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expired Polaroid film

by Kaylah Stroup June 22, 2015

Two days before leaving on my big road trip I was aimlessly browsing craigslist. I was checking out apartments in Phoenix (not that I’m actually considering moving but it’s fun to day dream, aye?), looking at free stuff in Cleveland, and going down the list of things I search for in the for sale section when I remember that craigslist exists. One of those things includes film. There was a post from eleven days previous for four packs of original Polaroid film, as well as two Polaroid cameras. The price for all those things was around the same price I’d expect to pay for one of those packs of film. I immediately emailed, not expecting too much since it had been listed for nearly two weeks already.

I got an email back almost immediately stating that someone else has already emailed and would be coming to get the film and cameras the next day. I emailed back, thanked them, and let them know if there was any more film I was definitely interested. No big deal. It was a bummer to get all excited about it only to hear it was already spoken for but it really did seem like too good of a deal to be true.

The next day, mid bike ride while taking a bubble tea break at my new favorite spot, I got an email – the person who had emailed before me didn’t want to make the hour drive to pick up the film. We biked home, and immediately hopped in the car to get the film. I was ecstatic, I couldn’t believe it. Right before we left I got nervous. There was just no way that I could be getting this good of a deal, and right when I would want the film. Whoever made the listing had to be a murderer, especially since we have to drive an hour outside the city to buy it.

The price was worth the risk but I wasn’t really expecting too much from Polaroid film that was ten years out of date. The first photo I took was in Saguaro National Park, the first photo in the post. I forgot how quickly real Polaroid film developed. I’m so used to Impossible Project film that takes around twenty minutes. Before even making it to the car I was squealing with excitement, the film worked and the picture looked dang awesome!

After the first photo I was SO excited to shoot with my Polaroid camera. Some photos turned out better than others but all in all I’d consider this a very very good purchase. The colors are so dreamy. I forgot how much I absolutely love real Polaroid film, even ten years out of date and this stuff is still amazing. I can’t believe the timing worked out so perfectly that I’d stumble upon the listing right before the trip. I feel like the luckiest gal in the world!
xoxo

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Back to reality…

by Kaylah Stroup June 18, 2015

It’s back to real life for me today after a week of travels with Jeff. Last Tuesday we woke up early 2:30am! Eeep!
and flew to Phoenix, Arizona. From Phoenix we drove down to Tucson,
through Los Angeles to the coast, up to San Fransisco, over to Yosemite
down through Death Valley, stopped in San Bernardino then back to
Phoenix. Whew. We hit three national parks, took thousands of photos, and saw all kinds of interesting things. Shortly after midnight on Wednesday we arrived back home. I’ve got sun bleached hair, a slight tan I tried so hard to avoid, a renewed love of the desert, and a permanent souvenir on my leg. It was an INSANE week. It doesn’t even seem real. It’s hard to believe we saw so much in such a short amount of time.

Some highlights shown in this post include seeing the Pacific Ocean, staying at the final Wigwam Village, finding sand dollars and velella littering the beach, seeing my favorite giant dinosaurs yet again, and having a squirrel hop up in my lap! But there really was so much more to this trip. Despite using my travel log I still didn’t even begin to document all the awesomeness that the week included.

I haven’t started to sort through the tons of photos I took. I’m super excited to begin going through them all though. It’s actually taking all my might to wait to do it after I get caught up on other things first. My inbox is a terrifying place right now. The week was so jammed packed with adventure that I’m sure when I go through the photos I’ll discover all sorts of fun things I’ve already forgotten about. Ahh! I’m so excited to share more about my incredible week. There will be lots of travel posts to come in the next few weeks.

In the meantime you can find a few more photos from the week over on my instagram if you hadn’t already been following along.
xoxo

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what I wore : stripes

by Kaylah Stroup June 17, 2015
details 
shirt – Keyhole top c/o Unique Vintage
skirt – Navy Swing Skirt c/o Unique Vintage
shoes – via Modcloth
camera bag – Jo Totes
pins – Valley Cruise Press
plugs – Omerica Organic (use rep code “daintysq” for 20% off!)

