Ahhh - what a surprise this morning when I got up and checked my FB page and saw someone congratulating me for getting a DD today!! I was like "Huh?? What are you talking about??" And sure enough - I show up here and see that my message center has gone wild and I do, indeed have a DD today for one of my newest photos "Dangerous Waters" .

so a big Shout Out and thank you goes to

and

for suggesting and featuring it! Thank you so much ladies!!!

When I first joined DA I thought that I would never get a DD - and now after 3 years I have 3 DD's. I don't know how it happened but it sure is exciting!!

It will take me a long time to get through my message center - it's at 950 messages right now and climbing - but I'll try to get back to everyone!!
So... I'm trying to decide if I should buy a new camera! I have a Nikon D40X right now, and I'm eying up the Nikon D5100. Does anyone have this camera? It has a larger sensor than the D40 which would mean less noise and better quality images. It has video - which isn't something I'm really looking for, but it might come in handy now and again. I just really am interested in better quality images. I looked at the D7000, but it's just so BIG. It's heavy and large for my hands and I would imagine that seeing as I find my gear heavy to be carrying around already, that this big one would just be too uncomfortable for me.
Or I could buy a new lens.. I don't know what to do! Anyone have any insight or advice for me??

Also - does anyone have an intuos tablet? I have it (with Vista) and I can't figure out how to turn off that annoying little tablet icon that appears when you touch the pad. It pops up right where you are trying to type and it pisses me off!!

Can anyone tell me to to make that stop happening???
We are experiencing a heat wave right now so people are doing what they can to stay cool. For those who know celcius, tomorrow is supposed to be in the high 30's but with the humidity it is supposed to be +49 degrees!! That's insanely hot - a bad time to be out in the heat, or even more importantly, to not have air conditioning. I've also heard that there are storm chasers from the US here, setting up camp and getting ready for something big. With the heat and humidity, we could end up with some crazy weather, so I guess we should be keeping our eyes to the sky. Maybe I'll get some good shots of something in the next few days!
Aaaaand.... I got Zumba for the Wii. It's good! Real good! It's a great workout and it's fun, so that makes the time pass quickly! Before you know it you've danced your way through a work out and hopefully, done your body some good! Getting some extra exercise and trying to get in shape is so much easier if you enjoy what you're doing!! I am on a mission..... Some day I will have a full body ID here that I can be proud of!!!
Well, thank you so much everyone for the support and friendship you have given me over the years I have been at DA! I appreciate you!!

Please enjoy the amazing features!!

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::Useful Links::
A List of Links for tutorials/info that I've found to be useful!
Basics of Pen Tool [link]
Making Photoshop Brushes [link]
Adding Borders in PS [link]
Depth of Field [link]
PS Borders [link]
The Pen Tool [link]
Watermarks [link]
Making Textures [link]
Layer Masks and Colour Gradients [link]
GavTrain Photo Training [link]
Manual HDR [link]
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::Special Works for Me!::