lesson learned. kind of.

Want to hear a funny story? Great.

Seven years ago I was watching "It Takes a Thief." The program follows two former thieves, who attempt to teach people how to protect their property, by essentially robbing them. In this particular episode, the theives got a hold of a garage door opener. Upon checking the garage, they saw there was a car in there. They were super pumped, because not only were they getting to steal a car but it also made for a faster get-away with more stuff, since they could pack the vehicle.
"When you leave for a vacation, be sure to put your garage door opener somewhere where no one would think to look for it. Don't leave it in your car, or near the door. Those places are too obvious," they told the audience.

A week later, my family was planning to leave for a family vacation to Washington D.C. I was a fairly new driver, but was still granted a coveted spot in the garage. Which meant I was the sole care-giver for one of our two garage door openers. And while we were gone, I didn't want my car stolen. I didn't want to be responsible when someone broke into our house and took every expensive item they could find away in my car, all because I left the garage door opener in an obvious spot while we were away. So I did what every logical, "It Takes a Thief" watcher would do...I hid it. I hid it real good.

Enjoying our trip, having no idea what waited for us at home.
Well, more like what didn't wait for us.

I hid it so good in fact, that when we got home, I couldn't find it.
I probably tried to hide it for a few days, but after a while it became apparent that I no longer had my garage door opener. I had to come clean.
"Uh...Mom? Dad? Well...here's the thing...I don't exactly have the garage door opener anymore. Don't worry, it's not lost. It's just that...I hid it. I hid it before we left and I can't remember where it is. And I can't find it anywhere."

My family looked EVERYWHERE for that thing. It was a huge inconvenience not having it.
After a few weeks, it was clear that I had hidden it really well. This thing was not showing up.
After a few months, I was no longer able to park in the garage. [Darn it.] And we pretty much all wrote that garage door opener off.
It would come up every once in a while over the next few years, "Hey Nancy. Remember when you were brilliant and hid the garage door opener?"
"Yeah, 'member when our house WASN'T robbed and my car WASN'T stolen with all your valuable possessions in it because of me and my wise decision to hide the garage door opener? Yeah? That's what I thought! You're welcome."

Well, I got a call from my dad a couple of weeks ago.
"Guess what I found..." he said.
I knew right away.

My parents are planning to move from their house, my childhood home, in the fall. So they're getting rid of all their stuff and tying all the lose ends before selling it. So a few weeks ago, my dad was taking out the old bathroom vanity and noticed something kind of funny. And there it was, the garage door opener. Perched behind the wooden divider of our bathroom vanity.
I'm so smart.
Or rather, 17 year-old me was so smart.

But I learned my lesson. Definitely not the lesson that the former thieves tried to teach me via "It Takes a Thief." But rather, the exact opposite. When the day comes that I once again am trusted with a garage door opener, it will always be in the most obvious spot imaginable. It'll be out in the open with neon lights pointing to it saying, "I'M HERE! THE GARAGE DOOR OPENER IS RIGHT HERE!" I have learned to NEVER leave it in a place that someone wouldn't think to look. Cause you know what happens when you do that? That thing doesn't see the light of day for seven years.

Currently playing on the record player: Nothing, because HELLO, the Olympics are on. THE OLYMPICS!!

film obsessed.

Ever since I got my Diana camera, I've thoroughly enjoyed non-digital photography. But newly developed is my COMPLETE AND UTTER OBSESSION with it.
I bought this book called, "Instant Love" and it is absolute perfection.

(I actually got it on sale at Urban Outfitters, and it was one of those "Suprise! It's actually cheaper than marked!" purchases...so it was only like $5! Most definitely the best purchase I've made in a while.)
It's all about Polaroids. It gives you a bunch of information about all the different Polaroid cameras, tips on how to shoot great photos and more! I couldn't put it down, I was just drinking it all in and loving every second of it.
Which is how I fell in love with the Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera. Which also happened to be my birthday present from Rye-guy :) It's definitely one of the most beautiful things I have ever owned. But that's another post for another day.

Anyways, lately I've just been all about film. And browsing Lomography's website. And wanting to go on photo-walks every single night. I'm obsessed. No other way to describe it. It really should come as no surprise, considering I grew up in a home where several (and I mean several) pictures were taken on any remotely important occasion. My friends called my mom "the paparazzi." I believe one of Ryan's first memories of my mother is from when we were freshmen, at band camp, walking to the band camp dance together. We walked past my mom, who was completely focused on capturing the whole thing with her video camera. Then out of nowhere, she reaches her other hand above her head and snaps a picture at the same time. Hahaha. To me it was just another, "Oh mom!" moment, but all my new band friends thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen.
And 2 of my 3 sisters also harbor a deep passion for photography.  I guess it was just instilled in us at a young age :)

So pardon my short hiatus from updating my blog, I've been busing drooling over cameras and films and accessories and learning new tips and tricks for shooting with film. You know, letting my planned posts continue to pile up.

