My Camera is Ill

My great little Nikon D40 has a hot pixel. I think this is one time when ‘hot’ is not a good thing. Notice the red line that appears on all my photos because it’s just so dang ‘hot’.

I’ve been without a camera for a whole week now while the gods at Nikon Camera in El Segundo camera fix it. I got the diagnosis yesterday with a bill for $150 dollars to fix it. Sigh, what choice did I have to pay it? To replace the camera would cost around $500 so decison made. Credit card number handed over to the Nikon gods and hopefully I will get my camera back in another week or so.

I’ve missed out on not taking any pictures this week. It was the first day of school nonetheless.  Very sad indeed to have to draw pictures of what my kids looked like on this special day. More or less, this is what the kids looked like. I am such an artist.

Now do you believe me that I NEED my camera like I need air? Hurry home little Nikon D40, hurry home to mama.

New Banner Photos

My amazingly talented photographer brother Michael Harrington is in town. He drove 600 miles just to take some photos for me. Ok, that’s a lie. He drove 600 miles to come photograph Speedweek at the Bonneville Salt Flats.  And even though he can photograph amazing photos like this….

….he can also dummy things down a bit to photograph my fun little banners for my shop.

So thanks to my brother for using his bazillion dollar lens on his  Canon to capture the color and fun of something so special to me. I love great photography because it says more than words ever could. So I’ll stop speaking now and let these photos do the talking.







Don’t you just wanna buy one of my banners now? Or at least buy the pattern and make your own?

Young Women’s Camp 2010

I just returned from Young  Women’s camp on Saturday. This year was my 5th year in a row attending. (Please, hold your applause.) For those of you not part of the Mormon faith, who have no idea what I am talking about, Young Women’s camp is for the teenage girls in my church ages 12-18.  Our goals are many, but just a few are: helping them increase their testimonies of Jesus Christ as our Savior, teach them skills, bond as only women (young and old) can, and get crazy and silly.  I call it the Mormon Miracle because no matter what obstacles beset us, there always seem to be much learning and growth despite my failings as a leader. 

Now, before I go further, I must say that when I went to YW Camp in the California San  Bernardino mountains as a teenager, it was quite different. We had electricity in our cabins, hot running water, and we ate all together in a giant mess hall where the food magically appeared on large tables, carefully prepared by fairies and gnomes.
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No dishes were done, no work to be done. Oh, and we had a swimming pool which was crusty, but nonetheless, it was still a pool. Now, the camp we attend in the Utah mountains is rustic and meant for pioneer women who simply didn’t know the difference when faced with a week of no bathing and boiling water to wash dishes. I am such a wimp and I proudly proclaim that camping is for the birds. Well, it’s for the kind of birds who like dirt, bugs, and sleeping on 20” wide cots. Because this bird likes her Blackberry, memory foam mattress pad, and homemade chocolate milkshakes at night. (Good grief, that sounds like a personal ad!)

This year was dubbed Rainy Camp (notice the rain droplets on the pink lantern and on the canopy). And don’t I look happy in my yellow poncho? Last year was ‘Hotter than Hades Camp’, the year before that was ‘Frozen Chosen Camp’, and the previous two were just plain ‘Normal Dusty Camp’. I thought Utah was a desert, but mother nature has a sense of humor, hence the daily rainstorms. On the day we made reflector ovens to bake our pizza and cookies, I had to light my charcoal (no joking) at least 7-10 times because of all the blasted rain.  But oh yes, I prevailed in making fire, even in a deluge. Don’t the girls looks happy cookin’ in the wild?
I tried to stay out of most of the photos, instead preferring to be the Paparazzi. Here I am photographing our pizzas baking. After all, it’s camp, and there ain’t no make up allowed at camp.


All in all it was a fabulous week. Lives were touched and I still believe that there is nothing quite so beautiful as a young woman who keeps the commandments of God. She literally glows and it sure shows in her countenance.
Wouldn’t you agree?