so the d50 came yesterday (yay!), and i had a little bit of time to play with it last night. hubb gave me a 5 minute crash course in f-stops and apertures and ISOs, and then i realized i don't have a case for it so i can't carry it around with me just yet. and i only have a 256 card in my little elph (most of which is full with sentimental photos i keep on there all the time to look at longingly while i'm not near a computer....silly, i know), so i can't go around snapping a billion photos while i try to figure the new camera out. SO, we ordered me a fabulous neoprene case by zing, which are so incredibly phallic i can't stop giggling about them:

aren't they fabulously silly?! i am getting one more along the lines of the black one on the right. but the green one is just too disturbing, i had to share.

oh, i'm also getting a bigger memory card. which will be nice.

so until my d50 scuba suit arrives, i'll be elphing it for a few more days.

yeah, so it's been a little while. what's been going on?

-hubb received an honorable mention for his pinch salt and pepper set at the design within reach "Modern+Design+Function" exhibition last thursday. congrats, hubb!

-i didn't complain about his absence for two weeks of evenings while he was working on pinch and perforated (with our friend, hubwear founder, george aye) for the exhibition, and as a reward, i got a nikon d-50 for valentine's day. it actually just came today, and after i go to the gym tonight (ick) i'll start getting to know it.

-we finally got a storage space in our building, and have been slowly going through our mess of an office/studio/guestroom. we tackled a home improvement project of installing shelves in one of the closets, and now i have plenty of room for towels and sheets. (by "we" i mean hubb, actually.)

-i braised lamb shanks, and they were quite delicious.

-i baked zucchini bread, and it, too was quite delicious.

-i decided to can my short lived pretend-to-be-a-foodie-with-tons-of-time food blog, and merge the two here. food is a huge part of my life, after all. so why not celebrate food along side shoes and shopping and general ramblings? once i figure out how to merge the archives, the other site will be gone.

-we cancelled at least two planned lunches at hot doug's and now they're closed until march 5. damn. duck fat fries will have to wait.

-i've been busy (and have been really enjoying) work the past couple of weeks, which is nice.

-i've also been avoiding taxes. i know we have to do them soon, but i'm real scared.

at least i'm not pregnant.

randomness.

i'm still coughy and my throat has this sore spot that i just can't seem to kick. if i never get a cold again it will be too soon. at least i've lost 3 pounds while being sick with a very limited appetite for nearly 3 weeks. but don't fear, my snacktime urges and mealtime capacity are getting back to normal now that i can breathe again.

after a month of lackadaisically attempting to get my passport photos taken, i finally got it done this morning. mexico or montreal, get ready for a visit in april! i keep thinking that now i'm free to be whisked away to an exotic foreign location for a long weekend. (hubb, are you reading this?)

i have this (probably annoying) habit of relentlessly talking up products that i love to friends and family. i get called out all the time for sounding like a used car salesman trying to convince someone to try a new lotion, restaurant or service. here are a few that i've been feverishly selling lately:

• i-go car sharing service. i can't stress enough how much this car-sharing service has changed our lives. hubb and i have been car-free for about two years, and since embracing i-go, we don't see a need for our own personal vehicle anytime soon. our bi-weekly grocery/errand stints using our i-go membership run us about $60 a month, a fraction of what we were paying in car payments, insurance, gas, and maintenance. (not to mention the occasional parking ticket for forgetting to move the car during street cleaning or some other nonsense.) it is so simple and convenient and worry-free. yay for i-go!
  
• the body shop body butter. i have had at least 3 people in the last three days complain to me about dry skin, and i sing about body butter every time. i used to have the most painful dry skin in winter, but now i use a body butter every morning and my skin is smooth and soft and moisturized, without the greasiness of shea butter and cocoa butter products. i particularly love the almond and satsuma scents.
  
• smith's rosebud salve. this stuff is magic. burns, chapped hands, rashes, tissue-rubbed noses, this salve works wonders on every skin ailment. it also makes a great lip balm. it doesn't smell mediciney, it is soft and non-greasy, soaking into skin without leaving shiny residue. and it's inexpensive. i can't live without it. in fact, i gave mine away a few weeks ago to a friend with a raw nose from a cold, and i've been going nuts without it. burt's bees makes a similar product, res-q ointment, but it has a medicine scent that i just can't deal with.
  
