Photos from our wedding on July 7th, 2007 can be found here: http://erik.granstrom.org/gallery/eawedding
Peace.
posted at: 21:44 | path: | permanent link to this entry
Another Day, Another Wreath
Man, we have been working so hard and it has all paid off now. We have just a handful of wreath orders left to go out the door and the whole season went really good. One of the best wreath shop seasons ever! Amanda has been the best secretary ever and together we were super organized all season long. Whew… Now on to some massive tie dying. My goal is to make 1,000 shirts in December and January. We shall see what happens… I have been working on my tie dye website too and have that all tuned up and looking suave, check it out at http://www.madebyhippies.com.
posted at: 16:49 | path: /Trabajo | permanent link to this entry
Working All The Time Makes Me Feel Fine!
Yeah I am here in Oregon working away organizing the Christmas wreath shop for another season. I have been working hard, waking up early ever day and being happy working hard. It feels good to be productive and get work accomplished. This is the best wreath shop season so far. Everything is going grand and Amanda is working with me in the office helping me be organized. We are having lots of fun working together as husband and wife and as partners forever.
Skål
posted at: 18:15 | path: /Trabajo | permanent link to this entry
Wedding Photos Online
Photos from our wedding on July 7th, 2007 can be found here: http://erik.granstrom.org/gallery/eawedding
Peace.
posted at: 21:44 | path: | permanent link to this entry
Ranger Resurrection
So September is spinning by already. August was a blast that didn’t last. We went to the NorthWest World Reggae Festival in Marcola, Oregon like a month ago. It was a good time, lot’s of great music but not too many attendees (like 1,000 people or so). So what can you do? But when we went to the Dave Matthews Band three day concert at the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington we saw lot’s of great music too. There were lots of people there (like 20,000 people!) but most of them were drunkereds that made lots of noise all night long. I and I enjoy the live music though, there is something about it, something like when the music hits you, you feel no Pain!
Amanda is living in Portland now. She misses her home where the Buffalo roam, but what can you do? I and I must keep moving forward. Being married pays off in the end because my best friend is always right here with me instead of far, far away. I love Love.
So a couple of years ago when I bought my van I parked my green Ford Ranger in the back of the farm and left it to sit. I pulled it out of the blackberries a couple weeks ago and put in a new battery and it fired right up! I had my neighbor Airhead detail it for me and clean out all the mice nests. I used to be so sentimental about the Ranger but after driving the van around it just seems not too great getting behind the wheel of the Ranger, what with the seat all leaning back and all. So I had and opportunity and decided to take it, to upgrade Rangers by buying my brothers Ranger he wanted to sell. So now I’m cruising in a newer version of my old Ranger, but with accessories that actually work and some air conditioning and four wheel drive.
Solid as a ROCK!
I and I still praise JAH!
posted at: 08:18 | path: | permanent link to this entry
I and I are wed.
On July Seventh of the year two thousand and seven I married my best friend and partner for life Amanda in North Collins, New York. We met in September of 2005 after being introduced by my sister Sarah and spent two years flying back and forth between Oregon and New York to visit each other and meeting each other on vacations in Nevada, Europe and Mexico. Our first airplane ride together was on our way home to Oregon after the wedding! We were home in Portland for the weekend then went to Alaska for our honeymoon. We drove our little rental car 1,600 miles and toured through all kinds of huge mountain ranges and saw bears, caribou and mouse. We enjoyed visiting Denali and learning about it, even though we never saw the peak of North America’s most high mountain. We have almost been married a month and it has gone by fast so far. We are headed to the North West World Reggae Festival next week to try to sell some tie dyes, so we will see how that goes. Peace & Love.
posted at: 23:37 | path: | permanent link to this entry
Not too long to go…
And I will be a married man. Married to my best friend and tie dye teacher, Amanda. Our wedding is July 7th, 2007 in New York, I can’t wait!
