The Story of the Missing Fuji

I went into our office the other night with plans to upload our pictures and video from our Reno weekend.

Matthew took some super cute shots of our babies sleeping like little angels.

Plus, I made sure to diligently document the things we did to post on this blog!

I looked in my purse, where I remembered seeing it last, and only found loose change, old receipts, my wallet, and lip gloss.

I walked to the living room where Matthew was watching ESPN (not sure about this fact, but 9 times out of 10 the TV will be on ESPN if I'm not in the room with him) and proceeded to scan our bar counter top to see if I placed it there. Nope.

I quickened my pace as I went upstairs to check our suitcase. I didn't remember seeing it when we unpacked last night, but maybe I did and put it away in our bedroom. Suitcase was completely empty and our room showed no trace of the camera.

F word.

I pretty much ran downstairs to check our cars in the garage. I thought maybe it fell out of my purse on the way home (I tend to leave my purse unzipped - I know... bad habit. My mom constantly reminds me when I see her, yet I never learn). But our little white Fuji camera was still nowhere in sight in any of our cars.

At that point, Matthew sensed something was wrong and asked me what I was looking for. "Have you seen our camera, honey?" I asked. "Nope," he said and continued to stare at the tube.

Shortly after, it was time for bed, so we went to sleep -- or at least, he did. I was busy recounting my steps from the weekend, trying to remember where I left it, but my memory was all fuzzy. There was no way I left it in the hotel room... right?

You see, I *almost* lose things A LOT. Like, I don't know where my phone is and spend so many minutes looking for it, but I always find it (knock on wood). Or, I leave my debit card in my pocket and look for it the next day in my wallet but of course it's not there because it's still in my jeans from the day before. I scare myself a lot with my occasional absent-mindedness and vow to be more careful with my belongings, but in most cases, things work out and I think there's no reason to be more careful anymore because I never lost anything to begin with. (I like to rationalize my flaws because fixing them takes too much effort for me)

Anyway, I thought my camera would turn up eventually.

It's been almost a week and I've called the hotel a few times already to see if someone turned our camera in, but I got nothing.

So, it's now time for me accept that I lost our camera. I mean, it wasn't the greatest and most expensive thing in the world. Heck, we didn't even really like our camera at first. We only got it because it was THE ONLY camera we could buy in Port Douglas, Australia. There was only one store in the entire city that sold cameras and that cute, white Fuji thing was the last one they had left. It probably cost twice as much as it would, had we bought it at Costco here in the US, but our camera broke and we needed to document the rest of our honeymoon. We've had to endure countless teasing from some of the hub's friends because of the rhinestones on faceplate, but at the same time, we've also grown attached to that thing. It was our favorite Australian souvenir and served as a good conversational piece.

We can replace it - I know it's not the end of the word. But man, I failed at being responsible and that feeling just plain sucks. I wanted to get the new iPhone 4, but now that we have to get a new camera, I would feel bad to get both... so I'll have to make do with the old school 2G version (the battery dies after just an hour of usage) for a little longer.

Anyone out there make a recent point & shoot camera purchase lately? I'd love to hear recommendations... we are planning our 1-year wedding anniversary in August, and would like to have a camera by then.

Or if you want to scold me for being completely careless and stupid, go for it... I deserve it.

Happy Friday, everyone!