Raising Maidens: At Home

Hello, world!

Today was an exciting day as I got to use my birthday present from my wonderful in-laws for the first time: a Canon DSLR camera!! I think that once you've had a DSLR camera, it's really hard to go back to just a point and shoot or (heaven forbid) an iPad or iPhone to document your life in photos. There is just NO comparison. I really felt like it wasn't just pictures that I was missing out on - it was memories!! I don't print pictures that I take with my phone or iPad, and after having a NICE camera, I even find it hard to bring myself to print photos taken with my point and shoot.
My Canon that I had gotten for my birthday two years ago died over the course of our move to Hawaii. I'm guessing that somehow it got shaken around too much at some point and that's what did it in. Let me just tell you, there were definitely tears shed over it.
This year for my birthday, I knew that we were nowhere close to being in a financial position to buy a new camera yet, so I had zero expectations to use a DSLR anytime again in the near future. Well, surprise, surprise, David's dad, Tom, decided that he was going to send me his Canon for my birthday under the excuse that "he never uses it anymore." It was happily received and as soon as I had a full battery in it, I was snapping pictures! Ryenne was napping when this happened, and I seriously considered waking her up just so I could take pictures of her (don't worry, I did decide that sleep was more important for her haha).
Anyway, one of the MANY things I've been wanting to take pictures of with a good quality camera has been our home! It's gone through a lot of changes since we first moved in (here is a post with some pictures from January). I didn't get every room as both David and Ryenne were taking naps (David started his new Starbucks job this week and that means he is heading to work at 3:30am!! Ouch.), but I managed to take some pictures of our living room, kitchen, bathroom, and outside. These are special pictures to me because this is where I live and this is where I spend almost 100% of my time as my job is a stay at home mama and wife! It's so important to me to have a nice, clean home, because to me it's a reflection of the homemaker!
I am looking forward to MANY more blog posts in the future as I now have my trusty DSLR back at my side! I seriously just can't wait to make up for all the lost time! Next time I'll have to take some pictures of our room and Ryenne's :)
Randie Megan

Our living room

That little owl is from our trip to Greece in 2013!

The kitchen - David made our kitchen table himself!

This was a card that a sweet friend (Aunt TaeJa) sent me my first winter in Chicago. I thought it was so beautiful, I kept it for months and months, and now I'm especially glad I have it because it reminds me of that special time in our lives when all we had was each other and everything was new!