The Lomo Challenge

Due to the recent passing on of my crap Polaroid t730, I am left cameraless until I can decide whether or not to:
a- save up for an overly pricey digital SLR. I want one of these terribly, but also think it would be more logical to wait for my tax returns next spring.
b- buy another pocket digital camera for the time being. I have mixed feelings about doing this, since it will cost me $100-$200, and I'm sick of buying one of these things every year. I don't want to waste my money on a temporary fix, while that same cash could be put towards an excellent camera that would last me a while. And, I might possibly be able to borrow my brothers coolpix for the meantime....hm...

So while I'm still thinking this over, I've decided to show an old friend a little love.
I got my Lomo LC-A when I was 17, for christmas during my junior year in high school. I forget exactly how I discovered lomos, but as soon as I found out what they were about I wanted one desperately. I love the whole lomo philosophy of shoot-from-the-hip, shoot recklessly, shoot everything that catches your eye. And the colors, the vignetted edges...

It's nearly impossible to get a good photo every time with this camera, but when you do it's breathtaking. It's going to take a bit of practice and a few rolls of film to get me back into the swing of things, actually having to think about aperture and distance, iso and etc. It's also going to be a bummer to have to pay for film and development. While part of me misses the anticipaton involved in dropping off a roll of film and waiting to see how everything came out, digital is so freaking convenient, with instant gratification.

So for the next week or so, I've assigned myself a Lomo challenge. First order of business will be getting new batteries, since the ones I've got were from 1999.

Visit the Lomo Homepage and fall in love. If I had unlimited funds, I swear I'd have every single Lomo camera on earth by now. Also, I am proud of my 17 year old self for recognizing a very cool thing when I saw it. Lomo is still the shit ten years later :)

(All photos above were borrowed from the lomo.com website)

For a good time, call the Plymouth Police Dept.

TADAAAAH!!! These were the top-secret coveted shoes I spoke of. I am smitten. These are some powerful kicks. I find the fact that I can wear this same skirt with flip flops, or even basic heels and get zero reaction. But for whatever reason, when only a few inches of your legs are exposed as opposed to the whole deal, it comes across as provocative and sexy. This is why over-knee boots are fascinating to me.

I wore this out last night to the BBC, where I met up with my lovely and charming co-workers, Gwen, and some of our dear friends from the Plymouth Police department. The torch was passed when Julie danced with Officer "Tricky Ricky", I thought he was going to die of concentrated bliss.
Also, the local celebrity Detective Stassattack had a special frisky moment with Rick.

After I uploaded these photos, my camera officially quit this world. Kaput, done for good, broken. This is a bummer because I need to find a new one, but can not yet afford the one I want. I'm torn and am kicking myself for not working harder to save up more, earlier. I may end up buying a cheap one, and then getting the DSLR of my dreams with my tax returns next year...I need to think about it.

At the very least, I'm glad my little crap polaroids last breaths were spent capturing these fantastical moments. Julie and Stassattack are going to be jazzed that these moments were not lost in time!

High Heel Happy Hour.

So tonight my non-shopping mood was obliterated. With a pre-set budget of $50-$75, I was out on a mission looking for one top-secret particular pair of shoes, searched about 8 different stores, put two possible candidates on hold. Things were looking grim. My set budget was too low, none of the styles were exactly what I wanted.
And then I found High Heel Happy Hour at Charlotte Russe. Say what?
Buy one pair, get the second pair for $10. And oh, by the way, we have a whole rack of shoes on clearance for $6.99 too.

Long story short, after some extreme deliberation, I ended up scoring the coveted shoes for $39.99 which is basically unheard of for this style. Another pair for $10, and then a pair for $6.99. This math makes me extremely happy. 3 for $20 less than I was going to pay for one at the other store.
I'm not sure how long this sale is actually going on. They run this promotion every now and again, but tonight it was posted as only being from 5-8 pm, this Thursday only. But fear not. I'm sure they'll do it again. Sidenote: I find their heels to be exceptionally comfortable to boot.

While the secret pair is going to remain under wraps until tomorrow, these are the additional two I scored. Plus, these sweet thigh highs I got from Yandy.com. For like $5. Yes, the Yandy that sells whorish halloween costumes. I went there in search of gloves for my burlesque class, which I also found for cheaper than anywhere else. They have the biggest, best, most wonderful and CHEAP collection of thigh highs I have ever seen. With the free shipping, it got here in only two days. I heart Yandy. Worn with my Carlos Santana criss cross numbers, from this spring.

Quick post, I should be sleeping:

Tonight I went to my first burlesque class YESSSS!!!!!
So good, so good.
Taught by Miss Mina of the Boston Babydolls, well worth the trip to Cambridge. I must say, I have quite a natural talent for hip swiveling. However, actually putting it to music and shimmying as if I were the sex, that needs some work. I am however very proud of myself for being able to shake down to my skivvies in front of a giant mirror, with ten other girls, in terrible lighting. Terrible, florescent, death ray to the thighs lighting. It captured and magnified the fat cells that I'm going to develop five years from now, I swear.

In other good news, I came home to a picture of THE BERET sitting in my inbox. I've been waiting for the beret for atleast six months. These little hats might be the only part of this whole army experience that turns me on. Sexaaayyy....

