(said in my best Sarah Jessica Parker/Carrie voice as she admires those incredible shoes in the window in an episode of SATC).  Here are my new purchases from Mecca B & H photo in NYC from Sunday. More on those in a second.

I just need to interject here that up until this month I have never ever driven in NYC. With me driving the car- I’ve been the passenger a zillion times. (okay, I did drive thru NYC once back in 1998 or so, but it was kinda by accident- I was heading back to work from NJ and the people in the car with me made me cut thru the city and I paniced the whole way). Yes, I’m 38 years old and live less than 30 miles from Manhattan. Sad, but true. But it was fine and fun and I even liked it. I think having the navigation system is really the key. And now that I’ve been travelling all over creation for shoots, it dosen’t seem like such a big deal. Weekday rushhour I might feel differently about- but a Sunday morning/afternoon seemed like a good place to start. Yeah, me! But…I have still never taken a public bus in my life. I take a lot of crap about that around here but I am not ruining my lifelong streak. No buses.

With all the travelling I’ve been doing, you know I had to do some documentation. Here are some shots from the weekend on the way back from Staten Island of NYC and the bridge.

Anyway, after completing my super fun shoot Sunday morning down on the Lower East Side (look for those pictures coming soon) I went to B & H to do a little shopping. And man, it was fun! It was my first time there without Timmy, so I could actually concentrate and ask good questions. My pal Ori helped me again this time. Mom & Ken were so super generous (yet again) and gave me the funds to pick up a second Canon 5D (so now both my cameras are super professional 5D’s- no more 30D backup!) as an early birthday present. Now weddings are going to be a breeze since I can pop one lens on each camera and shoot just as perfectly with both. Let’s see what else I bought…a new Crumpler 7 million dollar home (had the 6 million dollar home- but I want to carry both camera bodies with me so I needed a bigger "house"). A new card reader (so super fast- love that it takes 1/4 of the time to download pictures now), a new 4gig card, a new filter for the 50mm lens (mine got lost), and a small diffuser for my external flash (I have the gary fong lightsphere which I love, but sometimes just need something smaller). So it was a great big haul. When I got home and took the new 5D out of the box, I did actually say "hello, lovah" out loud. Between that and the dancing around with the happy dance, I am/was certifiable. Thanks Mom & Ken!!!!!!!!

Ok, so to any photographers that read this blog…if you are interested I’m selling my Crumpler 6million dollar home. It’s in excellent condition. (you can see it here: crumpler 6 million It’s the red one w the light blue interior) Email me at bbeyrer1@optonline.net for pricing. I’ll even throw in my little rectangular case logic bag that can hold a DSLR camera body with lens.

Next purchase…I must find a good digital point n shoot. I need something small and portable (that dosen’t cost over $2000.00) that I can bring with me on days/events I can’t lug the big guns. Any suggestions?

Finally, really finally, I made it down to the beach club twice this week. That brings my summer 2008 total of beach runs to a whopping 4 times. Working on fixing that total in August. It’s been so nice down there, the big boys have been so so good and so wonderfully helpful with carrying stuff and listening. It’s been totally pleasant (except for the fact that Tuesday after being all sandy and yuck from going in the ocean- yes, both Timmy and I went in the ocean- shocking I know- we went to shower back in the locker and we had no water. But that has since been fixed) and lovely and fun. Forgot how much I like the beach.

That time of year again! John, Jack & Patrick, Timmy and I went to our town fireworks Saturday night with…well….everyone! Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Nelson (making his very first fireworks appearance), Uncle Jerry & Aunt Alice, Ivy her kids, and Steve and his kids. And Uncle Jerry, I am sorry we were late and thank you for the spots!

Ivy and Steve the newly engaged couple let me take a few pictures (well, more accurately Steve allowed me to take a few pictures of him, Ivy’s always ready for some pictures of her!) and I got to see the ring- gorgeousness!! See for yourself.

The kids haven’t gotten sick of me taking pictures…yet!

Timmy was so funny during the fireworks- everytime a red one showed up, he yelled "red!!!! it’s your favorite mommy!!!". We were all talking about how long we’ve been coming to the fireworks and that led us to recounting the story where Patrick bit me on the shoulder his first year at the fireworks cause he was so freaked out from the noise. And then that led to the story where Jack whacked me in the head with a hammer- wound up and everything and then smacked away. Ah- memories! I had a very injury-ridden year when the boys were two.

And I tried something new with the fireworks pictures this year. Went to "bulb mode" on the camera (thank you so much Garrett for the quick lesson- I think it worked!) where the shutter stays open for as long as you hold the shutter release for. Tripod is mandatory. Love a challenge!! At least in photography.