May we see your photos, please?
All of "Todd's 31st birthday photos" have now been added to Shutterblog. Thanks again to Dan and Stacy for the wonderful nite out!
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Signs you're getting old...

Sign #402 that you're getting old... Your friends throw you a big birthday bash at Chuck E. Cheese, and not only does your cake have enough candles to light the entire room -- but after the birthday song is over and the hostess goes to cut it -- she asks, "Is there something burning?" And it turns out, there was. Your 31 candles had started to melt their plastic cake display. Whoops. Hope you had a happy birthday, baby!

Stay tuned for more photos later this weekend...
posted at 06:01 AM | link-

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I'm just a girl
Had to go out and get all pretty for the meeester's birthday:

Ahhhhh...nothing like a new haircut to make you feel good!
posted at 01:46 PM | link-

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Baby blankets & baby shoes, baby slippers, baby spoons, walls of baby blue
I'm not making a habit of weekly pics here or anything, but I put my first maternity outfit on yesterday and Todd snapped a couple of shots before we headed out to Dan's birthday party. (Which, I might add, I was "teh big winnah" at roulette.) I'm fourteen weeks along here. Not quite ready to be in maternity, but too far gone for my old fitted clothes... So do I have 'the glow™'?

posted at 12:15 PM | link-

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Toying around

We both just added eight new Holga photos to Lomo-Motion.com!
posted at 08:30 PM | link-

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Mah Nizzle
'Cuz the boyz in the hood are alwayz hard
Come talkin' that trash and we'll pull your card
Knowin' nuthin' in life but to be legit
Don't quote me boy, I ain't said shit...

posted at 11:19 PM | link-

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It cuts you up
I haven't had my hair cut since January. To be honest, I just haven't felt like caring about my hair for months -- and anyone who knows me knows that's quite unusual for me. It's just been that kind of year... But I finally got fed up with how long it was. How blah it was. And how "not me" it was.

That's when I found out I'm truly cursed. When we moved up to the 'burbs a couple of years ago, I quit going to the hairdresser I'd used for about 4½ years because she was just too far away. It seemed a pain to waste half of our weekend schlepping to the salon and back. So by some fluke I found a girl here in suburbia that I actually loved, first-try. When I called to make the appointment last week they told me she'd been promoted to manage her own salon. The location? Exactly two blocks from my old stylist. Two blocks even further from us. Figures. But after the great hair disaster of '02 when I was forced to use someone else last-minute, there was no way I was up to trying to find someone new again. So schelp we did... It wasn't that hard to make the drive considering, with tip, I pay this girl about $70 less than my old stylist in the same location before tip.

And of course, it was worth it. I feel about 20 lbs. lighter and look like "me" again. Wanna see?

(Dig that new tee, don't ya'?) When my stylist's boyfriend gets back from Iraq and they get married, I think I'm going to need weeks of therapy. It's harder to find a decent stylist than it is to buy a house, I'm starting to believe...and that was no cakewalk.

We won't be around tonight. Robbie is flying in for another overnighter, and we're going into Tampa to see 'im in a couple of hours. Y'all have fun now, ya'hear!
posted at 04:24 PM | link-

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Leapin' lizards!
Just goofing off with the tripod Todd bought me for our anniversary...

posted at 04:15 PM | link-

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Slip-slidin' away
Here's an interesting how-to article -- "How to scan 35mm slides on a flatbed scanner" (assuming you don't have a slide-ready scanner already). The results aren't the greatest, but it beats nothin'...
posted at 07:34 PM | link-

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And it makes me feel so fine I can't control my brain
I finally got the photos from this weekend organized -- there are several over at Shutterblog that I haven't put up here yet. Have a peek if you're so inclined...

