Week #21 of my NEW52 life ...

I'd been coveting a new lens for my camera since the beginning of the year, but I really couldn't justify the expense as DH had only just bought me a lovely new zoom lens for Christmas ... it didn't feel right to cough up even more money for another lens so soon. That though, was before I knew I was being invited to a friend's wedding in Italy. Once the invite dropped on the doormat in January, all I could think of was, how nice it would be if I could have a 50mm f1.4 lens to take with me ... ~sigh~

I started browsing the Internet and came across Warehouse Express, a UK supplier offering a Nikon 50mm f1.4 G AF-S lens for what I thought was a not too unreasonable cost. The only catch was they had no stock. In fact, everywhere I looked had no stock. Every site said I could place the order, but they didn't know when goods would be despatched. It took a while to figure out why, but then I eventually realised ... it was the knock on effect of the terrible earthquake & tsunami in Japan earlier in the year.

Fast forward to Thursday 26th May at approximately 1:25pm ... my lunch break [at work] was almost over and I was just about to log off my laptop and get back to my day job, when I casually glanced at the Warehouse Express website and ... finally the available stock sign was GREEN ... they had 2 in stock!!!

It took me all of 10 seconds to make my decision! My bank card was whipped out of my purse sooooooo fast, I almost gave myself a plastic cut ... and with furious fingers flying across the keyboard, my order was placed ... and the very next day, this lens would be mine!

I ♥ the depth of field I'm able to achieve
I ♥ that it's easy to use
I ♥ my 50mm lens

I'm still practising using it, but here's just a couple of photos I've taken with it [so far] ...

DH not quite frowning, but not quite smiling either

floral decoration at a recent wedding

So you see, my "new" for this particular week was quite big ... but just wait 'til you read what week #22 had in store for me ... I can honestly say, I lost count of all the "new" things I experienced. I'll be back this weekend to share some of them with you!

Week #20 of my NEW52 life ...

In truth, this happened much earlier than week #20 (it started way back in January when I renewed my driving licence) but it wasn't until the week of 16th May that I finally received the most important card I'll ever own. It's a card that I'll never actually get to benefit from, but one that never-the-less I gladly hold onto in the knowledge that one day, I may be able to help someone who truly needs it.

This is the one card I encourage EVERYONE [in the UK] to carry ...


For more information about the NHS Organ Donor Register, please click here. Thank you.

Week #19 of my NEW52 life ...

New things have been coming along thick and fast over the last few weeks, so much so that I've not really had time to sit down and share them we you ... for which I apologise. But thankfully things have calmed down now and I can spend some "quality time" with my laptop (oh how I've missed it!) and you.

So let's start with week #19 shall we? Let's see, that was the week from 9th - 15th May ... yikes ... was it really that long ago??? My new for this week was a purchase, a total impulse buy but I love them none-the-less ...


I've got a thing for jars. I have LOTS of them in my spare bedroom / scrap space. I have big ones and little ones and I use them to store all manner of embellishments (from my card making / paper scrapbooking days) and although I'm mainly a digiscrapping girl now-a-days, I can't bring myself to get rid of their content, let alone the jars themselves!

But these new jars aren't destined to store pretty, sparkly trinkets or multicoloured grosgrain ribbon ... no siree ... these jars are to be filled with sweet goodies and tasty treats for anyone to dip in to and help themselves whenever they pass by ... yummy!!! I think I'll print a label / tag to hang round them that says "Help Yourself" and/or "You're Welcome". I'll try to remember to take a photo of them once they're filled and share the photos here too.

So that was week #19. What's next? Of yes ... week #20.

Just a glimpse ...

Beautiful isn't it? It's just one of the magnificent views DH and I captured during our recent trip over to Tuscany, Italy. We were there for a wedding (more on that in future posts I hope) and we had a fabulous time. Our only regret is that we didn't stay for longer (we were only there for 4 days and 2 of those were taken up with travelling!). We took 700+ photos during our short visit, most of which were of the wedding we attended, so far we've only uploaded a small selection (just 18) to Flickr, so if you fancy seeing a few more photos of the area, feel free to click here.