Saturday Acqusitions

Saturday April 27, 2013

March wasn't a good month for pets for me. Both my frog that I had for the past 16 years and my rat passed away in the same week. I had been looking around online for a while for new rats (I prefer to not get pet rats from the petstores) and decided on a couple of rescue boys from Misty Blue Rattery. I picked 2 brothers - a curious dumbo velveeten agouti hooded and a shy agouti velveteen . They were born a couple days before my last rat died and so they're just about 2 months old now. I sometimes feel like I'm a glutton for punishment by going back to pet rats because of their short lives, but rats are such great pets, especially in an apartment and each one has their own personality and preferences that's fun to experience. It's amazing to me what they've already learned in only being with me for 2 weeks. I look forward to spending time with my new little pets.

I love his little mohawk!

Saturday May 4, 2013

Last weekend I had to pick up some Shanghai film from the Post office. Afterward, we headed over to Hollywood to wander around the Wattles Mansion Property. Although it was pretty and nice to wander outside for a while, unfortunately all of the garden areas were locked up so there wasn't too much to explore.

Since we were nearby on the correct side of the hills, we headed over to Freestyle Photo so I could pick up some supplies. I'm super lucky to have a photo store like Freestyle locally - I did the math, and I saved about $25 by picking up the items in store opposed to ordering online! I had been thinking about getting a Holga camera for a little while and with the Gretchen Bleiler model on sale in store for $20, I decided  to go ahead and pick it up. The trees aren't too offensive and are on stickers, but I already pulled off a "GB" sticker from the lens cap (it made the camera look like you stole it from someone with those initials.) I loaded it with film today and I'm looking forward to seeing how the pictures turn out. My first impression is that it seems a little more durable in some ways (the Diana shutter and aperture controls feel more delicate), but also a little more simple than the Diana. If nothing else, I'm glad to have it on hand for others to use. I also picked up 20 more rolls of medium format film (30 total for the day!) as well as some developer.

While we were in the store, a woman was picking up a Holga camera with some accessories and a single roll of film. I keep thinking back to it and laughing - I wondered why so many people selling their cameras online claimed to have used it for only a single roll. I suppose this sort of situation explains it.


Saturday May 11, 2013

 A couple months ago, when I was biking around & doing some errands, I ended up at a garage sale where I picked up a vintage camera tripod. I chatted with the women selling the items for a bit and as is common, they made comments about me being on a bike, which made them think of the past. They mentioned that at one point Lankershim had a ton of thrift stores. It sounded idyllic compared to the car dealership lined street there today. When I noticed one of the old dealerships was converted to a thrift store recently, I was super excited. This morning I decided to stop by and see what sorts of things they had.

Because it's approximately 92 degrees outside, that means it's time to think of the cold and jackets. (Actually it was 66 this past Monday and is supposed to be 100 by this next Monday!!) I ended up finding this awesome orange flower brooch for $5.50 that I thought would compliment a blue cordoroy peacoat style jacket that I wear in the winter. It doesn't have any info on it and is in super nice shape, but based on some googling, it looks like it might actually be vintage. I might need to find a reason/outfit to wear this with before winter!