The day I took these outfit photos was kind of the best.

I…
▴ ate Barrio for lunch with Jeff and some of his friends from high school.
▴ took a ten mile bike ride with stops including Koko Bakery for bubble tea, and Dodd to check out tripods.
▴ drove an hour away to pick up original 600 film from someone on craigslist. Score!!!
▴ hung out at Brandon’s art show (which is going on until the 26th!) and ate tons of tasty appetizers.
▴ ate a delicious burger at Nano Brew.
▴ introduced my cats to some friends who would be taking care of them while Jeff and I were roadtrippin’. (Squid even came out to say hi. WOAH.)
▴ went to the art show’s after party where I ate some more!

It was a busy day where I smiled, laughed, and joked basically the whole time. The only thing is I didn’t take any other photos than of my outfit which I hurriedly took fifteen minutes before I had to meet up for tacos. I know my day doesn’t really sound all that profound but I enjoyed it immensely. Jeff, bikes, good food, and even better friends – I don’t need anything else.

Hope you have an excellent day!
xoxo

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Salton Sea of the Midwest – Revisited

by Kaylah Stroup June 16, 2015
Twice in the past few months I’ve shared photos from the place Jeff and I have dubbed the Salton Sea of the Midwest. (See here + here) On Memorial Day a big group of us headed out to catch this place at sunrise…except we were running late. Typical. Regardless, the lighting was still beautiful and even more than taking photos I enjoyed spending time with my friends. There were a few times I put my camera down, forgetting to take photos just to laugh, and tell stories. It’s a rare occasion any more that the majority of us get out together so I found myself just trying to soak it all up.

Okay, so taking photos was still absolutely awesome. I was blown away by how green this place was. Our first visit was at the very end of winter. There was still some snow on the ground and obviously nothing was growing. This time the amount of growth actually made the place seem even more abandoned than when everything was dead. Vines covered the insides of trailers, crawling their way across couches and out of windows. Toward the end of the road there were even some trailers so completely overgrown with trees, and other plants if you weren’t specifically looking for them you could easily miss them.

The ever important groupshot. 

Two other things to note about this adventure;
1. I have never seen more bugs in my life than on this small abandoned stretch. Seriously, just like a swarm of tiny little annoying bugs. Every spider web was just covered in them. Walking down the road was bad enough but as soon as you ventured off the path and into the tall weeds you had better have your mouth shut and be prepared to get assaulted. Bugs. everywhere.
2. It smelled. BAD. I know I’ve read a lot of articles about how bad the Salton Sea stinks (just one more thing this place has in common with it) but I honestly don’t recall it really being that bad. This place, on the other hand, was just rank. As soon as you thought you were getting used to it the stench would hit you again.

Grossness aside, it was a most excellent time, and I even picked myself a beautiful little bouquet to take home.

There were plans of bringing a grill, cooking some food, and hanging out a while but the early morning rush resulted in a grill being brought but no food. We ended up staying just long enough to shoot some pictures. Maybe another time…
xoxo

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Cleveland Botanical Gardens

by Kaylah Stroup June 15, 2015

After a day of exploring, Jesi and I decided we needed some macarons. I knew exactly how to get to Coquette Patisserie from where we were except I’m the worst at city parking. I’m not a skilled parallel parker and I’m basically always confused whether I’m allowed to park somewhere or not. So while looking for parking we took a series of turns that put us near the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. I pointed it out and somehow we ended up deciding thats what we should do next.

I had been there once before but was feeling super shy that day and didn’t take a single photo. This time I was excited to wander around my third greenhouse in a one week period and take tons of pictures. If I wasn’t already excited enough the woman at the counter upon hearing Jesi was visiting from Columbus hyped the place up.You could just tell she was actually excited to work there and share her passion. Seeing people excited about something will always make me excited about it too. I live for enthusiastic people!

Jesi and I hung around in the rainforest section of the glasshouse for so long hoping one of the dozens of butterflies would land on us. Much to our dismay not a single one landed on either of us. I take that back, Jesi claims one landed on her shoulder for about half a second but I wasn’t there to verify it actually happened. Haha. Even if we couldn’t get any love from the butterflies, it was still awesome to be surrounded by them.

