Shopping Trip: Index-Card-A-Day 2012

My Index-Card-A-Day 2012 for June 11th, chronicles my shopping trip to the craft store with my beloved mom. 

I really just needed ONE white gel pen after mine went missing. So that was the plan when we went into the craft store. I employed the no cart or basket "if I can't carry it in my arms to the checkout then I don't need it" tactic. Otherwise I spend way too much on all the lovely goodies there. I was also hoping to find some embellishments for my travel journal - but not too many. 

I thought my index card for that day should be made with just the supplies I bought that day. I got some Tim Holtz tissue tape, alpha-cards and vial labels, Smash tape, K&Co borders (the tickets), and two white gel pens. The only things on here not purchased that day are the black paper, alpha stamps for the date, ink, and the adhesives used. 

The only white gel pen that's ever worked for me is the Sakura Gelly Roll. I know others swear by the Inkssentials and/or the Uni-ball Signo. Those just frustrate me by not laying down ink and have to be reworked more than I care for.  

The "M" card stands for my mom and the store name Michael's. I tried using most of the lime green part of the tape to tell the story that Mom wore a bright lime green shirt and - as always - matching bright lime green flip flops. That woman owns a pair of matching flip flops for every color shirt she owns, which is on the loooong list of things I love about my mom. 

Also, she actually said "I don't want to hear you lament the loss of your favorite white pen all week. Let's go get one."

She totally GETS me. <3

- Vickie

Birthday Flowers Never Die

Eleven days later (!!), the flowers Erik gave me for my birthday still live and are flourishing! I've been carefully maintaining the water. The lilies were closed when he gave them to me and the show as they unfolded and opened has been amazing. Now the whole house smells like flowers!

Pumpkin Eater

Happy Halloween!!

My sister took this picture a couple of years ago. She finally discovered what was eating her pumpkins! All week a little pile of chewed pumpkin kept growing until finally this little bugger could get inside the pumpkin. I'm sure he enjoyed quite the meal!

This picture makes me wet my pants laughing every time I see it. I guess I'm simple that way. But what a shot! How lucky was she to catch the bandit in the act?!

I hope you and yours have a very safe and happy Halloween. I will be hanging out with my two little nieces tonight. Then we have the big Picture the Impossible Gala to attend once the kids go to bed. Ooh! I'll take a picture for you of the masquerade mask I created and show you next week!

The Joy of Toys and Photographs Thereof

A few weeks ago I received a flickr-mail from someone who was interested in using one of my photos for inclusion on a website about a store in Austin, Texas, called Toy Joy. And today I got another flickr-mail from the same person telling me they are using my photo. Yay! I’ll be famous!

The website is called Schmap and the link to my photo is here. Hover your cursor over “Toy Joy” until you see my name, Victoria Porter, come up under one of the photos in the upper right corner. If you click it you will be sent hurtling to my flickr photostream under the guise of monkey123, my non-business flickr account.

I’m really excited about this. I guess it does not take much right now.

You may be asking yourself, “Hey, this chick lives in Rochester, NY. What was she doing taking pictures of toy stores in Austin, Texas?!” And to that I answer that I was visiting my best friend, Joolie, in Austin and she took me to the best toy store I’ve ever set foot in, Toy Joy. It truly is a place of joy. Toys are all over from floor to ceiling. No space in the place is wasted. They have some really cool things and very obscure items. They have so much to choose from that I cannot make up my mind what to buy and end up leaving empty handed or with just a few small trinkets. Then later I rue that I could not decide and I curse myself. It’s nice to know that Joolie is amenable to taking me there every time I visit!

Thanks, Schmap, for making my day!!

Midtown, Where Nothing is Waiting for You

(Click on the slideshow for a bigger version!)

The excursion to Midtown Plaza on Friday was a fantastic experience. I appreciated the chance to say goodbye to a Rochester landmark. Plus it was darn fun rooting around in the stores and buildings for things I wanted to keep. I came home with a carload of neat odds and ends.

