Pieces of Me

1. Delicate Arch trail, 2. kayaks, 3. Save Polaroid, 4. red rack... 500!, 5. melancholy tulips, 6. pasty whites, 7. Behold the mighty spork!, 8. Maggie, 9. Grace Potter!, 10. Creekside trees, 11. Rummy, 12. snow ho!, 13. Yarrow, 14. I heart the state fair, 15. Oh pumpkin!, 16. I heart this road., 17. neighbors, 18. Grandpa and me, 19. Hey flags!, 20. Hooray for new Keens!, 21. stripes, 22. Garrett, 23. shoppers, 24. parking, 25. Chinese take-out

Like I said in my previous post, it's been a Polaroid year for me. Of the 330+ Polaroids I made this year, these are my favorites. This is officially my last post of 2008. Cheers!

Created with bighugelabs.

Tip o' the Hat

1. meet me by the garden, 2. room with a view, 3. north america., 4. you can always go, 5. ., 6. Untitled, 7. Untitled, 8. Geometry, 9. Untitled, 10. burgers, 11. Gone camping, 12. Half Moon Bay, 13. wppd-02, 14. running to stand still, 15. keep it with mine, 16. yellow flower and stem, 17. salvaged, 18. to the aproaching winter, 19. because today we are remembering grass, 20. Take Me Home, 21. his hands, 22. a winter's dream 42.365, 23. rain or shine, 24. Shade., 25. kim's my hero, 26. Untitled, 27. one day we'll update, 28. Wisconsin ~ big red barn, 29. Road Trip (Across Australia), 30. Emergent, 31. Untitled, 32. the photo trade, 33. cargo glass, 34. Treading trodden trails, 35. descent into the big muddy badlands, 36. Wanderlust

Just wanted to give a virtual tip o' the hat to some of my favorite photographers over on Flickr, and some of my favorite images of 2008. Flickr and I have had a big year. I've had an account there for about three years but it was this year that I really got into it and I'm so glad I did. I made a lot of new friends this year and even met onein person! To date, I've burned through a few rolls of film, and a handful of digital images, but it's really been a Polaroid year. I've made over 330 Polaroids! I have to give a lot of credit to the friends I've made on Flickr. It's so nice to have a place filled with like-minded individuals, and ones who constantly churn out creative and inspiring work. Thank you all! Here's to a great 2008 and an even better 2009!

Created by bighugelabs.

Take-out

I pulled some cinnamon rolls out of the oven Christmas morning, slathered on some cream cheese frosting and took them downstairs for us to eat while we did our Christmas. Trav was standing in front of the couch, and with a smile on his face, he revealed my stocking, and said "It has an Asian theme!" My knit reindeer stocking was nestled between all of this stuff and I was so surprised. He went to two different Chinese restaurants and the grocery store to obtain everything, and spent a lot of time working on it. And of course, inside my stocking were all of my favorite chocolate and peanut butter treats: M&M'S, Reese's miniatures and Reese's trees. I'm just amazed at how sweet he is and how much effort he puts into making things perfect for me. And I say that with a heavy heart because I effed up a couple weeks ago.

Remember the vintage Brownie ornament? A friend called, saying she saw them at the Sundance catalog store for cheap and to go get some, so I did, but it turns out my wonderful, thoughtful husband had been stalking the same ornaments at World Market in South Salt Lake since Thanksgiving, waiting for them to go on sale because they were so freaking expensive, and when I went and bought them at Sundance, I blew his Christmas idea for me. You see, his family has a rule about buying things for yourself between Halloween and Christmas, and I never follow the rule, but clearly, I should have. I definitely learned my lesson this year because I broke my husband's heart, and I never want to do that again. I'm very sorry, dude. Your wife is an ass.

Christmas Greeting

When I got home from work last night, I suddenly felt like I was written into the script of Christmas Vacation. I went into the front room to water the tree and realized that my tree skirt and the two oversized bath towels beneath it were drenched. Immediately, I grabbed one of my wrapped presents sitting on top of said wetness, only to find the paper ruffled and damp. I tore into it and the present inside - a very special book I made - was ruined. The pages were wet and wavy and the binding was separated from the hard cover. The next three gifts - same special books - had damp wrapping paper, and wavy pages too, but the bindings were still intact. All in all, seven of the ten presents under the tree were soggy, and as I pulled the pretty red and green papers off of each of them, I ugly cried. I was so happy Travis wasn't home yet. I didn't want him to witness that.

