Sad Sendoffs.

Trying to catch up with life... I figure that if I tell pieces of the story, I'll clue myself in on everything that's taking place within and without. It's really just another strategical attempt to organize my thoughts and make sense of it all. Here goes the first piece...

Today I send off my kid sister and her boyfriend Chis to Philadelphia. As it becomes reality, I am feeling awfully morose... Living near Sherrie for the past four-plus years has been so cool for me; she's one of my best friends and it's going to be difficult to see her head east. I'm happy for her though and can only hope that we'll be able to live near each other again someday... (it'll happen)

And, their move comes right after two other best friends move back east... Bryan and Sarah just completed their journey back to Rochester, NY. Again, I'm happy for them, but selfishly sad for me... they're already greatly missed and will be until they ditch the grey and move back to Colourful Colorado!

The Return of FRESH 23.

Studio 23 is Back for our third year, and in grander than ever fashion... Studio 23 will be presenting the FRESH 23 Fashion Show at Wheat Ridge High School on Saturday, 1 May 2010.

Shawn and I are back at it with my advanced painting students for another another great show... only this year, the show has picked up a little extra steam and recognition. Our friends at Vans have been incredibly supportive of the event and have sponsored us each year. Anyway, after the FRESH 23 documentary of last year's show (check it out if you haven't by clicking this link) was released by filmmaker Mark Spencer last summer, the VP of Marketing at Vans got a hold of us and asked us what we thought of taking the show to the national level... long story short, Vans decided to blow out the FRESH 23 concept and pitch it to schools across the nation... so, this spring, as many as 510 schools (10 per state, plus DC) will participate in a nationwide contest to design custom shoes for Vans... all based on our FRESH 23 Fashion Show!

Please check out the Vans Custom Culture FaceBook page and the nationwide promotion by clicking this link. Of all the entries, four art classes will be selected as regional winners and will be flown out to Los Angeles this May to tour the home of Vans, to check out LA for four days and to participate in a big showdown event with celebrity judges... pretty righteous, eh? We're going to be submitting our shoes for consideration in less than a month, so we've got a lot of work to do...

I'll be posting other news and updates on the fashion show and Custom Culture status as it unfolds but for the best up-to-date information... check in with our FRESH 23 Blog that the students will be launching in the next week or so...

Farmer Baseball 2010.

Wheat Ridge Baseball is back and we've got high expectations this season... In my second season as an assistant coach with the club, I am looking forward to making a run with these guys well into the end of May. And, with seniors Eric Shannon and Charlie Land anchoring our pitching staff, I feel pretty confident we'll do just that.

We had a rough start on Tuesday, dropping Opening Day to visiting Douglas County 2-1. But, after a full week of work, we bounced back with high energy and big bats against Valor Christian Saturday. We had the breakout game we'd been looking for, ten-running Valor 14-4 in an abbreviated five-inning game. Matt Zarlengo exploded for seven RBIs including two three-run bombs and the walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.

We play Monarch at Coors Field this Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day at 3:00pm. It's always a thrill playing on the big stage and we seem to fair pretty well there too... hopefully we can keep the intensity up and tack on another win before we head to Arizona for four games over Spring Break.