A Photo Challenge!

What better way to test drive my NEW CAMERA (yay, me!) that by participating in a photo challenge?!

I came across a challenge by Abby from A Feathered Nest, while catching up on blog posts in my Google Reader late Sunday night.

Actually, I was visiting The Crafters File Box and saw these adorable decorations that were linked from Abby's blog:

[source]

Oh.  My. Heck.  I am so doing that in my backyard, with candles, the next time we have a party!!

Anyhoo... back to the challenge!   I thought that this would be the kick in the pants I needed to get taking more photos.

Like my new camera won't do that, right?

At any rate, with working full time, the family stuff, and the magazine and design team commitments, my photography can easily slip through the cracks.  And since I've been so dissatisfied with my camera's quality of photos lately, it's easy to make excuses not to take a photo.

Now I'm a firm believer in the theory that it takes 21 days to create a habit so I think that this photo challenge will encourage the habit of taking more photos.  Daily, hopefully!

Who wants to play along with me?  You can find the challenge here, along with a cool printable list that Abby posted to print out and post somewhere handy so it will be easy!  Grab your camera and start today!

Baby Needs a New Home...

Maybe something like this?

Pink Clover by Epiphanie Bags

I actually like the turquoise one better... but for $184.00 USD?  Plus shipping/handling?  Well, I think I'd rather put the money towards a new 50mm f/1.4 lens...

What do you have for a camera bag?  I have a Slingshot 100 right now:

I love it, but quite honestly, I hate lugging it to parties and weddings because it's so "tech-y" looking...

Then while surfing I came across this on the Jen and Steve dot Com site:

LOVE IT!! And am so going to search for a purse to make my own...

The above site gives a tutorial but I found more detailed tutorials here and here...

Now to find a colour... Maybe RED like this one!!

Better get crackin'... my baby's supposed to be here next week!!

Witty Wednesday

Thanks to my friend, Amanda, for sharing this on Facebook:

Except in my case, it would look more like this:

Yep, a Nikon girl, through and through... :)

Speaking of Nikon, guess what is coming to live with me very, very soon!?!?!

Oh, baby... come to Mama!!

I have been waiting for this day since last summer when my Nikon contact sent me a D300s to play with over our summer holidays to the Jersey Shore & Pennsylvania!

Not THAT Jersey Shore... the other, more tasteful side!

Anyhow, I decided to finally just ordered the darn thing.  I was debating, because technology changes so fast and I didn't want to get it, only to realize that they came out with a bigger/faster/better camera a few months later!  I also wanted to see if the price would come down a bit.  But everything that we've read about it has said that the prices have remained stable, or HAVE INCREASED on the D300s because they are actually increasing in value, due to their superior quality.  Not to mention the devastation in Japan, which destroyed the Nikon manufacturing plant - the laws of supply and demand, demonstrated!

So I can't wait to get that baby in my hands!!!!

I've also ordered a new Speedlight.  Mine is nearly 10 years old and while it still practically in mint condition, I want a flash that can rotate not only 90 degrees up, but that can swivel 180 degrees.  Here's what I've ordered:

Because of limited availability, I asked the camera store to hold it for me until Friday when I'll be in town - hopefully my camera will come sooner than later so I can play with both this weekend!

New to my camera bag...

On my way to ScrapFest, I stopped in London at Henry's - I wanted to pick up a flash diffuser and lens UV filters for my 50mm f/1.8 lens and my NEW Nikkor DX VR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 lens that I just received from Nikon!!  Woot Woot!  She's a beauty and oh, so appreciated after having gone for months with photos with focus issues!

Image courtesy of www.letsgodigital.org

I went with a Gary Fong Puffer pop-up flash diffuser - still not sure if I'm liking it?  Sadly, upon hearing that I didn't need a bag as I was planning on storing all of my purchases in my camera bag, the Henry's sales rep RIPPED open the packaging and tossed it in the garbage.  So I think I'm stuck with it.  I may just need to play with it a bit more...

The new lens is a pre-cursor to the new camera that will be coming my way this fall!  I'm still debating between the D300s and the D7000 - I had a wonderful time with the D300s this summer during our trip to NJ/PA (thanks, Nikon, for the evaluation unit!).  I want to give the D7000 the same courtesy, but I don't think the evalution unit from Nikon will be available until later this month and I want to have my new camera in hand for my trip to Saskatoon on the 11th!!

Ah, what to do, what to do...?

ScrapFest Memories - Oshawa 2010

Well, I think I may have finally recovered from my ScrapFest weekend!

I was starting to feel the rumblings of an almighty chest cold, going into it, so I had been dosing up on Vitamin C and liquids.  It seems to have helped because I never really developed a full blown cold (touch wood!) - although I did lose my voice completely!

I suspect that may have had more to do with the talking, hysterical laughter and drinking on Saturday! :)

I left early on Friday, hoping to miss good ole' GTA traffic.  Had to stop in London at Henry's (less than 10 minutes - it always helps when you know exactly what you need) and made it to Brooklin/Oshawa in about 4.5 hours.  Thanks to my awesome friend, Jennifer, for putting me up for the weekend!!

My scrappy friends and I have been planning this weekend for a while!  We have been friends since 2005, when we met in an online forum.  It's been a while since we've seen each other so it was nice to connect and giggle like schoolgirls again.

Did I mention the X-rated conversations and alcohol consumption? ;) 

During the day, we were all well behaved though!  I worked Friday night and Saturday at the Canadian Scrapbooker magazine booth with co-founder, Katharina Doyle.  I've known Katharina since beginning with the magazine at its' debut, but we've never had the pleasure of meeting.

Have you every met someone and felt like you've really known them for years?  That was Katharina and I!  We had so much fun, chatting with our readers and subscribers, as well as new friends we met along the way.

At the booth, I took snapshots of the attendees and printed them out on a sweet printer that Sony donated for the show.  I'll review it in a few days, but suffice it to say that it was an impressive little printer!!

Stay tuned for a montage of photos from our booth photo sessions - coming up in the next few days!