I'm so upset about the books. They are the culmination of two years of scanning and editing my old family Polaroids, and obviously they mean a lot to me. Plus, that's $200 worth of books! I left the wet wrapping paper mess laying in the front room and just crawled into bed last night and cried. Trav came home an hour later, saw the mess and thought we'd been robbed. He hurried down the hall to make sure the computer was still on the desk, and then found me in bed. He cheered me up and then ran to Target and bought a new tree stand, specifically one that wouldn't leak. We awkwardly moved/dragged the Christmas tree and the new stand across the room, ornaments and all, so the carpet beneath the original spot could dry, and tonight, we'll move it all back. And then I'll re-wrap my seven presents, and tomorrow when I give the books to my family, I'll explain my Christmas tree disaster and apologize for the wrinkly pages. The one book that is completely ruined is now my copy of our Polaroid book, and my dry copy that was in the other room far away from a leaky tree stand, is now going to be wrapped and given away.

After all is said and done, it's really a funny story. We laughed about it last night. We joked about waking up this morning and finding the tree and its brand new stand tipped over and broken, and wondered if anything else would go wrong with the Christmas decorations. So when I left for work this morning, it should come to no surprise that our white twinkly lights outside have mysteriously turned themselves off. They're all plugged in. They're just off. Curious.

Despite seemingly major disasters and little unusual snags, our Christmas will be wonderful and fun and joyous, and I hope yours is too.

The last of the Christmas videos... Day 10, Day 11, and the finale, Day 12. Hope you enjoyed them!

Happy Solstice!

Winter is officially here! Six fluffy inches of snow fell on Friday, flurries yesterday morning, and we're expecting another 6-12 inches tomorrow, with more snow coming all week. I couldn't be happier. Hope your Solstice is wintery and fun.

Need a little Christmas cheer? Our 12 Days of Christmas Videos are sure to put a smile on your face... Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, and Day 9.

Chocolate Tradition

Every December when we were kids, my mom would take us down to ZCMI (our local department store) where she'd buy giant bricks of yummy white and milk chocolate for dipping her amazing peanut butter balls and pretzels. We'd come home and she'd make the pb concoction and roll it all into bite size balls and then she'd put the pan of peanut butter goodness out on the deck to freeze (Utah winters) before dipping them in the chocolate. My sister and I would sneak outside throughout the rest of the evening and steal the balls. They were delicious even without chocolate! My mom would make enough for our family, the neighbors, and our cousins, and we'd snack on homemade Christmas treats throughout the season.

My sister and I carried on the tradition for a year or two when we were in high school, with my mom's help of course, but then we just stopped. After probably five ears without these delectable treats, I felt domestic one Christmas and decided to go for it, and for maybe eight years now, I've been rolling peanut butter balls and hand-dipping them and loads of pretzels every December. I do two things different though: 1. I've incorporated dark chocolate into the mix because my husband's family loves the dark; and 2. I put the peanut butter balls in the freezer instead of on the deck. I still sneak one or two though before I dip them!

Thanks Mom for instilling this chocolaty, time-consuming tradition in me. Sometimes I want to just buy chocolate-dipped pretzels from Costco, but I know that I can't find your peanut butter balls anywhere else, so I will roll on.


Wanna take a listen to our 12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 5? It's David Sedaris!

Red + Green

I've always loved the red couch and chairs. They were beautiful in my dad's house and when he gave them to me when we moved into our new house, I fell in love even more, and now that it's Christmas, they're perfect. The vibrant red looks so good with the greens of our Christmas tree and giant fresh wreath on the coffee table, and the reds of our ornaments and stockings. I walk into the front room about 20 times a day now. I just can't get enough of it, and I've left my tripod and various cameras set up in there, just waiting for another photo or two. I hope your home is just perfect for you during this lovely holiday season.

Ready for 12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 4?

Brownie Holiday

Isn't this adorable? It's a tiny Kodak Brownie Holiday Flash! It's not a working camera, it's just an ornament, but you can see through the viewfinder. I want a real one now!

Got a minute? 12 Days of Christmas - Day 3!

