{Colloseum}

I am finally working on scanning my old film from our 2005 England/Rome trip. I still have rolls that need to be developed! This is my favorite from the trip.

{Siena}

{Lindsey's Moment of Zen}

I'm just waiting for this to happen at one of my weddings.

{Tag}

I have gotten this tag now several times and finally decided to participate. I was hesitant at first because what else could you really learn about me after my, "100 Thing About Me" post. Apparently, I can't resist responding to the tagging.

How did you meet your spouse? We worked together at First Security Firstline. We were on the same team (groups of tables with the same supervisor), but we didn't meet for a long time. Eventually we had a similar work schedule and started talking. We started talking more and more and then we started exchanging books and going to lunch. Everyone noticed and kept saying we should get together, but I was like, "Ew, he is so old." It all worked out in the end though.

How long have you been together? If you count our, "hanging out phase, engagement phase (we didn't have a dating phase) and our marriage it would be almost 10 years.

How long have you been married ? 8 years in May

Who said I love you first? Scott did, after our first huge fight

Who is taller? Scott

Who sings better? Neither of us sing very good

Who is smarter? I'd say we are about equal, but Scott does have a Master's degree. I guess that DOES make him smarter than me. We both love learning though.

Who does the laundry? Both of us

Who does the dishes? Both of us

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Scott

Who mows the lawn? Scott

Who cooks dinner? Both of us

Who drives when you are together? Both. Scott likes to drive on road trips though.

Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? Scott is definitely better than me at this.

Whose parents do you see the most? We used to live at Scott parent's house so it was definitely them before. Now it is about equal.

Who kissed who first? Scott kissed me first, but it took him forever! The opportunity was perfect (drive-in movie theater) but he waited until the second showings of all the movies. The movies were Runaway Bride and Sixth Sense. I got home late that night though. Oh snap.

Who proposed? I did. I didn't mean to. It was a couple of nights after our first huge fight (a monumental turning point in our relationship). I was dressed up as Velma from Scooby Doo (Halloween) and we were talking about our fight. "The Fight" was about me deciding that I was young and wanted to date lots of people (even though we had never talked about whether we were exclusive or not) and Scott said he wasn't going to hang out with me anymore because he didn't want to get hurt. Anyway, the not seeing each other thing didn't last and we were at his parents house and he was trying to be all nice, asking what I wanted, should we still "hang-out", see other people, etc. I said I thought we should just date forever (apparently the proposal) and he asked if I wanted to get married. I said, "Sure."
That was the first time we defined our relationship. No one even knew I was seeing anyone. The next day was surreal, because it was like, "weird, we are getting married". We kept it secret for a couple of days while it processed. Our families weren't that surprised when we told them. Apparently, they were more clear-sighted than we were.

Who is more sensitive? Me, but I am really good about saying when I get my feelings hurt. Maybe too good? Scott, any comments on that?

Who has more siblings? I do. I am the oldest of 6 and he is the oldest of 3.

{Holga Survivor}

There is no rhyme or reason to the holgas that turned out. I must of had a selective speedy trigger finger. Normally you pick your favorite images from a roll of film, but in this instance my pictures selected me. I just work with what I got.

{Duh}

So, last week I had my 120 film from the trip processed. I was very, very excited to see the results. I hardly ever shoot film anymore and decided what better way to get back into it than a trip to Italy. The anticipation was intense. What would it look like? Would I love it? Would it be everything I was hoping?
Alas, my hopes were crushed when I got the film back and realized about 99% had camera shake. Bluriness is pretty normal for a holga, but double trees and double buildings--not so much. What went wrong?? I was totally bummed, but then reminded myself those holgas are full of trickiness and aren't suppose to always work. I rationalized it as camera error and felt semi-okay about the whole thing
Later, I was explaining my dilemma to Marianne, and she said I should check the bulb setting underneath the camera. Um, what?
The camera has about 3 settings and I forgot that the bulb one even existed. Oops. I never use it--out of mind, out of sight (lint incident anyone?). Plus it is hidden under the camera. That is a stupid place for an important camera setting slider thing.
I checked the next morning and yep, that is exactly what happened. It must have been bumped in the bag. The self-soothing I had been practicing all week was now irrevocably lost. Is there anything worse than it being all your very own fault?
I threw myself on the bed, waves of self pity overwhelming me. Thoughts of, I'm never going back to Italy, these were once-in-a-lifetime pictures, totally preventable, etc., etc, kept running through my head. Scott tried to get me to stand up for a hug, but moving from the bed was totally unthinkable. I was one sad puppy.
I had completely broken the fundamental rule of photography, which is understanding how your camera works. I was finally able to rouse myself with the reasoning that I do have over 5300 digital pictures. A comforting thought, but not quite enough to completely take me out of my funk.
I tried researching Photoshop, but apparently camera shake is the one unfixable thing. Forums I checked advised not to have blurry pictures in the first place; not so helpful.
Time does heal all wounds, and a space of 2 days has eased the sadness--or at least I am working on some perspective. Reviewing my holgas (all 120 pictures) I have about 8-10 clear images so it isn't a complete lost cause. Maybe I should take an artistic approach and think of some thoughtful way to combine my mistakes into a grand installation art piece?
My new motto is Live and Learn. I am now working on scanning my old holgas from my last Europe trip (2005), and this has helped some. I have also decided that I don't need to go to Italy to photograph film. I can do it right here--right in my very own backyard, or kitchen, or bathroom (but not when someone is going to the bathroom because that is gross).
~The end

