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I picked up the camera yesterday afternoon.  So far this is the only picture not of a person that has been taken so far.

And I have absolutely no idea what I am doing.  I’m amazed I was able to turn it on.  Fortunately my brother in law has the exact same camera and he’s a techy guy so he’s figured out all the tricks and tips.  I’m going to make him spend 45 minutes showing me stuff.

It’s a little frustrating because I want to instantly be wowing everyone with my amazing shots and I see there is a bit of a learning curve.

Have you ever noticed that animal crackers are not shaped like any kind of recognizable animal?  They should call them amoeba crackers.

Okay – one more.  I’m playing around and want to see how they look posted… bear with me.

I just realized I have no idea what the word meme means, exactly.  I get the idea but I don’t know the word. 

I’ve been tagged by Cin at Notare with the following meme:

• Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

• At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

• Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So here’s the thing.  I’ll follow the first two rules but I’m feeling weird about tagging others.  You just never know if people like it or not and I don’t want to make anyone feel obligated. 

But on the flip side, you do all know I like to blather on about myself so you are subjected rule number one. 

1.  I am left handed.

2.  I don’t mind feet, like some other people I know :o) , but I do have some pretty frightful looking ones myself.  They don’t bother me though – if a body part is going to be ugly it might as well be your feet.

3.  I count things, constantly.  So does my dad so it must be hereditory.

4.  I took four languages in high school.  I remember one of them.  Mostly.

5.  My hair is dark brown and my eyes are blue (Ha!  Most people don’t know that because the most recent picture of me posted here was taken in 1969.  And it’s in black and white).

6.  I played the clarinet in a high school marching band and still find it mystifying and kind of insulting that people think that is the height of dorkdom.   YOU try playing Louie Louie while keeping in step with 80 other musicians.  And keep your spats on straight.

7.  I have lived in 14 different homes, in three different countries, three different states and eight different towns or cities.

8.  I am hopelessly Pollyanna-ish but I can have a mean sense of humor.

First the problem with no comments on yesterday’s post (which is really lonely, let me tell you…), then I’m in the middle of updating my printer drivers and my pc crashes right in the middle of creating a new post.  I can’t print, I can’t post, not feeling the love.

Intel must be in retrograde or something like that.  And someone has crankyitis. 

Oh – and my soon to be replaced camera got wind of the whole enterprise and decided to stay at my Dad’s and pout.  So I am camera-less at the moment.  The image above was taken with a friend’s old camera.

Cleansing breath.  Okay.  So I have been tasked with making numbered tags for the tea party.  A tag will go on each lovingly wrapped tea cup and a corresponding number will go in the butler’s bowler hat for each guest to draw.  Yes, they have a butler at the Villa.  When he isn’t busy making wine.

These are my proto-types.  I was thinking of going for an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter teaparty theme – but just couldn’t get it to work for me.  So I went for Victorian ladies instead.  I’m kind of pleased.  When I do the actual tags I’ll print the images on photo paper so the color will be sharper.

It’s a good think I don’t have my camera because I’d be tempted to take a picture of the disaster my kitchen is right now – stamp pad, glitter and scraps of paper every where. 

Deliciously summery Flickr Favorites.   Makes me long for a trashy novel, a beach chair and the smell of coconut oil.

I am going to buy a new camera.  My boss gave me a $500 Best Buy gift card and I am going to buy myself a Canon Powershot S3 IS.  I think it will be the step up I need and I won’t outgrow it too soon.  Hopefully I’ll get it this weekend and I can subject you all to a ton of practice shots. 

I’m bemused by the comments I get sometimes, complimenting me on the photos on this blog.  Seriously – I take about a bobillion pictures, maybe two are decent and I doctor them up in the most primitive photo editor (where I basically can crop, resize and point to a section of the picture that is supposed to be white to get the colors adjusted a bit.  That’s IT).   

My current camera I bought on a business trip to Toronto because I wanted to take pictures of the snow.  I went to Canada’s version of Best Buy and bought an Olympus FE-100.  It takes better pictures outdoors and actually, my macro shots taken in outdoor light are perfectly decent.  I rarely have to monkey around with them.  But it doesn’t like low-light indoor conditions (which I have in abundance) and that’s what and where I want to photograph the most. 

So hang tight – I’m going to be fumbling about for a bit and I’m taking you along on the ride.

So back to the pictures up there.  Gorgeous, no?  I didn’t take a single one.  I think my favorite is the last one in the second row.  I love those tea cups.

Speaking of tea cups – I need to go to the antique store and find a lovely one.  My niece is throwing a birthday tea party for herself and instead of gifts she wants everyone to bring a tea cup – they’ll all be assigned a number and then each guest will draw a number and take home that tea cup.  I think this is just the sweetest idea for a birthday party. 

Hopefully I’ll have my new camera so I can photograph the entire event.

1. ballerinas & bunnies cupcakes, 2. Holiday Motel, 3. baking goodies!!, 4. posy, 5. Aqua & Pink, 6. Pink Chair, 7. A field of flowers…, 8. tea set, 9. tea for two, 10. is this not the cutest sewing machine ever?, 11. Vintage baking gal 4×4 Art Squared, 12. St. Maarten, 13. Turquoise and rose alabster, 14. Dirty Pink, 15. blue creamer, 16. Teacup On Doiley 2