Nooby Photographer does Italy....

  So I just got a brand new Canon Rebel XS with a 15-55 mm & 70-300mm lenses.  It's totally a beginners camera, but I love it.  Beautiful shots no matter what!
  Let me just say, I have absolutely NO clue what f/stops, metering and exposure and all that "shop talk" pros use!  I got the camera just in time for my 1 week trip to see my husband in  Italy.  I took 757 photos, not including the ones I deleted because they just came out crappy!

  Out of all those shots there were a handful of really awesome shots, great lighting, composition, etc.  My "eye"  really developed as the week progressed, and of course it's easy to shoot inanimate objects.  I guess that's the learning curve for us noobies - shoot things that don't move!  So here are a few of  my favorites.

 Leaning Tower of Pisa

The chuch and other buildings at Pisa

A cross on the fence in front of a church in La Spezia

The Cross on the top of the church in La Spezia

A Water Fountain & Sculpture in one of the Piazas in La Spezia

I have a thing for doors, light posts, etc.  evidentally I kept shooting them, this is one, that came out exceptionally well, imho

I fell in love with this sculpture in Piazza Europa in La Spezia

This is the same sculptor.  I love the angel stepping on the man's head.

These are their water fountains.  They're so unique...

A little light house at the end of the pier.  I liked how the lamps are lining the way

A water fountain in a memorial park.

This building had some gorgeous reliefs and sculptors all over it.  I loved these empty soldier suits with the evening sun hitting them!

Tunnel Vision

View of flowers with surf crashing on the rocks in the background at Larici Castle in Larici, Italia

Insert theme song from "Titanic" here!  Also from Larici Castle

Hubby took this one.  Not sure why Larici Castle had a statue of a dinosaur, but I decided to kiss him!  He was kinda cute!  ;p

The castle ruins in La Spezia

I liked the way they had the tables set at this cafe

Same table, just zoomed in.

Last, but certainly not least, my wonderful husband, without whom Italy would not have been as wonderful as it was! 

Italy, here I come!

  So I leave my hometown of Tulcea in the morning at 9 am to make a 2 hour drive to Mihail Kogalincheanu Airport, in Constanta.  My flight takes off at 1:10  p.m., and by 5:00 p.m. tomorrow evening, I'll be hugging my hubby for the fist time 3 months! 


  Marius and I have been together for a total of 7 years.  We "celebrated" our 6 year wedding anniversary May 7th.  Of course since he was there and I was here, it was a phone call that went something like this: "Happy Anniversary, I love &  miss you.  Okay outta credit,  talk later!"  In the 7 years we've been together we have NEVER had 1 whole week to ourselves.  My oldest child, is not his biologically, she was God's way of getting me back into the "fold".  You can say what you want about my past life, yeah I made mistakes, and she is a product of my sin and mistakes, but if you dare to call her an Abomination in the eyes of God (yes, someone once told me that to my face, happened to be a v. old, v. close friend of the family), I WILL come through the internet connection and beat you over the head with your own bible!  Yeah, I know, not Christ like behavior, but hey, what can I say, I get a bit hurt and offended when someone calls an innocent child "trash"!  Anyway, back to my point.  We have never had more than 1-2 days completely alone with each other.  So we are totally going to enjoy this week, belatedly celebrating 6 years together.

  In our 6 years of marriage we've dealt with more hard times that would normally destroy most marriages, than most couples experience in a lifetime!  But because we keep God in the center, and always talk to each other openly, and honestly, our trials have only made our love stronger!  We don't go to bed angry with each other.  We talk about everything before making any decisions, and he always makes the decision!

  Anyway, so when I get back, hoping my internet connection will have laid off the crack pipe so that I'll be able to post some wonderful pics from my short visit to the Tuscan area of Italy.  La Spezia, Genoa, and Pisa are where we will be visiting! 

  I can't wait to see a country I have ALWAYS wanted to visit with my wonderful husband!  Pray for me to have a safe flight there and back, and I'll see you on the flip side!

Liars, Thieves & Idiots!!

  Okay, so now that I have a way to access the internet, and the plethora of infomation on DIY computer  fixes out there, I've found out that I think the guy "fixing" my laptop is lying.  The service manual from Dell says doesn't mention anything about a compressor in my system.  The guy told me it was the compressor, or a chip to the compressor.

  Also he  told me that my hard drive had "cracked" or something, but that he could fix it.  So today I ask him if he has wiped the hard drive yet to re-partion it.  He said "No, is broke".  So I ask  you can fix it though right?  his response:  "I hope"!  WT****????  He says the Hard Drive shorted out, which sounds about right, the system was overheating.  So I'm getting a bad feeling here. For all I know this guy could be taking out my Intel, RAM, all the good stuff, and replacing it with crap!!!! 

  I'm picking it up tomorrow, sending it to Bucuresti, so that my BIL can send it to the Dell Service Center there.  At least I know they won't mess me over, and the work should come with a warranty or guarantee (I can hear Justin Wilson) of some sort.

  So I'm hoping the parts won't be too expensive, and that it won't take but maybe a couple of hours to fix, seeing as labor is something like 10 Euro/hour, that's like $12-13 per hour.  Not too bad, but it adds up quick!!! 

  So my few readers, pray, please that my laptop hasn't chopped up and cheap parts put in it, and that Dell won't charge me an arm & leg, and that they can  fix it ALL, quickly, and inexpensively!  I'll keep you posted. 

Oh yeah, one more thing, that my internet  connection lays off the crack pipe so that I can upload some pix!!!!

Communication Breakdown.

...No, this isn't the opening riff from classic Zeppelin song, although, those guys did Rock!  No, this is more along the lines of what happens when your computer falls spectacularly to pieces, and leaves you digitally stranded back in reality, with no outlet to vent!!!  Sorry I have no friends here to whom I can vent, I do, but they don't understand a word I'm saying, and I'd rather not let them see the  scary side of me, before they can completely comprehend what it is I'm ranting about!!!!

  Evidentally some chip on my laptops compressor (for the cooling system) is busted, along with a few other electrical items, but that chip is supposedly darn near impossible to locate!  Grrr......   Fortunately, we had my parents pick us up another laptop and bring to us when they came to visit last summer.  It's been in Bucuresti with  my brother in law since September or October I think, well, he was going to have to send it back to me anyway, so I could bring it to Marius in Italy, next week, did I mention I'M GOING TO ITALY IN 7 DAYS?!?!  N-E-Way, back to my story, so BIL sent me  2nd laptop by bus this  evening, and it's sad how much I've missed my digital friends!

  On the upside my New Canon Rebel XS with 2 lennses came in last week, and God answered my prayer, I didn't have to pay any VAT on it.  VAT=Value Added Tax, or Customs Fees.  I seriously got the coolest customs agent ever.  Makes me regret having called all the Postal Worker "Friggin' Communists" as I left the Post Office.... I blogged about that in a post entitled "God has taught me to hold  my tongue", labeled under 'romania'.

   Anyway, so I've been snapping photos like CRAZY I tell ya, learning all the bells and whistles, what an f/stop and apeture and metering  are.....I'm still a little fuzzy, but I can take some decent photos.  I'll upload some, when my internet connection decides to lay off the crack pipe!  Seriously, been out of the loop for two weeks, and my internet connection is obviously on vacation, IN AMSTERDAM!!!!  Sheesh!  Can't a girl catch a break?  Lately, I swear, everything that can go wrong, Has gone wrong, horribly wrong!