....

It's been one year since we arrived in Santa Fe! I remember being so excited when we reached the state border. In fact, I almost wrecked because I was trying to take pictures of the "Welcome to New Mexico" sign and the sign above. Not too smooth. It's been a great year in the southwest and we're looking forward to the next one.

I am a very tired girl this morning. The cats never let me sleep, but sometimes it is worse than usual, and this is one of those weeks. The lack of sleep is really catching up to me and starting to affect my spirits. Just. Want. To. Sleep.

Yesterday also took a lot out of me between the news we got at the vet and the six trips to grocery stores that I mentioned over there in the sidebar. Rocky has an abnormally low glucose level which might not mean anything, but it could also mean that there is something going on inside of him. The vet mentioned tumors, cancer...not good stuff. But, considering that he is acting perfectly normal at home, we're hoping that all these tests are for naught and that he is fine. This morning we're taking him in for an ultrasound. They are going to check his heart and now his abdomen as well. He's already been to the vet twice this week so I feel badly about putting him through even more trauma. Hopefully it all goes well.

I'll check in later with an update on Rocky and I'll try to post my Friday Flickr faves as well!

The Automatic 220

Sheryl sent this lovely gift to me a month or so ago and I have been having so much fun with it. (Thanks again!!) It's actually one of the plastic models, including a plastic lens, but I tell you what, it takes some nice pictures. I've been playing around with the film speed settings and light/dark switch a lot and this experimentation has led to some interesting results. One of my faves, taken in Albuquerque with full sun, actually came out dark because I overestimated the power of the film. But I love the picture.


Looks like twilight with shining stars. But no, it's poorly exposed with specs on it. Nonetheless, a happy accident!

Another fave, and not an accident is this one.


I've used pack film before, but lately I've learned a lot more about it and while my first love is always going to be the integral films, I'm really into using pack film now. Which is particularly good since after all the Polaroid film is gone or too expensive for me, there will still be Fuji pack film.

Off to water the garden now. Here's hoping we get some rain soon!!

Mom's Garden (among other things)

Hello. I keep meaning to be a better blogger and it just ain't happening unless I am babbling about Polaroid something or other. I even tried to get back on the Twitter bandwagon, the way of a lazy blogger. But no, that fizzled out quickly.

Things are going well. It's been almost one year since we left Pittsburgh and we're still loving it out here. It's hard not to love it. I mean, how could I possibly complain about almost daily sunshine?! It definitely good for my spirits and well-being.

And Spring has officially Sprung out here and I can't get enough of the flowering trees and tulips and flowers galore. We had dinner with my parents at their house last week and so I had to take some shots of my mom's garden, always so very lovely.


Peach tree blossoms. Can't wait for more yummy peach jam that mom makes!!


The peach/apricot tree, absolutely spectacular! Half of it gets light pink blossoms and half of it gets dark pink almost red blossoms. It is really only noticeable from a distance and so I admire it every morning as I run along the river (as I can see my parents' property from there).


And tulips. I love tulips.

So yeah, you'll be seeing lots of mom's garden in the months ahead. I can't wait until the peonies bloom!

We took Rocky to the vet this morning for his blood work. If you recall, last November, we found out that he has a slight heart murmur so the vet recommended we have more tests done. Considering that he acts totally normally, healthy appetite (uh, we're talking about Rocky here!) and regular exercise, etc., the vet isn't too worried about it, but we need to be sure. On Friday we are taking him in for an ultrasound so we had to get his x-rays from our regular vet. Here's are two views of Rocky's insides:





Aww, my baby boy! Fingers crossed that we find out that he is totally fine!

So that's that for now. Let's see if I can try writing once or twice a week...

'Roid Week, Day Five

Alas, yesterday was the end of Spring 'Roid Week! Total photos submitted to the group - 2,084!! Awesome. This past week was the most fun I've had on Flickr. So many mind-blowing shots, lots of new Pola-lovers discovered. Here are my faves from yesterday.


1. float, 2. snow angel, 3. do not park, 4. .., 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. dodge ball, 8. Untitled, 9. golden days of spring and summer, 10. downtrodden, 11. King Kong, 12. Entrance, 13. Untitled, 14. omaha at night..., 15. Untitled, 16. RW #5: Faraway Lands, 17. Dome of the White Sulfur Spring, 18. rock on

Created with fd's flickr toys.

