History has been made.

Congratulations, hugs, high fives, and even a few happy tears for The Impossible Project today. History has been made by Doc, Andre, Dave, Anne, Marlene, and the rest of the crew. New film is available to the public on March 25!

I have to give my sincerest thanks to these wonderful people for asking me to be among 39 others to test the new PX 100 and PX 600 films. What an honor. I can't wait to shoot some more of it!

#21

Thanks to my sister-in-law, I got the kick I needed to cross #21 off my list, to make Dana Treat's Nutella Pound Cake, and damn, was it delicious. Read all about it on my slowly developing food blog, Budding Foodie.

In other news, my awesome new bathroom is just that. Awesome and new! I don't have any photos to share yet because I'm waiting till it's 100% finished. It's all but done, but we still have to install a wood trim piece, but my dad's planer and chop saw are up in his wood shop at the family cabin and there's still three feet of snow in the driveway so we can't get the truck up there. We thought about tromping the 1/8 mile up the driveway and hauling the tools out in a sled, but if we just wait two more weeks, the warm March weather will help us out. Anyway, back to the bathroom... I can't wait to post photos of it. I still can't believe it's my bathroom. It's like a spa, with plush new towels and a sweet square rug (I love squares!), a rain showerhead, and new everything. Also, I know this is silly, but since we've lived in this house, I haven't had a toilet paper holder. The existing one was in such an awkward place behind the toilet that I just didn't use it, but now, in my beautiful new bathroom, I have a toilet paper holder in a normal place for the first time in almost two years! It's just so exciting! I'll post photos as soon as that trim is done, so hang tight!

Balance

Next week is the start of something big, something very different. I am going part-time at good ol' Backcountry.com so I can work part-time for the Forest Service. I am so anxious for this change. I feel like I've been running myself ragged the last few weeks. I've been feeling a little like the Polaroid below. Discombobulated. Disconnected. Maybe a little broken. I've been trying to fit full-time Backcountry work and part-time Forest Service work into the same day, mixed with regular life, and it hasn't been successful, so I'm very excited to free up some time to balance each job equally. And hopefully this means that I'll have a little more free time to burn through some film! I'm itching to shoot another roll through my Great Wall, and I've got Polaroid galore just sitting in my fridge waiting to be used. A couple of weekends ago when I spent a whole Saturday playing with cameras and sitting in the sun, I remembered what I have been missing. I think it helps that spring is just around the corner too, so here's wishing it comes fast and is quite good. No more snow!

G-Dub and Mini

Back in December when I was thinking of 2010 and what I should do with it, I quietly thought that this might be the year I would refrain from buying any new cameras. I think I may have even said it out loud once or twice. Well, it's March and that idea has already fallen flat, but I'm really not surprised. In January, not one month into the year, I bought "G-Dub", a beautiful Great Wall camera. I've wanted one for a few years now and decided to go for it. I shot my first roll of film in it on Saturday and I don't think words can convey how much I love this camera. First of all, it just looks cool, and second, the images are just so sweet. I had breakfast with a pal and we wandered around Salt Lake City all day (ALL DAY) and it was rad. I shot four packs of Polaroid, a pack and a half in my new Instax Mini back for my Diana+ Dreamer, and a lovely roll of Kodak Portra 400NC in the G-Dub. The sun was warm and bright, the day lazy, and the food tasty. We had ice cream for lunch. It doesn't get much better than that.

So back to my "2010 is a camera-buying free zone"... A couple of weeks ago, the Instax Mini back arrived in the mail, and after going through two full packs, I decided I really don't love it. I either need to shoot completely in blinding sunlight, or I need to buy a pricey flash for it, which I'd rather not do. It's a fun little toy to have, and the image quality is better than I thought it would be (on the images that aren't badly underexposed). There's a little bit of blur and the colors are lovely, but I think I'll just stick with the Instax Mini camera if I'm shooting Instax Mini film.

And if two cameras weren't enough, I'm leaning toward buying a new *gasp!* DSLR. Mine is six years old this year and it's starting to get missing pixels, and with the amount of shooting I'll be doing for the Forest Service, I really think I deserve a better camera. I've got my eyes on a Canon 7D, even though it's about $1800 more than I normally spend on a camera. (Most of my cameras were free or less than $100!) It looks like a swell camera and one that I'll get years of good use out of, so we'll see. Once April comes around, I just may be posting photos from new camera #3 in 2010.