Camera Bags for us ladies!

Every time I travel I make sure I take my camera and my laptop.  As a proclaimed "documenter" I love to take photos of everything, but traveling with my bulky bags can get a bit annoying. For planes, I put my Nikon bag and my laptop bag into a piece of carry on luggage. Going through the security checks is highly annoying, and I always feel like I' seriously holding up the line.
Pictures of my bags:

Most brand camera bags are much like my Nikon bag.  Boring, manly but functional.  Yawn! There have been a handful of women designers that have popped up selling camera bags for us ladies.  They are super functional, yet highly fashionable.  They don't look like camera bags, which is the beauty of it.  You can carry your camera and no one would know.  And several of them also have room for laptops!  Score!

Here are some of my favorites:

Jill-e Bags

Epiphanie Bags

Kelly Moore Bags

 





*All Photos of bags from the respective designers pages. Please visit them, check them out.  All designers had various bags that meet the many needs of the lady photographer at different price points.

2 thoughts

1. They just referred to the Toddlers and Tiaras tv show kids as "sexy stars."  And that gets right to the heart of the despicable nature of the show and those pageants.

2. On Extreme Couponing, a guy has 1000 boxes of toothpaste.  Can't all be used by one family.  Luckily this guy has donated $50,000 in products to charity.  Thankfully!

Lemons!!

Steve and I received a meyer lemon tree from his parents for Christmas a couple of years ago.  We are very excited that finally it is producing some lemons!!

It bloomed, then we saw these little bud things. Since neither of us every had a lemon tree we weren't totally sure they were actual lemons.  Steve's mom confirmed they were, and they have been growing fast! And it has bloomed again.  I hope that means we have even more lemons coming.  Steve thinks he might make a summer ale with the lemon zest once they are ready.

Efforts are paying off

I have been working on switching minor things in our diets.  I have asked Steve to buy wheat bread, wheat buns, wheat pasta etc.  He went to the store yesterday ad bought wheat Tostitos.  :-)  It's working, he chose the wheat ones over the traditional ones.  Love that man!!

Granted it was a "junk" food, but wheat nonetheless.

The window of my soul

I have always loved to look back into history. To try to get some idea of what it was like then, how the people dressed, what they were feeling.  I do this with pictures. Pictures capture a moment in time that will never be lived again.  I can go back and see what my grandmother looked like as a young woman.

I can see what it was like living on the family farm at the turn of the century. The Moon farm in Georgia (mom's side of the family) and the Campbell farm, now Rose Hill Winery, in Kentucky (dad's side of the family).

Moon Farm, Winder Georgia

Campbell Farm, Kentucky

I can look back and remember my fondness and desire to be Wonder Woman.

I can also look back and almost smell the old wicker couch we had when I was child, and see where I got my love of shelties from.

I could do this all day long.  

I was always called the "documenter" because I always had a camera.  No matter what we were doing, I was taking photos of it.  Taking memories and storing them away on film.  I would buy triple prints so I could share the photos with everyone.  This was of course before the days of the internet when in seconds you could put a photo on the computer and send it around the world in an instant. 

Every image was taken with such care.  You didn't want to waste one shot, and sometimes you agonized over taking a photo of something in the fear that something cooler might come along.  With the advent of digital photography, that all changed.  You could take as many photos as your memory card could hold, which was way more than a roll of film could.   

When I got married, I spent a small fortune to have photos taken by an amazing photographer.  Steve thought I would never look them at again.  Sometimes I wonder if this wonderful silly man in my life actually knows me.  I look at ALL of my photos over and over again.  Looking at the image, closing my eyes and recreating the scene in my head.  

Photos are important, and everyone should take the time to capture special moments when they can.  Someday, when that moment has passed, you don't want to find yourself wondering what color your hair was when you were itty bitty (or how dirty your feet were too)!

Happy shooting!!

Dear Vacation, you ended too soon.

We took our first big trip since our honeymoon.  We headed to Phoenix first to some of Steve's family including his grandparents.  It was great to see everyone, and some furry friends in their yard!

       

  

We then took a drive through Sedona and Flagstaff on our way to Vegas.  It was a beautiful ride!

                                                 Above: Chapel of the Holy Cross; Sedona, AZ; Coconino NF

Then we made it to Vegas!!! Where I met Mike Holmes from HGTV's Holmes on Homes...

We went to a show, La Reve...

And met up with Janice and Jason...

Saw some night life...

And relaxed at the Spa and Salon...

All in all a great trip!!  

Operation Clear Skin

I have waged war against my skin.  In the last couple of years my skin has gone from amazing to crap.  It's dry, irritated, spotty and splotchy, and my pores make me look like I have chickenpox.   I have been to the dermatologist, they just give me steroidal cremes but no advice on how to fix the issue causing the problems.  And the cremes have yet to really work.

I got a wonderful massage with a milk and honey body butter from Spa Royale this past Friday.  It was amazing (thanks Shannon!). I also got some advice on how to treat my skin for the issues I have.  She recommended some wonderful products!

First, she said I need to exfoliate.  I have been bad at this, and didn't really know what method was best.  Well, this is the most wonderful product for exfoliating: LaLicious Sugar Soufflé Scrub.
I got the Sugar Kiss.  Smells a lot like cotton candy, a tiny bit overwhelming. I might go with  different scent next time.  But holy moly! In one treatment my skin felt A-Mazing!!!! The sugar granuals exfoliate then they melt away into a wonderful oil moisturizer. I hope to see the little bumps on my arms disappear over time. There is a noticeable difference already!

Second, my skin needs constant hydration.  Shannon suggested Pure Fiji for the chickenpox pores.  I got the Hydrating Body Lotion in mango. It smells sooooo yummy.  It's nut based, so if you have nut allergies this probably isn't for you. The nut extract oils hydrate the skin and keeps it silky smooth.

Happy hydrating!!!