Five Things for Friday

1. I'm going to get an iPhone 5. It will be my first iPhone. I'm ready to move on from the Droid, as good as it's been. Having an iPad has convinced me that Apple products are beyond trendy (which is why I didn't want an iPhone before); they are truly high-quality products that are easy to use, which is especially important for tech-averse me. I love that the apps on my iPad will be able to go right onto my phone. And I'm excited to try out the phone's camera, which I've heard is really good. I'm expecting a great product and a phone that will last for many years!

2. I like our house and the fact that it doesn't require much fixing up, which is a big change from our house in Connecticut which was a never-ending project of expensive upgrades that we had to hire out because we aren't good at that sort of thing. (Have I ever mentioned that I didn't like that house very much?) Anyway, despite our house's relatively new and good condition, lately I've been wanting to do things to it. What kinds of things? I want to get new garage doors, those pretty ones with decorative handles and windows. Our house (unfortunately) has prominent garage doors so they might as well be pretty, right? I want to get all new window treatments for the living room (where there are eight different windows), and replace our five bookshelves with taller, nicer ones to hold more books. I also want to remodel our laundry room/mudroom, and build a set of stairs from our screened-in porch down to the backyard. I place the blame for all of this mostly on one thing: Pinterest.

Classy garage doors

Tall bookshelves

Mudroom and Laundry room ideas

New window treatments

Thanks for sowing the seeds of discontent, Pinterest! :-)

3. I went through all of my summer pictures this week and organized them into files for blog posts and other things. Some of them turned out really well but I was disappointed in the quality of many of them. They weren't as clear and as sharp as my pictures usually are. I think my camera is getting old and that I need to replace it. Several things on it aren't working like they used to. It's a Canon Digital Rebel DSLR that has been heavily used over the last five years in many different locales. So I'm in the market for a new, easy-to-use (there it is again!), relatively compact DSLR. Any recommendations?

4. John started second grade about a month ago and he's had hardly any homework so far. This is a big change from last year, when it started pretty quickly. I'm loving it. I feel like we're getting away with something! I hope it lasts. It's so nice to just relax and do our own thing after school.

5. As much as I love summer, I'm glad that fall is in the air. Mostly because I can drink a mug of cocoa topped with mini marshmallows and a dollop of whipped cream every day now. I'm serious--that is one of my favorite things about fall and it helps to soften the blow of summer's end!

Have a great weekend!