'Roid Week, Day Four

1,154 and counting! Lots of great kitty cat shots today.


1. feed me, 2. lake ontario, 3. tufted. polished. on tap., 4. Untitled, 5. lily glows, 6. Rainy Days and Mondays..., 7. a lonely day, 8. i heart petals, 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. Untitled

Created with fd's flickr toys.

'Roid Week, Day Three

1,176 and counting...

1. Untitled, 2. one, 3. Stratified, 4. Untitled, 5. Dick's, 6. Untitled, 7. the black gate, 8. Untitled, 9. forsythia, 10. Untitled, 11. Store Front II, 12. Untitled, 13. sheep, 14. The Frontier, 15. Untitled, 16. miss kitty

Created with fd's flickr toys

'Roid Week, Day Two

At this very moment, there are already 756 submissions to the pool. Awesome! Here are some of my faves from the day.


1. I Love, 2. eagles-nest-trail, 3. Untitled, 4. lowest point in the western hemisphere, 5. The Reality of Spring, 6. lurve, 7. A week of Polaroids 3, 8. Skyline Blossoms, 9. day 151 : 365 april 22

(Number 7 won't show up in the mosaic for some reason, but you can click on the text link to view it.)

Created with fd's flickr toys

'Roid Week 2008!

It's 'Roid Week on Flickr, starting today, and I highly recommend that you dust off that Polaroid and start taking pictures! Even if you aren't a Flickr user, go buy one last pack of film (or two) and take some shots before it's all gone. There's nothing like a Polaroid.

Me, I have plenty of film for the time being, so in a way I am in denial about the whole thing. And then it hits me. Eventually, all the packs I have will be gone, I'll open the fridge and there will be NO MORE POLAROID FILM. Ahhhh, it breaks my heart.

Not to say that I am making great works of art, or even doing much more than taking photos of cats, flowers and Will like I always do, but you know, it makes me happy. So damn happy. And recently, it has pushed me to try new cameras and settings and films and it's all so good. So fun. It's really gotten the old creative juices flowing.

So I can't help repeating, if you have a Polaroid camera, go ahead and buy a couple of packs of film. Take pictures of your cat, your lover or at a rock show. Not only will it make you smile, it'll make the people with you smile too.

Okay, total dorkiness is over now.

Um, so yeah, here are a few of my faves from 'Roid Week posted today.


1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. Exposed, 5. Diana_Holga_017, 6. desert gas station

Created with fd's flickr toys

flickr faves

1. Untitled, 2. The Expired Future, 3. Untitled, 4. light_shed, 5. Cambridge, Mass., March 2008, 6. Untitled, 7. Balcony (Santiago de Cuba), 8. Untitled, 9. RA BLER

Created with fd's flickr toys.

Day 19 Polaroid Project

I used to check into Day 19 regularly and then somewhere along the line, the link disappeared from my bookmarks and I forgot about it. Jeremy and Claire Weiss are wonderful photographers and so I was happy to be reminded of them again recently via a post on Flickr:

Started this about a year ago and have already shot over 150 people that we feel are doing cool shit in the world. We shoot 1 4x5 type 79 each (about $5 a shot). Rumour has it there will be other companies quickly filling the void of Polaroid leaving the instant film market, but then we'll have to call it the "instant film project".

Check out the fabulous series of 4x5 portraits.

Time Capsule

Another nifty little Photojojo thing to do if you have a Flickr account. Sign up for the Photojojo Time Capsule and every couple of weeks, you'll get an email with a selection of your most interesting photos from a year ago. Just to refresh your memory.

I've gotten two so far. The week of March 15 which reminded me that I used to sew...we went to Lulu's birthday party and wore masks...and that I *love* that picture of the glitter and chandelier. (I have to admit when I saw the title of the picture before the actual picture loaded, I was expecting to see T. Glitter and a chandelier!) The second one came this week and it contains some of my favorite pictures ever.

I wish it went further back than a year though. I've been on Flickr since June of 2004 and I'd be more curious to see pictures from 3 or 4 years ago. But oh well, the blast from the past year is fun too.

flickr faves

1. i'll tell you how the sun rose......, 2. red white and blue, 3. polaroid 3, 4. Untitled, 5. day dreaming, 6. save polaroid, 7. autumn, 8. Um..., 9. Untitled

Created with fd's flickr toys.

