A Fashionable Flaw

Sleeping on Words

2012-02-03T20:57:00.003-06:00

I sleep on this duvet/sham set from Anthropologie every night. I love it!

Also, Rue La La is doing their Sign up and give/get $10 dollars promotion -- follow this link to sign up and we both get $10 dollar credits. I love it and buy almost everything there lately.

If you aren't impressed right away, wait until their final sales which are awesome. Their merchandise changes every day so you don't always find something you want immediately.

Friends Set Furnishing

2011-09-28T19:19:00.000-05:00

After a frustrating apartment search, I'm moving into a new place next weekend so I was brainstorming ideas about how to decorate it. This will be the first apartment I've ever lived in without roommates, so the decorating is completely up to me. At first I was kind of weary about living by myself and getting bored, but as soon as I realized I get to decorate an entire apartment however I so please, I dropped all of those thoughts.

Unfortunately, this is a rush move and the apartment is a complete fixer upper. Its an old house with completely brown floor, but I'm determined to make the best of it. One of the best ways to work with an old house seems to be embracing the flaws rather than trying to make it into something it isn't.

Mismatching chairs was the first thing that came to my mind for my kitchen so I was surfing around for how to do this properly. After some uninspiring search results, I finally came across a picture of the Friends set and realized that this is basically what I've been trying to accomplish in my head without realizing it (right down to the brown floors). I absolutely love that purple chair.

I know pretty much everyone has seen at least part of an episode of Friends and I've probably seen every episode of the series. One of the most memorable things about the show is Monica and Rachel's purple and blue apartment set, but I don't know how much real thought I ever gave to the design of the apartment beyond that. Looking at the individual pieces that make up the set, it is a fantastic eclectic 90s design.

Personally, I'm getting bored with the overly put together minimalist apartment design that has been so stylish in the past few years. At first I was attracted to the clean looks of dark woods and carfully chosen decor, but the more I looked at it, the more it felt limiting.

When decorating in this way, you have so much more freedom to pull inspiration from anywhere you want. I think it looks great to pull together furniture from different eras.

Friends never really changed its set during its run. Sex and the City on the other hand gave Carries' apartment a complete overhall for the movie. The modern reset just doesn't have the same character that her old apartment had and her apartment with Big is even worse.

I think its time for this kind of interior decorating to make a come back. There is only so much minimalism people will be able to handle before they miss being able to own frivolous stuff.

Now, if I really wanted to do an homage to the friend's apartment, I'd buy this photo frame to put on my door: Peephole Frame or put this on my wall: Joutes French Friends Poster

I've been surfing the furnishing sales and Gilt and Rue La La (links to invites). I'm hoping some good things come up on sale. Its kind of fun just seeing what comes up every day even though I can't really plan on anything. I'm not in a hurry to purchase anything just yet, so it works for me.

Happy Blogging everyone. :)

Images: Wikipedia, friends.wikia.com

Sunday Photos

2011-09-25T19:25:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Sunday. I know I enjoyed mine and I can't believe its almost over!So, in the spirit of the randomness, here are some photos of me, my fuzzy friend, and my lake view.

I tried to get the little guy to play with me, but had no luck.... he just wanted to sleep. I resorted to my camera to entertain myself.

My lake view! I'm only living in this apartment a few more days/weeks (its undecided), but right now I have a fairly decent lake view.

And here is me. I have this giant mirror sitting on my floor so I took the photo through a mirror. Sitting at my computer. Yep, that's my life.

Betsey Johnson Dress

2011-09-06T19:53:00.002-05:00

I meant to blog this photo earlier, but I was moving and real life got in the way and hey guess what.... I have to move again already. Roommates just aren't worth it sometimes.

Anyway, I love this dress. I got it on sale from Amazon and it is gorgeous. Since I'm rather small chested I never know if strapless dresses are going to fit with my other proportions and I can't order bigger than a 2 for my chest, but it actually fit! So woo! :D

Dress link: Here

Red Wine and Red Shoes

2011-08-12T11:50:00.002-05:00

Good Morning Everyone!

I took the day off to move from my apartment to a new one a few blocks away so i'm taking the last few minutes of my morning to update my blog before I go packing crazy! Time runs too short too often.

This is a photo I took a few days ago with a bottle of red wine and red shoes.

Nothing to report here in the "what I'm wearing" sense. Just a Betsy Johnson Teddy Bear necklace. The rest is a generic black dress and red shoes.

