Christmas is over and I’m finally settling back into my normal routine. I loved being home and spending time with my family, but by the end of my 10 day stay I just wanted to be in my own bed, with my fridge full of the food that makes up my regular diet, no longer needing to dig through my suitcase every time I needed something to wear. I’ve created a list of the gifts we received so thank you notes can be sent out because if I don’t write it down I’ll forget who gave me what. Yes, I was a very lucky girl this year.

Not to choose favorites but… I’m going to tell you which is my favorite. It’s the gift that makes me smile every time I use it. I think it’s also the gift I can’t stop talking about because I threw it on to my wish list at the last second when my mom asked for ideas. A few things I wanted/needed this year? A toaster. LaraBars. Accessories to dress up my black stretchy maternity dresses. And oh yeah, a robe since I remember making my dad a bit uncomfortable while I walked around in my towel when my parents came to stay for the weekend at the beginning of December.

Yep, my favorite gift this year, out of all the wonderful things I was blessed to receive, is a robe. This robe to be exact.

Source

This isn’t just any robe. It’s the softest, most luxurious, dreamiest article of clothing I have ever slipped into. Wearing it feels like a visit to the spa and I find myself getting excited to step out of the shower each day and slip into it.Thanks mom, this was one of my favorite gifts ever from you.

What about you? What was your favorite Christmas gift this year?

P.S.-Isn’t the model posing this way ridiculous?

As Christmas approaches I’ve started to receive emails from readers who seem to mistakenly believe I am some kind of camera expert. :) I am most definitely not, although I do have some opinions regarding what cameras I think are the best bet for certain consumers. My recommendations for this post will all be Canon, as I think it’s a great brand and the one I’m most familiar with. I think Nikon has equivalents for each one of these, and certainly with point and shoots you can move to other brands as well, Panasonic, Sony, FujiFilm, etc. I, personally, think sticking with Canon or Nikon when it comes to dSLRs is your best choice because of the long-standing reputation of both companies, the amount of money they have which allows them to quickly develop new technology, and the wide range of accessories that work with those two brands.

If you’re really feeling lost about which camera will work best for you, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to go to a store and try it out for yourself. Hold it in your hand, put it in your pocket (just don’t walk out with it, no one should be blaming me if they get arrested for shoplifting), see if the response time will work for your needs. I think it can get overwhelming to go to an electronics store and see all of the choices, so make a list of what features are most important to you. Will you be shooting in lots of low light situations without flash? Is portability the most important feature for you? Do you want to be able to turn some of the settings to manual and have more control over what your photos look like? What’s the largest size you’ll ever be blowing up an image to, as often sensor quality is more important than a high megapixel count. Choose your top three most important features and find the camera that best fits those needs.

Point and Shoot

Save

Canon PowerShot SD120-$150

Pros: It comes in a variety of colors, 10 megapixels, compact, movie mode, and reviews say it’s very easy to use.

Cons: It’s not going to perform well in low light situations without the flash, and I think everyone with a camera (no matter what kind) should be using their flash the least amount possible.

Splurge

Canon G11-$450

I have the Canon G9, a fantastic little camera, and the G10 is great as well (and both went down in price after the G11 was released), but it’s the latest model, the Canon G11 that has photographers buzzing. I’ve even heard people claim they wouldn’t be afraid to shoot a wedding with this thing if their main body were to freak out during the wedding day. I think that’s a bit extreme (and you would look ridiculous shooting a wedding with a point and shoot), but it gives you an idea how much this camera is loved by pro photogs.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Husband and I have a teeny tiny gift budget and so it’s important for me to get creative when Christmas rolls around. We narrowed down our list to the least amount of people I felt comfortable buying gifts for (there are few things worse than receiving a nice gift from someone you didn’t buy one for!), and I went to town coming up with ideas that wouldn’t break the bank. Here’s what I came up with. (And yes I take all credit, I dreamed up and created/purchased every single one of these.)

Our Texas friends? A free photo session with me. We came up with three couples that we are closest with and contacted them several weeks before Christmas to set up photo sessions in case they wanted to use the pictures for Christmas cards. Two session down, one more to go. I really love working with my friends in this way!

His sister (who lives in Poland)? She’s getting a cute set of hair pins from Etsy seller Hot Pink Chick. We’ve only met a few times, and there is a bit of a language barrier, but her hair is curly and I think these will work with her outdoorsy/earthy personality.