Only people who had bought something at the auction on Thursday were allowed in. I was there to help my mom and her boyfriend, Dave, clear out the items they had won bids on. Dave bought the contents of two stores. One was a Hallmark store. You would not believe what people leave behind when they close down businesses. I scored about 300 envelopes I plan to sell on eBay or Etsy. The owners left nice desks, chairs, shelving, boxes, greeting cards, cabinets, display stands, and coffee pots behind. We loaded up as much as we could fit on rolling carts and filled up Mom’s van. Then Dave got his roll-off flatbed truck for the rest.

The other shop Dave bought out was an upscale shoe store. It was full of acrylic display stands that I know will sell well on eBay and Etsy. We took out a lot of shoe stretchers and fitters, toe and heel pads, light fixtures, sign stands, and those slanted stools that are used when a salesman actually helps you put on shoes you are trying on. (Do you remember those days?) A safe big enough for me to get in comfortably was in the back room. I really wanted just the door to hang in my living room, but it was too much trouble to get off.

Dave also purchased the contents of a few maintenance rooms in the basement. There were several cases of Xerox promotional mugs, fancy magnifying glasses, little office supply kits, office chairs, more desks, a garbage can full of coiled cords that he can sell as scrap, and a few of the regionally “famous” horse strollers that parents could rent to take their kids around in the shopping plaza. Lots of nostalgia value there. One of those sold for $150 at the auction. Dave has three of them now. The auctioneers didn’t know they were down there so Dave got a great deal again. All of the things in the basement were covered in what appeared to be 20 years worth of dust.

He took about 100 fluorescent light bulbs that he plans to sell at flea markets for $1.00 each. He has an eye for this kind of thing. I never would have thought to pick up those items for resale.

We only had from 9 am until 2 pm to get all this stuff out. We left a lot of great stuff behind because we ran out of time. The back of the shoe store was filled with gorgeous wood shelving that I would have loved to put in my basement. I really wanted a big old metal and wood desk for Mr. M’s office. They were too heavy to move.

Exploring the building was so interesting. We could go almost anywhere… basements, loading bays, the backs of the banks, stores, utility rooms, layaway cages, and freight elevators. I find abandoned buildings fascinating. I like to see how they degrade over a period of time when no one is there. I had been to Midtown Plaza to shop many times, but it looked so foreign when empty. A building in this state oddly looks like it has a lot of potential to be great, and it once was. I would love to see it remodeled into an urban community setting. New loft apartments are going up in the neighborhood and those people are going to need shopping close by. Now there is none with the plaza closing down. It seems like such a waste to me.

More about Midtown and our lucky finds this week. Stay tuned!

And We’re Off!

This is an old photo of my twin sister and me in our playroom taken when we lived in Plano, Texas. She is the one with the adorable smile in front. I have the goofy face in back. We spent countless hours making things and playing school or office in there. Our mom always made sure we had enough paper, markers, glue, pencils, and projects to work on. She is awesome that way. She still buys me art supplies! And my sister and I still do craft projects together some 30 odd years layer.

She tells me she still has the black tape dispenser in her house. And the Smurf on the top shelf holding a cake. She also has the shelf but it is painted red now. I have not found anything in the picture that I still have except for the giraffe note holder my grandfather made.

I’m also not sure when this picture was taken. It’s sometime between 1982 and maybe 1986. I’m not good at telling how old I am in old pictures. It’s sometimes miraculous if anyone in my family can even figure out which twin is which in most baby photos! Some we will never know who is who. I often wonder if maybe we got switched at some point and I am really named “Valerie”.

Up and Down the Water Goes

This fountain is located in Town Lake Park in Austin, TX. My friend, Joolie, took me there to see the water and climb the hill for a great view of downtown.

This fountain immediately became my favorite feature in the park. Bursts of water pop up out of the concrete in a spiral pattern. The sound of the water splashing soothes me for some reason. I could sit and listen for hours.

Kids run through to get cooled off from the Texas heat. It wasn’t too hot when we visited but kids were still running though it. I really wanted to dart in and out of the waterfalls, but I would have gotten chilly and we had other places to visit after our trip to the park. I now regret not doing this. Next visit I will.

This animation came from setting my camera to burst mode and taking a series of rapid-fire shots. There are 17 photographs in the animation. I added the same 17 frames to the end and reversed them so it appears the fountain goes back down. It is also looped. The animation was done in Photoshop CS2. That is a really cool tool! Learning new things is something I really enjoy. I hope to keep bringing you more fun animations!