We picked up the MIL at the airport on Saturday. She needed a bit of a break from work and decided to come out to see us. It’s always nice to see her – she’s a super sweet lady and a very “no maintenance” house guest. It also turns out that this is the most she’s seen of either Hubby and I over the last few years since the few other times she’s come out we’ve both been insanely busy.

On Remembrance Day, we spent a big chunk of the day cruising the malls. You see, MIL decided she wanted to buy us our Christmas gifts before heading back to Calgary this weekend. Anything you *really* want is what she said. I thought she was kidding but apparently not.

I’ve been pining for a DSLR for some time but until this point, they’ve been way out of my price range and even at the current prices of $600 for an entry level camera is higher than I’m willing to pay but she insisted. I held back the first time but the second time she offered, I didn’t look back. The result, I’m now the proud owner of a Pentax K200D. Pentax is not the first brand that comes to mind for most people when you talk about DSLR cameras but I picked this one because Hubby has two AF lenses from an old Pentax and talking to the super knowledgeable staff at Kerrisdale Cameras and finding out that one of our old lenses would cost about $400 to replace, we figured this was the camera to go with.

Of course, I got home and started playing with it immediately and wow, what an experience. I haven’t used an SLR since high-school but this baby has a completely automatic setting but the pictures it takes are awesome. In the process of experimenting, I took what is, to date, my favourite picture of hubby:


Needless to say, I love, love, LOVE my new camera. I can’t wait to make even more use of it this weekend though I must admit, if I’d known today was going to be this beautiful, I would have packed it and made my way down to Coal Harbour during lunch for a few shots. Who knows, maybe tomorrow will be as nice.

As for hubby, he decided that he didn’t want anything. Yeah, he’s a bit strange that one. Eventually, we did convince him to pick something out but not exactly what I’d expected. He decided he wanted a new TV stand. He’s wanted to mount the TV since we bought it but I refuse to put holes in the wall. The result is a TV stand with a built in mount. He spent the better part of Tuesday night putting the thing together.

I must admit, I love the finished product. Makes the room look even bigger and to boot, we have room for all of the electronics without having to double stack!




So yes, we’re feeling mighty spoiled. Now that we have toys and a new stand, I can use the Christmas money I was putting aside for the new stand to good use on something else. Maybe a new carpet…