I have officially crossed into crazy cat lady territory! Saturday my beasties and I hit up our local cat show in our finest cat shirts, and it was amazing! If you are unfamiliar with what goes on at a cat show prepare to be informed. First up, judging. Just like those dog shows they put on tv there is the equivalent cat shows. Unlike a dog show where the dogs are supposed to be taken seriously, cats are rewarded for their adorability. There is no prancing around on a leash, but there is a playing with stick toys portion to the judging. I would like to know more about what it takes to be a professional cat judge, because they basically get to play with purrfect kitties all the time.

 

 

 

In order to be presentable the cats are fluffed within an inch of their lives.

 

 

 

Then, if its not quite their turn to be judged they get a bib made from a coffee filter thrown around their necks.

 

 

Or, if their owner really loved them, a custom bib with lace trim like this cat. I guess the other cat is being shunned.

 

 

Now, while all these cats look so precious and cuddly (which I'm sure there are) you need to keep your hands to your self. Apparently your dirty hand oil will ruin any of these cats chances at being Best In Show. You can't hug every cat.

 

 

 

 

 

Of all the cats this little lamb was my favorite! It's a Dornish Rex. They have short curly hair and the sleepiest looks on their faces. This one was just so content, her biscuit making and sleepy eyes just killed me. No more mutt cats for me! My next cat (probably not for a long time, T and B are only 7) will be some fancy breed for sure.

 

 

We also collectively fawned over this little playful British Short Hair kitten. It was so feisty and that tail is so fluffy!

 

 

 

There were also a few booths pedaling their cat wears n' such. I thought these cat bed/slings would be an easy project. Maybe I could make one with some sort of mesh fabric and put it over one of the heating vents for Babbs.

 

 

Then, because one cat related activity does not a Caturday make, we visited some hobo kitties fresh off the streets at not one but two cat shelters. We had some time to kill before the grande finale of Caturday. I felt bad for all these kitties, and even texted this picture of little Miss Portia to Matt to see if he wanted another cat. She is a little crusty looking here, but I think all cats at animal shelters look crusty. She just needs a bath, a fresh lion cut, and some love. I think if I had really wanted to adopt her she would be living in our house right this second, but I feel like once I bring one hobo kitty home I would be opening the flood gates, so it was my internal resolve to not want to bring her home as much as I would like to. Matt even asked me the other day if I really wanted to adopt her in a way that led me to believe he would be willing to get another cat. Oh Portia, I hope someone scoops you up soon.

 

 

Now, on to the big cats! There's a animal sanctuary 40 minutes outside of Denver that our friend Harmony wanted to visit with her friends befor her birthday party. Most of these animals have some crazy stories about where they came from, but long story short: people are dumb! Seriously. Why would anyone think keeping a giant male lion in their garage and feeding it cat food would be a good idea? I mean really! Lucky for these animals they have been saved from their neglectful and abusive owners and get to live out their days in peace. Thankfully Matt came along for this part of Caturday and is pretty handy with a zoom lense. (Hey honey, I swiped some of your pictures while you are out of town! Love you.)

 

Lions!

 

 

 

 

A quick note about this guy, he was being sooo melodramatic! He was roaring for quite a while then got up and did this. After that he walked probably 20ft, flopped on the ground, and let out a huge winey moan. Maybe he didn't like that the other male lion was getting all the attention from the lady lions.

 

 

Tigers!

 

 

And bears!

 

 

There were even some wolves.

 

 

Just to finish things off nicely, here is everyone (who wore a cat shirt) in our awesome cat shirts for Harmony's birthday!

 

 

All in all it was a purrfect Caturday! If you haven't had enough cat business (is there ever enough) check out Jenna's trip to last years show!

 

Nikki Kelly

 

 

Wile I was wandering through the market I spotted this awesome handmade copper ring that I just had to have. There were silver versions as well, but I thought the copper was more unique and interesting, green fingers be damned!

 

 

My next favorite things were not so much one thing, but an awesome collection of quirkiness. I saw a sign near the market pointing us to the gum wall. A wall covered in gum, much like the late Gum Tree of origional Elitch Gardens. It was really cool to look at, but I did not touch a thing for fear of contracting Contagion. Then there was this open area in the downtown area (I am only assuming) with blue trees! They were living, but their trunks had been painted or something. Scattered around the blue trees were silver asexual people. Some were standing, and some were just having a sit on the bench. I'm not really sure where the sewing machines were, I was too distracted by the hundreds of antique sewing machines on display to even pay attention to the name. Seriously, hundreds. This is only one of the windows, and then there were more lining the back wall of the store. It was amazing! Oh, and now I'm on the look out for a Jones sewing machine.

 

 

We walked around a park that was part of the local Art Museum, and while we were there there was a massive Yoga thing going on. There was a DJ, and Naked Juice was handing out premium juices. Unfourtunatly they were only giving juice out to yoga participants and since I wasn't carrying a yoga mat, no juice for me. Oh, and while we were wandering around I spotted the most amazing roof top terrace I've ever see from the ground. At least I can imagine its amazingness with all those big trees up there. I would totally live there if I was a Seattle resident.

