It’s that time again folks, Wonderful Wednesdays. When we take a look at the good stuff in our lives to get over the hump of the week–so let’s get to it!

This week, I’m doing things bullet point style, because there’s so much I want to make sure I cover it all! Here’s what’s wonderful in my world right now:

• summer finally hit San Diego. And while that means it’s hot in our house, it also means I can finally wear the cute, flirty little sun dresses that have been languishing in my closet all summer long.
• Tomorrow is my 31st birthday–and I’ve got no issues with it at all! 30, for all it’s emotional ups and downs, was pretty stellar, so bring on 31.
• The Mumford & Sons album that’s on repeat is pretty great. New music is always wonderful!
• Baby laughs, like this (audio): Baby laughs Tell me this doesn’t brighten your day!
• Dreaming big, even though it scares me
• I learned a simple little trick the other day for a program I’ve used for years. It was silly, and could have had the potential to make me feel dumb, but instead I was just excited that I learned something new.
• Seeing sneak peaks of N.C.’s solo show hit (with a wonderful write up too!). Love seeing him get the press he deserves! (and that picture at the top is mine. Not too bad, right?)
• I’ve been breaking out the camera some more lately. I’m still struggling with two pretty big issues: light and shutter speed. Well, actually, it’s less about shutter speed and more about the speed of my little wiggleworm subject. It’s HARD to photograph that kid and get the photos to turn out. And the light…unless I’m outside, in the full light of day, or using the horrible flash, I get noise and/or blur–and that’s with a full wall of windows! It’s really frustrating. That being said, I’m pulling the camera out more, and learning to embrace some of the blur. Better to have blurry photos than none at all right? Plus, sometimes I get a good one.

So folks, what’s wonderful in your world? Share your good stuff in the comments, or grab the badge and blog it up–let me know and I’ll link you when you’re done!

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Last vacation post, I swear! I just had to share some more photos, and then, I promise, I’ll get back to real life and out of vacation mode. Be warned–this is a very pic heavy post! Proceed at your own peril:

The infamous Alcatraz. We didn’t go to the island this trip because we’ve both been–it’s an utterly creepy, surreal place. But it is a pretty picture.

We stayed in the Financial District, about 4 or 5 blocks from the Embarcadero area. Our hotel was the Le Meridien, and we had a beautiful bay view room on the 23rd floor. There were floor to ceiling windows that gave us a view of Coit Tower to the north and over by the Ferry building to the east. The kid LOVED standing up and looking out the window (and banging on the window too, he got quite the kick out of that). The first few times it was a little freaky for me to see him standing there, but eventually I got used to it.

The Ferry Building. We spent a LOT of time here–they’ve got amazing food vendors and restaurants here and it was only a few blocks from our hotel. Win-win.

My husband (and my reflection). Part of the reason for our trip was that it was our 4th wedding anniversary, and we like to try and celebrate every year by taking a vacation or at least getting a hotel room and pretending we’re on vacation. I’m so lucky to be married to him, and I’m so glad that he’s the father of my kid–he’s a fantastic husband and amazing father!

Have I mentioned that I love this kid?

Next time I’m complaining about parking, someone remind me of this photograph.

We went to the Aquarium of the Bay one day. It’s a smaller aquarium, but it’s got this cool tunnel that you walk through while fish and sharks swim around you. It was pretty neat. This photograph of the jellyfish wasn’t a part of the tunnel, but I thought it was so cool I had to share it (N.C. took this one).

More photos, less rambling….

Disapproving baby sez: That’s MORE than enough vacation photos!

This blog has gotten way too serious lately, and I’m starting to get all angsty about it. The last few posts may not show it, but I’m really adverse to confrontation and have never been one to put myself in the middle of disagreements. I’m basically the most passive person you’ll meet, and the last few blog posts here have me all twitchy and wishing I hadn’t put them out there. I don’t like the idea of alienating you guys, and ControverSunday notwithstanding, I’m not comfortable with the head space I’ve gotten to the last few posts.

So, I’m going to take a deep breath, step back and get back to something a little more…me. So how bout some pictures?

Sunday we had a really full, fun day as a family. First, there was the previously mentioned playdate–Jackson’s first! He did great and played well with the other little boy, but that’s where we realized that the batteries on my big camera were dead (always check before you leave the house, or make sure you’ve got extras!), and that I had forgotten the Flip. Which meant that the iPhone camera was going to have to suffice for the day.

Luckily, I think the photos from the iPhone turn out ok, for a phone camera. I got some great photos from the playdate, but I have a general policy that I won’t post other people’s photos without their consent and that goes doubly for other kids, so you’ll just have to imagine a sunny day and two of the cutest little boys in Southern California.

From the playdate, we decided we weren’t ready to head home, so a little jaunt down to the beach was in order. It was overcast at the water, which was fine by me, since it meant it wasn’t blazing hot! I had to bust out the Hipstamatic app for just one photo while we were there–I think too much of that app can be overkill, but look at this one and tell me it’s not awesome for the occasional shot!

