At The Flower Shop

On Saturday I went to a few florists with my friend, because I'm helping with the floral arrangements at her wedding reception on Friday. One shop we visited had the most beautiful flowers.

Unfortunately, the owner was rude and less than helpful. We ended up getting everything we needed elsewhere, and it was a much more pleasant experience. But I can't stop thinking about that other place; I want to spend all day there surrounded by gorgeousness (without the crabby lady, of course).

These photos (more on flickr) were all taken with my new used point-and-shoot. It's the same as the one I broke, but it's light blue. Let's hope this one doesn't suffer the same fate. I should probably mention that it was more affordable to get a used replacement than to get the other one fixed. Thank you ebay.

*New personalized contact cards in the shop today. Fun, fun, fun!

It's Here!

Oh my god, you guys! Guess what came last night! Did you say "new camera?" YES!!! I can't believe how quickly it arrived or how much I love it! It's a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi. Our other Digital SLRs (both the same model) were wonderful while they lasted, but this is going to be great.

In other news, I'm participating in Spring Colour Week over at Poppytalk (see the gorgeous Flickr pool here). Today's color is yellow!

A few months ago I strung together four vases (that I made from old light bulbs) and filled them with homemade tissue paper flowers. It's hanging in our living room window - mostly because there was already a ceiling hook there - and I love the way this yellow flower is fading at the edges but still has some strong color in the middle. The edges look a little pink because it's reflecting the fuschia from the pink flower hanging below!

I also took a picture of a lemon for today's yellow theme.

Spring Weather + Problems Focusing

Another camera broke on Friday. First something on the inside was getting stuck and blocking 3/4 of each photo. Eric fixed that with some fiddling, but the focus is all out of whack. Auto-focus doesn't work at all, and manual focus lies to me.

It's a few years old, and we've been told that getting it fixed is just about as pricey as upgrading, sooooo we ordered a new one. It should be on its way! Picture-taking and blog posting will resume in a few days. In the meantime:

Since it was so warm today, I thought I'd share a little piece of spring. I had the windows open all day, did you? [I took this picture in 2007, but edited it today so it's a little different.]

*Check out my latest origami project on the ELM blog (images are a tad blurry because of the broken camera with focus issues).

Super Bowl XLIV

The Super Bowl is my favorite football game of the year, because it means the season is over. Sara and her husband invited us to watch at their apartment. Sara cooked up a delicious feast for us (she wrote about it here)! Before the kickoff, we had a few competitive games of wii bowling and then we settled in to watch the game. Sara and I mostly just talked, and we all ate a lot.

The best part of the game was the halftime show, strictly because The Who's drummer was making the most hilarious faces. Sara and I busted out our cameras and acted like the paparazzi. I think I took 70 pictures, trying to capture him in action. Maybe you had to be there, but the four of us were laughing ourselves silly.

Overall, a great night with great friends. What did you do for the big game?

Black & White Keys

Thanksgiving was a while ago now, but I haven't shared any photos. That's because I didn't really take many. I was sick, and picking up the camera, telling people to smile, and focusing seemed like a lot of work. So I didn't really bother. I did take a few photos at my Aunt & Uncle's house, though.

My Aunt is a wonderful pianist, and her piano is really beautiful. For a little while I was interested in learning to play. I got a small keyboard for Christmas in 6th grade, and during the winter vacation I taught myself to play Silent Night by making notes on the music in an ancient music text book, marking the keys, and pure memorization. I was so proud of myself! And then I lost interest. Maybe because the keyboard was mini, maybe because I got caught up with friends; I don't really know. Even though I didn't pursue it, I still listening to piano msuic and I think they look awfully nice in a living room!

*Don't forget to take a peek at this week's inspiration post.

Ingrid Michaelson In Concert

Last night was wonderful. My sister and I went to see Ingrid Michaelson, and she was fantastic (as expected). Since I broke my new camera, I busted out the old Minolta. I was glad to have it, but remembered why we got a new one. And the battery (and the 3 back-ups I brought) completely died at one point. But I did get a few halfway decent pictures during the show.

The show was sold out, but I got tickets about 5 minutes after they went on sale, so we didn't have to worry.

We were so happy to be there. The only downside was that we stood next to the most annoying girls on Earth. You can see one of them chugging her beer. Yes, I'm pointing her out - that's how obnoxious she was. In order to get away from them we had to move to a space where we couldn't see much, but at least we could enjoy the music without some freak hollering in our ears.

Greg Holden, a musician from the UK, opened for Ingrid. He was good, and he sang the best (only?) cover of "Walking On Sunshine" that I've ever heard. Check out his website to find his music.

After the show we waited around while the crowd was clearing and we saw a guy bringing something backstage to have it signed for a fan, so we ran over and asked if he could get our tickets signed for us. HE DID!

