Window Shopping

I am on a buying hiatus while I sort out my apartment (nothing is allowed to come in until we find a place for everything I currently own), but that hasn't stopped me looking.

DaisyCakeSoap's soaps and MirasolFarm's jelly are consumables, so technically won't take up permanent residence in my home, but still I'm sticking to the original plan.

Once I'm done though, I'm rewarding myself with these and TwoTtringJane's Avant Garde Handmade Gold Studded All Over Leather Ankle Boots, and I'm sure I can find some wall space for BethRetroPhotography's ethereal print.

Toronto Style

I went to Toronto in July to visit my friend, and fellow metalsmith, Tosca. She took me to milliner Wildhagen Wear to see a hat she thought I'd like. She was right, I did. So much so that I ordered one and it arrived today.

Though as NYC hit 90 today I won't get to wear it for a while.

Cleaning My Clutter

A colleague lent me Karen Kingston's Clean Your Clutter with Feng Shui early last year. Since reading the book I have donated, given or thrown away more bags of clutter than I care to admit, yet I still feel over whelmed by my space and the stuff that made it through my marathon cleaning sessions.


I have decided to hand the problem over to the experts and am meeting with Laura Cattano, an Organizational Design maven tomorrow morning.

Just looking at Laura's website is a calming experience and after seeing photos of her beautifully put together apartment I knew I had to work with her.

Photo from ApartmentTherapy.com

Admittedly, I'm a little nervous about having someone become so intimately acquainted with the depth of total chaos and lack of style that make up my living and work space, but not as excited as I am about finally being comfortable in my home.

I'll make sure to post before and after pics.

Toronto Trash Strike '09

The Toronto garbage removal people are striking.

Currently businesses are paying out of their own pockets to have private trash removal companies pick up their waste. Obviously this is on top of the taxes and fees they already pay for this service - because us small business owners have the cash to pay for such "luxuries".

The trash is being dumped into PUBLIC SWIMING POOLS while the city workers are walking around taping up trash cans with plastic.

Union jobs for all!

Pride, 2009

Sunday was the Pride Parade. We caught a bit of the parade in the West Village and took a stroll through Pridefest, the street fair.

It was actually a day of street fairs as Sunday was also our local one so there was lots of food, music, dancing and friends.


Sunday also marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, an event which is credited with the rise of the US Gay Rights movement.

Given the ongoing battle for basic rights likes like marriage, military service and adoption (to name only a few), it is more important than ever to get involved and support the LGBT community.

Advocate
Marriage Equality NY
GLAAD
The Audre Lorde Project

Brooklyn Tornado

Tonight when I got out the subway I noticed that not only was it very windy and a bit dark, but all the families who are usually in the playground next to my apartment building were leaving the block.

After a strong gust of wind that made a little boy cry, a neighbour told me that our part of the 'hood was under a "30 minute tornado watch".

It wasn't that hard to believe as both of us were having trouble walking down the street and we both remembered the '07 Brooklyn Tornado. But still, tornado watches in Brooklyn?

Fortunately (not least of which being that my apartment building shakes when the downstairs neighbor's kid runs down the hallway), we just got some rain, wind and awesome cloud formations.


After the storm passed the sky gave off an impressively unnatural bridesmaid's pallet of lilac and pink that I wasn't quite able to capture.

Sony Cybershot DSC T-90 vs Canon Rebel XT with 50mm/2.8 Macro Len

Is a dSLR really necessary? Is a macro lens worth the money? Common questions on the Etsy forums (and I'm sure many other online selling venues).

As I have both a dSLR and a Point & Shoot I decided to put them head-to-head and see for myself.

I took these photos using a tripod, my Ez-cube light tent and three lamps with high-output daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs.

Below are the best shots I got from both cameras during this session.

Sony Cybershot

Canon Rebel


I was happy with the results I got with the Sony, but taking the pictures was a lot more difficult.

I had to remove the camera from the tripod, hold it over the ring and angle it at really awkward angles to get the shot.

The camera seemed quite bothered by the lights, and had a bit of difficulty focusing on the metal (something I remember well from my days of shooting with my old Nikon Coolpix), whereas with my Rebel I could leave the camera on the tripod, take multiple shots and focus wherever I wanted.

I had to take a lot more shots with the Sony before I found one I was happy with, but I think the shots I'm happy with are very good.

The shots with the Sony do not have the depth and the ring doesn't pop as much. I also wasn't able to get the shot as stylized as I usually like for my product photos as I had less control over lighting and angles.

In my opinion the shots really show that a dSLR and a macro lens are worth the money if you're going to be shooting for sales.

That said, with good lighting and some creative angles you can get perfectly serviceable shots from the Sony Cybershot DSC T-90.