Music Monday: The Mixtapes

I belong in the nineties. Seriously, here's my Pinterest board to prove it. I'm just in the wrong time, man.

So I recently got to see a local band called The Mixtapes. They were playing at Lindberg's, which is only a short walk from my house, so my best bud Nat and I went down to check them out.

I've followed Katie Shelton's blog for a while and I discovered The Mixtapes from her Instagram feed. They were totally worth the walk to Lindberg's. They played a couple songs I didn't know (I thought I knew my 90's better than that) and they sounded so good! I had a blast singing along and dancing right up front by the speakers. Nat and I even got ridiculed for our dancing by some girl in line for the restroom. Success!

So I'm thinking this fits #25 on the 101 in 1001 list. Yes?

25. Find five new (to me) musicians/bands I really like. 

I definitely want to see them again. Anyone want to go?

For videos I took from the show, check out my Instagram here.

For more on The Mixtapes, click here.

Thrifty Finds // 4

It's time again to share my recent thrifty finds! Today I'm also linking up with A Living Space, where lots of thrifty bloggers are sharing all the great stuff they've found.  You can check out all the thrifty fun here.

So here's my thrifty haul. First up:

I'm pretty excited about this chair and ottoman.

My sister actually scooped up this chair and ottoman for me from a garage sale on her street. I really wanted to find a replacement for my leather love seat in my living room, and as soon as I saw this chair, I pictured it next to this chair, and then I have a vision of this living room, and I realized where this chair belonged. Et voila:

It is very comfy. I really want to recover that ottoman in something. Maybe macrame? I would cover it in sheepskin like this ottoman if Max didn't immediately pee on every sheepskin I've brought into this house. Bad cat!

I didn't mean that, Max. I love you.

Next up, my paint by numbers collection is growing!  With two cats and a floral:

I paid a little too much for those cats, but I couldn't resist them. Rand insists it's actually the same cat.

This wall kind of feels complete. Maybe it's time to start a PBN collection on the wall across the room.

Last up, this isn't a new thrifty find, but it's a thrifty find from a while back, it's never made the blog, and it only recently found a place in my home.

My very own moon globe! It didn't have a stand, but luckily it's metal and it has a big dent in the bottom, so it stands on its own. Perfect.

So there you go. More old crap to fill my home.

If thrifting is your thing too, be sure to check out the Nifty Thrifty over at The Living Space. 

Canon Rebel

I haven't mentioned my 101 in 1001 list in a while, so let's check in on that. I actually accomplished a list item here recently, but it wasn't until I glanced at my list again that I remembered it was on there.

59. Buy a nice DSLR camera.

Done! I had been planning on saving up for one at some point, because the one I wanted with the lens and everything it needed was going to run me well over 1000 bones. But I hadn't started saving, and Rand gave me a strange look when I said that on top of selling our house and everything else we want to do, I wanted to drop that much money on a camera.

Sometimes he doesn't understand the needs of an artist.

Then I walked into work the other day and saw an ad from a coworker in the teacher workroom. A Canon Rebel DSLR, a few years old, $100. He even let me take it home and try it out first, and whoa. It was amazing. And when I told Rand that it was $100, his exact words were, "$100? Sold." 

Sold.

So this brings me to another 101 in 1001 list item.

49. Take a photography class.

I really want to do this. I've noticed lots of e-courses and online tutorials that I would like to check out, since that would help me figure out all the millions of buttons on this camera, but I'm also hoping to find an actual, in person class to take somewhere.  I plan to look into non-degree seeking classes at Missouri State, since Rand's job means I get some free classes. If anyone reading this knows anything about auditing university classes, please let me know!

In the meantime, don't laugh, but here are a few photos I've taken with it so far. Keep in mind, I KNOW NOTHING. Seriously, I know nothing about the settings on this camera or composition or photography in general. But I want to learn, and I really think I learn best by doing, then failing, then redoing a little better each time. These are all just straight from the camera and were taken around my house, walking around my neighborhood and in the car running errands. Practice, practice, practice.

So there's my first session of playing around with my new camera. I like it a lot.

I already own two vintage film cameras, a Minolta and a Kodak Retina Reflex, both from the late 60's. I love using film (I don't love how much it costs) but I'm really excited to learn what all the fancy buttons on my new camera do.

And if I end up getting frustrated and losing interest, I didn't invest too much money in it! I always have to keep that possibility in mind, too.