so happy that at least Jacqueline will humour me and let me take pics of her as I fine-tune my studio 'knowledge' :)  She is 10 - but sometimes she seems so much older.....and she is such a good kid!
and for fun I gave one an textured overlay on the background :)

had to include this shot of Milo we got...he is our surviving guinea pig - his cagemate died a few weeks ago while we were on holidays :(

at DESIGN HOUSE DIGITAL - check it out!!  New releases are 30% off too, but only on release day.

these colours make me so happy! (the orange and tangelo are very similar - not sure why I ordered both?)

that was being linked from flickr disappeared....I am going to have re-upload and put it back into the html here...but not tonight - ugh. [FIXED]

My cyber cyncs came today so I was finally able to fire my strobe!!  After we got back J's swimming (and she ate) I plopped her in front to test them out....I just guessed on my settings tonight as I have not yet figured out my light meter (mostly how to fire the strobe and get a reading at the same time?)...but I am really pleased so far.

My plan was to use the money I got from selling my neglected camera bags towards some simple studio light equipment (I had wanted to for a very long time but just never could let myself do it).  It was fortuitous (?) that someone on ILP posted an alien bee strobe and giant softbox in great condition for sale (and within Canada even) - I jumped on it....and that's where the idea of 'experimenting with studio lights ' has been a slippery slope quickly draining my bank account ...I quicky discovered I needed (and wanted) some other equipment to 'do it right, and do it easier)...resulting in me spending far more than I got from the sale of my bags - I don't even want to do the math - yikes!)

I have received (or will be receiving very shortly):

1 Alien Bee 400 Strobe, 1 Alien Bee giant foldable softbox (received)
1 heavy duty light stand with castors (received)
1 set of Alien Bee Cyber Cyncs wireless strobe transmitter/receivers (missed their delivery on Friday :(  )
1 L-358 sekonic light meter (bought locally off of craigslist)
10 (yes ten!) rolls of seamless background paper
1 lastolite reflector and stand

I am going to Home Depot probably Tuesday (I have to stay home for the re-delivery of my cyber cyncs tomorrow) to get some sort of fake wood floor, and a strip of baseboard....

then I am going start the process of learning simple studio lighting (which may involve some bribery to get my kids to cooperate)...I cannot wait for my new neice/nephew to be born in the summer :) - someone to really practice on!

if those are the bags that I am NOT keeping, which bags ARE you keeping?  So here they are:

finally got around to taking pics of my camera bags that I am going to let go!  (I have 7 of them to sell!).  I am going to only post them here for about a week so if you want any let me know because I am going to post them at ILP, craigslist, and 2peas most likely after that.  Prices are still being determined (I will update this post once I figure out what these are going for).  Updated with prices - includes shipping and paypal fees.  Most of the bags are in new or near new condition.

1.  crumpler 7mdh (near new - small stain in circle on top of bag) sold





























2. medium black jill-e (near new - hardly used) sold





























3. grey emera (near new - hardly used) sold





























4. circles emera (brand new - never used) sold





























5. scarlet jotote (brand new - never used) sold





























6. small custom wicked stitch (etsy) messenger (used once) sold

my 10 year old showed me this today - so cute!

Was at the pool all day friday for an ISEA swim meet. Delaney in the morning and Jacqueline in the afternoon.  There were a LOT of swimmers for the gr 3/4's in the morning so each kid only got to swim in one event (bummer) and a relay.  Delaney (gr. 3) swam the 50m freestyle with a time of 52:10 (previous pb was 53:23).  (and for comparison - when Delaney started swim club just over a year ago - her 50m free time was 1:18.89)

By the time the kids are in grade 5-7 pretty much the only kids on the school swim teams are kids who are on swim teams outside of school too - so the numbers decrease a bit.  Unfortunately by gr.5 if you aren't practicing outside of school you just can't be competitive in the water (there are a couple of kids who are the exception - but they HAD been on a swim team previously).  Jacqueline swam 3 events plus a relay.  She swam the 50m butterfly with a time of 55:83 (previous pb 1:03.51 - she knocked almost 8 seconds off her time since she last raced that event in November!).  She also swam 50m back - 51:20 (53:20) and 50m free - 42:21 (43:95).  (Jacqueline's 50m free time when she started last year was 55:19)

Very proud of them!  Jacqueline is the fastest female gr. 5 swimmer (in all events) at her school, and Delaney is either first or second fastest (depending on event) for gr.3 girls at her school.

Every day at DESIGN HOUSE DIGITAL a new kit will be released for only $1!!!  It will remain just $1 for the entire month too!!  Regular releases on Mondays/Thurs with a sale of 30% off on release days will continue.  Be sure to check back often to see what's new!

at least a couple of people sick at any given time - now it's my oldest son and my turn!  I have not gotten around to taking pics of my camera bags - so my apologies if you've been waiting for them!

I do want to take this opportunity though and send out props to my husband on the completion of his first music CD - he worked on this last year when the economy dived and he had a bunch of time on his hands. It has been a labour of love - something he has had in him forever that he 'needed' to do and finally had the time to do it!

These songs are all 100% written and partially produced by him, he performs in the intstrumentation, and they are sung by some friends of his.

check them out!  (double click on the song names on the right to hear short clips)

www.southernstarmusic.com

(also known as 'MUST get rid of some bags before the two new ones I ordered arrive....or hubby will have a cow sale') ;-p

I am going to be taking pics of the bags I will selling and posting them in the next few days....stay tuned for first dibs... before I post them at ILP.

We had a great time in Maui - so beautiful and the weather was perfect.  9 days wasn't long enough :(
Upon returning home (to the RAIN!) I have been overwhelmed with getting the kids back to school and caught up on homework (they missed the first 4 days back to school), laundry (six suitcases full!) and caught up with things at Design House Digital.  The site went live on January first (while we were away).  I believe they had a pretty successful opening weekend sale!  There are new releases there every Monday and Thursday which are always 30% off on release days!  There are so many fabulous designers - I am finding it hard to decide what to work with!

Now that things are settling down (and the hubby left for work) I have some time to CREATE!!!  Here are my first few pages I have designed for DHD (and a glimpse at some of our Maui pics).

Things will only be 'normal' for a few weeks though - we booked our next trip to Mexico yesterday - we will be in the Mayan Riviera (Akumal) from Feb 15-March 1.  This is the first year we have taken holidays so close together - (and probably the last) - but the kids all get 2 weeks off of school during the Olympics - and we don't have tickets to any events, parking and driving in the city will be a nightmare, so we decided to FLEE!