Ok, first of all– feel free to count the number of beards that appear in this post. Second of all– we had a blast last night. There were a lot of cool people who showed up to the party at Kiehl’s. Reagan was chatting it up with Dexter, before I snapped the image above. She was interviewing him for her hair blog.  The shot below is of my homey Zach, in action. Zach is the guy in the middle of the frame wielding the 5D. It was the first time that our beards had ever met. They seemed to hit it off nicely.

I am a big fan of Jeff Koons, so Zach actually volunteered to take the shot below. He is a pretty cool guy. In addition to his art, I can definitely appreciate all of the philanthropy that he does.

Finally, a shot of Reagan in front of step and repeat, in some of  her new digs.  She was looking pretty hot last night.

After the Kiehl’s party, we met up with some of Reagan’s friends for a wrap party for a movie that Reagan was an extra in. It was good times all around. I have been battling a cold, or something for the last several days. When I woke up this morning, it was a bit more than I could handle, so I ended up working from home. This actually worked out kind of nicely, since my brother arrived this morning. We were at least able to get lunch together, etc.. More good stuff later this week.

The beard is coming along nicely. The shot above is a self portrait that I did last week (wearing a hand knit beanie from Ma B). The beard has developed a bit of an ego. He told me the other day that he wanted to start a blog. I refused until he hired a PR agent who strong armed me into allowing it. Below is an action shot of my beard blogging.

PS, Reagan doesn’t think that this beard stuff is nearly as funny as I do. But I don’t crack up when Old Navy ads are on TV, like she does. So, to each his or her own. Right?

Tonight, we are going to be attending a party that I’m pretty stoked about. It is the winter party at Kiehl’s. These are a lot of fun, because I always get to hang out with my friend Zach. Also, there a few people on the guest list, that I’m really hoping will show up. I know that Reagan is excited about it, mostly because she has been waiting for an excuse to wear one of her new Botega V dresses. So, I’ll let you know how that goes. I’m shooting a couple of other things this week that I’m pretty excited about too.

Tomorrow morning, early, my brother Sam is coming to town for a week. This weekend will be his first time meeting Piper. Pretty awesome stuff. I also have a cousin and aunt who will be visiting on Friday. They will be joining us at Piper’s house, also meeting her for the first time. It is going to be like a mini-family-reunion/meet and greet.

Note from Jake: First of all, I was slammed today between real work and trying to launch Reagan’s blob sale. I had an idea for LMC, but there is no way that I was going to have time to execute. I came back from a meeting and found out that Pete had stepped up and sent me a great holiday flavored item to post. So, thanks again Pete!

Post from Pete:

Sometimes it think Starbucks may have ruined my life. For example, I get hard to control self destructive urges whenever I hear Kenny G or Cheryl Crow as a direct result of the hear music program at one of my stores. Another thing is that Christmas music would start the first week in November. Non stop. Unchanging. Not pleasant after the first week of 8 hour shifts. As a result I never really liked to put Christmas music on at home aside from some of the albums my mom’s group has put out over the years. Anyway, this year has been different… I have been playing seasonal music this year at home as much as possible as part of operation “enjoy the holidays as much as my wife for the first time ever.” While implementing this operation, I found one of my old favorite music groups, that was never ruined by my old employer. I also feel like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a group that everyone can enjoy. I am willing to bet that you have probably already heard their “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” on the radio already. I personally love the way they have managed to turn one of my all time favorite songs on the planet ever into a Christmas song with their lovely number titled “Christmas Canon.”

Happy December.

Sometimes I feel like the odd man out, typing away on my B-berry.

I went into the office super early this morning and knocked out about 5 hours, before taking Bebe on our last journey to Westchester together. Reagan followed me, in Greta to the Toyota dealership, where we turned in Bebe. It was a somber occasion. We couldn’t stay bummed for long though, because we went straight to Piper’s house afterward. Piper was in a fantastic mood. She blew right through nap time, so that she didn’t miss out on any opportunities to play. She wore everyone out, playing so hard. After we got home and had a bite to eat, I put together Reagan’s blob garage sale store. I think that she is going to publish it tomorrow. My stress level has gone from red back into the low yellows, possibly bordering on green. Hopefully having such a load off will help me deal better with the cold weather that decided to show up this weekend.

If you think that this blog is boring as crap lately, I’m totally right there with you. It is only partially my fault, though. I have been slaving like mad at my real job for the past while. As a result, I have had an extremely limited amount of time to have any sort of creative thoughts. What is worse, is that I have hardly been able to see my little girl at all. On top of that, our lease on the FJ is up, next week. So, we spent most of the day Saturday figuring out a new car situation. We ended up picking up a ’11 Jetta. Apparently Reagan is almost as obsessive about German automobilia as I am. I had no idea. The Audi that I had when Reagan and I met is probably still my favorite car that I have ever owned. It is funny how you get all budget conscious and relatively tame when you put on the wedding ring. Anyway, Reagan is completely stoked about our brand new little whip. It is costing us about half of what we paid on the FJ. So, from that standpoint, I have to say that I’m pretty pleased as well. After we turn in the FJ tomorrow, the only thing really stressing me out will be building Reagan’s e-commerce cart for her blob sale.

The shot above is the view out of my (home) office on Friday morning at 6:30 AM. It is basically the best thing that I have snapped in the last 3 days, hahahah. But, there are some forthcoming photo events that I’m looking forward to. One, is shooting some items from our Brooklyn designer friend for a little profile piece I’m doing on SJ. In addition, I booked a commercial gig for the middle of the month that I’m really looking forward to. I think that there are also going to be plenty of Piper photos, as well as a few shots of the new whip (her name is Greta, BTW) in the mix over the next few days. So, there is all of that. I hope that everyone else is having a less eventful (in a relaxing kind of way) weekend. Let’s catch up soon.

Try to solve the puzzle below. You can mouse over the image at the bottom left to see what the finished image should look like. Click “play again” to re-shuffle the pieces. To move a tile, click (don’t drag) the tile, and it will slide into the blank space.