Plus also, THE FREAKING OLYMPICS HAVE STARTED AND THERE IS LITTLE IN THE WORLD THAT I LOVE AS MUCH AS THE SUMMER OLYMPICS!! (Which was also instilled in me from my wonderful mother. It's not like we listened to the Olympic soundtrack all the time or anything. If you haven't met my mom...I'm basically her, just 20ish years younger.)

philly bucket list: ryan's surprise date

Shortly after we moved to Philly, I started following a blog of a girl who lived here. She posted about this mini-Philly-golf course one time, and I knew instantly that I wanted to take Ryan on a date there at some point.
This was probably a year ago.
Well, I can proudly say WE FINALLY WENT THERE!
And I kept it a secret the whole time! I'm not really sure why I wanted it be a secret, surprise date. I just did. More fun that way, I guess.

The mini-golf-course is set up to look like Philadelphia. They have all the major landmarks...Independence Hall, the Art Museum, Benjamin Franklin Bridge, the LOVE sign, etc. We were really impressed with all the little details.

The mini-row houses were really cute, and a great example of those little details! Can you see the rowers in the water in front of them?
The actual row houses are right on the outskirts of the city aka Boathouse Row. Each house belongs to a different rowing club, and they are all lit up at night (they are especially beautiful around Christmas time!) They have races nearly every weekend from Spring to the end of fall, and you can always see people out in the river practicing and warming up for them.

My favorite was mini-Elfreth's alley. Elfreth's Alley is the longest residentially-inhabited neighborhood in America. It's freaking ADORABLE and most definitely one of my favorite places in Philly. So naturally, it had to be my favorite while playing mini-Philly-golf as well!

Ryan's favorite was the mini-Friendship Gate from Chinatown! Philadelphia received the gate/arch as a gift from "our" sister city Tianjin, China. It is made entirely of interlocking wood pieces! And the vibrant red on it was achieved by painting partially with bull's blood!

It was really fun and like I said, we were really impressed with this place!
Plus, can you tell that we went on a tour of the city when we first moved here? We received two tickets for a double-decker hop-on/hop-off bus tour of Philadelphia for a wedding present! What a great idea, right?! Obviously, I retained a lot of knowledge from it. Hahaha. But I've also forgotten a lot of it too, which you can witness if you come to visit us and I give you a tour. A lot of it will be informational and a lot of it will be like, "Uh...this building was something important at some point. It was like...the headquarters of something or someone cool lived there. Moving on."

Currently playing on the record player: Nothing. All is quiet in the Smith household tonight. Maybe I should put something on just to spice up this post a bit ;)

me, myself and i

I'm not really one drawn to blog link-ups. I did you-capture for a while, but somewhere along the line stopped. I stumbled upon a new blog today (framed frosting), which I followed almost immediately. I guess her and some other blogger ladies are starting this monthly link-up called "Me, Myself and I" So every month they post a list of questions for everyone to answer. It sounded fun and seemed like a good way to get some not-so-obvious facts about me on my blog :)

Without further ado...

What is your biggest phobia?
I am irrationally TERRIFIED of bugs. Not all bugs, but most bugs. Creepy crawly bugs. Unpredictable bugs. Like if I don't know what their next move is gonna be...scared of 'em. Crickets? Grasshoppers? HOUSE CENTIPEDES? Not okay. Those things can jump or run anywhere, there is no logic to it so how the heck am I supposed to get away?! But Catepillers? Roly Polies? Those guys are chill, and totally cool in my book.
I was gonna put a picture of a house centipede on here, but even a picture of those things give me the heebie jeebies, so I decided against it. Your welcome. And if you've never seen a house centipede, google image search it now. And forever feel bad for me that I had to share my apartment with those animals for almost a year. So bad that you want to buy me this polaroid camera that I've been drooling over for a month now.

If you could relive any day of your life, what would it be and why?
This is super cliche, but I'd probably say my wedding day. It was just SO MUCH FUN, and I felt so beautiful and so loved and so special after seeing everyone who showed up to celebrate with us!

