lanne

Busy Weekend!

We dropped Lochs off at G'mas on Saturday morning and expected to do a quick clean of the house before hitting the shops for new bed pillows. (typically an expensive purchase and one we wanted to make in peace!)
We dropped home to clean up and my Dad made a surprise visit. We scraped in just before the stores closed.. grabbed some pillows.. 35% YAY for Bed Bath and Table! and then picked up Dexter - first season on DVD.. and grabbed a LATE 4:30pm lunch at Belesis.. ahh peaceful bliss.

We made it through the first episode... ummm dark.. lil... argh for me.. Lots of squinting and looking around. We hit next everytime he killed someone..LOL Not entire sure it is for us!

We decided against dinner having eaten lunch SO late.. and remembered it was earth hour night.. when the city was meant to plunge into darkness. They were turning off the bridge lights.. so we decided. .being child free and all.. we could go and see it. We parked at New Farm and did the riverwalk in.... Riverwalk is a floating walkway on the Brisbane River... it is pretty cool and a nice place to walk.. no roads, buses etc.. just a WHOLE lotta ipod wearing exercise junkies.. We weren't one of them but found the walk pleasant.

The turned off the bridge lights, and a few buildings.. houses moreso than offices.. and we headed back.. oh well the walk was nice..LOL

We got almost home before the hour was up so we watched for a hill as the city slowly relit...pretty enough.
We tried another Dexter.. you could almost list the recommendations from the pilot to episode two and i found it easier to watch.. we will see if we finish it tho! If you are watching it/have watched it.. let me know your thoughts.

We are also joining the ipod wearing excerise junkies.. i dont know about the rest of you but i find excerise HARD to fit in? Motivation isnt a huge issue.. it is HOW? Lochie cant walk/ride/fly as fast as I need to go to make it worthwhile... and he is too big for the bike seat etc. The treadmill makes me want to vomit... oh i HATE that thing. I really just want to be out and about on my own having some peace..LOL The peace would be motivating enough!

Sunday morning we took lochie down to riverwalk.. he was able to ride with Andrew and I beside him and then i was allowed to break away and walk at my own pace. i turned and came back as they turned with me. I got blisters tho. .borrowing Andrew's shoes with no socks (oh yes I dont have sneakers..LOL) Andrew doesn't get home till 6 so this isn't something we could normally do!

We enjoyed a lovely dinner (perfect weather) out on the deck.. it wont be long before it is too cold. so we decided to enjoy it while we could... lamb wraps.. Mmmmm yum!

After dinner we talked about how nice it would be to be able to use the riverwalk and a lil more thought led to the following plan... I could meet Andrew there at 5:20 !! on his way home from work.. and he can spend some quality time with lochie (who can spend some quality time mastering his bike!) and I can walk..free as a bird at my own pace with my ipod in! a lil planning from me will mean dinner will be done before we leave - and we will simply heat it when we get home. SLIGHTLY later nights than we would like.. BUT... if we do it mondays and tuesdays.. lochie generally has a home day following.. no big deal if he needs a day time rest.

thursdays and fridays (and ever second Wednesday) I am going to be able to take lochie to school and then head down there... it is a 20ish minute drive from the school.. but . worthwhile. You can get a reasonable pace up without stopping for streets cars etc.. no hills (well not HILLS) and a good even surface.. plus there are lots of people around making it safer than many tracks.

I can do the longer walk - 5km and enjoy the peace! before coming home to a nice shower and working until 2 when i have to go and get lochie.. but at least I would have excerised.

So today.. we went and bought some sneakers.. some 'activewear' LOL and made an ipod playlist.. roll on Thursday! My goal is to have walked 600km by my birthday (beginning of Dec).. wish me luck.

