My Birthday

My 36th birthday was good to me. No, let me re-phrase that. My great friends and family were good to me! My kids got ready for school on their own without me having to nag them, and my greatest girl friends here in AZ met me for lunch at my favorite BBQ place, which incidentally gave me a free meal because it was my birthday!

Thanks to my awesome and way-too-generous hubby, I have a new baby. A new baby that I've been planning for for a couple years now, but one I didn't expect to actually have in my hands until next summer. He'd been dropping hints that he wanted to get this for me for my birthday this year. I kept saying "NO." I do the budget, after all, and I just couldn't justify it in the pre-christmas budget. In the way that only a husband can do, he wore me down. He took me to the store just to check them out. It was all over after that. Once I played with them, he knew I had to have it. I hadn't even been researching them because I knew it would just make me want to have one, so I was avoiding the camera scene altogether! Once he finally got the green light, then it was the big decision... which camera to buy?

I have had 2 Canon cameras. I have LOVED every single one. In my mind, the question wasn't which brand to buy, but which Canon to buy. But everyone Eric talked to told him he should look into the Nikon D90. So he did the homework, and the research proved the Nikon to be superior camera. So, that's the one we went with. I was nervous about learning a new interface to work with, but so far it's been easy. And it takes AMAZING photos.

I know these aren't super exciting, but since I've been down sick all week, I haven't had the energy to go out for a real photo shoot. Plus, all last week it was overcast. I couldn't get one scenery shot with a stunning blue sky. If I had been more prepared, it would have been the perfect week for our annual kid photo shoot, but I wasn't prepared for that. So, one day when I walked to get the mail, I took the camera with me and got these flower shots. I can't wait to get out this week and really put this thing through the paces!!!!

Of course, I still have a huge manual to get through and Eric bought me an additional book that's twice as big as the manual to help me learn how to use this camera to the fullest. So, I also have a lot of reading to do! Plus, it's time to really devote some energy to learning how to use my photoshop program. I can do the most basic of all basic stuff, but nothing really cool or useful. I think I need a book for that too. This will definitely keep me very busy and occupied for a long time! Yeah!