UPDATE: I have one of the photos available as a wallpaper over in the sidebar now.
posted at 04:26 PM | link-

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The calm before
Right now it looks like we're in between storms for the day. The sun is trying to peek out. The flowers and trees are dancing after receiving the much-needed rain. I hope we're finally in our summertime storm pattern -- our yard desperately needs it! And so do I, really...

posted at 02:57 PM | link-

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Windows to the soul
We just added a dozen new Lomos to lomo-motion.com -- seven by "her" and five by "him". The last one is our 50th one -- see, I told you I'd use the domain if I bought it! *wink*

Todd's anniversary present showed up a bit late today. I bought him a Kiev 35A, supposedly similar to a Lomo. He plans to find out ASAP. I bought it from these guys over the phone, and I was very pleased with the service and turn-around. (It wasn't their fault we have issues with our UPS guy. Don't even ask me what condition the box arrived in!) Ignore the fact their website says it takes 120 medium-format film though. It doesn't. It's a 35mm camera. So if you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the Lomo, watch this space for comparisons soon. (UPDATE: I just noticed that Amazon has more Holga camera starter kits in stock again. See this entry's comments for other alternatives.)

And somewhat related...when we were at Ritz getting reprints made late this afternoon, we saw something that made both of our hearts melt. An elderly gentleman -- he must have been in his early 80s -- was at the do-it-yourself enlargement equipment working very gingerly on a photograph. You could tell his hands had problems with arthritis, but that didn't seem to be the reason each and every movement was slow, meticulous and calculated. He caught my attention and I did my best to not be obvious, yet see the photograph he was working on so diligently. I tapped Todd on the shoulder as the man pulled it out of the machine and held it up to see his hard work. It was a beautiful 8x10 hand-tinted photograph of a young woman. The photo had to have been from the mid-to-late 1940s. You could tell he stopped to take a moment to collect himself while looking it over. Obviously we'll never know the true story behind the gentleman and his precious photograph, but we were both very moved by the whole thing. Love truly is timeless...
posted at 11:00 PM | link-

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In the good ol' summertime
Todd took a personal day today since he basically had to work on Saturday. Ahhhhhh. Here's a few more random photographs from this weekend...

posted at 11:46 AM | link-

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Recharged.
It's amazing how much of a difference a day can make. I feel more relaxed -- and at peace -- with life after an overnight at the beach, than I did after a full week on vacation. It's truly been a "the weather is here...wish you were wonderful..." Florida weekend. The resort on North Redington Beach was just amazing. We spent our evening last night with drinks from the Tiki Bar, laying out on beach chairs just listening to the surf and collecting shells. We took a late night beach walk and got within 2 feet of an egret that didn't even bat an eye we were next to him.

We got up early this morning (yes, you heard that right -- I was up early this morning) to take photos on the beach and visit John's Pass before heading back home. We filled two flash cards and two rolls of film, so here are just a few for now:

Hover for descriptions. And because I'm nice...and I know you all are really just cheeky monkeys...here's a little beach 'eye candy'...for the ladies...and for the fellas. Or mix and match as you prefer. See, everyone wins on our anniversary!
posted at 05:11 PM | link-

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You've gotta fight...for your right...to...photograph?
Spied over at Jason's..."The Photographer's Right - A Downloadable Flier".

Considering Starbucks doesn't even want you to take photos inside now, might not be such a bad thing to keep handy.
posted at 09:26 PM | link-

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It's picture page, it's picture page!
Well since my clients couldn't e-mail me today, I couldn't e-mail them, and I wasn't blogging...I actually used part of the afternoon to organize photos. Finally! So here are our last three day-trips in Shutterblog:

And...I'm spent!
posted at 09:57 PM | link-

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Get your motor runnin'
In an attempt to lighten things up around here just a bit, the dual-vanity plates we spied yesterday on our way to the beach... I wonder if they always have to stop at lights with him on the left and her on the right?

[hog and hogette]

posted at 01:54 PM | link-

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Only words that I could find...

A few photos from our late afternoon at the beach. You'll forgive me if my heart isn't exactly in them right now... I'll try to add more later this week.

We're getting older, the world's getting colder
For the life of me I don't know the reason why
Maybe it's livin' making us give in
Hearts rolling in taken back on the tide
We're balanced together ocean upon the sky...

UPDATE: All photos taken today can now be found in Shutterblog.
posted at 01:16 AM | link-

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Trial and error
We just added six new Holga photos to lomo-motion.com.

