So K made the most fantastic discovery there was to discover today by the way of lomography. It is a Diana Instant Back... meaning put this on the back of your diana and you can take Instax photos! Like polaroids but on a DIANA! I flipping love lomo. I wish I had more money to spend on cameras. I still want an Instax. When I told my mom of this discovery she said "well put it on your Christmas list." K is getting an Instax, so naturally I'm quite jealous. I plan on acquiring this back though, so I can't really be too jealous. I found a little blurb about it as well as an article about polaroid for those interested. Like me. I got a really fantastic birthday gift today from my old roommate Kelly. She is really wonderful. My suitemate Jenn also got me a good birthday spread with lots of little owl and dino things. Kelly's present was completely mail themed.A necklace with a postcard and airplane... she engraved my name on the front of the postcard, she works at an engraving shop. Sticky notes.A "carve your own" wooden postcard. A thin wooden postcard. Also, speaking of mail, the post office managed to misplace a bunch of our mail when we were gone. It was all returned today which resulted in me getting a nice little heap of letters and postcards, as well as my roommate assignment for this next year. I may try to switch into a four person suite (a handicap/disability room) since the opportunity may have just presented itself... though I feel bad because I just got in contact with the roommates I have now. Regardless, I was very happy to get my little stack of mail. Now I'm just working on writing back to my several correspondence buddies. I send a lot of mail. Now where is my pen?
P.S. I just went downstairs to find my parents dancing around to Big Joe Turners "Shake, Rattle and Roll."
I have been meaning to put a post up on here for some time now, since I got back from Connecticut. Actually since I was in Connecticut. Anyway, now I am finally doing it. I am including my ten SX-70 Polaroids that I took while I was there because I'm rather fond of them.
Sailboats, Thimble Islands. Crowd at The Vibes Music Festival.Sunset, Getting Pizza.The shore at The Vibes.
Evan and Dad getting suites for the wedding at Men's Warehouse. On the dock, Thimble Islands. Topless woman, The Vibes. Sunlight through a window on the bedroom floor, Colleen's old room. Evan at the airport in Dallas.
The trip was a good one, we did quite a few fun and fantastic things, such as: *Spent a few days in New York City, where we: -Saw a Broadway production of Chicago -Went to Strawberry Fields in Central Park at dusk and laid in the grass watching fireflies (or lightning bugs as my dad calls them) -Went to Carnegie Deli at two in the morning for Knishes and other Jewish/potato delights -Wandered around the Village eating strange flavors of sorbet, Andean blackberry for example -Visited a old classic barbershop so dad could get his hair cut by an old Italian man -Ate black and white cookies *Went to Colleen's wedding -Took place on my 20th birthday -Open bar, rowdy bunch, a lot of dancing -After party in the hotel, more dancing -Stumbled into the hotel room with dad at three in the morning, both parties intoxicated *Went to Ian's beach house (that he is renting for the summer) on two occasions -Sat in the sun -Went to the abandoned island town of Pleasure Beach and explored the ruins (more to come) -Played in the water with a surfboard (to float on mostly) and small sailboat -Found sea glass -Hit shells into the water with plastic baseball bats -Ate Irish cheese and crackers *Went on a boat tour of the Thimble Islands -Road on a little boat with a pirate enthused captain -Saw the houses of Thimble Island *Ate an Carnival Ice Cream Cake -For my birthday *Went to the Vibes Music Festival -Saw Crosby, Stills and Nash and lots of topless women, drugged out people and "hippies" -Walked through the mud -Got caught in downpour (a huge thunder clap sounded after their last song) And so on... I suppose those were the highlights. I enjoyed myself quite a bit, it was a good trip. Though I have to admit, trips with my family usually are, especially when my dad is around. He has a knack of finding all kinds of fun and interesting things to do.
Also, I was just listening to Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" which reminds me of my childhood. I rather like it. I decided to look up the lyrics:
Spent my days with a woman unkind, Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine. Made up my mind to make a new start, Going to california with an aching in my heart. Someone told me theres a girl out there With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair. Took my chances on a big jet plane, Never let them tell you that theyre all the same. The sea was red and the sky was grey, Wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today. The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake As the children of the sun began to awake. Seems that the wrath of the gods Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow; I think I might be sinking. Throw me a line if I reach it in time Ill meet you up there where the path Runs straight and high. To find a queen without a king; They say she plays guitar and cries and sings. La la la la Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn Tryin to find a woman whos never, never, never been born. Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams, Telling myself its not as hard, hard, hard as it seems.
There are some lines I really like, and some that are kinda strange, such as: "Seems that the wrath of the gods, got a punch on the nose and it started to flow;" But as I've said, I like it.
Finally, K sent me my horoscope today via text message: "Someone has an unrealistic dream. Should you encourage this? Of course. All dreams are unrealistic until they're not." I think its really quite fantastic.