Save Polaroid on ABC

A short clip short clip on Polaroid and Save Polaroid.

Company Video

Via Jami - The video for "Poison Ivy" from Company's new album. Directed by Andrew Deutsch from Home. Beautiful song, beautiful video. The new album, Old Baby, is available from Brah Records.

flickr faves

1. self portrait, 2. 1002081, 3. evening, 4. today. i really miss him., 5. Untitled, 6. Blue Sky Yokohama - 04, 7. Untitled, 8. roses, 9. pola.a.day: mar15a

Created with fd's flickr toys

Happy Spring!

Today I purchased my all-time dream chaise lounge chair.



I love the old school webbed lawn chairs so I was delighted when we stumbled across this one while buying more Polaroid film at Wal-Mart. This lounge chair is so perfect for the backyard. I can already see the books being read and the summer cocktails being sipped while I lounge in it. It was a bit windy for sitting outside today, but I soaked up some sun for awhile nonetheless. Watched the clouds float by and took some pictures.



Rocky was out there with me, sitting in the shade of the tarp.



Ah yes, the perfect first day of Spring!

*Sigh*

Who knew that my need for breakfast this morning would lead to a dent in our car? Not me. If I had known, I would skipped the trip to Whole Foods.

But...hungry and craving eggs with toast, I discovered that our bread was green and we had no eggs. And really, we didn't have any other good prospects for breakfast. So while Will searched for his 2006 tax file, I went to Whole Foods. Turned into a lane to find a parking space, saw a SUV backing out, blasted my horn, smash, dent, car accident in the parking lot. Nothing like getting into a fender bender with low blood sugar. I basically jumped out of my car and said, "oh my god, I am starving and need food and now THIS..." Fortunately the other driver does have insurance and was quite nice about the whole thing. I mean, it was not my fault. Called the police, blah, blah, blah. He gave us a form to fill out and split the scene. Didn't even ask what happened.

So here's my new dent:



So glad that we now have to get this fixed after already dropping 1500 bucks on the car recently. Granted insurance will pay for this, but nevertheless, not a happy thing. I was amazingly calm through the whole incident. Did my grocery shopping. And then on my way home, I started thinking about how I haven't had an accident since I was 16 and I don't know, it just upset me. And then I discovered that I bought the damn gel toothpaste instead of paste paste! The horror!

But, like my calm husband said, at least no one was hurt, the car runs and, well, it could have been worse. I *really* felt like doing my taxes after the parking lot incident. But we did and they're done and the wee bit money that I get back from the feds, I get to send to the City of Pittsburgh. Looking forward to next year when we have only federal and one state to do. No city.

So yeah, accidents happen.

Polaroid Love

I am so loving the Polaroid SLR 680. The clarity of the pictures never ceases to amaze me. So glad that I finally managed to purchase one.

Some of my favorites from the week (from my own photostream):


The Green Door


Apple Tree


Into The Sun


Untitled Diptych

I also had fun playing with the Holgaroid, something I haven't done in over a year. I set it up on the tripod and took a few self-portraits and a few shots in the backyard. Most of them didn't get exposed correctly, but still, it was fun. It made me sad that the type of film it takes is no longer available...types 87, 88, 89, etc. And of course soon, *none* of the damn Polaroid film will be available. The thought of it continues to break my heart. I've got a pretty good stock of 600 film right now, but I still get moments of panic and want to run out and buy more. And the prices are still rising. I saw it listed somewhere for $50 a two-pack. That's highway robbery! Anyway, here are two of the better shots from the Holgaroid:





Hope you all are having great weekends! Today we're off to my parents' house to do our taxes. Fun, fun!

flickr faves

1. Chandelier, Golden Gate Club, 2. Untitled, 3. sea, see, 4. Untitled, 5. i'm hoping for ..., 6. traveling by train, 7. IDUV_022, 8. Scarf, 9. Trees

Created with fd's flickr toys

Photojojo

Photojojo = a nifty photo newsletter.

Ten Ways to Love Polaroid Before It's Too Late

Get Postcards From Around the World

Some Links

Show Me Anything. Really love the simplicity of this site.

And the installations of Sarah Applebaum are absolutely amazing. Go see for yourself.

