3D Experiment!

When we went to the National Stereoscopic Association's trade fair a couple of weeks back Dale picked up a couple of photography magazines that gave him pointers on how to create 3D images using his digital camera on a tripod and a couple of tricks in Photoshop!

Coincidentally, TV Guide and Wal-Mart have teamed up to give out 3D glasses THIS WEEKEND! So if you're at a Wal-Mart this weekend--or anywhere that sells TV Guide--pick up your glasses and check out these images! Can you believe we got such big corporate tie-ins!? Okay, Miley Cyrus's big 3D concert on TV tonight also helped.

Feel free to click on the photos to make them bigger...

This is the fence in front of a Frank Lloyd Wright house in our neighborhood.

This is the cat's scratching post--strategically placed by Dale to provide depth in relation to our TV and chair!

This is the plant that sits in front of the window in our living room. Ooh, you could reach out and touch it.

And this is the bust of Frank Lloyd Wright that sits at the edge of the park near our house. Ghostly in 3D, in my opinion.

If you somehow miss all the 3D giveaways this week, feel free to check out the Rainbow Symphony store where you can get FREE 3D glasses by sending them a self-addressed stamped envelope! Click here. I don't know how legitimate this website is but I'm guessing nothing bad will come from sending a SASE to a random company?

And just because we're nerdy? Check out images from Nasa in 3D by clicking here!

Dorky Post Ahead

Okay so this is dorky and self-indulgent but it's my blog, right? Anyway, I got my wedding dress preserved (it's no longer in that tub marked 'wedding dress') and that's the package it came in.

I figured since it will soon go into hiding under my bed...

I should take a couple of snapshots! Yay! I really liked my wedding dress.

And now it's going in the top of the front closet! Ha! As you can see the dress is there (sure looks like it's mine) and the veil is positioned in front. I have this theory that there is a bad stain in the front that they are hiding with the placement of the veil.

I'm a huge dork.

National Stereoscopic Association trade fair

Last weekend Dale and I went to the National Stereoscopic Association's trade show. A tiny collectibles fair filled with nothing but 3D nerds! I was excited to go because I love to collect antique view-master reels!

Dale was a trooper. We drove to Grand Rapids at the crack of dawn, got some view master goodies and encountered some nice (and some kind of crabby) nerds. I like the photo above--vintage stereo cameras! Neat!

This is all the loot I bought! VERY exciting! My favorites were the Chicago and Chicago at Night reels I purchased.

After our close encounters of the nerd kind we headed home, stopping for dinner in Kalamazoo with recent frequent blog guest, Sarah G. No pictures of Sarah this time, sorry!

We had tasty pizza and stumbled on an odd metal work shop that had a garden filled with neat metal work in back. It was called the Smartshop and it features the work of the artist that owns the place and they offer classes. Neat! Check out their website here.

We drove on home staring straight into a spectacular summer sunset that went from a fiery orange to a dark pink. It was a fun day.

Two Random Images

This is Sarah during her last visit. I was excited to have company so I pulled out the creamer cow and some of my vintage coffee cups. I was pretty excited to see the cow in action.

And this is a picture of our kitties eating dinner! Today is Sidney's 11th birthday! It's an arbitrary day we selected and we don't even really celebrate it but it amuses me to know we could. Yes, I know the floor needs to be mopped but it's not like this is a blog about cleaning (thank God).

Anyway from left to right: Sidney Potier, Monty Clift, and Bela Lugosi.

Cloud Cover in Chicago

Dale promised his dad we'd post a picture of the odd cloud cover that sometimes comes in from the lake and hangs low over the city. This isn't the best picture but it was the best I could do while sitting in the passenger seat last weekend. That's the Sears Tower with the middle third obscured by foggy cloud mass thingy.

Second Annual Fireworks in Oak Park, IL

Weird piece of Dale & Rebecca blog trivia: Last year Dale took pictures of the fireworks. I don't remember exactly why but I think he had some piece of equipment he wanted to play with.

You can find last year's photos by clicking here.

Anyway, I liked the photos--and apparently other people did, too!

Last year's photos of the fireworks are one of the most viewed posts we've ever had. Somebody out there looks at them all the time--even in the dead of winter!

We aim to please so Dale took more this year! Aren't they pretty?

The other post with arguably the most views is this one about the Mississippi River flooding as we drove through St. Louis.

The river flooding pics were indexed by Google Images and boy did they get hit like crazy when the Ol' Mississip flooded like mad earlier this year.

I get the popularity of the flooding photos but the fireworks photos getting accessed all the time perplexes me--and Dale, too.

No matter, I love fireworks and enjoy looking at the photos, too.

The fireworks in Oak Park this year was colorful and made even better because we got to share the event with my dear friend Sarah!

Hope everybody had as lovely a time as we did!

See you next year!

Fourth of July in Oak Park

Sarah G. came to visit for the 4th of July weekend! This is us waiting for the fireworks to start at the high school in Oak Park.

And, of course, this is me and Dale waiting for the fireworks to start.

Sarah and I had a lot of fun running around Chicago. We went to Taste of Chicago (and did not get food poisoning, which is awesome), to Marshall Field's/Macy's and saw the huge-normous American flag they had on display for the holiday (seriously, that thing is like five stories tall), and had ice cream at the Ghirardelli chocolate shop on the opposite end of Michigan Ave. We were too lazy to walk all those blocks so we hitched a ride on the free trolley. Good times!

A Visit to Betsy & Bryan's House...

You remember Sarah & Betsy, yes? Last time I went to visit Betsy was when little Owen was newborn! Well, Betsy and her husband Bryan have added another wee one to the family and my friend Sarah set up a visit so we could see the family.

Sarah and Betsy (with little Fern in front). The photos I had with Bryan turned out blurry!

Miss Sophie has gotten big! But she's as charming and precocious as ever.

She's also on the move. This one never stops once she gets going.

Owen is getting big, too! He tries to keep up with Sophie but as I said above, she's a bit of a blur.

And this is the newest addition to the family: little baby Fern! Aww. She's so sleepy. It's exhausting being a new baby.

And finally this is Zoe. She's the family's slightly perturbed kitty. She is on a diet and is not at all amused by the fact that she can see her food but not eat it. Poor kitty!