DIY camera fun

I was given this camera kit a few months ago. It contains a bunch of plastic pieces and some incomprehensible instructions, translated from perhaps an alien language into English, with which you put together your own little twin lens reflex camera. Incidentally, if such a kit ever falls into your possession, you might want to toss the kit instructions and just use these, particularly for the shutter assembly.

Aside from some minor confusion prior to finding the right instructions (and by minor I mean I was so frustrated I almost cried), the camera was really fun to put together. It doesn't need batteries since the shutter is operated by a spring, and since you're putting it together yourself you get to see exactly how everything works inside the black box. Needless to say, this will delight you if, like me, you possess some degree of "huge nerd". I've shot 5 rolls of film with this camera so far, and I love how it sees the world.

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 and of course, Gerrard:

happy birthday blog

Well, I missed my blog's 1st birthday by a couple of days, but here are some pictures of a dessert in belated celebration. This cookie skillet is amazing. It's one of the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever eaten, and I've eaten a lot of cookies thus far in life. Being a hopeless flickr-aholic, I first saw this cookie here. And then here and here too. I had to have the recipe - luckily both Sarah and Katie understood my immediate need for cookies and sent me the recipe simultaneously. I went out and bought a cast iron skillet that afternoon and have since baked this...um...more times than I care to admit.

So. Happy birthday to my blog and go bake this now. And while you're eating it, warm and gooey and straight from the skillet, check out the photos I linked to above. These ladies are constant photographic as well as culinary inspiration!

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