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!