Then we went to the merchandise area to buy one of Greg's CDs (we bought Ingrid t-shirts before the show and I already have all of her albums). We got to talk to him and we shook his hand and got his autograph (she signed the real-looking ticket - which I found on the floor after the show - and he signed the paper ticket I printed at home).

And then we saw her sitting there, signing things. Oh. My. God. It's the most startstruck I've ever been. We talked to her and told her how much we love her and that she's our favorite. I probably sounded like a fool, but I don't even care because it was awesome. (I took a few pictures on Emma's camera, and I hope she posts them on her blog.) The show was part of (RED)Nights and they were giving away free posters signed by Ingrid, so we grabbed those too.

AHHHH! It was a supreme adventure (as Emma would say). We walked home in the rain and in total awe.

Gloomy

Here's a picture to set the mood:

Last time I posted I was in denial, but it's time to face the facts; time to spill the beans. Our new camera? Yeah, I broke it Sunday morning. BROKE IT! We had it for less than a week. Smooth move, I know. I'm so mad at myself and so incredibly disappointed.

Want the back story? Okay, I'll tell you. Last Wednesday I saw a mouse in our kitchen. Then I found 3 little droppings (yes, I just wrote that) in the corner of the counter. How disgusting. I spent time Tursday, Friday, and Saturday checking our cabinets and looking for reasons for it to be there and giving the counters a good scrub down. (I found nothing, and must conclude that it was merely visiting from some other apartment in the building.)

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early. As I made my way to the couch I saw a little piece of debris, and I went to pick it up. It wasn't until I grabbed it that I realized it was some sort of centipede or something. ON THE COUCH! So I grabbed the new camera to take a picture so I could get rid of it before Eric woke up, but still show him what I'd found. After taking the picture, I put the camera on the couch; it was still on with the lens out.

Then I saw it. A mouse poop on the couch. I was so mad that I quickly spun around to go grab a tissue to dispose of the bug and the waste. My spin shifted the rug, which moved the sofa just enough to knock the camera onto the floor.

It fell about a foot and a half, in slow motion, onto the carpet. I saw it happen and I saw the edge of the lens hit the floor. Even so, I thought it's not possible for that little fall to have damaged it, and I continued on my mission to get the nasty things out of our apartment.

After the disposal was complete, I took a look at my camera, with nary a worry. Boy was I surprised when the lens wouldn't retract, but instead made a bad, mechanical noise and then a triple beep while displaying the message: "Lens error, restart camera." I was nearly in tears.

After doing some online research, it appears we'll have to replace the whole lens mechanism thingy. And it looks like it'll cost almost as much as we paid for the camera. So now the camera just sits there, lens out, mocking me. I'm not quite sure what action we'll be taking.

Silver lining: haven't seen any bugs or mice (or evidence of mice) since the incident Sunday morning.

[The photo was taken on our road trip in 2005.]

Meeting New People

Last night we went out to dinner with some HBS folks. We were randomly paired up with a small group of people (9 total) for dinner. We met one couple on campus before walking over to Tory Row to meet the rest of the group, and I took these pictures at HBS while we waited.

We weren't meeting at the restaurant until 8:30, so it was pretty dark out and all the lights were on. It was pretty. (I used the new camera!)

Dinner was nice, but I thought it was too loud for conversation. Plus, we sat at a long rectangular table that wasn't really conducive to a group discussion. I was on one end, so I didn't talk to the people at the other end at all. But it was a good opportunity to meet, or at least see, some of the other students (and one partner). The food was good, and I had a yummy lemonade that reminded me a little of my popsicles; if they put sugar in it, they didn't use much.

Canon Digital Elph

Before we went to San Francisco, we bought a Nikon point-and-shoot. We returned it when we got back, because it just wasn't living up to my expectations. Since then, we've been looking for a replacement.

When we went to the Red Sox Game, our friend Wally was using a Canon that I really liked. The next day I purchased the same camera, used, on Amazon. That night I got a disappointing email informing me that the camera had mistakenly been double-listed, and had actually been sold the day before. Grrr. I kept looking, but the other ones were out of my price range.

Then we were very busy with Eric's family for ten days and the hunt for a camera was put on hold. Last week we found one at a great price and Eric ordered it right away. Then we found out it was a bit of a scam (the battery wasn't included and was a very expensive addition), so we canceled the order. Geez Louise!

BUT, I'm writing today to tell you that we've finally had success! Eric got this little baby on Ebay and it arrived last night:

I'm much more excited about this camera (Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS Digital Elph) than I was about the Nikon (CoolPix S220). There are many more setting options and there's an actual view finder (not just an LCD screen), which is awesome in the sun. It's roughly the same size as the Nikon, and that was my favorite feature of that camera. We haven't really given it a good try yet, but I'm sure you'll be seeing some of the results in upcoming posts!

Note: Eric starts the Analytics Program at HBS tomorrow and I started a new job* yesterday. Our lives are about to be very different and very busy. Wish us luck!

*I will continue to update this blog and work on new designs and custom work for Everything Little Miss.