My birthday gifts arrived

well, most of them. Phil had told me to get what I wanted and I ordered a Tamron 90mm f/2.8. It came yesterday and really freaked me out. I thought I had a bad lens, because it was really acting strangely. I guess it's because I tried to focus far with it, which threw it for a loop. They really are just for closeup and require a lot of light :) Very crisp shots though. I will have to play with it a little more to get comfortable. Today I received my new tripod, a manfrotto with ballhead and I also ordered an umbrella with a stand for my speedlight. Now if I could just figure out how to use it all, I would be a happy camper :) I can't even get the umbrella stand put together right, let alone figure out how to fire the flash on the stand. Will have to do some reading I guess (boy, I hate that)
Now the last thing is a new bag. It's a Jill, red leather, medium. I can't wait to see it. It will be nice to have a bag large enough to use as a purse and camera bag all in one. Oh yes, I also ordered a remote shutter release, which will come in handy. Best birthday presents ever :)
We started some new challenges at DesignerDigitals, they are all going to be so much fun. the first one I participated in was the AAM challenge. Here is my page

I addressed it to the kids, because that's who it's going to be for..

I got the next two pages for the 365 challenge done. I really like how they turned out

I think I will keep this format, maybe just change the colors? Don't know yet, it all depends on the photos, but I like the large center photo space.

Some more pages

I decided this year to also stick to participating in the DD Flickr POTD group, which means to post a photo a day. It's really fun to have to find something to photograph every day, without the stress of it having to be meaningful for the weekly page, in other words, it can just be art or whatever. It's fun to just practice photography and try to develop an eye for different things, amazing what people come up with,  there is a lot of inspiration in that group.

I just took this shot today, playing around with my new lens :)

and this was at the post office last week

aren't the colors cool? I really liked this one too, the cross lines looked so interesting

and the ice melting made a fun design...

okay, enough of that, you get the picture :)

The kids had Monday and Tuesday off, so that was a nice break. Their math teacher is leaving, going for a different position that pays more. that's the problem with catholic schools, they don't have any money. She will hopefully still tutor them, because she really got Gabi to understand stuff and I'd hate to loose that for her.

Well, the hour is getting late again and hubby is waiting for me. Talk to you soon