My New Obsession

Time: 6:20pm
Mood: Tired
Song of the moment: Lily Allen - The Fear

Ever since I got my camera I've been obsessed about taking photos. I have completely exhausted the items I can take pictures of inside my house... my fireplace mantle clock has called it quits on being my model LoL. I have been itching to go outside and take photos but it's been so bloody cold outside. I want to really practice my outdoor photography skills in preparation for my trip this year. The worst thing to do is to learn during my trip - I'm going to have horrible photos!

I've been reading up a lot on photography and how to use the camera. I think I've skimmed the manual about 10 times and each time I pick up I find something I didn't know about. I know I know... I should just read it instead of skimming it. But those who know me well know I'm very impatient, so reading it just doesn't cut it.

The newest skill I've been practicing - metering :D

So back to the fact that I've been itching to take photos outside. So this past Sunday, Jimmy and I decided to take a small little hiking trek around a park near our house. Apparently there is a park that's a 5 minute drive from our house that has a nice 2km hiking trail. My parents were there earlier that morning and told me about it. Since it was a nice sunny day, and it wasn't too chilly outside, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to take photos outside. I'm really glad I went because now I know what I need to improve :)

Here are some of the photos I took at the park... plus one of my mantle clock! LoL

First Post Of 2009... A Little Late Eh?

Time: 1:03pm
Mood: Alright :D
Song of the moment: Taylor Swift - Love Story

I know I know... late February... a little late for the first post of 2009! I find as my life stabilizes I blog less. There's less to talk about yet so much as happened! Let's begin shall we?

2009 has been great so far! I managed to book our trip for this year, and it's going to cost me a pretty penny! Jimmy and I are headed to Nepal, Tibet and India in May! I'm SUPER excited about this one. I ended up booking a tour through Gap Adventures because I can't stand those tours that whisk you onto a bus and shuttle you around like cattle. No thanks to that! And I got some hook-ups so I got a slight discount on my trip :D So the tour has me flying into Kathmandu, Nepal and spending a few days there, then off to Lhasa, Tibet for 2 days to acclimatize to the elevation. Then we're going around to various villages in Tibet, which also includes a brief hike to Everest Base Camp #1. From there I will head back to Kathmandu and that's the end of the tour. I decided to add a small trip 2-day to New Delhi, since I have a stop-over there anyway. I really want to check out the Taj Mahal, which is located in Agra (about a 2-3h train ride from Delhi). I'm very excited about that!

Because we are going on this awesome trip that will offer spectacular visuals of landscape and culture, we had to get a nice fancy shmancy camera to capture all of it! We decided to splurge on a Nikon D60. Now I'm OBSESSED with everything photography! I've always been interested in photography, but I've never acted on it. Let me tell you - it's an expensive hobby! This camera has become like a Barbie doll for me - I've been getting all these accessories for it! In addition to spending money on the camera and the lens kit that came with it, I also bought an additional lens kit, plus filters and and a camera bag to hold it all. And I'm planning to buy more! LoL but I'm loving my new hobby. I'm still learning all the settings but I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I'm getting sick of taking photos around the house though...all I want to do now is just go outside and take photos! But it's way too cold right now.

Jimmy turned the big 3-0 last weekend. I can't believe my hubby's an oldie now! hah! But I still love him just the same, if not more :D We had a fun celebration at home - a pot luck. There was more food that you can swallow! And he had 3 birthday cakes! One for each decade of his life :D It was a fun day, but what followed was not so fun. Jimmy came home early on Tuesday with the stomach flu. Right then and there I knew I was going to be the next victim. And sure enough I was. The stomach flu is the worst - you can't eat, you're in pain... not a fun time. I was out of commission for 2 days! I guess it was good Jimmy had it too... we kept each other company on our sick days :) Turns out we weren't the only ones that had it... my mother-in-law got it, my sister-in-law and her husband got it. And the worst one of all, my poor little nephew got it. Poor little guy! I really hope no one else that came to the party had it :S