Cooltastic Stop Motion
I love stop motion. I came accross this and wanted to share with everyone. Have a great 4th of July everyone!
July 02, 2009
May 30, 2009
Client / Vendor Relationship - Very Real
For anyone that has ever worked in a role of negotiation, or even dealing with budgets will enjoy the following video.
May 27, 2009
Schools out so get out there and enjoy the long days with a Madsen Cycle!
Here is one fly ride to take the kids out, do a little neigborhood shopping or just being the stud you think your are. If the link doesn't show up here than peep-a-creep here at Madsen Cycles.
March 27, 2009
The Greatest Gift / Invention For New Parents
It is surprising to Denise and I how every time we have a child (That sounds so weird) we find that technology (or common sense) has evolved. When our daughter Whitney was born we researched everything. I read books about pregnancy, birth, parenting etc etc. With our second James, we were a little less worried about his needs as we were with our own. How are we going to deal with TWO kids. I did all the research I could on the subject. We had the toys, clothes and all the little stuff available.
When we found out we were having a third child it was a little different. We didn't research as much as just got ready. We looked for ways to make it easy for us. I decided that we didn't need anything but a bunch of diapers and a few t-shirts for the kid. Easy and painless was the key.
Thanks to all our great friends and family, we received a lot of cool stuff. One thing stands out the most though as our life line to keeping Zoe on track. My buddy Diane Sizemore at Hip Hop Lollipop gave us a little tool that has become another member of the family. Even the kids know it is important.
What has made out life easier is called the itzbeen. When we had Whitney and James we had a little notepad with all the details about their habits. When they ate, when we changed their diaper, when they slept. Well the itzbeen takes care of all that for you. It is basically a stop watch with four different timers. It also is a nightlight and tells mommy what side she fed on last! Basically the itzbeen is the greatest shower gift on the planet!
If you are ever trying to figure out what to get a new mother or even and experienced one that will soon have her hands full this is the gift for them. I think the only thing that could be cooler is if they had a slick little ap for your balckberry or iphone. If you looking for the perfect gift head on over to Hip Hop Lollipop an tell Diane you want an itzbeen!
November 09, 2008
The Cot Rocker by babyhugs
I have been a little slow with the blogging recently but hopefully all our events, fund raising and studio wackyness are behind us. All we have left are holiday portraits, a wedding and a new baby coming in January. No big deal right?!
November 03, 2008
Fitted Sheets and T-Shirt Folding
Ataxophobia is defined as the fear of disorder or untidiness. Fortunately I do not suffer from such a disease but I do suffer from the annoyance of not being able to properly fold a fitted sheet. Laundry in our house is constantly being done. Denise and I both argue over techniques for folding shirts, towels pants and shorts but we both agree that the fitted sheet is our greatest undertaking. But today I have hope for our future. I have turned to YouTube for help and think tonight I will sleep well knowing my fitted sheets are properly folded in the closet.
In addition to the fitted sheet struggle, I have also found a really cool new way to fold T-Shirts.
This evening the Clark Family actually ENJOYED folding clothes together. It was funny watching James and Whitney fold their own clothes. So spend some quality time with your kids this week and teach them to fold their own clothes.
October 25, 2008
Cool Swag For Christmas
The Holiday season accounts for over 70% of our business throughout the year. Because of the demand during the holidays we have to get our Christmas shopping done early and efficiently. I recently was shopping online for some hip swag to wrap my offspring in and came across two very cool items.
First up was this ridiculously cool site called My Baby Rocks. One item I was in love with was this 80's boom box throwback.
Just thinking that this was my version of an ipod growing up cracks me up. But that is not the end of it. If your a Star Wars Fan like the rest of the world than Mark Ecko has got you hooked up this winter. Check out his entire line of Star Wars Couture. I must say, the Storm Trooper and Boba Fett hoodies are the baddest!
That's all the coolness I have found thus far. Keep on keeping on everyone!
February 19, 2008
Hold Still Grand Central.
January 17, 2008
All Hail The Reverend Butter
When I grow up and retire from air guitar I want to make ice sculptures to rock music!
November 25, 2007
Feed Blitz Blog Emails
One of the problems I have found with blogs is that I have so many I want to keep track of. The cool photography blogs and recipe blogs can get out of hand if I get behind in reading for a few days. Friends, families and clients ask us to send them emails whenever we update our blog. I have this feature available on our blog, however it is something I have to initiate with every entry. Thus the complete awesomeness of Feed Blitz Blog Mail.
This cool little service will send you an email each day with all your blogs that have been updated. You basically get a one stop shop to your information, friends and updates. The service is easy to setup. Just fill out a simple form online and then add your favorite blog feeds. Each morning you will receive an email with photos, articles, messages and updates from all your favorite blogs.
Feed blitz has made my updates easier to get and I never miss anything that is going on. Check out Feed Blitz today to make your blog life easier!
November 17, 2007
Mac or PC
I am a proud PC user and have spent a lot of time working with a PC. In the photography industry there seems to be a lot of people that use macs. I have had a number of discussions and arguments about mac or PC but it has never resulted in the need to dance like this. But all I can say is that the PC guy is a much better, funky dancer than the mac guy.