It was our first trial-run with the camera (using color film). We were basically testing out how sharp the images would be, the colors it shot with, and where our light-leaks were. So nothing too spectacular. It's going to be fun getting the hang of it, and figuring out just which parts of the camera to tape up, nonetheless. I just wish we knew of a local lab to process the medium format film. It took almost 2 weeks to get the photos back from Ritz. For more Holga links, start here...
posted at 04:00 PM | link-

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But do freedom fighters swallow?
We were driving into Tampa tonight and couldn't resist capturing this moment for everyone -- ahhhh life on the Redneck Riviera:

Now I'm not sure which is more amusing... The fact the guy took a permanent marker to his car's paint. The fact he didn't first look up the spelling of the very thing he was trying to exclaim sucked (almost forgot the "o" there, buddy). Or the fact that even though driving an American-flag waving vehicle on Memorial Day weekend, he took the time to slam on his brakes and flip off a POW-Purple Heart Veteran plated car (that had accidentally cut him off earlier) when the driver of that car turned off the main road. It was most amusing all around.

And last but not least...this photo was taken just for Yvonne. Mmmmm...
posted at 10:59 PM | link-

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Ride 'em cowgirl

[on my horsey]

Just thought y'all should be subjected to my random-cuteness. Take a close look, because that's probably one of the very few photos in existence to prove I actually wore cowboy boots once upon a time. I haven't been riding in years... Well, horses anyway. *wink*
posted at 06:03 PM | link-

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I'm...sailing...away

This afternoon we decided to act like tourists again, so we drove down to St. Pete to walk around the Baywalk area and Marina. We also drove to the St. Pete Pier and the Renaissance Vinoy Resort. Here are a few photos from our day. Eventually I'll find time to get everything I've taken this month better-organized...I think... Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

UPDATE: All photos taken today can now be found in Shutterblog.
posted at 09:23 PM | link-

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I know you'll get to like it if you give it a chance now
As mentioned earlier, Todd took off with my Lomo this week. His b&w Lomographs have been added to the newly redesigned lomo-motion.com.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to add the Lomo images I took in downtown Tampa and Ybor City last weekend (separate from the preview of images taken with my G3). But for now, check out Todd's photos -- I'm very impressed!
posted at 01:57 AM | link-

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Plop, plop - fizz, fizz - oh what a relief it is!
Todd's been bit by the photography bug as well. He filled up 2/3 of a b&w roll on the Lomo during his lunch yesterday, and is practicing his digital skillz on my old Minolta. Here's a photo he took today that I just adore. So if you're missing his voice, check out his sight...
posted at 10:00 PM | link-

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Just you and me lesbian seagull

Lesbian Seagull

Over rocks and trees and sand
Soaring over cliffs
And gently floating down to land

She proudly lifts her voice
To sound her mating call
And soon her mate responds by singing
Caw...caw...caw

Come with me
Lesbian Seagull
Settle down and rest with me

Fly with me Lesbian Seagull
To my little nest by the sea

With me that's where you belong with me
I know I can be strong when you're with me.....

Confused? Click here.
She skims the water
At the new time to seek
Her fish and she emerges
With one squirming in her beak

She plays among the waves
And hides between the swells
She walks the beach at twilight
Searching for some shells

Come with me
Lesbian Seagull
Settle down and rest with me

Oh fly with me Lesbian Seagull
To my little nest by the sea

With me that's where you belong with me
I know I can be strong when you're
You're with me.....

Song Credit: Engelbert Humperdinck
posted at 03:28 PM | link-

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Bling-bling
Attention Lomo owners:

lomography.com and MAC Cosmetics are sponsoring a "Pop-It from the Hip Contest". The grand prize is a 5-day/4-night trip for winner and guest to New York City, $500 spending money each, a make-up lesson at the MAC flagship store in SoHo, and a "World of Lomography Box". The deadline to enter is June 15, 2003. See official site for more details...
posted at 01:07 PM | link-

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And...I'm spent!
I finally have all of our vacation photos online. <and the crowd goes wild> Go here for the final images from Hilton Head Island. (All images available in larger size upon request.)
posted at 12:02 AM | link-

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Movin' right along...
Finally got the "people" photos from the Hilton Head Island segment of our vacation up at Shutterblog. And in case you want to see more photos of the rooms at Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort, you can find those here.

Now all I have left to add are three days of Hilton Head Island "places" photos. Whew!
posted at 04:19 PM | link-

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Signs, signs, everywhere signs...

