[ fruity delicious ]

I put a few photographs up for sale on my website. As the rest of my website is completely under construction, please go directly here to check out the available images.

[ i heart... ]

A capella and classic rock combined:

All the Grooviest Online Video in One Place, GroovyGrooves.com

And thanks for the cool wishes. The ac is back on and fabulous!

[ video found on GroovyGrooves.com ]

[ this can't seriously be happening ]

Our air conditioning isn't working.

I'm having flashbacks to last winter, when our heat didn't work for about a week during the coldest winter Newark had in years.

I was told someone would be here "sometime today" to fix it. So I'm stuck home from work waiting.

Dangit.

[ gift to myself ]

After much debate and research, I bought myself a present. My next photo-related purchase was going to be a new printer (I even know which one), and then a new scanner (again, I know which one), but these just called to me.

The Plastic Fantastic box set from Lomography.com.


Five freakin' kickingly cool plastic cameras. Four of which take regular old 35mm film.

Five to ten business days, and I'll have my new babies!

[ image from Lomography.com ]

[ i want... ]

Every single camera on this page. They all sound so much fun. Why are they so damn expensive!?!




[ images from urban outfitters ]

[ lunchbox lust ]

I have serious lunchbox lust.

This thing has the freakin' best color combination ever. AND the three different colors (the red, orange and hot pink) are separate trays for food. AND the hot pink tray has three little compartments. I want it SO freaking bad.




Too bad it's $31.50 (plus shipping).

[ image from www.pearlriver.com ]

[ jesse is the best ]

Yeah, my boyfriend is pretty much the best. Tomorrow is our one-year-anniversary, and tonight he came home from work, with a freakin' awesome surprise: two GORGEOUS red sunflowers. I loooooove them. And him. I definitely love him.






They are beautiful. And they look awesome in the teardrop vases.

[ color inspiration 007 ]

Mmm... waffles. Several yellows and browns, and a sweet blacky-browny-bluey background.

[ apartment vignettes ]

Took some time to photograph some of my favorite corners of the apartment today.

My 100% Italian leather Carnevale mask sitting on some books, and my Golden Hen award for being "Most Likely to Become the Photographer Whose Work We Try To Steal and Sell on EBay."

Jesse's menorah from Israel, a brightly colored Buddha from Marielle, an empty wine bottle from Israel, surrounded by fantasy books: Harry Potter & the Robert Jordan novels.

A handful of my art books. The Polaroid Book and Individuals (GAP ads) are my favorites.

Green beer bottle on a green coaster from last nights dinner.

Buddhas on Books! Little classics, perfect for travel.

Brightly colored candles on awesome silver discs, all from Ikea.

Our coffee table and couch, with some fun accessories and a punch of green.

[ the palm trees swaying in the wind ]

Oh Friday. How I love when it's Friday. Especially now that I work from home on Fridays.

[ I can see a little rabbit jumping around in the grass outside our apartment. ]

I haven't written in a while, but honestly, there isn't much to write about. Life is just work right now. I just work my butt off all week, and then on weekends, Jesse & I basically collapse into a comfortable laziness. It's bad.

We still haven't explored really, or made friends or anything. But! We're taking steps to rectify that situation. I found out about this website called Meetup, and it's website with a bunch of groups on it from different cities. There are groups for just about anything you can think about: books, hiking, yoga, running, different languages, different sports teams.

Anyway, I signed up for it, and am now in two different Meetup groups. One is called Ladies Who Launch, and they have these meetings once a month for newcomers. It's a group for young women who want to start their own business or who want to grow the business they currently have, but aren't sure where to get started. I thought, PERFECT! I've been totally overwhelmed lately with thinking about how to really start FiveGoodGoats Photography & Design and Ampersander Creations. I've been asking Stuart for some advice, and he's been helping me get my thoughts organized, but, wow. So much to think about. Pricing, printers, equipment, clients. Holy moly. It's so much. But I want it, so I'm going to have to figure it out. Hopefully this Ladies Who Launch thing will help me out, and introduce me to some cool people. The meeting I'm going to is in the beginning of October.

The other one, really Jesse & I are signed up for it together, although it's technically just me. It's a group for 20- & 30-somethings who just want to meet new people, makes friends, and have a good time. So we're signed up for that group, and for our first official event! We're going to this bar called the Sandbar in Paradise Valley next Friday. I'm really excited, because the group seems to do a lot of cool stuff, and have a lot of fun. Past events have included hikes, barbecues, parties, seeing shows. Cool stuff.

Well, I certainly wrote a lot for not having much to write about. Now I gotta get to work. Editing, editing, editing.


