early birthday + sneak peek

so even though my birthday isn't for another 3 months, my absolutely amazing/wonderful/truly great husband gave me an early gift today. AND- i couldn't be more excited!

however i may or may not have switched over to the dark side...

i've always been partial to Nikon, but we got a great deal and all the reviews/articles i've read out there make comparable models seem pretty equal. anyway, i started playing with it tonight, and i am already in love. so, so stoked. tomorrow we are heading to Sacramento. while mr. phipps is in a business meeting i will be making friends with my lovely birthday gift. YAY! 

also, as a side note, we are making tons of progress on the house. our bedroom is nearly finished; the bathroom is coming a long nicely. everything is slowly but surely finding a home and ideas are actually materializing. we have been greatly blessed the last few days with mega deals all over the place. furthermore, we are officially a grown up, married couple as we just purchased a new table that seats eight. it works perfectly in our dinning room & i can't wait to get it all together in there so we can have a fabulous family dinner! or maybe a housewarming party. or BOTH! 

here's new progress on the room: 

hopefully, now that i have a new camera my posts will include more photos. which was part of my original plan, but until now just hasn't always worked out.