Birthday Month Continues

On Sunday, Tom and I headed to my parents' place so that we could be showered with more birthday love. My sisters and I decorated our parent's tree before a delicious birthday of grilled shrimp and steak. I dodged the reflection question over dinner but did spill the beans about the blog and some of the other things on the yet-to-be completed list.

After dinner, my always-generous family pulled out all the stops. My sisters saw to it that I will have luscious lashes and dewy skin as I sip my favorite tea from a lovely, perfectly-sized mug, and my parents gifted me with a copy of the Christmas classic that I had mentioned just the other day (maybe they were already reading!). I was already feeling like I had scored big time in the birthday gift department, not to mention the family lottery, when I opened a second gift from my parents...

Ta da!

I am so excited to enter the realm of digital SLR photography! Sadly, the camera holds no magical powers, and I did not transform me into Annie Lebowitz overnight despite the fact that I slept with the manual under my pillow. It will definitely take some work to learn how to take full advantage of everything my new friend can do, but I am really looking forward to getting to know....her. I'll have to work on a name.

In any event, my lovely husband knew how anxious I was to start playing with the camera, so while I was at school yesterday, he ran out and picked up a 4 gig memory card. As I am buried in grading this finals week, all I could manage yesterday was a picture of said work.

Today I managed to get a little farther from the kitchen table when Tom and I walked to the library so that I could pick up some books on digital photography that I plan to devour over Christmas break. It was, however, a quick walk that turned dark quickly.

Hopefully, with the practice and fancy pants new camera, the photos will start improving soon!