the price of photogenic

Bonjour beautifuls! My apologies for the sporadic posting lately. Life has gotten so chaotic... mostly in a good way. To start off with the "bad," however, my little brother is leaving for college on Thursday afternoon. He'll be flying with my parents across the country to move into his dorm and kick off, what I know to be, the next most amazing four years of his life. It's going to be weird without him home and knowing he's far, far away will make me miss him that much more. Plus, I must admit I have the fear that he'll never come back, that he'll meet a girl out there and/or get a great job and become an official ex-New Yorker. That's not to say that I'm not proud of him though. He's brave and excited to turn over a new leaf and start anew in Arizona. It's going to be an incredibly wonderful character-building experience... not to mention a good time, which is what every single person is dying to remind me of when I tell them my brother is going to be a freshman at Arizona State ;). But as long as he doesn't do anything too stupid, and keeps his work in check, I'm in complete support of playtime. The entire experience is going to be such an overwhelmingly positive thing.

Whew! Somebody's got a case of the big sister syndrome, wouldn't you say? I just needed to get that internal dialogue off my chest. Let's change to the focus to a less-emotional development. A few weeks ago my Canon camera died. Usually, you'd think this would be a sad day, but actually I found it to be more frustrating than anything. I have the absolute worst luck when it comes to cameras! Already I think I've been through seven, and in the lifespans of the first four, I wasn't using my camera nearly as much as I use it now. This plate of grilled peppers and squashes paired with scrambled broccoli and eggs--the quick, cheap, and easy dinner of champions-- was the last photo I was able to successfully take on it.

For the next 15 days or so, I used my iPhone as a camera. Clearly, it just wasn't the same. Last Wednesday, I spent the day with my grandmother: we chatted at her house, ran a few errands, went shopping, and then stopped by Mrs. Greens for lunch-to-go... and I have one measly picture to show for it. I helped myself to a salad bar treat of mixed baby greens, bean salad, marinated cucumbers, tabouleh, and two cute little falafals. All was beyond stupendous and wonderfully refreshing in the midst of the hot and humid day we were having. Such a clean meal, mind you, was followed by copious amounts of wine and the best way to serve Nutella ever, but such is life. And I'm set on loving it.

In the last five days, however, I've been in the midst of a love affair with the my new cameras, the Nikon S8000. This pretty silver thing comes with amazing features like 14.2 megapixels, 10x wide angle zoom, 16 scene modes, and quick retouching, amongst others. Can you see the difference between the above three photos? The one of last night's dinner is far superior. Before hitting the town last night, I enjoyed a bowl of pasta salad with tomatoes and basil from our garden, farmers-market fresh fontina cheese, and kidney beans (of which I added later to increase the filling factor, although I must admit that I would've preferred pinto.) The macro shots on this baby are phenomenal! And they better be, I paid good money for my new toy and have put myself on a stricter budget to make up for it.

Thankfully, I was born into a family of generosity. Yesterday I came home to find two new shirts and that dress on my bed; I later took this picture in my sister's room. The dress is an exquisite French Connection with padded shoulders and gorgeous Grecian draping. Now all I need is somewhere to wear it :) it basically makes me feel like a million bucks. Speaking of, I've been wracking up a couple of free 7-day passes to various gyms and exercise studios. I only have a month left to enjoy organized recreation before my road trip and I deserve to make the most of it! I'm not the best when it comes to getting into a fitness routine because I don't nearly prioritize it enough, but I figure if not going to be able to wear my new dress everyday, I might as well find other ways to feel amazing. In the mean time, would you please inspire me: what's your favorite workout and why?

P.S. To win a Lonely Planet guide to New England, please comment on my most recent Go Backpacking post!