Monday, August 31, 2009

#27 - Day 265



Cleaned & reorganized my closet.

For someone who never has anything to wear, I found a lot of random clothes that either a) still had the tags, b) haven't been worn in the past year, or c) I forgot I even had.

Now I have a bag full of things I need to take by Daisy Exchange. Perhaps I'll get enough cash to buy a much needed new pair of jeans for the fall. Even after cleaning out my closet, I have 8 pair of jeans. Out of those 8 pair, I know I will only wear four - 2 pairs of skinnies (one dark wash, one light wash), 1 that's long enough for heels, and 1 short enough for flats.

Jeans shopping = no fun. I have yet to find someone that enjoys it. If there is a jeans shopping lover out there, please make your presence known. We would all like to throw rotten fruit at congratulate you.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

#27 - Day 263

My job this week- clean out this room:


For my new/old roommie!


#27 - Day 262



reduced fat peanut butter on a fluffer nutter sandwich.


it's like ordering a diet coke with your super-sized big mac meal.

#27 - Day 261

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Through the Viewfinder (TTV) Photography

I wrote a post the other day about "fake TTV". Well after doing a little more research on the subject, I figured out it would be easier to do real TTV photography (especially since I don't have photoshop and would have to sweet talk someone to do the photoshopping for me).

This post from photojojo.com gives a great explanation on exactly what TTV photography is:

You’re wandering around your favorite thrift store/ flea market/ crazy cat-lady neighbor’s attic and you find a great vintage camera.

You get all excited until you open the back and discover it only takes some bizarre outdated film that hasn’t been around since President Taft was voted People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.” So you put it back, sigh, and daydream about that naughty naughty Taft.

But hark, dear reader: you can take digital pictures using that incredibly cool old camera. Combine your digital camera with your kitschy cam, and you’ll end up with some serious vintage-style awesome.

HOW TO DO IT:

through the viewfinderYou’ll need two cameras for this trick: one (preferably digital) to take the picture and another to aim through. Most people seem to favor cameras with waist-level viewfinders because they’re large and easy to see.

Frame your shot using the older camera, then aim your digital camera at the viewfinder and take the picture. Afterwards, crop the photo to take out everything but the viewfinder image.

Well hello there mind-readers over at photojojo.com. I have a handful of vintage cameras that I have collected over the past year - the Kodak Brownie Holiday (cir.1953), the Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20 (cir. 1946), the Kodak Brownie Starlet (cir. 1956), and the Keystone Capri K-30 8mm movie camera (cir. 1950).

I have always wanted to take photographs with them, but the film & development would be too expensive for it to become a hobby. Since none of these cameras had a waist-level viewfinder, they would have to continue to collect dust on my mantle. I made a trip to the Rink Gallery and crossed my fingers that I would find a camera. It was my lucky day! I found a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye for $27.



I made a little "smokestack" out of file folders and painters tape in order to block out the light and reduce the glare on the lens.



Time to experiment!





It takes a little getting used to... the images are reversed in the old camera. I don't have the steadiest hand, so a lot of the shots turned out blurry. Maybe it's time to invest in a tripod?

#27 - Day 260

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I had a 4 day weekend, so I babysat this little guy on my days off.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Aha!

I have been trying to figure out what to put on my bare kitchen wall above this dinette set and I finally found a little inspiration from Ms. ElsieCake (hooray for blogstalking!).


She did this photo collage (below) and even posted the link where she figured out how to do fake TTV photos!


I'm thinking of taking some black & white photos of different kitchen utensils and utilizing the fake TTV technique. I think it will look pretty cool up against the dark purple wall and white cabinetry and dinette set.

Found these photos for inspiration:


(found here)

(found here)



(found here)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

#27 - Day 257

I haven't stepped foot past my back patio in about a month for 2 reasons:

1. It's been raining a lot, so I don't want to track mud throughout my house.
2. If you don't see the overgrown lawn, it doesn't exist.

This evening I worked up my courage to walk through the jungle that is my backyard.
Found this funky flower growing on something I'm pretty sure is a weed/bush type thing.


That tells how much a green thumb I have... I can't even tell the difference between weeds and flowers! I water things and trim them when they start to creep into the sidewalks. That's the extent of my expertise.



And that, my friends, is what grass looks like after a month (OK, maybe longer) of not mowing.

Of all the housekeeping chores, mowing is definitely my least favorite. Even though my yard is teeny tiny, it's impossible to not get sweaty and dirty while mowing a yard of any size.