[ almost lover | a fine frenzy ]

[ avada kedavra and pretzels ]

I had such a weirdo dream.

Lucius Malfoy (yes, from Harry Potter) was infiltrating Hogwarts, which instead of being a castle, was an old mansion. He was sneaking from room to room, killing people and eating pretzels. Yeah. Eating pretzels. He had the werewolf, Fenrir, with him, only instead of being a total badass, he was a complete weenie. He fell over, and woke up all the portraits. And they started screaming for Dumbledore, who came running out of his bedroom, in his pajamas. He was wearing a floor-length nightgown, and a matching hat. And they had the same pattern as the hat that Mickey Mouse wore in Fantasia. So Lucius & Fenrir ran out of the Hogwarts mansion, and ran across the grounds to get out of the gate so they could Apparate. And Lucius apparated, and just left Fenrir there.

But Fenrir got shot. Because there was a civil war battle going on right outside the gate. There were actually rows of Union and Confederate soldiers shooting at each other.

And then the dream cut to Lucius again, and he was chugging water because he was so thirsty after eating all the pretzels.

WHAT?!?

[ part of the effort for #007 ]

Here's an eggplant that Jesse & I cooked a while ago, that I photographed and promptly forgot that I had on my camera. I like the color. So it's also Color Inspiration 006.

Double whammy. Gotta love it.

[ etsy shop ]

Well, I finally opened (for real, as it's actually been open since June) my Etsy shop!


I put in three sets of screenprinted greeting cards that I made in the spring. I have eight more sets to put up, but I really need to get some work done before I do that.

Visit it if you like: http://ampersanderbound.etsy.com

Yay!

[ signs in the sky ]

I don't see much beyond my drive to work. I think I need to explore more.

[ happy birthday, i guess ]

Brilliantly illustrated, absolutely hilarious, although awkward and most likely inappropriate, greeting cards: BaldGuyGreetings.com

[ click the image to read the text ]


[ image from BaldGuyGreetings.com ]

[ it was inevitable ]

Working on #016: Expand my literary influences - one new author a month.

Jesse & I went to the library today, got library cards and I took home two books. The one I decided to start first isn't a new author, as I read not only the author, but the book in high school. But I hated it then, because of my jerk-of-an-English-teacher, O'B. The man was an ass, and everyone hated English that year. Every book was miserable. But, since then, I've reread a couple books I read that semester, and loved them. So I'm giving this a try too.

"Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

First sentence is a killer opening:

[ It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love. ]

Pure excellence.

Book number two that I got today: "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch. I just happened to see it on the shelf (as "F" is near to "G"), and decided on a whim to grab it. I'd heard of the movie, but never saw it. I typically like the books better, anyway. That one will be a new author. So, hopefully I'll read both this month.

[ in the middle of the pouring rain ]

I've been away for a couple days! I'm such a slacker. Well, not really, because the reason I haven't been posting is because I've been working my butt off, and I'm always exhausted when I get home.

[ plus Jesse got me re-hooked on Civilization IV... my English civilization is kicking ass! ]

Anyway, slight change in my work life. I came to the conclusion that shooting in the studio with Brenda wasn't going to work for me. I'm not a studio girl... not in the traditional sense, that is. I find no passion in setting up lights, and posing people. I want to catch people doing what they do best: being themselves. So, instead of being a second shooter for her, I'm just going to be editing and designing albums. And instead of being paid hourly, I'll be paid by project. And instead of working at her house on her computer, I'll be working at my apartment on my computer.

This is all very very good, as it will save me time and money, since I won't be driving all over the Valley for work five days a week. Now I'll only be heading down to Avondale three times a week, instead of five, as I'll be doing three full days of work at Stuart's, instead of four three-hour-days and one full day.

It'll be different, but good.

In my not-work-related-life, I've been futzing with Photoshop a lot. Just fiddling with settings, seeing what everything does. The following two images have come out of my futzing:

[ kelly with flowers ]

[ marielle with trees ]

Both are photographs that I shot, with other photographs I shot added over them. I like 'em. It's fun and different, maybe even a little grungy. But they're making me smile.

And no, the subject of my post has nothing to do with the post. The song was just stuck in my head.

[ walking in memphis by marc cohn ]

[ like a candle in the wind ]

Well, more like just a candle. No wind involved.

[ prepare to bow ]

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Excellency Rebecca the Precocious of Featherstonehaugh St Fanshaw Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

That's my new name. Bitchin.

[ sickness ]

Being sick sucks.

Yesterday and today, woke up feeling fine. Showered, ate breakfast, got ready for work.

Vomit.

Blah.

In bed all day yesterday, and today looks like it's gonna be a repeat.