With that said, I am a Jr.Burlesque sexpot in the making, and the soldier is doing well, looking good. Now it's time for bed, I actually feel a cold of serious proportions coming on. My ear popped towards the end of the lesson, and I don't think it was from altitude.
Goodnights!!!

The Slacker Returns

I haven't posted since Sunday. I think this is the longest post-between-post I've had since I started this blog. It's not that I've been too busy or tired, it's just that my inspiration-o-meter has been kind of blank for a while. That, and it was hard to top the pumpkin puff pastries...

This week a few good things happened:
1- I started going to the gym again. As a result, my muscles are in a state of trauma.
2- Went to 5 Guys with Russ and Junior. I love how I can talk about anything and everything with them. Ideally, I'd like to have dinner with these two on at least a bi-weekly basis. This way I can get a regular dose of Russel's words of wisdom, and laugh together with John Junior about my short-comings, clumsiness and misfortunes, which is a beautiful thing.
3- Received the final piece of my Halloween costume in the mail: the actual corset. For the sake of modesty and prevention of indecent exposure I need to sew in a halter strap, but that should only take me 30 minutes tops. I'm planning on doing this tomorrow. I've included a sneak-preview picture.
4- The discovery of Andy Warhol stationary at The Paper Store. I am usually entirely disappointed at their prices, but this set was extremely reasonable. Who knew Andy Warhol doodled butterflies in his spare time?

As for the fashion front, I've been in non-buying mode. I went out a few times this week and found a number of admirable things, but nothing that captured my fancy so much as to make me lay down my debit card. It's a mix of being extremely picky, frugal, and practical regarding the season...this is a good thing. So I've been enjoying things that I've had for a while. Mainly these three things:
1: Studded Belt- It doesn't go with everything, but when it does match up it just closes the deal. I love this belt.
2: Black "Biker" boots from Target, got them on clearance this past spring for $8. These are my new rainy day boots.
3: Kimono-ish sweater, also from Target. I can't remember exactly but it's been atleast a year since I found this one. It's got buttons down the back, big open sleeves, comfy in every way. It's kind of getting worn out, which is sad. These kind of shirts aren't exactly re-produced every year. This is why I need to learn how to sew well.

These could make a grown man cry...

I've officially decided that I will undergo a baking project every Sunday, in order to defeat the end-of-weekend blues. And it works. It's also going to make me fat if I keep hitting the jackpot as I did today. I came up with a hybrid of two recipes:
Pumpkin cheesecake rollovers.
Not turnovers. Because they are round. And they roll.
I used this recipe for bourbon pumpkin cheesecake. I couldn't find any typical bourbon nips, so I used American Honey, which I'm a fan of. Since I had no need for the crust, I just lined two round pans with foil and baked them that way.
As for the puffs, I'm typically anal about making everything from scratch. But I made an exception after discovering that a proper puff pastry dough takes three days to make. I wasn't up for it, so I used the store bought. While the pumpkin goodness was baking, I used this recipe as a template, rolling out and cutting the dough (2x2 inch squares.)
After the pumpkin bit was done and cooled off a bit, I used about 1tsp of the filling, folded it up in the pastry and closed it on the bottom. They looked like little mini manjus or mochi. Which was cute and got me thinking that these things would be freaking killer deep fried...but tomorrow is another day.
I added a bit of egg wash and home made cinnamon sugar, baked them for about 13 minutes and VOILA. These things are so good it's actually pretty nonsensical. Nothing has to be this good...mindblowing. With the cinnamon sugar, the puff pastry almost tastes like a fried dough. The recipe yielded 48 of these, 16 went into boxes, and between my mother, brother and myself, there are now a lonely six left on the stove. Which kind of frightens me, I can't remember exactly how many I had. Bite size sweets are dangerous...
These are quite seriously some of the best things I've ever come up with. EVER.
I'll be sending them out to Policecop as a congratulations for his graduation from basic training this week.

Making Gramma Proud.

I picked up knitting on a whim two winters ago. I don't remember exactly what it was that inspired me, but it was probably just my love for DIY, with the benefit of only having to buy needles and yarn that drew me to it. My Grandmother was thrilled that someone in the family was following in her footsteps, being a hardcore knitter. She learned at the age of 5 or something ridiculous like that. When I started out I went to her in hopes of learning a few good tips and tricks of the trade. I ended up going home more baffled than when I started. She knits maniacally fast, it's mind-boggling to watch. Her explainations were also given at the same pace, and I was entirely overwhelmed. She might as well have given me a 5 minute rundown on astrophysics.
I've grown to love a few simple patterns, and have been sticking with them. I'm thinking that it's time to do some studying and explore my potential in the knitting world. God knows I've got some time to kill, and there's just something about knitting that is incredibly soothing. The mindless repetition, knit-purl-knit-purl-yok2, k, p2....
The only way I can explain it is that it's like a math that I can understand. Which is in and of itself, revolutionary for me.
While you're going through the motions, it's like being submerged in a mathematical equation. Except instead of vague and impersonal numbers, there are physically present strings and sticks making their conjunctions and interactions solely under your control. And in the end, you've got a scarf, hat, headband, etc...
So here are a few things I've made in the past two years. Promise to god, I will expand my horizons this winter '09-10.