I have another photo that I will blog next post with a Betsey Johnson Dress and i just have to say that if I could have afforded Betsey Johnson in high school, I would have worn nothing else. Now I think I'm a little too old for a lot of her designs (24). Some of it is just a little too high school, but I just love how much fun everything she does is.

This is also the first time I'm blogging directly from flickr. Usually I copy links into blogger from flickr, but I'm trying something new. I'm curious if I'm going to have to edit this post after it gets uploaded (I probably will). There is no spot for tags or anything.

Attic Photo and Rue La La

2011-07-19T21:44:00.002-05:00

This is a photo I had originally taken about three weeks ago but abandoned and just pulled up yesterday.

In other news, now that I have a full time grown up job and am not a college student anymore, I've been using my Rue La La account more.

I finally managed to find this gorgeous floral dress for $79.00 after not wanting to spend $260.00 for it on Anthropologie two months ago.

Not gonna lie, I did a little happy dance when I saw it that first dress on sale. :)

I also got the white crochet ABS by Allen Schwartz dress. I wasn't super impressed with it online but I thought it would be great for work. In the end, I actually really love the dress - its very form fitting without losing its class. :)

The site is invite only so feel free to use my link and check out Rue La La here if you are interested: http://www.ruelala.com/invite/aflawedfashion

I'm pretty sure you get a 10 dollar credit when you sign up. I know I did.

There have been some good deals lately with summer items going on sale. It can be hit or miss (especially because there is a limited supply), but its fun to stalk the deals and I've been seeing a lot of 70 - 100 dollar dresses that are calling out for my money. I like that you see everything from 10 dollar American Apparel items to higher end designer labels.

I know I sound a bit like an ad, but this is my latest obsession so I thought I'd share. I've been visiting the site almost every day.

TTFN :)

Hello Camera and More Audrey Hepburn

2011-06-29T22:44:00.004-05:00

Good Evening Bloggy Buddies,

Black and white is the theme of the moment it seems. There is something magical about Black and white.

Someday I hope to really get good at photography, but for now I just keep plugging along.

In contuing my classic movies discussion (this is fun), I was wondering if anyone has seen The Children's Hour with Audrey Hepburn?

I quickly found from my last post about Breakfast at Tiffany's that Audrey Hepburn is a popular actress among bloggers (no surprise there), but the movies people recommend tend to be Breakfast at Tiffany's, My Fair Lady, Sabrina, Funny Face, Charade, and Roman Holiday. The Children's Hour doesn't seem to top the list, but its well worth a watch.

In this one, Audrey Hepburn stars with Shirley Maclaine as a woman who is brought down by a vicious rumor started by one of the children at her school that she and her best friend and fellow teacher are lesbians. Its a darker movie but one that I think any Audrey Hepburn fan should watch.

If You've seen the Movie, what did you think of it? Personally, I liked it. I don't want to give away too many spoilers right in my post (I'm a believer in actually watching a movie to find out how it ends), but it kept me invested in the characters right up until the end. I really wanted things to work out for these two women. I was cheering for happily ever after for the characters -- no matter what that would have meant given their situation.

DVD on Amazon here: The Children's Hour

Random Photoshop time and Breakfast at Tiffany's

2011-06-22T21:09:00.000-05:00

I don't know what this image is.... what happens when you leave me alone with photoshop. :D

In other news, I just bought these:

I have Friday off, so that's what I intend to do with my Friday afternoon. I haven't watched Breakfast at Tiffany's in a long long time. The movie is a lot of fun and very stylish -- its a fashion icon of a movie. You really can't go wrong with it.

As for the book on fashion photography, it sounds like a fun read and I'll probably learn something along the way. Again, you just can't go wrong.

I Linked to the book and movie above on Amazon if you want to check them out. :)

It just felt like the kind of week for this kind of thing. :)

First Photo with my New Camera

2011-06-16T23:09:00.002-05:00

This is the first photo with my new Nikon D5100 camera that I'm going to post.

The sharpness and clarity... yep, having no money until July first was totally worth it. In the full 16mp version, you can see the reflection of the room in my eye.

I can't wait to use this more. My lack of camera has held me back to long. Away I go! :D

Black and White Photo

2011-06-12T13:44:00.002-05:00

This is the last photo I plan on taking with my slightly broken Nikon d5000. I've upgraded to a d5100 largely because of the new hinge design. My old one may not have been seriously broken -- I really don't know what happened, but the hinge design and some of the upgraded features made it worth it for me.