Old Polaroids

With Polaroid at the forefront of my mind these days, I've been wanting to find my dad's old pictures. Last evening we had dinner at my mom and dad's so I dug out some of the old photo albums. I scanned a bunch of them today so be prepared for lots of old pictures on my Flickr.

I love this shot of my mom sitting in the grass.



It was taken sometime in 1982 in the courtyard of the house I grew up in here in Santa Fe.

I also love these shots that my grandfather took with a Polaroid Land Camera.





Both shots were taken on 24 November 1966, Thanksgiving Day. Pictured are my grandma (paternal) and my uncle, my dad's youngest brother.

I have no idea what model of Polaroid my grandfather had. I asked my dad if he remembered his dad having a Polaroid and he said that if he had one, it was one that the government issued to him for work. I was hoping that maybe he had some secret Polaroid collection that I never knew about!

This Week

First, a special birthday shout out to Leah in Pittsburgh...Happy 30th!

This week has sort of been all over the place for me. On Monday, I *finally* was able to purchase the Polaroid camera that I have been wanting for a couple of years, the SLR 680.



I came across an eBay seller who just happened to be located in Santa Fe. It was great because I actually got to test the camera before I bought it. And boy, it is a sweet camera. I'm quite happy with the purchase, no matter that the film it uses is going to be gone in the next year or so. (Yesterday Will and I bought 10 2-packs of 600 film at Wal-Mart. Yes!) Of course I haven't been out much this week so most of the pictures I've taken are of the cats.



It takes close-ups at 10.5 inches. Nice.

That day we also had to take Rocky to the vet. Not so nice. We had to take him again on Wednesday evening because he developed an abscess and it needed to be lanced.



It's healing up nicely though and he's been a great patient. He's a little grumbly because he has to be inside. He got lucky yesterday because we got snow. About six inches! So he was allowed to go out to the backyard since we can close the gates and he can't get out. The snow on the ground meant that he wouldn't roll in the dirt and get it in his wound. He tunneled around out there all morning. So cute.



What else? Oh, I had to rip out all the 21-inches of knitting that I had done on the vest project. Argh. I was not a happy knitter that evening. But I got back on it and hopefully I'll do it right this next time around.

Also, our friend Trevor has an opening at the College of Santa Fe Fine Arts Gallery tonight and there's a big write-up about it in the Pasatiempo. And yes, this means that we'll actually be leaving the house this evening.

We've only watched one movie this week, Away From Her. I was really looking forward to it, but then I ended up not being that impressed by it. It's a heavy story and it made both Will and I think a lot about growing old and perhaps having to deal with an ill spouse. But it seemed really disjointed to me, and maybe that's the way it was supposed to be considering the subject matter, but I don't know. I just didn't love it.

So there you have it. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and doing forget to change your clocks!!

flickr faves

A special Polaroid-only edition today!


1. 110+4, 2. "I'm Throwin Rocks Tonight", 3. Untitled, 4. lines and lights, 5. in the balcon, 6. Water Drop (March 1), 7. rabbit, 8. makes up for such short goodbyes

Created with fd's flickr toys.

SAVE POLAROID

Save Polaroid website and Save Polaroid on Flickr.

Polaroid group on Flickr.

An amazing collection of work at Polaroid.

More great work to be seen at Polanoid.

Price gouging on eBay. And everywhere. The prices keep going up at B&H and Adorama and currently most places don't even have any film in stock. It's rather nerve-racking and I imagine it's only going to get worse.

My Polaroid collection on Flickr.

flickr faves

1. 686, 2. One last storm, 3. IMG_2718_tone, 4. Untitled, 5. brillobox huh 010, 6. Untitled

Created with fd's flickr toys.

So Not Good With Titles Sometimes

We went to Albuquerque last Saturday. It was a good time. We got to ride around town with my sister in her fancy Mercedes. You can warm your ass up in the front seat. Pretty nifty.

Anyway, we had lunch with my sister and two of my nieces at the Flying Star Cafe in Nob Hill. I remember it as the Double Rainbow back in the day. I had a BLT that was drenched in butter and mayonnaise. It kind of freaked me out. After lunch, we walked around and checked out some of the cool shops around Nob Hill. That area has changed so much since I lived there (way back in the early 90's), but some of the shops remain the same. I've always loved the paper store that I think is actually called Paper. That's where I bought the Lotta Jansdotter postcards and the sweet vintage cat card in the photo above. They have great cards and a huge selection of journals, a dangerous place for me to be. I have a hard time resisting paper products.

