New Baby Canon

I Love my Canon Rebel. It is one of my favorite things, hands down. Although I haven't gotten around to learning how to use the camera to it's maximum capacity, that doesn't dampen my enthusiasm. Yet there are times when I don't want to risk taking it somewhere with me, or it is a bit too bulky and heavy. So, the search began for my next addition to my photographic possessions.
Looking for a smaller, lighter camera was tough because I had become spoiled by the fancy options on my Rebel. I didn't want to trade off the fun stuff, but I didn't want to go too big. Forget about asking other people their opinion. It was all over the place as to what other people were using. I narrowed down the choices and then searched for a great buy.
Here it is. The Canon PowerShot SX120IS. A little bit bigger in size than I wanted, but with quite a few special stuff for playing. Now I just have to get used to the change.

Moving Up

The verdict is in, hard shoes time it is. Personally, I love the soft shoes or ghillies. They are just so pretty. Okay, I also love the poodle socks. Alana has been chomping at the bit to start with the hard shoes. It's the whole noise thing. So, off I go in search of Irish shoes for a Vietnamese foot.

Invasion

Sorry about the misleading title. Yes, we are safe and secure here. The invasion is more of one involving vampires, werewolves, and young love.
Alana trades books with a few of the other girls at school. This week she came home with THE book. She was done with Twilight by the end of the week and begging me to get her the next book. This was quickly followed by convincing her dad to watch both the movies with her. Ah, yes! It's all about the young love.
If you ask me, that Edward is way to scrawny and Jacob totally rocks.

Goodbye Winter

It has been a strange winter indeed. Didn't have much of a chance to really get out and enjoy any snow. Ended with the last week hitting temperatures up to 70. Yes, a strange winter it was.
So here we are looking at spring. The mild weather we just had has eliminated a lot of the snow from the yard. My bulbs are starting to push through the ground along the protected side of the house. Maybe I can look at moving the shovels to the basement.
Well, maybe not yet. Just to be safe.

Celtic Heels

I will start out this post by stating that I am very much a rookie photographer. Yes, I am lucky enough to have a great camera, but have been rather lazy about really learning how to use it well. Trying to learn how to use it while in the audience during a no flash performance was probably not the best decision. I should keep that in mind for next year.
The lady to the left (yes, the one who has crutches at her feet) is Alana's dance instructor. Cara is an amazing woman. Positive, energetic, and a wonderful role model. You can tell that all of her dance students adore her.
With her is her mother, Joan. Her dance company is from New York and she and some of the members make the trip out here to perform at the Saint Patrick's show every year. The dances are also very lucky to have Joan available at their classes frequently.
Last year Alana and I were in the audience watching this production. This year she was so excited to be a part of it.
Now she has her eye on getting her "hard" shoes. As much as she loves her Gillies (soft shoes), there is something to be said for all that tapping.

CT Crop #8

It's tough to try to get everyone's schedules to coordinate, so there is always someone missing from a crop. This is such a fun day to spend together that I hate that anyone misses out on it. All of these women are such talented and wonderful people. Laughing, talking, eating, shopping...and maybe actually some scrapping.
Nora (AKA The Enabler) so very kindly loaded a game onto my phone so that now I have yet another obsessive-compulsive behavior to add to the list. I wasn't going to point out that this is the same woman who introduced us to Webkins.
Nancy and April finally arrived safely. We were beginning to worry about them, but I was successful in stalking Nancy. See, be careful about giving out cell phone numbers to people!
Lin and I contemplated knitting rather than scrapping, but we ended up sticking to the program.
Donna shared her excellent plan for highlighting a month in a single LO. I may need to lift this one.
Ramona does not have a poker face when it comes to calling out the chair thief. Don't cross the city girl.
As usual, I get home from a crop and catch my second wind. So here I am typing away when I should have been sleeping hours ago. Oh well, it is always worth it.

Winter Has Arrived

Mother nature has a strange sense of humor. Just as I was getting used to the idea that this would be the winter of no snow, we get hit with a couple of back-to-back storms. Wet, heavy, nasty snow. Not the stuff that is good for playing in. More like the stuff the takes down trees and
power lines. We were only without power for about 24 hours and were lucky that the temperatures didn't fall that low. My Rose of Sharon hedge took a beating along with my lilacs. Guess I'll have to wait and see how they bounce back after the snow is gone. The trees that were toppled along the road will have to wait until the melt also, but those will definitely be goners.