I'm in love...

with my camera. 

Some of you may have seen on social media that my camera came...

annndd then I fell off the face of the earth. 

Just kidding, but I have spent some time tinkering with it, reading blogs, and scaring the crap out of my cat. Turns out it scares him when some large alien like contraption is pointed in his face, whirrs, beeps, and clicks. Although as a result of his confusion, I was able to get some great shots. 

I think I'm going to struggle with not trying to make EVERY photo super artsy, and perfect. 

That being said, I'll share some photos I took of TJ. I sent the first one to Walgreens and when I picked it up (along with an Engagement photo I had printed for a project I did) the guy asked if I had a copyright release for both of them.

New camera, FTW! 

First of all, 

thank you all who left fabulous tips on my first camera post. I've been putzing with it, looking at the manual, and looking at blog posts. So far, I can safely say the "vomit" feeling from making such a big purchase has disappeared totally. 

(also, for unknown reasons the money that had been pulled from my account for the camera, magically REAPPEARED in my checking account after I picked it up. I haven't asked any questions, and I hope it stays there. Also, this is probably why Best Buy is tanking).

Second, 

this camera has reaffirmed one thing for me: I have a VERY sexy cat. Seriously. He's so good looking.

Third, 

I'm obsessed with picmonkey.com. I'd heard the name thrown around before but figured it was enough like Picasa, so 'why bother'.. uhh WRONG. It's like Instagram for real life with bitchin' filters, and I'm in love. 

This weekend, M and I took on a few home projects. We got up and headed to IKEA first thing Saturday morning, and got a new light for the kitchen. After a few hours, some "are we going to burn in our sleep" concerns, it seems to have worked! M was super proud, he's gotten to be quite handy at house stuff but always shied away from electrical (for good reason too.. scary stuff if done wrong!) Now that he's confident, I'm taking advantage and will be getting a chandelier for upstairs in the not so near future ;-) 

also, I took zero photos of that. 

I, on the other hand, was busy makin' pretties..as I call them.

I purchased several frames at IKEA, with the idea to finally make our upstairs feel more homey. So I created a gallery wall to go up the stairs:

I used some engagement photos...

and a little "quote book" Leah got me a while ago..

I created some collages with the quotes..

aannnddd laid it all out like so: 

And this is how it looks, except, on the wall. I took these at night and the lighting up the stairs is garbage so, I knew I wouldn't get a good shot of it in action on the wall. 

I freaking love it. 

I also love that I finally have a "nice" photo of my cat. I feel like it's more socially acceptable to hang photos of pets if they look artsy. 

Lastly, M helped me complete a project I've been wanting to for ages. After seeing a Pinterest pin, I knew I had to recreate it. 

Ta da!

The frame was $8 or so at IKEA,... I printed off an 8x10 of us for $3, I had the wine bottle and fake flowers, and all that was left to purchase was this (at Home Depot):

M pre-drilled a hole, and then drilled through that little hole in the base of the hanger and into the wall. The one we have has a hinge on one side, and then the threaded screw to close it on the other side. SO, if we ever want to change out the wine bottle, all we have to do is unscrew it. 

All in all, it cost me about $13....annnnddd I love it. I'm a big advocate of hanging "different" things on the wall.. I like wall installations (like the one from the upstairs remodel) and things you may not expect to find for visual interest. 

That's all! 

Stay tuned for many more very fancy cat photos in the future. 

Just kidding. kind of.