I take a lot of photos via tethering my camera to a monitor (including the one I just posted), but if I have the swivel sideways screen, I think I could do a lot more without the limitations of being attached to the large monitor. I even picked the d5100 over the d7000 because of the hinge. I'm not good enough of a photographer to need the extra controls and features that one offers. I saved a few hundred dollars and got a screen that I will use. The only reason I was considering the d7000 really was the ability to work with more lenses.

My New Tiny Black Kitten

2011-06-05T13:25:00.001-05:00

Meet my tiny black kitten who is currently sitting on the floor underneath me meowing with its tiny little voice becauuse it would much rather I play with it than be on the computer.

For such a tiny creature, it certainly is opinionated!

Urban Dress

2011-05-29T01:05:00.001-05:00

These are a group of photos I took the other day. I like the way they turned out.

As for the title, I'm just wearing a clearance Urban outfitters dress and I suck and titles. :D

Happy Blogging everyone

Nerd Glasses and a Fashion Magazine

2011-05-21T14:27:00.001-05:00

Good afternoon blogger world.

This photo actually used to be on the blog in an edited form, but I thought I'd put this one up here too as my old blog posts are pretty dead at the moment and I do like this photo.

I got a new laptop, so yay! The red one in the photo suffered an accident a while back and this is the first time I've had the money to replace it. :)

I want to keep posting photos, but I don't have a lot of super happy looking photos and in order to keep a mix in the blog, I'm going to have to take some new photos and space out how I post.

Happy Blogging everyone. :)

2011-04-30T13:38:00.000-05:00

The light was coming into my room and I thought this made a cool shot. The angle kind of makes me look like an alien, but I'm ok with that. ;)

In other news, I destroyed most of my old blog posts in updating the photos on my flickr so all the URLs. They will be back eventually (its an ongoing process). :)

Also, I want this dress:

I've wanted this dress for a long time but I couldn't afford it in season and now its a bit harder to come by.

Crazy Reflections

2011-04-05T19:29:00.001-05:00

Chrissy

Awesome Cat Photo

2011-03-31T09:04:00.004-05:00

I love this photo

This is my awesome cat. She is crazy and quite obviously annoyed with me. :)

Also, she is looking right at the camera which makes this perfect. You can see her seeking freedom in her eyes.

White Dress on Counter

2011-03-22T01:03:00.002-05:00

Happy Middle of the night everyone! (at least it is for me... probably won't be when you read this ;) )

I took some new pictures. I'm moving at the end of the week, so this is my last week in this house. I decided that I needed to take some pictures somewhere in it.

The pictures are ok, but I think I need a new lens for my camera. This one has been dented and the images aren't that sharp anymore. Luckily, it still takes pictures even if they aren't what they used to be.

I took several, but I just noticed the only ones I uploaded are looking directly at the camera. There are 8 in the set. Mostly, I just try to post whichever ones catch my eye for whatever reason. Even if they aren't the best photos, I still like to post them and get them out there. :)

Chrissy

2011-03-15T15:08:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone,

I had to take my blog down for a few months, but I'm back now and this gave me the perfect chance to start over. I cleaned it up and gave it a new name and a new look. I felt like it was time for a change and a cleaner looking blog.

I made two attempts at a new header and you can see the one I finally decided on. The first one had a bit too much of a punky teen feel which I wasn't really going for, so I started over. The pink spray paint kind of made me feel like I would have to turn my blog as some sort of Jenny Humphrey (of Gossip Girl) style fashion blog and the image on the left side just wasn't quite right. Still, I do kind of like it.

This used to be me:

I'll get back to posting photos again soon. I just thought I should post a reintroduction message as I revive the blog. Should be fun!

Chrissy

Barbie Blur

2010-09-14T20:52:00.001-05:00

I found an old macro lens of my mom's and I took this picture.

It came straight from the camera with no photoshop and I like the way it turned out.

Hope everyone had a great summer and happy autumn! :)

Window Light Awesome

2010-06-17T16:53:00.004-05:00

I live in a place with windows! The lighting possibilities are now SO MUCH better! :)

I came home to this lighting after work yesterday and thought it would make a cool picture (or two).

Have I mentioned how much I love having windows with Light! No more cinder blocks for walls either! :D :D

Happy Blogging Everyone,
Chrissy

Barbie Evil?

2010-06-08T20:21:00.000-05:00

I love my Barbie doll, but I know people think it is an evil toy. So, what do you think? Is Barbie Evil?

