A New Toy

This past week Chase and I embarked on a vacation adventure to Washington D.C. (more on that in another post later) and before we went we purchased a new toy to help document our trip.

A Nikon D3100 Digital SLR camera. And we are in love with it! And we don't even really know how to use it yet.

I had been wanting a DSLR for a long time and had almost purchased on several occasions but never ended up pulling the purchase trigger. With the baby coming, presenting tons and tons of picture taking moments we thought it was finally time to hit that "Buy" button.

We decided to buy it for our D.C. trip so we could get some great shots of our nation's capitol and get some experience using the camera. We ended up with great photos but we definitely have a lot to learn about this new camera. The options with this thing are endless ya'll!

In the near future I plan on taking a photography class that will help hone my skills and hopefully make for beautiful snapshops of our soon to be here bean.

In the meantime, here is a sneak peak of our DC trip, photo taken with the new Nikon.

Happy Friday!

book review: eighteen acres

Eighteen Acres by Nicole Wallace

check it out on Amazon

I first heard about this book on Good Morning America while it was playing in the background during my morning routine about a month or so ago.  I thought it sounded pretty interesting and added it to my "books I want to read" list that I keep.  After I started another book and couldn't get into it I decided to go ahead and buy this one.

Its a great book.  Very easy to read and at only 336 pages it is also a very quick read.  Once I started it I couldn't put it down!

The book is about the White House Chief of Staff to the first ever elected woman president.  It is fiction, but it bases itself on the true structure of the US government and how things operate inside the eighteen acres that make up the White House compound.  What's also interesting is how it tells the story from the perspective of three different main characters so you get to interact on a personal level with more than one character.  And of course it throws in some commonalities with current political policies and decisions but not in a criticizing way which was nice.

I would highly recommend this book.  Its a fun, spicy, entertaining and easy read.  You know there is drama when a woman is running the country!

music splurge

Music is one of my favorite things in the world.  It can transform your mood, stir up memories from years back, make a car trip bearable and get a party started in no time.  It can also help the work day move along.

Yesterday, after listening to music on YouTube all day I decided it was time to make some purchases.  Luckily, I came across Amazon's mp3 store where you can download songs that directly feed into your iTunes library.  And the best part...the albums are half the price of the iTunes store.

So I made some purchases and updated my iPod...

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros- Up from Below

Ben Folds- Way to Normal

Mumford & Sons- Sigh No More

I am really enjoying all of these albums so far...rocking out at work for sure!