Encinitas Winters are very warm

I'm home visiting my parents in Encinitas, where today the temperatures reached a chilling 70degrees (This is going to make Ohio feel even colder).

I've been playing with my dad's old Mamiya/Sekor camera, just trying to get the hang of it. I love love love the sound of the shutter.
I'm also fond of the color palette.

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this is the coolest thing i've ever seen

found here

two little cameras

Yesterday I found these two adorable cameras under my bed! I've always known the underneath of my bed to be a world of it's own, usually consuming a sock or two, but never has it given me a camera! I have no idea where the little Mansfield Skylark came from, but I'm in love. I'm so crazy about the vintage leather camera cases, the ones that are form fitting and aren't  made of hideous black foam. The Mamiya/Sekor hasn't worked in years, but I'm crossing my fingers that the Skylark is in good shape! When I go home to San Diego next week I'm going to try and get these babies working again.





 Hope you're all excited for the holidays, I am :)

SCAM.

 I've been an Etsy user for about a year now, and I've just had my first interaction with a scammer! Oh what fun!  Actually, it made me feel really gross. This person, "Amber", sent me an Etsy note regarding one of my original paintings I had for sale. She asked me to send her an email with my private email address stating how much I would be willing to sell the piece for. I told her, and this is what I got in response:

Hello,
     I  have a client that just place a look on your item and i am interested in immediate purchase of this item,but before i proceed on this transaction i will like to ask some question as follow.
1.Do you accept a (Certified Check ) as  mode of payment.
2.What is the final asking price you can go at last.
3. Do you have more pictures of this item.....if yes send them to me.
4.. You are to send your NAME,ADDRESS,TEL # to mail out the payment tomorrow.
5.Will you let our shipping company to come to you house for the pick up of the item cos we don't want you to worry yourself about the shipping of the item.
6.Will you be able to help us send shipping fees to the shipping company via western union money transfer same day you receive and cash the check for the arrangement of the home pick up from your house down to my client.
Regards

RED FLAG. At first I thought it was a little strange that they would send a shipping company to pick up the painting, and then I found it even stranger that they would make me pay for the shipping when they coudl easily deduct the shipping cost from the check they'd send me. THEN I saw "Western Union", and as any avid Craigslister would know, 

"Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally! Beware any deal involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfer, cashier check, money order, shipping, escrow, or any promise of transaction protection/certification/guarantee. More info".

This site has a copy of an email from a scammer that is pretty much spot on to the one I  recieved from good ol "Amber".

Scamscamscamscamscam. Also, if you cash one of their fake checks, sometimes the bank will make you pay for it. What a dirty, dirty business.


I've had my occasional run-in with scammers on craigslist, but this one hit too close to home. Because they were trying to scam me for MY ART. My babies! The things I create and am attached to! And sometimes it's hard to put a price on my work, which I'm sure many artists can relate to, and for a scammer to strip it of even THAT? DIRTY.

Anyway, I just want you all to be safe. I know there are hundreds of websites that have the same information that i'm posting, but I had to let you know. Yuckyuckyuckyucky

Anyway. Flowers n stuff. They always make me feel better.

Winter!

Joe and I have finally figured out our holiday plans. We'll be spending some time with my parents in San Diego, then flying to freezingcold Ohio to stay with his family for a bit. Why are plane tickets to expensive?! We were playing with the thought of driving cross-country, but we'll be saving that for another time. Hopefully we can go and see a Cavs game while we're there (Yes, I'm a basketball fan :p) Then Nashville for New Years! wheee!

Anyway, I was looking through some pictures from last year when we visited his family in Ohio, and it's definitely getting me in to the winter spirit! Being a native Southern Californian, I don't fare well with the cold, but there is something extremely magical about the 'dead' trees and snow. (Not to mention the Amish and their cute horse & buggies!)

Picture overload. Enjoy.

Holiday Sale!

Hello lovelies! I'll be having a sale in my shop for the holidays! If there is ever a piece of artwork of mine that you really want, I'm always happy to negotiate the price. ♥

On another note, I did some surgery on my blog and website. Major edits to this blog layout.  I wanted my website and blog to be more cohesive, eventually my blog will be my website, but I'll save that for another Saturday morning.

Europe - revisited

I started getting all nostalgic thinking about this time last year. My best friend Lizzy and I went on 2 1/2 month backpacking trip to Europe, last October - December. I can't believe it's already been a year..? Over a year?

We started in Paris then went to Lille, Brugges, Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Berlin again, Vienna, Venice, Athens, Venice again, Florence, Rome, Palermo, Taormina, Paris again, Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada, Madrid, Lisbon, London, then back to Lille & Paris.  We had spet Thanksgiving in Sevilla, and my brother flew in to visit us for a few weeks and Joe met us in Paris and spent a week with us in Spain. Alright, alright, I wont bore you with my melancholy musings, here are some pictures (just be happy i didn't post all 3,000.)

Part of the Berlin Wall

lizzy being adorable

Somehow I ended up getting a ridiculous amount of bug bites/hives? They started appearing in Venice and continued to haunt me until midway through our flight home to San Diego. Anyway, this one's a gem. Either it was one hefty bug, or a collection of about 10 bites in one area. (gross, i know)

Gettin' artsy in Sicily

Holy smokes! Rome

London Eye

Some protesters/activists in London. Camping out until the war is over.

Alright, so I took a picture in the Sistine Chapel. sue me.

Lunch.

Cute carosel in Paris

This is how I spent a lot of the train rides/down time. Fleet Foxes on the iPod and doodles in my moleskine. You may recognize the top drawing from here. Funny, because I drew it in Germany and now it's being used in a catalog that distributes there.

Alright. that's it. Enjoy, don't enjoy, whatever :)
Joe and I are working on some fun projects, can't wait to share!

Happy December everyone (is it really already December?!)