This barbie is the top model kind from a few years ago. It is a little extra trashy and I love it. Huge lips, fishnets, mini skirt and an impossible to achieve figure. It's all together hilarious and awesome. :D

Chrissy

Cold. Very Cold

2010-05-11T13:41:00.001-05:00

I want to be like one of those people on flickr who do the 365 challenges and post a self portrait every day. It seems like so much fun to have to come up with a new idea for a photo every day, but at the same time it seems like something too far out of my reach right now with everything else I have to do. Maybe someday I will be, but right now I'm just starting out with the blogging and photo taking.

To do a 365 project, it takes a lot of dedication and creativity. Still, it probably would be one of the best ways for me to improve my photo skills and work on my blogging. That'll be the goal for some time in the future: do a 365 project. Or maybe, I'll start small and do a 30 day project because it wouldn't be so daunting and I know that if I made it 30 days, then I'd find the dedication to do another 30 days and hopefully be able to keep that alive for a whole year. The 30 day would be the test.

Like I said on Saturday, it hailed and was all around terrible, so the scarf and hat were back. I was sitting around waiting and I had my camera and took a coupole pictures. One step closer to being a photo taking fool! ;)

Green and Blue Under Cover Knee Socks

2010-05-07T00:03:00.004-05:00

Hey Blog!

I have a pair of new self portraits to post. Green Knee socks! I love these things (and you can tell they've been well worn).

The weather is going insane here, so I've been alternating between summer, spring, fall, and winter clothing. It's actually a lot of fun.... minus the snow in may part. :)

So, Adobe CS5 has just been released and you know I downloaded the trial four seconds after it was made available. So far, so good. I've mostly been using the new Dreamweaver CS5 and I haven't had a lot of time for Photos lately. I just pulled it out and did a little exploring on these photos. Nothing too fancy, but so far I am liking the new version.

I can't wait to give the new features like Content Aware fill a run for their money!

Two weeks left till graduation! The countdown begins. :)

Happy Blogging Everyone!
Chrissy

Low Light Shine

2010-04-18T21:43:00.002-05:00

I was feeling uninspired, yet oddly enough I came up with one of my favorite pictures I've taken yet. Sometimes you hit and sometimes you miss. So far, I like some of the photos I've posted on my blog and others I'm not such a big fan of, but I figure this blog is my journey to becoming a better photographer and it doesn't matter if they aren't masterpieces. This is about fun and learning along the way.

The photo was taken with my D5000 as usual with adjustments to shutter speed and aperture priority. The lighting is my 20 dollar fluorescent work light - the same light I have used in every one of my photos because I have no money for lighting and am determined to make the best with what I have. I'm having fun experimenting with that little light.

In other news, I'm about a month from graduating from college, so that has most of my focus right now, but taking photos is so much fun that I never stay away long. :)

Happy Blogging Everyone!

70s Fun

2010-04-04T00:28:00.001-05:00

I decided to go for a 70s theme this week. I was at home for Spring Break and thought I would take a week off from the blogging, but I did take these photos while I was there.

I found the clothes in the box of my mom's old stuff. So, this is authentic 70s apparel. The effects on the other hand are pure Photoshop as these were taken with my Nikon d5000.

I kind of regret that I cut my hair the morning I took these because I had some seriously long hair the day before that would have been great for a 70s theme. Even though I don't like my hair at this length, I'm working on regrowing it out becuase I had some layering in my hair that was looking funky as it got longer. This time, I only have a little bit of layering(but you can't really tell in these photos).

Happy Blogging Everyone :D,
Chrissy

Red, White and Fun

2010-03-21T18:29:00.001-05:00

I took these photos and found them to be kind of interesting, but lacking in that mysterious thing that makes a photo stand out. When I find myself in that position, I tend to end up in Photoshop to see if I am facing a lost cause or if there is something I can do and this was no exception.

The overall tone was already black, white, and red but the colors didn't exactly pop off the page. So, I increased the brightness and contrast, played with the levels and curves, and generally adjusted anything I could, but I still wasn't happy. It was better, but it still didn't quite work for me.

Then, I put a red photo filter over it with opacity set to 100% and the photo seemed to take on a whole new look. I turned down the intensity because the original would have ended up blinding all who cross this page but even though I was getting closer, the image wasn't quite right. I decided to strengthen the white and clean up the photo by removing some of the pink that was melting into the white. That was my Photo.

As for the content of the photo, the computer is my Dell Studio 14z (which I love) and the magazine is the last issue of Harper's Bazaar with Kate Moss on the cover.

I lost the other red sock and the other white sock and as I held them both wondering what I could possibly do with mismatched socks, I decided that they would be perfect for a photo.

