Fall Decor & the Camera..

I have been wanting a fall wreath for as long as I can remember... something with rich fall colors that isn't over the top of any specific holiday, but that could last from Halloween until Thanksgiving, and maybe even on into Christmas.. that is, until the Christmas ones go on sale and I talk myself into buying one for next year. In fact, I already have one picked out, I'm just waiting for the sale signs to go up.. or better yet, CLEARANCE!

So with all of my window shopping that I do (which is mostly Friday afternoons after work if we aren't leaving early for a football game) I know who has what and how much it all costs. I have been eying this one fall wreath for quite some time at Pier 1 and even though it went on clearance to almost 50% off, I just couldn't bring myself to buy it because I'm that stingy. Well, finally after about 5 weeks of seeing this thing on sale, I gave in and bought it! Did I mention that I get a discount of 20% on everything at Pier 1? So really, it took me over a month to convince myself that spending $18 on this wreath I had wanted for so long was worth the cost.

When it came to purchasing the wreath I decided that with the money I was saving I wanted to buy a cute little wreath hanger with birds on it.. a spur of the moment decision, unlike the wreath itself. Don't try to understand my thinking, you'll never get it. Ok, maybe my Mom does, but only because I learned from her!

I didn't take any full on pictures of the wreath because I didn't plan on even writing about it, but then I saw how awesome the pictures were (and I didn't even edit them) so I decided to show you too! I have to admit, I wouldn't have even thought to take these pictures if it weren't for the following events that perspired on Thursday and Friday. I'm sure most of you know by now that I got a new camera for Christmas... back in September.. from myself... don't judge me.

Here she is in all her glory.. at least all of her manufacturer's photo glory! So last Thursday I pulled out the camera to snap a few quick pictures and she would not take. If you've never used a Digital SLR camera, you should know that there is a setting that forces the image you are taking a picture of to come into focus enough before it will allow you to take the picture--In which it beeps at you to let you know it's ready. I know I'm not explaining that technically or anything, but you get it, right?

Moving on. So I'm sitting there trying to take the picture and the autofocus is working hard, coming into focus and then settling out of focus and not allowing me to take the picture. I thought to myself, this most likely has something to do with my battery... I had just received a new one because the old needed to be replaced, but I had yet to charge it. With that, I went home and charged the brand new battery that night. First thing the next morning, I popped the new battery in and gave her a go. To my disbelief, the same thing kept happening.

My stomach sank. I thought, "what have I done!" The entire drive to work I was thinking to myself, "what am I going to do.. this is NOT going to be cheap.. and right before Thanksgiving and Christmas?... right before my Brother gets home from deployment? Great." I got to the office and headed straight for the office of one of my co-workers who is a complete SLR guru. I walked in and said as miserably as I could, "Kevin, I need your help... my camera wont take pictures..." After taking a look at it for a while, he concluded that he didn't have a clue what was wrong.

In Abilene, there is no camera store.. you have best buy and then Wal-Mart. That's just how we roll here apparently. But thankfully I asked the right person. Kevin gave me a number of a guy in town named Bill and he is my new best friend! Bill is the most precious old man who used to own a photography store here in town, but now he works out of his shed in his backyard.

My heart sank when he told me he might get it back to me by Christmas. I just walked to my car trying to figure out what I was going to do. Within the hour he called me and said everything was ready to go! I could not believe it! When I got there, he told me that the problem was in the lens, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Good because I have another lens I can use for the time being, bad because the lens is the most important (and most expensive) part of the whole getup. 

Thankfully Bill knows of someone who can get it fixed for me for much less than buying a new one, so I'm pleased. Hopefully I can get it back by Christmas, but I'm going to be patient. So back to the pictures... I had never used the other lens before, because it wasn't as fast and didn't have the range of the one that broke, so I spent a few minutes testing it out on Friday afternoon--after all, I had to be ready for Saturday's game!

And the wreath was the perfect subject! So there you have it, my lovely fall wreath and my other lens that I am growing fond of the more I use it. I just love the bokeh in this picture!!

p.s. Dad--if you're reading this, and you feel compelled to by me a new lens for Christmas, feel free to check out the Nikon 50mm 1.8. It's what I want next, and it's not expensive at all, in terms of lenses. :)