it always comes back to you

i read a blog post late last night (after briefly falling asleep watching crossing lines on netflix, which my body/mind interpreted as a nap and then kept me up 'til 2 a.m. ... but i digress) that just really hit me the wrong way and frankly, rather royally pissed me off. i enjoy #stuckinplastic and i've even written a post or two for them on occasion. but this one really hit me wrong. it seemed so snobbish and arrogant. and frankly, people, you're taking pictures of toys, so how snotty can you be? get over yourself. this is supposed to be fun.

anyone sharing their life or their passion or their hobby online...whether via blogging or instagram or facebook or twitter or snapchat or whatever, has to be prepared for things to change. the communities change, the medium changes, those who are participating changes. you have to be doing these things for yourself, first and foremost and not for the sake of the likes or the audience or the reaction or the adoration or the discussion. it actually has to be about you. and i mean that in the best sense. that you do it for the love of it. for what it brings you personally. for where you feel it takes you. and not for anyone else. not for the comments. not for the likes. and for odin's sake, not because you want to be emulated (or not be emulated, as the case may be). do it for you. for your sanity. to find out what you think. to see where it takes you. and forget everyone else. this actually is the thing that's all about you. so enjoy it, will you? if it's not making you happy, stop doing it.

teeny tiny birds

i spotted these charming little vintage hand-painted birds at a flea market the other day. the woman who sold them to me thought they were from india. each of them has its own little quirky personality. i was only going to buy a handful, but then the nice lady said i could take them all for 100kr. there are no two alike. so much fun to get a whole collection in one go. i'd love to know the story behind them. i tried googling, but didn't really find any info. i just found a few of them on etsy from someone who thinks they're german. i'm pretty sure they're not. what do you guys think?

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love the writing - it's warm, it's inviting, it's inspiring.

you want to have these people over to dinner.

it's a slippery slope

i made the mistake of joining a retro toy group on facebook. two of them, actually. it all started with being on the lookout for vintage lego fabuland characters. because obviously, i hadn't found enough of those on ebay...

and while there was no fabuland in the groups, i did run onto these little teeny tiny people, still in their original package. and i just had to have them.

of course, i didn't really care that they were in their original packaging as they weren't going to stay there. i had to take them out and play with them.

it seems that the lego minifigures were just a gateway drug to wider toy photography...

sometimes you have to get your knees muddy to get the right shot

bacon & eggs decided to go for a little sail today.

they were rather surprised to see a couple of mermaids lurking in the shallows.

we've had a lot of rain of late, but we've never seen mermaids in a cornfield before!

lessons learned:

1.) sometimes you have to be willing to get a bit muddy if you want just the right angle.

2.) a grown woman crouching in a muddy cornfield, photographing lego is totally normal behavior.

despite what those people driving by may have thought.

and who cares what they thought.

that little lego canoe isn't particularly seaworthy.

luckily, i was able to find some shallow puddles.

getting muddy is fun.

the mud will wash right off.

and eggs looks like she had a fine time!