Project 365 Day 2

Not only am I participating in the Project 365, but I am also participating in a challenge on SS that is a photography challenge to help me learn how to use my new D40 better. Here is one of the pictures that I took for this week's challenge.

So this week's challenge is to take a picture using all of your auto settings on your camera. This picture was taken on the Night Portrait setting using my tripod, so that I could be in the picture as well. This is also my day 2 picture for Project 365.

Here are the details for the picture for those of you that are interested...

Camera make and model: Nikon D40

Lens used: 18-55mm

Shutter Speed: 1

Aperture Value: F5.3

ISOFlash fired: yes

So Eric has been wanting to test things out with the boys and see if they like camping. Last weekend he set up the tent in the backyard, but with my parents being here the boys never got to experience backyard camping. Tonight is the night! After dinner Eric went out and got everything set up for the boys. He used a small charcoal grill to make the campfire in. The wood that he used was left over scraps from when he put the fence up. We didn't have marshmallows for roasting, but the kids were very eager to go in and get snacks to eat while outside sitting by the campfire. They had cookies, gummies, chips, and popcorn. I sure hope neither of them get sick overnight. A little after 8 p.m. Reed announced that he was tired and wanted to go to bed. So inside they eager went to get their pajamas on and brush their teeth. They were back out and into the tent they went. I helped Eric put out the campfire and then he came in to get ready to go to sleep in the tent as well. I on the other hand came inside, because the tent is not big enough for all 4 of us. So I will have a nice king bed all to myself tonight. I am sure it will be heavenly. :0) I hope the 3 of them will make it through the night, it is supposed to be in the 50's tonight.

When I came inside to put these pictures on my computer I was cracking up laughing as I was looking at my youngest son's face in these pictures. I will upload the other 3 that go along with this shot. I have no idea what he was thinking but I find it to be very comical.

Project 365

I had finally made a decision that I was going to step out of the CM world for 2009 and try something new for my 2009 pictures. Not that I was going to leave CM totally but I was going to dip my feet in the water and test the waters.

I have been reading Becky Higgins blog for sometime now and was very exctited to read and watch the videos on her new Kit of the Month - Project 365. Basically it is an album that holds a year's worth of pictures, with a picture taken a day. I am a little over 2 years behind in my albums and thought this would be a way to get me up to date while I slowly complete my albums from the end of 2006.

Anyway yesterday I open up Becky's blog to get the link so that I can order my own kotm. To my surprise it had already been sold out. I mean it had only been on sale 3 hours. What??? I was so disappointed and couldn't believe it was true. I decide to call the number that was also listed for ordering and the lines were always busy and I just couldn't ever get through.

There have been posts on Becky's blog and the KOTM blog to not give up. So I am hoping that they will have another round of ordering. My fingers are crossed that this is something that they will do as I know I am not the only disappointed one. I just hope that if they do decide to do this that I am not too late.

As I said above I am ready to get my feet wet and start exploring the options other then CM out there in the scrapbooking world. I just hope that this disappointment isn't a sign of what I should be doing.

With my hopes up I am still going to take my photo a day and hope for that kit.

Here is my photo I took yesterday. I went to Super Target to grocery shop and this is how much my groceries cost on January 1, 2009. Actually I decided to crop it down and only post part of my picture.


Still haven't decided what I am taking for my picture today. I am sure there will be some inspiration within the next few hours of this day.

I got it!!! Merry Christmas to me!!!

Eric finally came to a decision that I was going to get a Nikon D40 for Christmas, it was a lot of money to drop but I am worth it...right? Of course! This was a very tough decision for us, the economy isn't that great and Eric is not getting a bonus at work this year. Around Thanksgiving he told me I would not be getting the camera and I moped around for a whole day and was grumpy. I was fine the next morning, just needed to get it out. Then he started looking at prices online and my hopes got back up again. Just this past week we talked again and again I thought I wasn't getting it. So when I was asked to go to the store tonight I jumped at the chance and didn't look back.

We put the battery in and I was able to get some shots before I almost killed the battery. The battery is charging and I will have some awesome Christmas shots! I am so excited!!!

Here are some random first shots that I took. I can already tell that my pictures are clearer and crisper then with my old camera. I think I am in love!

Now for comparision reasons take a look at these two shots.

This one was taken with my NEW Nikon D40.

This one is taken with my Kodak Easy Share at about the same distance.

12 of 12

This is a little different then what some of you may be thinking from SS. This is not my December 12 of 12. I have such a hard time remembering to take my pictures for the 12 of 12 challenge. So I found a little inspiration from another blog and decided that I was going to take a trip down memory lane today and see what I came up with. The other blog that I got this idea from was to go to your 4th picture file and post the 4th picture in that folder.

Since today is 12/12. I went to my 12th folder and will post my 12th picture in that folder.

Here it is...
Tyler admiring all his eggs.

This is my oldest when we went to an Easter egg hunt, 4.6.07. It was spring break week and my friend had asked me to join her at a mom's group meet-up. I took my boys, my eggs and off we went. The boys had a great time finding all the eggs and putting them in their baskets.

The basket Tyler used was my basket when I was a little girl.

Choosing Joy - Challenge

Today I found my JOY when I opened up my blog and my playlist started playing "Brown Eyed Girl." Such memories come flashing back. One of my good friends in high school loved this song and I remember dancing to this song with my group of girlfriends. It is just one of those feel good songs that everyone sings along with!

So as I sat there and listened to it I remembered fond memories!

Choose Joy - Challenge

Today I found joy when I found the two loves of my life asleep. It had been a long evening tonight with my oldest son as we butted heads. So my joy was when I finally got them to sleep and could turn the TV off, sit, breath, and relax.

How exciting?!?!

I have a few scrapbooking blogs that I read. But one of my favorite ones is http://www.knitandpurlgrrl.blogs.com/scraphappy/ . I first discovered Lain's blog through her podcast that I read about somewhere when I got my iPod last Christmas. Lain has podcasts that review scrapbooking products and she also does interviews with some "famous" scrapbookers. I subscribe to her podcasts through my iTunes and after 3 months without a podcast from her I discovered that she had a new one Saturday when I was updating my iTunes. So yesterday while at the go-cart track while waiting for Tyler to race I was able to listen to her podcast. She had a great reason to come back to the podcasting world because of a new book that she has just released called "Snippets". This is a book that I look forward to getting my hands onto. She has such a witty sense of humor.

So last night I decided to comment on her blog regarding the release of her latest podcast and how excited I was to find that she had returned to podcasting. I just checked my email and Lain sent me a message back! How cool is that! I am very excited!!! Here is the link to her podcast if you are interested... http://www.scraphappy.mypodcast.com/

Here is her message back to me...
Aww, thanks! I am going to do another one this week. :)Stay tuned!xoxo
L
Lain Ehmann
Contributing Editor, Simple Scrapbooks Magazine