Tinaphage

Hi, I'm Tina.

I am currently a SAHM of 3 kids - Leoni (9), Benji (5) and baby boy Dakota. I’m married to my best friend and we live in Orlando, Florida (and we love going to Disney World!) For a little while I was a science teacher, and one day I will get back to it (hopefully after my kids have grown some).

My passions are learning about the world around me (nature & science, ESPECIALLY microbiology), watching and writing about old movies, and occasionally making art (collage).

I scour thrift stores for old nature books to cut up for my collages. I especially love it when the colors are off due to aging or because the photos were originally black & white and color was added later. I love notebooks, journals and diaries and will put them to good use. Clippings of photographs or artwork having to do with nature, science, culture, art, and beautiful women will also find a good home if you send them my way.

And though I've already mentioned it, I cannot stress enough how obsessed I am by microbiology. The tiny invisible world that is the backbone of our own yet also separate from our own, the countless types of organisms and biological entities that live in us, on us, around us and in every place imaginable, that carry out their battles and life cycles unbeknownst to, and largely ignored by, us.

Things I LOVE: postcards (written and stamped OR completely blank, and handmade are great!), notecards & stationary, art museums, interior design, antique furniture, beautiful nature scenes, interesting color palettes and combinations, bold prints, Japanese culture & art, cowboy/Western theme, Native American art, Moomins, creepy things (paranormal, witches, monsters, cemeteries, etc.), photos and art depicting beautiful women, old advertisements & photographs (and old postcards in general), kitschy and weird tourist attractions, old movies (mostly black and white, from all around the world), mermaids, rainy days, cool stamps, frogs & toads, sharks, insects & spiders, Barbie dolls & similar sized fashion dolls, pretty paper.... beads, rhinestones & things that sparkle, little boxes & glass jars, frames of ALL SIZES for my artwork (I don't use the glass), magnets, cool keychains, kitchen littles, miniatures, washi tape... Although I am not religious I appreciate the beauty of religious art and iconography (statues, stained glass windows, church interiors, etc.)

I DO NOT LIKE: typical tourist cards (unless they are particularly beautiful, unusual or vintage), religious items (outside of the art that I mentioned above), holiday themed items... If ever I send you something you are not in love with PLEASE pass it along, especially if it's a handmade item. I love the things I make and it's not so easy to say goodbye sometimes. It makes me feel much better knowing they are going to someone who loves them too!

My musical tastes range from old bluegrass and country to lo-fi indie rock, "shoegaze" and alternative, 50's & 60's R&B to 80's pop, with a dash of electro and hip-hop for good measure.

My favorite band in the entire world is Guided by Voices (I even have a tattoo of an overturned beer bottle with "GBV" on the label).

I love old (1930’s - 60’s mostly) films from all around the world. I also watch true crime and the occasional horror movie.

I write reviews of all of the films I watch on letterboxd.

The first novel I ever read from cover to cover as a child was "Moominpappa's Memoirs" (aka "The Exploits of Moominpappa"), which I accredit with being the book that sparked my love of reading. I love Moomins to this day, and share that love with my children.

If I had to name one favorite novel for adults it would be "Stones From the River" by Ursula Hegi, about a dwarf growing up in Nazi Germany. It is truly the best novel I have ever read.

Other books I really enjoy are medical mysteries and just about anything related to microbiology (of course). - Carl Zimmer, he is like the rock star of the microbiology world. I love his books!

I love REAL history books that tackle uncomfortable truths about our society (think "Lies My Teacher Told Me", or anything by Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn)

And finally, I just love some good fiction. I tend toward the morbid sometimes (although I am not into vampires or werewolves, nor anything "gothic") When I was a kid I was OBSESSED with ghost stories and the paranormal... as an adult I tend to be much more skeptical, but I still like reading this kind of stuff... Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, etc. But I will devour a good novel of any kind, it doesn't have to be "scary" :)

I don't watch a whole lot of television, but I absolutely adore the original Twilight Zone, Gumby, the occasional true crime documentary and any liberal news commentary show like the Colbert report, the Daily Show, and Last Night Tonight.