Let’s see, last time I wrote I was in Buffalo visiting Amanda. We had a great vacation together in the sun. Two days after I got home Amanda came to visit me in Portland! We had lots of fun selling our crafts at the Gresham Farmers Market and on a mini road trip to Yachats on the Oregon Coast. So between our two visits to each other we had a great time together for about three weeks. Amanda left at the end of May and I have been working around my house some, making tie dyes, planting a vegetable & catnip garden in my backyard and having fun living life. I leave for Buffalo again in a week and a half to get ready for the wedding. Some of my friends have asked me if I am scared of getting married, but I and I have hot feet mon, not cold. I'm ready.
One Love.
-Erik
posted at: 20:23 | path: | permanent link to this entry
Greater Grand Forks… is that like a spork?
Yeah mon, life has been good lately. In the beginning of April I visited Amanda for a while. We went on a road trip around New York visiting several waterfalls and seeing lots of cows eating grass. I bet most people don’t think of farmland and cows when they think of New York, but they do have lots of them. We got lots of wedding planning done too. Then I flew back to Oregon and was there for a couple weeks, working at my house and also helping my dad paint one of the apartments he has.
Then I flew to Minneapolis to reunite with my two best friends from my University of North Dakota days, Pete & Jack. On Friday, April 20th, we drove to Grand Forks, turning what is supposedly a four hour drive into a six hour one. We finally made it around 3:30pm, just in time to meet up with Jake and Jeff and kick our feet up for a while. It was such nice weather in GF that weekend too! We hit up University Park and played a round of bocce ball (think of Australian Lawn Bowling but with less rules). Then we had the obligatory drive around Grand Forks while deciding what to do next. No one could decide so I drove us to Lincoln Park and we hung out there and threw the Frisbee around and had a couple of PBR’s while we waiting for our friends to gather and call us. Finally they did saying they were at a bar downtown, so we went down there and met up for some cool refreshments. A couple hours later and a bit drunker out, we stopped by the pub next door then make the trek back to 407 Cambridge Street, the home of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity. As we were walking up to the door all the youngings were inside and cheered us as we came inside. Greeting us warmly until Jack brought out his bottle of Snake Wine. This was a bottle that had two snakes inside of it (one eating the other one, why not?) and then filled with vodka and let sit for a month to get the snake juices flowing freely throughout. This scared the kids and the first round was drunk by Jack, Pete, Jeff Deutsch (the chapter president now and last of the kids Pete and I recruited back in the day) and myself. I wandered through the house to view all the improvements that had been made since my three years living there. A lot had been done, the basement is finally now near completion and has a real kitchen! There are new floor tiles and carpet throughout the house and new windows had been installed to make all the former party rooms turn into sleeping rooms so more guys can live in the house. Fantastic Stuff. After my tour I saw that the fear of the snake wine had diminished and the bottle was being freely passed around. After it was all empty the snakes looked strange, like they might pop out at any moment and start slithering across the floor… Someone refilled the bottle with some alcohol and there it was sitting on the table when someone knocked it and it went flying off and broke all over the floor. Jack got a little upset and riled up over that. Finally we all made it back to Matt’s house to pass out and I found myself on the couch on the porch, pretty nice actually.
Saturday got off to a slow start. After laying around for a few hours Pete and I went for a drive around town then later collected the crew to head to the Pi Kappa Phi Roseball (dance/party). It was kind of a surreal experience sitting back and seeing this whole room of fraternity men dressed up and going through the acts that I had once taken so seriously. It was a pretty relaxed night and I snuck off to wander the golf course and make a call to Amanda. The ride home on the bus was a classic, with wild singing starting before we even made it out of the driveway of the golf course clubhouse. The party back at the fraternity house was pretty good, I was feeling irie and had a fun time watching all the action unfold. Someone had frozen the snakes into popsicle form and was running around making everyone take a lick, Pete was trying to get the youngings to drink more and Matt was trying to get people to go out and eat at the 2-29 all night diner. A taxi cab showed up and a few of us hijacked it back to Matt’s house, leaving Matt and a few other believers waiting for another taxi to take them to eat that never really came. It was five am after all.