Pom + Snow

Aren't pomegranates just so pretty? And isn't this pomegranate especially lovely surrounded by eight fresh inches of snow? Oh, how I love this season.

Check out our other blog for
12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 2!

Let it Snow

It finally came today! Snow! We have five fluffy white inches outside and more flurries forcasted through Monday. I couldn't be happier. It feels like Christmas now, and it's about time!

Last year, Trav and I posted 12 Days of Christmas Videos on our blog, and this year, we're doing it again. Here's this year's Day 1, and last year's too. We've chosen favorites, all-time greats, family traditions, and some that are just plain silly. Stay tuned from now through Christmas Eve for the rest.

Wish With Me

Wish with me that it snows this weekend.

The Village

I feel like blogging something but I don't have much to say today. At least not right now. It snowed yesterday and finally feels like Christmas, so how about some Polaroids of my grandma's Dickens Christmas Village? There are some digital snaps of probably some of the same people way back in my archives, but I love the Polaroids so much more (of course!).

Just Wait.

How is it that while the days seem to fly by (it's December 5th already!), some things just never get here? I'm not a patient person and I'm experiencing yet another test of my ability to remain calm and just wait. I hate it. I want to sit back and enjoy this wonderful holiday season and everything that comes with it, but I've got something I'm really looking forward to in January so I find myself wishing December away. Ugh.

Shifting gears entirely, I'm really shocked at the amount of personal information people put on their blogs. I don't think I even mentioned my husband's name for the first year on my blog. You could go through the archives if you want and prove me wrong, but I hope you get my point. We've really slowed down at work and that gives me a lot of time to "read the whole internet" as we all say around here, and when I'm tired of reading the forum on toycamera.com, my groups on Flickr, the local news, MSN, Huffington Post, The Goat, and This is Somewhere, I read random blogs. Thank God for the internet and the invention of blogging because this way I can spy on people I went to high school with and they won't even know. Don't get all uppity. You do it too.

I've always been a pretty private person anyway and my blog is a direct reflection of that, so it amazes (read: scares) me how much people share about themselves. I mean, I don't need to know every minute detail of your pregnancy or your childbirth, your child's bathroom events, your sex life, etc. I just don't get why you need to tell the whole world. You do realize the whole world can see you, right? Also, don't tell me that you're 256 days, 7 hours, 23 minutes, and 41 seconds away from embarking on your fabulous cruise. I don't give a shit and now you just notified the entire planet that you are leaving your home and all your valuables all alone for seven days and six nights. Smart. And don't chronicle the fight you just had with your husband on your blog either. Chances are, when you go back and read that post a year later, it'll piss you off again and you'll end up in another argument.

I think the problem is that a lot of people treat their blogs like journals. You know, the things you disclose your most intimate secrets in and then tuck under the mattress, only it's a blog, people. It's a giant marquee, screaming your secrets to anyone that will listen. I really don't know where I'm going with this. It's just been on my mind for the last week and I felt like spouting off about it. And if you don't like the vagueness of my blog, let me know and I will direct you to a dozen blogs that are like a damn People magazine.

It might appear as if I'm grumpy today, but really, I am in a good mood, a great one, actually. I just had to speak up. Now run along and have a lovely weekend, and listen to Jen Crowell. Her voice is smoky hot.

Plastic Landscapes!

I'm a tad late posting this since the reception is tonight and starts in a half hour, but I wanted to put it out there anyway. It's my largest solo show. I've got 20 pieces from my Plastic Landscapes series. I'm pretty excited about it, but hate receptions so I hope it goes by fast!

Garrett

I spent yesterday at my sister's, loving on Garrett, who is nine days old today. I can't get enough of him. Maggie is getting used to him, although she had a bit of a breakdown when I went to leave without playing with her more, so I loved her up and snuggled with her and took pictures of her, just like she wanted. I was out of Polaroid though so I had to run with the digital. I can't wait to see them both again. (The first two images are 600, the third is Artistic TZ.)

Smells Like Heaven

I love lists. I love these things:
1. My new nephew. He's precious and he smells like heaven.
2. There must be a new laundry facility that opened in Salt Lake because when I get on the 201 to come home, it smells like a million warm dryer sheets. I breathe deep and can't help but smile.
3. Pumpkin frozen yogurt from the Yogurt Stop in Bountiful.
4. My new iMac sitting in its box in this very room, patiently waiting for the weekend.
5. Being a lot brave, maybe a little crazy, but definitely unconventional, and going after something I really wanted, and getting it.
6. My sister. Always.