Sad story, but I need to get a new disc of our wedding pictures.
Until then, you'll have to be satisfied with this one that
has already made an appearance on the blog.

If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?
Definitely not the age I am now [almost 24.] Looking back in life, I had the most fun in high school and while in Uganda, so I would say either 17/18 or 20. But just because I'm that age doesn't mean I'd be experiencing the same things...so maybe I'd go with a solid 26. I have no idea what the future holds, so maybe 26 will be a fun year for me! Plus, then I'd never have to live my dreaded 30th birthday!

Which celebrity do you get mistaken for?
I wish I could say Zooey Deschanel. Because I'm in love with her and I like to think I kind of look like her. But I don't really get told I look like a celebrity. I had one lady tell me I look like "the super weird girl from the breakfast club." And I was like..."Oh. Thanks?" And then not too long ago, I was waiting for the elevator with this man who was just STARING at me. Then he finally says, "Has anyone ever told you you look like Reese Witherspoon? The resemblance is uncanny." Nope. No one ever has. Probably because I don't look like Reese Witherspoon.

Actually, now I kinda see it. Reese and I have the same pointy chin.
So I guess that guy wasn't too far off.
Plus also, I have no lips in that picture.

But my dad looks almost exactly like Robin Williams. Does that count?

What songs would be included on the soundtrack to your life?

Hmmm...this is a hard one for me!
For childhood times, I would probably have:
-Blues Brothers "Rubber Bisquit" because my sisters and I used to dance around our coffee table to that all the time and my dad would always sing it to us because it was so funny!
-Janet Jackson "Runaway" because that was another favorite.
-Some Ace of Base, because I totally rocked out to that roller skating in our basement (and at Roller-rama.)

For elementary school/middle school years, I would include:
-Hanson "Mmm Bop" because I loooooved Hanson. They were my first concert. I went with my cousin and we sat in the 3rd row! I swore that Zach looked at me for several seconds straight and he was in love with me after that. I wasn't a delusional boy-band crazy 8-year-old girl at all.
-Something by Relient K, because I loved them too and listened to them all the time in middle school.

For high school/college years:
-Gavin DeGraw, "I Don't Want To Be" I got this album for my 16th birthday and listened to it non-stop when I first got my license. Everytime I hear it, I'm brought back to driving my little Ford Escort around that first summer :)
-Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody"  We played this my first year in marching band (insert band-nerd joke here, hahaha, you're so clever...) which was also when I met Ryan. Awwww.
-The Verve, "Bittersweet Symphony" Our class song
-Stephen Curtis Chapman, "Love" or Michael W. Smith's "New Hallelujah" because they remind me of my time in Uganda

Post college/now:
-Phil Wickham "You're Beautiful" cause I walked down the aisle to that
-Ingrid Michaelson "The Way You Are" which was our first dance song
-The Mamas and The Papas "California Dreamin'" which I think is pretty self explanatory

Currently playing on the record player: Fleetwood Mac, "Rumors"
DAD! I LOVE THIS RECORD! I can see why you like Fleetwood Mac so much!

better than thin mints

I've found a cookie better than thin mints.
I know. That's a blasphemous statement.
Had someone said that to me before I tried these bad boys, I would have sang the Revelation 21:8 song to them.
Oh, you mean you didn't go to an extremely conservative church that teaches you super inappropriate songs as a 6-year-old like my high school youth pastor's wife did?
Let me enlighten you, this is how the Revelations 21:8 song goes:

Revelations, Revelations,
Twenty one eight, twenty one eight,
Liars go to Hell! Liars go to Hell!
Burn, burn burn! Burn, burn burn!
(In the tune of "Frere Jacques" or "Are You Sleeping, Brother John?")
Such a great song to be teaching children in Sunday school, right? My goodness!
Annnyways. Back to the cookies.
Mint Oreo Fudge Creams.
Hello, I love you.

I really only bought them because they were on sale AND got me an extra ticket in the giveaway that our local-ish grocery store runs in the summertime. I'm a total sucker for that thing and it makes me spend a lot more money than I need to. I've temporarily banned myself from that store. Things were getting a little out of hand. BUT, I'm SO GLAD I BOUGHT THESE!
Both Ryan and I were like, "What the WWHHAAAAT?!" when we bit into our first one.
You could say it was love at first bite. Ahhahaha. I'm so funny.

