Ten Things Tuesday...on Friday: Christmas Wishlist Edition

Ten things I would absolutely love to find under the Christmas tree ;)

1. The "Any Bag" Camera Bag Insert-- turns any bag into a safe place for your camera. I'd really like one of these since I usually carry my camera around in my bookbag when I'm traveling. Plus camera bags are usually pretty clunky and ugly looking so this way I can use a messenger bag or purse if I want!

2. Ah, I guess I'm becoming a real camera freak. I keep finding these fun little quirky cameras and I definitely foresee a collection in my future. Just another kind of experimental 35mm camera with a sweet wide angle--I still love film, there's just something about it that makes it more fun than digital. I love the photos this thing delivers. Ultra wide and slim 35mm.3. The Dreamy Diana Lens for digital cameras (for Canon cameras). I would definitely LOVE to have this. Diana style photos in digital format? Yes, please. I've been wanting a Diana camera with all the fixin's but I think this lens would get me started off really nice. I would really like to be able to utilize this look in actual photo shoots too just to add some really fun shots for clients.

4. I absolutely love this set of prints from Bomobob on Etsy! Great lomography photos :) Think they'd make great wall decor.5.These earrings are awesome! Poppies are my favorite :)

6. haha, okay so it may be a little known fact about me--I'm pretty crazy about lip balm. I would love to have this set! The five flavors I'd pick: Black Plum, Honeysuckle Nectarine, Ginger Peach, Vanilla Coconut, Brown Sugar.
7. 35mm Film Scanning Mask. I could really use one of these. I know it sounds weird to say that I'm shooting film and I want to make it digital...why not just shoot digital...but trust me, it makes a difference. Plus it's cheaper just to get the negatives developed and be able to print them digitally.
8. 120mm Film Scanning Mask. Same deal, just for the medium format film my Holga can take. I'd really like to start shooting this format and being able to scan it into my computer and print myself would allow me to do that more easily until I have a darkroom set up, whenever that may be.

9. 120mm Film for my Holga. This is the stuff I really want to start working with!10. Annnnnd one of these :D

Time to Knit

It's that time of year--a knitting project just seems necessary.
So I'm gonna start working on this tomorrow (Pattern by Pam Powers check out her stuff, she has some lovely patterns) :

Pretty excited!

And also, I think you should listen to this song. It's very sweet :)

Etsy

I think the economy must be having some effect on Etsy sales. This time last year I was selling a lot of books on there...and I haven't really changed the way I do things...so that leads me to believe that people just aren't buying like they were last year. I was reading the forums today and it seems like a lot of other people are having the same issues. Not to mention there are now like..11 million (yes, really) items on Etsy for sale. That's a sea of crafts that my 10 or 11 are floating in.

You know, I make things...that's what I do...but selling them is not, I don't think, my forte. I don't really think it's a matter of people not liking what I sell, per se...it's that I am not a seller--I'm not business minded and I'm not very competitive at all in anything that I do. That's just my nature. I hate charging people a huge amount of money even if it is handmade...eh. I dunno. I don't really think Etsy is my niche. Or online selling, for that matter.
What that means--I don't know, really. My work isn't something I can sell in bulk, you know? There are stores around here that sell the types of things I make but they're consignment, mostly.
Maybe I should look into that again, I dunno. It's just that I get about half the money I want to make off my books at a consignment shop unless I jack the price up sky high. Eh, But maybe worth a try. There's one over in Hickory and I've had people that sell there tell me I should look into it so maybe I should.

Heh, I'm not trying to make a million dollars at this (although that would be just lovely :D). I just make things and they're something to be used by people. I can't make myself a thousand journals. But it's what I like to do. hm.
Craft conundrum.

There's just nothing for me to sink my teeth in here.
Is that the problem?
All the flavor is just drained out of everything. The colors are more dull. And I feel myself go out of my head on a daily basis trying to make it feel like I don't hate every second.
I'm just wasting time...time, time, time. I've come to hate the clock and the calendar both and yet I'm completely obsessed with each of them. Waiting for it to be over. Wake up and figure out how to whittle down the day until it reaches a decent hour to fall asleep and then I dream and dream, awful things, and wake up and do it again. It all feels the same no matter how much I try to shake it up. Such a waste of time!
Just no stimulation. I can read and watch movies and try to make things, spend hours driving up miles--all the things that used to keep me perfectly satisfied don't do it for me anymore. I can't concentrate.
Like a mental patient, pacing a room...feels that way, most days.
Losing my mind--I'm pretty sure this is what it feels like, and that I am in fact. And it was already pretty far out the door before I found myself with nothing to do.
I have no purpose here.
And perhaps that's the real problem. I am not happy without a purpose. And here I am--with nothing but time and without a reason for anything I do at the moment except just to pass the time.
...

Germany!

It's amazing to be here :).
Mostly just getting to spend some much needed time with my wonderful husband. I can't tell you how nice it is just to be around him. He took a four day weekend and we took an awesome trip to Garmisch which has a military family resort. It was beautiful up there--right at the foot of the Alps. We drove through a little of Austria on our way to see Castle Neuschwanstein (the castle Disney modeled Cinderella's castle after).
We wanted to go to Berchtesgaden where Hitler's Eagle Nest is but it was a little too far away for this trip.
Definitely a nice weekend.

It's going to be nice when we don't have to worry about leaving each other again for more than a few weeks--that's for sure. Hopefully it won't seem like that much longer. I honestly can't wait to have a home together. People seem to be kind of discouraging lately saying "oh you're so cute now but just wait til you live together"...eh. I dunno--hearing that stuff a lot recently and it's really getting on my nerves. I know there's no such thing as "perfect", I'm not stupid. But to me saying things like that AND projecting it onto people who are happy--really happy--just means that you're not trying hard enough in your own relationship. I don't see how two people who make an effort to support and be there for each other, to work on the things that are difficult, could ever end up going down a road where they end up hating being around each other. Doesn't add up. I'm not worried about us becoming one of those couples, it's just irritating that people keep telling both of us that, you know?

Ah, but anyway.

I'm definitely enjoying my time here. I'm beyond lucky to have such a great husband and to be able to travel to all these cool places on top of that.

For my first wedding photo shoot I think I did a pretty good job. Got some really good shots. It was a beautiful afternoon and at a nice little spot with a pond. I'll post some pictures after I edit them. After shooting a wedding...I think it's safe to say I can definitely see myself doing wedding photography at some point in my life.
I still feel like there's some stuff I need to study a little more that my education didn't cover well enough :-/ but I guess part of that comes with time and experience. I'd really like to take like one more class on lighting, on location shooting and something on the business of photography--which never got covered at all during my five years of school..somehow (perhaps you can see why my opinion of university education is low...very low. And no, I didn't not-learn those things because I was partying or goofing off--I worked really hard in school...all the more reason I'm a little bitter that after I got out I realized there was still a lot I didn't know). Ah, but oh well.

In other news--the number of days between me and Germany are getting pretty slim! :D A week from tomorrow! I'm soooo excited! It's gonna be a good week. Lots to do with packing and getting ready and then a bridal shower my aunts are having for me and then I'm off!

Things are looking better finally--less than two weeks and I'll be on a plane to Germany. It'll be extremely nice to have my heart and the rest of me in the same place for a bit. Not to long after this trip and I'll be there for good (well..not "for good" but...I'll be living over there).

I have a cold and it sucks.

Hopefully the herbal tea I've been drinking+zicam will patch me up more quickly than it usually takes.

Photographing my first wedding this weekend! Hope it goes well. One of Noah's relatives is getting married and his uncle asked if I would help him photograph. I need the experience for sure so I'm pretty excited.