Dreamy Diana Lens Fun

I bought a Diana lens with adapter for dSLRs several months ago and of course forgot about it.  While on an organizing binge, I rediscovered it in our office storage closet, and thought I should try it out again for fun.  Experimenting both indoors and outdoors, I found that it takes very pretty, dreamy, soft focus pictures. 

It's not the easiest lens to play with - I didn't realize when I first bought it that you can only use the manual setting when using this lens, and the only thing you can adjust is the shutter speed to produce unique effects.  That's probably why I lost interest when I first purchased this lens.  Since then, I've taken a beginners photography class and now actually know how to use my camera on manual setting.

When I lose the baby weight...

I'm gonna go on a huge shopping spree!  Just kidding...we're going to be so broke by then.  New baby + single income (during my maternity leave) + husband's b-school tuition equals eating ramen noodles by candlelight at night for the next 3 years.

One of my favorite online shops, Red Dress Shoppe, recently added some cute retro-inspired dresses to their inventory.  I fantasize about fitting into their size small like I used to.  Now, I"ll be happy to squeeze into a large. 

The Holly Dress looks airy and comfortable

The Miss Sadie Dress looks like something out of "Mad Men"

The Lemon Drop dress looks perfect for summer

Love the huge rose belt on the Shoshanna dress

See their entire stock on their website - there's tons of great retro-inspired clothing at a very reasonable price!  I'm so tempted to buy something right now...to help motivate me to lose weight, of course...haha...

Where did the summer go???

Wow, I can't believe it's already mid-August!  Why is it that summer flys by so quickly?  It's been a weird one in LA this year...the weather has been unusually mild, with temperatures averaging in the high 70's, even in the valley!  Normally this time of year, the valley's scorching with temps over 100 on average.  Not to complain though...I was dreading a hot, sweaty summer during my last trimester of pregnancy.  God's blessed all the pregnant mamas in LA with great weather this year.  Hopefully this won't mean we'll have a crazy heat wave in the fall, though!

Second trimester of pregnancy was great - I had tons of energy, slept pretty well, and had a healthy appetite (almost too healthy, since I gained about 25 lbs. during that time!)  Unfortunately, third trimester isn't so wonderful.  The past few weeks have been pretty tough...lots of back pain, especially from the afternoon on, difficulty sleeping at night, heartburn, and peeing every hour has been super annoying.  Good thing there's a light at the end of the tunnel, since the little guy's due at  the end of September! 

I've done a fair amount of travel during my pregnancy.  Here's the rundown:
-March: Pismo Beach for a destination wedding
-May: Bachelorette party in Santa Barbara, 1 year anniversay/babymoon to Cabo
-June: Chicago and San Diego for business trips
-July: Hawaii for a destination wedding

The last trip, while it was super awesome, was definitely tiring.  My aches and pains started after I got home from the airport and haven't really gotten much better since.  Now's the time to take it easy, which means I'll be missing my nephew's 1st birthday in Seattle at the end of the month.