Lomography Light Painting Party

I just received an email from the NYC Lomography store about an upcoming party they're having. They're giving out glowsticks and flashlights and will be teaching how to "light paint" with plastic cameras. I've been having a lot of fun with my Holga so I wish I could go. Unfortunately I will be driving for 7 hours tomorrow to go to a tradeshow/party in middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania. Oh well, free food and drinks, give-aways and catching up with/meeting people from our industry...better than a full day of work I guess.

Anyway, more info on the lomo party: INFO.

How awesome is that picture!? It came in the email. One day I will be able to do that, I swear.

Fix Up.

I actually set foot in a gym this week. That might not seem like a big deal to anyone, but I'd never been before! Our new apartment comes with free gym membership (which NO ONE uses) so I've decided to get in shape. I noticed over Christmas break (in Miami Beach, no less...home of the ridiculously skinny people!) that I had put on a few extra pounds. Not such a huge amount that it made me too self-conscious, but enough that I wanted to do something about it (last time I checked it was 9 lbs., which I know isn't a lot but I'm only 5'2" so it's kind of noticeable). January, February and March came and went and I hadn't so much as lifted a finger. In my defense, I also moved and went on two trips during that time so my schedule was pretty packed...plus it was our busy time at work so I was usually there or at home zoning on the couch in order to recover for the next work day...excuses, excuses. The other day I got motivated, though, and finally went to check it out. So far I've been doing 3+ miles on the elliptical, which may not seem like so much to all of you "I go to the gym 3-5 times a week all year 'round"-people, but it's been kicking my ass. My calves and whatever muscles are by my hips are KILLING me, but mentally I feel pretty accomplished. I've never WORKED at being thin before. I'd always been one of those assholes who'd been blessed with a fast metabolism, who could eat an entire pizza, plus cheesy bread, PLUS ice cream, and not gain a single pound. Apparently until now. I've been eating healthier, too. Lots of veggies, fish, brown rice, no pastas or potatoes...I've been doing well and I'm proud.

New apartment! (No question mark!)

We got the apartment! I'm so ridiculously excited. Over the last week we've written way too many checks, signed way too many papers and spent way too much time looking for new furniture, but we're happy! When making semi-life-changing decisions like choosing a new place to live, I usually feel very anxious and unsure of myself, but this time I feel good. The ONLY negative thing is that they have a no pet policy (it was really hard convincing the new landlord that my chinchillas are clean, hypoallergenic and don't smell...so much so that she made us pay double the security deposit) so that means no puppies for the next two years. It's hardly a sacrifice considering all of my other "new apartment must-haves" are there (walk-in closet, bath tub, 2 parking spaces, patio area, good bathroom storage) and even some extra bonuses, like a free gym and indoor pool and having jacuzzi jets in said bathtub. Our move-in date is March 1st but we're going to take our time and do it little by little. Working 6 days a week makes things hard so we're not going to stress ourselves (hah, easier said than done).

Our current landlord started showing our place today, which meant that for the whole afternoon we were in cleaning mode. I hate that we let it get so messy but we clean up for OTHER PEOPLE, not ourselves. I would love to blame it entirely on how tired we are from work but I think it's definitely half exhausted/half lazy. I felt like a little kid, hiding things under the bed and stuffing things in my drawers or the corners of my closet hoping no one would notice. I have my fingers crossed that someone liked the place and will rent it soon. The sooner they rent it the better for us, since we're being charged for the full month of March even though we'll probably be out by the 15th. Now comes the fun part, packing our entire lives into boxes! Wee!

New cameras, new apartment?

After the Kid Cudi show we went to a few weeks ago, Bri got bummed on the quality of photos and videos we took. Obviously they weren't great, they were taken with our cell phones because he didn't want to bring the giant Nikon D40 (even though I bought him a cute, wait no not cute, MASCULINE, camera bag from Supreme). So that weekend we went to New Jersey to get him a new digital camera. He is a brat/geek and has to have the best of everything, so he was dead set on buying a Leica, just to have a small point-and-shoot camera that he can easily bring with him anywhere. After about ten minutes of boring camera talk, I wandered away to entertain myself. That is when I came across their Lomography section.

I'd always wanted some sort of lomo camera. At one point I NEEDED to have their four-lens ActionSampler, then the SuperSampler, and my most recent (recent, as in, for the past 6 years) necessity was the classic Holga. I finally bought it! The guys at the store were awesome, they showed me what film to use, what speed is best, how to load/unload it, etc. They were really helpful and kept laughing about how Brian and I are polar opposites in regards to our cameras.

We went back to the store this past Saturday. B wanted a portable tripod, I had some questions after reading the Holga book and I had my first roll of 120 film that needed to be developed. After asking all my questions about film types and cross-processing I picked up some 120 slide film also. I'm pretty surprised that they cross-process (and they also scan negatives! I can't wait to try some 35mm film in the camera and hopefully get photos printed past the sprockets. I'm going back Thursday night to get my film. I hope the photos come out good but it was my first time with this camera, I'm not expecting too much. Again, the guys were REALLY helpful and awesome. If you're in the NY/NJ area, go to Bergen County Camera (we've been going to the Westwood location). There's honestly no need to go to B&H anymore, they have everything and are even more helpful.

