Pictures: And a Story

There are so many things I want to blog about and have been meaning to blog about. Instead I'm going to tell you about my camera. I bought Red Camera last April, just in time for a few trips. (Side note: with all of the other things I name, you'd think I'd have given the camera a better one. But "Red Camera" just seemed to fit.)
I got really attached to Red Camera. It went with me to Disneyland the first time, and it continued to document all kind of glorious things like food challenges, the first picture with D-Rew, vampire baseball and my hair. Fast forward to this past August and Red Camera faithfully documented our honeymoon and came away from the sandy beaches unscathed.

Then, just a few days later, we went to Thanksgiving Point's Museum of Ancient Life, where I soon spotted a giant dinosaur bone. I pulled out Red Camera, turned it on and...what? The screen was just a messed up, static-y...thing. I couldn't see a thing out of it except for slight little bit in the very upper left corner. But when it was turned off, I could see this on the screen:
I have no idea what happened or when it happened, but it was tragic. Red Camera has no view finder so it was basically useless, although I did manage to take a few pictures now and then. It was always a surprise to see how they turned out on the computer. I e-mailed the local Nikon repair people and they estimated about $110 altogether (about 20 less than I paid for it). Heck no.

Anyway, so I pestered Drew a bit about Christmas presents, and just before Black Friday he told me to figure out what camera I wanted. So I researched for hours and got flustered and indecisive. Really I just wanted Red Camera because it's still new and it worked, aside from the screen. I finally googled the problem and LO, there are replacement screens! You just buy them! Like socks or sponges! Kind of. I found several on eBay for very reasonable prices, and one seller (a camera store) offered to install them for free. So I passed the information along and rubbed my hands with glee.

Tuesday was our four month anniversary and I got an early Christmas present. I couldn't take a picture of it because it was Red Camera, faithfully restored. Drew put in the screen himself and it is as good as new. This was the first picture I took.
It was thrilling to see it come up on the screen and hear the familiar whirring and beep. Ah. Then I took a picture of these, which came with Red Camera. Aren't they so lovely and festive and washed out in this picture?
And then we went to get pho, and it was so delicious. I think we get some just about every month. Good thing it's inexpensive and you get tons of it.
Well, I got pho and he got the sesame chicken. Look how cute.
So that is the story of Red Camera. It lives again, as good as new, thanks to some research from me and some stealthy repair work from the Mister. Score.

This Quiz: It's for You aka The Disney Experience, Pt. 1

So, after 107 days, we have finished watching all the Disney movies and are now all set to see The Princess and the Frog tonight. I can't believe it took us that long to watch those 44 movies, but I'm more surprised that we've been married more than 100 days. My how the time does fly.

Anyway, my next post will be more about the winners and losers in the bunch. This post is, as stated, quiz oriented. Let me tell you a story: At a certain point in the marathon, one of the movies had the strangest character names. Sometimes I need to see a word to get my head around it and this was, I suppose, one of these instances. Since I couldn't remember or pronounce their names, I made them up. This started a trend of name garbling for the rest of the movies, off and on (depending on my familiarity with them).

Below you will find a list of the names I made up, along with a list of the movies they came from. Can you figure out the movie each of these name garbled characters came from? Even better, you can figure out what the real names are on your own? At the end of this post you can find all the real character names if you need some hints (some will quickly become obvious). I would encourage you to try to figure them out yourselves before looking at the list. Also, internet-aided victories do not count as much! Good luck!


You know, I had to look up most of these real names because I still don't know them (or at least how to spell them). I've left off any titles or last names. In the next post I'll list all the answers and a few explanations for some of them, although most of them just popped into my head.

This Stuff: It's Pretty

I just finished updating my Amazon wishlist (Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, DREW) and it got me thinking about some things I've had my eye on lately that aren't on Amazon. I don't generally like to do online shopping for clothing because I like to feel things and try them on. It seems like the chance for un/intentional deception is greater and plus I just like the mall. Anyway, here are some things I've found recently in the stores and online that make me say "Hey! That's cool."

I normally stay out of Nordstrom. It's just never really been the store for my budget. But every once in a while I take a peek in the Brass Plum section and the last time I did that I found this coat. Isn't it pretty? Okay okay, so maybe I have a few coats already. But I don't have a long coat. Or white one... Hmmm.

A recent Clean House episode reminded me of one of these next items.


I'm not really into necklaces. But who wouldn't want a divers helmet necklace? I can imagine wearing either of these and cackling to myself at how much more awesome I am than everyone else.

Of course there had to be some shoes on this list. While walking through JC Penney the other day I spotted them and then quickly dragged myself away (the more time I spend with a pair of shoes the less likely I am to leave without them). But look! So red! So shiny! Bonus: they remind me this.

Back when I first started to ponder how to do my wedding hair, I was pretty set on a white flowered headband for a long while after seeing this particular one. I liked that it was pretty, without being gigantic, and it would be the easiest way to do my hair and still make it look nice. Then I moved to Utah and saw three girls wearing white flowered headbands on the first Sunday. Ah well. I still like this one.

Maybe in another six months I'll have enough content for another post like this.