be still my beating heart

I almost feel like I just birthed a baby, and I'm so happy now, holding the little one in my arms, after all the hours of labor. Actually though, it's not a baby, and labor was actually months and months of yardwork and hardwork. People, I am officially the proud owner of a Canon Rebel T2i
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you've been keeping up with my blog for any amount of time, then you probably know that I generally avoid extremes such as ALL CAPS WORDS and crazy ridiculous amounts of :))) and !!!!!. But for once I couldn't restrain myself. If I let loose a little here, you'll just have to excuse me.  I feel like all those months of scrimping and saving and working have finally paid off, and I'm so happy I could cry.
Today was spent racing around the house and neighborhood, furiously snapping pictures as though my life depended on it. I am in love with the beautifully crisp focus and the delicious bokeh background from the EF 50mm f1.8 lens, and I can't get enough of golden hour.
The freedom I feel from (finally!) shooting with an SLR is amazing...I can't stop adjusting and twisting dials and knobs, because I have been feeling so limited by the confines of a point and shoot. (A good one at that, but still not an SLR.) Now I can change the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc to my heart's content, and I'm so incredibly thankful for that.
I love the idea of naming things, and I think I've found the perfect moniker for my little guy. His name is Kestrel. I love the way the word rolls off my tongue, and the image it evokes in my mind of a rocky, windswept Scottish moor and a perfectly free falcon soaring to the glorious heights above. Did you name your camera? I'd love to hear what you call it :)
While I'd really, really like to post some of the wonder photographs I'm raving about, I'm having some difficulty uploading them to the computer. Stay tuned though! As soon as I figure out how to, you'll by barraged by torrents of pictures :)
What was it like when you got your camera? Do tell
xoxo
Simi