Some of you may recall my Buffalo post. Well, I took it a little further. Marty’s birthday was coming up, so I took the illustration I did:

And made it into some line art work that I could put on a t-shirt for him. If you know Marty, you know that all he says all of the time is,”WHAT WHAT!?!” The type is just my handwriting in Illustrator.  So that had to go on the shirt as well. I did all of this and then had it made. So here’s the final product:

Looking good! And I like the colors too!

I’ve been frequenting this grocery store, Oleson’s, up here (northern MI) because they have a great selection.  Here’s a picture that was taken on my birthday of the Oleson’s float in the Cherry Festival parade.

I even had Jen go with me today because I wanted to show her just HOW good of a selection they have.  I think part of the draw is the buffalo.  That’s their logo.  A buffalo. Bison.  Whatever you want to call it.  They have a website, Oleson’s Foods, which pretty much sucks. But, I still love the buffalo. My love of a good buffalo goes way back.

When I was at Michigan State University during my senior year (2003-2004), I lived with Alysa and Marty. We lived South of campus by Jolly Rd. So naturally we shopped on the south side of Lansing. At the time there was a Buffalos Cafe, which was only one of a few. Their other hot locations being in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the southern US. Clearly a marketing genius’ dream.

Tuesdays were half off wings and Marty loved his wings. So one, very special Tuesday, Alysa, Marty and I ventured to Buffalos Cafe. Right when you walk in the door there is a visual overload of Southwestern/Country charm that hits you from all sides. I’m talking lassos, branding equipment maybe a saddle or two, some cacti and of course some horseshoes artistically placed on some wood. As your ears adjust to the country that is blaring through bad speakers you see the hostess stand. A visual buffalo mecca. Not one, but 3 plastic/furry buffalos are glued to the top of it. I really am not sure how those host(s) could concentrate with so much buffalo-ey fun happening right in front of their eyes.
The three of us were sat in a booth. It was a nice dinner. Alysa ordered some tex-mex delight that probably included chicken. I had the “Kickin’ Chicken Wrap,” which was my signature move. And Marty probably had somewhere between 15-20 wings, mild.
As we slowly made out way towards the exit, I noticed that the host stand was left abandoned. Obviously Tuesdays aren’t really that busy on the southside of Lansing. Marty and I stop to touch the plastic buffalos on the top. He steps away and Alysa slowly walks by the stand. I realize that one of the buffalos is loose. No time to think. I grab and rip the buffalo off of the host stand. Marty starts laughing like a little girl and runs to the door. I yell,”RUN!” I sprint past Alysa and out of the door. She saunters out and says that we just drew more attention to ourselves by yelling and running! We make it to the car, pile in and bust out of there with the buffalo in tow. He is affectionately name “Buffalo,” which is later shortened to “Lo.” He became the mascot of our apartment. And later when to live with Marty and Sarah when I moved to Atlanta.
And so that explains my love/fascination with buffalos. I can’t deny that I’ve been eyeing a certain stuff buffalo at Oleson’s.
So here is a illustration that I did tonight just for the fun of it. But really aren’t all illustrations for the fun of it?