The best camera is the one you have with you

So... I went a little MIA from the internet due to my vacation this week. It was so relaxing. The trip was full of  pretty scenery, decent food and quality time with my sweetie (photo recap pending). It was indeed good times. But one bad thing did happen that I am compelled to share today.

On our hike through the Hoh Rain Forest, I forgot to take my Ipod out of my (supposedly) rainproof backpack. This lack of electronics paranoia cost me my Ipod, because when the backpack soaked through, enough water got through that the Ipod was basically ruined. (funnily enough, this was the same backpack that my Rebel died in... it's possibly cursed, at this point) I tried letting my poor little pod dry out (even used some rice) but when I took it to the Apple store today, it was pronounced DOA.

Single tear. Moment of silence, etc etc.

On the bright side, I got to turn in my old Ipod classic to be recycled and that got me a sweet 10% discount on a fancy new Ipod Touch (4th gen). It's got pretty much everything I like about the IPhone, without the pesky phone or service plan part.

I picked up free apps for google reader, flickr and twitter. The WiFi coverage in Seattle is pretty good, and I'm so excited to play with these.

Of course I was most excited about the camera feature. And Apps! And learning to type with my thumbs!

I picked up the hipstamatic, the plastic bullet and the incredibooth apps.

Here are some samples from our walk through the Arboretum this evening.

Plastic Bullet Shots

Incredibooth shots

Couldn't get any shots from the hipstamatic as the app crashed... will try to get more later this week.

So in love with these. All the lo-fi goodness of toy cams with the instant gratification of digital. Hurray.

Do you have any suggestions for cool apps I should know about? Tell! Tell!

Peace out. I'm going back to work tomorrow so I'm going to try and go to bed at a reasonable hour. Bleh.

just the facts for today

Currently on location in Port Angeles on assignment (vacation) to see our local temporate rain forest, coastal beaches, etc.

I have learned/confirmed three things today.

Fall is the most beautiful time of year. Also magical.

THIS is what Twilight really looks like on the Olympic Peninsula.

No sparkly vampires (thank goodness).

Spending eleven years with this guy has been awesome. We have the BEST adventures. :)

LSNED Book: Part One

I made some good progress on my book this weekend.... I'm really happy with how it is coming out despite the fact that I majorly screwed up the order of days (I accidently switched some of the days due to working on two weeks at once). Oh well, live and learn. And move on.

Here we go...feel free to click to see more detail.

Intro pages... I'm going to leave this blank for now.. and come back and write a perspective after it's all finished.

I'm really liking how these turned out... if you saw the video, you know what I mean.

So that is my progress for now... I'm really enjoying the experience... I mean, check out all that journaling!

Happy Monday.

Random Friday update

Totally random update today.

Yesterday's LSNED post involved painting. See? I'm still crafty.

Full pages SHOULD be up this weekend.... need another Costco photo run. Glad my creative mojo is back.

Also, this is my current power song. Feel free to turn up the volume. :)



I know, right? So major. ;)

So I'm still sick, but at least I am mostly mobile at this point. Unfortunately, this plague has spread to my sweetie, so my duty, as the slightly healthier person, was to get supplies for Udon at Uwajimaya (gigantic Asian market) for dinner tonight.

And the Udon turned out really great...

But that's not really what I'm excited to blog about....On the way out of the store I popped into Kinokuniya bookstore and what do I see?

A decent sized WALL of WASHI TAPE. For CHEAP.

Oh noes....
I never could get into using ribbon, but tape? Tape I love.

So... you might be seeing some washi in my projects.... soon.

Also, that Kinokuniya is a dangerous place. If you ever come to Seattle, and you like cute Japanese things (think of the office supplies) I highly reccomend you stop by.

Alright, that's enough of a blog post for today. Back later with more. :)

under the weather

It's getting on towards Autumn around here... which means that sometimes the craftiness gets put on hold due to illness. Yup. Got the bug. Hit me around Sunday night when I got back from the Puyallup Fair... scritchy throat, fever, blah-ness.

It was bad yesterday. Real bad. Like do nothing but nap and watch HSN through a cold medicine fugue-state. (Don't judge.)

Today I feel slightly better, but not quite up to working on my LSNED book. It's coming along swimmingly though. Got some black pens, and a few photos ready to be printed.

And absolutely plan to do more videos. :)

But for now, if you are bored with the lack of craftiness happening here, I recommend going and grabbing one of the free podcasts done by the Paperclipping Roundtable. It's just like listening to your friends gossiping at a crop, except they talk about the scrapbooking industry. I think it's fun.

I like to listen to it while I'm commuting. Or you know, when trapped in bed with the sniffles.

