MIA

Well hello there!
I am currently (for 2 looong weeks now) experiencing technical difficulties.
My laptop is struggling to keep charged. The battery will not hold charge and even when plugged into power I am doing very, very well if I can get 30 minutes out of it. I had to be super sneaky to get these images off it and onto USB. I have hijacked Shawn's little Eee PC to do this post!
I have a wedding that I need to have all edited and finalized before we go away. It will get done, just a few photos at a time, but it will get done!!
Only 19 sleeps before we go.... and counting!

Hopefully you will see more posts, more regularlywhen this new battery arrives!

New Toys!!!

I am now the owner (almost) operator of an iPhone 4.

It is a pretty handy little thing... The kids (all 3 of them!!!) love it!

Country Energy are about to cut our power for the day. Should be an interesting day in our house. Normally not a problem on a beautiful sunny day, but today is a great day to curl up and watch a movie!

Happy Birthday Dennis!

Today (American time) is my Dad's birthday! Happy Birthday!!!

Well things have not really been as productive as I had hoped now that I am unemployed. I had hoped to have the cupboards all pulled out and sorted, bedrooms cleaned out, bathrooms.. you get the idea!
Liberty is having a bit of a hard time adjusting to school... She misses me... I thought she only "Missed" me before and after school, but she was miserable yesterday and I almost brought her home. It does pull at the heart strings. I thought she would have had no worries at all with school, she has suprised us all.

Last weekend I shot a wedding and a family portrait. So I have over 1000 images to sort through and edit. The image above belongs in the Family Portrait group. Pepi (Pepsi, as I call her) is one of the most well behaved and trained dogs I have ever known.

I went to bed last night knowing I would wake up with a charming cold... and I have! YAY!

Aussie paper wasp

We had a great weekend away at Green Oak.

Swimming in the perfect water. fishing. relaxing. chatting. eating. laughing. just perfect!

Until the last hour...

I had an encounter with what we think is an Australian paper wasp.



He came from behind and hit me with what felt like the force of a golf ball. I could even feel the poison going through me. Nasty thing! As I ran screaming, like the girl that I am, I found myself ripping off my shirt screaming for someone to get the stinger out. Turns out there was nothing in me, it just felt like I had 100 thistles in my back.

I would like to apologize to my friends for seeing me rip my clothing off, I hope I have not scared you or your children for life. I would like to thank Matt and Jase for defending my honor and distroying this nest of pain! This nest was on the outside of the shower room. I must say we were pretty lucky that they didn't venture into the shower... that could have been a very bad sight!!! :)

I didn't take many photos over the weekend, but I did get one of Shawn surfing behind the boat.

Camera play time.

Yesterday was a pretty sad day... Our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers lost the Super Bowl. Matt had the day off and we had our own party. We decided while the game is on that we will go and do a tour of Heinz Field, the home of the Steelers when we go over next.

On other news. I have now had a full week of unemployment. I am still yet to catch up with the Forrester's, actually today is my first day at home. I have baked, washed and folded. I think I like paid work slightly better... :)

I made some time to play with my camera a few days ago. This is a really neat trick I came across. Tape baking paper against a window and position your object in front of it. It apparently works best with leaves that you can see light through, so an Autumn leaf would be ideal. This is a garlic flower. I had to tape it so that it was not flat against the paper or it would have looked false.
I am looking forward to finding some interesting leaves!

All dressed up.

Today my baby went to big school. It was so lovely, we all walked over to school together. As we walked along the fence to get to the office, lots of Libertys friends came over to say 'hello'. It is so wonderful, I know it is a great school and I am so confident that if she is ever lost, lonely or just having a bad she has a great support network in her friends!

Shawn went back to school on Monday, he is now in year 5.... YEAR 5!!?! he is a very proud brother having his sister at school.






This is how things looked this time last year...




Today I am a very proud Mummy.

The Butterfly Effect

This was one big and beautiful butterfly! I snapped him out at Kentucky Roses a week ago. Kate has the most devine roses and the best Brownie (apart from Pam's!)