Moral of the story, this should be your plan for the rest of today:
Get your butt to the store.
[If your store is Acme, you better be giving me your extra Sizzling Summer Giveaway ticket!]
Buy some Mint Oreo Fudge Creams.
Put them in your freezer.
Wait one hour (Painful, I know. Patience is a virtue, my friend. Embrace this opportunity to grow.)
Devour the entire tray in one sitting.
Send me a thank you card with $4 so I can buy myself another box.

Updated to add (thanks for the reminder, Mom!):
Currently playing on the record player: "Mary Poppins"
Hahaha. The 19-month-old boy I nanny loves our record player too, so I was playing some Mary Poppins for him when he was last here. And then I remembered that I really like the soundtrack, so I've left it on.

philly bucket list: honest tom's tacos

A few Saturdays ago, Ryan and I were faced with an entire day together with nothing to do!
(Ryan has started his longer-rotations, so he doesn't need to study as often. Before he would have an exam every 6 weeks, over the material covered in that rotation. BUT now, he has 3 months until his next exam. Not as pressing. And it's been wonderful having him around for real!)

So we decided to check some stuff off our bucket list!
Our original plan was to head to West Philly [enjoy our favorite spot in the city], walk to Honest Tom's Tacos for lunch then explore University city. The later two are on our list, the first is not.
However, once we got to said favorite spot (Clark Park, absolute perfection in this dump of a city) we didn't really want to leave. So we stayed longer and nixed exploring University City for that day.
This exact scenario may or may not have happened about 5 times already.

Plus also, I think The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air really gave West Philly a bad rep. That place ROCKS.

But we did check Honest Tom's Tacos off our list!
Here's the deal with Honest Tom's. They have a real beaut of a food truck. Super colorful. Day of the Dead-esque skull on it and everything. They used to park it near our old apartment fairly often, but we never tried it. Just admired from afar. And then we moved, and thought, "What the crap? Why didn't we ever just walk the two blocks to get these delicious tacos?"
So began our search for the Honest Tom's Taco truck.

I just want a dang polaroid of you, is that too much to ask?

And then one day...we were doing a test-drive for a car we were thinking about buying and we passed it! The truck!! At none other than Clark Park! So after we finished the test-drive, we went back to the truck, SO excited that we had finally tracked it down. There was a farmer's market in the park the same day that we wanted to walk through so we decided to walk through that first and then get our tacos. Once we finished the farmer's market, we turned around and started walking towards the truck when all of a sudden IT DRIVES AWAY! Just gone. Into the sunset [but not really because it was 11am.] Not even kidding, Ryan almost cried.
So continued our search for the Honest Tom's Taco truck.
We spent several Saturday afternoons searching for it. We went to all the usual spots for food trucks, to its typical Clark Park or Logan Circle stops...nothing. No luck. Not a single sign of Honest Tom's. Then we heard they opened a shop. We considered going there, but darn it! I wanted my tacos from that truck!

And now...sad sad story...the truck has broken down.
Tacos will only be served from their store from now on.

All that to say, it was a lot of work trying to check this bad boy off our list!! And we feel like we kind of took the lazy way out by going to the store, but we no longer had an option. And in the debate of store-tacos or no-tacos...whatever gets tacos in my belly is gonna win every time. I mean is that really even a debate?

Honest Tom's Tacos: Check!

Currently playing on the record player: Simon and Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

transformed

So I finished one of my "crap from the streets" projects!
I turned [what I believe is] four of the shelves from one of these bad boys

...into...

A new headboard!!
It doesn't really fit into our room currently, but that's mostly because we have the ugliest nightstands known to man, with some almost-as-terrible lamps (they wouldn't be too bad with a makeover, but they just aren't our style), no decoration or artwork to speak of and the space is half our bedroom half Ryan's office. Our apartment may be a little small for us :) And I still have some tweaking to do, but I really love it, and when we have the money to make our bedroom what we want, it'll be just perfect :)

The words are from our first dance song, "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson.
Every time I see it, I'm brought back to that moment :)

I feel I should also note, I did this makeover sans pinterest.
(Well, I did pin a headboard from Ikea that I found while calculating how much a bedroom makeover would cost us, which I how I got the idea to make this into a headboard. But I don't think that counts.)
I have a very strong love-hate relationship with pinterest. It can be a great tool for inspiration. BUT I feel like everyone is just going to end up with all the same DIY stuff, the same outfits, the same hair, the same weddings.
And now there's all these crafting posers. Wolves in sheep clothing, I tell ya.
Plus also, I'm positive that for every great pin, there are 15 TERRIBLE ones. And I'm just like...what is the matter with you?

Currently playing on the record player: Journey, "Departure"