Absolutely Gorgeous Day!

I am loving the climate out here! We get a few cold days followed by warm, sunny days! I couldn't miss the opportunity to get outside today as the temperature was 65 degrees...fantastic! It hit 70 degrees in Denver!

Did my errands in the morning and by 3 p.m. was on the nature trail with Mark again. (We did the same yesterday since the weather was so warm.) My new lens (courtesy of Mark) came today and of course we had to test it out on our walk! The Nikon 70-300 mm, f/4.5 lens did not disappoint! Click on the "Bird of Prey" photo on the right column to get to a slide show.

We are expecting big changes in the weather early next week and there is a chance we'll be getting snow again. That's great because probably a few days after it snows, it'll be gone again. The joy of living in Colorado!

Tough on Myself

Today was rough. I expect so much of myself when I go to concert band practice so that when I miss the measure counts or can't get the timing right away I get so upset with myself! I did really good on Tuesday but today...geez! I did worse in the beginning band rehearsal than I did in the bigger band one.

I realize I've only been with the beginning band a month and only a week with the bigger band; it's just that I keep thinking I should be farther along. I guess I just need to have patience and just keep practicing. It'll come.

I had my guitar practice an hour after finishing band rehearsal and I felt so "spent". My brain was so tired from concentrating so hard for 3 hours! I did the guitar lesson but decided to change the day starting next week so that the lesson is on a non-band rehearsal day. I think I'll get more out of the lesson then.

My Love of Photography

As I study and research my new camera (a Nikon D7000), I'm realizing there are so many things I love to photograph or would love to try photographing! I love portraits particularly using a photojournalist style. Landscapes are beautiful to shoot, too. I would love to take pictures of engagements, new babies, and couples. I would also like to try my hand at photographing children in sports and music, too.

I need to get a better lens for indoor weddings before I would want to regularly do weddings. (I have my eye on a 70-200 mm lens, f2.8, but I need $2400 to buy it!) Both Mark and I do a pretty nice job photographing landscapes. We also do a good job shooting photos of houses that will go on the market. (I'm thinking about putting an ad out for this service.)

I also have an idea for a photography/writing niche but don't want to discuss it yet. I'm still playing with the idea in my head and will see if it pans out. My focus right now is learning a lot more about my new camera. I love being creative and enjoy capturing "real" moments and the beauty of life!

Got a Little Ahead of Myself

I want to make a correction on my last post about Sara starting her third trimester at 24 weeks. I got a little ahead of myself. The third trimester actually starts with week 26 although most of us say that the third trimester begins as you enter month 7 or week 28. How quickly we forget!

Mark's Winter Concert & Sara's Pregnancy Update

Was pleasantly surprised last night at how good Mark's concert band sounded! Everyone raised the level of their performance and the acoustics were MUCH better! I think it was the best I've heard them play! Sara drove up after work and attended the concert with me. I'm glad she was able to do that!

This is the concert band that I'll be joining, too! I've been to a few of their practices but will now be going regularly as they'll be handing out new music to learn next week. Should be fun!

Sara is now in her last trimester...that's hard to believe! The time has flown by! In just three months, our new granddaughter will arrive! We are so excited for Sara and Zach! Their lives will be changed forever...all for the good!

We'll be heading down to Sara and Zach's tomorrow morning to help them with more painting. Hope to get the living room and family room finished. We discovered a Krispy Kreme donuts by them so we'll be bringing the donuts! (Just what we need...a little sweetness along with our coffee to get us going!)

Before then, we'll be trying out another Fort Collins Newcomers Club activity tonight...Pinochle! Looks like they play single deck versus the double deck that we've been used to. I'm sure we'll pick it all up again quickly. Should be interesting!

Helping Hands

Mark and I headed down to Thornton this morning to do some painting while Sara and Zach were at work. We'll continue on Saturday with their help, too. Got the baby's room painted, the kitchen and a test gallon in the family room. Looks really nice and Sara loved it!

It started snowing around 1 p.m. today so we headed back home just before 5 p.m. The roads were rather slick. As a matter of fact, we had a nice scare on I-25 when the back end of the truck started sliding to the right! It didn't look icy but after that little maneuver, Mark slowed way down. Whew!

New Camera--Another Hike Today

I had a nice surprise today...my new camera arrived...a Nikon D7000! It is a really nice camera! There are a lot of new features on this camera so I'll need to study the manual closely. We're upgrading some of our equipment and adding to our inventory. We are working on setting up our own photography business!

Mark and I decided to take another walk today on the River Bluffs Open Space so we brought along our cameras. We walked a rather leisurely 5.5 miles and took a lot of photos. A few of them are posted on the right column and I'll be adding others periodically.