Eventually we made it down to the Buffalo Exchange, another store that's been around since way back when. I was hoping to find some new spring duds, but no such luck. I did finally talk my nieces into letting me take their photo.



I lugged around 3 cameras and took one picture. Nice. I really wanted to spend more time with the girls, but Cassidy had a boy/girl get-together to attend and Caroline had plans with her dad. So we headed back to the West Side with my sis and ended up going to see Juno. I'd already seen it, but I loved it so didn't mind seeing it again. And then it was back to Santa Fe. A quick trip but better than nothing. We haven't been anywhere in freakin forever.

This week has been mellow. Work. Knitting. Watching movies. We rented We Own The Night, American Gangster and 3:10 To Yuma. 3:10 To Yuma was the best of the bunch. I thought We Own The Night and American Gangster were terribly mediocre. For tonight we have The Darjeeling Limited which I am excited about. Hopefully it delivers.

And speaking of going places, we're hoping to be able to take a vacation this summer. First on our list is getting to Maine for the wedding of two good friends. We're thinking about taking the train out there. If we do it, we'll probably stop in Pittsburgh for a day or two, New York for a couple of days and then to Boston where we'll rent a car and drive to Maine. I've never been to Maine and have always wanted to go there so we'd probably spend 5 days or so up there. Then back to Boston and fly home. We'll see though, it might be more than our budget can stand. I've just been wanting to take a train trip again. I took the train out east from Albuquerque in the early 90's and it was such an experience. I met some of the strangest folks. Good times. And I figure it would be less stressful than flying both ways considering the travel anxiety I get around flying.

So there you go, I'm either totally neurotic or totally boring. Or I don't write at all. No wonder I have like two readers out there. I'll be back tomorrow with my Flickr favs.

flickr faves

1. Room no. 1, 2. 20080113, 3. zickig, 4. acceptance, 5. Watermelon, Mercado Municipal, 6. a tree on a hill

Created with fd's flickr toys.

Just What I Needed

I was off today and I was very determined to relax after stressing myself out for way too many days in a row. No errands, no cleaning, no thinking. Okay, so I did do some thinking, but I did my best to quiet some of the chaos in my head. I watched two not so good movies and worked on my latest knitting project, the Accidentally On Purpose Vest from Stitch-n-Bitch Nation. Usually one of the cats will eventually come sit with me while I am knitting which I love because they keep me warm. But today, not one but *both* of them hopped up on the couch and settled down next to me. A first, I believe. And oh how sweet it was!

So, on the job front, I did not get the new job so neuroses and stress have quickly come to an end. I'm not really disappointed since I had quite a few misgivings about the whole thing and according to my recruiter, it wasn't me. Yeah, I know, but this business exec. really didn't seem to know what he wanted so I am not terribly surprised. Apparently he decided he needed to "rethink" how much he was willing to shell out for an assistant. So there you go. Overall, a learning experience for me so it's all fine and dandy.

The End of An Era

Does This It Explain It?

Virgo Horoscope
(Aug 23 - Sep 22)

This Full Moon Eclipse is in Virgo, overwhelming you with complex emotions. Your feelings have been intensifying for the past few days, but now you must acknowledge what you feel in your heart, even if it creates additional problems. Although you cannot ignore the facts, things won't settle down until you surrender your irrational need for logic. [via tarot.com]

I slept slightly better last night, but I am still overtired and thus filled with anxiety about what direction I should follow. I am so conflicted and have not felt this out of sorts in a very long time. I don't know if I should read that as an indication that I should NOT make a job change in my life or if it is just fear holding me back. All I know is that my mind will not stop today. I am totally obsessing and it is not particularly rational or productive. Here's hoping for some good sleep and better thinking mañana.

Feeling A Little Distraught

You're either on the bus or off the bus. Right now I feel like I am UNDER the bus.

