Happy Friday! Road Trip........to Yoakum, Texas

What happens when you take two girls, throw them in a car packed full of clothes and shoes together for 4 hours? A whole lotta fun is what it is! Mandy Bustamante from Nestled in Nostalgia and I are taken a little trip to visit her Grandparents.Yoakum here we come! Okay, so it's not really a "road trip" but 4 hours is a long time to sit still.... for me at least. So I picked up a few things for us to keep us busy along the way. Mandy is driving so I'm going to have to entertain her (without making her drive off the road). We both have made killer road trip mixes.... I have some magazines so when I find a cool picture I can quickly show her, and when I come across and interesting blurb I can read it out loud. I also made it a point to pack healthy snacks for us such as: dried fruit and granola. Yum!

Our plans are to play dress up and take many many photos..... hence to car full of clothes and shoes. Gotta love playing dress up. It's been awhile since we have both posted fashion pictures on our blogs, it's just been too hot this summer to do anything. We also plan on doing some antique shopping while we are there. You know I love antique shopping. I'm hoping I come home with some treasures! I also want to scout out some cute little diners to eat at. I love "little town" diners.

Lastly, we plan on crafting. I know, I know..... we are dorks. It's really fun to get in your jammers, have a nice bottle of wine and cozy up on the couch with a good movie and crochet. Mandy is learning to sew now so we both have something to do. I've never been one for the "night life".... so this is right up my alley. It also gives us time for girl chat as well. So it should be a nice weekend getaway and I'm hoping it won't be too hot for us. I plan on coming home with tons of pictures for many future posts.

                                                                           XOXO

Submarine

              

I watched "Submarine" the other night on Netflix with the Mister and I have to say it's one of my new favorite movies. The film is written and directed by Richard Ayoade and stars Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige, as well as Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor (awesome) and Paddy Considine. The movie is based off the novel "Submarine" by Joe Dunthorn.

 

I can't get enough of "coming-of-age" stories. I love teenage angst and internal struggle. To the feel the pain and suffering of a little school boy with a broken heart. Awkward moments are the best. Warning! Spoiler Alert! Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) plays a teenage school boy hopelessly in love with his class mate Jordana (Yasmin Paige) who is as equally unpopular as Oliver. Oliver proves his love to Jordana by bullying an overweight class mate in order to win her heart. They kiss...photos are taken. Comments are made and Oliver defends his Jordana, sparks fly and they become a couple.... sorta.

The Kiss

The pictures

The couple

  

                                               
               

                      I found this Review by Steve Calhoun with "Time Out London". I love this bit:

The storytelling style which Ayoade lunges for with uncynical reverence and a cinephile’s passion (and maybe a little over randily at times – how many times can you evoke the final shot on the beach in ‘The 400 Blows’?) is a holy trinity of the French new wave, mannered American indies of the late ’90s and superior British domestic comedy. It’s a winning combination which sees sparks of imagination flying from most scenes. The shadow of 1960s French cinema falls most heavily over the film. Even the colour and type of the opening credits scream ‘Godard!’. It’s a fast-moving film and very much a director’s piece. There are jump cuts, flashes back and forwards, imaginary episodes and chapter headings. Nothing stays still for long and actors are often seen in silence.

Meanwhile, Oliver has noticed that his parents love life is diminishing and his Mother (Sally Hawkins) has taken an interest in her ex boyfriend and new neighbor who is a mystic/motivational speaker (Paddy Considine). Oliver's Dad (Noah Taylor) is a Marine Biologist that seems to a naturally depressed personality type. As Oliver and Jordana become more emotionally involved he discovers that her Mom has a brain tumour.

Oliver joins Jordana and her parents for an early New Years dinner because it may be the last her Mother may have. Oliver gets scared and panics. He pushes Jordana away and doesn't show up to the hospital for her Mothers surgery. Instead he follows his Mother to spy on her and the mystic neighbor. He is sure they're having an affair. He confronts his Parents about his suspicions. Jordana is hurt and writes him a letter expressing to him that "it's over."

Oliver falls into a pit of despair. He misses Jordana and knows he blew it. He tries to convince his Father to sweep his Mother off her feet again as he also tries to win Jordana back. No such luck. Oliver remembers the good times Jordana and him had together (in a film montage). After following his mother, Olivers sees her go into the Mystic/neighbors van and drive off. In a fit of rage he breaks into his neighbors house, takes pills, drinks whisky and pisses all over his motivational speaking DVD's.

Oliver wakes up in his bed to the site of his parents. They have joined forces to care for their son and have decided to give their relationship another go.

Oliver still has Jordana on his mind. He takes a walk only to find her at the shore with her dog. They talk and he apologizes for being a dick. He comes to find that her mother has survived the brain surgery. The waves crash against them. Everything is calm.

XOXO

Sunday funday at Toy Joy

The Mister and I decided Sunday was the perfect day to make a trip to our favorite toy store "Toy Joy" located on the "Strip" as the natives call it. The strip is Guadalupe, a street that runs through the middle of The University of Texas. We've been to Toy Joy many times and it always puts us in a good mood. 

I have no Idea what these characters are from but their mouths made me laugh. Weird.

These little guys are cute!

I love these little Rody's. My nephew had a black one but was terrified of it. I guess I could see how a small child could be afraid of that face. I think they are swell.