It has been a big Saturday. I worked for a few hours this morning and then Matt, the kids and I went into work and started pulling the shop fittings down. The studio lights, backdrops, TV monitors etc. The place is looking a little sad. 2 weeks to go.

Such sad times...

Hi Everyone...

Well if you have seen just a minute of news you would know that it is a pretty devastating time for many Aussies.

Mostly I don't like comparisons of any kind really... I am bigger/fitter/richer than you. My car is faster/newer/rustier than yours... My life is busier/better/worse than yours... You get the idea....

Anyway, so not being a fan of comparing one situation to another, as I believe each situation/person/circumstance is so individual and unique on it's own, I came across this on Jill's blog. It answered a few things I had been wondering about the recent floods and I thought I would share.

75% of Queensland has been declared a Disaster Zone.

The State of Queensland is approximately 1.72million square kilometres.

Our capital city, Brisbane, is the third largest city in Australia.

Queensland is approx 6 times the size of the UK.

It is approx twice the size of the US State of Texas.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was 223,000 km2: The aftermath of the Queensland flood area is approx 1,000,000km2.


For me, that puts the enormity of the situation into perspective.

Happy 2011!

Yikes! Almost a month since I have blogged! Oh well... not long until I get my life back and work finishes. Then i can hopefully be better at everything. Home, Family, Friends, Blogging :)

Saturday was possibly the best party for possibly the best person. Tam celebrated her 40th birthday the only way that Tam could. It was an afternoon of Survivor meets Amazing race.


The kids enjoyed bobbing for apples and throwing water bombs.


Everyone enjoyed the Treasure Hunt. Followed by a relay pie eating comp. I knew Matt had this one covered!


Then there was Jelly eating or more like sucking with a straw.


Followed by an amazing obstacle course. Through cattle yards, over hay, through ropes, through goop and tyres.


Tammy did a super fantastic job! If you didn't have fun at her party, then I don't think you would have a good time anywhere!
Thanks for the great afternoon Tam, you rock!!

Anyone notice William Wallace and the blue team skipping some of the tyres in the obstacle course? Would that be cheating? ;)

December 2010

Like everyone, we have been busy, busy! Retail is really not a walk in the park at Christmas time. the Christmas shoppers, on top of the people wanting the gossip on why we are closing, makes for many long days.
So a very quick update.

My Mum had a birthday and we went out to Kentucky Roses for morning tea. It is a lovely spot with yummy brownies :) It was a beautiful day (about time!) The colour in this photo is not edited, perfect!



We had our work Christmas party at our home. It didn't rain, but was forcast to, so we were prepared! It was a fun night, I hope they thought so too. Not many work parties around hear get a 3 course meal, a theatrical performance and a few games of poker to end the night. :)



My baby graduated from Preschool... she is so grown up! She has wonderful confidence and we are so very proud of her!!! She will love big school!!!

Neglect!

November has been a big month.
I finished editing a wedding, and have strated another.
I found out that I will be unemployed starting January 29th, as the company is closing all 6 of it's shop fronts.
I had a birthday.
The beautiful girls that I work with got me these lillies for my birthday. That was almost 10 days ago and they still smell devine!



A local photographer gave me these flowers yesterday, just for being 'lovely'. I think that is lovely on it's own!



Flowers seem to make things not so bad, and the timing was perfect! It is quite difficult to work in retail with a smile all the time when you know (and are continually reminded) that the place is closing. It is going to be a hard few months...

We have a busy weekend ahead. Hope you have a good one, wherever you are. x

Another weekend over...

Well there goes another weekend!
We did a lot for the school P&C this weekend. I am looking forward to next weekend as I don't think we have anything or or anywhere to be... but I do have a plan! :)

Last weekend I had a few mates around, this is them parked out the front of our place...






Actually, it was the 500 bikes getting ready for the end of the street parade that Matt and I set up. They are the Harleys for Helicopters bikers. They ride from Newcastle to Uralla raising money for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

This is Matt in one of his Billycart races.

All most done...

