DAY DREAM SHOPPING

It's been a while since I've shared the things I am absolutely lusting over at the moment. Would you let me indulge in all those not necessary necessities here? Thank you!

- Ban.do. I love everything about this little company. The girls are fun and flashy, the website is adorable and their items are so precious. I lust after these sequined hearts (and am hoping my husband will gift me one, wink wink) but this bandana is one of the greater objects of desire for me these days.
- This lil necklace is too cute.
- This project is basically a dream of mine. If anyone is planning to have a team of photographers photograph the USA anytime soon, LET ME KNOW!
- I kind of totally have a thing for hoodies. A girl can never have too many. Peep this cute Muji one.
- Can this incredible bunny lamp be a part of my apartment? Please?!
- If anyone has 500 packs of instant film they don't want laying around could I please have it so I can make one of these?

What things are you pining over lately?

APRIL // GONE

April. This month truly passed the quickest of them yet.

- Saw my best friend become a wife.
- Enjoyed spending time with almost all of my girlfriends in one place for the first time in years!
- Took my first long distance train trip and it was actually really fun!
- The train trip took me to DC where I visited my first gallery exhibit. That was so exciting.
- Became more acquainted with my Mamiya Universal.
- Fell more and more in love with The Impossible Projects new color film- PX680!
- Contributed 2 images of Franny & Zooey and Seymour to a book to raise money for House Rabbit Society (my favorite rabbit resource).
- Blushed when Irene Nam (a wonderful photographer who is an inspiration to me) invited me to contribute a print to raise money for To Mama With Love.
- I got a pair of Swedish Hasbeens (a momentous occasion I've long hoped for)
- Had a scare with 2 of our bunnies while I was out of town and was reminded again how important those little fur balls are to me.
- Three of my photos exhibited in Paris!
- You've brought the showers but I'm still waiting for the rest...

May holds some excitement for me. Our 3 year anniversary (both, "wow already" and "only three years?" at the same time)! Bill Cunningham New York finally arrives in Chicago. Hopefully it'll finally be shorts and tank top weather (my favorite!).

XO

SO SMALL..

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed with inspiration today. Really I'm trying to manage seeing the success of those my age or younger and feeling excited that anything you put your mind to is possible and feeling bummed that I haven't exactly found my path yet. It all weighs in so heavy some days and today was one of those days. C'est la Vie! I just need to take all that inspiration and do something with it instead of losing myself online like I tend to do. Focus, I believe it's called.

That being said, I looked back at my 30 things to do before 30 list and I've been able to cross some of those things off. Here's an update:

 1- shoot a roll of film a week does a photo a week count?
 2- scan in all of my negatives (holy cow) haven't even tried!
 3- visit friends in Europe still a possibility
 4- take the remaining 3 classes I need for my degree hmmm
 5- keep learning French oui! 
 6- drink less soda Although I still drink Coke here and there, I'd say significantly less now! Success!
 7- learn to cook a few meals working on it
 8- drink less sugar in coffee and tea  Try NO SUGAR! Look whose all grown up!
 9- write more letters I have in a project in mind for this.
10- be better about answering my phone Success! 
11- work on two new calendars I am working on one so I won't cross this off just yet.
12- get a lomo lca (I want one so badly!) Still looking..
13- blog once a week HA! Twice a month at best, but there's time for improvement.
14- write in my physical journal more YES! Thanks to Field Notes. 
15- create books with keepsakes from our trips I am truly optimistic that this will get done...
16- make a phone photo book ...and this...
17- make a phone photo book for tessa ...and this..
18- visit new york again (and photograph it well!) Done and Done!
19- portraits of my family in puerto rico Possible.
20- go to puerto rico! I should have put this on my list before the previous one. 
21- photograph the houses I lived in in Florida Oh I hope I can! I'll def be in FL two more times before Nov.
22- get out to the wonderful Chicago museums more Needs work. 
23- drink more water YES! 
24- look people in the eye more during conversations I have made great stride here but won't cross it off yet.
25- teach our rabbits tricks (it's possible!) I feel this is going to be the hardest thing on the list.
26- visit Mel & Juls in San Francisco Very hopeful we can train trip out to California this summer.
27- explore more neighborhoods Not yet, but Spring is afoot! 
28- display photos in a gallery of some sort Yes! Thanks to Victoria with Polaroid Retrospective! 
29- take a trip with my mom Train trip from Chicago to DC. Check!
30- read a book a month Not even close but I have started reading three books...

