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Pretty things

I just got this newsletter image from Tinypeople today, isn't it gorgeous? All dress ups and sparkles and imagination. Expensive, yes. For years I've dreamed of making beautiful wovenplay style costumes for Sienna :)

I have actually bought from Tinypeople before, but only in sale time generally. Plus a couple of full time books. I'm a bit cheap like that, LOL. No, seriously, I feel bad for the shops that sell things at their cost (which often happens in sales I take advantage of) but balance that out with the fact that I'd rather spend a specific amount on something that is worth much more. More quality for the money, without breaking the budget completely. Usually, LOL.


Sneak Peeks for Kylie









Conflict and Pancakes

To anyone who has known me / read my blog for a long time, internal conflict is not really news. I regularly have these outbursts of conflict, or maybe they should be called inbursts really? All angst and uncertainty, you would think I would have left it behind in my teenage years. Well, as an angst-y teenager I did have some sort of vague idea that it would be different as a grown up. Alas, it is not quite so. Or at least it is sometimes relatively angst-less, but now and then becomes completely angst-ridden once again. I think it's quite normal actually.

OK enough gobbledy-gook :) As a mature adult, I could just say I am reevaluating my business and personal plans. Which is true. It has been my plan to reevaluate my plans after this market season, and I've just jumped in a bit early. A few things might go, but a few other things might have a stronger presence. Such as wedding photography. I don't advertise it, so I only do a handful of weddings a year, but I do love it. There may be some more online-ish things that will be added too. Positive, flexible changes. It's all a work in progress, but then, aren't we all?


Yesterday I told the kids I would make them pancakes if they cleaned up. You know, a bit. It was supposed to be an afternoon snack idea, but by the time they had actually achieved a small amount of cleaning, it was 5:30pm. So I declared it to be a dessert treat instead. We all enjoyed them :) This week I posted our favourite pancakes recipe along with serving ideas on the Season with Saltbush blog. They are otherwise known as 'Dad's pancakes' (as in, my dad).

Calico Lane features...

The lovely Tam of Calico Lane has featured me in her first blog interview... isn't that so sweet of her?

Check it out here



Wine & randomness at Problogger drinks #pbevent

While I'm on the train home at the moment - and therefore my perspective is possibly a bit warped - I have to say the post-conference drinks and networking was such a highlight today. I was tempted to just leave but instead had a quick chat to the lovely Jane before diverting to the ladies.

From there I could have easily headed for the lifts, but I squashed my introverted instincts and meandered back into the networking fray, carefully making my way to the ready-and-waiting glasses of wine. Red for me, and an easily sparked off conversation with Angela, who was so lovely that we chatted for easily more than half an hour. I would love to link to Angela's blog, but she is still in research mode and hasn't quite started one yet (but had fab ideas, so well thought out).

Anyway, the conversation with Angela eventually segued into a brief chat with Jules from Stone Soup, one of the panelists form the last session of the day on blog case studies. As a part time food blogger, I was grateful for her tips from the podium.

 
From there I was able to chat briefly with the sweet and colourful Pilgrim Lee, leading to an intro to Cinti of My Poppet. It was great to meet people in real life who I've been following on twitter or whatever. While I had briefly introduced myself to Maddie of L'il Magoolie (as we have emailed in the past), it was great to actually chat a little later on, drinks in hands and snacking on randomly passing finger food.

I had a lovely but brief chat with Kellie from 74 Lime Lane, who I had come across online but couldn't remember where or how. She was gorgeous though. Somehow in the meantime I was briefly coerced into a mini-summary of the day on Social Rabbit's video slash mobile thingy, after which I had a good chat with Paul Cunningham. Paul had been the lone bloke and the lone techie on that same last panel as Jules. I wanted to ask him about blogging about technical solutions, as Ben has mentioned it many times in the past.

Sonia Simone of Copyblogger joined us (well Paul, really, but I stuck around to listen) and eventually we had a nice convo about things like gluten free food and long-haul travel. I felt very disposable at some points of the conversation but I persisted and conversed like a grown-up and everything ;) Paul left to skype with his kids in Brisbane, and Sonia went off for a break.