After another relaxing night on the porch I awoke and gathered with our friends at the 2-29 for a farewell to Grand Forks truckers special (eggs, sausage, cheese, veggies and more cheese over a bed of hashbrowns). Then we were on the road back to the cities. Jack was in the back seat and every once in a while we heard a little, click, hissss coming from the back seat as a new PBR was opened. By the time we got close to Edina Jack was so tuned up that he could only tell us to get off on 50th street. So we took one exit that was for 50th street, but it was not the right one and we looped around for a while before finally making it to his house. Then a quick cruise across town to Pete’s home for some rest. Monday morning I gave Pete a ride to work and made it to the airport for my cruise back to Portland. Of all my post living in Grand Forks returns, this was by far my favorite. I am very happy to see my beloved fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi doing well and in good hands.
But now it’s May. I have been painting some more and trying to clean and organize my house for Amanda’s moving to Portland. My house is kind of small and already full of things, so we are going to have to be very organized to not trip over our stuff all the time. Shelving is key! I just arrived in Buffalo again yesterday for a little visit. It has been a month since I left Amanda last time and I was missing her so. Amanda graduates with a Masters Degree in Anthropology this weekend and we are going to do a little more wedding planning. Only two months to go now until the wedding, I can’t wait!
Peace, Love and Happiness!!
-Erik
posted at: 16:23 | path: /Travels2007 | permanent link to this entry
Spring Breaks
I have been hanging out at my home in Portland making some tie dyes and working around my house. I am going to Buffalo in two weeks to visit Amanda again. Then in April I am flying to Minneapolis to visit Dr. Read. We are going to drive to Grand Forks on 4/20 and attend the Pi Kappa Phi Roseball. The whole weekend will be my bachelor party too. Less then four months to go until the wedding, I can’t wait!
Peace.
posted at: 01:14 | path: | permanent link to this entry
Snow Flashbacks
I am in Buffalo, New York visiting Amanda for a week. We have been having lots of fun together! Amanda taught me how to make candles, so we have been producing candles and I have been going to school with Amanda a few times. We visited Niagara Falls, Canada for Valentines Day and had a great time there, despite the slush and snow we had to drive through. It is pretty cold in Buffalo now, but I have my North Dakota training to prepare me. Amanda and I have been working hard trying to work out some of the details for our wedding. Which will be on Saturday July 7th, 2007.
Erik Loves Amanda!
posted at: 15:34 | path: /Travels2007 | permanent link to this entry
Oregon is Home
Amanda and I survived Mexico. Three weeks was a long time to be there and we were both definitely happy to make it home back to American soil. Even though we had to split up and both go our separate ways home. So I am in Oregon now trying to stay warm and working on deep cleaning and reorganizing my house and making lots of hemp jewelry. Amanda is back in Buffalo for her last semester of University. I am going to visit her on February 8th!
posted at: 16:26 | path: /Travels2007 | permanent link to this entry
Life Moves Fast, if you don´t stop to look around you might miss it.
So the Christmas Wreaths are all wrapped up now. Another successful season! Damn we worked hard!!!
Right now it is January and Amanda and I are travelling around in Mexico for three weeks.
We ushered in the New Year of 2007 on the beach in Tulum. We had the beach pretty much to ourselves and we were just hanging out partying it up enjoying ourselves. There was a bar nearby that had a live latino reggae band playing through the night, providing the perfect backdrop for our own personal party.
We visited the ruinas of Palenque a few days ago. Which are the most interesting and coolest ruins I have seen anywhere in the world. Amazingly huge pyramids and buildings all surrounded by miles more of ruins covered in think jungle. Amanda had been studying the ruins while working on her Masters Degree in Anthropology so she gave me the fully guided tour and translated the hieroglyphs for me.
Right now we are in the middle of travelling from Chiapas back to the Yucatan. We have been having lots of fun, though it is really hot and steamy and there are lots of mosquitoes. Some winter weather!
Yeah, so far I feel like Mexico is a great place to visit, but lots of things are sure screwed up here.
posted at: 12:39 | path: /Travels2007 | permanent link to this entry