New apartment! Well, not yet, but we looked at places last week and we really like this one. It's a condo unit but it has its own entrance (not in a building where you have to take the stairs or elevator to your floor), it has two bedrooms and two marble/granite bathrooms (one bedroom will be our office/chinchilla room), a washer and dryer, a little patio area, views of the Hudson River and TZ Bridge, an AWESOME kitchen with marble counters and custom tiles...I loooove it. We put down a deposit and filed an application, fingers crossed! The worst part was having to call my current landlord to ask if we could get out of our lease a few months early. Ugh, terrible. He said ok, though, after sounding totally hurt and confused. Now I'm just going to wait anxiously and see what happens!

A silent sleeper, you won't hear a peep.

Tonight I saw Kid Cudi live with Chip tha Ripper and Consequence. Not only were the openers actually good (like Consequence from Tribe isn't good...) Kid Cudi was one of the best live performers I've seen in a LONG time. He's so good live, plus his personality on stage (and I'm assuming off) is awesome. I was very impressed. We were in VIP so I got to take some photos and videos (it was PACKED downstairs, I wouldn't have been able to even see the stage!). I took a video of the entire Day 'N Nite performance (just realized how close that is to my blog name!) only to come home, upload it and find that it recorded with no sound. SO mad. I have one of Poke Her Face and Pursuit of Happiness, but I'd much rather post this video I DIDN'T take, of my most favorite Kid Cudi song (and unfortunately one he didn't play tonight):

OK and I'll post one I took tonight, too...here's Poke Her Face (sorry for quality, iPhone!)

EDIT: Apparently the real name of that song is Make Her Say. Whatever. Poke Her Face is better.

Tick Tock

Time. It seems like no matter who you ask, people always want more time. I constantly hope that tomorrow I will wake up and there are suddenly more hours in the day.

I am blessed with the fact that my job doesn't "officially" start until 11am, but not so blessed because that means absolutely nothing. I usually either have a ton of paperwork to take care of before we open, or a customer calls me and asks me to come in early. Which is, in and of itself, ridiculous...much like the majority of my customers.

I work 6 days a week just so I am available for everyone. I figure our hours have a wide enough range that everyone, regardless of their schedule, can find time to come and purchase their goods. This doesn't stop them from, at least 4 out of the 6 days per week, calling and asking me to stay late/come in early for them. Depending on how much I like them and how good of a mood they catch me in, I will probably say yes. But if you're a pain in the ass or I've had a shitty day, forget it. "These are my hours, Monday-Saturday. You can't make it, too bad."

My favorite is when they call my cell after hours to have me COME BACK to the store after I've already gone home for the day. Case in point: last week one day I worked about an hour and a half late. After work I went to Staples to pick up some supplies to bring with me to the store the next day. I was in the parking lot and my Nextel started going off (yes, I actually had to cheat on my iPhone and get a cheap work phone just so I could turn it off on the weekends/vacation), it was a guy asking me to come back to the store so he could pick up an order. It was already 8:30pm at this point, I had just spent more time than necessary there, I just wanted to go home, eat dinner with Brian and sit on my couch. So...I lied to him. I told him his order was in the warehouse which gets locked up at 7pm so he couldn't get his stuff even if I said yes, which I assured him I would have. I seem like the good guy and I don't have to go back to work...win, win. Anyway, this happens often. Absolutely insane. I think anyone else would be a lot meaner than I am about it.

Oh! Another favorite: they call me on Sundays asking me to come in. Sundays are sacred to me and not in the religious sense. It's my day for: peace, quiet, chores, fun, family, etc...everything BUT work. I would have to REALLY like you or feel totally compassionate to come in to work on a Sunday, or if you want to spend a lot of money...maybe. It would take a lot.

I'm learning to say no more. It was another New Years' resolution of mine, to put myself before the business more. What good is running a successful business if you can't take the time to live, breathe and enjoy yourself? Or at least do laundry, cook meals and return phone calls?

The Wire

Brian and I started watching the HBO show, The Wire, from the beginning. Apparently it first premiered in 2002 and, depending on who you ask, was one of the best TV shows of all time. I don't know how I never saw it, I was up on all of those HBO shows, The Sopranos, Sex in the City, OZ, etc. Somehow this one flew under my radar, which is actually better because now I don't have to wait every week for a new episode, I can watch is straight through whenever I want. The first time I heard of The Wire was when I was watching The Office with Brian and they had Charles come and watch over the Scranton branch. When they introduced him Brian said, "Oh shit, Stringer Bell," which made no sense to me so he had to explain about the Wire a little bit. It sounded good but I never really had the motivation to watch it. Now that we're on Season 2, I see why the whole Stringer Bell thing was funny.


In The Wire he's the brains behind every operation and a total bad-ass, it's hilarious to see him pushing pencils in a shirt and tie in the Office.