I {heart} Jo Totes!

I did it again! I ordered myself a new camera bag for Christmas. If you know me at all you know that a camera bag is the last thing I need for Christmas. But to be honest I asked Santa for a new camera this year. Yes, I am holding out for a better camera. I really wanted the Mark, but in all reality I am going to have to save my money for that bad boy. So I asked Santa for the new Canon EOS 70D with 18-135mm lens. It would be a huge upgrade from my Canon T2i but not as pricey as the Mark.

Anyhoo, back on topic...

As you can see from here and here and here and here I really don't need any more camera bags, but they are just so darn cute and functional that I can't help myself sometimes. And I am particularly drawn to the Jo Totes camera bags. I'm not sure if it is because the Rose was my first or not, but they are just so comfortable to carry and are so roomy.

This time when I started looking for a camera bag I wanted something that I could carry with me everywhere and that would not only my camera, but all my other stuff too. So I read review after review, blog after blog and countless pictures. 

And then I found her.

I found the Jo Totes Gracie in Mint. Originally I wanted the Missy in Mint but thought that she would be too big for my day to day use. So I waited patiently for my very special delivery to arrive.... 

It arrived this morning at 6:37am. Yes, I said AM. I'm not complaining though. They were really nice and just left it on my doorstep for me to find after I took the boys to school. Best way to start your day. 

As I tore open the box. Carefully of course. I noticed that the bag shape was slightly off.

When I opened the dust bag I was surprised to see inside was the Missy in Mint! Not the Gracie. And you know what... she was beautiful! I swear the pictures do not do this bag justice. 

I do want to take a minute and tell you all how helpful Jo Totes was with the mixup. I contacted them this morning about it via email and they responded very quickly. After I explained the situation they emailed me back and told me that they were going to be sending out the right bag right away. It's companies and people like that that restore your fait in humanity and let you know that there are still companies that care about their customers. I CAN NOT THANK THEM ENOUGH FOR THEIR GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE! I HIGHLY recommend Jo Totes and they will be my first choice the next time I am needing a new camera bag!

There is so much room on the inside. It has pockets on both sides, a place to put your iPad, laptop or whatever you need it for. Personally I will be using it for my planner since my iPad is older than my grandma. 

It came with 5 dividers. I am sure that I will rearrange this a million times before I find the perfect one, but for now this is the way I left it. There is plenty of room for my camera, an extra lens (50mm f/1.4), my wallet, planner and anything else I decide to throw in on the go.

a peek inside my camera bag

Today and Thursday are picture days for me. I feel blessed to be taking pictures for one of our local Mother's Day Outs. Not only am I really excited, but I am really nervous too! I guess it's only natural when you are taking pictures of 70+ kids in two days. But on the flip side, I am extremely excited that they chose me to take their Spring pictures. And I really like meeting the kids and seeing all their  different personalities. They are so full of life at this age!

I thought that today would be the perfect day to let y'all peek inside my camera bag that I will be taking with me. It's nothing fancy but I like her. She hold most of what I need her to and then some. But I am still on the look out for the perfect camera bag. If there is such a thing.

Here she is in all her turquoise glory...

happy monday y'all

This morning we woke up today to 60* weather here in West Texas.

It was absolutly perfect! 

And guess what... Spring is only 15 days away!

landscape photography

day date

The past few weeks my hubby and I have not got to spend a whole lot of time together with work and kids and all so he took the day off to spend with me since both the boys were at school. 

It was wonderful! 

You know, we didn't do anything super special or spend any money, but the day was everything a girl could hope for. The most exciting thing we did the whole day was vote! 

Yes, on our date day we went and early voted :)

And I got my shirt in from Victoria's Secret that I ordered for the wedding that I am shooting next weekend. I don't look as sexy as one of those models in this outfit, but I think I'm rockin' it pretty well! 

(If you have never tried Dr. Scholls Fast Flats, I highly recommend them! So comfortable!)

shooting my 1st wedding

A couple of weeks back a friend of mine asked me to photograph her wedding that is the first weekend of November. At first I tried talking her out of it. Not because I am not confident in my ability to take great pictures, just because I have never photographed a wedding and those are their once in a lifetime moments that you can’t go back and do again. But after a couple hours of talking I agreed to do it.

Every photographer has a first wedding right? I am super excited to be able to help a friend out and get some great experience at the same time.

One thing that I wasn’t sure about was what to wear. I didn’t want to stand out, but I did want to be comfortable. It’s an evening wedding so I will be on my feet most of the day and night but couldn’t find anything that I thought would work. Then I decided to check out Victoria’s Secret and came across this outfit. I love it! It’s perfect for a low key wedding and I will blend in as much as a girl can with two cameras.

living life one instagram pic at a time

Here are a few instagram pics that show what I have been up too lately.

Happy Wednesday!

filling my bag fast

I have been slowly adding equipment to my super awesome camera bag and this week I am super excited to get to add two new fun pieces.

The first is my Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens...
I am taking school photos for Tyler’s school and needed s good lens for headshots. After a lot of research and going back and forth I chose this one.
So far I am super happy with it and can’t wait for picture day!

Then there is my newest new piece...
It is the Canon 430EX II.
The whole external flash thing is new territory for me so I am just now getting used to it and learning all that it does, but I have to say so far I am really liking it!

{in love}

A few weeks ago I was searching for a new camera bag. I had been eyeing another Epiphanie bag, but since I already had one I wanted something different. After searching for what seemed like forever I found a store on Etsy called Porteen Gear.

While I was looking for the perfect camera bag, I ended up finding a camera strap that I truly love!

After I got my camera strap, I started looking at the camera bags. One of the best part about it is the bags come in small, medium or large and you can either order one of the pre-made bags or buy one the pre-order bags. But the absolute best parts is that you can choose any combination of fabrics and colors you want. The only problem I ran into was I did not see any fabric that I liked enough to put on a camera bag that I would be carrying with me for a loooong time. So I decided to e-mail Robyn and ask her if she had any cowhide. To my surprise she did! I was so excited that I ordered my bag right away and could no be happier with how it came out.

My new bag is absolutly gorgeous and I would highly recommend checking out Robyn’s website Porteen Gear as well as her Etsy shop.

a little bit of randomness

As I was going through the pictures on my phone and thought I would post a few of my instagram photos.

I am hoping this holds you over until tomorrow when I post some pics from the pool :)

Our pool bag ready to go!

This is how I ‘eat’ Oreos.
Just the cream :)
Baylee really enjoys the cookie part.

From when we got rain a few weeks back...

My hard working husband accessing our slab leak

I miss being able to open the windows on cool, rainy mornings *sigh*

It’s actually quite beautiful when it storms here!

Our wonderful everyday summer temps!

Tyler has a bed all to himself, yet he still chooses to sleep on the floor!?

Super cute boots that I really want, but can’t afford because I’m trying to be responsible and use my money for things that we need and not things that we want :)

polka dots and cosmos

I don’t have much to say today so I thought I would post some of my pictures from Instagram.

I think I may be slightly addicted :)

{you can find me on instagram @tonjatonne}

Happy Friday!