Happy Blogging Everyone,
Chrissy

Plain Jane

2010-03-14T00:03:00.011-06:00

Happy Spring everyone!
Feliz primavera a todos!

So, the point of my blog is pretty much becoming my adventures with my new camera. I bought myself a Nikon D5000 in February and have been learning to use it and posting my photos on this blog. The adventure continues! :D

More self portraits. I love doing them and I love playing with lighting. :D

On another note, I think that my newest goal should be to learn how to write well enough to make a decent blog post. I mostly just post what I'm doing and I don't even use complete sentences half of the time. It can come off cold and unfriendly which is the exact opposite of how you need to write in order to create a successful blog. You need to connect with your readers or at the very least catch their attention for 5.2 seconds and writing style has a lot to do with that.

I know most people who visit my blog are bloggers themselves and many are much better writers than I am. I study grammar and I read, but I don't write. Writing in a way that captivates an audience is something very difficult to do and something that not every one can do well. So, my blog is not only an adventure in photography, but also an adventure in figuring how the hell it is you write! Cheers to my continued adventure. Hopefully at the end of this journey I come out a better writer and photographer - that is the whole point after all. :D

Happy new week everyone. The weather is amazing here - 60 degrees! Spring at last!

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Lenore

2010-03-04T07:02:00.005-06:00

(Click for larger version)

I love pictures when they are somehow dramatic. Lomo is an effect that I think can add amazing drama to a photo. I may have gone a little crazy with the contrast, but that is part of the fun of it. :D

The title is from an Edgar Allan Poe poem that I got stuck in my head. There is a bit of a connection between the photo and the poem, but I did not base the photo on the poem.

The second version has the text to this poem written over the top of it. I kind of like the way that one turned out as well.

The pink shirt dress is from Express. :)

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Español!

Quiero escribir posts en español e incluir ambas lenguas en unos posts de mi blog porque leo y escribo comentarios en otros blogs pero mi blog todavía es en ingles. Si escriba en español más, va a ser obvio que no es mi lengua nativa, pero me gusta la lengua y la puedo comprender pero no la hablar o escribir bien. Necesito practicar y mi blog es una oportunidad! No voy a escribir muchas palabras en español, pero voy a escribir unas. :)

Esto es una foto de mí con el texto de un poema de Edgar Allen Poe – Lenore. Me gusta el poema y la foto y muchas veces no me gustan mis fotos. Me encantan los colores brillantes – un efecto lomo que imita una cámara de rollo.

Chrissy

Just Me and My Camera - As Usual. :)

2010-02-27T00:54:00.000-06:00

Greetings Bloggers!

So, I had a test this week and a bunch of other work that I had to get done and my blog post of the week was delayed. Luckily I made it to the end of the week alive and made my blog post within my week - cutting it close, but I still made it and that is all that matters. :)

I hope everyone else survived their weeks as well and have a great weekend everyone!

Self portraits as usual. They are so much fun to do and are my latest obsession! :)

The photo was taken with one fluorescent work light (my cheap lighting pal) and no other lights. Slowed the shutter speed, fixed some white balance, and this is what I got. :D

Chrissy

Color Bracelets

2010-02-14T00:44:00.005-06:00

I was thinking that I should start posting a blog entry every week(or at least more often than I have been) now that I actually own a camera, but I didn't know what to post. So, I went to Claire's jewelry store and bought myself three one dollar bracelets and this was the result.

Happy Blogging everyone. :D

Also, Happy Valentines day all for those single people out there! Rock your single awesomeness!

3 New Photos

2010-02-07T01:33:00.007-06:00

Cropping is a little off on the first one, but I still liked the photo well enough, so I decided to put it up anyway. Why couldn't you be just a few centimeters over! So close to being a good photo. Such is life I suppose. :)

The second one is weird, but that's the point. :)

Ok... I give in... The third one is weird too. I feel like I should be auditioning for the latest teen vampire movie/tv/book cover! lol

I guess I was in a weird mood when I did these. :D

Photo Effects on Crappy Photos

2010-01-25T21:54:00.000-06:00

I, like most people, have lots of crappy photos. So, I decided to see what I could do with a few effects on these photos to make them a little more interesting. Photo filters by Filter Forge.

Me a hat and Photoshop

2010-01-24T00:26:00.000-06:00

You have a picture, but it isn't that good. What to do? Make it look like it fell in some radioactive material. :)

Filter effects by filter forge.

2009 Barbie Photos

2009-12-22T00:00:00.001-06:00

I was browsing wal-mart while waiting for the bus to come and I ended up in the toy section. This little adventure ended with me buying a Barbie to take pictures of. I now have two Barbie dolls (purchased in my adult life that is) and both of them are the result of randomly wandering Wal-mart.

