Crass-mas

We've fallen a little behind in our posting but we're determined to wrap up 2011 and eventually move into 2012.

We had a long weekend for Christmas and decided to take a little trip down to Carlsbad to visit Norelle, Travis and Pleasant for Christmas Eve day.

In that old holiday tradition, Pleasant got an appointment that day for her first professional haircut.  She's neither giving orders nor crying in this photo, but in fact seemed to have a fine time with her own personal airplane, cartoons and lollipop.

Trautt family photo at the hair salon - very cute new bob.

We had a relaxing day of shopping and eating, plus some time to just visit.

Pleasant is getting good enough with her balance that she's giving the adults tips now on curb-walking.

From Trautt tree...

... to Keenan tree - back home for Christmas Eve night so we could wake up at home for Christmas morning.

After exchanging gifts, we took a little drive up the coast to Malibu to spend a relaxing late morning at the beach.  In a way, this is how the holidays should be - easy and relaxing.

Patrick's friend Zache was kind enough to invite us to his house for Christmas dinner - tasty food and good company.

All in all a really nice Christmas break and a nice way to move into 2012.  Happy new year.

why is it so hard?

i just wanted to share this song. sometimes life gets tough but just remember that if Charles Bradley can hold it down so can we. 

iPhone pictures

Had some photos on the ol' iPhone that I wanted to post. The pictures mostly represent Anna's and my outings in L.A. 

Sailing in the Pacific 

Walking to breakfast. I told Anna that I believed this to be the "real Ghostbuster car", my only reasoning is due to it having New York plates. I don't think she believed me, not sure if I believe me. 

Out for the evening.

Renting a video from Vidiots. 

Studying for my astronomy final. Fascinating. 

Not a Dodgers fan but I am a big fan of beer, hotdogs and summer.

San Francisco 

Norelle just shook her head but it is my duty as an uncle to corrupt the young. 

(No children were drunk during the shooting of this photograph)

At a party with my best man Daniel.

(Many people were drunk during the shooting of this photograph)

Tree and Records

Today we read in bed, watched Stephen Colbert Christmas, bought our christmas tree and went record shopping. For me (Patrick) you really can't beat a Saturday like that. I thought I would post a few pictures of today's events. Here ya go...

And the records...

Haven't heard Toni Harper until this afternoon. Beautiful late 50s blues/jazz vocals.

Lil' Son Jackson -  Sad Texas country blues. 

I am insanely excited about the record above. 

I spent a little too much on this record but it is completely worth the money.

Wayne Shorter and some other guys...

And we're back...

So, we are back in the saddle. After such rave reviews of Anna's play-by-play in San Francisco, she will now take the driver's seat as the main writer of our blog and I will stay behind the camera (with an occasional appearance). The reason Anna is not currently typing this post is because our computer crashed and we wanted to get these pictures out before they are lost to the abyss of crashed PC content. I just bought a new MacBook Pro and will never look back. With out any further ado, here are some shots from Thanksgiving weekend that we sure hope you enjoy. 

Bourbon Pecan Pie. Yes, it was beyond compare. 

The Trautts, The Dornfelds & The Keenans. Thanksgiving 2011.