I'm basically posting this scary/embarrassing pic so that I will be motivated to mow during my 4 day weekend (Whoop!). All the while, in the back of my mind, I am crossing my fingers that it rains so it's too wet to mow! Procrastination at it's finest!

What's your least favorite chore?

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

#27 - Day 256



a-b-c,
easy as 1-2-3.

Monday, August 17, 2009

#27 - Day 257

Did some weeding this evening. Cut these lovelies from my flower bed.



#27 - Day 256

#27 - Day 255



I always like finding out what kind of products people use on a daily basis - especially when it helps you figure out certain things about them and gives you little tips to steal! (ie. Like why someone always has that rosy glow or how they get their hair so soft or what fragrance they wear.)

Here are some products I use on a daily basis (from left to right):

1. Contact solution.
2. Dove deodorant. Love the smell of this - I use Dove Cucumber and Green tea body wash as well. Love the moisturizers.
3. Floss. Has to be mint-waxed. Cinnamon flavored things that are made to freshen breath/clean teeth (mints, gum, toothpaste, floss) gross me out and I will only take it in an act of desperation.
4. Burberry Summer. I'm not a huge perfume person. Never have been. This is the 1st fragrance I have bought in my 25 years of existence. Crazy, right? It's the 1st one that I have liked the smell enough to have it associated with - and I like that it's not ultra-popular. Walk by a woman wearing Clinique Happy, Ralph Lauren Romance or Chanel No.5 and not only can you name it, but guys,you can probably name a few women you know that wear the same thing and either have positive or negative associations with that scent. Kind of like how Cool Water automatically makes me think of the "way too cocky for his own good" football player I worked with at my first job, how Aqua de Gio takes me back to my 1st New Years Kiss, and how Hollister screams one of my college boyfriends.
5. Victoria Secret Lovespell lotion. It kinda smells like Kool-Aid. Oh yeah!!!
6. Paul Mitchell Spray Wax. Amazing for hold & texture. Takes 2-3 shampoos to get out though.
7. BedHead Masterpiece Hairspray.
8. Rose Salve. Use it on my cuticles and elbows at night, lips in the morning. Gotta love a product that has multiple uses.
9. Pola SakuraVeil Products. Everyone says I am so lucky to have Asian skin. What they don't understand is how hard it is to find products that work with oily Asian skin without drying it out or making it even oiler. My mom has been using Pola since I was little and I started using it in my early teens. My mom has wonderful skin and is often told she looks 10-20 years younger than she really is. She has always said that you need to start taking care of your skin before it's too late - I'm definitely taking her advice! I am not going to be a Botox lady! I use the toning lotion and moisture milk in the AM & PM and the t-zone purifying scrub once a week.
10. Clean & Clear Morning Burst Facial Cleanser. Ran out of Pola facial cleanser. Had to make due.
11.Ulta Dark Circle Intensive Eye Treatment. I have the curse of dark under-eye circles. I have yet to find a lotion/serum that will actually work effectively. This is definitely a revolving door of products. Ulta's still on it's trial run. It makes a good primer for my foundation (BareMinerals), so it might stick around a little longer than most.
12. Crest toothpaste. My toothpaste requirements: Has to be Crest (no clue why), must have whitening agents, must be mint flavored, gel>paste. I squeeze from the top. If I leave the water running while brushing, I am reminded of that cartoon where the pond behind a little boys house goes down and the fish start flopping around, and I immediately turn the faucet off. Also, I think that toothpaste commercials need to be more accurate - I don't know anyone that can brush their teeth without making at least a tiny bit of toothpaste foam.

#27 - Day 254



Josie's mom told her a life of phytophilia would have horrible consequences.




#27 - Day 253: Doodles

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

#27 - Day 252

#27 - Day 251



Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.

Monday, August 10, 2009

#27 - Day 250


I drove past this abandoned church on my way to Luther, OK for an inspection. I just had to take a photo. If I had more time (and the doors weren't locked), I would have totally explored inside.

#27 - Day 249



Sunburned from laying out by the pool WAY too long with WAY too little sunscreen, I spent the majority of my Sunday lying in bed, covered in aloe vera gell, watching Netflix.

Snapped this blurry pic with my iPhone when I remembered (like at 11:45 PM) that I hadn't snapped my daily photo.

It's the thought that counts, right? :)

#27 - Day 248



Pictures taken Friday after midnight are really Saturday pictures.