Admission is $11 per person, and if you want to park in the garage you’ll have to shell out a few more bucks which seems pretty steep especially when you can go to Rockefeller Park Greenhouse for free. Alas, Rockefeller doesn’t have butterflies and isn’t super close to some of the best macarons in Cleveland, two major things this place has going for it.
xoxo

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Friday Favorites #316

by Kaylah Stroup June 12, 2015
Look at this patch!
 (via: Ello There)
Aaaand yet another awesome patch!
 (via:Asilda Store)
This is such a pretty print.
 (via: United Thread)
Holy smokes. Would you take a peek at this place? It’s incredible.
(via: Moon to Moon)
SO pretty!
 (via: Sandra Catsburg Furniture)
 I am the least musically inclined human ever but this DIY music box is way too cool.
(via: Urban Outfitters)
This is a pennant I can get behind!
(via: Scout & Lilly)
Love this wreath.
 (via: Grace D Chin)
♥ ♥ ♥
(via: Sad Ghost Club)
Positively obsessed with this donut bag!
(via: Nasty Gal)
Holy smokes. These shoes are snazzy!
(via: Golden Ponies)

Link Love…
▴ Cooking really isn’t my thing, but I do love eating. This balcony grill is too cool!
▴ It’s things like this that make me wish the internet was scratch and sniff, harvest apples soap!
▴ Every year I think about how much fun it would be to fly a kite. How cute is this shark kite?!
▴ Speaking of not being good at cooking, this is one of my favorite comics. I can so relate.
▴ This garnet ring is very pretty.
▴ Hey Portlanders! On the third Thursday of every month (so next week!) Passionfruit Ads hosts #pfopenstudio, a super awesome way to meet other bloggers. Sooo wish I could go!

Happy Friday!
xoxo

Ps. Don’t forget to browse my Everyday Favorites if you want to see more fun finds!

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abandoned party supply company

by Kaylah Stroup June 11, 2015

Whenever Jesi comes to Cleveland to hang out I always rack my brain to think of awesome places to take her. This city has no shortage of abandoned buildings but I want to take her places that will just wow her. The abandoned “rubber duck factory” was a hit and something that I felt would be super hard to top. My only real idea for our adventure was a building formerly home to a company that supplied window displays for large companies, and rented decorations for parties. The company closed in 2009 after nearly 80 years in business. The internet boom basically killed the need for a place like this, people can now order these things from the comfort of their own home instead of buying locally.

Before closing the company held a liquidation sale but clearly they weren’t able to get rid of everything. This building is chock-full of left over decorations. There are three floors, not including the basement, that are just absolutely packed with things. The floors seem to be somewhat organized by holiday or theme. The top level is Christmas. There are boxes upon boxes, still unopened, of tinsel, ornaments, even trees!

The second floor seems to have a lot of craft supplies. Massive bolts of now moldy fabric, and fake flowers litter the floor. Two large cutting tables sit on one side of the room. Shelving units now hold a few random bottles and an empty pack of cigarettes, signs others come here to a have their own party.
Sometime after closing a portion of the building caught fire. That and some pretty extensive water damage make the floors on one whole side of the building pretty dangerous to traverse across. Despite the fact this was my third time inside the building I still haven’t covered a lot of ground simply because it’s not worth the risk of falling through the floor. There are also lots of really really dark areas in the building, which I don’t venture into either. What can I say? When it comes right down to it, I’m a huge weenie. 
Even excluding those huge portions of the building I may never see, it’s incredible the wide range of things there are to discover. I understand that a lot of times it’s easier just to leave things behind especially in a situation like this where your business goes belly up but this just seems like such a huge waste. I can’t even imagine how much money worth of merchandise is still in this building, the great majority of it non-salvageable now.


