Saved up my pennies (with a little help from an early birthday gift) and got *her*. I stuck with Canon since I already had two other lenses from my 35mm days and I really do *heart* Canon. She is the newest arrival from Canon and is literally the baby of the dslr bunch. She is smallest and lightest of them all, so petite is she! (I should have put a pink bow on her darn-it!) As I did my research I realized that the weight issue ended up being a big deal for me with how I wanted to use the camera. I'm not a professional, although I wouldn't mind being a prosumer someday. I believe this camera will take me to where I need to go even as my needs change. And, to make it even better, she was the least costly model (even though this newest arrival apparently has significant upgrades from the previous one). Yeah!

I'm having fun trying new things and looking forward to taking a couple classes on how to use it from Creve Coeur Camera. I decided to go to the pro's when getting this baby so I would have more support and direction then I've ever gotten before. Best Buy, although a great store, just doesn't care too much once you've left the premises.

Just as with any new baby you have to buy cute clothes. So, I'm looking closely at one of these:



and also this:



The strap I can swing now, but the uber cool camera bag will have to wait. So, which strap do you think?

This truck makes me happy. Someday I will have something like this. Although I'd love to have the wooden rails on the back. So who's truck is this? No idea. I did meet the man that restored it but we didn't swap names. He came out of Lowes when my family was admiring it. From his reaction I don't think it was the first time something like this had happened. I like this truck because it has character, it has history... it's simple.

The past couple of weeks I've been spending a lot of time with my grandfather-in-law. I have learned a lot from him. Do you know how to cook soft-boiled eggs? I do now, thanks to him. (And they are good!) And, did you know that you can buy from the post office envelopes that have your return address already printed on them with pre-printed postage? And, did you know you can buy "forever" stamps that can always be used no matter if the postage changes? I've also learned a lot about organization and have a solid understanding of the phrase - a place for everything, and everything in it's place. Grandpa's house is amazing. Grandpa has character. Grandpa has history. Grandpa is simply amazing.

Bloggers, meet Annabelle. Annabelle, meet bloggers.

Photo courtesy of Alex (14)

Photo courtesy of Chad (13)

You see those white circles? Look hard, move your monitor around so you can get a clear shot. Yep those. Well that's Annabelle, or rather the orb of Annabelle, or Annabelle's orb. You get the picture. I hope you can see them. I didn't want to lighten up the pictures at all at the risk of messing with the Orb, so this is sooc (straight out of the camera).

This is a picture of the back courtyard of the Crescent Hotel, taken from the Lounge balcony (about 4 stories up) around 11:00 pm the second night we were there. You can see the walking (white) path and the green grass. Our family was on the lounge balcony hanging out talking, laughing, enjoying each others company and my boys were shooting away. (Incase the Crescent Hotel is reading this, food was still being served so it was ok our boys were hanging out with us!). Out of about 500+ photos that we took [of the wedding, the hotel and the entire weekend], these are the only two photos that have an orb in them. We were so excited! This is really the only *experience* we had the entire time we were there.

A few nights after these photos were taken, Alex and I went on the Ghost Tour and this is when we learned that Annabelle was one of the many ghosts that stay there and she insisits that she been *pushed* off her balcony to her death in this courtyard around 10:30 pm one evening. And yes I did say *insists*. Apparently some ghosts are very picky about the stories that are being told about them! This is the reason we believe this is Annabelle. Now whether it's her spirit or an energy transfer of some sort that is to be debated. Some believe orbs are not actual spirits, instead they believe they are the energy that is being transferred from a source (ie: power lines, people, batteries...) to the spirit so they can manifest. Since no one was down there at this time, I *believe* (if I were to believe) it is Annabelle. Plus, it made it a whole lot more fun!

We do have two more photos that have significant streaks in them and a shadow in one of them, which as our tour guide told us could be something. I'm not convinced it is anything more than Alex moving the camera on a slower shutter speed with the shadow of the guy standing next to the door he was shooting. But, then again it could be! Alex was taking photos of a door to the room where a lot of activity happens. Two out of the three photos he took, while standing right next to me, were streaky. Very interesting! There is a definately shadow of someone there.

The boys acted tough but I'm not sure they got much sleep while we were there. Today they slept until 11:00, which is rare for them! I let them sleep late since I'm the one that made them stay in a haunted place for the last three nights. They are such troopers. Plus, they let me take some more photos of them. Check this one out!:

Notice Chad isn't especially happy here. He had a rough night. He wasn't too happy after hearing all the ghost stories Alex and I had to share when we returned after the tour. No matter, I love the photo and them there boys. This was the last photo taken as we left out of town. Once we got to the outskirts of town we said, "If there are any ghosts with us we want to thank them for the fun time but they are not to travel home with us. So, go home ghosts, go home." Our tour guide told us to do this because they can travel with us, and that would be something we wouldn't want. Whether one believes or not, it sure doesn't hurt to be on the safe side!

We are getting ready for bed, our first night at the haunted Crescent Hotel. We have not yet had any experiences with ghosts and the boys (13 and almost 15) are not too happy this evening. Not because they haven't had an experience yet but rather because they are worried they will! They found out the room right across the hall from us is one of the two rooms that gets haunted frequently, apparently. They are afraid something, which they do not necessarily believe in, will make a wrong turn into our room. I on the other hand am taking picture after picture hoping to see an orb but nothing so far. Will keep you posted and will add pictures soon.