November 07, 2007
The North Pole Website
My really cool aunt Cathy sent me this website the other day. If you looking for anything that has to do with Santa than check out The North Pole. The best part is the kitchen with every cookie, cake and bread recipe you could think of.
Thanks for the crazy website Aunt Cathy!
October 30, 2007
New Recipe Project
We came across the coolest site from the great culinary photographers at The Still Life With blog site. If you ever want to see some fantastic food photography and get some great recipes please check out L.
Tastebook is a new site that lets you build your own cookbook. It even puts the recipes in categories with tabs. We have started working on ours and will let everyone know when it is ready.
And yes we will have a section with our ever famous strict family menu.
For those of you that don't know about our family menu we originally got the idea from my grandmother GiGi. Growing up I always heard my uncles and aunts talk about the dinner table rules. While they probably didn't realize it then the concept of a strict dinner plan is quite important. With our hectic days and Denise's travel we had to come up with a standard for our kids. Every night was a challenge to make a good meal they would like and it not take all night to cook. So I developed a menu specific to their likes, health needs and weekly schedule. I can just her them now telling people they know what day of the week it is by what they have for dinner.
Here is the weekly menu:
Sunday: BBQ Chicken, Mac & Cheese, Broccoli
Monday: Meatloaf, potatoes, salad or green beans
Tuesday: Spaghetti and peas.
Wednesday: Free night (we usually eat at church or go out to dinner)
Thursday: Pork Chops (Sorry Daddy Clark) corn, broccoli
Friday: Fajitas, black beans, salad
Saturday: Free night or hot dogs
Desert is available only after baths and the choices are Jello or Yogurt
When I came up with the menu I thought about all the things that my grandmother would have had 50 years ago. There were no microwaves, processed foods or fast food joints so we tried to keep everything simple. The best thing to do is stay on the outside isles of the store. This way you only get whole food that is healthy and easy to cook. You would be surprised at how easy these meals are. Each one only takes about 30 to 45 minutes to get done and there is plenty of time to play with the kids. The other thing we found was that sticking to the menu reduced our weekly grocery bill to about 50 dollars a week. You would be surprised how much you spend on crap at the store.
The menu was built to carry food over the week. Sunday's dinner is lunch for Denise and I for a couple days. Monday's meatloaf actually makes two good size loafs. We freeze one and only eat half on Monday. Tuesday's spaghetti has the leftover meatloaf in the sauce. Pork chops can carry over to Friday's dinner. The only prepackaged food we purchase is the pre marinated fajita meat.
Overall the kids love the meals. James is eating his vegetables and we never get home not knowing what we are having for dinner. Not every week runs as smoothly but since we started this about 3 months ago we have spent very little time dealing with the problems most people have at dinner. Probably the best thing is that we make it a house rule that everyone has to sit together at the dinner table. The kids participate in getting the table set while we cook. And the time we get to chill with our little munchkins is priceless.
Sometimes all this technology and easy living we have now isn't always the best thing for the family. Slowing it down and keeping it simple is just as good as buying something to make it easier. Thanks GiGi for being so awesome!
September 18, 2007
ARRR! September 19th - Talk Like a Pirate Day
Wednesday September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day! So enjoy me hardies!
September 06, 2007
Make Air Not War
I have found a new calling and I wanted everyone to know about it.
ROCK ON!
August 27, 2007
This is just all out cool
August 21, 2007
We Feel Fine - An Exploration of Human Emotion
You never know how people will get to your blog. I review my statistics on an almost daily basis. Sometimes people get to my blog from strange searches about a book, or a location in Houston. Other times they are looking for something specific about our studio and get to the blog.
You just never know how they get to your blog. However the site wefeelfine.org is a two year project where an interface goes out and grabs information form a blog where the entry has the term "I feel" or I am feeling" and places them in a database. This is done every few minutes. The cool part is that there is an interface that can be a little confusing but you are able to randomly ready the sentence that the phrase was mentioned and go to the actual blog.
Ironically my first click on the feeling was of a student at the University of Houston. A little creepy since the millions of links I could have selected ended up being a kid just down the street from us.
Enjoy yet another fantastic waste of time on the Internet. I feel great!
BibliOdyssey - My New Favorite Blog
BibliOdyssey is a collection of illustration found in rare books. Paul K. (an anonymous name) has created this blog which catalogs some really strange and detailed illustrations. I read about this blog in one of my journals and cannot stop browsing the entries. If you can't sleep and need something entertaining this is definitely the sight.
http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/
Hope you enjoy.
August 09, 2007
Why didn't I think of this!
I wish Denise would have let me correograph this for our wedding reception. That would have totally set it off.
July 01, 2007
Colorstrology by Pantone
OK this is a very neat little website brought to you by those crazy kids at PANTONE. Just click on the link to the COLORSTROLOGY website, pick your birth date and have fun.
I am a Lavender and have a dry sense of humor...
Denise is a Pastel Lavender that has a keen sense of awareness.
Whitney is an ASH Rose and is the "angel of society"
James is a DAHLIA PURPLE and it helps calm his restless nature. Yeah right!