That's all I got for now. Peace out. Stay healthy. :)

Bumbershoot 2010

Last weekend I decided (quite at last minute) to attend the 40th annual Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival.

I have quite fond memories of attending Bumbershoot back in my teens. Many many adventures were had. In fact, I can claim to be old now, officially, because I remember when it used to be FREE to get in. Sigh. They fixed the pricing structure this year, but previously, it got pretty out of control.

Anyway, on to the recap!

I started off with a blown glass demonstration by the Mobile Hot Shop (Tacoma Museum of Glass folks). And it was quite a fine show.

My next stop was Flatstock, which is basically, a rock poster market. So much eye candy!

After that, a bit of wandering. Fair food was a must. Mmmm elephant ears and roasted corn. Yum!

And then of course, a stop by the indie crafts market. I absolutely adored the Ork Posters booth. I bought some cards made out of discard posters. They will be appearing in minibooks very soon. And that's a promise.

Then I got to see some derby-bicycle-clown people performing an interactive show.. followed by girls doing a high-wire act... with a motorcycle. Ah, the spectacle of Bumbershoot....

After that, I caught some music videos that were a part of the Film Festival. It was.... interesting? Artistic? Definitely something I've wanted to try.. maybe next time will try a longer film. Indie cinema can be pretty hit or miss.

I did a bit more wandering, photo taking, and amused myself for a while listening to various bands....

And then I got in line and waited for an hour so I could see Patton Oswald (and friends) perform at the comedy stage. Totally annoying to wait that long, but the show was SO worth it.

The festival was mostly wound down by the time the show let out.. except for Weezer who were rocking the mainstage (and I do regret slightly, not upgrading my ticket).

I walked around the neon-lit Seattle Center and then when Dandy Warhols proved to be too smoky to breathe...I called it a night.

And that was one of my weekend adventures last week.

This weekend plans to be just as packed, as I tackle various social engagements including a trip to the Puyallup Fair!

Craftiness will happen soon hopefully. I'm still on the hunt for that good journaling pen. Thanks for all your sweet suggestions on the video! Next time I promise to be more articulate and have better lighting. :)

Happy Friday!

LSNED Video Post

Are you ready for a totally rambling, nervous, late night video blog? Awesome. Hope you enjoy.

On the table

Hmmm.. that was a bit longer of a blog hiatus than I had intended. That weekend was busier (and more fun) than anticipated. Back later with a recap.

Until then, please amuse yourself with this great new photo project, On The Table. It is the brainchild of the ever fabulous Stephanie Wheeler of the Living Room Floor.

As she says:
It's a photography project.
There are three simple rules:
take your camera.
sit it on a table.
take a picture.

Then tell [her] who you are, where you were, and if you're feeling fancy, send [her] a picture. There will be a new one posted every day.
 
It has photos of things like this:

I love the simple elegance of it.

Such great stories shown through these kinds of pictures.

Thanks for the inspiration, friend. :)

Support Seattle Square Market!

But what is the Seattle Square, you may ask?

Well, this is what their website says:

From now until the end of September, Pioneer Square will be featuring a new outdoor market from 11am – 5pm every Saturday. The Seattle Square, located in Occidental Park, features a wide range of vintage and craft vendors; selling everything from locally designed clothing, to handmade housewares and accessories, to mid-century furniture. A rotating selection of Seattle’s mobile food vendors serve up a variety of fantastic eats set to a live soundtrack, hand crafted by a rotating cast of local DJ’s.


Translation?
Every Saturday, a bunch of dedicated crafters and artisans are trying (sometimes without a profit) to help revitalize the Pioneer Square neighborhood and fill it up with delicious food, fun, music, and craftiness.

Yes please.

I was recently offered the opportunity to take a tour of the Square Market, and to do a little meet-and-greet with many of the vendors.

There were so many cool vendors there. Art, jewelry, vintage, kids' stuff, steampunk... all kinds of good things to see. I had such a great time. And since Occidental Park is near one of the very oldest parts of Seattle, there are just an amazing amount of opportunities for sweet photo ops including brick and art deco ironwork. (Also, don't forget to stop byWaterfall Park, it's awesome)

As for shopping, I ended up not being able to resist a sweet little screenprinted card from Orange Twist. Oh, yeah, and do you see that little screenprinted canvas pouch up there? Yup. That came home with me too. Slide Sideways is the little shop that that came from. I wanted to take basically all of their things home with me. Such fresh designs!

So this fantastic little market will be open every Saturday between now and the end of September. If you are in town and want to support a beautiful neighborhood (seriously go for the photo ops of all that brickwork) and you want to support some local artisans, you should stop by.

Hope your weekend is full of craftiness (in whatever form you like).