More scary images to taunt little children.

I love how the have Christmas trees up all year round. Everyday should be Christmas... especially with these far out ornaments.

Okay, so my new obsession is Japanese toys. I've always had a thing for Amigurumi... so it's only natural that I like little plastic cuteness.

Look at these adorable tins! I must have them all!

I think this shall be my first one.

This is the sweetest little piggy bank ever! 

This is dedicated to all the "Doctor Who" lovers.

I would collect these momiji dolls but I'm not as crazy for Hello Kitty as I used to be.

I make "crazy bunnies" that look quite similar to these guys.

I found our new chair for our living room.

Love these frosted ornaments.

I didn't know if I should have included this in the blog post or not. You can see me in Matt's glasses. "Hi there Matt!"

I wonder what it would be like to run on Geisha time?

Um.... nope.

I want this snake so I can put it in our backyard.

Sad Panda..... don't cry. I'll come and get you from from up there.

My newest favorite toy. Bibi Button! She is the second of her kind in my collection. Yipppeeee for toys!

Hope you like my post. It's more of a care free one. Let me know what you think....I don't seem to be getting many comments lately.

XOXO

Happy Friday......Atomic Ranch Style

I love Ranch style houses....which is funny because I used to hate them as a child. I thought they were odd and cheap looking. What was I thinking? I was just too young to understand and appreciate the fine design and craftsmanship involved in Atomic Ranches. Now that I'm older and wiser I see the error in my ways. How could I have been such a fool? Just look at how these Modern classics influence today's houses in Dwell. I'll stop rambling and let you take a gander at the Photos.

I love how the living room becomes the center focus here because it is one step level down to the fire place. You see a lot of this in Frank Lloyd Wrights Designs.

Tiki Inspired Bar anyone? Yes please.

Perfectly Staged

Lastly a cute little pink house for you and me.

Hope you like the charm of Atomic Ranches as much as I do.

XOXO

dreaming in lomo

I've always had a love for cheap plastic cameras..... now they aren't so cheap... but I'm a big girl now and can afford big girl toys. My love affair started late High School.... early College what I bought my first Holga. Blessed Holga, I still have you sitting on my shelf. Such  memories we shared together.... your medium format film that was a bitch to process by hand, the flash I bought you that was 5x more expensive then you were. The time I tried to make you into a 35mm camera and it didn't work out so well.... sigh. Good times. I will cherish them always.

                 Dear Diana,

I will buy you one day and make you my own. I have dreamt about you and your hard plastic case in my hands. We are meant to be together. You will see... someday your flash will realize that it cannot live without me. You will come to me and I will pay for you. I will take you into my hand and push your buttons and you will expose my film and we will make little pictures together and live happily ever after.

              Forever yours,

                                    Taylor

Here are some of the effects that the different cameras can produce. Basically they are fun plastic cameras that take 35mm and medium format film (generally). 

The cheaper ones tend to get light leaks which I think add to the character of the images but if you don't like that effect you can cover it up with tape after you load your film. I use black electrical tape but you could use anything around the house.

These are the cameras that are for sale on the Lomo website. There's pretty much a camera for any type of fun photo that you want to achieve. This one is not only a crazy cool design but it's also a wide angle that will give you a distorted image..... in a good way.

This is similar to the camera that the Mister and I brought to our Honeymoon. The Mister shares my love of funky, experimental photography and I love that about him. So we took our little plastic camera with us everywhere. The cool thing about cheap plastic cameras is that I wasn't worried about losing it or breaking it or getting sand in it while we were on the beach...so it was just one less thing to worry about. It also was convenient because it took 35mm film and you can take that film to any CVS or Walmart and get that processed in 1 hour. This camera takes 4 pictures, one right after the other. It's pretty fast but slow enough to capture movement. There are some examples below. It's pretty cool.

This lovely picture is taken with a special camera. I couldn't find an example of it on the website but basically the lens is tinted in rows. Beautiful effect.

Here's the little guy on the left that That Matt and I took to our Honeymoon. We still have it even though there is sand in it. We kept it in our box of "memories". We are cheese dicks. These are the awesome effects that you get from the camera. I got a sweet "Duran Duran" video look alike picture in my bathing suit. I was pretty proud of that.

I'm pretty sure this is done with a pinhole camera. I love pinholes. You never know what you're going to get with them; I think that's what I like, the mystery and excitement. I worked with pinhole cameras all through College. It was kinda "my thing." That sounds queer but my Degree was Still Based Media Studies with and Emphasis on Alternative Processes. Which basically means I was really good at Van Dyke Browns, Cyanotypes, and worked with Large Format Films and Cameras and used Pinhole Cameras blah blah blah . It's super fun though that I got that experience because now I can play with cheap card board pinholes. Yipppeeee!

I just decided to post this picture because yes it was taken with a Lomo Camera but also it touched me. I think because it's about young and old but also because it's also about females in general. It's beautiful. The Lomo quality gives it a dream like, memory feel. The vignette accentuates the moment in time between the Grandchild and Grandmother. I love this feel in space and time. Gosh, I feel like I'm in College again.

I hope you enjoy Photography as much as I do. I would really love to hear your thoughts on it.

XOXO