Having picked up my 3rd glass of wine, I brazenly tucked myself into a group having a conversation nearby, having met a couple of them already and recognising a couple more. It was great, I had a really enjoyable conversation with Alec, Rachel Devine's husband -  about work (his and Ben's), autism, kids, travel, the States and Melbourne plus a bit about women's shopping habits which was quite funny - before we merged into the dissipating group and I officially met Natalie from Tiny & Little. If you don't know Tiny & Little, it's a gorgeous online mag. I exchanged cards with Natalie and Rachel (yes, be still my beating heart, what an awesome photographer she is). After a very (un)serious discussion of kids kindergarten photos, and some other things, I was again farewelling Maddie who was headed out for dinner.


Edited to add: I kind of wish I'd gone with, but on the other hand I was so tired when I got home at 9:30 (lame, yes, but I'd been up and busy since 5:30am) it's probably best I didn't. But I still kind of wish I had.

Well, I farewelled Maddie and Cinti and headed once again for the ladies. I'm not sure how but on exiting from the cubicle I ended up in a conversational clinch (a pleasant one) with Debbie of Unlock Your Best Life. After a brief intro and exchange of cards, she enlisted me to watch her bags and we bonded briefly over extravagant Spencer & Rutherford accessories, declaring them inherently practical. I ended up walking Debbie back to her car through the uncertainty of the Melbourne night, and received a lift to the train station in her Rav4 in exchange for my stranger's kindness.

In the process there was a hilarious interlude with the car park attended, once again linked with the apparently astonishing information that I have three kids (it surprised people numerous times). I kept reassuring them that I am 30, it's all legal and everything ;) Debbie dropped me off at Flinders Street station and here I am passing the Surrey Hills stop on the Belgrave line.

I almost left out of this unnecessarily lengthy post an entertaining side-story of impromtu toilet stand-up. Commenting on my husband's preference for silence from the toilet cubicle, I vocalised how outside my comfort zone it was to be talking to someone while she was behind that toilet door. Following up that comment with an observation that serving wine in the morning would have made me way more comfortable all day - though likely less attentive - was quite amusing to a poor innocent blogger who had merely popped in to use the facilities. We didn't officially introduce ourselves, but she seemed very nice and I'm sure I seemed quite bizarre, LOL.

And I didn't take any photos all day.


Diamonds, friends and #pbevent

As much as a market stall - shared with the adorable Nadya of The Kooky Green Owl and alongside Sew Chirpy - is a nice way to spend the day on Saturday, the weekend in Anglesea was somewhat soured by the loss of my diamond. I feel stupid, knowing that the claws on my vintage engagement ring needed to be repaired, but not having gotten around to doing it. And now the diamond is just gone, lost somewhere in the bustle of the Anglesea Music Festival Market. Sob.




Anyway, Anglesea seems cruisy and nice, with plenty of lovely locals (including a group of primary school kids!) stopping to help me search for the diamond on Saturday evening, and I loved visiting one of the Mill Markets in Geelong on the way home! Sienna got a couple of dress-up items, plus some bargain rollerskates for when she grows out of her current ones in a couple of years. I also got her a pair of jeans that look slim fit enough to stay on her skinny little behind, LOL. Oh, and a vintage tie for Ash. He really pulls off the vintage look, bow ties and braces, stuff like that. Cute boy.



Actually I was really happy about Sienna's dress-ups she found, as I had been planning on entering all the Canon Photo5 briefs but had trouble with my 'sequins and low light' idea. One of Sienna's finds was a $5 sequin top that she wore as a dress, which suited my photo idea perfectly :) The deadline was the next day, so it was awesome timing.


I'd already done the first brief 'Foam and bubbles' and I've since completed the next brief - 'powder and fast shutter speed'. 'Ribbon and panning' and 'through a pet's eyes' are still whirring around in my mind, but I haven't got any specific concepts yet.



