go and vote, 2011 edition

Voter turn-out is notoriously low in an off-year election. However,  not only will we be voting today; I will be volunteering at the polls to help get this fine man (not Callum) re-elected as our State Senator. It's a proud day for all of us.

sweet surprise

I mentioned last week that Alfie moved his visit a day early to surprise Callum. Alfie's Callum's grandad, and one of his favorite people going. There were a few bumps along the way, but we all managed to keep the secret ot the early arrival, and I think you can tell even from this picture: it was totally worth it.

The rest tell the story pretty well too. Happy day.

five things, november 4 edition

1. I think I have been very tardy in saying thank you to all the wonderful new blogging friends I've made who have taken the time to stop by still+life and say hello. The Blogging Your Way E-Course is coming to an end soon, and it's been such a wealth of inspiring (overwhelming!) information...my head and heart are both full. The total side bonus has been all the amazing blogs I've been introduced to along the way. Who knew?! I'm filled with gratitude to be part of this community.
2. I think it's been a crazy hectic week, but we survived it. Bonus for Callum: Alfie surprised him by coming up a day early.
3. I think I'm really looking forward to seeing Callum in his school play tonight and on the ballfield (56 degrees for the high and windy...yikes!) tomorrow. Two sides of the same coin.
4. I think I have a lot of changes to make in two short months.
5. I think, as we enter the month of gratitude, that I have a lot to be grateful for. Like Kate! Spade! Wedges!

bunch of dips

We've made a committment to gather more often, these women who populate my life. I can't express what that means to me. I sound like the dippy one. But when we can't go out, like your average mom, we improvise. Gathering around the kitchen island with dips and Chick-fil-A nuggets (I just can't believe they don't have them in Australia!).

We laugh a lot, of course. And don't even talk about anything that important. Except it is. All of it is important when you're surrounded by friends.

There are dips and there are dips, and these are my dips.

lightroom fun for Halloween

I got a few shots of some of my favorite kids on Halloween. And played some with some new Lightroom presets in the process. I've been learning SO much new photography stuff in my Blogging Your Way e-course, I simply hate to see it end. Right now there don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to try to do. No changes were made to the above photo, but hello? How darn cute is that? Homemade costumes, people! Spencer Rocks!

Nurse Rebecca, and her gorgeous angel girl, Margaret.

Seen again with the preset Gavin's Old Polariod, found here. The change is subtle, but moody. I like it.

The original is on the left, and it's pretty cool looking itself, if I do say so! On the right, we have WIW Dust, found here.

And finally we're back to Gavin Seim, with his color fantasies, found here, this one called Lemondrops.

Best part of all of these is that they're FREE.  I think one has to be careful not to go crazy with these things, and I have seen the preset fun overdone, but seriously, folks, I could have downloaded presets all day. I'm feeling pretty sure they'll pop up on my photos every so often.