Inner Solace

{103} of 365.

My new pumpkin bag from TippyThai.  I needed mine a little bigger for the insert so Tippy did it up for me.  The depth wasn’t quite right, but it works fine. :)

She’s lovely, helpful and is quite prompt with responding to messages. So if you want a custom bag, she’s your girl!

{075} of 365.

New widescreen monitor. If only I could get dual external monitors on my laptop. T_T

October Debrief - Retail Therapy to Restore Sanity

I mentioned my little retail diversion before but thought the post was long enough without talking about my purchases as well, so here are a couple of the things I obtained between mood swings. :P

A couple of Le Sac Dresses from American Apparel.  @sandysandy posted about them not long ago and I do love convertible clothing (<3 my Sacha Drake Ultimate Black Dress).  I have never bought anything from AA before so I’m not sure how this will turn out, not to mention how it’ll look on me… and the dress is back-ordered. :/ Boo.  Still, looking forward to having a bit of a play. :)

Cute little Mad Men-esque dress from YesStyle.  I love this style, but unfortunately I can’t raid my mother’s enviable retro wardrobe because I have broader shoulders and a wider rib-cage.  There are a number of her beautiful dresses that I have ogled and stared at in futility wondering if I could possibly have them altered to fit… Alas.

Spanking new old Minolta 28mm f/2.8 lens from teh ebays.  I adore my 50mm but being an effective 70-mumble on a cropped sensor camera makes it a little tricky for some shots.  The 28mm as an effective 50-mumble may be a little more practical for other applications (like food shots) but it’s nice to have another prime in any case. :)

New toy arrived yesterday.  And it took only 6 of the estimated 7-10 days.

I’ve taken a couple sample shots with the 18-70 and my Minolta 50 prime, but haven’t tried the longer 55-200 yet.  So far I am loving my 50 prime with the 2x tele-converter.

Now to find a suitably inconspicuous camera bag or slim camera case + sizeable handbag that I can take with me travelling so that I don’t look like I’m packing gear.

“ickle and Lardee’s Grand Adventure” Book (via Inhae Lee)

Just bought this on a whim. :)

Gwyneth’s Molten Chocolate Cakes with my awesome squid whisk.

I only heard Gwyneth Paltrow had a website recently but only ventured forth when her recipes popped up on one of my numerous RSS feeds. I had no idea the lady cooked/baked.

I’m also hoping this is nom.

Home grown kang kong (in my little row pot on the balcony) in my spanking new Scanpan wok. <3

After two months (o m g I don’t know if surface mail is really worth the savings…) my Beseler drum has finally arrived from Canada! *dance*

But but… I haven’t got the chemicals to do any developing, and I don’t know if I’ll have time to pick some up tomorrow after moving more stuff from my old place. And if I can’t, it’ll be another week before I get another opportunity.  Tragedy.

Oh well… I suppose another week after two months isn’t going to hurt… *sniff*

My partially deconstructed Bulldog.  Which I painted a lovely matte black.  The mdf split when I attached parts using the laser cut pilot holes, so I had to take the lens panel and the ground glass clips (at the rear) off to superglue the wood to reinforce it before I reattach them.

Chris said I shouldn’t unscrew the parts, but they’re meant to be loose enough to move and I didn’t want to get superglue on them by accident.

But first, buy superglue.

And I was so close to finishing too. I’d have been done days ago if the mdf hadn’t split. *cry*