My very first visit to this building was late at night during a storm. The rain was just pouring into the building like there was no roof at all. Even though it’s been abandoned for a while now but I can’t imagine it’ll stay up much longer. Ohio weather is rough on structures that have no one left to fend for them. Although I say it in nearly every abandoned post, I do look forward to visiting this building again in the future to see how it decays.
xoxo

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what we wore : black + white

by Kaylah Stroup June 9, 2015
my details
shirt – c/o
shorts – c/o
boots – Palladium Boots
camera bag – Bellbrook via JoTotes
 
jeff’s details
shirt – CLE Clothing Co.
shorts – Levi’s
shoes – Toms

I love the idea of taking outfit photos with Jeff except it’s basically impossible for us to take photos together that aren’t just a lovey dovey mess. At one point I stopped to say “we cannot have every photo be of us kissing!” so he then put me in a headlock and tried to take prom style photos. Not going to lie though, I love love love all the mushy photos of us together. I don’t normally save too many outtakes when I take outfit photos by myself but I save so many of the two of us. What can I say, I just think we’re the cutest. On a semi related note : At an estate sale shortly after we started dating a woman running the sale came up to us and said “You two are so cute you should be on a cake” That still cracks me up. It’s such a funny statement.

By the time this post goes live we’ll be on the other side of the United States starting our second big road trip together so today seems like a pretty cute time to post these photos. I’ve got this whole week queued up with fun posts so nothing here will seem any different despite the fact I won’t be around too much. I’m sure we’ll also be extra active on instagram. You can follow the trip on on both of our instagram accounts – mine + Jeff’s
xoxo

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Friday Favorites #315

by Kaylah Stroup June 5, 2015
You guys!!! I love growing crystals, but I had yet to see a cactus crystal growing kit! This is kind of a must have!
 (via: Urban Outfitters)
I agree with this card.
(via: Moorea Seal)
 Because who doesn’t want to sleep in a giant pizza sleeping bag?! Maybe a baked potato bean bag chair is more your style?
 (via: B Fiber & Craft Emporium)
The perfect lapel pin to wear on your off days.
 (via: Ruined Rep)
I know I’ve featured Sign Fail on here more than once, but c’mon, this sign is just too good.
 (via: Sign Fail)
I thought my barbie polaroid was cool, but legoland one kind of just blows it out of the water. I love colorful cameras.
 (via: Midcoast Trading Post)
I want everything I send to be sealed up with this tape.
 (via: Mit Liebe Verpackt)
This brooch makes me wish I owned more shirts with pockets. 
 (via: MosMea)
Ahh! Look how awesome this cactus light is!
(via: saw & steel)
 Ah! This pin!
(via: These Are Things)
Check out this shirt! 
Oh look, another cactus themed item. What can I say? I’ve got a one track mind. Less than a week from now I’ll be in the desert and I am very excited to say the least.
(via: Yeah Bunny)
Way way way into these recently released circle skirts by . PS. They’re also having a huge giveaway where a winner is chosen every day of the week. It’s super simple to enter and there are oodles of ways to earn entries. Check out the details.

(via: ) 

Link Love…
▴ Similar to the first cactus in this post, except you can print this one from home just for decoration!
▴ I honestly don’t currently read too many blogs so I’ve been on a hunt these last few weeks to add more to my daily reading list. The Passionfruit Ads Marketplace is obviously a great place to look if you’re trying to find blogs to advertise on but I’ve found it’s a great place to find new ones to read. You can even search on there by topics or keywords!
▴ LOVE this bra! Actually I basically just love everything in Toru & Naoko’s shop.
▴ I certainly don’t need a new wallet, but I swear I just keep seeing everywhere I look. It’s like it’s a sign…
▴ I like this post by Sam, Beyond The Crop. It’s a fun little reminder that things usually aren’t what they seem in perfect photos.

Hope you have an excellent Friday!
xoxo
 
Ps. Don’t forget to browse my Everyday Favorites if you want to see more fun finds!

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I'm Kaylah! Renovating a 150-year-old home in Northeast Ohio. Likely found in my garden.

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THE DAINTY SQUID
  • blog
    • all the posts!
    • stroup mansion
    • some of my favorite posts
    • plants + gardening
    • beauty, fashion + hair
    • reviews
    • window shopping
    • explore everywhere
  • about me
  • contact
  • shop