 

 

We also took a ferry to one of the islands. I can't remember which one, I am sure it started with a "B" though. I was pretty shocked at how cold it was out on the water even though it was super warm on land.

 

Like I said though, I just loved seeing the Space Needle peaking at you no matter where ever you were. So much so that I took way too many pictures of it.

 

 

Oh, and this thing made me feel like I was in Gotham City. Well, if the Space Needle was in Gotham.

 

 

I've got a week of vacation time left to use before the end of the year, but I'm not sure what to do or where to go. Any suggestions? Oh, and to anyone that is familiar with Matt's collection of Starbucks mugs, guess how many he bought while in Seattle.

 

 

5! He got one that's not in this picture for his brother, Nate. In all fairness the plastic tumbler is for me, but who knew there were so many collectors edition mugs for one store?

 

I love that song, even if it's misleading advice will most likely ruin your pictures. As you may have already guessed, this post is about my new to me camera.





I picked up this camera while Ali and I were visiting Jenna in The Paso earlier this spring. I got it for $15 which seems like a pretty good deal to me based on what some people are charging online. I had no clue if it worked or not, but I figured if it didn't it would make for a sweet looking accessory to put on a bookshelf or something. People are always displaying old cameras, and with Matt's growing interest in photography it would be something that would work well in our home. Anyway, not knowing if it worked or not I spent some time goggling Polaroid SX-70's. Immediately I started digging through the Impossible Project blog and reading the tutorials section and Dr. Love's Tips.





Once I was back home I set out and buy some film. First I checked the supply at Urban Outfitters, but they seem to only have the film for the 600 cameras. I went back to the Impossible website and looked for a local dealer here in Denver and found Denver Pro Photo. When I went to get some film they also only had the 600 film. I found out they were getting ready to move their store to a new location. Maybe now that they've moved they might have a larger selection. Once I told them what I was looking for they told me they had these little sheets of plastic that I could put over the lense to act as a filter so I could use the 600 film. Sold!





Once I got home I put the film pack in and anxiously closed the door. The camera seemed to struggle for a second or two before the dark slide popped out, but I took it as a good sign. The next step was to insert the dark slide under the flap where the pictues come out to work as a shield. Once the slide was in place I framed up my shot, pressed the button, and nothing. It was a pretty anticlimactic moment for my $15 camera. So I folded it back up and it sat in my studio for a couple of weeks. Between then and now I learned a little trick to taking a picture without using the shutter button. There's these two little holes on the side right next to the shutter button. I've read that its a connection point for a timer or a cabled shutter button.





The trick is to use a bent paper clip and trip the connection points in those two holes. It sounds easy enough, but I still managed to mess it up. My mistakes were forgetting to put the filter film over the lense, and to put the dark slide in the flap to protect the picture, all while trying to keep my camera steady, look through the view finder, and put two ends of a paper clip into two tiny holes. Not really my idea of fun. Seriously, it took me three times to get it all right.





Even though they were messed up pictures, I kinda dig the first one a lot. It looks like some weird X-ray or a ghostly sewing machine. After my little juggling act I concluded that everything else seemed to be working just fine, but that I'd like to get the shutter fixed eventually( Denver Pro Photo has a guy that fixes cameras and he has some positive reviews on Yelp). After my second bout with this camera I left it sitting on the kitchen table for a few more days. Then one day before work last week I got some crazy urge to give it one more shot. I looked around for something I wouldn't mind taking a picture of, I decided on my hanging string of pearls, and gave the shutter button another try. I was literally shocked when my camera made some noise and out popped a picture. Shocked I tell you!





I'm not really sure why it magically started working. Maybe just getting the things running after who knows how many years of being dormant did the trick, but I was quite pleased. That's a bit of an understatement, I was really excited. I texted Matt on my way to work, and told just about anyone who would listen that day. I even printed out a new cover to put in my iPhone case to celebrate! Dorky? Ok, maybe.





Now my next project for this will be to create a cute bag to store it in. I'm going to base it off of this one that the Impossible Project sells. I would just buy it, but it's only made for the non sonar models, meaning mine won't fit. That's ok, it's pretty much a boxy envelope which doesn't seem too difficult.





Are you a Polaroid enthusiast? Have you ever used Impossible film? What kind of cool things have you picked up from an antique store?

Oh, and just so you know, I was not compensated for this post by anyone. I am just excited about my new toy and wanted to share!

I'm working on salvaging that lame tank dress that I made while I was in El Paso a little while back. Here's a little sneaky peak via Instagram!

I can't wait to show it to you, and give you a tutorial on how to recreate your favorite skirt! And speaking of Instagram, are you planning on entering my #CraftStoreInstawalk photo contest?
It's open til April 16th, the day before your taxes are due. So go take your pictures, then go do your taxes.