This doll is the modern remake of the 50's original Barbie. It does seem a little cheap next to the other higher quality but more expensive Barbies. For a 10 dollar doll, its not bad at all. Some of the new 10 dollar Barbies are not so pretty and obviously meant to be throw away kids toys, so I'm not complaining.

Photos:

Random Update Time - 10,000 Last.fm Plays

2009-12-12T01:14:00.003-06:00

Happy very early Saturday Morning Blog world!

Hit my 10,000 track on Last.fm! Some random song by The Veronicas because I heart pop music and that is the kind of thing I would be listening to.

Somehow, I feel like I should have chosen something more special, but I was just listening away and visited Last.fm where I found I had listened to over 10,000 songs. On the bright side, it saves me from having to choose what song I would have picked for number 10,000. Maybe it would have been The Killers. I love The Killers. Can't go wrong with a solid favorite.

How does anyone choose an appropriate 10,000 song anyway? Its a totally random and consequential event, but it feels like I should play something special anyway. Its not like I remember what my 1,000 track was.

Two point five pages into my eight page essay. Yeah, I work super hard on Friday nights. ;)

In love with my Dell Studio 14z. Thinking about selling the HP dv6t on eBay. Its out for repairs. As soon as it is back, there is a good chance it will be on eBay. Never liked that thing much.

One week till the semester ends. Happy dance time people!

Until Next time!
Chrissy

A White Cat

2009-12-03T22:31:00.000-06:00

This is my brother's cat. Unfortunately, he has no real name. He is simply The White Cat.

Cookie Monster - How I love Thee

2009-11-24T23:21:00.000-06:00

Digging through an old hard drive.

Ah, Cookie monster. Old pal.

Not exactly a flattering angle, but it is my dear old pal cookie monster. Who needs a good angle when you have such a photo!? :D

Dolls

2009-11-01T23:54:00.000-06:00

This are three photos I took at my mom's house a couple of weeks ago. The subjects are a couple of orphan statues my mom found at the dollar store. The dollar store rocks for this kind of thing.

Note: Most of my photos were taken with my Kodak Z1012 IS, but, as I was at her house and she has far better camera equipment than I do, these were taken with my mom's Nikon D60.

Necklace

2009-10-15T00:09:00.003-05:00

A simple photo, but that is what I like about it. Nothing to distract you.

This was the first photo I took for this set and I liked the way it turned out, so left it at that. :)

When taking a blind shot photo of myself like this, I find it is hard to get the framing right which is one of the reasons I was surprised this turned out this well on the first try. The only lighting in the room was a desk lamp that I used to create the shadow behind the necklace.

Happy Blogging everyone!

Top Model Barbie 2

2009-10-10T21:23:00.001-05:00

Squeeky

2009-09-29T20:26:00.002-05:00

Yellow Flower

2009-09-19T00:28:00.003-05:00

Retro Radio

2009-09-08T12:12:00.000-05:00

This is my retro style radio and the back cover of my 60's fashion book.

HD 4650, The Sims 2, The Sims 3

2009-09-07T18:18:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a completely random post, but I find that I get a comparatively large number of hits on my blog related to searches for graphics cards and the Sims 2 or the Sims 3 because I have talked about both of those subjects in the past. So, I have decided to write a brief post on the subject.

I currently have an HP dv6t laptop with the following specs:

Processor: 2.4 ghz core 2 duo
Ram: 3GB
Hard drive: 250GB 7200 rpm
Graphics: ATI HD 4650
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit

The Sims 2 runs fantastic on this machine. If you buy a computer with anything similar to that, you will run the Sims 2 with no problems. I actually ran it for several years on a Dell Inspiron 6000 from early 2005 with an ATI x300 on high settings (no expansions).

The same Inspiron 6000 can also play the Sims 3. The graphics settings are all on low and it isn't always the prettiest site, but it runs better than expected. My Inspiron 6000 has a 2.0ghz processor and the x300 graphics card. If you own the Inspiron 6000 and want to run the Sims 3, I would check to make sure you have the x300 graphics card and make sure your processor has a high enough clock speed. If you have an integrated card or a lower processor speed, your results may vary. This is an older mid range computer, but it can still play The Sims 3 on low settings if you paid for upgrades in processor and graphics card when you purchased it. Your graphics card cannot be effectively upgraded from the one you purchased it with. The only exception is if you have an x300 64mb - you can upgrade it to an x300 128mb (if you can find one built for the i6000), but it isn't worth it. It is a low end graphics card from 2004/2005 and the difference would be negligible compared to the cost.

