Photo Love

Again I will mention how much I love Craigslist. Today while searching for random goodies, I came across a posting of someone giving away various darkroom equipment. Well, I know Adam likes darkroom photography, and I would like to learn how to develop film, so I emailed the people, and when I found out it was available, I was super excited.

Adam, not so much. He wasn't too thrilled to have to jump back in the car right after getting home from work, but I promised I would get him dinner, so he reluctantly joined me.

We ended up meeting one of the nicest ladies ever. She was an avid hobby photographer and had her own darkroom set up in her house. Well, she was moving, and in turn, was giving away 90% of her photo equipment. She gave us basically everything we could ever need to start our own darkroom, and also showed us a bunch of helpful tips and tricks for various photos.

Her house was gorgeous in that everything on her walls was done by her and personalized in some way. It was exactly how I want our home to be one day, and I was really inspired. She showed me how to do hand coloring, and I am really excited to get the opportunity to try that out one day. She is into digital now, but is still an avid supporter of always printing your pictures. She pointed out that in this day people take so many photos, but yet none of them actually get printed and they sit on a computer where no one can view them. She makes simple scrapbook photo albums and showcases her work. She prints and hangs prints. Anything to get the image off the computer screen and into a tangible format. I loved it. It made me want to sit down and just bring out all of my old pictures.

It also made me realize that I really, really need to start taking some time and just enjoy photography again. Don't get me wrong, I love taking pictures. But I find that I spend so much time capturing other people's moments and joys that I forget to take pictures of things that bring ME joy. I tend to put those aspirations and feelings to the side and have made photography solely a JOB instead of also something I just love to do. It reminded me that I need to take some time and not WORK. Just have fun taking pictures, and printing them and hanging them around the house.

So again, I am thankful for Craigslist. And we ended up with an entire car-ful of things. Adam was thrilled. Now, I just have to find a place to KEEP all of this stuff!

This is ALL paper. Yes, photo paper. All sizes. I am so excited. And the best part? It was ALL free!

Giant Fork

We went to visit my mom this weekend to pick up Annabelle and we FINALLY got to see the fork! Haha. Everyone always talked about this darn thing, but yet in as many times as I had been down there, I had never seen it! So we finally got to drive to it. My life is now complete that I have seen this giant piece of steel goodness.

Adam was so ashamed of the fork. He wouldn't even look up for a picture. Pooper.

We also had "game night" that turned into the World Longest Monopoly Game. Seriously, there are some competitive people in our household! And I found out that once Adam loses, he conspires with other people in order to bring down the people who once turned on him...but once they start winning, he conspires with someone else. So, basically, don't trust Adam. And I don't even care, but Kelsey and I have the best strategy for Monopoly, even though everyone else (*cough*Adam*cough*) hated it.

This Is What 216 Rolls of Film Looks Like...

You heard me.  216 rolls.  Did I mention just how amazing Craigslist is? 

Total cost?  $30.  Yeah, that's right.

Relief.

After 21 days in the heat, 3 different hotels, and numerous calls to our agitated landlord, we were finally given back our air on Wednesday.  It was definitely a welcome relief, seeing as we had been living in and out of a hotel for a week and the night before, a storm knocked out power to the hotel we were in, causing there to be no air (or lights) again for us...so much for paying to get a good nights' sleep.

After waiting most of the day Wed for the house to cool down, the thermostat FINALLY climbed down from the 97 or so it had been sitting at for days.

This weekend we are looking forward to picking up Annabelle, the house has been very quiet without her.  And we can finally celebrate her birthday!  That puppy IS getting a cake!

Love

My husband loves me. He brought home chocolate lava cakes. Yes, I had to take a bite even before the pictures was taken.

Happy Birthday Annabelle!! Oh yeah, and it's still hot....

Day number...16 now? I think that is how long it has been since we have had ac.  Landlord finally agreed to prorate the rent (although, only sine this past Friday and only through today, so 3 days...) so we used that money to book ourselves a cheap hotel for the weekend, since we have been under excessive heat warnings all weekend.  We got a really great deal on priceline for only $23 a night and ended up with a Holiday Inn which is actually pretty nice.  Mom drove halfway and picked up the cats and Annabelle since they cant stay in the hotel but I think were getting heat stroke.  I am really bummed though, because today is Annabelle's birthday and we had planned this big deal with a puppy cake and a steak and all.  Adam promises we can celebrate it next weekend but I am still bummed.  I know she is much happier though, mom said she got special food and hasnt been panting at all since getting there.