We also HAD to buy lochie these shoes.. partly because he does the same moves as the skeleton... but also.. because a) they were on sale b) they are CUTE.. c) they are black..LOL most importantly they are black. He needed some 'going out' shoes in black.. i was looking for boots but these are SO much hipper! and cute! I dont like skeleton stuff on kids (and have a real ARGH about camoflague.>LOL) but these are CUTE skeletons.

and you just know they are going to be cute with this jacket (and his new leather jacket)

Catching Up

I have taken a photo a day every day for the whole year.. (laughs it is March!) but hey.. so far so good..what I have not been good at is editing them and posting them all I can NOT do it daily.. that isn't working and weekly is turning into bi-weekly and it seems overwhelming... how is everyone else doing?

So last night I sat down and tried to do March and the last few days of feb..I can not find my last few days of Feb... I have a feeling they are on CD in my backpack in case something happened to the house whilst I was away... I will have to look harder today. I am also missing a few from this month.. I was too lazy to go and get them from the other room..

but MOST of them are now up on flickr - see side link :)

I am now all backed up with time machine on the LaCie.. oh yeah! Does anyone know of a good net based storage? something easy to use, affordable and that loves a mac! ? Let me know!

I *heart* time machine. One of the most annoying things for me is to change files/folders etc on my computer and then have to resort them on the back up/write over the old back up/have two backups.. gah.. it is boring tedious and complicated.. Time Machine is very Back to the Future... LOL It eve has the arrows.. and you simply choose when in time you want to go back to and click restore... BIG SIMPLY BUTTONS.... seriously.. all computer software writing type people... please take note.. we love big simple buttons..LOL

and... breaking news... *play breaking news sound track here*

Lochie got.. and i quote... 'his first ever real girl present'... *ahhhh*

SUPER cute lil girl at preschool gave him a badge that says love.... awwwwww

I met lil Miss B and made sure it was in fact a keeper type gift and not a .. i am four and said he could have it but i meant .. have it until I cried..LOL

She did .. and he was SO excited and proudly wearing it and she as chuffed.. and I gave some thought to what kinda mother in law I might be one day. Andrew said.. scary until they fall in love with you too.. (nice save buddy).. I think I will be awful...LOL. but then I look forward to mobility scooter races against Andrew in our older ages and I plan on whooping him.

I also played around with the new actions some more.. ahh the more I use them the more I love them! and I am fairly convinced..even if you have a tonne of actions you will love these (ok if you have a tonne of Xprocess actions you might not but if you dont..... BUY THEM!

I have been playing a lil with mixing them.. this is pin up + cool xproc.. and I looove what it does to silvers and gold..I am thinking i might print this and update the rock-star photos in Lochie's room...

My shoot was postponed for today.. combination of rain and a death in the family.. So sad for them all and so we will reschedule. Life is more important. :)

I am also very excited about the prospect of being able to donate a session a month + $250 print credit for families with a terminally ill or seriously ill child/parent. I have contacted the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation and asked how I would go about it. They indicated they would think about it, look at my work and call me back if they were interested.. Umm Ok..LOL. The Director and I have been playing phone tag most of yesterday so hopefully I can speak to her Monday - its a good thing they called back right? LOL

Lochie is off to Grandma's. She asked if she could have him ..and we said no. Not because we dont love the break or because he doesn't LOVE going .. because he loves it SO much he is a complete pain in the backside when he comes home. So we said no. :( But.. he found out I said no and said... Mum... direct the calls to ME.. (hahaha - honestly where does he get this stuff)... so .. after much consultation we agreed to a day... he agreed to overnight and we gave in.. LOL but it is probationary.. any bad behavior tomorrow and he has blown in.. no more sleepovers.

So no work today.. plus no lochie.... mmmm I wonder what mischief I could get up to.

Justification... LOL

I could write a paragraph or three justifying my purchase of yet ANOTHER set of actions..LOL

ACTIONS rock.. they make life so much easier.. i have ALOT of actions.. :) we all know that.. but i think they save me at least 2 weeks work per year.. hey.. who is going to argue about that! Alot of them I have recorded for myself but.. many I have bought.

MOST actions.. I dont recommend. I would feel bad if they didn't work out for someone. I am also not a big fan of the cheaper actions.. the .. anyone with PS and the ability to hit record kind..

I do love and highly recommend the TRA - totally rad actions.. and of course the Jinky actions - itty bitty plus the add on.. but now I have a new recommendation..

