A hobby for 2009, I hope.

I am very often taking on new projects and hobbies. I scrapbook (when I can afford it), paint, sew (a little), knit, crochet, garden, and blog. For the last several years, I've just been dying to take on photography. So many of my friends take excellent photos, and I really enjoy reading blogs full of beautiful pictures. My current favorite photo blog, and one that I've followed for quite some time is written by a woman named Toni Weber. Her blog, Simple Sparrow, is warm and full of life. She is uber-crafty, and an excellent photographer of her crafts, her kids, and all the life around her. I go there to get inspired.

Just recently, she launched a website dedicated to her photography. As I understand it, she took up photography as a hobby, but has no formal training. Now she takes beautiful and whimsical pictures like the one you see here. You can check out her official website here, or see her Flickr photostream here. Her middle son, Micah, is also a photographer, and you can see some of his great work here.

Okay, I'm not getting anything out of promoting these people, I just really like their work. All of it is leading up to me saying that in 2009, I would really like to secure a good camera and start taking pictures. I am sincerely hoping that we can save up some money for a Nikon D60 or a Canon 40D. I would probably even settle for a Nikon D40. I've seen all of these on eBay for a (relatively) reasonable price. I feel like I have an artistic eye (thanks, Mom), and I could be good at it.

Who knows, maybe I'll be the world's greatest speech language pathologist/photographer. Ha!

**I sincerely hope Toni will not mind that I used her pictures here.