Blue-Buttoned

The PC is back and so am I. I brought it home Wednesday only to find that the hard drive wasn't connected, and after a few more bad words and a trip back to the computer store yesterday, we are good to go. I haven't told the PC yet that it's going to be replaced next week by a Mac. I don't want to do anything to aggravate it or set it on an unstable emotionally-charged rampage. I'll just continue to research the Mac on my Mac at work and then next Friday the Mac will show up and the PC won't suspect a thing. Shh!

Last weekend we went to lunch with Wendy and Troy and took a drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Trav and I are working on our Christmas card already and we required the assistance of Wendy and two reindeer sweaters from ebay. I took my new blue-buttoned SX-70 and some Artistic TZ along for the ride. What a sweet little combo.

So happy it's Friday...

OH! Today is gallery stroll and the opening reception for The Holga Show at Saans Downtown in Salt Lake City. I'll be there from 6:30 to 8-ish, slowing creeping out of my hermit-like shell and schmoozing with the artful public. I can't wait to see the show. According to Shalee, Saans' curator, it looks awesome.

So Long PC!

After almost two years of spurts of hard work mixed with a lot of procrastination, this weekend I got within a half hour of finishing my big and tedious family Polaroid project, only to have my computer catch yet another nasty virus. It will now spend the next week in the shop, getting its hard drive wiped clean and reinstalled with everything, and my project that I am *this* close to finishing will have to wait. I usually say (yell) lots of bad words when my computer has issues, but this time, I just laughed. I laughed out loud. And then I went downstairs and fired up my husband's slow-ass laptop and immediately (well, a half hour later... it's that slow) went to Apple.com. I'm buying an iMac. No more PCs for this girl.

The Holga Show!

If you're in the Salt Lake area Friday evening, November 21, please come visit me, Amanda Moore, and Shalee Cooper at Saans Downtown for the second annual Holga Show! Shalee is the curator at Saans, and Amanda and I juried the show this year. There are over 150 images in the show from roughly 65 photographers around the globe. As a juror, I'll also have five of my Holga images on display. I'm so excited for the show, and I hope to see some familiar faces at the opening. The show runs November 19-December 17. (PS, that's my Desert Door shot in the lower right corner.)

Something Crazy

I did something crazy bold and completely out of character today. I hope it works.

Airheads

I've got some big events on the horizon that I'd like to share in hopes of drumming up some support for myself... First, if you're in the Salt Lake area Friday evening, November 21, please come visit me, Amanda Moore, and Shalee Cooper at Saans Downtown for the second annual Holga Show! Shalee is the curator at Saans, and Amanda and I juried the show this year. There are over 150 images in the show from roughly 65 photographers around the globe. As a juror, I'll also have five of my Holga images on display. I'm so excited for the show, and I hope to see some familiar faces at the opening. The show runs November 19-December 17.

Second bit of news, I'm having my biggest solo show yet! Twenty images from my ongoing Plastic Landscapes series will be on display at the Sprague Branch of the Salt Lake Library in Sugarhouse from November 21-Janurary 11, and the reception is Thursday, December 4 from 6:30-8.

I'm really excited for both events, and for the next big one coming up in February. Amanda and I, along with our pal Brett Johnson had our collective toy camera work juried into the fancy-pants Finch Lane gallery in Salt Lake (which surprisingly doesn't have a website). We're going to check out the space tomorrow after lunch at Martine, where my Local Color series is currently hanging (but soon to come down), and that's the last of the self-promos for this post, I promise.

Last Friday, I posted a screen shot of my blog on Flickr, with the hopeful request of increasing traffic here on photosteph, and guess what?! It turns out people really are reading! Thanks to all of you who came over for a web visit! You made my day. As an incentive to visit my blog, I offered a free Polaroid print to a lucky commenter on my previous post, and just now, I put all the names in my favorite striped Pistil beanie and drew one out and the winner is... Donna G! I'll be sending her a print very soon.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the photo above, I made it a long time ago at work and just never posted it. I felt it fitting, what with all my shenanigans and goings-ons.

Wanted:

This image has nothing to do with my blog post, but I like it, so I'm posting it. I've been thinking a lot about friendship lately, and wishing I had more friends, and I hope that statement doesn't immediately make me sound like a loser. I love the friends that I have, I just wish I had more.

My husband and I, for years, have been wishing we had more couple friends, preferably those without kids. We live in a society where if you don't have at least one child by your second anniversary, you're completely abnormal, but we just passed our seven-year mark and see no spawn on the horizon and we like it that way, but it leaves us with "just us" on many a weekend and all of our travels. We always worry that people think we're freaks or too boring or just plain weird. We joke about placing an ad in the City Weekly (Salt Lake's indie alternative paper) for childless couple friends who like traveling, concerts, outdoor activities, and good food, and if they could teach us how to appreciate wine, that'd be a plus, and they must have great senses of humor. If they like disc golf and Mystery Science Theater that wouldn't be a bad thing either. We don't want needy friends, or swingy friends, just friends to hang out with occasionally and road trip with. Is that so hard?!

The Fun Part

I've had a very successful, productive weekend, and yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself. Usually on lazy weekends, I watch tv, but this lazy weekend, as Travis hiked Mt. Nebo yesterday (all 16 straight up and straight down round trip miles), I deconstructed my Polaroid wall and filed all the little instants in a binder (I have this irrational fear that one day my house will catch fire and I won't be able to get my Polaroids out); I collected fall and photographed it; and finally, I had a marathon scanning session today and scanned all of my family Polaroids for my Christmas project, and it is this that I am most happy about. Now the fun begins: cloning out all the dust and resizing in Photoshop, and then uploading all 97 photos to Blurb. I'm so excited about this project, and I hope by the end of the day tomorrow to have them all cleaned up and ready to upload. And if anyone from my family is reading this, sorry, you now know what you're getting for Christmas. Surprise!

Now if you'll excuse me, we're headed to the Broadway to see Seth Rogen's new flick. Have a nice week, friends.

Collecting Fall

Before the sun came completely over the mountains this morning, I opened the blinds in my front room, anxious to see the autumn light filtering in. An hour later, I wandered into the room and saw my front yard bursting with color. I couldn't stop smiling. I waited a couple of hours for it to warm up and dry up outside, and then I went collecting.

Our old house, bless its little red brick soul, was a lovely home but was almost void of fall color. We did have beautiful gingko trees that would turn a soft buttery yellow mere days before all the leaves would drop at once, but there were no reds, no oranges, no seed pods, nothing of that. Today, as I filled my hands with fall finds from the yard, my smile returned as a renewed love for my new house gushed into my little autumn-loving soul.

Happier

The world is a happier place when new Keens come in the mail.

Rules

I'm a little bummed today, and it's silly, really. About two months ago, I injured my foot somehow. Seriously, somehow. I was sitting at my desk, shopping on the internet for an hour or so, quickly got up and instantly had a screaming pain at the base of my toes. The next day, it started swelling. I went to the doctor who referred me to an orthopedic specialist, who then referred me to physical therapy, and I was irritated because I just wanted the specialist to fix it. FIX IT! Everyone was baffled. Maybe a cyst ruptured? Maybe it's a stress fracture? X-rays and ultrasounds showed nothing but random swelling. The PT determined I had a chronically sprained ankle, and it was exacerbating whatever was going on in my foot, so she treated me for that, and long story short, after eight weeks physical therapy, today I graduated. Pain is gone, swelling is nearly gone. I'm not 100% but I've drastically improved, and good to go.

So why am I bummed? Especially when I was bugged that I even had to go to physical therapy in the first place? I knew it would help. I cracked my ankle years ago and physical therapy really helped that time, so I went again. It was expensive and time consuming, but obviously it works. Back on track, I'm bummed because I don't get to spend my Tuesday mornings with Grayson, my PT, and Lyle, her assistant (I don't know his title). I spent an hour or so every Tuesday morning for the last eight weeks laughing, hearing good stories and just having fun. They are both super cool people and as I left, I wish I could have channeled my three year old niece Emma, who has the amazing ability of walking up to random girls and saying "You're my friend, K?" I wished I could have said that before the door shut behind me. It sounds silly, I know. Well, there are probably rules about medical professionals and patients and whatever anyway, maybe that's just for dating. I don't know. And for weeks, I've been thinking about how we joke with my friend Cass about her filling our quota for an ethnic friend, which led me to thinking that Grayson could fill my quota for a friend named Grayson. Anyway, so yeah, that's why I'm bummed. You just get used to people, you know?