Mariah McCormick's Fresh Actions Pack 1 and 3 found their way into inbox via paypal today. These are not cheap actions.. they are inexpensiv ;) $24 for 2 packs.

I have been coveting the dreamy xprocess look of DanielleThompson's work and I have long loved Jackie Coopers work.. Like this and this and this..

I LOVE this photo.. this is a combination of actions

I particularly love the Pin Up Action!!

(I am on the wrong computer to share some of the others and will post them when I get back in the studio:)

I also bought Pack 3.. I have SO many Vin. actions.. but...i LOVE the one that darkens.. without adding black.. its awesome ad I thought it was worth the $8 alone :)

You might also notice the new blog frames.. I am hoping that the graphic artist I have hired is sending over my new logo/thank you notes, letterhead tonight or tommorrow.. we have gone with the 2 rounded and 2 traditional corners look on all stationary.. (it matches the website.. ).. So I have made these to match. Now I just have to decide if I am patient/retentive enough to reframe ALL the images on the website and reupload them all *ummm probably*..LOL The letter head will have two rounded and two traditional corners, and so will the thank you notes. They slide into very cool open ended envelopes.. I found at a wedding stationary store and have a casually wrapped ribbon around them.

AND of course I cant wait to see the new logo!

New fun Stuff

I have a 6 click rule for newness.... (kinda like the 6 degrees of seperation but in reverse..LOL)

Go to a site. click a link.. go to a new blog.. click one of their links. etc... 6 times.. find newness.. and sometimes you find something you had forgotten,loved, knew, visited or that has been lurking in your own head. I *heart* the internet.

a polaroid blog.. I am so sad to hear polariod are done with film? Have they been to flickr.. it would seem there is an old school revival going on...

I am thinking about cranking open a polariod and playing.. just cause i might not be able to for much longer

and then I found this blog.. ahhh beautiful.... http://WWW.MYPOLAROIDBLOG.BLOGSPOT.COM/

and I also happened to find the human calendar. .. cool! http://www.humancalendar.com/

1tb

I remember when I saved up to buy 32mb RAM.. and was stoked to get it for about $250..LOL

My previous back up system was great but had some issues and I havent been able to get it to work with the mac. I was hoping to buy time capsule and I am sure it is great but it seems a little tooo expensive.

So I have been trying to find an alternative.. I think I have one (well lets hope so cause I just ordered it..LOL)

http://www.lacie.com/au/products/product.htm?pid=10922

It is a LaCie Big Disk Extreme (love these names! honestly!) It has firewire and USB 2.0 and is compatible with time machine... I am so looking forward to getting it on Friday! :) It comes in either a one and two tb storage capacity, and you can rack mount or stack em. Or... just decorate the desktop with it. :)

Ahhh style and peace of mind! I am also looking at an offsite storage offering :)

AND...

Today my fav lil man and I went shopping for his new winter wardrobe... i never ever bought a whole wardrobe of clothes as a kid but given he doesn't like shopping for clothes for long and i lose track of what he has I try and shop twice a year.. big assessment of what fits and what doesn't.. and buy it all at once.

He is SUCH a cool lil dude.. much cooler than his parents..LOL and now he is getting bigger I tried to get things that aren't just NICE.. or adorable or cute or suitable.. but I let him choose his own stuff (new ground for us)...well.. he did GREAT.. and has the coolest new clothes..

Including.. a light cord blazer.. THE most gorgeous leather jacket.. seriously.. i would buy it for andrew if it came bigger... He also got a very cool stenciled zebra head on a T and a elephant one (recent zoo visit was the inspiration for that!) He found a fuzzy elmo head T he HAD to have... and a very MOD jacket /light fleece with lil darker blue guitars all over it... he looks like he belongs in a band..LOL

He added some cargos (with only a few pockets - apparently he loved the belt).. another hoodie..with a old school stereo headphone printed on around the neck.. with cord going into the pocket.. (OH too cool).. love the old school gear he picked).. he went for some tracksuit pants.. but pretty cool ones .. and a T that says Milkshake.. (very him).. and one with a guitar/wings etc emblem.