This Saturday afternoon we decided to play tourists, rather than locals, and head out to Channelside and Ybor City near downtown Tampa. We rode the new streetcar roundtrip from the Tampa Convention Center to Ybor and back -- making several photo (and food) stops along the way, of course. One of these days I'll add massive amounts of photos from our excursion...but for now, while I'm supposed to be working...here's a sneak-peek.

UPDATE: All photos taken today can now be found in Shutterblog.
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If you think it's cheap or a bit risqué...
I really should have been born 100 years ago (link not work-safe)... But it leaves me wondering if these women's children were embarrassed and ashamed at what they were seeing, if they ever found the photos? Personally, I find them all amazingly beautiful.
posted at 03:10 PM | link-

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Oh, snap! Guess what I saw...
I'm a very happy girl. Somehow I managed to snag the very last Lomographic Holga Medium Format Camera Starter Kit in stock on Amazon and it shipped today. I had an affiliate credit from WM!'s last quarter so I ended up paying less than $10 total for it. It's a great deal though -- the kit includes the camera (with built-in flash), a photo book by Fred Lebain, 1 roll of film, and 2 AA batteries. It uses medium-format film in color and b&w. Amazon is currently out of stock (thanks to me - mwah!), but the site allows you to pre-order and says more will be in stock soon. At $56.99, that's about a 1/3 of the price of the Lomo Kompakt Automat. You can even find them on eBay for less than that. Click here to view Holga galleries linked from Holga Camera Photo. See, I told you I'd use the new domain if I bought it!

UPDATE: Babz just passed along two great links to go with my new aquisition: toycamera.com and holgamods.com Check out some of her photography here.
posted at 03:45 PM | link-

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You are what you wear

Hey! Do I have to write it across my chest for you or what? Sheesh.
posted at 10:09 PM | link-

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Melt the statues in the park

Fall On Me

There's a problem, feathers iron
Bargain buildings, weights and pulleys
Feathers hit the ground
Before the weight can leave the air
Buy the sky and sell the sky
And tell the sky and tell the sky

Don't fall on me
What is it up in the air for
It's gonna fall
Fall on me
If it's there for long
It's gonna fall
Fall on me
It's over it's over me

There's the progress we have found
A way to talk around the problem
Building towered foresight
Isn't anything at all

Buy the sky and sell the sky
And bleed the sky and tell the sky

Don't fall on me
What is it up in the air for
It's gonna fall
Fall on me
If it's there for long
It's gonna fall
Fall on me
It's over it's over me

Don't fall on me.....

Well I could keep it above
But then it wouldn't be sky anymore
So if I send it to you
You've got to promise to keep it whole

Buy the sky and sell the sky
And lift your arms up to the sky
And ask the sky and ask the sky

Don't fall on me.....

Lyrics credit: R.E.M.
posted at 03:58 PM | link-

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Oh, well I think you got the knack
Just in case I haven't been able to get the song stuck in your brain yet, the domain has finally resolved and lomo-motion.com is mine all mine. Yes, I officially own more domains than flip-flops now (and that's saying a lot) -- but the deal is, if I buy it, I'll use it. And that's really the point since it took me five months to finish the first roll of film. The design will look familiar for now since I don't have much free time to spare, but keep watching this space for changes -- and additions -- very soon!
posted at 10:10 PM | link-

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Beauty's where you find it
Beauty is everywhere. Sometimes it stares you right in the face. Other times it's peeking out and you have to look for it a little. Man, I love springtime in Florida!

posted at 03:42 PM | link-

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C'mon baby, do the Lomo-Motion
My first ten Lomo-shots are in Shutterblog now. Baby steps...
posted at 10:51 PM | link-

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Spies like us
What a welcome back home we've had.....we're just getting back online again since my last post yesterday. Our DSL went out. Again. We're seriously about to switch back to a cable modem.

But since I was forced offline, I finished up my first Lomo roll of film (that I've been working on since my birthday) and had them developed today. Wanna peek at the first one I've scanned (shot down by the Savannah River)? About half of the roll were "misses", but for my first try with an auto-nothing camera, I don't think that's too shabby. Todd isn't a big fan of the Lomo-style now that he's seen the results, but I love it! If only I were as good as Dawn... I've got a lot to learn from her, that's for sure!

