Top 5 Gifts for Photographers

Now, I want to note that I am clearly as far away from being a professional photographer and probably should not be one to listen to when it comes to camera advice but I guess these are the items I can't live without or wouldn't want to live without (hint, hint!). All gifts are based on the assumption that you have a digital SLR camera (lenses specified below are for a Canon) or are planning to get one so that is why a camera is not included in my Top 5 List.

50mm f/1.8 Canon Lens - Amazon
This has been my only purchase of a lens, besides the one that came with my camera. I think I paid about $80.00 for this lens six months ago and was it worth the price. The sharpness and the clarity blows the "came-with-purchase-of-camera" lens out of the water. Plus it does pretty well in low light conditions due to the f/1.8.

Camera Bag - jill-E Bags
I think this is a beautiful bag for a camera. It's definitely pricier than my $19 bag I got when I bought my camera but I think it's very beautiful and extremely versatile considering I could carry this instead of a purse when I travel.

70-300mm Canon Lens - Wolf Camera
Now the picture I have for this is for a very expensive lens...kind of a "top of the line" if you will. I have borrowed the "low end" version of this lens and loved it. I took it with me to the beach and I loved the shots I could get with my son. He hates me taking pictures of him so when I can get pictures of him without him knowing, it makes the pictures all that better.

UV Filter - Wolf Camera
This is not an option, in my opinion. Every single lens you ever purchase should automatically have a UV filter purchased for it. UV filters are kind of like an airbag for a car. One of its purposes is to protect the lens from dust and scratches. When you pay $500-$1000 for a lens, the last thing you want to happen is for you to get scratches on that very expensive piece of equipment. Putting a UV filter on your lens will put the damage on the cheap filter rather than your expensive lens.

Camera Equipment Rentals - Borrow Lenses
I have been using this particular camera rental company over the year. I love being able to rent 2 or 3 lenses to figure out if I like them well enough to purchase them. They have been great to work with! One note though...make sure that you completely inspect your equipment when you open the box. I had an issue where one of the items, luckily just a polarizing filter, was completely dismantled when I opened the box. I let the company know and they immediately refunded my money. I think a gift certificate here would be awesome...it would be the gift that keeps on giving throughout the year!


I hope you find that list was helpful! Coming up next in my gift guide is a list for kiddos!

As if we need more of these...

Gift Guides! I want to share my beloved collection of top 5/10 lists with you. I'm a "form follows function" kind of girl but I'm so incredibly selective about what I buy/choose that usually the most simple things I buy look the most beautiful, to me at least. Also, I'm a big believer in spending a little more money to get a great quality item! I would rather do without and save a little longer to get something really nice as opposed to just buying something to have it.

So with that said, here is my first list: Top Ten Gifts for the Cook. A word about me - I do not DO kitchen gadgets. My cabinet/drawer space is way more precious than having an avocado slicer that I'll use once a year, if that (a knife works way better anyways!). If you are a cook or know one that you would like to find that special gift for, here it is:

Baking Dishes - Sur La Table

These beautiful white bakers are perfect since they are oven, dishwasher, microwave and freezer safe. Oh and I ONLY have white dishes in my house - they are much more interchangeable with one another and besides, the beauty should be in your food! These bakers are awesome because they come in different sizes of rectangular, oval and square shapes! I would LOVE these by the way...HINT, HINT!!!

The Gourmet Cookbook - Amazon
Don't let the word "gourmet" intimidate you. While the recipes may be "gourmet", they are, more than anything, just plain easy and delicious to prepare. I've cooked MANY times from this cookbook, mainly due to the simplicity of the recipes. And the good thing is, every recipe I've ever tried out has turned out sublime and most that I have tried have been repeated in my kitchen. On a side note: There are NO pictures except for the occasional illustration on how to cut up a chicken or how to make a proper baguette but if you are willing to let go of the pictures, this book is amazing!

Santoku and Paring Knife - Sur La Table
If there were only two knives I could choose from in the world, it would be the Santoku knife and a paring knife. I have an entire set of Henckels knives and while I use my knives more than any other item in my kitchen, I really only use my Santoku knife within my collection. If you have NEVER owned a nice (read: expensive) knife, please do yourself (or your gift recipient) a favor and buy one, just one, expensive knife. People that have hated cooking for years may find cooking enjoyable with this one small splurge. There is something to be said for buying an expensive knife, you won't be replacing it any time soon, possibly even EVER!

Le Creuset Dutch Oven - Williams Sonoma
Holy Cow people....stop what you are doing and browse on over to Williams Sonoma and order one of these. This could be one of the only cookware pieces you would ever need! I cook everything from stews, browning meat, even desserts in this one item. The thing I love about it is its even heating, since it's an enameled cast-iron body, it allows for even heating without sticking....even the sides of the pan are about the same temperature as the bottom of the pan...very important when you want to evenly cook whatever you are cooking! Oh and this can go straight from the cooktop to the oven when you want to finish off the cooking or if you just want to keep something warm.

