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OK it may seem a lil biased when i say this... and believe me I am biased..LOL but...Em has made some FANTABULOUS treat toppers for Valentines day.. AND.. because she is uber cool and kind.. and sweet herself.. she is GIVING them away... of course there is a catch.. well some say catch.. I say bonus... you also can sign up for We Are Storytellers newsletter at the same time.. in fact.. we ask you do..LOL

How cool is that... !!

oh.. you want a link to the blog... sure.. GO HERE!!!!

(and.. i stole this picture from the blog... you know. just in case you didn't believe me when i said they were fantabulous!!)

The suck up

I picked Lochs up from school and did have a great day from what I can work out.. I asked a few questions .. but nothing over the top (lets not make a big deal right?) and we headed to the shops for donuts. I had promised donuts and chocolate milk for afternoon tea :)

As I pulled into the car park I asked.. and what was your teacher like Buddy? He said.. Brilliant (oh you have to love the vocab!) ..LOL

I wanted to hug her. Then and there... I was SO pleased he liked her. We headed inside to buy the donuts and Lochie stopped at the flowers.. and said.. Mummy .. if we bought these for my teacher and drove back to school really quickly.. would she be there still? *she might*

So.. we did. I was SO proud of him. He was scared and nervous and worried... and .. at the end of the day he was getting his big reward..but his focus was elsewhere. It was on someone else and that is huge for 4 in my opinion.

So of course we both looked like suck ups.. driving back to he school and delivering flowers.. but sucks ups we must be... So we went in and Lochie handed them over and said thank you for my first day at school. And for not the first time today I teared up. I love this lil guy.

His teacher thought he was pretty special too :) and she said.. should I keep them here or take them home. .and not for the first time .. I noticed how considerate she is of the children's feelings. He said.. well i gave them to you and now you can choose... way to go buddy!

So home we came to demolish donuts and milkshakes (well he did my pain killers are wearing off..LOL OUCH) and I thought... you know .. I WANTED to take flowers but.. thought it looked like sucking up.LOL and didnt.. but.. my son knew better.. an act of kindness or a thanks isn't sucking up and if someone else sees it that way it says more about them than us. I hope his heart continues to feel this way.

Love my lil guy... SO much.

Digital Age Dentistry!

I was brave... I went to the dentist.

I am a lil unamused to discover afterwards that they put in 'temporary ones' surely this is a long term thing??
whatever.. i wont have to go back for a while! few years maybe.. IF they take.. what? If they take???? They may NOT take? Apparently... awesome... particularly when we leave for the road trip in a couple of weeks.. ack!

Apart from that... AND the 11 needles I had.. yes really... I discovered i prefer the drill over the suck thing.. oh how i hate the suck thing...

But the coolest thing about the dentist.. if there is such a thing... was he let me watch movies..LOL They use a mini dvd player hooked up to some video glasses... VERY slimline and cool.. you pop them on and watch a movie of your choice... whilst he does his thang... ok ANYONE thinking i calmly whiled away the hour watching ice age instead of knowing what was going on is kidding themselves but it certainly makes a difference when you are trying to be brave.

My dentist has slimmer cooler versions but these are a good idea of what they look like..

Now.. if only it was really digital dentistry and I could have fixed them in Photoshop. ;)

Big Girl Pants

A friend of mine - who shall remain nameless to save her dignity.. has told me more than once to put my big girl pants on and be brave...Today is the day for the big girl pants.

I took lochie to his first day at preschool today. *insert The SCREAM face here*

I almost never take lochs to school he cries... I cry all the way home and I am unable to concentrate.. I am emotionally scarred from doing it when he was a baby.... I CAN NOT take him.. but now i have to .. cause school starts at 9am.. and Andrew starts work on the other side of town at 8:30.. do the math kids.. I am wearing the big pants!

He didnt want to go.. I didnt want to take him but we all did the brave face thing... ok... i did.. and I took him and he was loving it... then i kissed him goodbye and he was FINE.. i had a quiet chat to the teacher and said I am off he may be upset.. and ..made it to THROUGH the gate before i heard it.... that unmistakable heart wrenching.. Maaaaaaarrmmmmiee dont GO? and you know how they say go.... with that.... i will be orphaned if you walk one step further kinda GO... like GO is the most shocking horrible thing any parent could do.

I went back in and cuddled him.. reminded him of the lil hearts we drew this morning.. me on him and him on me because we love each other and he knows about hearts. I will draw a heart on him right through to grade 12 if i have to. Love that lil guy. I didnt cry.. i didnt... He begged me to stay.. and I explained how he would only still be sad then too.. and that I was coming back >.REALLY early... and he was going to have so much fun.

