Radiant
When I bought the 70-200 f/4 lens, I also wanted to buy a macro lens to cover the opposite range that my kit lens and the zoom/telephoto didn't. I ended up getting the 50mm 2.5f Compact Macro from Canon. The lens had to be ordered and didn't arrive until two weeks ago. I haven't had the chance to play with it until yesterday and I still don't know enough about macro photography to take advantage of this lens. If you have any recommendations of books or sites on macro work, I would be very thankful.

This is taken in Julian, California. It's a small mountain town north of San Diego. It was badly damaged in last year's fires and it's a very cute little town. It also serves some of the best apple pie around here. This is also my submission for this week's photofriday theme: radiant.

Diet Coke Nation
It's no secret that your diet changes when you are pregnant. I don't drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, so the two hardest things to give up weren't an issue for me. But, then again, others have their cigarettes and their alcohol and I have Diet Coke. While I couldn't tell you how hard it must be to give up cigarettes, I can tell you that giving up Diet Coke was no easy feat for me.

I used to drink six to eight cans of Caffeine-free Diet Coke a day. I've been drinking Diet Coke for a long time and I am very particular. It has to be in a can. It has to be cold. It has to be Caffeine-Free (tho I can make exceptions every now and then and am willing to drink regular Diet Coke). I didn't drink any water, juice, or any other drinks of any kind. In the first few months of 2003, I had begun drinking very weak lattes every now and then. But my source of liquid was undeniably Diet Coke.

When we decided to start trying to get pregnant, I knew I was going to have to give it up. Diet Coke is made up of chemicals and chemicals only. There's nothing natural or organic in it. Even the caffeine-free version is not good for you - actually it's pretty bad for you. Ordinarily, I am willing to have that be my only vice but I thought it unfair to transfer such an addiction to an unborn baby. Thus, I reduced my consumption to one a day while I was trying and I haven't had a single drop of Diet Coke since I've been pregnant. Not one sip.

I've also not had coffee or tea but those mean nothing compared to the lack of Diet Coke. One would think that after almost seven months, I wouldn't miss it anymore, but I still do. When I see people drinking it, I wish it were me. I still don't like water though I drink a lot of it for the baby.

The sad news is that not only will I not be able to have Diet Coke for the next 13 weeks, but I won't be able to have it all throughout breast-feeding either. This means almost one year, if not more, of no Diet Coke for this addict. Nothing else I've given up for the baby (or had to eat for the baby like the horse-sized prenatal vitamins) have made me as sad as Diet Coke.

Not that it's not all worth it, but I wish I had been addicted to something less bad so that I wouldn't have had to give it up.