From Barista...to designer

Once upon a time there was this boy... a barista kinda boy

At 16 he started working at Caribou Coffee, being an avid coffee drinker he had wanted to work there for a longtime .

He worked at Caribou until he moved away to the big city to attend a private Art school in St. Paul. It was there that he grew as an artist and as a young man. Just 18, he and Logan rented and apartment and started their adventure...on their own!

`

His focus in school was on Interactive Design (graphic design) but he excelled in many areas including, drawing, sculpture, photography and DESIGN :)

Senior project...too cool for words... ya really gotta be there to see it in action.

But anyway...

after a couple of internships at some small design companies

Brice has recently been hired full time as a junior designer,

at a larger company in Minneapolis

One of the projects that we are able to see is the

Coffee label design he did for Caribou Coffee.

"Lacuna"... nice work Brice

You can also go to Caribou's home page http://www.cariboucoffee.com/

Caribou chose Brice's Design/"direction" for their new website that was recently revamped. (other coworkers have worked on the web page as well )

Rick and I are very proud of Brice. It's so great know that your kid actually is able to get a job in the profession that he studied for and loves. Now days that's just not a given.

From a lowly Barista at Caribou coffee to ...

designing for the company..very cool Brice,

and you've only just begun !

It's not and omelette and it's not scrambled eggs ...

I'm pretty sure I will never be able to make a decent omlette,

not even if my life depended on it....sigh

Rick is the "master omelette maker" in our house but tonight he wasn't home

and I was craving protein for supper. This is my typical omelette ,

*half of it is crusted to the pan,

*it never folds into thirds, and

*it's soupy in the middle, bahhhhhhh

~~~

At least it still tasted yummy dispite it's appearance :)

Around the house

Springs a blooming at the Hemmer house

One of my favorite flowers/plant in my yard is my Cushion Spurge.

It's always in full bloom in mid-april and stays that way for several weeks.

I love the vivid yellow flowers and it's such a perfect shape.

I split it about every 3 years cuz it gets so big.

~

Then there's my little Vinca Vine that sprouted itself up next to the house about 5 yrs ago. I didnt plant it and actually I thought that plant was an annual, but it always comes back every spring. I love the pretty little purple flowers, it just adds a nice little touch in the spring.

~

Hybrids (beasty dandelions)

I've collected my annual "bucket-full" of dandelions this spring and I have to tell you. They are gigantic this year.... Hybrids ! They are very large with many yellow flowers on each root.

I love the sound of the "POP" when I dig them up...it's just so satisfying.

~

I will not let those little devils attack my yard, and I'm lucky enough to have been able to keep up on them since we sodded this yard 23 years ago.

It's managable with a city lot...not too big,

but big enough to have to work at it.

Camera in hand, get ready...get set....GO

OK...here's my first attempt EVER,

to try and capture a one year old for a "photo shoot".

I think it went well, It's not easy to shoot a moving target.

especially one who has no desire to sit still

Or look at the photographer :)

Why would she.... she's one.

she's much too busy to be bothered

by a grandma with a camera

~

Is that a smile I see...could it be???

I learned that it's all about having fun...

letting them run and discover and as they discover....they'll look up,
and smile

There's those beautiful eyes...looking right at Grandma

OH...my heart !

sweet baby "fish lips"


"come on guys....Really"?

Goodness... grandma's sweet baby girl

"What sup" Will & Charlie.... what's going on in the hood :)

****

Thank you Audrey for putting up with the Gramma-razzi.

Get used to it darling, it's in my blood and you're my favorite subject !!!

Vivid colors

Untouched

The flowers are in full bloom around the Mayo campus downtown.

A weekend full of fun

We had such a crazy-fun weekend.

~~~

Saturday, Brianna & Chris held a birthday bash at our house for 1 year old Audrey.

Brianna says that we had about 40 people here celebrating the little sweetie pie's big day.

This is a picture of Audrey just before she dug into the cake.

She loved that we were all singing "Happy birthday" to her.