He didnt buy my story... heck.. i didnt buy my story...but he went inside with a teacher and I went to the car and one or two.. or 5 tears rolled down my cheeks as I headed for home. So.. tear stained and all I dropped into the BEST lil cafe and got some to die for take away salads...

I am eating a HUGE lunch at 10:30am LOL

because you see.. I have to keep those big girl pants on... today.. I am getting two fillings... and if it is anything like the clean (and yes..even i know it will be much worse) I wont be eating for a while.

2:30 cant come quick enough. I will be done at the dentist.. he will be done with school and we can both come home and just be!

I did MAKE him stand out the front for the obligatory first day at school photos...

HE did a big.. WHOOOP WHOOOOP when I said.. say preschool!

LOL

and... my favorite image... He is such a cool lil guy.. sure.. but this one has the wide eyed waiting for the world thing we hope all our children have before starting school.... go forth and learn lil guy.. and come home for big hugs at the end of the day.. your Mummy needs them!

Inspired myself

I posted a one plus one post the other day on a guy named chris cobb who organised 16 people to change a bookstore overnight.... It was very very cool - 25000 books in one night..

I was inspired.. because i think it is good to challenge the everyday and the obvious and to look outside the norm and see what is possible.

Andrew got bookshelves for his birthday. We bought them particularly to fill one wall in the living area. This house is SO much smaller than our other one and after lots of downsizing and reducing in many ways, we just fit nicely into our lil space. We have an L shaped room.. the hall runs from the front door to the back wall of the house, and opens into the L (it is actually a reverse L) .. the kitchen fills the short end.. and the long portion is family/dining.. As you walk down the hall (the wall extends slightly into the room).. the bookcase is on the wall behind you..

We keep it pretty tidy and I am kinda crazy about empty surfaces... dining table.. must be empty... entertainment unit... nothing on top (cept the wishes and stickers reward jar for lochie.LOL) and.. bits and pieces are stashed in baskets in the coffee table/ent unit. NOTHING on the coffee table..cept a remote/coasters.. and the kitchen has a privacy screen style bench and NOTHING is allowed on the long bench.. it is all looks kinda clean. :) well most of the time..LOL

The bookcase however... PROBLEM.. books... as warm and cozy and lived in they are... look messy.. pretty much always... not much you can do about it right? Besides it is Andrew's and he gets to live here too.LOL He loves his books.. dearly.. so you win some you lose some....

Until today we I rearranged the CDs in colour order.... LOOKS so cool. I couldnt have thought we had that many with coloured spines... but we did.. and it looks so cool in rainbow blends...

I begged, asked and did the big eye thing... and .. andrew relented and let me move the books.. and whilst he is maintaining a rather manly... oh yes it looks OK... it looks BRILLIANT...

white to cream to yellow to orange to red to red purples.. to blue purples to blues to sea colours .. to a mushroom to brown to gold to silver to greys and blacks.. ahhhhh

then.. i did the DVDs...

and now... it looks SO different. The room has colour.. not a mishmash of just books (which looked rather brown/black.. there is life in it.. there is a new warmth.. there is a sense of place.. there is art and order
there is calm .. there is design..

ok ok so my cook books are mixed in with his sci fi or his war books.. but.. we ..are pretty well mixed together... so thats OK isnt it?

You walk into the room and it looks clean.. you turn and you think..oh .. wow.. thats kinda cool. it has its own funk...

the room has been creams and neutrals with highlights of a soft powder blue.. very calm... but now.. the blues are high the blues in the bookshelves.. the reds of the books add some heat...

the room actually looks like you COULD get away with a bright coloured cushion on the lounge...

and.. I am blissfully happy. I may not be blogging for the next few days tho.. andrew needs me to help him find a book.. Poor long suffering man. I do love him

this internet .. it is a funny thing..

This internet is a funny thing... widgets, gadgets, gizmos, skype, adium and blogs..

we make friends, we are inspired, we share, we care, we reach out and we are touched, we follow and we lead, we run businesses, we make friends, we meet life partners.. we talk to clients, we chat to those we have never met, and we build bonds that will last a lifetime in our hearts... and today... via twitter.. I waited to read that a baby had been born.

I have been waiting all day. I have been hitting refresh... to wait to see up to the minute live news updates via twitter.... to see if a baby has been born. i have never me the family.. never talked to them live..
but I got tears in my eyes when I just read that the baby has arrived safely!