I still have a ways to go in achieving my goals but I am really hoping to do so.

One thing I should have written on my list and haven't is taking photos of my tattoos. I have a small collections of random pieces that I want to photograph before my body falls completely apart (that's what happens on your 30th birthday right?!) but have no idea how to go about it! The idea of noodz terrifies me and I don't think it's the way I want to go but I do want to share my lovely little pieces of artwork, I adore them so much and often forget I have them until someone else points them out! Perhaps that can be a summer goal.

Another short list, if you'll allow me:
- Take a look at Words To Shoot By. This weeks word was tree and I LOVE all the contributions!
- If you're in the Portland area sign up for one or all of these classes! I believe they will be wonderous and I'm so jealous I can't go!
- This little ladies entire Flickr stream makes me long for Paris camera in hand.
- If you are looking for a unique gift for someone please please consider purchasing a print from To Mama With Love. They are beautiful, affordable and all proceeds are going to a beautiful charity. Read more about it here.
- If you, like me, are a true lover of bunny rabbits take a peek at a book that was just released with photos of our 3 bunnies in it! All proceeds made by the book go to House Rabbit Society so consider gifting one to a bunny lovin friend (like me!) or to your coffee table!
- Lastly, don't forget to grab a print or little card from my shop (and help support my PX680 habit!).

Wow just writing this post has made me feel so much better. Thank you internetz for existing. You crippled my ambitions momentarily, allowed me to vent and have brought me back to my happy place all in a few hours.

I hope everyone is having lovely spring dayz!

XO

MOMMA...

Mother's Day is hurling towards us. Haven't gotten your favorite Momma something yet? Please consider purchasing one of these beautiful prints (one of which is mine) and sending your Mom a link to this site so she can see what good her gift will do for others. I don't love to buy into commercial holidays but I have such a great respect to the utter selflessness it is to be a Mother. What an awesome responsibility! Cheers to all you amazing Moms (like mine!)!

The photo in this little post was taken with The Impossible Project's PX680 Color film when it was in beta testing. The First Flush of this film is now for sale on their website.  I would highly encourage you to buy a pack or two and start shooting away with confidence. This color film is beautiful and has some welcomed unique qualities! Grab a pack- you won't be sorry you did! Not convinced? Take a peek at some more PX680 photos on Emily's blog or Patrick's blog (and thank you guys for including some of my photos!)  Photographed here is a little felted heart that my friend Juli so lovingly sent me along with some fun polaroid peel apart film! Pay her Flickr a visit I'm sure you'll enjoy her Polaroids as much as I do! If you are a fan of felted goods please peep her super cute wares on Etsy.

I got home from DC & New York today and am exhausted but also excited to share some photos!

XO

WORDS TO SHOOT BY // HABIT

These three photos are the one's I shot for Words To Shoot By. This week the word was "habit". These are pretty true to myself. I can't resist shoes (and purses, but really shoes get me so much more often), photography and my addiction to the internetz. It was kind of hard to decide on what to shoot for habit because I kept thinking of bad habits but they wouldn't have been pleasant to shoot by any means. Cuticle picking, chewing dry skin off my lips, and constant cleaning. EW. What are some of your habits? 

I leave for DC this week. I'm heading over to The Lamont Bishop Gallery to see my photos in the Polaroid Retrospective exhibit. I am so excited to see this, my first gallery! I'm going there by train and am very excited to have my first long distance train trip. Photos are bound to happen now it's just a matter of which cameras to bring?! After DC I am going to hop over to NYC for a few days to work on a little project for later in the year. I am so stoked on visiting these two places and what's more is that my train tickets are less expensive than a one way plane ticket I recently purchased. If this experience is a good one I fully intend on heading to the West Coast after July. Yes, please!

I am in a bit of Easter goodies coma at the moment so I'll sign off before I fall asleep on my computer. I hope everyone is enjoying their days. Say a little prayer to the weather Gods that we can have some freaking Spring already! 