#27 - Day 247 - Korean Food



When I was growing up, I would always watch my mom cook different kinds of Korean food. For some reason, I always had it in my mind that it was too hard to learn and if anything were to happen to my mom, I would have to buy all of my Korean food pre-made from a Korean grocery store or restaurant. I think it had to do with the fact that my mom (and 99.99% of all Korean cooks) never measures out ingredients.

A couple weeks ago, I brought some napa cabbage to her house to make baechu kimchi. I knew that I could find a recipe online, but every Korean cook has their own special way of preparing it, and I wanted to get as close to my mom's as possible. I had my pencil & paper ready and gave her some measuring cups and teaspoons to write her measurements down. And surprise surprise, she still didn't use them. So I had to guess how much garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, etc. that she was putting into the bowl. This is the same thing I did when she showed me how to make galbi (Korean grilled Beef ribs)... I ended up leaving her house with a list of "approximate" measurements of all the ingredients and her advice of just "adding ingredients til it tastes right".

Nice.

So in the past few months, I have pushed aside all my inhibitions and tried cooking more Korean food. This past Sunday, I made Oi kimchi (cucumber kimchi - pictured above), baechu kimchi, and kimchi chigae (kimchi soup). All passed mom's taste test! Now I don't have to limit myself to eating Korean food only when I am at my mom's!

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moo.

Monday, August 3, 2009

How to: Reupholster a Chair


I found 2 of these accent chairs in my neighbor's yard for Big Trash Day. It just so happened that I was in the market for a pair of accent chairs in my living room, so I couldn't resist the urge, and I snatched them up!

I was not a fan of the fabric choice or color... and they smelled kind of funky.

I decided they would be the perfect guinea pig for my first attempt at reupholstering something more complex than a dining room chair seat cover.

Tools

Screwdriver (flat head)
Needle nose pliers
Rubber mallet (or cover a hammer head with cloth so it does not damage & leave marks on the fabric)
Paint/stain stripper
Stain
Staple gun & staples (lots of them!)
Fabric
Upholstery nails

Instructions

1. Remove the original fabric.

It is very important to remember where each piece went and in what order it was removed. It's even more important to keep each piece in tact - as these serve as templates for the new fabric pieces.

I used a Sharpie to label each piece so I would not forget where each piece went.

Be sure to save the foam padding as well. You will want to a) reuse them if they are in good condition or b) use them as templates for new foam inserts. Most of the foam in my chairs was in good condition, so I was able to reuse it.


2. Strip & re-stain wood.

I did not like the light colored stain currently on the chairs, so I stripped the finish and re-stained it a darker color that would better compliment my fabric choice.

I used Citristrip to remove the finish and it worked great. No harsh smells & it worked in 30 minutes.


3. Sew fabric & attach to chair frame.

Using the old fabric as templates - sew the arms, back, and seat cushions.
Stuff with foam & batting and attach to frame in the proper order using staple gun.

4. Add some homemade throw pillows, and Voila!

The hardest part of this whole process was actually finding a fabric that I liked. I wanted a color that would "pop" with my white walls and darn brown floor. I spent an entire Saturday driving around Oklahoma City to different fabric stores, but all I found were fabrics in darker greens. Finally at the seventh store I went to (I was about to give up at this point), I found the perfect shade of green! (Thank you, Fabric Factory!) I asked for 5 1/2 yards and that's exactly what was left on the roll! After cutting the templates for the 1st chair, I was so worried that I wouldn't have enough for the 2nd chair, but as luck would have it, it came out to be just enough. I literally had slivers of fabric left!

Here are the chairs in their new home:


I am in desperate need of some curtains! How incredibly bare does that wall look?!

Any suggestions on curtain colors?



#27 - Day 243

Sunday, August 2, 2009

#14 - Go Rock Climbing - Accomplished!

August 1, 2009

Saturday, I went to Rocktown in OKC with Beth for my 1st rock climbing experience. I had a blast! Talk about a workout, too... I was pretty sore when I woke up this morning.

My slight fear of heights kicked in on some of the climbs, but that's not going to stop me from going again. So if anyone wants to join me, just let me know. :)






#27 - Day 242



Antique Store Find of the Day: Old Soda Crates
Where: The Rink, Bethany, OK

I bought a couple of these from the same booth a few months ago for $8 each.
I took the dividers out and mounted them on the wall as shelves in my craft/guest bedroom.



(You can run to The Rink and buy 3 for the price of one of these from Pottery Barn. Speaking of Pottery Barn, I absolutely LOVE the whole "Vintage Style" in their Fall 2009 catalog. Definitely up my alley - I love mixing vintage/antique and modern pieces.)