525600 Minutes

03.01.2008: [getting.to.know.you]

I think I might be in love with my camera.

For those of you who asked, YES....all I was using is a point and shoot called the the Sony-f828....so nice. It had full manual capabilities and was a really great camera until I realized that I was missing the really sharp, sharp images that I new only a DSLR could provide. Great camera....and it now is passed down to my husband who has been trying to get me to share it for 3 years. (I am an only child and don't like to share anything)

and Katie just wanted to pop in and say hi....

02.29.2008: [mandy.and.her.new.toy]

I am so so happy with my new 40D. You know how sometimes you get something that you have waited and saved and just hoped for for a really long time, and when you finally get it you are not as happy as you thought you would be. WELL THAT IS TOTALLY NOT ME! I am blown away with it really. Maybe its because I am going from the point and shoot, to this but I am on the way to crazy ecstatic happy about my camera. I went with the 85mm 1.8 lens...it was a good choice. To all those who recommended and helped me make this choice, thank you so much, and thank you for your patience (and your future patience) as I learn this camera.

Okay...I promised it...here is my very first photo. Oops. I thought it was of the rug...at least I got the chair, right?

Here are some edited ones...

02.28.2008 [beginnings.that.end]

I found out today that one of my darling friends had a miscarriage. Its always hard to hear, and to know what to say. It has been been almost 2 years since loosing our twins and every time I hear about a miscarriage I know how sad it is, and just how long it takes you to even breathe normal again. In one swoop of events you find out how delicate, unfair, and how final life can be. At the same time though, you really find out how precious it is...how complicated birth, conception and life really are, and how capable you are  to risk the hurt all over again to achieve your dream of parenthood, rather it be through natural conception, fertility treatments, or adoption.

On another, way more FUN note...I got my new camera today. Kristi told me that I MUST share my first photo...well...its embarrassing, but since we all so close now, I don't mind sharing it and WILL post it tomorrow with NONE of my photoshopping skills applied. Hopefully I will have some nicer shots to share, because lets just say that the first one...although it does appear to be in focus somewhat, is not interesting.

02.27.2008: [she.loves.me]

I guess this isn't really on theme...but...I am trying to get the most out of these flowers. Hehe.

02.26.2008: [connect.me]

A lot of you asked me my settings for yesturday:

Shutter: 10/600
F 3.5
Iso: 64
Focal Length: 10mm

I was standing right next to our bay window the light was really wonderful and perfect. To get the creamy tone I ran noisewear, and then created a new layer. After that, I desaturated the layer and put it on soft light mode. Sometimes it just really seems to help give the colors a nice look...sometimes it looks awful. :P I try it all. :)

Today was a bad picture day for me. . . I didn't have the patience to deal with it, as I am really trying SO hard to get my school work done in the beginning of the week because we are having company this weekend. So...nothing fancy, but I love to catch my girls playing with eachother. Usually I trip over myself and they notice me, but I was able to get a few shots of them playing.

And the finished work was of her and her dad fishing. The sun and mountains are up top and I was pretty impressed with her fish. :P

2.24.2008: [take.a.big.whiff]

I just want to thank you all SO much for all the encouragement and support. I love you guys. I know its takes time to post comments and CC, and I appreciate it with all my heart. I have really spent time this week away from taking pics of  people...(i.e...my kids). Mikki was back into it today since I told her a cookie was in the deal. I am totally NOT above bribery.

02.24.2008: [my.love.and.purple.lipstick]

02.23.2008:[the.shell.of.a.ghost]

My desk

The Entire View

The Inspiration Fish...you all wonder where I find it...well, the fish tells me what to do.

The only thing I got out of my first marriage other than the couch.

I  just don't know where else to put this in my house....

I have a problem...I know. I will get help.

The nice little piece of jewelry I bought for myself when DH left for his fishing trip last year. (he was gone for a week...maybe more things were purchased during this time frame...but we don't talk about it)

I don't burn incense and I am not Buddhist. . . but I love him.

My 10 Things:

I love these things! (that wasn't part of my 10 things, okay...just a statement. :P)

10. My biggest pet peeve (other than the obvious things like child abuse, people who smell bad, and George Bush) is people who are lazy. I can't even relax myself half the the time because I hate the feeling of doing nothing.

9. I am an only child. My mother was the oldest of 13 children. Apparently she had her fill of babies.

8. When I see someone else scratching their nose I HAVE to do it too.

7. I love movies....but my 2 favoritest (yes that IS a word, I have decided) are THE GOONIES and BEAUTIFUL GIRLS. Every single time the Goonies is on TV, I will stop whatever I am doing and watch it. And I do mean WHATEVER I am doing. Haha.

6. I am perpetual flirt. I just cannot stop, even though I have tried. (okay well I have tried that hard)

5. I seriously don't feel like an adult, and often wonder when I am going to grow up, because we ALL know my husband isn't going to.

4. I am a highly competitive person. It had driven me to do both very awful and very very good things.

3. I love my children very much, and I am so glad to have had this opportunity to be a stay at home mom, but its not for me, and I cannot WAIT to go back to work. And I do feel very sad that I wasn't satisfied being home with my children, because its all I really wanted to do when I was younger (other than be a lawyer, a writer, a psychologist, or pediatrician). I just know in my heart that I will be a much better mother to them if I am working.

2. I hate running. Yet I did run a marathon in October 2007, and plan to run more.

1. I love pizza more than I love any food and I do not get tired of it. I used to work in a pizza place when I was a teenager, and I didn't get tired of it then, and I don't see it EVER happening. I just love it.