Hopefully they get the air fixed tomorrow, though my hopes are pretty low.  I would really like to get back to my normal routine and be able to work again and not sit in my house without breaking a sweat.  We shall see I guess...

Day 6

Yesterday our landlord finally brought a maintenence guy out to fix the AC. He was there for close to something like 5 hours and in the end, told us the system was working and we were good to go. Super excited, we closed up the windows and headed out to the store, hoping to come back to a nice and cool house.

He didnt fix it. We came home to a nice 85 degrees on the thermostat and called our nice irritated landlords who said we'd have to wait another day. Yippie.

So today the guy comes back out for another few hours, only this time he left with the system blowing nice cold air... FINALLY! Hopefully it lasts, but at least not the temperature is slowly going down!

Could this finally be the end?

Day 5

Day 5 and still no AC.

The nights are the worst...for some reason our bedroom feels like the inside of a furnace even when the rest of the house is halfway decent. Even combined with the fact that we have 4 fans going and the windows open in that one room alone. Other than that and sweating with any sort of physical activity (I'm talking, walking into another room makes you sweat) it isn't so bad...if you like being confined to sitting directly in front of a fan all day.

They told us it could be next weekend at the earliest before it gets fixed...even though the repair guy who came out on Sunday told us it could be fixed that day. Let's just say, we have cheap landlords who don't want to pay. Even though if it were their house, it would have been fixed back on Friday.

I figured having a couple of days off work to relax, catch up on some sleep, etc would be nice...but no. It's not. It's been far from relaxing...

Ugh.

Even Annabelle is miserable

Craigslist is Amazing

I know I talk a lot about how much I love Craigslist, but I really just can't get over it.

I mean seriously, Craigslist is just pretty much the most amazing thing ever invented.

Today I'm scanning the listings and come across someone giving away free camera film. Sweet, a couple packs of film would be awesome to play around with, I thought. Even better, they were medium format! Holga time, anyone? So the girl tells me she has them, says she's setting it outside on her porch, and I pack Adam up and we head down.

I expect one or two packs of film...and what do I see??

Yeah, we're talking 3 decent size BOXES...FULL of film. Brand spankin' new. Good film, all kinds. We're talking Ektachrome...stuff not even in existance anymore. And she had it refrigerated. I think I just had Christmas in July.

And it was free.

We set up my old mini-fridge from my dorm days and it filled it to the brim. Yes, there was that much. I am so excited. It's chilling nicely, just waiting for the day when we break out the Holga gear.

So once again I will shout my praises for Craigslist. Love it!!

So hot

This weekend has not started out too well.

Yesterday I wake up from my nap earlier than normal because I was ridiculously hot...turns out the AC decided to die. So instead of sitting in Rosenblatt right now watching the last 4th of July celebration before they tear it down, I am laying on my bed under the ceiling fan in shorts and a tank top sweating to death while the AC man takes his sweet time coming to pay a visit. Our landlord couldn't get anyone last night, so we spent the night tossing and turning from the heat, although thankfully we had a nice breeze towards the middle of the night and were able to open the windows. Today we hear she found someone around 10:30 this morning...so I waited.

And waited.

And I'm STILL waiting. It is now 6:37pm.

Needless to say I'm a bit annoyed. And hot.

The 4th is my favorite holiday all year, so I am hoping that things pick up. The cats have been sprawled all over the floor all day and Annabelle has claimed the spot right under the fan. It's currently mid-80s INSIDE.

Not good. I'd like to leave the bed, but it is so hot...

Twilight

Yes everyone out there, my HUSBAND wanted to be first in line at the midnight showing of Twilight. He's a bigger fan than I am of the movies, and I heard about it quite a bit in the days leading up to its release.

Now, I wouldn't let us go to the midnight showing, but I did give in and say we could go opening day, after he got home from work. So we headed out, got in line behind a bunch of teenage girls, and Adam was giddy and happy. Ok, so he hid his actual giddiness, but he was grinning ear to ear the entire time. ;)

The movie was good, better than the 2nd. And the trailer for Harry Potter in the beginning was exciting, though it sucks that doesn't come out until November.

I was crazy tired all day today from being up late to see it, but I suppose 2 hours of Taylor Lautner's shirtlessness was worth it ;)