Ready...set...GO

She LOVED her cake...can you tell :)

~~~~~~~

Sunday we had a great day relaxing and hanging out with our kids.

Jenny & Brice stayed with us all weekend

We hung out on the deck just chillin',

also took a bike ride on the douglas trail,

it was a beautiful day for a ride!!!

Brice cooked us a yummy supper,

he always butters the buns and grills them, mmmmm

After supper it was time to play....

Jenny wanted to ride on the"pegs" but ended up on Brices' back

Later Audrey showed up (with Brie & Chris )
****

Uncle Brice...you're so awesome !!!

YAY, uncle Brice...do it again !

Brings back memories of the days when Brice (and Logan) used to go to the bike parks and do crazy tricks on this very bike.... He's still got it going on.

Love watching you play Brice

Back in the day

I was out to mom & dad's a few weeks ago and thought it would be fun to take a few pictures of the homestead and it's surroundings...in otherwords, my old stomping grounds

I grew up in the house my parents still live in

Coming in the back way, down the old...

"cowpath",

or atleast that's what it used to look like back in the day.

This little road used to be a dirt path with two ruts where the

tires of the cars wore-away the grass.

Neighborhood playground...yep that's our yard ,

its where all the football games, war games, hide and seeks and lots of

crazy neighbors kids gathered to ....play

Back in the day when kids REALLY played!

Like on this hill, the old cow pasture...

yes there really were cows up there...back in the day,

and we used to sled on this hill in the winter.

There was no road on that hill and NO houses up there on that hill, only cows...

and cowpies.

This is where we used to snowmobile with our friends...

Now it's Hwy 52 south.
This was our playground ...back in the day, back when there was no road,

only trees and open space...to play.

On the right hand side of this picture there used to be a dirt-worn path where us kids used to walk to the "little store" to buy us some candy. It wasnt quite a mile from home..we walked, and we liked it. That road (on the left) used to be Hwy 52 south. Now it's known as Marion Road

The Little store used to be littler

We walked to school...a small, sort of country school.

Not far from our house.

But this was the first...and REAL country school. Some of the older neighbor kids went to this school, the 1st BURR OAK.

It still sits to the left of the newer Burr Oak school (the one I went to )

The only times I went in this school was to turn in my Gopher feet and tails for cash,

That's how we made money...back in the day. We trapped gophers.

Then there's the old ball field... my favorite place to be in the summer. I was the only girl to play on the all boy team. I loved playing ball at this field, I remember the night Mike Mielke put a window out in the old white school house....HOMERUN !!!

My PART TWO road trip blog is actually below the blog below (part one), so scroll down to read part two, my newest post.

Part One-Road trip

Rick and I had a little road trip this weekend...

I had heard about this little "haunted" town in Wisconsin which had a
haunted cemetery and other so-called haunted sites within this area called Caryville.

We found the Old school building and church first

both are haunted...of course :)

No spooks were seen by us, but it was very eerie, and this place is out in the middle of nowhere which makes it abit spookier.

I really wanted to go in that school house...really wanted to!!!but of course it was impossible, there isnt even a handle on the door and the camera above the "no trespassing" sign kind of deters you.

Church window has a pretty little tile in the middle of all the glass... just thought it was pretty.

~
Off the the next destination...just down the road a bit...

"The haunted Caryville road"

The bridge, where a prom queen supposidly ran into on prom night, she had been drinking and she hit the guard rail, went into the water and drown. That water was blacker that black and there was only water on one side of the bridge...the other side was bone-dry.

The steep dirt road that we hoped led us to the cemetery..no signs,

just a creepy old road that went way up a hill.

Found it...probably only about 40 graves...alot of children, sadly enough alot of
Vandalism. That makes me sad!

We didnt see any ghosts...this time, but I'm pretty sure there were some there.

Ask me about it sometime.
~

After all the haunted excitement we continued on to Eau Claire and found a hotel, nearby was walking path so we took a short walk before supper.

Ricks holding the bridge up so it wont fall on me when I walk underneath it.

TEXAS ROADHOUSE

Ever been there????

If not you should, yummy yummy food, great service and afordable.

These fresh hot rolls are brought along by the waitress as she seat you...they really are amazing. They also made there own butter which is flavored with honey and cinnamon

Stay tuned for Part two of our Road trip