Natural Talent

Yesterday was my 34th birthday.

Despite a raging sinus infection, I rallied (everyone knows you can't be sick on your birthday!), and The Mad Hatter and I met some friends for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory

(sidebar: how ironic that MY birthday happens to fall on National Cheesecake Day and I landed there for lunch by the sheer fate of not having much of an appetite and wanting a killer salad?)

After a wonderful lunch, my girlfriend and I decided to brave the mall with the kiddos.

MH loves to visit "Barnyard Kids" aka Pottery Barn Kids - it's an absolute must (er, bribe I hold over her head) every time we visit the mall.

I decided that first, I was going to treat myself to a little gift (or 3) at Sephora. Pottery Barn happens to be right across the way and the natives were getting restless, so my friend told me to take my time finishing up and meet her over there.

When I walked in, this is what I found!

(Yes, I am loving my new camera and the fact that I can shoot in color, vivid color, sepia, black and white, and all kinds of other cool effects)

I'm kinda thinkin' my girl is a shoo-in for the next Barnyard Kids (er, PBK) catalog!

Maybe it's time for an agent?

Gone on the Fourth of July

Yes, I do realize that today is July 15th, and I am writing a post about the 4th of July.

Since the sun finally decided to come out after what can only be described as monsoon season here in RI, I have been too busy soaking up rays at the beach to be bothered keeping up with my blog.

Priorities, right?

We had a fabulous weekend, but I suffered a traumatic loss on the 4th.

While enjoying a fabulous party at a friend's beach cabana, the Mad Hatter decided to show us her mad skills at pole dancing.

Yep, pole dancing.

And as I was frantically trying to capture the moment, a monumental crisis occurred that literally stopped me in my tracks.

My camera made a funny noise, beeped twice, the screen went black, and the camera shut off.

I was able to turn it on, but it would beep, flash E18, and shut off again.

At the time, I had no idea what it meant, other than that my camera would not take pictures, and while it powered on and off, the lens would not move. And that I was feeling slightly panicked.

Upon returning home and consulting my BFF Google, I learned that my camera had decided to bite the bullet. The lens was done for.

We shared a wonderful 4 years together.

Ironically, the camera was a gift for my 30th birthday. It was the year MH was born and I wanted something small I could always have with me, so DH surprised me with a Canon Elph SD300.

I turn 34 at the end of the month.

And again, I've received a new camera for my birthday!

Apparently, based on the information I read online about dreaded error code E18 (lens will no longer retract), I'm lucky we shared such a wonderful time together.

While I have an amazing digital SLR camera (received last year on my birthday), it's just not the sort of thing I want to be shlepping around all over the place with me.

So, DH and I did some research, went to Best Buy over the weekend, and purchased a Canon Elph SD1200. Pretty much the same camera, but with image stabilization and a lot more mega-pixels.


It was on sale, (but still a bit pricey since I was hoping to receive these for my birthday), so when we got home, we looked online to see if there were any deals.

Deals there were! We found the same camera for $35 less than the sale price, with no sales tax and free shipping. Fabulous, but it meant I'd be camera-less for just a little longer.

And just in time for 4 days of gorgeous weather that meant 4 consecutive days at the beach. AMAZING days at the beach.

I had to resort to using my BlackBerry to document several important moments - not quite the quality I'm accustomed to or would prefer, but captured memories nonetheless.

Alas, my reinforcement arrived today! It is so pretty and just in time for our family vacation next week to New Hampshire. I can't wait to break it out and use it!

I take comfort in the fact (although I'm not so sure I should, given the content!) that before the camera dropped dead, I did manage to capture these:

She is a natural.

And with my track record, I'm placing bets on what my 38th birthday gift will be.

That, and holding out hope that perhaps the Tiffany fairy might just pay me a visit after all.

The Perfect 33rd

My 33rd birthday was far more exciting, a lot more fun, and way more special than I had been anticipating!

First, I woke up to this:

Actually, DH gave me a camera battery. A second battery to be exact. All of the above loot was from The Mad Hatter so DH wouldn't be in big trouble with me.


Apparently, I've commented on far more than one occasion about how great some people's blog pictures are, and how I wish I could take such great pics, and DH hopped on it!


At first, I was completely in shock and told him I couldn't accept such an extravagant gift.


He told me I've had a really crappy two years, and he just wanted me to have something really special that I would enjoy using. Of course, there were some emotional tears (by me, of course) after that!

Between his comments on how it was a gift the whole family would enjoy, many comments from others about how thrilled I'd be to have it once I got over myself and started using it, and getting further confirmation from my mom that he'd been working on this gift for over a month, researching, shopping for, and finding THE perfect camera for me (he actually has another one he needs to return!), I decided that the only thing I could do was accept this gift graciously and gratefully.


Now I need a photography class AND a Photoshop class!


Then, my mom, MH, and I headed to the beach for some of this:

DH and my dad joined us around 6:00 (my absolute favorite time of day on the beach) for some of this:

and this:

Of course, a family photo to commemorate the day:

And a nice one of the two of us (well, as nice of me as you can get after a full day at the beach):

It was a fabulous "hump day" birthday.

Thanks so much Mom, Dad, DH, and MH for making sure (as always) that my birthday was a day I won't soon forget! The weather was fantastic, and the ending to the day was my idea of perfection. I am one very lucky girl! As DH has already said, 34's going to be tough to match!!!