Now I'll be a better photographer!

For my 30th birthday, J was going to give me one of the really cool picture frames we got for his mom for Christmas. It's digital!! You put a memory stick in it, and it will play a slide show of the pictures. It will also play music. I have wanted one for a long time, and we finally did the research around Christmas because we thought it would be a great gift for his mom. She's a professional artist, and we thought it would be super cool if she took the picture frame with her to art shows and just had a slide show playing of all her prints. She takes her portfolio with her, but that can be kind of bulky, and you have to get people interested enough to stop and look through it anyway. We thought the picture frame slideshow may catch peoples attention, and then they may look through her portfolio. Great idea, huh!

Anyway, the frame we bought for her is the one that Consumer Reports said is the best for the price range we were shopping in. It's the best quality and the most bang for the buck. Unfortunately, a lot of people must read Consumer Reports because it's sold out. We were lucky at Christmas, but J was unlucky last week.

On the other hand, my second choice of gifts was a new digital camera. I love the one we have, but it is four years old. That's ancient in technology terms. And it's very bulky, so I just don't take it places very often. I thought if I had a smaller camera, I would take it more places, and record more events. I did some research, and we went to three different stores before we settled on the Sony. I LOVE IT!! It was a bit more expensive than we had hoped, but my dad and step-mom had sent me some money for my birthday, and we threw that in our "budget" and we were good to go. I am SO excited!

The only thing that stresses me out a bit, is that it's got a touch screen, and it didn't come with a camera case. I got online to look for one, and the one I want is backordered for two months. Figures, huh? But I will find something, because I won't be throwing it in my pocket or my purse until it is protected!

Isn't it pretty? It comes in black and red, too, but for some odd reason, silver was the only color on sale at Circuit City. Go figure. I obviously got these photos off the internet. I couldn't find a good picture that shows the touch screen in action, though. But instead of turning dials and knobs, you just touch the screen! The camera case I want to get has a stylus included, which I think will help prolong the life of the screen. Keep your fingers crossed!

It's little, but it's powerful. The memory stick was on sale, too...it's a 2GB memory stick that cost the same as a 1GB stick. And, are you ready for this?? With the pictures set at the highest quality setting, it will hold 636 photos!!!

I can't wait to quit being sick so I can go out and get a camera case and start playing with my new camera! Hopefully I'll be a better photographer with more practice, and a better camera. This camera even has a "smile detector" in it! When you focus in on someone's face, when they smile the camera will take the picture automatically...no more missed smiles! In theory, anyway. I'll let you know how it works out! I hope J is ready to be my subject, because I don't think Sid and Zoe really smile all that much.