{Leaning Tower + Holga}

By the way, it is a pain to bring film when you are flying. Everyone looks so put out when you ask them to hand check your film. The Salt Lake Airport security personnel insisted on opening up all my film boxes and wrappers. He realized about halfway through that they are all sealed and he actually didn't need to be doing that. I guess there isn't so many people trucking film around these days. Big sigh.
This brings me to another point--how helpless I feel at airport security. Case in point, JFK. We pretty much got snapped at the whole way through the security process. We didn't have our boarding pass properly tucked into our passport quick enough, Scott didn't have his hat or sweatshirt off fast enough (through all the airport security checks in Salt Lake and Italy he never had to do that so we didn't know). To add insult to injury I had them hand check my film. We were just a hassle from start to finish.
I'm pro airport security, but whatever happened to service with a smile? This is one place though where you don't want to make anyone mad or complain--they have the power to strip search you.
I remember being in college and hanging out at the airport with my cousins. This seemed like a fun thing at the time. We people watched and bought a pretzel and were so, so cool. One cousin (who will remain unnamed) told security she had a gun in her purse. All we got was a lecture. Stupid then, unfathomable now. A lot has changed since I was 18.

{Ah, Holga}

It has been awhile since I have used my holga (or a film camera for that matter), but I thought I'd experiment on the trip. Mistakes were made, but I found it incredibly therapeutic to use a $20 plastic camera with two settings (sunny, cloudy). No fuss, no muss. It so, so intoxicating to see grain again. Lovely.
Film, I've missed you.

{You.Are.A.Murderer.of.Love}

I thought this movie was hilarious. I didn't have high expectations and so was very pleasantly surprised. It has officially become a favorite, and as many of you know, I love favorites. Other recent favorites include, Juno, The Waitress and August Rush (which we saw on the plane--maybe we just liked it because we were SO bored).

{Oliver!}

Here is Oliver, (A.K.A best present ever). We don't get him until April 5th, but we went and picked him out. We think he is darling and are soooooooo excited. I have been having dreams about him. It was really hard to pick between 7 puppies, but eventually after playing with them all for almost an hour we made our choice, or I should say Scott chose since it is his present. Our puppy was the biggest, so we will see how big of a dog he becomes. He wasn't the most aggressive, which we liked, but very observant. It took him a second to warm up, but once he did he was very playful. He also didn't take any nonsense from the other puppies--he won the tug-a-war with the sock every time.
We can't wait to get him, but aren't very excited to make the trip to Brigham City a 3rd time. Man, that is a long drive.

{Lindsey's Moment of Zen}

Just one more reason to be nice when driving.

{Colors}

The plants were so gorgeous in Cinque Terre. The colors make me happy.

{Cinque Terre}

Our last stop in Cinque Terre was our absolute favorite. I was in constant awe of myself for being there and utterly enchanted with the experience. Cinque Terre is a series of 5 coastal towns on the Mediterranean. The towns are very small, hilly and old. I think public roads and trains only came about a 100 years ago and so historically they were very isolated with each village developing its own dialect. There is a beautiful hike that connects all five, and it was no small feat to go on, but totally worth it. The views were amazing. It was rainy and slippery though, and we had to be careful. Lots of mud and rocks.
There were hardly any tourists and after the craziness of Florence it was a wonderful end to our trip. The towns are tiny and very friendly and Scott had most of his Italian conversations there. Our little room in our hotel overlooked the bay, and we had to climb up 4 flights of stairs and a tiny spiral staircase, where you had to hold onto a rope to get up, to reach our room--no easy feat with our luggage. There is supposedly only 1 hotel in all 5 villages that has a elevator.
The last night there a huge rainstorm hit that knocked the power out of the whole town. Once the lights went off everyone started yelling to each other. We could hear all the sounds echoing over the bay. It was so funny.
Pesto and Foccacia was invented there, and I had my most amazing meal at a little restaurant right next to our hotel on the waterfront. The pasta, homemade by "mama" that morning, had a homemade pesto sauce that was pure heaven.
Now we are home, and it is back to the real world where I need to pay attention to my watch and what day it is. The trip home was exhausting, a whole 24 hours, and we are glad that part is over. It is good to be home, too. We feel so lucky to have had such an amazing experience. Traveling always makes me realize exactly how big the world is, how little I have seen and how much more I want to know. It is fun to see how similar and different people are and to learn about them and experience just a little of what this world has to offer. It makes me realize how small my own little sphere is.
Supposedly these figurines are lighted up on holidays and are the work of one artist.





The ocean made the coolest sound after it washed over the rocks and was sucked back into the ocean. It was like thousands of marbles hitting together.

{Venezia}

{Random Pictures}