BEST WEEK EVER!!!!

Today, I got home from the 2009 swimming Nationals/World Championship Trials. OMG! Let me tell you something, if you can ever go to a swim meet where the nation's best are competing, GO!!!! You will not regret it at all!! I kid you not when I say that last week was the best week of my life!! I have had so many amazing days and moments in life, but to have five consecutive day of nothing but pure awesomeness like I did last week has never happened to me!! I can't even begin to explain how amazing last week was!! It was so awesome, that as I got on the highway this morning to head back here to Ohio, I was on the verge of tears!!

I took over 2,000 photos last week!! I definitely have quite a few favorites already!! I can't wait till I get my new photo editing programs so I can resize, watermark, etc. the photos and share them with you guys!! I kid you not when I say I got some AMAZING shots last week!! Some of the shots I got look professional, which makes me very happy because sports photography is what I want to focus on!!

I got to meet SO MANY swimmers, past and present, last week. I got my picture taken with a lot of them, too!! I got autographs, photos of/with, had conversations with, joked around with, high-fived, and other stuff with swimmers, coaches, and family members of swimmers!! Even one of the swimmers "tweeted" about me on Twitter!! BAHAHAHA. That was so funny!! It was all just so amazing, wonderful, great, etc.!! Some of the photos of me with these people are really good, some are decent, and some are just down right hilarious!!!! Some of the photos had me crying because I was laughing so hard!!

I feel that while in Indy, I got to find part of myself that I lost a while ago. It was great being able to be that person again and have the fun that I did. I made some GREAT friends while in Indy, and I hope that next year, we will all be able to get together again at nationals!! We had so much fun and I will NEVER forget a lot of the memories we all shared together, if not all of the memories!! Those are memories I will be telling my children, grandchildren, and maybe even great-grandchildren [if I live that long]. I love what last week brought to me!! I haven't had that much fun in a LONG time, and I am so sad that it ended. I'm already making "mental plans" for next summer's Nationals, and maybe even going to some of the Grand Prix meets once they start back up later this year and go through next Spring/Summer.

I just don't know what else to say about last week. Words really can't even begin to try to explain how amazing last week was!! It was definitely a great way to celebrate the week before my birthday!! But now, it's back to my normal life, and I start school tomorrow!! I'm very nervous about starting school, but I'm ready for it, I think!! HA.

I want this!! I NEED this!!!!

Ever since I got my Sony a300 DSLR camera, I have been a bit obsessed with looking for accessories for it. You know - lenses, lens filters, flashes, tripod(s), camera bag [backpack, not a little bag], etc. I'm just always searching for that "next thing I have to buy for my camera". I think it drives Mark crazy because I'm always telling him "I need this", "I need that", "I am definitely going to get that", "You know I'd get some amazing shots if I had that"...you get the idea. HA. I'm just on a quest for accessories for my camera, even though I probably won't get 95% of the things I want no matter how many times I say I need it. The Rolling Stones said it best - "You can't always get what you want." [Even though that line continues with "...but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need." And I do "need" a lot of things for my camera. HA.]

So enough about the Rolling Stones and back to my camera. There is this one thing that I just always find myself staring at - hoping, praying, wishing that I have it before the year's over. I absolutely am "in love" with it!! It's just beautiful!! It's this amazing Telephoto Zoom Lens!! Go ahead, look at it...lust over it. HA. I know, I know - it's a bit pricey. However, I could put that bad boy to use quite often!! I want to become a sports photographer, so I really do need that lens!! You can't disagree with the fact that I need it - nobody can. I just think it'd be pretty bad ass if I got it before I go to USA Swimming's 2009 ConocoPhillips National Championships this July!! Can you imagine the photos I could get of Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps, Aaron Piersol, Brendan Hansen, Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin, and all of the other US Olympic swimmers from 2008 there?! OMG!! I could get some amazing shots of them and have such great memories of that week for the rest of my life!! [Not to mention, some pictures of hot male swimmers to drool over!! HA.] I just want to get that damn lens right now!!!!