I am dead tired, distraught and in tears...not because anything is so bad, but because I cannot deal when I am overly tired. And I don't mean just a little on the tired side. I mean, OVERLY TIRED. My current boss is quite understanding when I have this problem, but in addition to that job, I had a job interview today which was short and sweet and hard to really absorb in my zombie-like state. I have no clarity of mind when I am like this and so when my recruiter called, I should have said, "I need to sleep on this..." but instead I said, "okay, okay and okay," and now I don't know WTF I have done. I have turned my quiet little comfortable existence upside down in some ways. And it's probably okay. Once I get some sleep, I may realize that it is all fine and dandy. But right now I feel like I have made a bunch of big ass mistakes. But see, this all started because I let myself get too comfortable and maybe, just maybe, I should challenge myself instead of taking the softer, gentler path. But you know, when you don't know what you want to do, it's hard to leave one job for another because, well, neither of them are the dream job. It's only recently that I have even come up with a dream job and it's one that I probably can't have. I want to work for the NFL. No, seriously. I want to be that person who funnels historical facts into the commentators headphones. Or something like that. And of course that's not actually going to happen, at least not in Santa Fe and, well, we're not going to be moving anytime soon. So in a way, for me, a job is a job is a job. And I prefer a job that lets me have a life as well which is exactly what my current job does. Perfecto, no? No. I just fear that I have signed on for too much now, but hey, maybe making some extra cash will be good considering that every time I see things like this on the internet, it makes me totally panic and buy more film.

I hope I sleep tonight and this all makes sense to me in the morning. Good grief.

240 Miles Later...

...Cat Found Unharmed.

I love happy endings like this. And I guess there is something to be said about putting a microchip in pets.

I Wish I Could Sleep

(Polaroid Spectra shot of the lovely Valentine's Day tulips.)

Insomnia is wearing me down again. After many weeks of better sleep, the past week has been far too many nights of laying awake for hours and hours. Last night was the worst as I have a big day today and all I could think about was how tired I would be. Sometime around two I finally fell asleep, but I still feel pretty out of it this morning. Tired, anxious, on edge. Lack of sleep brings about much anxiety for me which is not a good thing. Here's hoping I get through the day without screwing things up. Or getting overly stressed and upset about the decisions that need to be made.

It all feels too heavy right now. And it doesn't need too.

flickr faves

1. Untitled, 2. pink january, 3. 20071222, 4. Letting Go Was A Lie, 5. .791., 6. the ten, 7. Untitled,
8. Kitty, Frederick Street, 9. Untitled

Created with fd's flickr toys.

Good Things Are Afloat

Hope you all had a enjoyable Valentine's Day yesterday, if you are into that sort of thing. I don't have any strong feelings about the day myself, but I certainly don't mind getting a bouquet of lovely white tulips from my sweet husband! I gave him the oh so romantic gift of SLASH! We had tilapia tacos for dinner and finally watched Once which I think we've had for about a month now. (Not making very good use of the money I pay out to Netflix every month!) It was a super sweet movie and the soundtrack is so beautiful. I mean, it is a movie about music, and wow, yeah, I really loved it. In fact, I downloaded the soundtrack this morning and I am listening to it this very moment. Good stuff.

I should also mention that I did make it to see The Savages. It's pretty damn depressing, but a good movie. I saw it with my mom and her comment was that she hopes she never gets that old.

Regarding the title of this post, I say good things are afloat because I had a really productive interview at an employment agency yesterday. Shocking, I know. I generally have very low expectations when it comes to employment agencies, but the person I met with yesterday seemed to get what I'm about which is a nice change. I'm not actually in serious job hunting mode, but the agency had a listing that I felt I should investigate. I love my current employer and the job itself is entertaining most of the time, but it's not a situation that is going to change very much with time. I think that if Will and I are really going to be here in Santa Fe for a long time, I'll probably feel more fulfilled if I have a work situation with the potential for growth. It's so easy for me to let myself be stagnate, I have to be careful. So anyway, I don't know if anything will come out of the meeting that I had, but it made me feel excited, like something good is going to happen.

I'll leave you with a photo of my sweet Rocky.



Both cats have been so happy with the warmer weather. Rocky likes to sit in the flower beds in the backyard. I often shut the gate so he can't get out and I think it makes him feel safe. We're supposed to get anywhere from 3-5" of snow tonight...we'll see if the weather folks are right. Will and I are going snowshoeing for the first time ever on Sunday so it'd be nice to have some fresh snow. Happy weekends to you all!

P.S. I'll post my flickr favs a little later.

Not Just Another Internet Rumor

Sad, but true, Polaroid abandons instant photography.

