Christmas Gifts: Picture Perfect

I can't take a picture of my camera with my camera (that would be too meta), so this is the best you're going to get.

As a blogger and avid documenter of my life (I have over 65 Facebook albums... most people consider 20 to be adequate), I use my digital camera all the time.  I've only had two digital cameras before this week, both hand-me-downs from my parents: a 2NP Olympus Camedia D-230 that originally came out in 2001 and a 8MP Nikon Coolpix P1 which came out in 2005.  My Coolpix has been sputtering lately - the batteries take forever to charge and then run out immediately.  I thought it was a battery problem, but new batteries still didn't solve it, so I knew it was time for a new camera.

I had done some research and found a glowing review from Digital Camera HQ on the Panasonic Lumix FH20 (and is now their Best Consumer Camera of 2010), which I asked for from my parents and got for Christmas.

As far as tech specs go, it's 14MP which is probably the highest resolution without being an SLR camera and has an 8x zoom.

I haven't had it long enough yet to play with the other features (apparently there are tons of different Scene modes - I'm used to just using Auto mode) but there are some two major things that I can safely say that I love.

One is its compact size.  This is a tiny camera compared to my old cameras, but it's big enough that I'm not like a giant trying to use a cell phone.

The second thing is the non-flash focus.  I'm inclined to say that it's due to the high resolution, but even when the flash is off, the focus is sharp and crisp and the shutter speed is quick.  This is pretty rare for cameras that I've used in general (both digital and film) because the lens can't get enough light to focus on the image, but from my limited use of it, there's great focus.  I don't know how frequently people use their cameras while the flash is off, but it'll be useful for concerts or when you're trying to avoid a glare.

Overall, the camera is simple to use and a great size for more casual users like me.  I'm pretty excited to continue using it and to take lots and lots more pictures!

Christmas Gifts: The End of Print Books as We Know It?

I have terrible vision.  I learned to read when I was three, read Little Women for the first time when I was seven, and religiously pre-ordered every Harry Potter book off of Amazon and read it front to back that same day.  I read myself into my poor vision and ever since high school, found myself with less and less time to read.

Which I think will all change.  My dear uncle bought the new 3G Kindle for me for Christmas, which I can safely say I adore.  It's taken a bit of getting used to, but it's not difficult to use at all.

Though it loses the romanticism of a physical book, I think it makes up for it with it's sleek and simple interface.  It cuts down on the printing and shipping of the books, which definitely lends for its eco-friendliness.  Since I'm such a voracious reader, it's great that books are cheaper for Kindle than for print.  The next book on my to-buy list, The Big Short by Michael Lewis goes for $15.36 in the print version, but for $9.99 on the Kindle version.  Best yet, I can really see bringing it with me when I travel - I don't have enough space to carry around books, but now I can carry around hundreds of books in one lightweight case.

Christmas Gifts: Carrying It All

I have an iPhone and I bring it with me everywhere - and I go through cases quickly.  I loved my Agent 18 mix-tape case, but broke the corner of it off accidentally (not to mention it got really dirty) and had been using Contour's Flick case, which unfortunately wasn't terribly useful since I had to take the entire case off when I put it into my roommate's speakers.

So I was really thrilled when my brother and sister bought me a TRTL BOT iPhone case for Christmas.  I knew that I wanted my next case to be more environmentally friendly than my last ones, and TRTL BOT cases are made from recycled water bottles (and other recycled plastics!) and locally designed and manufactured*.

The best part about this case is that it holds three credit cards in the slot in the back - though when three cards are in there it's a bit difficult to get them back out (they are snug).  It's probably better to keep two cards there.  One or two cards fit well so I'm not worried about bringing it out when I run errands or when I'm out partying.  I rarely bring cash out with me, so this can fit my ID and a credit card.  It's perfect for all my sparkly clutches, which can't fit my wallet.

It's completely functional (it doesn't cover the camera, charging slot, or any of the other buttons) but there are a few things I wanted to mention.  It's a little bulkier than my old cases because of the credit card holder, but not to the point of discomfort - it's still easy to use.  The other note is that it's not a glossy-shiny plastic, like my Flick case was.  It's recycled so it's a duller, smoother plastic.

Overall, I really love this case!  I'm excited to start using it when I go out and saving some space in my purse.

*My case has materials from Indiana and is manufactured in California, so it's not totally "local" to where I live, but much more so than other cases.  It's important to note that this company also tells us where the product is sourced and manufactured, an open information system similar to the one that Patagonia is moving towards.