Cost to me? $12 because they were purchased on Black Friday when a discount and free shipping were being offered.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Several weeks ago husband and I celebrated our first anniversary by spending the night at the W hotel in Dallas (we stayed for free with points, woohoo!) where I was introduced to the line Bliss. My wallet has been regretting it ever since! For me, a big part of a good skincare product experience is the smell, and Bliss seems to specialize in scents that make my shower experience blissful. I’m guessing that is where the name “Bliss” came from? :) I got by as long as I could using the hotel size samples (it was getting kind of pathetic how rigidly I was rationing out my nickel size portions of body wash each day, just to use on my arms and chest so I could soak up the smell), but then someone tweeted about 20% off at Sephora and I knew it was time to bite the bullet and get the full sized products. I bought a full skin care lineup, and one luxurious (for me) splurge.

Fabulous Foaming Face Wash, $29

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Since I started writing my photography tip & tutorial posts I’ve started receiving emails and Facebook asking

“I want to buy a dSLR. Where do I go from here?”
or
“I have a dSLR but I want to get a different lens, what should I buy?”

My answer is always the same, that I think it’s best to buy down in body and up in lens. If this is going over your head already just remember that dSLR’s have two separate parts, the camera part, called a body, and the lens, and those are interchangeable. In my opinion it’s best to buy the nicest lens you can afford and plan on upgrading the body as needed, rather than buying the nicest body and upgrading the lens as needed. Sometimes though, I think people ignore my advice (which is fine, do what you want with your money and your photos) and get caught up in the megapixels and the nicer LCD screen, causing them to ignore the glass.

I knew that the best way to drive this point home was to demonstrate what a better lens can do for your photos, and I’m lucky enough to own the three lenses, low, medium, and high quality which I knew would be necessary to use in order to show you what I mean. Keep in mind throughout this post that each person needs to buy the lens that fits their needs, and for some people a prime/fixed lens is not going to work. My intent is just to demonstrate that unless you absolutely have to have it for whatever reason you dream up, the kit lens that comes with your camera is absolute crap.

Lens 1, Zoom Lens or “Kit Lens”, Low Quality
Focal Length: 28-135mm
Aperture: 3.5-5.6
Price: $374.95

Lens 2, Prime Lens or Fixed Lens, Medium-High Quality
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: 1.4
Price: $399.95

Lens 3, Prime Lens or Fixed Lens, High Quality, L Series
Focal Length: 50 mm
Aperture: 1.2
Price: $1349.95

From left to right, Lens 1, Lens 2, and Lens 3.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

We’re gaining a new addition to our home come April 2010!

While planning my wedding I learned about all of these creative and innovative projects people embarked on during the engagement period. So it figures that now that I’m in the pre-natal period I would be dreaming up projects that apply to baby. Nursery decor projects? Those are off limits for single income couples like us that plan on moving 5 months after the baby is born to go to business school. So I had to be a bit more creative with my thinking. What if, instead of working on something tangible, I focused on creating something… bloggable!

Unlike the lovely Julia, I do not have a sexy tight belly with a cute little bump. I have a belly gained through hours spent in front of the computer editing photos and years of bad food choices. But that’s not going to prevent me from embarking on the belly bump slideshow project I’ve been dreaming of for months now.

For this project to happen I need tripod, camera, good light, neutral background, the same outfit for every photo, the same pose for every photo, and all of this happening in as close to the same spot as possible each week.

I chose to wear white because it’s the most revealing color (usually the reason why I avoid it!) as I wanted all of the changes in my body to be seen. I chose to take the photos on Sunday, a day I end up doing my hair and wearing makeup, something that doesn’t usually happen the rest of the week. I picked a spot on our office with good light and a blank wall and set up my tripod across from it. I put duct tape on the floor under each of the legs of the tripod, and also where my feet needed to go.

After I had the settings on my camera where I wanted them I began running back and forth, setting the timer, and then getting back into position. I decided my favorite pose was the typical “hands resting on the small of the back” pregnancy pose, and did a shot of my front with shirt down, side with shirt down, front with shirt up, and side with shirt up. Each week I’ll take a shot as close to this setup as I possibly can, and then at the end of my pregnancy (and definitely as I go as well) I’ll assemble it into a little video where each shot is shown side-by-side so the growth and changes can be seen.

I’ll update you when I feel like I’ve “popped” so you can see the progress!

Kelli Nicole just told me about VII Photo Agency.

VII derives its name from the number of founding photo-journalists who, in September 2001, formed this collectively owned agency. Designed from the outset to be an efficient, technologically enabled distribution hub for some of the world’s finest photojournalism, VII has been responsible for creating and relaying to the world many of the images that define the turbulent opening years of the 21st century.