Hopefully Fuji or some other company decides to pick up the slack. I love using Polaroid film and the "instant" nature of digital photography cannot be compared to the old school instant photography. *Sigh.*

This means I will continue to stock up on 600 film before the prices start getting totally jacked up and it disappears altogether.

flickr faves

1. The Perfect Snow, 2. Sometimes, that is just that, 3. awesome color with kid millions, 4. Untitled, 5. Santiago de Cuba (Havana Club), 6. Behind the Madonna, 7. Untitled, 8. Untitled, 9. butterfly

Created with fd's flickr toys.

GIANTS WIN!

Need I say more? No, but I will anyway. I can't tell you how joyous we were to see "The Path to Perfection" come to an end. Enough about the damn Patriots already. See, they are not so perfect after all. And I suspect that the whole media lovefest over the Patriots probably went to their heads just enough to make them think they actually were perfect. Or superheroes. Sometimes it pays to be the underdog.

Anyway, I am thrilled the Giants won and we are happy that post-season is over so we can actually do things on Sundays again. Yesterday was the last day of stuffing ourselves with food and beer until next season.

After the game, it really seemed to me that the announcers were all so in shock that they had no idea what to say. They truly thought the Pats would take it all and had no back-up plan.

Any given Sunday.

And what have you been doing?

Well hello there, if there is anyone out there. I barely come here anymore so how can I expect you to visit? At any rate, I have the best intentions and keep meaning to post more around here, but then, you know, I end up knitting instead or watching movies or running errands. And so on.

Our lives here in Santa Fe are pretty quiet most of the time...no rock shows to report on or embarrassing party pictures to post. Just me, my husband, our two cats and the days passing by. In the best of ways.

So, I am just going to ramble on in no particular order about what we've been doing. Or not doing.

We don't go to movies very often, but this past week, we went to see No Country For Old Men. We both liked it and in fact, felt it was one of the best new movies we've seen in a long time. I highly recommend seeing it if you haven't yet (it's been showing for awhile) and it's still playing at your local movie theater. It's worth seeing on the big screen. A few days later, I went to see Juno and I absolutely loved it. Imagine that, two of the best movies I have seen in a long time, all in one week. Next up, The Savages.

It's been bitterly cold for the past month or so. We had a break for about a week and then it started again. I guess once February rolls around, no matter where I live, I am just done with winter. Right now I am tired of freezing at home, freezing at work and wearing the same damn outfits every week because I don't have that many sweaters. Not that we moved here expecting a warm winter - I grew up here, I know that it gets cold - but the low temperatures that we've had are unusual for Santa Fe. It's been anywhere from 0 to 10 degrees for many mornings. That's cold. The saving grace is the sunshine. The afternoons are always somewhat tolerable just because the sun warms things up. And while I have had the winter blues for a couple of days, I think the daily sunshine has also saved me from a longer period of the winter doldrums. (Knock on wood.) So come on Spring! No matter that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow.

Have I mentioned that it's been bitterly cold here? Oh yeah, I just did. And our cozy little home is not so cozy. We have gas wall heaters and a couple of electric baseboard heaters and they are just not that efficient. If I stand directly in front of the heater, it's nice and warm. Anywhere else, not so warm. And gas prices here are so high that even though we freeze half the time, we still have to pay out the ass for it. The utilities for our much smaller house here are significantly higher than they were for our four-bedroom house with a basement and an attic in Pittsburgh. Nothing like living in an expensive city!

Oh, earlier today while browsing Flickr, I discovered that Polaroid 779 film has been discontinued. Sucks. Fortunately I have a few packs in the fridge, but still, I wish I had gone ahead and ordered more in early January when I was ordering other film. It's already being listed on Ebay for exorbitant prices. The fact that both Adorama and B&H are both out of Polaroid Spectra film made me panic and I ordered some from a place via Amazon. Hopefully it shows up as the last time I ordered from this place, they just randomly canceled my order. Apparently Polaroid is going to stop manufacturing the OneStep cameras this year, or maybe they already have, I already forgot the specifics. That's not the end of world since I have plenty of OneStep cameras, but it doesn't bode well for the continuing production of the regular old Polaroid 600 film. One day it too will be gone. And what a sad day that will be. In the meantime, I may have to buy a bunch of the 4-packs at Sam's Club before they disappear.