• pamela barsky's mid-century piggy bank. oh my god i love this thing. i bought one for myself, then i bought 6 more to save for gifts. it is so perfect for baby showers, housewarmings, birthdays, weddings, anything! it's small and discrete enough to blend in to nearly any decor, large enough to hold a good amount of change, adorable without being tacky, and it comes with starter money. what more could you ask for? i love love love it!
  
• jiffy mixes. in particular, the pizza and biscuit mixes. i love to cook, but hate to measure, and these are my savior at least once a week. i use the pizza crust all the time (last night, even!) and it's delicious. the corn muffin mix is totally yummy, especially if you mix some frozen corn into the mix (just reduce the amount of milk you use by a little bit). and the biscuit mix, though i hate to reveal it, are the secret to my mini blue cheese biscuits that i make all the time for parties. (with a little orange marmalade....delish!) and who can resist the 1950's packaging? not me. my cupboards are always stocked with jiffy. i know i've raved about it before, but i just can't stop talking about them!

i feel another coughing fit coming on. where is the end to this cold?

so i've been kind of down recently, i've been sick off and on for two weeks, and am currently fighting an ear infection (probably two, my other ear is feeling it now), a sinus infection, and a severe cold. i have spent 6 of the last 14 days in bed (or on the couch), and have pooped out on plenty of fun plans. it's a bummer. plus it's really damned cold and i badly need a haircut and i haven't done any proper grocery shopping in a long time.

nothing exciting here.

so here's a totally worthless story:

last night i ran an errand which ended up taking me to the front door of carson pirie scott that is closing downtown. i've been inside for the start of the liquidation sale, and only spent about $20, more than half of which was a gift. but the discounts last night had risen from 20-50% off to 50-70% off, so i thought i'd give it one more whirl. it was pretty desolate, lots of muddy diamond jewelry, damaged clothing, stacks of ugly shoes in sizes too big for me anyway. i tried on a vera wang nightgown, but decided against it as it was still more than i need to be spending on another piece of sleepwear. i picked through the kitchenwares, almost bought a $4 silicone angel food cake pan, when i remembered i have nowhere to put it in my overstuffed cabinets.

with empty arms i was tiring, wearing out. my last stop was in the dresses section, where a young girl and her trailer trash mom were trying on strapless aquamarine and hot pink floor length prom dresses to wear to a wedding next weekend. (not kidding.) trying not to listen to the mother's comments, ("it is floor length so it doesn't show off so much of your bod. maybe you should look for a shorter one.") i found a few cute pieces, and decided that at 60% off i could risk having one of them fit me perfectly. two did. it was a miracle. the first was a simple black jersey knit that i might go back tonight to buy. the second was a brown rough silk cocktail dress, with ruching (slimming!) at the bust and a gorgeous teal satin ribbon at the empire waist which tied at the back. it fit perfectly. perfectly. that means a ton coming from a petite but chubby girl who has probably never, not once, had an item of clothing fit exactly as it should right off the rack. this dress was a dream. a beautiful brown silk dream with a big snag in the fabric on the left boob. i didn't notice it as i pulled it off the rack, but there it was, staring at me in the dressing room mirror. i tried to smooth it out, i brainstormed how it could be masked, hidden, i literally shed a tear because it was so perfect except for this one major flaw in the finish. i pouted and i put it back, and also the cute black jersey dress, just to spite myself. and i went home, broken, beaten by the stupid sale. i tried so hard to find something to purchase, and i failed. i'm losing my shopping edge. it's really very sad.

so today i do a quick search for the maker of the dress and the word "brown". and of course google found it. or i should say found one. in my size. new with tags on ebay. i'm torn. and materialistic and self centered. i want the dress, and i could have it.

but really, what occasion do i have to wear a cocktail dress to? in february? even if it is a color that looks stunning on me, in a cut that is flattering to my figure and a price that is reasonable? i guess i'll pass. it only took me 20 minutes of typing to decide that. nor that it won't help me continue the little grumpy dump i'm in right now. bleh.