New toys

I've been meaning to post about some of the goodies I got for Christmas, and tonight, I'm going to do it!

I'd wanted an auxiliary flash for my camera, but I definitely wasn't expecting it. I was planning on saving up and getting one for myself eventually. K beat me to it. And he somehow knew exactly the one I wanted!

Thanks to this sucker, I can take pictures with much better range than before. It can be a lot more flattering than a built-in flash, and I have better control over my pictures. Just one of many benefits of an external flash. LOVE it!

An awesome gift from my mom.

This plate describes me perfectly! "Boomer" was actually on the list of names for Piper (obviously), but I felt like she was more of a Piper than a Boomer. That being said, she does respond "SOONER!" when you yell "BOOMER!" (the OU battle cry). (OK, she barks twice. But she's totally saying "SOONER!" in dog language. Enthusiastically, even.)

I didn't know what to think when I opened this other gift from my mom. I had never seen one of these before, and I had no idea what it was. "You mean, it's a brush ... for my face?"

The Clar!sonic M!a

That it is. And it's fantastic. Within a couple days, I could tell a difference in my skin. It just looked so much cleaner and healthier. (Which led to K saying I looked "rather radiant lately." Considering I can spend an entire day scrubbing the house and that guy wouldn't notice a difference, I'm pretty sure he was just going for brownie points, especially since I had just mentioned the M!a. However, the comment added to the list of reasons I bought that pregnancy test last week ...) I don't feel like I have to hide my face if I'm not wearing makeup. My skin is clearer, and if I do get a blemish, it's very minor, very easy to handle, and quick to disappear.

Basically, if you're thinking of getting one of these, DO IT! If you haven't heard of them, look them up and think about getting one for yourself (and then see previous sentence). Mine is the travel version (the M!a), which is smaller and--score!--cheaper.

My dad got me a photography book I'd been wanting for a while. I haven't had a chance to dive in yet, but glancing through it, it's exactly what I'd hoped it would be! It's got examples of photos with different settings so you can actually see for yourself how different changes can create different final products. So cool!