He spent most of the time looking for a batman costume and new PJs.. lil Hugh Hefner that he is.. he LIVES in PJs.. so I got some new pirate ones. *cute* and he got a batman mask.. and.... BARGAIN of the day.... 2 League of Justice Ts.. they were 75%!!! Hello! and then.. we got a further 25% off the sale price.. because they were display stock.. umm yeah.. $3.50 each..LOL.

and he got his first pair of wellington boots... blue ones with stars... I think he may be in love with them..LOL We are off for some riding boots this afternoon :)

Some photos..

Well of all the sessions I did.. I have permission to share 2... which is fine. I totally respect that people don't like their children's images up online...(so much so we have two pricing structures for sessions, and people can elect which one they would rather have..) If I can share your images - we thank you with a discount.. if not.. thats fine and we do everything we can to ensure your privacy.

Bit of a treat for me to share these tho... as the two sessions I can blog about were of loyal blog readers :) Michelle and Kylie often leave comments and words of encouragement etc.. so not only did I get to photograph them and their families.. I got to meet them both :) Some people worry about meeting people 'from the net' .. I am not one of them..LOL Although I am careful I suppose.. I don't see it as any more dangerous than meeting clients I have only spoken to on the phone :)

So without further ado.. some of MY favs from the sessions. I am SO looking forward to my foot getting better and having more mobility.. for someone who is usually up and down and all round during a session...I am sure the girls will agree.. mobility was not a strong point! Sorry guys... you will just have to come to Qld on holidays! LOL :)

So here is the gorgeous Michelle's family and images.. She is SO sweet! and those two lil boys.. OH! Lil M is just adorable and so funny.. lots of energy and intrigue... and lil L... cute as a button.. much quieter and keen to explore.. Daylight savings totally messed with me..LOL and these lil guys started their session around the time I am often finishing one in Qld...

I am going to kick off with a photo of Michelle (just because I think she is SO pretty.. and hey.. she makes my blog look good..LOL)

I usually have a pack of bubbles (that kind of set) .. in my bag... they came in handy for this session.. Michelle was a great bubble blower but I think her husband A took the prize as best bubble blower.. I have spent hours editing bubbles (that stuck).. off him.. LOL So he was def in the action puffing away!

Lil M decided to have a try as well.

We did put the bubbles down long enough to grab a couple of shots whilst the kids explored... SUCH a cute couple!

Back with Mum for more fun!

These guys had more photos than I could fit in a gallery.... so I am just picking a few faves to share (and even then .. not even close to all of them).. but... this one of M cracked me up.. such a fun kid.. and I loved his lil wrinkled nose..

Thanks for catching up with me guys.. Next time I will try and make sure we have more time/flexibility and your sweet lil guys can meet Lochie.

About 800km away was Kylie and her family... We had so much fun with these guys.. nice happy and relaxed... I know [b] always talks about relaxed portraits.. i dont think you can get more relaxed than going to someone's house for some drinks and nibblies before the session.. LOL We went down to the beach just as the sun was setting and the golden light kicked in.

Now - you just know when you have three lil girls.. all dressed super cute..and you take them to the beach.. and then you say.. kick in the water... that someone.. one of them ... absolutely is going to get WET..LOL. I was standing on the waters edge and said to W.... She is about to go swimming. LOL within 5 seconds she flopped into the sea. hahaha. LOVE kids.. Love that they think.. oh hey the very edge of my skirt got wet.. I had better dive right in..LOL

BEFORE she got super wet tho... we did manage some photos..(and we took some afterwards too..LOL)

The most beautiful golden light..

Lil M (also known as M3 as all three girl's names start with M) :) I was warned she was mesmerising and she sucked me right in.. cutest lil face and such a smiley happy baby...