UPDATE 12/26/10: Something else that I noticed that may be important for you guys... I almost always put my phone in my back pocket and I wear jeans.  The white case gets stained with the indigo from my jeans, so if that matters to you then you should probably get the black case.  (Or you should just not keep it in your jeans pocket...)  Most of the blue comes off with some all-purpose cleaner, but there's still a tinge of blue.

NO Plastic Christmas Trees

My roommate, Lindsay, and I made an impromptu decision to buy a Christmas tree for our house.  As you can see, it's decorated in LED string lights and old lightbulbs that we decorated.

I've always been partial to real Christmas trees.  We've never had a fake Christmas tree, so maybe it's just out of habit, but there are tons of reasons that real Christmas trees are both better and better for the environment.

• They smell delicious
• Fake Christmas trees are made out of plastic and PVCs (polyvinyl chloride - the stuff that smells when you open a new plastic shower curtain or inflatable pool toys)
• Christmas trees are grown all over the country (all 50 states), while most fake Christmas trees are made in China or Taiwan
• Fake Christmas trees can't be recycled; Christmas trees are completely biodegradable
• Christmas trees take an average of 7 years to grow to 6 feet - they are one of the fastest growing trees
• In the US there are about 1 million acres dedicated to growing Christmas trees, which give off tons of (much needed) oxygen

Merry Christmas,

Christmas Wrapping

Last minute have-to-do's!

Regardless of the fact that I haven't started wrapping any of my presents (save this one), I thought I'd share one of my favorite eco-tricks for wrapping gifts.

While sometimes I'll snag some wrapping paper from my parents, or even buy some recyclable gift wrap (Earth Presents, a company I work with occasionally, creates recyclable gift wrap from 100% post-consumer content - because most gift wrap can NOT be recycled due to the shine and sparkle in it), I'll wrap my smaller gifts in old magazine sheets.

I hate the look of gifts wrapped in newspaper, but magazines have such pretty pictures and end up looking really great covering a gift.  This gift doesn't yet have ribbon or a tag, but the addition of that will make this gift presentable (hahahaha, sorry).

To wrap your gift in 100% post consumer content:
Items needed:
- magazine
- tape, double-sided if you want to get all Martha Stewart-esque
- scissors
- gift
Time: 3 minutes
Cost: $0 - I save magazines from years ago... I still have my YM magazines.  Yes, they stopped publishing that in 2004... I know.
Instructions:
1) find a page or spread that you think would look good as wrapping
2) rip out the pages (or cut them out if you are more patient than I am)
3) tape the pages together if there are two pages (because I ripped my pages out, I fold them over to make the seam prettier)
4) wrap like you would a regular gift

And now you have perfectly functional gift wrap.  It does work best for smaller items, so I'll have to get a little more creative for the larger gifts.

Things I Love About Christmas Break

Casey loves wearing her Santa hat... Really.

1. My house is so clean and I had nothing to do with it.  Because we don't throw down at our house, it's pretty much always clean.
2. Delicious food that I didn't have to cook.  Seeing as I cook maybe a rotation of 15 meals, being at home is great - and I don't have to go grocery shopping.
3. My dogs.
4. No school work!  Because we're between semesters, I'm completely done, unlike Thanksgiving break when professors seem to assign more work since they know we have free time.
5. Time to do nothing.  I can read for pleasure which is pretty unheard of while I'm at school.  I can watch movies because I have nothing to do.  I can sit around and watch all the TV channels that I don't have at school.
6. And most importantly... being with my family and friends from home.

Hope you all have a great Christmas/holiday break!

A Very Indie Christmas

Let it snow!

With 12 days of Christmas left to go, I present to you some of my favorite Christmas tunes.

• Just Like Christmas by Low
• Christmas Is Coming Soon by Blitzen Trapper
• All My Bells Are Ringing by Lenka
• Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by Mason Jennings
• Fallen Snow by Au Revoir Simone
• Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses

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Some faves that didn't make the list, because they weren't available on iLike, are:

• "Santa Claus, Go Straight to the Ghetto" off of Belle and Sebastian's John Peel Christmas Album
• "It's Christmas, Let's Be Glad" off of Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas Singalong
• "Blue Christmas" by Bright Eyes off of Saddle Creek Christmas
• "Plastic Christmas Trees" off of Summer Cats' Christmas Cats