Then it was time for a little family portrait. Don’t mind the surly baby, he really was having fun!

We did some good staring at the ocean. It’s so BIG you know, especially when you’re so little.

Then I decided to show Jackson how to antagonize seagulls. Which, come on, chasing seagulls is one of the best parts of going to beach, amirite?

At the beach, there was a little playground, so we thought it would be a good time to have Jackson try out the swings (for the first time)! I wasn’t sure he was enjoying himself, but then N.C. and I switched places, with me pushing him and N.C. in front and then he thought it was GREAT fun–is there anything better than baby belly laughs?

We ended the day with Jackson’s first slide ride, on the Daddy-mobile. I’m not sure he cared so much about the slide as he did all the kids that were around to stare at!

Sunday helped remind me, yet again, why I love living here. We have parks and beaches and sun and overcast days to enjoy pretty much year round. It was chilly at the beach, but nothing a light jacket and some running around couldn’t cure. And what better way to spend a day with your family than to just get out and enjoy the natural beauty of the place you live?

It’s a beautiful day here in Southern California–sunny, with a light breeze, not too hot, not too cool. It’s days like today that make me so happy we live here–it may be expensive but damn if it isn’t gorgeous.

I was supposed to go to an honest to goodness tea party today (the kind with tea and croquet and finger sandwiches, not politics and signs and shouting), but circumstances conspired to keep me from attending. So instead I took some photos on our balcony while enjoying a bit of sunshine. Of course they’re all macro shots–because that’s what I like man–but I think they turned out kind of nice. I took some advice from a few of you and turned it to the aperture setting, and was able to get some great blur in the background and some real pop on some of the tiny details. Granted, there’s full sun, so I didn’t have to worry about low light, but baby steps folks, baby steps.

For anyone who is interested: I don’t have a dSLR. I have an Olympus sp-560UZ which is somewhere between a compact point and shoot and a full-scale dSLR. It’s got a lot of manual controls, but probably not as many as a full dSLR. It doesn’t have adjustable lenses. I consider it a good “in-between” camera: not as fully featured as a dSLR (or as pricey), not as compact & easy(or inexpensive) as a pocket point & shoot, but with features from both. Someday I’d love to upgrade to a true dSLR, but I need a little more time learning before that kind of investment is worth it.

Now, on with the pictures:

I had to play with the color on this one in Photoshop–anyone have any tips on how to get more true to life colors when I’m photographing flowers in particular?

I love how crisp the details are in this.

I love the layers of focus in this shot. And how the greens change depending on where they are.

I kind of wish that big leaf wasn’t right in the front, but in some ways I think it adds an interesting foreground, middle ground, background view.

The composition on this one is a little off for me, but I just love the background. These were all taken from our second story balcony, and I love that you kind of get that sense of height here.

And a gratuitous baby with bananas shot.  This shot was taken a few nights ago, in the kitchen (florescent overhead lighting) and a squirmy baby, so the quality isn’t great, but it’s better than I’ve been getting. He remains my hardest subject to photograph, but he’s cute enough to make up for a lot of my novice photographer mistakes.

I was looking back through my archives the other day as I’ve been cleaning the ole blog up, and I realized I haven’t really posted any photographs since January. January! That makes me frustrated with myself, because I really do enjoy taking pictures (and not just of the baby) and for a while there, I was really getting into a groove of really learning my camera. I was learning and liking some of what I was shooting and damn if that wasn’t a nice little boost to my generally uncreative soul.

But now when I pick up the camera it’s like I never learned anything. I’ve forgotten settings. I get irrationally frustrated when I can’t figure out lighting or some other technical issue with the camera. I try to take pictures of the baby but the camera isn’t fast enough–whether by user error (most likely) or camera capability or some combo. I have so, so, SO many photos that looked great in the viewfinder or on the LCD screen but when I look at them full size they’re grainy or out of focus or poorly lit and I just feel like giving up.

Bad Picture Trifecta

I know it’s not the camera (well, maybe a little, but not enough to get all the blame), I know it’s me–I’ve gotten out of practice and have lost what little knowledge I had and I just need to work at it again to get back to that very beginner stage I was at a year ago. But sometimes it’s frustrating to come home with a camera full of images and only have 1 or 2 that are worth saving. I get that there are going to be lots of rejects, but I’m hoping for a little more than a 1% usability rate here.

BUT. In an effort to motivate myself to get back to it, to work through my issues, I’m going to try and start posting photos more regularly again. Even if they’re not super great–the category is called “Learning Photography” for a reason, so I’m just going to start at the beginning. Again. Maybe I’ll even post some of the horrible ones to show what I’m working with. Photographer types, if you have suggestions for me to get better, I welcome them. Non-photographer types, if you do (or don’t!) like what you see, let me know–I want feedback to try and get better. I really do enjoy that stupid camera, even if it pisses me off a lot lately, and I need to put it to better use. Not just so I’ll have pictures of the baby, but so that I can get back to that whole doing something for me thing I used to talk about.