Hey, guess what? We’ve got new pennies! The U.S. Mint released four new designs for the penny yesterday, in honor of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. It’s also the 100th anniversary of the production of the Lincoln penny. You won’t see them in your pocket anytime soon though. They are set to hit circulation on Feb. 12, 2009.

As beautiful as the Wilmington NC real estate is, Abraham Lincoln didn’t grow up there. He grew up in a log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm, in southeast Hardin County, Kentucky, now a part of LaRue County. He was the 16th president of the United States of America.

penny, U.S. Mint, Lincoln

Friday night after the DPSVegas Photo Walk we headed over to the Mirage. Drew was on the guest list for the TechSet party hosted by Stephanie Agresta, and he invited Michael and I along as his guest. We also met Brett there in line with his friend who’s name escapes me now.

When we got up to the line we found out that Drew could only take one guest in, so Michael and I bowed out, and decided to just head home for the night. On our way out of the pool area we ran into Ted and David, so Ted took Michael as his guest, and David took me. WOO HOO! We were in the party at the Bare Pool Lounge. Bare is a topless adult pool only by day, but everyone had their tops on during the party to my husbands dismay.

I was looking at Stephanie and the dress she had on, and I realized it was the same one she wore at IZEAFest the week before, so I got to see her killer shoes that Colleen was raving about in person. They were pretty sweet shoes. HA!

I got to meet John Chow and his wife. They are really good people, and he is so fun to talk to. A lot more approachable than most of the people at the party. I also met Missy Ward when I tripped over her mobile chair and almost broke my leg. The funny thing about that is she was in a mobile chair because she broke her leg while Twittering. Seriously! See Worlds First Twitter Accident. She has a great sense of humor, and we both got a good laugh out of it.

Ted and David hung out with us for a little while until they were invited up into the VIP area. Then they left us peons sitting there like the C-List Bloggers we are. Before he left he did grab my camera off the table and starting snapping pictures. Oh and David did bring me a drink from the open bar. He was a good date.

We ran into Tony and Christa from Zappos, and we talked to Christa for awhile. I don’t know it it’s just me getting old or what, but it is so hard to carry on a conversation when you have to scream into someones ear so they can hear you over the music. I would have loved to talk to Christa more, but it was almost impossible. She is a really sweet and nice girl, and I hope we can stay in contact even though Michael isn’t working for Zappos anymore.

We sat and talked to Drew and Brett for most of the night. Brett and Michael came up with some pretty odd internet startup ideas that included roller skates, polar bears, toe socks, and Mr. Fab. Drew and I just shook our heads and blushed in embarrassment.

Overall it was a really fun party, and I drove my inebriated husband home. I didn’t sit there all night wishing I had taken diet pills for weeks before. I was comfortable and relaxed and had a good time.

Blog World Expo 2008, bwe08, TechSet, Bare Pool, Mirage

The first adventure of Blog World Expo for me was going on the Digital Photography School PhotoWalk. I absolutely love photography, and I dream of being a famous photographer. The only problem with that is I just don’t have the skills, or the equipment, to do that. Luckily for me they let the point and shoot girl (me) follow them around and gawk at their amazing talent and equipment.

The photographers, the cameras, the lenses, oh my!

Drew was the original person that invited me on the Photo Walk. I’ve admired his photos for quite awhile now. One of my favorite shots by him is Harley - Adopted. She is a dog that was adopted from the North Attleboro Animal Shelter and this picture just radiates the unconditional love that an animal can give to a human being. The first time I saw this picture I cried.

This is my favorite shot of Drew that I got.

I followed around Darren Rowse and Robert Scoble staring stupidly at their cameras and dreaming of the day when I will have a Cannon EOS Rebel XSi slung around my neck shooting pictures like the big girls…or boys.

Of all the pictures that I took, which most turned out really poor, this would be my favorite one. I just love the blue along the edge and the colors that are reflecting in the water.

This is the only one of the Bellagio Fountains that I got that I thought turned out okay.

And to sum up my night of admiring these amazing photographers I got this shot of a few of them waiting for that one.perfect.shot.

I really did learn a lot from watching all these amazing photographers in action, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me tag along with you. I’ll make sure to send you all birthday invitations next year, so you can buy me a camera as a present. If you want to see more of the pictures from the Photo Walk, check them out DPSVegas.

Blog World Expo 2008, bwe08, DPSVegas, PhotoWalk

Our chihuahua puppy is doing much better about not peeing in the house. I’m following the suggestions that I got, and they seem to be working. It’s still a lot more work than I had expected, but it will be worth it in the end when he’s completely house broken.

I wrote a post about sleepy puppy awhile back and how I didn’t want to buy him just any of the pet beds that they have at the pet stores around here. I wanted him to have my comfy blanket I bought at REI. He’s so spoiled!

His new trick now is crawling under the blanket and covering himself up. Here are a couple pictures I took while he was trying to sleep. Doesn’t he look annoyed??? HA!

chihuahua, puppy, dog, pets

Anyone want to buy a log cabin in the mountains of Idyllwild, California? The escrow fell through on my brother in laws cabin and it’s on the market again.

You can see the listing on this page. It is the 13th one down on the page.

Perfect weekender. Two bedrooms, 1.5 baths. Open living area and dining area to kitchen. Laundry and mud room. Deck off of front bedroom. Fenced back yard with deck. Pull-in parking for easy access. Walk to town. Priced to sell. $184,500

If you like it, make us a reasonable offer and then pack up your moving trucks! Idyllwild, California is a really neat town filled with lots of shopping and family owned businesses.

log cabin, Idyllwild, California, mountain cabin