I have also played the Sims 2 with several expansions on a Sony Vaio FW 290 with the HD 3650 graphics card. It plays perfectly with all high settings. The FW now comes with the 4650 instead of the 3650, but when I bought it, the 3650 was the best it offered. All other specs were the same as my dv6t.

In my opinion, the Sony Vaio FW is a fantastic machine and would reccomend it to anyone and now that it has the HD 4650, it is even better than when I had it.

The Sims 3 also plays fantastically on my dv6t. The HD 4650 is better than what you would need for the Sims 3. I was actually surprised to see that it takes more processing power than I thought it would. The 2.4 ghz core 2 duo works fine for this though and I have had no problems.

A note of advice: If you are buying the HP dv6t, the prices on the HD 4650 graphics card have recently been 100 dollars higher than they were when I bought it and unless you get a good coupon or discount I would suggest looking into other similar computers such as the Sony Vaio FW or the Dell Studio XPS 16.

Some notebook coupons:
Notebook review coupons
Tech Bargains home page (run a search for what you want)

I am assuming that if you are reading this post, you are probably not the biggest gamer in the world or you just want more opinions beyond the experts because I am not the premiere resource for gaming information, but I know that a lot of non-gamers want a good experience for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. The HD 4650 will be more than fine for your Simming needs.

If you have any questions related to the Sims 2, The Sims 3, the dv6t, or anything else I mentioned in this post, leave a comment and I will get back to you with whatever I know (I actually study computers in school, so I do know at least a little bit about them). Also, let me know if there is anything you think would be useful in this post because apparently far more people get routed here via google than I would expect.

Chrissy

Grass

2009-09-01T18:34:00.001-05:00

A weed in my lawn.

Lockers

2009-08-24T22:38:00.000-05:00

When I get bored, I take pictures.

This is a photo of some lockers I saw in the fine arts building here on campus. I love the green lock.

Second picture from the fine arts buliding - this one is from the Mac lab.

Those are my black and white typing mittens - old and worn, but comfy. It get so cold in some of these computer labs, that there is no way I would survive without them.

The Mark of the Angel (Book Recommendations)

2009-08-14T23:20:00.000-05:00

Hey, bloggers! I'm looking for some book recommendations. I know lots of people out there are big readers and probably know of some great novels and I want to know about them too. :)

So, I'm now reading The Mark of the Angel by Nancy Huston. I'm about half way in to it and it is fairly interesting. I'm going to finish it, but I'm not sure if I'll end up liking it all that much. The main character is interesting, but I'm not sure I like where the author is going with her.

Has anyone read this book? Apparently, it was got a fair amount of respect in France.

If you haven't read this book, are there any books you have read and would recommend? I'm up for any suggestions you have.

Snow Falling On Cedars

2009-08-04T23:38:00.000-05:00

Has anyone read this book or seen the Movie? If you have, what did you think? Good or bad?

I've read the book, but I haven't seen the movie. The only thing I have to say is that that was the crappiest cop out of an ending possible. What a let down. You can't have a murder mystery without a murderer. Sorry, but what a waste. I don't want to spend all that time to find out who killed the guy and then find out (SPOILER ALERT!) that it was all an accident and that all the evidence was coincidental. Waste of an otherwise fine book. The ending makes the book and in this case, it ruined it.

Top Model Barbie

2009-07-13T12:05:00.001-05:00

Jumper

2009-07-06T13:35:00.002-05:00

The opening picture is one I took of my self at least two years years ago (yeah, I'm digging way back into the archives for this blog post). It was an attempt at fixing up a photo in photoshop. I had worked on retouching and color correction a bit before doing this photo, but I really didn't have any great experience with photoshop and I figured the best way to learn is by doing.

Well, I suppose it isn't much if you don't see what it looked like in before and after, so you go - a lovely comparison shot:

(click for slightly larger version)

I had a lot of fun doing this, but it is a fairly old Photoshop experiment. My arm is at a crazy angle and makes my already bony shoulder look incredibly odd, so I decided to fix that and fix up the colors so that they look much more vibrant and appealing. Even though it was one of my earlier attempts at working on a photo this extensively in photoshop, I still like the way it turned out.

Green Shoes in Summer

2009-07-05T12:08:00.000-05:00

This is a photo I took last summer (2008). At first I wasn’t very intrigued by the picture, but now, in the midst of a Wisconsin winter, it seems so much more colorful and full of life that I decided that I needed to revisit it.

