here. 

05.29.09 it's true

Women do love cup holders.

05.28.09 another thing off the wedding checklist

I was at the courthouse on Thursday covering a trial when I decided to hike on up to the marriage application office to get some info during a long court recess. 

I was surprised to learn that the bride and groom don't have to be there together to apply and, similar to a handgun permit, you have to wait three days before the application is approved. Oh, and the fee is going up on June 1 - just so you know because I try to be useful as well as entertaining.

05.27.09 Arrrrgh!

Sqaukers is still kickin' it.

05.26.09 Yikes!

The good news is that the driver is fine. She also got kudos from a police officer who credited her with doing the smart thing by swinging towards the curb when her brakes failed. 

05.25.09 cookout #5

Nick came over and blessed us with his grilling skills.

05.24.09 beautiful day for a wedding

I shot an amazing wedding today with Denise at the Arb. We took a ton of wonderful photos (if I do say so myself) that I am too exhausted to go through right now. I did pull this one of the flower girl laying a big kiss on the cheek of a young boy. The boy at right is shocked by this!

05.23.09 cookouts 3 and 4

Colin shows off his culinary concoction at cookout #3: one carrot, one pickle, apple slice and two chips. We were at the wedding reception for our friends Troy and Gloria. I had another grilled burger which was delish.

Later the same evening I had another burger at Denise's place. This was a fancy burger that had mustard, cheese and bacon inside and it was also pretty darn good. I have spent this weekend making up for the rarity of red meat in my diet. 

05.22.09 more grillin' and chillin'

We hosted a cookout on Friday that included Jamaican Jerk chicken, kickball AND crafts. 

This is Denise's mamma, Mary Anne who looks like she is thoroughly enjoying retirement and a cold one (she only had one as she was concerned about transporting special cargo).

05.21.09 my official weekend has already begun

Thursdays are my Fridays and we celebrated the start of the holiday weekend by whooping it up with some burgers and friends.

05.20.09 wild chick

I learned on Wednesday that chickens are not easy to catch, but they do make great pets (according to the family I photographed).

05.19.09 Swimmin' Women

This is a still from a video I shot of a high school swimmer. There was a huge banner by the pool that said, "Go Swimmin' Women!" 

05.18.09 Molly Darling

Spent a lovely evening on the patio at Oeno celebrating the birth of the incredible Molly McMillin. I learned that her folks were inspired by this lyrics of this song when they named her. We serenaded her with a beautiful rendition of it.

05.17.09 VFW Post 881 in Wellington, Kansas

Spent some time at the Vee (as Dennis Neil calls it) covering a celebration for a very cool military mom. She has three kids and one son-in-law in the military. 

Go here to see the video I did of the event.

05.16.09

Lexi had a festival lunch filled with protein (and probably a lot of other random animal parts) that gave her the energy to tackle inflatable pillars. And, yes, that is a tutu she is wearing and I happen to think it's pretty darn cute.

05.15.09 ahhhh...sunset

I shot this shortly after a thunderstorm rolled through my hood and left behind a beautiful sky. (Thanks, Nick, for pointing it out to me.)

05.14.09 Cajun Night at the River Festival

We had a blast opening up for Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band. The crowd was awesome and Chubby and his boys were a bunch of fun, too. He gave me a big ol' hug and told our band to get "your asses on stage and play some music!" We did.

I felt most like a rock star hanging out backstage. Check out this photo of my hairstylist working on my do while my beverage purveyor hooks me up with cold suds.

Thanks to everyone who made it out for the show. We play again on Friday, June 11 at Rock Island Live in Wichita.

05.13.09 rowrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Got up close and personal with a pair of tigers during a tour of the Sedgwick County Zoo's newest exhibit.

05.12.09 uhmm-ba-rella-ella-a-a-a

I can't help but think of this song when I see this picture of Denise.

05.11.09 I'm just a little pumped up about Thursday

I went down to the River Festival today to scope out our stage. It's a biggin! Will you look at those speakers?! There's gonna be a lot of Cajun fiddle, accordion, washboard, triangle, guitar, bass and drums coming out of those on Thursday. Can you tell I'm a little excited?

05.10.09 in the garden again

Spent a good portion of the day at yet another garden. This time I went to Botanica. I thought this kid's shoes were pretty cool and a break from the pretty flowers and birds (I mean, really, one can only take so much beauty). 

05.09.09 Evil Brownies

The littlest CRG checks out a batch of triple chocolate brownies I made to celebrate his papa's birthday. It's a fantastic recipe I got from Denise that calls for a gigantic Symphony chocolate toffee bar. I added chocolate frosting because my man and his offspring LOOOOVE them some chocolate. The pan weighed about 12 pounds. They were dense and delicious.

05.08.09 grillin' season

We heart chicken.

05.07.09 spent another morning in a beautiful garden

My job doesn't suck.

05.06.09 Woody Woodpecker

Started out the day by shooting pictures of birds and flowers in a tranquil garden. The day ended not as peaceful as it began.

05.05.09 they came back for me

My hostas have returned. Yay!

05.04.09 Sumner or Sedgwick?

R.D.'s County Line sits smack dab on the county line road, straddling the two S's - Sumner and Sedgwick. A cool place that smelled like a bowling alley: beer, fried food and the faint smell of cigarette smoke. 

I'm hoping to return sometime this summer to see Joe Stumpe entertain. It's definitely his kind of joint.

05.03.09 spotted at the Orpheum Car Show

A cool cat in the front seat of a 1965 Pontiac GTO. The license plate read "GR-RRR!"

05.02.09 Um, WOW!

This is CRG enjoying his beer with spicy crawfish hands taken on Saturday, the final day of the Mudbugs Madness. 

Our show was off da hook last night! The crowd went into a frenzy at the end and tossed money from the balcony to keep us playing while everyone was dancing. The best news is that Prairie Pines plans to do this again next year. Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler! AGAIN!

05.01.09 Mudbugs Madness

I have never seen so many mudbugs in my life. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but check out this short video and you'll get a better feel for the amount of crawly critters that were at the first night of Mudbugs Madness.

The party continues tonight at Prairie Pines and you won't want to miss out. I guarantee! 

04.30.09 Are the bagpipes loud or soft?

I took this still from a video I shot of a woman playing the pipes for a bunch of kids (using stills from videos is something I'm doing a lot more of lately). 

I sent a link to my friend and fellow Mudbug accordion player, Greg, since he also plays the bagpipes. Listen to the audio over the closing credits and you'll hear the bagpiper asks the students, "Are the bagpipes loud or soft?" They yell "LOOOOUUUUDDDD!!!" Greg's response to me was, "The should listen to the pink drums."