New Camera -- No, I'm not a professional.

Hey guys,

You may of noticed, I got a fancy new camera for Christmas!

I was super excited since I thought I wasn't going to be able to purchase one till tax return season.

It's a Canon Rebel T3i.

The one I wanted! 

So, Ive never took any kind of photography class in my life. I may in the future but for now I'm self-teaching. 

I wanted the camera for purely taking photos of my Elizabeth, cats and day to day life. 

It grinds my gears, so, so much when people call themselves photographers and actually charge people money for the pieces of crap they're taking; all because they have a fancy camera. 

Having an expensive camera does NOT make you a good photographer. 

I have a few friends who I can say are great at taking photos. They all have YEARS of experience and are great artists. I respect their work so much; and actually even the photos they take with their phones are amazing. 

It's so irritating to see someone buy a camera, take an emotionless photo, slap a "name" on it and try to sell it. You need to have a "special" eye. T.A.L.E.N.T.

That being said, I do admit having a nice camera does help in certain ways.

I'm a long ways away from being good at taking photos but I'm getting there and it's really fun! I love taking photos of my baby girl, her friends, the furry kids, my home (cause it's freaking beautiful here on Camano!) and my family. 

Here are some photos I've taken since I got it! :) Any tips are greatly appreciated!
Feel free to laugh at them, love, hate them, but please, don't steal them. Thanks. :)

I'ts a new year and I'm 25.

Here is a photo of me from yesterday. I had a blood vessel burst in my eye the weekend of my birthday. I don't know how it happened since I woke up with it like that. I googled it ( of course) and read what could cause them. Sneezing, puking, coughing to hard but I don't remember doing any of that. Apparently they can just happen. Now I get to explain this to everyone I come in contact with. Yaaaay. -_- 

I turned 25 on January 3rd. Half way to 50. Which means I'm getting old, guys. Which also means my body is hating me even more than it did previously. 

So, at risk of this sounding super cliche, on New Years, Frank and I decided we were going to try and eat healthier.  A week ago our diets included jellybeans, energy drinks and soda every single day. 

I'm not exaggerating.

Everyday. 

I'm not going to lie and say I was one of those ladies that love to eat. I've never been a huge eater. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love food, I've just never had the stomach to engorge myself in 5 tacos and a giant coke right before having dinner. 

I am, however, a great 'snacker'. 

I could snack all day on numerous things but it always ends up being something sweet and loaded with sugar.

I could swear having a huge sweet tooth is genetic as my mother snacks on a "few" sweets every day herself to "keep herself going." 

Anyways, the big one for me here is Energy drinks.

Addicted isn't even a strong enough word for how I feel about them. 

I started in high school and only quit while I was pregnant. ( Honestly, I'm not sure how I did it, but I did!) 

I don't even drink them for energy anymore. I drink them because I crave the sweet, cold, carbonated goodness that comes from them.

Today is day 3 of not having 1. As you can tell I'm not quite over them. 

Instead, I've been drinking 

water, juice, Snapples and this delicious smoothie drink my brother insisted I try called a "Bolthouse."  

So far I've been extremely fatigued, had a headache for going on 2 days now and just plain feel crappy. 

I'm hoping this won't last long. 

I'm really excited for the fact I'm actually committing to something to better myself.  Just for me. 

It's really hard though.