Nate and Jaclyn Kaiser... the star photographers ... the greatness behind the image is found... the incredibly cool and generous people (by all accounts and my own summation) .. the parents of very cute and funny lil Grace... announced a few months back that Kaiser v2.0 was on the way...

tonight (their early morning).. v2.0 made his way into the world. Jasper Kaiser.. cool name, and undoubtedly cool kid...

My husband read books in the 20 odd hours leading up to Lochie's birth (ok he did some other stuff too but he spent alot of time in the chair in the corner of the birthing suite reading books.. ) .. Nate shot a wedding.. and rushed from it.. to the hospital. What a rockstar. (not that I dont love you babe.. but seriously.. you read a book and the man shot a wedding!! LOL) ..

and.. then... he twittered.. updating from his mobile phone.. to keep those of us playing at home and cheering them on.. up to date.

We cheered and teared up reading the line in the box.... 5:16 - say hello to our beautiful new baby boy - jasper aiden kaiser !!!

yep.. this internet is a funny thing. and a wonderful one.

Congratulations Nate, Jaclyn and Grace... Welcome lil Jasper!

You know that feeling...

That sinking.. opps I did something bad.. and I know it and I cant undo it kinda feeling...

Not the opps I played cricket in the house and broke a vase kind... the... i didnt do a good job today kind. .
Yep...

well that was me this weekend.

My intention was good... but.. my result wasn't.

I had a shoot with a Mum and Dad, their daughter and her son... 3 generations.. New Grandparents, New parent and new baby :) well.. he is 8 months old and super cute but .. newish.

We had already postponed because lil W had teething issues.. and then it looked like rain... my previous record is four reschedules.... but this was not possible. because lil W and his Mum and Dad have made their home in England and will be flying back soon. So it was Saturday or bust.

Of course... the rain was an issue! I phoned Friday and discussed and we decided to aim for their house... front and rear deck, plus pool area plus limited yard.. NO problems. VERY limited yard, dark decks and LOTS of full on sun and a pool area not worth contemplating with lil W.... meant I had a set of wide front steps (3 high)..LOL and a 4 or 5 foot wide deck to work on.. mind the windows. ;)

Lil W is a wiggler.. hehe super cute and super wiggly.... and.. I was totally totally off my game. I wasn't creative. It wasnt working. My photos looked like home happy snaps at best.. the more I chimped (looking in the back at the LCD) the worse it became.

We took a break and hoped that the sun might move for us. It didn't.. and I was still super weak from the well.. week..LOL and so I did what I could do.. but really.. It wasnt much.

I got home and rated the images (workflow people.. back up and rate!) ... normally... from a shoot..I would mark.. about 80 photos with a 5 star rating... this shoot.. i rated 9.. yup.. 9.

NINE freaking images that were worth editing... *die*

I spent much of the night being very unhappy with myself and my work. I moaned, muttered and complained. I edited.. I cropped and I waved as much magic as could be waved..

and I got one of everyone...and some combinations. I was not happy.. and worse.. I had to let the client know that the bad light, bad setting and bad photographer (lets not play on this one too much..LOL).. had meant they didn't receive my usual service and standard... I phoned them a I asked them to check their gallery and offered them a reshoot if they wished.

I had not had that dreadful bad.. up all night sinking feeling since a shoot in 2006 when I realized my camera was dying during a shoot and letting in too much light (thanks for forgiving me D!)

The client was FINE about it.. very happy to have the opportunity of a reshoot if they needed it etc... Handled it OK... but i do tend to talk myself down .. particularly when I know i have done wrong.

They phoned back 20 mins later... ack ...they LOVED them.. thought they were fantastic and had no need for a reshoot..

P H E W !!!

Maybe I am too hard on myself but frankly I know I could have done better!

I did get one shot I particularly liked... lil W having a munch on grandma's toes! I love how she curled them over.... he is teething afterall!!

Grandma and Grandad are super sweet with this lil guy. :) Smitten in fact. I laughed when I heard Grandma 'scolding' him... hehe " if you do that Grandma won't love you for a full five minutes" ... personally I dont think she could last that long.. ;)

calling all parents

yesterday i got my first ever ipod....

it arrived 8 weeks late.. after the original one disappeared on a courier..lol

once we were all sure it was really missing.. and my birthday had well and truly passed a new one was ordered...

and my darling husband came home and propped it up on my puter to surprise me..

awwwwwsome. now i just have to work out itunes..ack.

