Day 143: SanDisk 32GB CompactFlash

I never win anything. I don't think I've won anything since a baby pool in 1987. (Thanks Tori. I think it was you.) But at the PDN Photo Expo last year, I won a 32GB memory card, which is actually a really big prize! Wooohooooo!!!

I love winning things!

But I love posting things on eBay even more.

DESTINATION: eBay. Cha-ching!

Day 142: Expired Makeup

I pains me to count these as one day -- makeup is expensive when you're not looting the beauty closet at your office! Ugh.

Anyway. It's all from pre-2007. Time to let it go.

DESTINATION: Trash.

Day 141: NSFW Sticker

This sticker came as a freebie with a book called (appropriately enough) Fuck this Book. It's actually a really funny mildly amusing book -- they take these stickers and put them strategically over signs like, "No parking on off-ramp."

The book came out in 2005. I know know why I've held onto the sticker this long. I can't even find the book. But either way, it's probably best to get rid of it before Danger learns to read.

DESTINATION: Trash.

Day 140: Harajuku Box

I went to Lord & Taylor to buy the Harajuku Lovers "G" perfume, which smells like sunscreen and is pretty much the best thing ever. (While the perfume shares a name with hubby-G, which seems cute, he actually can't stand the smell of coconut and I have to secretly wear it when he's not around.)

So I went to buy it, and the woman said, "Oh, it's buy one get one free." Yes!! Then she said, "And there's a free gift with your purchase." OMG, YESSSSSS!!! She handed me this box and I thought I was getting the free set of mini-samples...turns out it was just the empty box from the mini-samples. Weird freebie. But anyway, I thought it was a cool box, and saved it to hold random junk like decks of cards, mechanical pencils, stickers, etc.

Then the boys found it, emptied it, and destroyed it.

DESTINATION: Trash.

Day 139: The Parrot

If you've been to one of our pirate parties, you've probably said horrible things to this talking parrot. He's been a fixture on our porch for about four years now, but he's getting faded and yucky, and the speaker thingy has been ruined by the elements, so now everything he says sounds like, "Blrpk kaaa."

DESTINATION: Trash.

Day 138: The Dip

For the first 10 years of our relationship, I'm pretty sure George didn't read a single book (which is kind of funny if you know me). Then one day, in 2007, he announced that he would be willing to read a new businessy-self-help book called The Dip. I ran out and bought it at Hudson News the next day.

He read it in about an hour and said, "Wow, that sucked."

All is not lost, though. Last year I finally got him to read not one, but TWO more books -- Tim Ferriss' Four-Hour Workweek and Four-Hour Body. He liked them both, mainly because they. Are. AWESOME.

DESTINATION: Book Swap Cafe.

Day 137: The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy

I got this book as a gift from one of my besties, Ween. But I'm not preggo anymore (no matter how this dress makes me look!) so I'm passing it on to the super-awesome Book Swap Cafe in Medford. (Go there! Patronize them! Keep them in business so I can keep getting half-price books!)

I did rip out the first page where Ween wrote me a sweet note, though :)

DESTINATION: Book Swap Cafe. Converted into a half-off coupon.

Day 136: Workout Tanks

I'm pretty sure these are at least five years old. They're so old the elastic is stretching out -- not exactly supportive, so for the sake of certain body parts staying in their rightful position, I'm going to go ahead and get rid of them.

DESTINATION: I think trash but they might have ended up in a Goodwill bag. I'm catching up here, and the clothing purge is kind of a blur.

Day 153: Busted Boots

Why did I prolong the agony with these boots? The heel is half detached, the fake leather is peeling off, the soles are completely worn down. The way I held onto them, you'd think they were Prada. But look at them -- they probably cost me $19 in the first place.

DESTINATION: Trash. Boots, start walkin'.