So I should be sleeping... but I'm going to share the things I got with my mum today... we had a bit of a shopping extravaganza. Those boots up there are some beauties I found thrifting for $14. I got two black dresses at a little boutique of a store in Glenwood. The first, this one, is the dress I think I'll be wearing to Colleen's wedding next week. You can't see the detail or cut too well, but I included some pics of the crossed straps (excuse the bra straps) and beaded detail along the neckline. Dress number two from the little boutique. Cut out shoulders, it is made of the most comfortable material... in fact the dress is made by Comfy. It reminds me of ballet. I found two more thrift items, a super soft striped v neck and a spandex jumpsuit (like those that they sell at American Apparel) which I am madly in love with. It is so comfortable. And perfect for winter time skirt/dress wearing. As well as skiing. This little baby dress was $4. Prairie style. Finally I found a square ring with a little book on it. There is a heart inside when you open it. I'm sleeping in the spandex jumpsuit.
Ian has an Instax camera, basically a Polaroid camera but fujifilm's version. We went to the park today to have lunch and played with it. I want one so bad now. Ian has the super deluxe one, the best one... you can turn the flash off and such... and so now of course I want that one too. They are on the pricey side though. Lorraine managed to get Ian's off ebay for a good deal and I'm trying to recruit her to find one for me... Honestly it is unlikely that there will be two finds for relatively cheap, as of right now none are posted, but I believe in her abilities and have my fingers crossed. Oh lovely Instax camera, become mine. I still have a billion rolls of film to develop (like six) plus one in my Holga. I wish you could experience the love and glory of film without having to pay for it. I may send my film off to Denver ProPhoto, actually I think I should do that considering that I haven't found a place close by in Boston that actually processes and develops the film, the places I know send it off to labs. I also need to purchase a 35 for my Intro to Photo class, there is a lovely girl in Boston who has offered to sell me one of hers upon our return to Boston. I hope that deal holds up.
I've been baking a ton lately. It was inspired by Evan coming home for a visit I suppose. In the past two days I have made quite a few tasty items and most of them from scratch. First I made pumpkin muffins from a box... everything else I've baked was from scratch. After those came out of the oven I put in the butterscotch brownies, my grandma's old recipe. The following day I made a strawberry rhubarb pie, thanks to K's cookbook and made the crust for the first time. This morning I whipped up a batch of Swedish pancakes, which aren't really baked... and served those up with sliced strawberries, raspberries and powdered sugar. I also watched T this morning. She is a cute one. She came over for dinner the other night (I had her overnight) and we were all dancing. My dad taught her to move her hands like they do in Africa and bob her head. I can't believe she is almost two, I've been watching her since she was a week old. Anyway, my next baked good will be chocolate brownies from scratch. Now I just need to expand my cooking beyond yummy treats. Evan did tell me "Hanna you are getting to be really good at cooking" though after trying my Swedish pancake. He then told me I should open a restaurant but then changed it to bakery when I told him that I don't really cook much else... I actually have always liked the idea of having a bakery, but for some reason I always envision it when I'm a little old lady. My grandma and I used to make pasta which was pretty awesome. I may make some spaghetti sauce or something in the near future, we'll see. Also I happened to find some old but interesting pictures the other day. My hair used to be fantastically curly...
And then there is this... oh memories memories. We were driving everywhere that night, in my little old golden buggy. I like stumbling across old photographs, quite a bit. And look at Ian. What a fork.
I decided to post some of the photos from the old shoebox my parents and I found the other day. I probably should have scanned them, but I was lazy and used photobooth, so some aren't quite as wonderful as they are in person. Above is me and my mom after I was born. I really love that photo, the color and the light, the overall aesthetic of it. My dad. My step grandma, looking like a straight up model. My grandma, grandpa, aunt and cousin in Europe. My parents and I at a party of some sort, my dad is flipping off the camera, very subtlety. Well I'm assuming its the camera. Me reading at our old house in Costa Rica. Dad and I swimming in Costa Rica, the lighting in this picture is wonderful. The back of this photo says: Remember this receptionist boy? It is cut in half. My dad's friend when he was 13. I guess my dad went over to this kids house for Thanksgiving dinner one year and this kid's sister and her husband showed up high on heroin with their kid. It is a classic crazy dad story. He seriously should write a book. My mom in 1984. Mom and Dad in 1984. Shots. Dad and I. Me in Costa Rica. My old dog, Chester. He looks a lot like the one I have now.
I will leave you with a site that has really interesting pictures of homo sapiens. I asked my dad what he was looking at the other night, there was a photo of a man with a very wrinkled face on his computer and he replied, homo sapiens and emailed me the link. Its worth a look.
A necklace with a postcard and airplane... she engraved my name on the front of the postcard, she works at an engraving shop. 
A "carve your own" wooden postcard. 
A thin wooden postcard. 