XO

TOO MUCH?

While watching a video of the Foo-Fighters playing in a guys basement I realized that half of the tiny crowd was trying to steady their phones, Flip cams and DSLR's while recording this precious event. It made me wonder if our generation is too obsessed with documenting life as it's happening. People literally stream their lives online. I can see what some of my best friends are doing minute by minute thanks to Instagram. It leaves little room for conversation sometimes. You go to tell someone something exciting you saw and because it was already shared online they say "Oh yeah I saw you posted that". Is it all too much?

I think if I would have been at this show, I would have felt conflicted. Wanting to document to remember it but also wanting to just watch and not through an LCD screen!

In some ways this is why I prefer to shoot film. You have to compose the shot just the same but there isn't that constant looking at the picture and retaking it. You really have to think about what you're shooting. Compose it well. Choose what you're shooting carefully because you only have 36 frames.  If you want to share it, that's an extra effort (at least for me. I love developing film and shooting instant films but I truly LOATHE scanning. Especially scanning negatives.)

Watching this video made me think of a photographer I admired for years that I had forgotten about. Her name is Robin Laananen. I remember frequenting her site always hoping to see new photos. She went on such adventures and she was photographing some of my favorite musicians at the time. I revisited her site and it made me think of the part of my life I spent photographing music...

What seems like many years ago I was very active in the music community where I grew up. I can't think of many shows I attended and didn't snap at least one photo of. It was really fun for a long while but when my brother passed and I realized I had hundreds of photos of bands and hardly any photos of friends and family I resented the art of live music photography and kind quit taking pictures at shows almost entirely. It was a big change for me as I had always done it either as a hobby or as a job. It was so much funner just to sit back and enjoy everything without having to think of the next frame or if I would have enough film for the entire set (yes, I'm dating myself I said FILM). I still have a hard time photographing those I love over objects and tiny moments or situated things that just make me smile or make my heart leap but I am trying to work on it. I feel a project coming. One long over due.

Portraits are so intimidating but I find myself drawn to them more and more. I am hoping to take a portrait a month. I know that's not a very big aspiration but trust me, it's going to be difficult for me. I mostly enjoy capturing life as it happens instead of sitting someone down and asking them to look dead into this fake glass eye of mine. Wish me luck on my journey! If everything slows down I also hope to scan in some of my favorite band photography negatives and put them online somewhere. That should be insane to look at now at least five years later.

XO

TIME, PLEASE SLOW DOWN

Life happens so quickly sometimes. Funny how some days drag on and others fly by and leave you standing there watching everything happen around you in a blink of an eye. I've wanted to be consistent with doing monthly wrap ups but already it's the middle of April (already?!) and I can barely touch on the things that occurred in March. I need to be more faithful to you dear little blog.

March..
- was still cold.
- brought some worry that was pretty needless.
- found me preparing polaroids for my first 2 exhibitions ever! (Bonjour Pola for you Frenchies and Polaroid Retrospective for you DC folks.)
- brought to my door my polaroids printed in Elle Girl Korea!
- took Christopher, Trevor and I to the East Coast again were many familiar faces were seen.
- was the month that I experienced The Impossible Project's new COLOR film in beta testing- the lovely PX680.
- a busy month filled with photo shoots.
- the sun started peeking out of the doom every now and then so more photos were made.
- the month when I acquired both a Mamiya Universal for film pictures and a Canon 60D for motion pictures (!!)
- brought a new little guy to our rabbit family- Seymour Pig. He is a lovely little gentlemen rabbit.

April has been lovely so far. I went to Florida for Tiffany's wedding and spent a week in sunshine, amongst good friends and rejuvenating. It was a much much needed little vacation. I came home feeling refreshed and inspired. Sometimes you just have to walk away from everything familiar to get some motivation. I feel wonderful. Such a breath of fresh air and a lovely time catching up with literally all of my girlfriends from every part of America. Daniela- you were missed!

I am excited about April. I have new cards in the shop. The weather is finally more spring like here in Chicago so I am anxious to get out camera in hand and take the city by photographic storm. I'm looking forward to days spent at the zoo with Christopher, the prospects of friends visiting and just sunny days and all the glory they bring.

What are you excited about?

XO