Day 134: Busted Nifty Fifty

Okay, one last piece of camera equipment. I dropped my "nifty fifty" (the super-cheap Canon 50mm f/1.8) in a parking lot in Cape May last summer and, for some reason, haven't wanted to part with it. It's been sitting on my desk for a year awaiting divine crafty inspiration. G made me an awesome cuff bracelet out of the last nifty I broke (they break at the slightest impact; hey, it's a $100 lens!) but you only need one awesome camera-lens cuff bracelet. I finally realized that maybe the best thing is to use it as a "trash can decoration" so to speak.

FYI, a lens isn't supposed to do this:

DESTINATION: Trash.

Days 130-133

Okay. Here's where I went buck wild with selling lenses. I had my eye on a gorgeous lens but needed to make some room in my camera bag (and bank account) for it. So, here's what I got rid of...skip the next few paragraphs unless you're a nerd, or you're in the market for a new lens and want some mini-reviews.

First, my 28mm f/1.8. Fantastic lens but I use my 50mm prime more, and the lens I was lusting after can pretty much cover any ground this lens could. Still, I took this lens with us to Disney World and it was awesome. But I had to make some sacrifices to get the big lens, and this was one of them.

The second lens, on the other hand, was so not a sacrifice. It's the 18-55mm kit lens that comes with the Rebel cameras and I haven't touched it in almost three years. No love lost.

The third lens was a telephoto George bought me back in 2002. I rarely shoot telephoto and it's not image-stabilized (and I don't have terribly steady hands at 200mm). But it was still a good gift. Glass is always a good gift! :)

The last one is one of my favorite lenses, but it was easy to part with...because I still have a copy. My new camera came bundled with the 28-135mm IS, which I'm super-obsessed with, but which I already have in my bag. (FYI: It's actually pretty cheap as lenses go. But ridiculously clear. Highly recommended.The only downside is the variable aperture, and if you don't know what that means, then it won't bother you at all!) Anyway, I kept one and my friend Sarah bought the new one. This isn't the one I got rid of, but here's a photo of me cradling mine lovingly:

So for awhile there, I had so much camera stuff going in and out that I felt like a miniature B&H. But I finally have a fabulously streamlined camera bag. Whew!

That's one of my favorite things with this blog -- I've sold a bunch of junky little things (and not-so-junky big things) that have helped me to get one or two things I've been coveting forever.

Day 129: Car Seat

One of our neighbors passed this down to us, but we already had Danger's infant seat for Trav...which he's quickly outgrowing. So we decided to pass this on to someone else.

DESTINATION: A local mama-to-be by way of craigslist.

Day 128: White Frames

Disclaimer: I might be posting out of order here. But I happened to have this image uploaded and ready to go, so whatevs.

For awhile we had a ton of white frames filled with various photos of us together, but that started to seem...awkwardly narcissistic. Moreover, these were a much better idea when we had drywall and hanging a picture frame wasn't a messy four-step process. (I'm guessing at the number of steps. I usually hang out on the other side of the room and cough dramatically at the plaster dust while G works. But it seems to take awhile.)

DESTINATION: Yard sale. My cousin bought them and plans to put them to use in an adorable manner :)

Day 125-127: Canon Rebel XT and Accessories

This was my first DSLR -- George bought it for me for Christmas 2005 to encourage me to become a "for real" wedding photographer. (I should put that on my business card.) Eventually I outgrew it, upgraded my main camera, and made this my backup. Then I upgraded again, and while "a backup to my backup" is a nice cliche, it's not something I actually need.

I also sold the battery grip (the big black thing on the bottom that lets me go eight hours without changing my battery) and the charger. I'm counting it as three days because it's a biggie, plus I make the rules :)

DESTINATION: Kansas, by way of eBay. This started the fund for a new body and lens. Wait a few posts and you'll see where I really went crazy.

Day 124: Olympus Memory Cards

Selling the camera, so I didn't need a bunch of extra memory cards. That's the whole exciting story...sorry.

DESTINATION: Colorado, by way of eBay. I made $30.