christina d'arc

I got a perfect score! The great thing about growing up in Detroit is that part of you kind of wishes you were Canadian.

Don Cherry Outfit or Clown Costume? Score: 100% (9 out of 9)

Yesterday The Music Man was on TV. I had forgotten all about this movie that I'd watched about a million times as a kid. It's a musical about a con man who pretends to be a music professor. He gets everyone in town to order instruments and band uniforms for their kids with the intention of skipping town as soon as he collects. However, before he can make his escape, he falls for Marian the Librarian.


My favorite scene is where everyone does this synchronized dance in the library, in and out of the rows of bookcases and up and down those spiral stairs. Hurray for YouTube!

I love how bright all the colors are in those old movies. They would even declare at the beginning: "In Technicolor!" I guess that was before they started taking it for granted that people could watch film in color, and they oversaturated everything to emphasize the point.

Speaking of saturated color, I finally got my Lomo fixed! It cost me $80, but it was well worth it. It's a real one from Communist Russia, not this imitation garbage that Urban Outfitters is selling now. I also found out what one of the mysterious dials on it meant (film speed). I shot a whole roll of slide film today at Eastern Market that I plan to get cross-processed.

Dennis and I have wanted to start an Etsy store for a long time. The plan is to sell vintage stuff and handmade printed items, but we've been slacking on getting it running.

Tonight I faced down the box of estate sale treasures that's been sitting in my dining room. I unpacked everything and decided I would finally start the store by listing a cute patent leather purse I bought a few weeks ago. Two hours later, the listing is finally up!


What took so long? I had to:
- Photograph it
- Realize it was covered in fingerprints; clean up and photograph again
- Remember infamous eBay teapot listing; recover from fear of buyers seeing my reflection in shiny object; photograph some more
- Set up seller account on Etsy; read policy that vintage items must be at least 20 years old
- Spend half an hour researching origins of brand, Theodor of California (it's from the 1950s)
- Brighten poorly lighted pictures from ancient camera in Photoshop
- Upload pictures, find out the file sizes are too large
- Re-Photoshop; Re-upload (are you tired yet?)
- Write cleverly worded, correctly spelled description; start Excel spreadsheet while I'm at it
- Research other buyers' shipping charges

I was all proud of myself until I clicked on the listing and saw how bare our store looks. No fun graphics, no profile, no avatar, and probably worst, no store policy page.

I have a LOT of work to do this weekend. I have so many things to list! Good thing there aren't any sales around here on the holiday weekend, because I need to catch up.

Click here to check out our fledgling store.

Friends, I leave you with...ducklings in a bathtub!

I'm in lurve with these Pantone espresso cups! Sadly, I guess they're are only available in the UK.

A few months ago, I saw an espresso machine on sale at Starbucks, but didn't buy it. It was bright orange, which I loved, but it didn't match my kitchen. Unfortunately, my little kitchen is too tiny to make a clashing espresso machine look inconspicuous. Now I'm regretting it. I could've hidden it behind the bread box or something.

In my never ending quest for a workout program I can stick to, I came across One Hundred Push Ups. I decided that there was no way I could ever achieve this, but just for the hell of it, I would try the "initial test" - simply doing as many good form push ups as I could.

The result? I found out that I could do exactly ZERO push ups. Zero! This made me angry. I knew I had very little upper body strength. I didn't know my muscles had atrophied this badly.

With some coaxing from the bf, I managed ten "girl" push ups. I'm going to start the program this way until I've gotten enough strength to do them the right way.

I am tough! And mean! Rrawwrr!

A surefire sign of old age: the latest Hollywood it girl is TEN! years older than you, to the day.

Oh, dear.

"I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde

A smattering of awesome geeky stuff, clockwise from top left:

• I'm bananas over these periodic table rings from ITSNONAME.
  
• Adorable clothing line from Rhombus inspired by math and science.
• I adore my new glasses from See. I'm really tempted to add some white tape.
• Nob Hill shrug pattern from the brand new spring issue of Knitty.