Kitchen Aid Blender - Williams Sonoma
This is an all-purpose kitchen item that NO kitchen should be without. Some features that I like about this particular blender is the fact that it has a nice sturdy glass pitcher. A lot of the cheaper blenders have a plastic pitcher which can keep smells in (especially when making sauces such as pesto) and can stain easily. Blenders are good for just about everything, you can make drinks, smoothies, sauces, soups and even use it to whip up mayonnaise and whipped cream.

Calphalon Anodized Cookware - Bed Bath & Beyond
I really believe that if you only had two really great sets in a kitchen, it could transform the way you think about cooking. One is a good set of knives (or at least the two knives listed above) and a great set of cookware. I particularly like this set of cookware because its reasonably priced when you take into account for how durable it is. It's pretty heavy which typically means good even heating of the pan and it can go straight from your cooktop to the oven. I've had my set for almost 5 years and it still looks as good and cooks as good as it did when I first opened the box.

Crockpot - Target
Okay, even if you feel that your budget won't allow for the above items, I strongly suggest that you consider a crockpot. You can by a slow cooker for about $29.00 and it will be money well spent! What makes the slow cookers of today way better than years past is that most of them now have a removable stoneware cooking insert that can be lifted out of the heating element and put directly on the table or can be put into the fridge.

Salt Keeper - Crate & Barrel
I'm sure you are wondering why you would need something so specific as a salt keeper. Well I'll tell you why. I cook...A LOT. And I only use kosher salt, never table salt (I don't even have the stuff in my house!) and 99 out of 100 times I need salt while I'm cooking. So I found a little covered dish that I filled to the brim with kosher salt that sits happily next to my cooktop. I don't want to have to keep going back and forth to the pantry every time I want salt (I don't call this lazy, I call it being efficient!). Now every time I want to quickly season meat or need a specified measurement, the salt is right there waiting for me.

Oil Dispenser - Amazon
In addition to my salt keeper, I also have an oil dispenser...actually make that 3 oil dispensers: one for olive oil, one for extra-virgin olive oil and one for vegetable oil. Once again, having these right by my cooktop is extremely handy. I particularly like the clear glass oil dispensers because I love the different colors of the oils. An oil purist would tell you to keep your oil in a dark, cool place like the pantry but I cook enough with my oil that none of it has time to lose its flavor!

Measuring Cups & Spoons - Crate & Barrel
You certainly can't bake without these! If there is one thing I can say about measuring cups & spoons it is this: have multiple sets. I happen to have about 4 sets of both spoons and cups. Also, buy only the cups and spoons that are made from one piece of stainless steel as opposed to the ones that have the cup and handle soldered together. They may be pricier for the one piece but they will last a lot longer.


Okay well that wraps up my Top Ten List! One word of advice when buying nice kitchen items...always hand wash! I never put my knives, cookware, or Le Creuset dutch oven in the dishwasher! I hope you enjoyed this first list...be on the lookout for my next list for photographers!

Where We Went...

First off, congratulations to my brother-in-law and his wife for welcoming their first child, a big baby boy, on Wednesday! Lawyer is so excited about his cousin (it's his first!) and already has some "special" (read: ridiculous 4 year old humor) names picked out for the new baby. I'm not sure how his uncle and aunt will feel about them but Lawyer seems to think they are hilarious (read: the names involve bodily functions).

Jason and I got to go to Antigua in the caribbean the last week of October. Neither one of us have been to the beach during any other time than the summer so it was a very welcome break to enjoy the beautiful caribbean beach and weather. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort and never left the premises. Our idea of a great time is plopping our butts on a beach and sleeping the day away!

We made a pit stop in Miami before we continued on to Antigua. Miami was awesome! Jason has been dying to go there so we got to go this ultra-chic restaurant called Prime 112. The atmosphere was energetic there and the food was over-the-top. It definitely was a great start to our vacation! After dinner we took a taxi to this cool jazz bar and it was about as Miami as it could get. The jazz singer was Brazilian, I think, and she definitely had the latin jazz sound down. I don't think there were any out-of-towners there, it seemed like just a bunch of local people and we loved it. We put our feet on South Beach but it was night-time so there wasn't much to see other than looking down the beach at all the bright neon-lights from the art deco buildings. Walking along Ocean Drive, it was very lively and the sight, sounds and smells in the air were everything you would expect. I just can't get over the energy of both the people and South Beach itself. It's like they have their own pulse that you can't find anywhere else in the world.

Anyhow, my lone picture above was "all she wrote". This was our view from our balcony. We literally did nothing but sleep, eat and lounge on the beach!

But even though a week to do nothing was nice...this was what I missed most about home:

When All Else Fails...