M1 Before the swim.. ;) M1 is such a fun kid.. lots of energy and fun.. Lochie MIGHT have a lil crush on her.LOL

M2... quiet and reserved.. she took herself off and plonked in the sand.. ahhh thanks M2 - one of my fav photos from the whole trip.

and their beautiful Mum..isn't she hot? and yep.. ALL the girls have these fantastic blue eyes. Oh Boy!

and I am sharing this image with permission. It is always the image you think.. ahhh will they like it or wont they. I shoot ALOT and i am realllllly picky about what clients get back... so I skipped over this. I took a whole bunch of these images. but it wasnt working. My foot was killing me trying to take it and M3 was NOT impressed with having her cute lil new tushie plopped on the sand..LOL. She did THIS .. in every shot..haha. I showed Kylie.. and she loved it.. LOL. so...

Here is my outake... haha.. thanks for the laughs.. :)

Off to see if Horton can really Hear a Who... well the boys are.. I think i deserve some scrapping time!

New...

For some VERY odd reason I seem to have reverted to last years April blog banner... maybe it is the typepad gods hoping I will update my banner..LOL..

Welcome.. new colours! New Banner.. New start!

Zzzzzz

I am here.

I am alive and .. well not really kicking..LOL... foot hurts a bit too much for that..LOL

I have now edited all of the sessions from the road trip... coming out of my cave.

I have permission to share images from 2 sessions.. and will do so tomorrow. :)

THANK YOU .. sincerely to everyone we met, caught up with, partied with, hung out with, shot, laughed with, dined with, BBQ'd with.. chilled with and whose house we slept at...

slowly home is beginning to feel like home.. My studio chair is def warm again..LOL..

and I have another session this weekend.

I have also made some changes this week and resigned from WST... anyone sniffing around for digital drama will be sadly left empty handed.. I LOVE the WST team and will continue to be a HUGE supporter of the designers and fab creative team there... so...go look elsewhere for drama..LOL..

Some more exciting new things happening this week.. I am REALLY prioritizing .. and looking at what I can give my time and energy too and what works and what doesnt... and I am looking forward to more ...'giving something back' for what of a better term... There is a better term and when I am less tired I will know what that is..

for now...

I have to go and lay on the lounge and pretend my dh doesn't only have one more day of leave left...

and.. hope that tomorrow is a lil smoother... we woke today to find lochie particularly wired and well.. naughty.. he was rude... and painful...reeeeally painful..LOL. Love him but ARGH... we decided to stash his eggs (not that there were heaps but .. you know. why make matters worse).. we discovered there were NO eggs... lil monkey got up at 5:30am..and scoffed the lot.. hence the bad behavior!!!!

15 mini eggs.. one big egg.. took a HUGE bike/park trip with Daddy PLUS... an entire afternoon of sillyness to wear off..

HAPPY EASTER... ;)

My knight in shining amore! hehe

Home again

Well... we are back... couple of days early and EXHAUSTED... i mean... we were always going to be tired.. but... we are wrecked..LOL

We were meant to cruise from Sydney to the Hawkesbury River yesterday.... about an hour from Sydney.... we left Andrew's Uncle's place about 9:30.. and headed off anticipating a short drive.. a look around and a lovely afternoon at a pretty expensive and luxurious resort..LOL followed by a 4 - 5 hour drive the following day. checking into a fun family tourist park... complete with real kangaroos etc

Well.. best laid plans... etc etc

The GPS.. led us deep into the heart of upmarket suburban Sydney... I began questioning the general direction and where we were headed.. Andrew blindly goes whereever the GPS lady leads.. having been born without any concept of direction.. Another 15 mins in I pulled over and demanded to see the instructions LOL.. she was taking us to the resort via a Ferry boat.. a huge no no with a hire car... you cant use a ferry or a dirt road.. so.. we turned around... and headed back... gah.. wasted a good hour... oh well... whats an hour?

So we requested a route with no ferries.. and got back on the main highway... drove for an hour or so before turning off and heading through mountains. A titch disappointed that the new method took 2.5 hours.. but we still had stacks of time.. it just meant less exploring..

56km off the highway... we came to a sign... 32km Gravel Road. Ummm NO!
We cant drive on an unsealed road either... No mobile service.
We drove 20km back to find a payphone .. and called the resort... 2 roads.. one using a ferry and one uses the gravel road.. gah!