On Friday I will be at the ProBlogger Training Day in Melbourne, yay! Even though my mind is so not there yet (I have been so tired this week), I just know I will be inspired and reinvigorated by the day. I'm an old-fashioned notebook and paper kind of girl, and will be busily people-watching when I'm not taking notes. If you see me there, feel free to say hi :) I'm hoping to wear my new Anthropologie top that just arrived (above). I've got a thing for yellow lately.




Set Sail and Loving Light ebook

This layout is for the Generation Gap feature on the Aussie Scrap Source blog... it's about the difference in travel between the generations.

I'm a bit quiet feeling today, heading off later this afternoon to Anglesea and trying to remember if I've packed everything I need for the market. I know I haven't packed my banner, but that's because I can't find it! I think everything else is good though. Making a casserole for dinner for Ben and the boys, it is filling the house with cinnamon tinged tagine smells. There is a breeze from outside because I have the doors open. So, since there is the smell of cooking, there are also some flies buzzing around, blergh.

I'm leaving my computer behind for the weekend, which feels odd when I have loads of editing to do. But I will have time next week to catch up, so that's ok.



Oh, this week I've been busily finishing off my first ebook 'Loving Light Chapter One' which is both a companion to the Curiouser workshops and a stand-alone book. Workshop attendees get a complimentary copy of the ebook, but for those who aren't attending a workshop it is currently available to buy online here, and for a limited time you can get 30% off the list price with the coupon code:
 OCTOBER

Loving Light aims to inspire your photography :) If you get a chance to read it, I'd love to know what you think!

This digital making of stuff

I am knee-deep in creating my first e-book at the moment, a workbook for those who attended my recent 'Loving Light - Chapter 1' workshop in Adelaide, and for attendees of future workshops. I'm hoping that once I get my head around making these things that I'll be able to offer a little variety, some just for fun too :) For this 'Loving Light' e-book, though, it is mostly the design I am working on as I actually wrote the content before the workshop. I'm super professional like that.

Here's a squiz at what it's looking like:



Anyhow, in the midst of this bizarre Photoshop / OpenOffice Writer mish mash I've got happening at the moment, I've been kind of overlooking this weekend's market. Oops! I have a feeling I'll have a busy list-writing morning on Friday to make up for ignoring it all week... anyway, I am really looking forward to being at Anglesea Music Festival's market on Saturday! We're mixing it in to a slightly girly weekend away, with Chirpy Lane (A collaboration between Sew Chirpy and Polkadot Lane), The Kooky Green Owl, my friend Megan and lucky little Sienna is coming along for a ride with the grown-ups.


We'll be at the market from 11am to 6pm on Saturday, if you happen to be a southern-Victorian music festival kind of person ;) And with that, I'll be getting back to e-book-ish stuff!

Linking with this week's Creative Spaces - click over to check out some gorgeous makings of other stuff :)

Three







Sneak peeks for a lovely little family from the Adelaide Hills, old friends of mine which were great fun to catch up with and photograph :)

Home time

Well we're back on home soil after a week in South Australia, and it was one very busy week! I managed to see some of my favourite people in the world, have a couple of fab sessions and run my first workshop, Sienna caught a fish, we ate some yummy thai food, porchetta, pizza, drove for about 24 hours (not in a row) and even had a little bit of time to relax now and then :)

Now I've got another session coming up before school goes back, lots of catching up and organising to do, a newsletter to get out, some scrapbooking projects and a few new canvases to make before the craft market at the Anglesea Music Festival on the 15th!

Today we're having a quiet, at home day while I work from the comfort of my bed... listening to Frances England, Adele, Pajama Club and whatever else I feel like while Cedar is napping.

Quick workshop roundup



My first Curiouser photography workshop was on Sunday morning in Port Adelaide, and I had a great time - hopefully everyone who attended did too :) It was 3 hours of light, cameras, kids and conversation... I will share more about that another time, but here are some of the pictures I shot during the practical part of the workshop. Our gorgeous models are actually my kidlets cousins, who I adored photographing, however briefly!