Pull out the paper bags.

A Hole in the Wall is Worth a Renovation

So I came downstairs a few weeks ago and found my son putting a hole in the wall with a hammer.

I'm totally teasing. Well, he really was putting a hole in the wall with a hammer but he was doing it because we said it was okay! Jason and I have been wanting to open up our downstairs so each room wasn't so blocked off from the other. Being that formal living areas, formal dining areas and kitchens are usually to be for entertainment purposes, it felt very much uninviting due to the walls between each area.See what I mean? Totally shut out, boring and dark (depending on which way the sun is during the day).

So we decided to knock down a wall between our dining and living rooms.

Then the framers came and put the support beams in...we didn't want Lawyer's playroom that was directly above the dining to come crashing down on us.

Oh and from this angle you can see that metal frame hanging over the table area. There is a piece of glass that sits on it so that we can put candles, decorations, whatever, on it...I found it at Pottery Barn a few years ago and then I ended up getting it for my birthday last year (thanks Mom and Dad!). It sat for almost a year until it finally got put up! Oh and you can see the wires hanging out of the ceiling that have become homes for halogen spots (yeah! the ugly brass fixture has been taken down!).

Drumroll please....I can't say this is the finale since we need to do a few more things before this room is complete but here is the ALMOST finished dining room. We LOVE the deep navy walls so much (if you saw the pictures when the dining room was red, you will notice that we had picture framing on the bottom half and the bottom half was also white....way too traditional for us) and think this room now looks so much more classy, urban and sleek.Oh and see the main wall? It is going to be proudly displaying this canvas art from Z Gallerie: It's a really deep espresso and ivory print on canvas and it's HUGE...it's 5'wide by 4'tall.

See how open it is?

We know that with the dark furniture and dark walls, everything seems to blend together but we are planning hanging a curtain rod from the ceiling (we saw this in a hotel in Miami...way contemporay rather than putting it directly on the wall) in front of the windows and we found these grommeted curtains from Pottery Barn that we will put in front of the window: They are Dupioni Silk...they are very luxiourious-looking since they are very shimmery. I love that the grommets are a deep espresso...it contrasts very nicely with the light curtains.

Also, if you notice where the new opening is between the dining and living rooms, you'll see that you can see the bare concrete floor. Well, we have always had plans of acid staining the entry, dining and kitchen a deep espresso (we had done this in our previous home and loved it) but since everything is so dark now, we think we are going to just have bare concrete with no stain and just put a sealer over the top to both protect it and darken it up a tad.

Oh and I don't ever think that I have shown off my birthday present from last year (Jason actually got this put in around my birthday)...I obviously am not a coventional shoes and clothes girl when it comes to presents, I love cool, unique items for my home. Isn't that a cool fixture?

And one more picture, this is looking from the dining room into our living room...I love it.

Once the room is "officially" done, I'll post the final results!

Belated Birthday Post

I'm back in the country after a long and relaxing vacation with Jason in Antigua last week (more on that later). Now that I've had a chance to re-group, I'm wanting to get back on the blogging bandwagon.

Here are pictures from Lawyer's Birthday back in September (I know, I know - it's pretty bad if I'm posting about something from over a month ago!). He turned 4 and had a couple of friends over, we had fun!

M.I.A.

Sorry, sorry, sorry! This past month has found me trying to tread water just so I can breathe. I have so much to blog about and so little time. Here's what has been going on:

*Lawyer turned 4 in September (I truly do have pics to share...just not today!)

*We've being doing some remodeling...a wall has been knocked down, lights have been put in, closets have been renovated.

*Jason and I had our 4 year wedding anniversary this month.

*MANY books have been read...I read the entire Twilight series in a week and now I've started them all over again because I fell deeply, madly in love with Edward and I wasn't ready to part from him just yet...Twilight the movie comes out next month!!!!!!! And the actor playing Edward looks like he's already living up to my physical expectations (I have a thing for vampires - always have and probably always will)!

*I'm trying to finish up knitting my scarf I started sometime this year.

*Friends have been visited, birthdays have been had, food has been eaten (even if it weren't of my own creation) and laundry is piling up.

*Panic! at the Disco will be in concert with the Plain White T's and Dashboard Confessionals and I'm hoping to go. Um, hello? Check out the lead singer (sitting in the chair)? Do you see a vampire-esqueness about him? Sigh.

*Oh and my mom bought Jason this painting (you may remember this from a previous post). It's so dark, mysterious, vampire-ish (seriously, I have vampire issues) and deeply disturbing and Jason and I LOVE it.

With all this having been going on, I'm SOOOO excited because Jason and I are headed to Miami on Friday and then we fly to Antigua on Saturday for a whole week of all-inclusive indulgences! I plan on chilling out so that when I get back, I can commence my blogging duties!