good morning, friends!
today is sunday, so that means you get your weekly dose of random things from me! i know you’re excited…
1. my camera cord arrived yesterday (3 business days before it was supposed to arrive!), so i’ve got some pictures from my new camera for you today! 
of the 100+ photos that were on my camera, probably 50% were of the boys.
they’re the cutest photo subjects ever!
2. another 30% were of our christmas decorations…
the verdict? i have a lot of work to do to learn how to use this camera to its maximum potential!
3. i did also take some food photos!
i made jessica’s mexican mac and cheese cups again and tried to get some good pictures of them….
it didn’t really work out. they were very over-exposed…
and i had a hard time figuring out how to edit them.
and i also think i need a tripod so i can decrease the shutter speed….
4. speaking of editing photos. my camera came with a program to use (view nx2?) but i’m not loving it. i’ve been using picasa to edit my pictures for a while and it’s so much more user friendly and it does seem to edit RAW photos, so that’s good, right?
has anyone used the program that nikon provides to edit their photos? or should i just skip that and keep using picasa until we save up to get a different program?
suggestions?
5. i won sonnet’s giveaway for some hurraw lip balm a week or two ago and it already came!
i love all three flavors i got & they work so well. i also really love their shape. they’re oval instead of circular. plus, they’re all natural, vegan, raw, organic, and good! (according to the label, but i agree!)
6. does anyone know what kind of squash this orange one is?
i want to make soup with it, but i can’t seem to cook with it until i know its name… i tried looking it up, but it doesn’t look like any of the winter squash photos i found… help!
7. starbucks skinny peppermint mocha = my new favorite thing.
i’m obsessed! whenever i pass a starbucks (not often, thankfully!) i have to stop and get one.
can’t get enough!
*****
have you tried a peppermint mocha? are you as obsessed as i am?
what kind of squash is that?!?
any more photography tips?
(i promise i’ll stop begging for your help soon!)
hi and welcome!
sarah learns 
1. I want a chap stick please! 2. I love your boys! 3. STILL jealous that you got that camera…:)
hmmm, you can TRY the chapstick next week! 🙂
TRY huh? Tis the season of giving… 🙂 hehe.. i did get you a LITTTTTLE gift.
haha, but the flavors are all so delicious! i don’t want to give up any of them. 😦
and you didn’t have to get me anything!!
As far as the camera goes, I highly recommend taking a basics class to learn some things. Holly (Healthy E) and I took a class last winter through MATC and it was totally worth the $30 that it cost! (I talked about what I learned here –> http://www.browniesandzucchini.com/2011/01/22/101-in-1001-13-take-a-photography-class/ ) Other than that it really is a lot of trial and error I think. Have fun! 🙂
thanks, kelly!! i will definitely look into that class. 🙂
I’m not a huge Starbucks person, but I do love the chocolate peppermint combo. You should consider yourself tagged in my 21 things post :).
ok! i’ll try to come up with 21 things – thanks for the tag! i love posts like that when i don’t have other ideas of what to blog about. 🙂
I love love love peppermint mocha! Congrats on getting a new camera 🙂
it’s delicious, isn’t it?!
and thanks! i’m trying to learn as much as i can with it!
YAY for the new camera!! 🙂 I’m sure you’ll learn how to use it more and more each time! 🙂
eek, i hope so! i always think the photos look good on my camera, and then i upload them and see that they’re kind of crappy….
Sarah Bear, I LOVE your pictures! My favorite though is the very first one of Jake… So cute!!
eeek, that’s my favorite one too! did you see that liz entered it in a cute pet contest?! the link is on facebook – you should vote!
and i might want to pick your brain on tips for this camera when i see ya over christmas!
Yes, I saw the link and I voted! 😉 And you can feel free to pick my brain, although I don’t know how helpful I be. I kind of mess around as I go ~ actually, one of my goals for next year is to learn a lot more about the camera, maybe take a class even.
I love Peppermint Mochas!! I bought peppermint coffee from Trader Joe’s last year and I mixed cocoa powder in the coffee before brewing, and made my own mochas.
ooooohhh, such a good idea! i wonder if tj’s still has that coffee – i want to try making my own mocha!
Ohh how I miss peppermint mochas! I gave up coffee a few years back, but at least peppermint hot chocolate is still pretty yummy! Congrats on the new camera!! That’s an awesome gift! I have a Canon DSLR so I’m not familiar with any of Nikon’s programs. I really recommend reading Plate To Pixel. It’s a wonderful book, especially if you do food photography. And I’m so glad you’re enjoying the balms! 🙂
Its a carnival squash (: