Happy birthday to my best friend. You’ve made my life insanely great for over 11 years of marriage.

I saw this video from Mindrelic (via Cameron) and I just fell in love with it.

Last week, Alli and I saw Woody Allen’s latest film, Midnight in Paris, and I adored it. It was one of those movies that just makes you smile the whole time. During the movie, there is a conversation between two of the characters where they talk about the life of a city that is independent of its inhabitants — that a city lives and breathes like an organism does.

Now, I’m no fan of Woody Allen’s, but this idea was something that I really remembered from the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the film (by far my favorite of Allen’s 586 films he’s made) and if I took anything away from it, it was this idea that we much like the blood cells of the living organism that is the place that we inhabit…we have a structure and life all our own, but we contribute to the life of something larger.

In that town are maybe 6 places to eat, but everyone in the town knows of the Pizza Shack.

Named the Best Pizza in Iowa (in 1981), the Shack, as it is affectionately known has been owned and run by the same family, the Hamptons, for a few decades now. The Shack was there when my parents were at Graceland in the late ’60s and it is still there now, ten years after I graduated.

I worked there during my freshman, sophomore and junior years at Graceland and during those lunch shifts, I met and got to know the woman who would become my wife. I was a cook and she worked the front of the house. We got to spend a lot of time laughing and talking as we would get ready for lunch service.

I lived next door to the Shack for a year too. That was the year that Alli and I started dating. Coincidence? Probably. I remember how I used to come back from work smelling of pizza. I never tired of that smell of dough and sauce and pepperoni. The old oven, the linoleum floor, the stop light and jukebox and the old decorations all are a part of the wonderful experience and make the memory all that much richer.

If you’re ever on I-35, headed from Kansas City through Des Moines, be sure to stop in Lamoni. Just watch out for the Amish people.

Last year, I didn’t think that the show was that great and if Jake’s report (via text) is any indication, it may not be much better this year (we’re going down sometime today or tomorrow just to be sure), but there’s one artist that we discovered last year and that I know is there this year that you should see:

Bekah Ash

Alli and I discovered Bekah on our annual stroll through the fair last year. Alli was so struck by her work that we almost bought one of her smaller pieces on the spot. But we didn’t.

I didn’t forget about her work. Alli wouldn’t let me.

For her as an artist to take such note of Bekah’s work I felt was a great compliment. I paid attention and reached out to Bekah almost immediately to see if she would do a custom piece for Alli for Christmas.

The picture on this post is the fruit of her labor. Working with her was terrific. Totally friendly and accommodating to what I was looking for, even when I wasn’t sure what that was.

If you’ve paid attention to any of the billboards for the Plaza Art Fair, you might recognize the style. Bekah is the featured artist for the fair this year and its well-deserved. I feel very lucky to have a piece of hers hanging in our house. Go and check her out.

One thing I love about our dog more than anything is that he’s about 90 pounds, but doesn’t allow that to keep him from snuggling with us on the couch. For whatever reason, he’s gotten into this habit of laying on top of Alli while we watch TV. Once he gets settled, it’s not too uncomfortable…that is until someone rings the doorbell and he gets up to go bark at whoever dares to enter his realm.

One speaker that I knew very little about and that I didn’t quite understand at first, was Micah Baldwin. Micah (or Me-ha, as he is known by some) is the Chief Evangelist at Lijit Networks, a startup based in Boulder, Colorado. Micah writes regularly at his blog, Learn to Duck and he is consistently insightful and interesting. Oh, and he started #followfriday on Twitter, an extremely popular tradition in which people recommend others to follow.

Micah’s latest post on Learn to Duck talked about the concept of moments and contained the video posted below, which he got from the Social Vibe blog.

One of the things that I really love about Alli’s current work that she’s doing for her show in October is that it is aiming to capture the moments which Micah is describing and which are so beautifully illustrated in the above video.

The moments in between are oftentimes the most important parts of life. It’s not necessarily how you deal with the big events that defines who you are as a person, but more appropriately, the collection of moments along the journey from big event to big event.

It’s the moments that matter.

Thanks to Micah for reminding me and to my amazing wife for all the moments we’ve had and all those yet to come.

Friday:

• Starbucks lattes (2 pump hazelnut soy for her, 4-shot skinny cinnamon dolce for me) and cinnamon knots from Price Chopper for breakfast
• Massages at Serenity Rejuvenating Day Spa
• Lunch at Chipotle (obviously)
• Catching up with Project Runway (on Lifetime! in HD!)
• Hanging out with her family at Ashley and Tyson’s

Saturday:

• Up early for Panera bagels and cinnamon rolls with her parents and some (RED) coffee from home
• Off to the Farmer’s Market by 7:00 a.m.
• Bought veggies, flowers, pasta, andouille sausage (for me!) at the market
• Bought some Pain de Campagne from Fervere (thanks to Meesha for the recommendation)
• Short nap
• The Time Traveler’s Wife at the Fork & Screen
• Hanging out with the fam and I made lemon cupcakes (that’s right)
• Opened presents
• Watched The Soloist, thanks to Ashley and Tyson

Sunday:

• The leftover bagels from Panera and (RED) coffee again
• Church
• Lunch consisting of a good portion of what we bought at the farmer’s market, including, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, naan, lemon and thai basil, and the bread from Fervere.
• A short nap
• Great TV

Not a bad way for Alli to ring in her birthday, no?

Beautiful girl. Beautiful day.

Love you, Alli. Hope your day and your 3-day weekend has been fabulous.

I’ve written numerous times about my amazingly talented artist wife. She creates phenomenal work for people in their homes and businesses.

I have rarely written about my great hairstylist, but Sarah is awesome. She keeps my hair looking totally sweet and has an awesome last name.

The coolest thing: Alli and Sarah have now bartered. That’s right. Kickin’ it old school, like back in the days when you could trade a loaf of bread for a brick, Sarah and Alli have exchanged haircuts for artwork, the result of the latter is the above 4-foot by 4-foot painting inspired by the pin-up girl tattooed on Sarah’s arm.

In exchange for the painting, Alli has built a line of credit that should get the two of us through several haircuts and I think that’s pretty cool. Bartering is cool.

Plus, it gives me an excuse to give a shout-out to Alli and Sarah in the same post.