I have been busy editing wedding pics and am almost done! I had forgotten over winter what a mammoth task it can be. I have my next weeding in 2 weeks, so I will have my groove on by then and it will be a much quicker task!
If you want to have a sticky head over to Photographics and creativity





Shawn had the last of his stitches removed yesterday. Looks like it will be a pretty scary scar. Being the medical expert that I am, I think it could have had a few more stitches in it as it really didn't heal as well as it could have.
We have another very busy weekend ahead *sigh*. Looking forward to doing very little the following weekend! x

Wow, it has been awhile since I have updated! Life sure is busy!

Rewind back to Tuesday. Matt gives me a call at 4.40pm at work with the opening line of "...everything is OK..." So, he was at the hospital with Shawn waiting to see if he needed stitching back up after a billycart incident on a gravel road. 5 stitches and only 40 minutes later, they show up at my work, just as I was about to head over to the hospital. (I figured we would be in for a good few hours wait, so I didn't hurry!) All is good. Not a grass stain or a dirty mark on Shawn, just a tear on his arm that was pretty nasty. We will see how well it has healed on Tuesday when the stitches come out.
Soooo, they were busy practicing for yesterdays billycart derby in town as part of the Thunderbolts Festival. Shawn got back on that billycart and had a great time! He was the only entry in his age group, but came second in the next age group. I think the only thing against him was the lack of weight! He is very proud of himself, and he should be!

I am sure it is not legal...

...but it sure is fun!









It is a beuutiful Saturday morning and we have been out getting the yard ready for Liberty's party tomorrow. After Matt mows our yard he goes and does my Grandmothers yard a block away, the kids always get a free ride!

Back to work!

My Baby Girl...

Today is Liberty's 5th birthday... She does not really like it when I call her MY baby girl, but she will always be my baby.

After all of the elaborate cakes I have made for Shawn's birthdays, All Liberty wanted was a brown one with white stripes. Good ole supermarket mudcake, her very favourite! :)


This afternoon we had Grandparents for afternoon tea. Sunday will be a party with friends. She is so excited for her party. Rain is forcast.... I hope it stays away, we have a pretty cool game planned.



Last night we all made cupcakes. I knew I would be pressed for time today (even though I took the day off work to be with her more on her birthday)so I purchased icing in a can. It even came with 4 decorative tips for different designs. So easy and fast! I decorated 30 cupcakes in under 10 minutes... Yes, they look like they were decorated that quickly, but 30 preschoolers really don't mind!

10:10:10

So, the lady on the news this morning was saying what a lucky day it is. Quite a few weddings were planned for today, and it was better to be married at 10am, not 10:10am. 10:10am is bad luck!
Anywhoooo, in honor of the fun date we simply took some family pics. It pains me to put a photo of myself on, but it was a fun moment...







So if you believe in luck, I hope you had a lucky day!

Back to school tomorrow and back to work... I have had 4 days off and have not felt well.... so, instead of going back to work full of energy and feeling inspired, I will be dragging the chain... Only 5 days until the next weekend!!! Then I have a wedding to shoot, which makes me tired just thinking about it! :)

Thinks it would be nice...

To sit out and watch the Critters go by....



Happy long weekend everyone! I have to get through a few hours work tomorrow and then I am FREE....until 8am Tuesday... Until then I will be in Grafton watching the boats wizz past, must go charge the camera!

S P R I N G

The sun came to visit this weekend. The rain did too for a few hours, but mostly the sun!
So we dug.
Matt finished digging in the last of the sleepers for a side garden bed that we will built up and plant next year.
I pulled some weeds yesterday and then planted today. Lots of creatures moving around in the soil which is good to see. I went and raided a friends fantastic garden today and scored 5 bags full of plants that I can not remember the names of...



So hopefully in another month or so I will take another photo and show you how they all grew into lovely grown up plants!

Fantastic!

We have driven for 12 hours. Spent 13 hours in Brisbane, 5 of thoses at the Entertainnment Centre. Had 3 hours sleep in 2 days. Just to see this man perform!
Tim McGraw. I got some fantastic shots... if I say so myself!

Night, Night!