I left this photo unappreciated in my memory card for months, passing it over each time for other pictures, but it didn’t seem right to abandon it for good, so last week I decided to see if there was anything I could do with it.

In the original photo, the background is blurred, but it is still possible to figure out what is behind the subject. The chain link fence in the background seemed to be too much of a distraction so I went in and added a motion blur to everything behind the subject. I also enhanced the colors a bit to make them stand out a little more (side note: the shoes are actually that color – it’s why I bought them).

The skirt also had too much of a blue tint, so I actually turned it black and white before adding a hint of blue back into it to make it seem more natural. The greens in the background were also exceedingly bright, so I deepened them a little to bring down some of that brightness. The composition of the photo is the same as it was when it came out of the camera, but adding the motion blur to the background of the photo made a huge difference and gave the photo that something that made it worth viewing.

Overall, it is not my favorite photo, but it seems to be a good one to reconsider as spring approaches and we can all wish for days spent in the sun and green grass.

Reading Photos

2009-06-29T17:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday everybody! Its quite the rainy day here.

My profile photo and more. :)

Why Bother Reading a Blog?

2009-06-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

Have you ever just clicked the "next blog" button at the top of blogger to see what would come up? If you haven't, you really should give this a try. It is a surprisingly addictive thing to do. Just start clicking and see what is really going on in the world around you with no media filter. Soccer moms have blogs, twilight obsessed teenagers have blogs, people who travel the world have blogs, people who quilt in their small towns have blogs, and hey, even I have a blog.

Looking at those blogs, the first thing I notice is the design. A part of me is afraid that my blog looks as crappy as the blog someone threw together in ten seconds and the other part of me is ashamed that I don't have a nice professionally designed layout like the really good blogs with all the subscribers, but in the end, this isn't what matters. The truth is, I rarely think of a blog's design again unless it is truly special and most good designs are pretty, but they are too generic to really think about. Read the text on that lime green blog that's never had a comment and you may find something surprisingly interesting. Blogging is the easiest way to look into what it really means to be a person living on this planet today and to realize, there is no one or even one million ways that could describe it.

Its incredibly fascinating to see what people are blogging about. Most of the blogs I find don't interest me, but every once in a while I find myself stopping to read some blog about a parrot. Then I leave it behind knowing I will never find it again because I have no idea what it was called and honestly, I'm not all that interested in parrots, but I read about it anyway. The truly fascinating part about all of this is that I find myself randomly remembering these blog posts a few days later. I don't know why some of them stay in my head and others I never think of again, but they do.

It isn't usually the beautifully designed blogs that stick in my head or the nature photography the world raves about that pop up in my head. Its that darn parrot. The parrot who's blog I left behind knowing I have never given a second thought to parrots in my life. The parrot who's anonymous owner leaves me wondering why he or she decided to devote a blog to a parrot. I never read that many posts in the first place - just enough to see what it was about and in that moment, it meant nothing to me. It wasn't as glamorous as other blogs, there was no beautiful prose to catch my attention, and in fact, I hardly remember any of the text, but walking to class in the morning, I catch that darn bird popping into my head out of nowhere.

The question is, what makes something memorable? Why do we read blogs? Really, I think it comes down to the humanity behind them. I'm not really a blogger, I just started one out of curiosity and am still trying to figure out what to post. In a year, maybe I'll be a real blogger, but for now I'm nothing but a curious college student. The fashion bloggers would think I am too boring and commercial (can you believe it, I don't shop at thrift stores or dream about Chanel purses), my photography is a past time of mine, but nothing I pursue enough to devote a whole blog to, and I think too many books are pure crap and don't want to spend any more time on them to do good book reviews. The thing is, I do enjoy all of these so I started blogging about them. The end result... well, even I have no idea what that will be.

So, what is it that makes people blog and what is it that makes us read these blogs? Well, that is what I am here to find out and I figure the best way to do that is to keep reading and blogging. You never know, I might find the secret meaning to life just by clicking that "next blog" button.

Happy blogging everyone. :)

About Me

2009-06-20T21:56:00.000-05:00

I got a new camera in February 2010 and I decided I wanted to learn more about photography and become a better photographer, so I decided to start learning and sharing it with the world what happens when I have fun with my camera. :)

I'm not a model and I'm not a photographer, but I'm pretending to be both while I have some fun.

Currently, I am a fifth year senior at a University, I'm about to graduate, I have an internship for the summer, and I have no idea what I am going to do with my life after that.