ANYWAY......

i am thinking i may soon LOVE this thing.... because i wont have to hear a thing!! Thinking road trip.......
I had planned on playing stories for lochie...books on cd and kids music and thought we would condense all the kids stuff onto a couple of cds.. and keep them handy... but it would mean setting up the mini dvd player for him etc.. a lil bit of a pain but oh so much better than hearing kid stuff..LOL i have even been training him to think that getting headphones is a treat..LOL

but ... wouldnt it be cool ot have it on the ipod.... i dont know about you but.. i am not wrapped with the idea of giving my beloved child my brand spanking new ipod..LOL

Lisa sent me a link to tadpole wrapz... i know Ali edwards mentioned these a while ago but i had all but forgotten about it..

http://ifrogz.com/proddetail.php?prod=tadpoleappls

they are $34.99 and an an awesome idea!! brilliant.. def seeing if i can order one...

THEN i noticed.. it is only $8.50... i am still in shock... i think maybe just some headphones will turn up or something... but... i think it is the real deal...

so if you have a child.. and an ipod.... i suggest you go shopping..LOL

it was going to be a busy week

this week has been looking like a big one.

I have been desperately planning to use this long weekend to have ONE day off... LOL there are 3 days... one for shopping/cooking/cleaning and a shoot in the afternoon.. edit all night... work on sunday .... wake up monday and spend the day together. that was the plan.

More and more jobs have found the way to my to do list. the new website is done :) and i had a commercial shoot yesterday.... lots of new product for the new store (SO excited I can not even tell you how cool this will be)... and.. lochies last day at school.

boy - if i was going to get through this... i was going to need a power assister..LOL so with an armful of last minute grocery grabs... I grabbed some juice. some of the GOOD organic special lots of good stuff kind.

AND.. skulling it.. as much as possible and whenever i think of it.. be nice to your body right?

I woke up Tuesday morning I said to Andrew.. woah... I feel like a truck got me. I think i am coming down with something. i feel dreadful. He came home at 10:30 to watch lochie while i went to a meeting at his new school. I just COULD NOT wake up... 11am and it felt like 3am. I was really dragging my feet. Even the guy at the photo lab said... are you not well? or just late nights working again? (haha i must regularly look like crap..LOL)

Andrew worked from home and i tried to get some stuff done but ... by the second time i went out... i wondered if driving was for me? LOL I came home and topped up on juice.. boy.. i was going to need that day off this week.

By night time... i realized I hadn't printed, set up my pack for the shoot.. nothing... all i wanted to do was lay on the lounge. so... between spells of TV... I packed the backpack and got sorted. I did the paperwork and crawled into bed.

Yesterday I got up and OH BOY....more juice!! i had to shoot..!! I struggled to throw my pack and and scolded myself for being so unfit.... it IS heavy.. around 60 pounds (if the conversion is correct).. but really.... i can normally throw it on OK.... odd!

I got to the shoot and OK it is hard physical work shooting.. but .. it was a small space and the people were lovely. and I got a 15 min break ...... I got home and desp wanted a nap..LOL.. geez.
I barely got my pack upstairs.... and I just flopped on the computer... till it was time to pick lochie up.

I rang andrew and got him to organise pizza and I tried to stay awake watching cooking shows with lochs (one of our fav things to do together)...

Andrew asked what I wanted to drink.. and i said... gosh.. JUICE please...... i am dying... obviously i will have a flu tomorrow.. then it dawned on me.... the juice. Andrew checked and sure enough it has the additive i am allergic to in it...

GAH!!!! how can you label something SO GREAT and have junk in it. LOL. it is all my own fault.. I KNOW to check everything always.. everything..... but really... it was freaking juice...and boy have I had some of it!!
so now I am paying the consequences.. desperately hoping i dont pick up any germs etc.. cause i will get the bad kinda sick i suffered last year!

so i am now in slow and steady mode... lil tommy turtle... the mind is willing but it is a trapped in a body that cant move (literally I lose the ability to pick things up and walk around easily) and ... i dont really even have the capacity to think and articulate...so....

slow and steady.. if you emailed me.. i have read it.. promise.... i have read everything but i have about 100 emails to respond to.... i am getting there... if you get one today you are a HUGE priority.. if you get one tomorrow.. your lucky! friday and saturday... i care. and got there ASAP..lol Sunday monday.....
maybe I am getting back to normal :) etc

so please please be patient with me..

{we are} storytellers

We are all storytellers..

if you blog... if you scrap .. you tell a story.. if you phone a friend.. or you have a diary... we all have a story to tell.

and I have a new story to share... I am super excited about this one... Starting Feb 14. V-Day - Our story begins... and we will be sharing the love with everyone..I am joining a fabulous team of designers in a unique community....

we are storytellers.