UPDATE: You can now see my first ten Lomo-photographs here.
posted at 06:35 PM | link-

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Frankly my dear...
I'm up waaaaay past my new bedtime, but I finally finished all of the Savannah photos. Five pages of 'em to be exact, with most put online for the very first time. Right now they're all at 640x480 for space's sake, but if you see one you just can't live without -- give me a yell. I have them all in up to 1600x1200 (by request). So go here for the "people photos" and here for the "places photos". Knock yourselves out.
posted at 03:21 AM | link-

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Say cheese!
I'm in the process of breaking down all of our vacation photos into people / animals and places. It's gonna take awhile... But here's the first batch that I've added to Shutterblog -- "the three of us in Savannah". If you're wondering why the long face on Todd in his last photo...it's 8:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning... That's why! *wink*
posted at 11:39 PM | link-

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Back to life...back to reality...

[on Hilton Head Island]

We're both back to work tomorrow, and I have a 10:45 a.m. doctor's appointment. Whee!

UPDATE: I added a wallpaper from our trip to the sidebar -- pick it up in 1024x768 here.
posted at 09:44 PM | link-

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Fantastic voyage
Today we took advantage of a free "beach nature walk" tour offered by the Disney resort. It's honestly been one of the favorite parts of my vacation. We had a great guide, and it was only us and four other people (two parents and their two kids) so it was very interactive.

I can also honestly say it's the only time in any tour I've taken where the guide has uttered the phrase, "If I'm going to pay that much for drinks at a titty bar [in Tampa], it had better not be a cock tease." (The family with kids were long gone to their resort room by this point, for the record, so he was safe in saying it.) I'm still giggling about that one -- the "other" side of Disney. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun! Click here for photos. Tomorrow is another travel day by the way, so I'll see ya' when I see ya'!
posted at 06:02 PM | link-

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G'day, and welcome to day four
A day full of sun, sand and yummy-nummy banana daiquiris by the pool! Again, sorry for the small size, but they'll have to do for now while we're on dial-up...
posted at 06:00 PM | link-

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Oh, Carolina!
We've finally arrived at our main destination -- Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort. Thanks to an amazing FL resident special, we were able to reserve a 2-bedroom villa for several dollars a night cheaper than the published rates on the studios. Needless to say, it's absolutely amazing here -- but I don't expect anything less of Disney.

We're both exhausted, so we're taking the rest of today as a lazy day off. Todd's catching the tail-end of the NFL Draft, and I just put more photos online. We couldn't resist heading to the Savannah Historic District one last time early this morning. We took Claire for walks through the parks and shot more of the beautiful scenery. Again, they're all small 'til we get home since we're still on dialup -- but I have two new galleries with about 1/4 of the pics taken:

1. Savannah Historic District - 04.27.03
2. Hilton Head Island - 04.27.03

I'll try to actually write a few summaries later, but after "Mr. Irrelevant" is selected, it's nappy time! Hope everyone had a great weekend -- I've really enjoyed reading all your comments! -Robyn
posted at 05:10 PM | link-

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Southern living
We're just getting back in from a fun-filled day in the Savannah Historic District. We took a trolley tour with Old Town Trolley Tours, which was a great way to see the city. There were fourteen stops, and you could exit to walk around and rejoin with the next trolley any time you wanted. Due to being on dial-up, I'm only uploading 10 small shots right now. Enjoy!

Tomorrow we're back on the road again...so until then...don't do anything I wouldn't do. That should give you all lots of leeway. Thanks for the well-wishes and all the sweet notes left yesterday and today! -Robyn (P.S. Hover mouse over images for browser bar descriptions.)

UPDATE: We didn't spy any stars, but we did see them filming this movie by the river today.

UPDATE 2: You can now find these, and more, Savannah images full-size here.
posted at 07:17 PM | link-

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It's a long way down Holiday Road
[trip day 1]

Just an old, sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind... Greetings from Savannah! Miss me yet? We're enjoying our first vacation since '99. We got in too late to shoot much, but here are a few snaps from the road...

Happy weekend!
-R&T&C
posted at 12:31 AM | link-