It was now 11:30am.. and we have no where to stay.. Couldn't find any accommodation.. (easter is approaching and everything is booked).. our next booked accommodation is 5 hours drive.. + stops with Lochie.. we COULD have stayed there.. but we wouldnt have had any dinner... Sunday and everything in the lil town is closed..LOL

So... at 11:30am... effectively still in Sydney and 950km from home.. we decide to just go for it.. . drive home!

On the way down we did the same stretch over 3 days... the day is half over and we decide to drive through.. yes.. we have issues. LOL

Lochie surprised us.. he is a truly seasoned lil traveller now.. having gotten his week 2 home sickness.. and he was a total trooper... we drove like the wind.. right on the speed limit all the way. We stopped for a quick lunch... the odd toilet break.. and drove through to coffs... picked up a pub dinner and scooted through to home. I drove coffs to home in about 4 hours.. which was awesome... (although I did stop for a coffee .. LOL)

We scrapped in at 12:30am.... and unpacked enough to get everyone into bed.
It took the rest of the morning to unpack and put away and I am still washing.. we dragged ourselves around the shops to get enough food for a few days and we are all flopped about the place doing our own thing now (3pm)

We expect to surface back to normal sometime tomorrow.. which is just as well cause I have several sessions to edit this week

I promise to be back on board by the weekend. Looks like lots of exciting things have been going on and my downloading is about to get a work out...

Arrived in Sydney

We finally made it to Sydney..

We left Narre Warren and travelled to Lakes Entrance.. we arrived in time to ohh and ahh at the views on the way in.. picked up some groceries and made dinner.

Our villa was very comfy... big spa... and HUGE oversized 'old lady' lounge chairs.. but my goodness they were comfy!!!

We packed and got going the next morning and headed to Tathra... a pretty enough lil town.. but SMALL - we counted 5 caravan parks/tourist parks...there were two petrol stations (one is part of the carvan park).. there was a surf life saving club.. a grocery store/come real estate and a gift store/art gallery... there were a few homes up above us and one assumes there was a little more to it than we saw. The beach was pleasant ... interesting rocks.. etc etc

We arrived in time for a swim (the boys) .. cook dinner .. and a quick waunder on the beach at sunset (me)..
Being somewhat seasoned travellers (LOL) and having only 360km to do to get into Sydney.. we left at 9am and wound our way up the coast.. beautiful scenery most of the way... we arrived... at 7:30pm.. *SIGH*.. it was a deadfuly slow crawl at many roadworks.

Lochie was a little legend... SUCH a good kid about it all. He got a lil cranky in the afternoon but he moved on and settled into being patient.

We arrived safe and sound at Andrew's Uncle's house to a warm welcome, hot coffee and a shower. We thoroughly enjoyed all 3. We had a nice quiet day today.. catching our breath and catching up with family. Great day all round.

Here are some pics from accross the last few days.... honestly.. some beautiful coast line.

This is such a sad couple of photos.. this is smoke.. from local bush fires... very thick smoke with warnings for smoke over the road.

We also found many lakes, bays and water ways.. One of the most amazing was coming out of a mountain area yesterday. We had wound around and around.. up and down and come to a downhill drive which revealed the most sparkling blue water of little beach at the side of the road... stuning beautiful colour... yellow golden sand.. blue water.. white foam waves... complete with a morning surfer and his black dog. It sucked us in... we pulled over and stretched our legs..

Lochie tested his balancing skills on the car park edge..

and here are some more happy snaps

Sunset at Tathra Beach

I also snapped a photo of the moon... not technically brillant but I really like it anyway...

This was a lake we found on the side of the road...

Lochie has thoroughly enjoyed the company at Phils.... sure.. he like Phil... and K and the kids... he does.. but.. they have a cat... an indoor cat which will play with you.. Lochie is smitten..

and now ... I must away... we head to Hawskbury River in the morning... and hope to spend some time exploring the beautiful surrounding area.. :)

I might not have net access again until we make it home....