stop motion

I've always been a fan of stop motion films, probably starting with the Wallace & Gromit movies, with a shout-out to Mr. Bill ("oh nooooo!") and it was awesome watching Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox with the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, among others.

And this is why I was so thrilled and impressed with the following short film, Out of a Forest by Tobias Gundorff Boesen, a student at The Animation Workshop. Filmed in the forests of Denmark, mostly at night and placed to the music of The National's "Slow Show," this five minute bachelorfilm is heartwarming, somber, eerie and cheery all at the same time. Enjoy.

Out Of A Forest from Tobias Gundorff Boesen on Vimeo.

P.S. 3/1/10

Another stop motion that just showed up on my reader - beautiful!

Dreamstream

So for our upcoming 2011 roadtrip, the dream camper to buy and fix up would be a vintage airstream. You know, the silver bullet beauties of yesteryear! While my head is swimming with motorhome renovation ideas, I made the mistake of looking at Airstreams' new models and found THIS awesome specimen.
Hello, gorgeous!

snow '10

Loving this video

It's like I'm there, back in MD amidst the snowmageddon watching the snow fall and build up, without then having to deal with it and actually BE COLD! Awesome!

Here are a couple of yards I know. They just got another foot of snow today, on top of the three from this past weekend!

the Giannaris' backyard in Hagerstown

Candace's backyard in Silver Spring
*note: Cooper is a greyhound - 3 feet tall!

Fell's Point, Baltimore

Rockville

Jack's car in Rockville - poor baby

and the pièce de résistance: snow "removal" in Baltimore - into the harbor. Don't tell the EPA.

hurray!

I saw an octopus today!! I wasn't the one who found him, but it was still awesome!

hard work at work

... but SOMEBODY'S got to do it!!

roadtripping

Jake and I are proud of all the international traveling we have accomplished and are always looking for ways to do/afford more, but we are sadly ashamed of our lack of travel stateside. We've decided that a major roadtrip is in order for a number of reasons:

• Visiting friends and family across the country
• Seeing this huge, beautiful, varied land of ours
• Experiencing life inside the US, but away from the mid-atlantic
  
• Getting a feel for other areas of the country and possibly finding a place to "settle down" ... ok, at least to use as a more permanent base!

To accomplish this roadtrip we need one rather important item: a vehicle! And what better way to drive around for three months (?) and still save money than by taking your "hotel" with you?! Motorhomeeee!!

I'm inspired by a couple from Texas who recently did the same thing and blogged about it here

And I love how they renovated their little camper; check out the before & afters!

Since Jake and I don't already have a car, much less a Lexus SUV that could pull a camper, we'd love to get a RV motorhome truck-camper combo, but nothing too big! Some promising ones (read: cheap!) have popped up on craigslist already!

I love the retro look of this '75 Dodge Coachman, and the fact that it's a blank-slate makes it appealing in the renovation department. Jake was admiring this Wally tender the other day and would like to apply the paint job and decal to this camper!

The second option out there may get dismissed right off the bat by some as it does currently have some "cosmetic problems" ... but I'm pretty sure it's in better shape than the Dodge AND it comes with a kegerator! With inside and outside taps! We'd have to rotate beer and cider to make me happy, but hey! Who needs to store food, pshhh! Quick paint job and you're set!

So obviously we have some thinking to do in the upcoming months. For now we're stuck in paradise, working on boats, snorkeling with turtles and waiting for visitors - where are you all!??!

this is what I'm saving for...

...right now. because my skiing jacket is water-resistant, not water-proof and it didn't stand up to one day of soaking rain on the boat, much less four. grrr!


PLUS IT SAYS GILL ALL OVER IT!!!!!