Dying over this Leica X1. Sleek, stealthy, and sexy – big performance in a small design.
I know I’ve asked to borrow money before, but this time it’s only $2,000 instead of $200,000.
Or…. maybe John will just let me borrow his.
Earhart relaxing at The Royal Hawaiian hotel and carving a pineapple with surf legend Duke Kahanamoku in the 1930′s. A bunch of rare photos of her in Hawaii are being displayed at the Waikiki hotel including some of these. I’d love to park myself next to her on that couch and hear all about her next adventure!
When she left Hawaii, she became the first person to fly from there to California. Look at that crowd! Girl’s a badass.
Female Samurai Tamoe Gozen by Fujiwara – paintingsilove.com
Onna Bugeisha (onna – woman, bugeisha – samurai)
My dreams have come true. Female samurai. I didn’t know they existed. They weren’t as prevalent as their male counterparts, but they fought right alongside them winning wars and even leading their own clans. So dope.
Of the upper class, Onna Bugeisha were trained to protect their family, honor, and home. They could slice you into pieces with their signature weapon, the naginata. With a curved blade at the end of a long wooden pole, it was the perfect weapon for women since it kept them at a good distance from their beefy male foes that had the advantage of strength.
The ancient discipline using the naginata teaches all types of great self improvement skills like patience, self-confidence, and etiquette. I found a “dojo” (practice hall) here in LA that practices the art form. It’s taught by a 70 year old woman that has been practicing for over 40 years and even studied under a master in Japan. Sign me up!
Notable Onna Bugeisha:
Tamoe Gozen – lead many men into battle with her impressive sword and archery skills. Or maybe she just killed them softly with her signature long luscious locks and beauty (see photo 1).
Nakano Takeko – took a bullet straight to the chest while leading a charge against the Imperial Japanese Army. Refusing to let the enemy take her head as a trophy, she asked her sister to cut it off and had it buried near a temple. No words…
Empress Jingu – led and won a 3 year long invasion of Korea and was the first woman to be printed on a Japanese banknote.
Yamakawa Futaba – fought in the Boshin War and later went on to improve education for girls in Japan.
As female warriors, they certainly destroy all those little pink fluffy female stereotypes of weakness… and they’ll destroy you too.
The B’s of summer… Beach, Boards, Bonfires, Beer….. Only thing missing are more Babes out there on Boards. I usually only see a small handful out on the water. It always seems to be 95% dudes.
Babes on Boards… where are you?
Tons of fun shooting with the Holga and Mini Diana (or Mini D as I like to call it) in Key West. There’s a photo op around every corner… people almost killing themselves on scooters, great architecture, six toed cats at the Hemingway house, and even the southernmost point of the continental US. That photo of the southernmost point buoy was a tricky shot. There was a line of at least 20 people waiting to have their photo taken in front of it. I just stood there for about 10 minutes patiently sweating in the heat for that exact moment of people walking away and people about to walk up. The first photo was with my point and shoot… it’s funny, if you count my phone, I’m carrying four cameras around with me everywhere these days!
Here’s more shots from Key West. It’s hard for me to look at the key lime pie on a stick pic without drooling. Going to find a recipe for that asap.
I was going through a closet with my mom and we came across a few vintage cameras including this folding Kodak Hawk-eye Model 8 2A. According to the interweb it was on the market from 1926 -1934. After thorough inspection, we found it was still in great condition and ready to shoot! Yeah! It takes larger format photos with a film size that isn’t available in stores, so we compromised and used the next size smaller (120) and made it fit.
I took it out to the nearby bike trails covering it with a towel to avoid light leaking in. Not sure how much it really helped, but I love the result anyway. The shots are so big that when I wound the film, I had to skip every other number on the counter… and some of the exposures still overlapped! So I only ended up with about 6 photos and they’re the first shots to come out of this camera prob since the 30′s or 40′s. I would just love to know who’s portrait was taken with it back in the day. Where were they? What did they wear? I can only imagine.
My new vintage addition to my camera family.
Light leaks?
Overlapping exposures and maybe a ghost?
I’m amazed how well this one turned out
You never know what you’re gonna get
Not too shabby!
I used black and white film this time, so we’ll see what we get next time with color…
As a native Floridian, the Keys have always come through as the perfect summer playground for fun and sun. There’s snorkeling, key lime pie eating, beer drinking, site seeing, and my personal favorite, people watching (it’s unmatched there). It’s also the perfect place for finding unique treasures from local artists. I recently went to Key West for a girls weekend and every time I’m there I make a point to stop by the KINO sandal factory. You have to walk past the bars and hit the side streets to find this little hidden gem. They’ve been pumping out sandals since the ’60s, and in this small corner shop the pungent smell of leather always smacks you in the face when you walk in. At only $12 a pair, you are faced with the dilemma of not bringing home a whole bag of them. So I picked these (#4 the Julia) and they’ve been glued to my feet ever since. I love the knotted rope detail and the adjustable buckle.
They don’t sell to retailers or have an online store, so the only way to buy is the old fashioned way… using an order form and sending it in with your payment.
Key West pics to come.
She demolishes old-fashioned oppositions of beauty and brains, women and science, chic and geek. - Vogue
Total geek babe. How often do you hear of a gorgeous girl in Oscar de la Renta writing code?? Not often enough, and why not? Let’s blame the media.
It never ceases to amaze me how much influence the media has over people. They pump the wrong message into women both young and old by idolizing girls that have drug addictions or are basically famous for doing nothing (orrrr someone). I’m here to change that. Techie Marissa Mayer is my next inspirational girl profile. She exemplifies everything that I’ve created this blog for… girls who aren’t afraid to challenge themselves and break the antiquated female stereotype.
Armed with a masters from Stanford in computer science, Marissa was scooped up by Google in ’99 and became their first female engineer among only 20 employees. At 34, she is now VP of search products and user experience. That’s right, she oversees the code-writing and development of everything you use on Google like Google Search, Gmail, Google News, Google Earth, and Google Maps. So you can thank her every time you search for dog sweaters and directions to the nearest In ‘n’ Out burger at 2am. Well, at least I can.
“I refuse to be stereotyped,” she says. “I think it’s very comforting for people to put me in a box. ‘Oh, she’s a fluffy girlie girl who likes clothes and cupcakes. Oh, but wait, she is spending her weekends doing hardware electronics.’ ” – Mayer, NY Times
“When people think about computer science, they imagine people with pocket protectors and thick glasses who code all night,” Mayer jokes. “I do code all night! I am the stereotype, but I also break the stereotype.” Among her goals: to bring more women into technology and teach them to take chances. “Get in a bit over your head,” she says. “That’s how you grow and learn and stretch yourself.” – Mayer, Glamour Magazine
Oh, and did I mention she runs marathons and cross-country skis? Beauty, brains, and the bronze. Goooooogle.
A vomiting of bright 80′s plastic charms. Remember these things? I came across an abacus pendant necklace and the memory of my old plastic abacus charm surfaced instantly. What was it about the abacus that struck a cord? Why don’t I remember any of the other charms? Okay, maybe I remember the skateboard and the tennis racket, but that abacus just seems to stand out over the other hundreds of charms.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgic, buy the real versions here:
ALLSAINTS - $50
SNOOZER LOSER – $40
ETSY- BUNNY LOGIC - $15
When I put my first roll of film in the Mini Diana and Holga cameras I could hardly wait to snap away and see the result. I went through the first rolls in about an hour shooting everything from animal crackers to the bottom of the pool. I can’t get enough. I’m already becoming a regular at the film shop. This could get ugly….. Maybe I should buy in bulk?
