These are two of my favorite things...

I've got a dozen things rolling around my head and can't seem to settle on any one thing to write about. Maybe if I just start typing, I'll end up with something relatively coherent.

First off, I'm so excited about our holiday greeting card! It's probably been 10+ years since I mailed anyone a Christmas card, but this year I had a really strong itch to do so. Probably because a) I'm pregnant (new holiday tradition?!) and b) I got a new camera. Honey was so sweet to indulge my wish to set up the camera on a tripod, hang a sheet, and attempt to take a studio-quality picture of ourselves in the middle of our living room. We took approximately 10 shots, and managed to narrow it down to one that we both liked and were willing to distribute amongst our friends and families. Then, within a hour or so, the order had been placed to Walgreens and Voilá!! I picked them up the next day! Now, if I can just get everyone's mailing address...

Next up, the new camera. Ohh! Mah! Gawd! I am so friggin excited about this camera I can barely contain myself! First, the story:

Christmas 2004, I bought a Fuji FinePix S5100 for 400 bux, plus an extended Best Buy service plan. I thought that camera was the best thing since sliced bread. It did many awesome things, had 10x optical zoom, 4 megapixals, and outside of having to fork over a kidney, it was the best camera I could afford at the time, and I was pretty darn proud of it. Here it is:
I always got major compliments on it. People would ask to have copies of my pictures simply because of the way the camera looked. (That massive tube on the end of it made it look professional, I think; although, it didn't really do anything other than protect the lens!)

So, anyway....I made great use of the Fuji ever since. I purchased a 256 MB card with it so I could take over 400 pictures at a time without having to stop and download to my computer. This past summer, I bought a telephoto and wide-angle lens kit to go with it so I could take those awesome macro shots from, like, inside a flower that I admire so much from other people. I took it with me to my work conference so I could run around and be "the" conference photographer. I took over 300 pictures in three days. And then...

my flash stopped working.

I returned it to Best Buy, and they shipped it off to NJ for repair. I checked the repair shop's website every day practically to see if it had been repaired and shipped back. After a few days, it was delayed - parts ordered. For two weeks, parts had been on order, and I was jonesing to take pictures. I had no camera over Thanksgiving to shove in the faces of both me and Honey's families. I was so depressed.

Last week, I got a message on the website to call their 800 #, as the repair had been delayed - again - this time for "entitlement issues". Okaaaaay, whatever that means. So, I called, and they can't get the part to fix the Fuji. So, I call Best Buy, and guess what?! If they can't fix it, they replace it, and I've been approved to come in and pick out a NEW camera worth the same amount I paid (two years ago!!!) for the Fuji!

So, I did my research, which didn't take long considering Best Buy only had two cameras comparable to mine to choose between, and I went that day and picked up this:

Canon S3 IS

People, I cannot tell you how much this camera freaking rocks!! I've been a picture-taking fool for the past week! Allow me to demonstrate a few of it's features, outside of the 12x Optical Zoom, and 6 megapixals:

You see this Nasonex box? Well, it's actually blue and GREEN. Not red. But, the Canon has this color-swap feature on it, and you can change any color in picture you select to a different color that you select.

Isn't that wild?!







See that red bottle cap on that there medicine bottle? That was NOT done in photoshop, or any other editing program. That, my friends, is a setting on this awesome camera! That's right! You can select any color you want to highlight, and everything else comes out black & white.

Amazing, isnt' it?!


Now, check this out...
These four pictures taken separately in a mode called "stitch-assist"




































becomes this:

with just a few clicks of the software that's included with the camera!!

Just imagine the amazing photo I was able to take of us for our greeting card!!!