Alexandra Boulat, Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Christopher Morris, James Nachtwey and John Stanmeyer were joined in 2002 by Lauren Greenfield and in 2004 by Joachim Ladefoged. Marcus Bleasdale and Franco Pagetti joined in November 2007. Together they document conflict – environmental, social and political, both violent and non-violent – to produce an unflinching record of the injustices created and experienced by people caught up in the events they describe.

On September 9th 2001, VII announced its formation. On the following night, covering for the missed return flight of a colleague, James Nachtwey arrived at his Manhattan apartment close to the World Trade Center. The next morning, he photographed some of the most haunting pictures of the collapse of the towers, at the same time eloquently conveying the destruction of a way of life.

These photo essays are incredibly inspiring. Often gut wrenching. Real.

Some of my favorites include:

The Albino Killings photo essay by Marcus Bleasdale.

BibiAna 10 and her sister Tendyebua 8 wait in the hospital compound in the hospital in Gaita, Tanzania. BibiAna was amputated at night by people who believe Albino body parts used in conjunction with other traditional medicines can help them become rich in the mining and fishing industries. The people who attacked and amputated BibiAnnas leg have been taken into custody. Over 19 Albinos have been killed in Tanzania in the past 2 years.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

At the wedding I shot on Saturday the DJ leaned over as I was signing the guestbook and asked “When are you getting married?” He inquired, of course, hoping that I was in the middle of wedding planning and looking for someone to provide some music for the big party.

Why would he ask this? Because my left hand still looks like this.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Practically the easiest chicken ever. You’re going to have a tough time with this one if you need an exact recipe though, since I just gathered the ingredients together in quantities I judged appropriate for the amount of chicken I was using.

You will need:

Flour
Quick oats
Egg white
Olive oil
Rosemary
Basil

That Mom bought me some potted plants so I was able to use fresh rosemary and basil, which I definitely recommend doing.

I snipped off some leaves, threw them all in a bowl, and chopped them up with my scissors.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

I’m a spender, not a saver. One summer I made $12,000 as a waitress in Central WA and had it all spent by the end of the year. I spent it all during a time when my parents were paying for my schooling and housing and giving me a stipend for food. Very embarrassing.

When That Husband and I started dating, he made it clear that debt wasn’t ever going to be a part of his life, and if I wanted to be with him I would have to make some major changes to my spending habits. I began paying off my credit card debt and continued to pay off my car loan. I know, and he will admit if it you asked him, that he would have ended the relationship if he had not seen the changes he believed necessary in my habits for us to have a successful relationship.

When we got married, TH implemented a new approach to budgeting that has completely changed the way I approach my spending. Most people approach budgeting like this: Each month, you start out with $300 for groceries, then you spend until you hit $300 and try to stop spending. If you have leftover money it carries over into next month, but if you’re a spender like me you never have anything left, and you usually end up spending even more than your allotted $300. You start rich and spend until you are poor.

TH’s approach turns things completely upside down, approaching budgeting in a way I’ve never heard of, and most definitely would never though of. It’s based on 4 essential strategies.

1. Calculate what your total annual spending should be. We came up with a number by taking annual income and calculating money needed for savings, travel, housing, etc, and all other spending that falls under the “invariable” budgeting area. After we had removed all of the invariables we focused on creating a budget for the variables, the places where we would need to track my our spending most carefully. These categories include Groceries, Household, Jenna Clothing, Jenna Personal, Eating Out, etc.
2. Here is the step where TH’s system is so genius. Our Eating Out budget allots for$1200 of spending/year. Instead of starting out with $100/month, we started out with nothing and the amount we have in the budget grows day by day. It’s fun to say it that way. Instead of diminishing, our budget grows! Each day the Excel spreadsheet we use adds about $3 to our Eating Out budget total. If we only have $75 in the Eating Out budget and we overspend we have to wait until the daily amount builds up enough so we can afford to eat once more.
3. Credit cards only, no cash. Cash can’t be tracked as well unless you are incredibly diligent about keeping all of your receipts. Most avoid credit cards because you can spend money you don’t have, but in avoiding them you are also avoiding the rewards and bonuses that come with using them. Obviously, they must be paid off in full each month for this to work.
4. Using mint.com we can track absolutely all of our credit card transactions. We categorize them on mint.com and make sure that they go into That Budget on Google Docs as well.

He created an Excel spreadsheet that we use to keep track of our spending. It’s online using Google Docs so we both can access it at any time from our respective laptops.

{Read the rest of this entry…}