New camera?

Well, so I won't be using the camera much longer and now I have a choice of just not taking pictures or buying a good DSLR of my own. And, we will be going on vacation in a little over 2 weeks so do I go ahead and buy the new camera now? I think I've figured out which one I want, the Canon Digital Rebel XT. It has great reviews and I can pick one up under $500 all day long. So, do I want to shell out the money and have the camera for the cruise is the question? I need to make a decision and will be pondering that over the next week since I need to order one very soon if I decide to buy used or online.

Until then, here are some new photos. The first was taken in the school's garden. Again, since we have had 100+ temperatures nearly every day over the past month or so many of the flowers have died off but this is a pretty little yellow one with beautiful coloring:

One of the few here that still looks good. Most are on the way out:

A pretty cone flower that was in my garden but has since kicked the bucket:

I had to do a little editing on these. This is my BIL, Marcus and this whole scene just screams vintage look so vintage editing it is:

and one more shot with the vintage type screen edited in Picnik:

This shot was actually taken by our cheap point and shoot Sony digital but it was such a cool shot I had to edit it and include it. We found this bike sitting outside of a little strip of shops close to downtown Dallas:

This is the runner up on a shot I did for the MCP project 52 with the theme: Sweet Relief. The other shot that I chose to submit can be seen here. I didn't get chosen still as one of the top 10 but I did get some encouraging comments. That makes me feel like I at least am learning each week.

I may be getting my hands on Photoshop for free so that is really exciting. It makes the thought of shelling out the money for a nicer camera that much easier but still, I'm pretty frugal so I need to be sure this is something I will be getting my money's worth with so I am still a bit hesitant. I know this would be easy for most people but I just can't go out and spend money without thinking about it. I have to be absolutely certain that I will not have buyer's remorse. Right now, I'm about 70% on the side of buying one but will be adding a new post here when I make my final decision.