Anybody want to give me a crash course on photography and DSLR cameras?  I know some of the regular bloggers that I read are photogs so your advice would be well-appreciated.

I'm an amateur and while I love my little point-and-shoot and it will travel everywhere with me forever, I'm thinking it's time to upgrade.  I just feel like some of our most beautiful moments from last year could have been captured so much better if I had a stronger camera.

I look at shots of some of the bloggers I read everyday and admire the crispness and the depth of color and just the overall beauty of their photos and I'm jealous and I want that.

Problem is, my knowledge of photography is limited and I have no clue where to start in upgrading to the DSLR.

So two things would be wonderful:

1.  Any suggestions for basic photography concepts and language

2.  Any suggestions for a "starter kit" of sorts for a DSLR. 

I've been leaning towards the Canon Rebel XTi and have heard that instead of buying the body and lens kit together, to just buy the body and start with a better lens.  One that someone recommended was the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Medium Telephoto lens.

Beyond that, I am completely clueless and even the slightest bit of advice would be AWESOME!

I had a day off today.  Because it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  And to be completely honest, I think many people tend to forget why we have this day.  To some, it has become just another day off.  To others, they don't even realize it as they have to head off to work and go about their lives as usual.

What an exciting Saturday night we had!!

We went to Home Depot tonight.  A major part of our Christmas presents were gift cards and we knew we needed stuff so after Steve got home from work we cuddled for a bit and headed off. 

There was nothing majorly specific we wanted so we wandered the aisles for an hour or so, checking stuff out and getting ideas.  We got a rake, a long tree pruner, another shelf to add to my closet, some clear boxes for my shoes and random little things.

Then ... THEN .... !!

We went grocery shopping.  What an exciting couple we are.  I wanted some canned fruit (I had this incredible craving for peaches) and Steve needed soda.  So we wandered around the grocery store for awhile and I picked out a lot of fairly healthy things.  I started modifying my diet last week and since I'm cutting back on food, I get the munchies but I wanted to make sure there was good for me stuff there when I went scrounging.

I actually enjoyed both things though.  We had a good time, we got some ideas for the house, we are fully stocked on food for about two weeks.

And it was all we had to do this weekend - no traveling, no visits, no real cleaning, NOTHING!!

And it was pure and utter joy.

We've been so extremely busy that I feel like I'm two weeks behind myself.  And since I'm working tonight and am still trying to get back in the groove of things, I'm going to do this, because it's easy and I like looking back.

Here goes!

Just like that, it's all over.

We've had a whirlwind of a couple of months.  There was the whole buying the house thing, then moving into the house.  Then we traveled to both North Carolina and Pennsylvania.  And we even had a kickass New Year's Eve party in our new house.

Now it's time to breathe.  To get back to normal life where I can come home at night and veg out and we can sleep late on weekends and play video games all day if we feel like it.

We are still living out of boxes though.  The kitchen, the living room, the guest bedroom and our bathrooms are unpacked.  But most of our clothes and the office are still in boxes.  There's also quite a few things still in the garage that need to be moved into the house because with the Christmas travel rush, we kind of just tossed them aside.

But now, I have time to get settled.  I have time to go to Home Depot and wander the aisles.  Funny how I never found anything in that store interesting and now I get excited to go there.  We have time to start on projects, like rebuilding/finishing the deck and replacing some of the lights the old owner never got around to.

I hope your Christmas and New Year's was safe, happy and fun.  Ours went well but boy, do I have some stories to tell.

2007 was an awesome year - I only hope 2008 is just as great, if not better.