NYE 2009

Who is amazed that we are mere hours away from 2010? {raises hand}

We passed 2 big milestones in the Pony household this year.

We're Married!

We own a house!!

That said- we've been busy the last year, and it has swooshed by alarmingly. Next year we don't have such major life hurdles to leap, but I'm excited to see what shenanigans we encounter!

New Years resolutions have never worked for me all that well, so this year, my only resolution is to keep working on my 101 in 1001 list and see what comes my way. I've made a bit of progress on the list in the last few days, and it feels good to start crossing things off the list. I won't finish it this year, but I don't think that matters, so long as I keep ticking away at it!

We are planning a quiet evening of wine tastings at a local winery, finished with a glass of champagne (they are open until midnight, so it just barely works). Indeed, we are dull, but we have a deep aversion to shelling out $50/person to go swill the bubbly dregs with numerous party-goers we don't know. Yick. Not that going to a party wouldn't be fun- I just refuse to pay for it!

No matter how you plan to spend your NYE 2009, I hope you have a safe and fun evening and a Happy New Year!


Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.  - Oprah Winfrey

Obsessions

I tend to obsess. Over lots of things. Constantly. Its a personality flaw that I'm working on {not really}.

My current obsession is getting a girly camera bag. You may not know this, but most camera bags are a bit less than glamorous. The bag that I'm using now is a utilitarian Lowepro Slingshot 200. It is really quite fabulous for my current needs, but it isn't... cute... or fashionable... or pretty. {tears}

Of course, the options for meeting the above mentioned titles are few and far between. But it can be had {for a rather magnificent price, for poor-yours-truly}. Feast your eyes on this beauty.

Pardon the drool.

Beautiful leather. Cute little attached wristlet-thingy. Lots of padding. Optional shoulder strap. {Swoon}. This bag does not scream 'TOURIST' or 'PHOTOGRAPHER'. Rather, it whispers 'I have pretty good taste. Look how awesome I am.' Plus, it comes in brown, red, black or white, to match all one's obsessive fashion needs.

The company who makes her is called jill-e, and they have several sizes and colors of beautious bags for the camera-woman in the know (or on the go?) who wants a fashionable AND functional camera bag.

Of course, the bags I want run from $140-$240 {hellllooooo eBay!}, so I won't be rushing out to buy a brand new one anytime soon, but that doesn't stop me from checking them out 4-5 times {8-10} times a week.

But don't call me obsessed. It just isn't nice to name names.

Cure for an obsession: get another one. - Mason Cooley

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, 
wafted the smell of fried taters, cooked by my spouse;


The onions were carmelized in the pan with great care
In hopes that no kitten hair would flutter in there;


The hogs were well nestled in their muddy wallows,
For they knew Holiday ham wasn't a tradition we'd follow;

Ok, I'm out of inspiration. That is a long poem to try to mimic, and I just don't have the energy!

For our Christmas Eve dinner, Mr. Pony and I celebrated with blue cheese hamburgers and oven fried potatoes. Nope, not ham. Not turkey. Not even green bean casserole {Mr. Pony lacks the required gene to enjoy that particular gastronomical delight}. My photo skills failed to yield an attractive burger shot, but I like this one of my phalanx of potatoey goodness.

But whatever you may have {had} for dinner tonight, I hope the stupor of overeating wears off enough so that you can repeat it again tomorrow!

Confusion

I know I've said this before, but photography crap is confusing. Here I am, trying to understand the concepts of setting custom white balance, getting lighting right and finding good composition, and... I can't even get the camera to focus on a piece of paper. *sigh* This is going to take a while.  I know I need to understand the equipment, but I really think I'd rather have the photo-fairy tap me with his wand {I imagine this particular fairy as a British gent in miniature wings and a tiara- don't ask} and make it so I take fabulous photos without any work at all.

Barring that, I guess I'll sit down with my camera manual and the DP Review of my 10D and become as familiar as my non-technical brain will allow. Oh well. At least I have a few cute pictures of the cat!

BTW- it makes a HUGE difference once you realize that you've been shooting EVERYTHING at ISO 800... 200 makes the pictures look much nicer. I think that would be part of this 'understanding your equipment' crap everyone is telling me about. I don't like it when 'everyone' is proved right!

Its the small things

Mr. Pony and I aren't too hard to please. Every day, we find new reasons why our new acquisition is amazing. So convenient. So quiet. So fabulous.

And our lives have been changed.

To be fair- the old one smashed into the counter behind/above it. And only worked if we left a 15lb weight in the bottom. And usually had to be opened with your hands anyway. And slammed shut quite loudly. So this upgrade was much needed, and now that we've made the move, we don't know why we waited so long. Thank you, Target & Simple Human- we love our kitchen even more now.

Hmm... now how about some living room projects *devious smile*

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. - Vincent Van Gogh