merriment

*** watch this video ***

so i must tell you, i'm a complete copycat. i saw this on posted on another blog and had to put it up on mine. apparently it's been viewed about 13 million times on youtube, so i'm a bit behind. normally, i'd just put the youtube video up, but then i read that there was an HD version. i watched that, and it blew me away. so click on the link above. but only if you're ready to abandon all measure of cynicism and smile like a complete nerd for about 4 and a half minutes.

enjoy!

it rips through the silence...

i keep coming back to this song, elephant gun. months after i heard it for the first time. i had to listen to it twice on my drive home tonight. and the video, so bizarre and enchanting and bewildering. it's dizzying, in a really really awesome way.

10 things i currently think are quite cool:

1. knitting. i'm somewhat obsessed. i've been furiously working on my 3rd scarf to get it done in time for christmas. at this i only know scarves, but i plan to work my way up to hats and fingerless gloves! heck yeah. i'm even in a knitting club, which is mostly just an excuse to get together with like-minded ladies and eat and drink and occasionally knit and then swear like sailors when we mess up. it's delightful.




2. this dog outside a cafe. oh how i want a pup! but i get to see mine in california soon enough...




3. greenlake, my new neighborhood. it's just so lovely and serene, and the fall colors are incredible.



4. the new apartment. 'twas love at first sight with this place. it's tiny and has virtually no amenities, but it's flooded with light and only a block and a half from the lake. and it's got a big kitchen (by my standards). i'm smitten.




5. this guy. the picture's a bit blurred (having been taken on a whim), but my god, look at that smile!




6. my new coffee mug, one of many fun kitchen finds from goodwill. it's basic, but it's got this 70's diner feel to it that i adore. and there was this lovely light pouring in the kitchen window the other day, and i went a bit nuts photographing all the different formations of steam.




7. the view from below autumn trees. i take way too many photographs of trees, but i can't help myself. this time of year they're friggin' gorgeous.




8. purple carrots from the ballard sunday market. slice some up with some red potatoes and leeks, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic, grind some pepper over top, and then roast for awhile. insanely delicious, i tell you!




9. the turtles on greenlake, sunning themselves. who knew?




10. having successfully cooked a turkey on thanksgiving. first time and all that. also made some rockin' stuffing. the glow of achievement has yet to fade.

cranberries

i'm not even a huge fan of cranberry sauce, but i love making it.

film shots

from the nikon manual - shot with film but fiddled with in photoshop. i will say that my exposures were relatively accurate, with a few screw-ups here and there. shot out at carkeek beach.









oddly enough, one of my favorite shots from the day was my test shot of ethan back at my apartment.

back to basics (i.e., humility)

I was recently given, quite generously, an old Nikon F manual SLR, along with a 55mm 1.2 lens, both beautiful and in excellent condition.

I decided to go out today and play with these new toys. Doing so, without aid of light meter or such, involved a decent amount of patience and uncertainty. Had I remembered to restore the batteries in my incident light meter, or bring along my digital camera, I would have been just fine, but this was not the case. As it was, going whole-hog manual was oddly humbling.

How quickly you can run your way through 36 frames! I also couldn't quite figure out how to rewind the film properly and so ended up messing up the film a bit. I think I've salvaged it to some extent, and I'll be taking it in tomorrow for processing. We'll see... Assuming I had any idea what i was doing, I'm very eager to see the fruits of that uneasy, invigorating labor. It was a lovely day out along the beach; I hope I was able to capture some of it.

Oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure my slide film was expired.

first item on christmas list:

i want this book. gorgeous, gorgeous illustrations!

from california

I'm a little late in posting photos from the labor day trip to California, mostly because they didn't really turn out (not wanting to lug the big camera around, I chose to shoot primarily with my sister's point and shoot). Actually, neither of us really did much shooting at all; too busy running about, I suppose. Anyway, I like these three (and the few I posted earlier, right when we got back).


(i swear i only made him pose this one time)



(the glow of encountering disneyland and all its glory for the first time)



(from the balcony of the hotel in SB; we were a bit spoiled that day.)

"Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave."

- rainer maria rilke

rainy day at alki

a week or so ago, we were out at alki beach on the most glorious gloomy day. i had never been out there in that sort of weather. it's absurdly beautiful and eerie.

insanity

i saw this on someone else's blog and had to add it here.

not that i don't love photoshop, but still...

bird's ballad

i adore this album:



a review i came across said, "In my perfect world, Andrew Bird is king. And as he decreed, The Ballad of the Red Shoes may only be listened to with a tall glass of dark beer in the comfort of your mother’s home." i wish i'd said it first.

i also love that andrew and his mother created the album art together. so rad.

intriguing

chris schedel's photographic study of american suburbs:

bellissima california

amelia

i want eyes this blue...



this is ethan's little niece. i've only just gotten around to processing some photos from a few months ago. i lag sometimes.

world's greatest bedhead:

i was playing around with my little canon flash last saturday morning (had to use it for a shoot that day and was out of practice). caught boy with his hair amess. love.

(note: he's reading a news article online; hence, the expression.)

all smiles

just got back from trip to california. i'll post more pictures later, but this one made me too darn happy so i'm posting it now.

lynn and jack

my old boss from the restaurant had me take some photos of his new baby, jack, and his wife, lynn.

these are my favorites:

i love him, i love her, therefore...

i'm guessing i'll love she and him.

if nothing else, i love their website.

now i just need to go out and get their album. officially added to the old to-do list.

a lovely surprise

i had no idea the zoo had a rose garden until just the other day.

along the mason lake trail:

(a moth-eaten heart)


(if you lie in the dirt you can see all sorts of loveliness above)


(about to jump?)


(vertebrae of little bell flowers)


(like the skin on an old man's hand)


(flowers covered in dust from the trail)


(for ethan and all his butterfly ponderings)

other things that are currently making me happy:

1. we won our kickball game tonight and are now in the championships. oh yeah...

2. andrew bird concert at the zoo last night kicked such complete ass. my love runs deep. so very very deep. the violin, the whistling, the voice, the vocabulary, the wit, the nervous tic motion of the head: all pristine and magical.

3. getting excited about portrait sessions i want to do with friends over the next few weekends.

4. upcoming trip to CA with ethan over labor day weekend. there shall be wine tasting, paula's pancake house, that little seafood shack in malibu, and of course lots of cuddle time with the gunner and the scout. oh, and disneyland. the boy has never been. it's shocking.

5. scrabble games on facebook