Creekside

It's Fall Polaroid Week! Two of my favorites things all bundled up together. Yesterday, we played disc golf at Creekside, where the weather couldn't have been nicer and my game couldn't have been worse. At least I didn't lose a disc this time!

I've added this and several others to my Etsy shop, and I'd love it if you could stop by!

Big Somethings

I've been putting a lot of things on the back burner for the last year or so, which is very, very bad because the pile of things just keeps getting bigger and bigger, but just now, suddenly, I've had a moment of clarity and one of those big things is getting moved to the front burner. That's right! A new project! While that may not mean anything at all to you, my faithful blog readers (all one or two of you), it means quite a bit to me because I've really been struggling with nailing down this particular project, and thanks to my momentarily clutter-free mind, I now know exactly what I'm going to do and I'm good to go!

But first, I have two somethings big to get to. First, along with Amanda Moore and Shalee Cooper, I will be jurying the second annual Holga Show at Saans Downtown, where Shalee is the curator. I'll have five Holga pieces on display when the show begins in November, and those same five images in the accompanying book. I'm super excited about it!

Second, one month from today, my Plastic Landscapes series (Holga/Diana works) will be on display at the Salt Lake Library's Sprague Branch. I have mostly everything ready to go, but I need to frame a few more pieces and I hope the frame shop can do them quick! I've also got a couple of other shows coming up but nothing I need to get to right away. I'll save that procrastination for next month.

I also am trying desperately to enjoy this beautiful autumn season before it turns to snow. I'm going to have my first slice of pumpkin pie today and over the weekend or perhaps tonight, I'm going to take pictures of some flaming red trees down the road. I love fall!

The Disneyland 13

I hauled my Polaroid SLR 680 and three packs of film all the way to the happiest place on earth last week so I could take pictures of my nieces and nephews interacting with Disney characters, eating Disney churros, and slurping Disney sorbets, and what did I actually shoot? Walls in California Adventure and a single red leaf on Tom Sawyer's Island. How creative am I?

We flew into LAX last Tuesday night and after waiting at the curb for what seemed like an hour, our Disneyland shuttle bus finally pulled up. All 13 of us (including five kids under the age of 8) piled on and were magically whisked away to Anaheim and our hotel where our cozy beds awaited us. We (the Parke family minus my youngest niece who's not quite one) spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday walking all over Disneyland and Californa Adventure, and had a ridiculously fun time of it. My highlights included taking my two nieces on the teacups and spinning ourselves silly, the Dole pineapple whips from Adventureland, Soarin' Over California, lunch at Ariel's Grotto (Mmm, good pasta), making funny faces and hand gestures at the camera on Space Mountain, riding the Matterhorn four times in one day (three of which were in a row), the amazing fireworks show, and my Main Street ice cream cone. My husband's family is just wonderful and we all have so much fun together. Thank you all for making this the best Disneyland trip yet! 2010, here we come!

200!

The gnomes and I want to congratulate photosteph on 200 blog posts! What a day! Four inches of snow in mid-October, pumpkin muffins for breakfast, and 200 posts. Yippee! To celebrate, head on over to my Etsy shop! New Polaroid prints and magnets for all!

Something to Blog About

Hmm... I'm sitting here trying to think of something to blog about and really, I got nothin'. So, instead of reading my ramblings, just enjoy this photo and then go visit my Etsy shop. I've been really diligent this week and added 11 new Polaroid prints and 1 set of Polaroid magnets. And when you're done with that, go enjoy your weekend.

$3 and 30 Seconds

It's amazing how something as simple as $3 and 30 seconds in a photo booth can magically transform three girls into giggling, goofy 13 year olds! My friend Wendy and I spent this last weekend in Oregon, and had a ball. We met up with my Flickr friend, Elizabeth Soule on Thursday in Portland for delights at Saint Cupcake, shopping/drooling at Noun: A Person's Place for Things, amazing house-made pastrami at Kenny & Zukes (and I had the most delicious potato salad ever), and then we laughed and made fools of ourselves in the lobby and photo booth at the Ace Hotel. What a wonderful afternoon, day, weekend and trip.

