My First Lesson(s)

Of course, just my luck, the morning after I finally bit the bullet and bought some tech stocks some lame thing happens with European debt and all U.S. tech stocks take a plunge.

But maybe it wasn't luck at all. If anything, this reminds me that I have to broaden my research and really start reading and keeping up. On the bright side, I only put aside negligible amounts to "learn" so this will be good practice for the long run.

Investing is so nerve-wracking -- I really see no difference with gambling. Sure, picking a stock or a fund can be a little more than an educated guess, but when you're in front of the computer ready to click on "buy", it feels just as risky as putting chips down on the roulette table. Screw aggressive growth, I am finding me some fixed income bonds for the rest of my allocations. >.<

Painting My Thumb Green

When we first started our backyard project I could easily fall into "themes" for the hardscape shapes, textures and materials, similar to the way I would approach any design project. However, when it came to plants, I was completely clueless. Partly because I am clueless when it comes to plants, but mostly because plants don't play well with my OCD. By their very nature (no pun intended), they are dynamic living things that grow, change and, well, look messy. I like order, symmetry and predictable growth patterns. So if I could design an entire softscape plan that stayed stationary I'd have no problem. Now, tell me to choose a tree that could potentially shed its leaves and berries or grow taller or sideways, and I am completely and utterly indecisive.

This weekend I put my concern aside and we visited a few nurseries as well as Home Depot and Target to start looking at what's out there. I've realized that I have such strong opinions on aesthetics that this may be easier than I thought. Why not take the same approach I have with decorating the house and just pick and choose what we like and deal with placement later? More and more our home is a collection of things that we either like aesthetically or mean something to us sentimentally so why should the garden be any different? This made it much easier to come up with a wish list.

In addition to shopping for larger trees and shrubs for fillers, we stopped by Home Depot with Marcela and Mason to get ideas on which prettier flowers and plants we could pot. They brought us this great ground covering (I've already forgotten what it's called) that immediately inspired me to arrange a low pot full of cactus-looking things. We found this flat pot at Home Depot (it's actually for hoses) and filled it up with cabbage-patchy looking things. I'm hoping to put this on a coffee table or side table somewhere in the back as a centerpiece.

So, as if I needed a new hobby! This one, though, is immediately rewarding. Our backyard is only about 70% done but it's already made such a difference. We can actually hang out in the back now! We can sit and enjoy the breeze. Now I just have to untrain Lulu to pee on concrete so that she can come out and enjoy the backyard too.

Dear Diary

A few weeks ago on a sleepless night I started reading through some of my oldest entries and realized that I miss the personal, documentary style my blog used to be. Pictures are nice but I enjoyed reading detailed accounts of my memories even more. I am so glad I was so detailed (and wordy) because there are so many memories I would have otherwise forgotten. I miss the days when I wrote so freely (to an audience of one, myself) -- even on decidedly mundane topics such as what I ate for second lunch or how I procrastinated from studying. :)

So in efforts to resurrect my journaling, I will be here more often and with more words, no matter how painstakingly detailed. There are so many exciting things going on right now, I'd love to be able to look back at them 6 years from now and laugh at my frivolity.

Vintage Lulu

So I decided to be a complete cheeseball and play around with posing Lulu for a portrait. Then I made it look vintage and printed a giant canvas print for $6.99 (Mother's Day special!). I am so putting this up on the wall. In my sisters' apartment. Heehee.

Notes for next time: widen the depth of field and go for sharpness all around. I'm over this fuzzy bit.

Canon Wish List

I have created a "practical" wish list of sorts for my camera... a not-so-exorbitant wish list (IMHO) of lenses. I didn't go so far as to pick every "L" series prime lens available by Canon. Instead, I put together a balance of lenses based on my needs, wants and budget. I can't afford all of these lenses in one go, mind you, so when I say budget I am referring to the hypothetical budget I will be building this year as I hypothetically start to see a ROI through photography.

EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye, $719

My most probable next purchase, this fisheye lens will have a multitude of uses for both day-to-day shots and travel photography. I can already see wet doggy nose marks on the tip of the bubble. :)

EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, $379

One day, when I can say for certain exactly how this f/1.4 differs rom my f/1.8, I will sell my cheapy-fifty for this faster, ultrasonic version.

EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, $419

This will be another first-step purchase to practice portrait photography. If this focal length proves worthy over the 135mm, I will step it up to the EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM for $2199. For now I can fake my 85mm photos with my 24-105mm f/4 zoom lens.

EF 135mm f/2L USM, $1089

Speak of the devil, here is the 135mm. I played with my co-worker's 135mm for about 10 seconds at the office before I decided that I needed a DSLR camera and I needed this lens. Amazing portrait results. Okay, maybe this is my next lens.

EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, $1999

This will be my super-duper I can take a picture of the eiffel tower from my hotel room even though I'm still in the U.S. lens. I just want it because it's pretty. *sigh*

So my to-do list will be 15, 135, 7-200, 85, 50. Actually, it will be battery grip, 15, 135, 7-200, 85 then 50. Or maybe battery grip, 135, 15, 85, 70-200, 50. Okay, who am I kidding, it will probably be in order from cheapest to most expensive. >.<