Wednesday, January 31, 2007

chitlins and camembert



Our friends Amy and Laurent came for a visit last weekend. They live in the Loire Valley of France where they're restoring an old farmhouse on a property they call 'Graceland' (you can learn more about them by clicking the 'amy's blog' link on the sidebar). This was the first opportunity we've had to be together since our kids were born, so we were all really excited for the visit. Their son, Max is a little over a year old and it was cool to get a glimpse of all that we have to look forward to in the coming months. He is a charming little boy and alarmingly mobile. He walks all around the house, plays with toys and is... hmmm, how could I put it... Let's say, 'highly interactive'. It was quite a departure from what we're used to - our little girl sitting contentedly in her chair watching us work or fold clothes or play the piano, occassionally cooing with approval as we go about our adult lives. I can see that the days of bringing Tiz to fancy restaurants, business meetings and even work are numbered.


Anyway, we had a great visit and wished they could have stayed longer. Needless to say, Max was quite taken with little Tiz. Here they are settling in for a movie. Keep the hands where I can see 'em, Frenchie!

Saturday, January 27, 2007

design session


design session
Originally uploaded by mlennert@sbcglobal.net.
Some of you may know that we are working on a substantial expansion of our business. A rare opportunity has opened up for us to acquire a piece of land right in the heart of downtown Geneva. We are going to build a new building and add a cafe, more retail space and a 175 seat event venue. It's really exciting and a little bit scary. We have been fitting in design sessions whenever we can and are mostly finished with the building design. Here we are meeting with Richard, our 'interiors guy'. As you can see, Tiz is overseeing everything and as with any ambitious project, nothing gets accomplished without a fair amount of wine.

brownie protest

The holidays are always a very busy time for us, and this year more than ever. Tiz came to work a lot, participating in all the madness with only the occasional protest. Here she is giving us a piece of her mind during a Sunday afternoon brownie bake.

girl power

Here's Tiz a few days short of 4 months old expressing a little girl power.

sing with the family


I bought Kim a piano for Christmas. She's been talking about getting one for years, so I finally took the hint. We both played as kids, and we had talked about really wanting Tiz to grow up with music as an influence in her life. Turned out Kim is way better than me, so here I am practicing diligently trying to catch up. Over the last few weeks Tiz has really found her voice and she sings and coos enthusiastically with us, so I'm confident we've got a solid future as family band.


The only thing holding us back from stardom was a cool band name, so I applied myself to the task. I ultimately found inspiration in a funny confession Kim once made to me. As a child, she used to tell classmates that she was part Cherokee Indian and had a horse named Blueberry. She was, in fact, German and English and had once ridden a horse named Blueberry. I called our friend Josh who, along with his wife Margaret owns Dovetail Studios (see their link on the sidebar) and asked him to screen us some uniforms. And so, a great band is born...