Watch my Etsy shop for new Polaroid prints from Oregon!

Muffins and Magnets!

For months I've been saying that I really need to add some things to my Etsy shop and today, I made it priority #1. Well, #2, actually. My first priority was to wake up and make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and I did. Deeelicious! Anyway, today I added four new listings for Polaroid prints, and a listing for a set of five Polaroid magnets, and throughout the week, I'll be adding more Polaroid prints. I'm so proud of myself for finally doing this! I hope you'll visit my shop and check out my prints. Too bad the muffins aren't for sale on Etsy!

Happy Fall!

If you're a regular and long-time reader of this blog, or if you know me personally, it's no secret that fall is my favorite season, and as of today, it's here. It's officially autumn. Happy Fall, friends!

I'm in Love

Fall is here and I'm in love with:

Wandering the State Fair, standing in line for deep-fried fresh-cut fries, potato pinwheels, pizza, local ice cream, and pb&j on a stick, petting the goats, gasping at the size of cow udders, ugly laughing at Vicki and Dwayne scrapbook pages, hurtling down the giant yellow slide on potato sacks, spending the evening with wonderful friends.

Clicking on the Mammoth Hot Springs webcam last week and seeing elk grazing on the lawn out in front of the Albright Visitor Center. (We got married at Mammoth seven years ago this month and several of our wedding photos have grazing elk in the background.)

Driving home from work last night, passing the local high school and wondering why the big crowd, and suddenly realizing it was the first football game of the season and that I could hear the noise of the game and crowd from my deck at home.

Visiting my dad at work and getting sent home with fresh, just-picked-yesterday Brigham City peaches.

Wearing my favorite fleece vest all day and still being a bit chilly despite.

Listening to my "fall music" in season, and having lyrics like "Summer's beginning to give up her fight" ("Mystery", Indigo Girls) finally apply. James Taylor is fall music to me too.

Taking RSVPs for our annual Fall Fest party, where we cook up a big pot of spicy chili and a couple of pans of apple crisp, and serve it all with pumpkin ale and good conversation.

I love this season.

Good Luck Bear

Yesterday our five-year old neighbor, Vivian, brought over this picture of Good Luck Bear that she had colored for us. I nearly cried, I was so touched that she thought of us enough to color us a picture. We promptly made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and took them over to thank her. We told her we were going to hang it on the fridge and she smiled and said, "That's what everyone says!" It's really on our fridge though. It's amazing how a five-year old can restore your faith in humanity, and attest to the mere existence and strength of human kindness.

I'll Smile

I'd love to write something heartfelt and lovely, something explaining my current reflective state of mind (mirror... reflective. get it? ha ha) but really, I've been staring at this blank "create a new post" space for about a half hour now and really, nothing is coming to me. Dave Matthews Band's cover of "The Maker" is playing through iTunes, and I'm listening intently to LeRoi's beautifully moving saxaphone that now haunts this song, and feeling sad for him, his family, his friends, his fans. LeRoi passed away unexpectedly August 19.
It might seem odd to be upset about the loss of a man I never met, but LeRoi (and Dave, Boyd, Carter and Stefan) has been a part of my life since I was 17. From the very first time I heard "Ants Marching" on the Mountain 105.7, I was hooked. I went to my first DMB concert at 18, and felt so lucky to be on the 17th row. I was dazzled. I was in love. I lost my voice that night, and it's no wonder after all the screaming I did when they began "Two Step". This band is the only band I've stuck with since high school. I have new favorites, but this is my mainstay. I grew up with DMB and I can't help but wonder what the band will be like now that LeRoi is gone. Time will tell, and the band will endure. I can't wait to see them again, and we will soon (as soon as the postponed Usana show is rescheduled), but in the meantime, I'll listen to my favorite band and reflect on the great times I've had at all the shows I've seen since that first one, and I'll smile (grin, really) when I think of all the memories that were made when DMB was on in the car, the house, and the iPod. DMB is in heavy rotation on the soundtrack of my life and that'll never change. LeRoi, RIP good friend.

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I just like this photo and I haven't posted anything but Polaroid for a really long time, so I just wanted it to be known that I still shoot with my toy cameras!