All Shook Up

Woah, I'm pooped.  Tomorrow we leave for Atlanta for Thanksgiving, so today's been filled with all those pre-trip errands and to-dos.  We're all packed up and ready to head south (can't wait!), but in the meantime I wanted to tell you about my fun Friday with Shake It.  Shake It is another cool Polaroid iPhone app.  The images to me are a lot like the lolo setting in Camera Bag, but Shake It is a little more fun because the image "develops" like a Polaroid and you can even shake it to help it along.  Of course shaking the phone while the image develops doesn't actually do anything--it's just fun to watch it wiggle.  You can see what I mean here.  If you have an iPhone, for just .99 cents, I think it's worth the fun.  Here are some pictures with Shake It of a few things I saw on Friday in our neighborhood and in the colorful neighborhood next door, the Mission, and one downtown. I got yummy Dynamo donuts and an equally yummy burrito in the Mission at La Palma. I couldn't decide if I wanted breakfast or lunch, so I got both!  I also saw an old cable car and some very pretty fall leaves.  And then last night, I went downtown to buy a few things for me and Lois. It was great to go downtown at night.  All the snazzy people, cabs whizzing by, the lights, the tall buildings. . .  I forget sometimes that people are actually out after dark.  It was a great day. 

Dreaming of Peace and Quiet

Apartment living is for the birds!  I'm so looking forward to having our own house again one day.  Let me tell you why:  STOMP, STOMP, STOMP, STOMP?  Did you hear that?  That's the sound of our upstairs neighbors walking around on their hardwood floors, FOR HOURS!  I have no idea what they could possibly be doing, but they walk around seemingly without a break at all and wearing what sounds like wooden platform flip flops.  When I listen to them walking around, it reminds me of when you're getting ready for a trip--you need some things in the closet, then in the bathroom, over in the dresser, then in the hall closet, then in the living room, etc.  But they can't be packing for a trip every night!  And they do laundry at night too--at like 1AM, ugh. (The washer and dryer for our building are in the garage under our bedroom.) They are very nice people, and no, I haven't said anything to them yet because I know Lois keeps them up often as well (we have talked about that; they said they don't mind and understand), and because I'm so non-confrontational (every time I think I'm going to say something, I wuss out).  I might, though, ask if they could take off their shoes or wear slippers.  Ah, well, I guess it's just the nature of apartment living, and I'm still very grateful for what we have.  But that won't stop me from daydreaming of peace and quiet in a house of our own one day, and of course filling it with treasures.  I turned to Decorology on flickr for inspiration. Decorology is one of my favorite eye candy decorating groups on flickr.  I think I'll keep my nose in the pictures until the walk-a-thon starts.

 

 

All images from Decorology (I don't know the original sources, but I think some are listed in the pool).

Lil' Holiday Dresses

I've been looking around for some holiday dresses for Lois and of course I love so many (girl clothes are just so darn cute).  I want to get one dress for her to wear in pictures to send with our Christmas cards, and one she can wear in her picture with Santa.  I love these two dresses from The Gap.  I picture her in the white cable knit dress in a pile of leaves for her holiday picture and then in the red check party dress in her Santa picture.  I'd actually like grown-up versions of either of these dresses!  There are so many great local designers, though, who make really beautiful handmade clothes.  I think I'll head over to Mabuhay just to see what's in store.

PS. I'm feeling much better.  Finally!

Photography 101

This week I started reading a great book that I bought on Amazon, Understanding Photography by Bryan Peterson.  If you're a beginner, like I am, and want to learn more about the basics of making good pictures, I think this is a great place to start (well, your camera manual should really probably be the first place to start, then this book).  I've checked out a few books from the library and read bits and pieces of some online on Safari, but I think this one is the best for my purposes.  It covers all the basics in a concise, understandable way.  It explains the fundamentals of the camera and how it works, the importance of understanding aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to achieve the correct exposure, and how to use your camera in manual mode properly and effectively.  It also gives you all kinds of tips on how to achieve certain goals like shooting in low-light situations, using different lenses for different purposes, and composing a good image. And it's filled with great examples in each chapter.  This book is not just for people with dSLRs but also for people with digital point and shoot cameras.  The first few chapters might be the most important because they cover how to use your camera's settings (or rather what the settings are and what they do).

If you decide to get this book, do be sure to read your camera manual first and have it with you when you read the book.  You might be a little lost without it.  To some people it might seem like a no-brainer to say that, but if you're like me, manuals are just pretty boring, and I usually toss them in a drawer (or hand them to Andrew to read, who always reads manuals).  I didn't peek into our camera's manual for more than a year after we had it, which was really silly.

Above is one of my favorite pictures even though it's actually not a very good picture.  When zoomed in, it's really noisy (grainy) because I had the ISO quite high, but I still love the colors and the light and the contrast of the metal lockers with the old chair.  It's one of my favorite pictures that I took in a restaurant in Atlanta, whose name I like just as much--Sun in my Belly.

Okay, now go get that book!  Oh, and I almost forgot, Bryan Peterson has a lot of other photography books as well, and what looks like some great online classes through his photography school.

From My Camera Bag

I love the Camera Bag iPhone app.  It's so much fun!  I've had it on my phone for a while but rarely play with it.  Today I strolled Lois to the playground, and on the way snapped these pictures with Camera Bag.  A bit of the grittier side of the hood, though our neighborhood isn't really gritty at all. I think the instant setting is my favorite.  It makes everything look interesting and cool.  And now there's Camera Bag for your desktop.  Imagine the possibilities! So fun.