Where Has This Been All My Life?

I wouldn't normally catagorize myself as materialistic. In fact, I happen to think that I'm pretty low maintenance and prefer to lead a simple life. (My family might disagree, but that is only because they have seen me through all stages of my life and like to torment me with memories of my lesser moments.) Anyhow, back to what a great person I am... possessions don't usually make me happy. That is until I discovered a Nikon D90 with an SB600 external flash, 8GB Extreme III memory card, and Lowepro Slingshot 200AW camera bag to carry it all in. It might be love. It might be obsession. Whatever it is... it feels good.(Quick sidenote to anyone who cares: I got this camera because my old Nikon D40, which I have had for 3 years, has a problem with it's sensor. So instead of paying almost what it's worth to fix it, I upgraded. I HIGHLY recommend both cameras and you can now buy a D40 for around $450+.)

This camera is AMAZING. Everything is right at your fingertips, so making adjustments is easy. (My D40 was a bit tougher in that area, so I would spend hours editing after shooting because messing with the settings was such a pain.) And I am learning so much about how to improve everyday. Here are just a few examples I've taken while just goofing around with color settings, aperture, exposure... blah blah.

Honestly, it was worth every penny... and there were a lot of them... that went into this. I'm so grateful to Joe especially, for believing in me enough to purchase this. (Did that sound like I'm giving some kind of acceptance speech or what?) And I'd like to thank my mom.. because that's just what you do at moments like these!