Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Danelle's Wedding

Congrats to Rob's sister, Dani, on her marriage to Adam. A couple of weeks ago, on a beautiful sunny day in Portland, the various families on Rob's side got together to celebrate and festivitize Dani and Adam. Dani's life story is almost Oprah-worthy. Truly inspiring. We love her and wish her and Adam the best in their new home in Longview, WA.

Mitch, Matt, and Nick entertaining guests as they arrive at the rehearsal. Rachel took this photo after telling them she wasn't going to take the picture "until you actually smile." This picture is probably my favorite. I can't help but smile.



We're excited to have a real picture (not a hand-out photo). And Rachel is doing very well, thanks for asking. She's six months along with little Jude and looking more like 3 months along!



A really great family photo courtesy of Adam and Dani's photo album. This is most of the tribe, but believe it or not there are more missing.


Wednesday, May 07, 2008

New Home

Rachel's mom once said you should separate major life changes by at least two years. But we think that's way to slow. Here's a link to the house we're buying. It closes June 10th.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Ode to Nau


I'm very sad to hear the news that upscale-urban outdoor retailer Nau has closed up shop only a year after opening. My good friend let us know on Friday that his job at the home office and all of his colleagues' jobs had been completely dissolved with less than 48 hours' notice. My friend introduced Rachel and me to Nau several months ago, and I immediately found their clothes to be perfect for my slender frame. Since then I've been one of their biggest patrons. As I look down at my extremely well manufactured Nau jacket and wool pants, I don't understand how the investors would allow Nau to simply stop production. It just doesn't make any sense. Where will I go now? North Face is so pedestrian, and all those clothing stores in the mall (ala Banana Republic & J Crew) have no personality and are made of extremely poor quality fabric for pear-shaped men.

Quick Nau highlights: start-up, investor money, lots of press, cult following, credit crunch, investor money stopped (huge missed opportunity & super dumb non-visionaries), cash flow = $0, 48 hour termination notices, very sad patrons, like canceling Seinfeld after the first season, big gap in the apparel world.