My new Lumix digital camera

This year for Christmas my big present was my new small Lumix Digital camera. It has 5X optical zoom and a 2.7in. screen in the back. It’s a very pretty blue and I love it. It’s very tiny & compact but not too small that I can’t work the buttons properly! It’s tough to get used to compared to my big Canon Rebel SLR but I’m getting used to it. I desperately needed one to take around with me in my purse. I am always finding things or people or places that I want to take photos of and I don’t lug around my big camera everywhere I go. So this was a fantastic solution! I took it around to all the Christmas gatherings (Steve gave it to me early) and used it for those.
Right now I’m only having trouble with the red eye reduction option. That works ok but I would rather have the camera on plain ole automatic b/c that takes the picture a little faster.. and with Noah, faster is better! He does not sit still for long. So I’ve now got a lot of photos with the red eyes.. but that’s easy to take out in photoshop so it’s no big deal.
For a small digital camera, it takes good pictures, printable pictures… which is important, and it’s easy & convenient to use. I’d highly recommend it!

Wii Fit Plus

I just got the Wii Fit Plus for Christmas from Steve! I am super excited about it. I’ve only been able to spend much time on it on three or four separate occassions so far. It’s tough when I’m here by myself because Noah constantly wants to stand on the balance board and won’t let me play properly!
But so far I’ve done a little bit of everything. I tried the Yoga for the first time the other night and it actually wasn’t too awful. I’m not into Yoga but some of the moves were easier than I thought. I kinda felt like “why am I even doing this..? I can’t be getting anything out of it”, but then after holding the positions for a good 30 seconds it does get more challenging.
I really like the “Plus” games that are apparently not on the normal Wii Fit. There is an obstacle course that I’ve tried three times now and still haven’t completed. There are lots of balance games I enjoy and a snowball fight that I’m pretty good at.
It’s a pretty fun game to play and helps me relieve a little stress and burn a few calories in the process. I’d really recommend it for anyone who isn’t so into working out and breaking a huge sweat. I can do the game for 30-40 minutes and depending on which things I do, I can burn a lot of calories and not work up an actual hard sweat to where I’m drenched and smelly. It’s just enough! I’m likin’ it!

More Running

I ran another 1.5 miles tonight

Total miles in 2010: 5 miles down, 255 to go

Winsome Wood 30-Inch Black PVC Seat Walnut Bar Stools Review

I purchased a total of 4 stools for my in home bar and I really like these. I have had several compliments on the appearance. For bar stools they are fairly comfortable, and they have swivel tops. Besides that they do what they were designed for. If I get some time I will add a picture of them.

A small note on the construction, it appears they were slightly overtightened on the legs around the bottom support ring, it created some minor cracking but structurally the stools are fine. This may be limited to the 4 I received.

260 Miles of Running

progress so far:
1/9/2010 : 1.5 miles

Total miles in 2010: 3.5 miles down, 256.5 to go.

Wii Charge Station Quad by NYKO Review

I purchased this quad charger after my previous dual remote from another manufacturer died. So far this charger has been excellent, it holds 4 wii-motes as you probably guessed from the title and there are color LEDs to indicate the charge status. The charge the battery packs hold seems to last a decent amount of time, none of my gaming sessions have completely consumed the charge in the packs. This is a much better alternative to constantly swapping out rechargeable batteries. The battery packs that come with the NYKO charger are 4 different colors. Link below if you are interested.

Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult

This is the latest Jodi Picoult book I have read & loved. All of her books have been great so far, but I really identified with this one in a lot of ways.
It’s about a woman named Paige O’Toole who leaves home after some issues w/ a high school pregnancy, etc. to find the mother who left she & her father when she was young. Instead she falls in love and ends up being pregnant and it really delves into all the scary things that a woman goes through when she’s pregnant and a new mother. How incredibly difficult it is and how it affects your marriage.. She is married to a Dr. and has helped work as a waitress to put him through medical school rather than fulfilling her dreams of art school.. so she ends up feeling like she’s lost herself and this is basically the story of how she tried (sometimes failed and sometimes succeeded) to find herself again without totally turning her back on her family.
It’s heartwrenching and raw and I really enjoyed it. Try it out!

What shall I blog?

I am going to start blogging on here, as well. Mine will also be reviews & things like that. I’m also going to start a mommy blog somewhere else.. not sure where yet.
For now, I’ve decided to go back & review a lot of the baby items that we’ve gotten for Noah for all of you new parents who are still looking for helpful tips!
When we had Noah our main concerns were the big items- carseat, stroller, high chair, etc. We found some great Graco items that we’ve now used & really loved! The pattern we chose was Birkshire and it was only available online and I’m so glad I picked it because it’s very unisex and I have never seen anyone around here with the same pattern. I’ve gotten compliments all over the place.
Here are the things we got & loved:
1. Graco Safeseat Infant Car Seat
2. Graco Contempo High Chair
3. Graco Metrolite Stroller
4. Graco Swing n Bounce Swing

260 Miles of Running in 2010

I know I know 260 miles isn’t that much when you run every day but for someone that works a full time and part time job and takes care of his family it is hard to squeeze in time to work out every day or even a few days a week.

So for 2010 I decided to make a goal of running 5 miles a week X 52 weeks so 260 miles. I have also decided to risk public humiliation and post it on here for all to see. I will periodically update my progress and total miles so that you all can laugh at me or cheer me on, it is your choice.

progress so far:
1/4/2010 : 1 mile
1/5/2010 : 1 mile

Total miles in 2010: 2 miles down, 258 to go.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

I will admit that I was not a First Person Shooter fan for consoles but after making this purchase I am now. I have played a few hours of campaign mode, and a few more hours of CO-OP mode. I don’t have a ton of time to game now days but when I do get time to play this is what I have been loading into my PS3. The graphics are fantastic, the battles are intense, and the controls are much better than I remember them for a console.

Historically I didn’t care to play any FPS on a console but now that I have played COD:MW2 I will most likely try again real soon. I have heard the online play is the best part and I will hopefully have some time to try that out soon as well.
The link below is for the game with free super-saver shipping.