My new toy

I just bought a new camera and I'm so excited about it! It's a Panasonic Lumix ZS5, with 12 megapixels, 12x optical zoom, manual controls, and a whole host of cool features. My crappy old 6-megapixel, 3x-zoom, no-manual-controls camera doesn't even compare. I got a good deal on it too - Best Buy was selling it on "clearance" for $250; I got it on Amazon for $180!

Like an excited kid on Christmas morning, I just wanted to play with it as soon as I got it and didn't really bother reading the manual first. I'm sure there's much more I can do with this camera, but for now here are a few samples from this past weekend...

The first thing I did was test out the zoom. I took this picture from the Alexandria waterfront, facing north towards DC. You may be able to see the Capitol building way off in the distance.

And this is with the extended zoom. I think my jaw may have actually dropped when I saw this.

Here's another picture I took with the zoom.

The camera also has the ability to stitch together a panoramic image. This picture was made from four different photographs.

Here's a fun feature called "pinhole," which gives the picture an old timey look.

And finally, spring is upon us!

You know what that means...baseball and cherry blossom pictures will be forthcoming!

Adventures in baking

Today was a rainy, gloomy day....

So I did one of my favorite rainy day activities: baking! I've always loved baking, but given the fact that I'm usually only baking for myself, I don't do it as often as I like. I don't need a whole cake or three dozen cookies just for me (although my coworkers love me for bringing in leftovers). Hence you can imagine my extreme delight in discovering a cookbook called Small Batch Baking. All the recipes are scaled down to serve one or two people. It's like this book was made just for me!

Today I decided to try my hand at making miniature chocolate cakes. I got out my new handy dandy cookbook holder that I got for my birthday (thanks, mom!)....I don't know how I ever lived without one.

How might one make miniature cakes, you may ask? With tin cans!

Here are my little cakes after they came out of the oven. Patiently waiting for them to cool...

Et voila! The finished product! There's even a filling in the middle.



The whole process was actually quite easy. And afterwards I just have to throw away the cans instead of washing cake pans! I definitely recommend this book for all my single (or newlywed) friends who like to bake.

So this is what I've been dealing with...

You don't fully realize how much you rely on email until you don't have it. I haven't been able to access my Gmail account since Saturday. The good news is, at least it wasn't hacked like I had feared. Here's a message from Google:

"Imagine the sinking feeling of logging in to your Gmail account and finding it empty. That’s what happened to 0.02% of Gmail users yesterday, and we’re very sorry. The good news is that email was never lost and we’ve restored access for many of those affected. Though it may take longer than we originally expected, we're making good progress and things should be back to normal for everyone soon."

Yes, I'm part of that 0.02%. Apparently there was a software bug that caused all this. And they've shut down my account while they're working on it, so I can't even log in. In case anyone has tried emailing me in the past few days, here's something else you should know:

"If you were affected by this issue, it’s important to note that email sent to you between 6:00 PM PST on February 27 and 2:00 PM PST on February 28 was likely not delivered to your mailbox, and the senders would have received a notification that their messages weren’t delivered."

*Sigh*

Sorry I don't have any fun pictures today. But I'll let you all in on a little secret....I recently got a bonus at work (yay!) and I'm planning on buying a new camera! So I'm sure I will have lots of pictures to post in the near future. :)

Out and About

Here are a few pictures I took around the Mall yesterday...

Snow!

The DC area got hit with a heavy snowstorm on Wednesday. I was fortunate enough to get home before it started, unlike other people who got stranded on the roads for hours on end. Once the snow started falling, it looked so pretty I was tempted to go outside and take some pictures. However, I was just too warm and cozy inside my house. So I took this picture from my window.

I think we got about 8 inches in total. Much of it has melted already. I took this picture as I went on a walk this afternoon.

P.S. Some jerk stole our snow shovel! Seriously, who does that?!

Day at the zoo

Last Monday I spent my federal holiday going to the zoo with a few coworkers. My mission was to see the new lion cubs that were born last summer; they've recently been allowed outside for public viewing. Since the great cats are located at the far end of the zoo, it was our last stop. However, we probably should have gone there first. Apparently the lion cubs are let outside at 12:30. We got there at 1:15 and there was nary a cub to be seen.

I was sad.

The good thing about going to the zoo in the winter is that there aren't many people there. We were the only people at the panda exhibit! It was incredible.

Look how cute and fuzzy he is!

Since I couldn't cuddle with him - because, you know, he's a ferocious bear - I had to settle with this panda statue.

This red panda is just as cute and fuzzy as his cousin!



My other favorite animal is the elephant. They're always fun to watch.

I learned that meerkats are actually kind of interesting. They take turns on sentry duty.

And here's a hodgepodge of more animals...

This concludes our tour of the zoo. I guess I'll have to make another trip out there to see the lion cubs.



Home for the Holidays

It's time for my annual Christmas round-up! This year was a little less active due to my ill-timed rib injury, but there's no place like home for when you're recuperating.

Our first stop was my brother's house, where we met their two new foster kids. And boy, was that place busy! I think this picture sums things up pretty well.

This is a really cute picture. Who knew my brother was such a softie!

Next we went to my sister's to celebrate Christmas. I always love watching how the kids get so excited on Christmas morning. Tricia and I were especially impressed with Alex's organizational skills as he unloaded his stocking.

Little Elise kind of reminds me of Cindy Lou Who.



And she got a bike!

Grandpa helped Alex put together his new Lego set.

Later that day we went for a walk around Corriganville Movie Ranch, which is right behind their house. I can't believe I had lived there for so long and never visited Corriganville! It's a relic of the old Western film genre. A lot of movies and tv shows were filmed there back in the 1930s and 40s, and then it became a tourist attraction in the 1950s. I can't say I'm a connoisseur of Western films, but it was pretty neat to walk around these old movie "sets."

This is where they would film water scenes. Apparently The African Queen was filmed here. Looks real jungley, huh?

I believe this is called Gorilla Rock. In person it really does look like an ape was frozen in the rock.

We also came upon an actual movie set! Unfortunately there was a fence around it so I couldn't get any good pictures.

The next day we went to The Grove shopping center in Hollywood so Corinne could spend her American Girl gift cards. This isn't the best picture of me (I'll blame it on not feeling well), but Tricia looks so stylish! :)

On our way back to the house, we drove through Beverly Hills just to gawk a little. No, I didn't see any of the Real Housewives walking around.

As I excitedly pointed out the famous designers on Rodeo Drive (Badgley Mischka! Dolce and Gabbana!), my mom and sister wondered how I "knew so much" about fashion. Apparently they don't watch enough E!

And then the following day I flew back to DC (and subfreezing temperatures). It always seems to go by so quickly.

Happy New Year, y'all!