My trouble with insomnia continues although I am sleeping better than I was there for awhile. I don't have trouble falling asleep at night, I have trouble staying asleep. Or maybe I don't actually have insomnia, I just have two bratty cats. Anyway, I've started keeping a "sleep journal" by the bed. Basically I just keep track of what time I go to bed, what I eat and drink, what time(s) I wake up...I don't know, I am just trying to figure out if there is a pattern to my insomnia. From what I read online, as you get older, the worse you sleep. Fabulous! Another thing I do every night is pop in the ol' earplugs. I actually hate having them in my ears, but they do help in blocking out the cat noise. The cats are pretty smart though. The past three or four nights, Rocky has been lobbing himself onto to the bed causing the bed to rock back and forth. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying this is, particularly at two in the morning. If that doesn't rouse one of us, he starts smackdown time with Simon. Now that Simon is sleeping on Will, at least he gets the brunt of the smackdown. And if that doesn't work, Rocky's final tactic is to stand on my back, forcing himself to weigh as much as possible. That usually works because it seriously feels like he is trying to crush me. Yes, our worlds revolve around the cats.

Other than going to movies, not sleeping well and freezing to death, we haven't been doing a whole lot. Working, of course. My job is slow right now and Will is heading into super crazy busy time with a de-installation/installation happening next week. I've been knitting pretty constantly for the past month or so. I love it, although I need to move on from the hat making kick soon. Hats are just so quick; I love the instant gratification. My football obsession has subsided since the Steelers lost their first play-off game and every other team that I was for during the play-offs lost as well. Now I am stuck rooting for the Giants tomorrow. Because we all know how I feel about the Patriots. Hate them. With a passion. I started feeling nauseous this morning as I read the "Tom Brady Is Perfect" article in the Post-Gazette. Gag. Sure, they'll be making history tomorrow if they win, but do I care? No. I find them to be entirely unlikable. Not to mention the cheating. Um, Mom taught me that cheaters never win but apparently that's not true. And god, I hate to even mention Arlen Specter, but I have to say, I always wondered myself why Goodell trashed all the evidence. Oh well, whoever wins tomorrow, I'm actually just looking forward to it all being over so I can have my Sundays back again.

On the music front, I've been listening to the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss CD (Raising Sand) that Will gave me for Christmas. Also Led Zeppelin Mothership, the latest Cat Power record, Jukebox, and the soundtrack from Juno. I love the soundtrack from Juno. Love it. The Cat Power record is good too, but after a few listens, it still is nowhere near being my favorite Cat Power record. I think I prefer it when she does her own stuff. I am sure there are a zillion other albums out that I should be listening to, but I am bad at keeping up with the music stuff especially without CC to burn stuff for me. Oh, I got the new Mary J. Blige too which I dig.

Okay, wow, that was long-winded. Back to knitting now. Go Giants! Hope ya'll have a fantastic weekend.

flickr faves

1. ., 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Polaroid 600, 6. warmsun


Created w/ fd's flickr toys

Happy New Year!

Gratuitous Cat Video #6

happy holidays and flickr faves

Hello! I don't think that I will have time for a proper post anytime soon so I'm going to wish you all a happy solstice and happy holidays right now! Hope everyone has a wonderful time, whether or not you celebrate Christmas, and a very happy and prosperous 2008!

We've been busy with the house renovations and now we are also busy preparing for our holiday guests and Christmas festivities. This is the first time I've been home for the holidays in about 7 or 8 years and I am super excited. I think it's going to be a blast.

And now for this week's Flickr faves:

1. I hate Christmas., 2. hills, working on his next album ..., 3. juli & will gave US a polaroid., 4. Shout it from the roof tops., 5. Untitled, 6. the first *kiss*, 7. 2007.12.07.21, 8. Untitled, 9. Nothing is ever as good as it was, 10. Vines, 11. Untitled, 12. raul andres walking home

Created w/ fd's flickr toys

Elf Yourself

So far I am finding the nifty Elf Yourself endlessly amusing. Yesterday I spent a good part of the morning making friends into elves and then sending the link to them. Today I made one of me and my boys and it cracks me up every time I watch it. Rocky makes such a handsome elf! So go check out our dance and then make your own! Feel free to post a link in my comments if you do make one.

Happy Elfing!