29 December 2010

new friend for the sony alpha

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Happily content with my newest purchase! I finally won an eBay auction for a Minolta 50mm f1.7 AF!! I've been using an old M42 Carl Zeiss Jena...it took a lot of time to get used to it, but I've finally figured it out. In fact, most of my favorite pictures are from that lens because of the color quality. However, it's time for a newer lens with autofocus. I found that I was frequently taking pictures that I liked, but they were out of focus. Now I have the option of putting it in/out of manual. I'm actually really glad I got the fully manual lens first, it forced me to figure out how to take good photos in full manual mode. So yes, I'm justifying this lens...I've been wanting it for a long time and I finally found a good deal on eBay.

Now...if only it will arrive on my doorstop.

14 December 2010

29 November 2010

Miss Leila and her 3rd birthday party

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I'm pretty sure I have the cutest niece of all time!! We celebrated Leila's 3rd birthday this weekend. While family members were out shopping for her birthday gifts, she got dressed up and we had a birthday photo shoot. I love using my manual 50mm lens, but it takes forever to get it set up with the right shutter/aperature and then make sure that I'm focusing correctly. But it's worth it for the fun pictures I get!

04 November 2010

WHOA...it's November!

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Somehow nearly all of fall has gone by already! What a few months it has been for us! We are officially home owners and have been in our house in Oregon city for over 1 month now! I definitely need to post a few pictures of our place. Sorry for not getting to it sooner. Frankly, moving is a disaster...downstairs looks presentable most days, but the guest room and other areas of our house are still askew. But the picture below should express how happily we are to have our own place...
Dan can finally jump up and down without bothering any "downstairs neighbors!"
Fall is also time for Oktoberbest in Mt. Angel. I love Oktoberfest because our school district has half days during the week and we get to eat lunch down at the festival. There is SUCH good food!!! Like last year, a few friends and I got together to run in the 5k road race. Marla and David are missing from this shot though. I was definitely out of shape, but it was still fun!


Oktoberfest has such delicious food...it's worth it even in the rain!
Fall time, specifically the end of September and most of October is BIRTHDAY MONTH! We celebrated birthday month with Dan's parents, Jeff and Eddie and Leila. Dan and I turned 25! That's so officially old.


Dan took this pic and it totally makes Eddie look all grown up!
I think this might be one of the best pictures I've ever seen. So freaking adorable!
At the end of September Miranda and I went to see Sara Bareilles. We were supposed to go 2 years ago, but there was a big snow storm that prevented us from going. It was a great concert...love her (both Sara B and Miranda!)


 This month Dan also built an awesome table for his shop...he made it in just 2 hrs! Amazing!



Last weekend Cheyenne came up for a visit. I wish she lived up here! We had fun staying up late, playing with our pups, going to voodoo donuts, spending way too much money at IKEA and Clackamas TownCenter, eating pizza and just catching up.


Work and school is going well...going by ridiculously fast! Dan has a lot of really great painting and drawing projects that he's been working on. And most days I don't stay at school too late...

Hope you're enjoying your fall!

03 September 2010

28 August 2010

We bought a house!!!

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Yes, we finally found a house to buy! We are so excited! Actually, this place feels so right it's almost like it's not as big of a deal as I imagined buying a house would be. Everything is going so smoothly so far, our offer was accepted at a great price. I know many people have asked for pictures, but here is all we have since it's not officially ours yet (we close Sept 27th....just in time for birthday month!) :) 

Our home - not quite finished yet! 

Open Kitchen
Because it is a brand new house we got to pick the countertops, flooring, etc! We went with mostly the standards for now, but upgraded to nice laminate wood flooring throughout the bottom floor and nicer carpet for upstairs.



I also included a picture of the same house ( right next door) that is finished so that you can get an image of what the landscaping and finished look is like.
I'm sure you'll all hear much more about the house later...for now we're off camping (again!) with Jeff, Eddie and Leila.

Pictures of camping at the coast and a week at Yellowstone to come!!!!