Many directions

I have nothing fun to say today. Work is incredibly busy and is sucking every single creative word and thought from my body.

Don’t get me wrong – I love that I have a creative job and that I can spend more than an hour choosing a colour palette (happened today) or conjuring up ideas for a fun video (last week and the week before), I just feel a little drained.

But then I come home and my two year old is standing at the door saying “mummy, mummy, mummy!” before I can even turn the key and my 4 year old manages to get Star Wars Cantina running through my head over and over again (to the tune of Copacabana).

Let’s just say I have a life that pulls me in many (mostly good) directions. The following P365 photos just reinforce that fact…

Tonight Samuel said “my best friend is Thomas”. I think they had a good day together.

Where I spend a large proportion of my time. I took this at about 9pm on a Friday night during an emergency video editing session. Oh, and I don’t work for the post office. That was just a random box.

Dancing with Thomas at our local kid-friendly pizza and music joint.

Same night. This is obviously not my child, but I just love this photo of my friend’s daughter. That’s my friend in the background as well as her other daughter.

The closest thing we got to a family portrait last month.

And finally, a rare quiet moment.

Blue

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any P365 pictures and, to be honest, I really haven’t been doing the photo-a-day thing. Instead I find myself taking a bunch of photos on one day and then a few another with days in-between where I won’t take a photo at all. It seems to be working for me right now.

School finished on Tuesday but work is crazy and I feel a little overwhelmed and stressed. Adding one more thing to my list of to-do’s is just not on the cards. Instead I think I’ll just give myself a little break and let myself take a photo when I feel inspired to do so.

I am excited about one planned photo opp, however. I signed up for the Scott Kelby photowalk this year. The bad news is that I’ll have to drag my butt out of bed at 5:00am on a Sunday but the good news is that I’ll be free to take photos inside a local amusement park before it opens. I can’t wait!

I have also been lacking in the P365 photo share department so I’ll share a few recent pics that share the a common hue.

(Thanks Obachan for the Hapi coat).

Reminders

Today is the last day of the school year. I have been looking forward to this day for a few weeks, not because I desperately wanted Thomas to finish his first year of pre-school, but because it means that both children will be attending the same daycare for the summer and I will be able to shave about 90 minutes from my commute each day.

I am hoping that this extra time (and a little stress relief) will help us get back on track. The past couple of months have been challenging for a number of reasons – rain, work challenges, cranky toddlers, sassy pre-schoolers, and did I mention rain? I think we’re all suffering from a severe vitamin D deficiency and a sunny day would go a long way to helping us get back on track.

We went out for dinner tonight and, as we left the restaurant following a quick but impressive rainstorm, we saw this…

It reminded me to look on the bright side and consider the many small wonderful things that are happening in our lives right now.

Samuel is learning to dress himself and managed to get his legs into two different holes of his pajama pants tonight.
Thomas has a best friend who will be in the same class again next year. We’re setting up a few play dates and sleepovers during the summer.
Our veggie garden is growing – at least half of it – and we have a few strawberries ripening in my new hanging baskets. We’ll tackle the second garden bed this weekend.
We have family coming to visit in July – I am excited to see how much my nephews have grown over the last few years. It’s been far too long since we’ve seen them and I can’t wait to have a house full of boys (ok, I’m a little frightened as well).
We are planning another overseas trip – this time to Japan. (yippee!)
Thomas knows how to write almost the entire alphabet – in Japanese and English. I am so proud of how much he has learned in just one short year.
Samuel still says “I love you” every day and doesn’t hesitate to give me big hugs and kisses whenever I ask (and sometimes when I don’t). He also went to bed without crying tonight (a small victory) and has completely given up the binky (aka dummy or pacifier, depending on where you come from).

I am also grateful that I stumbled across these pictures tonight. A reminder of that special brotherly relationship.

Also a good reminder to never let your guard down with a two-year-old.

On this Tuesday (one that feels like it really should be Friday)

Can’t stop looking at... this favorite photo from our beach trip. I have always wanted to spend a stormy weekend at the coast and, judging by this picture, I got my wish.

Unashamedly enjoying…

Oh how I love Glee. This show takes me back to that very special time when I thought I could sing and enjoyed a split second of fame as I sang a solo piece as “Bet” in my high school production of Oliver. There’s a teeny tiny little part of me that still wonders what if…

Oh, and “To Sir With Love” is one of my favorite movies. Genius!

Way too excited about…
Toy Story 3

We’re looking forward to our very first all-family movie night/day. I think I may be more excited than the kids.

Putting my order in…

I have waited far too long.

And seeing…

Yes, blue skies. Just barely visible through the pile of work that awaits me at work tomorrow.

But I know they’re there.

Good Night.

The Reason For All The Rain: Monday Mosaic

Saturday was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, birds were chirping and I was able to walk around wearing a t-shirt for the entire day. On Sunday it started raining again.

But both days were wonderful thanks to a very good friend and her mother who took both of our boys (BOTH!) for an overnight adventure. That meant that Kei and I were given more than 30 hours to do the following:

Visit the Portland Nursery without once saying “stay close please”, “don’t touch that” or “that plant is not a toy”.
Plant some strawberries and some tomatoes in record time (or regular time for people without children).
Go out for dinner and watch other people’s children get told off by the manager for playing with dirt in the ornamental garden – all while being thankful that they weren’t our children (because our children would totally be doing that).
Stay out late for dinner and drinks without stressing about getting home in time to pay the babysitter. We were still home by 9:30pm. (sad, but true)
Sit outside by the fire pit until late into the night talking – without the need for a baby monitor.
Sleep in until 10:30am (!!!!)
Watch a movie during the daytime. Couldn’t convince Kei to see Sex and the City so we agreed on Iron Man 2.
Browse for shoes at the mall by myself – but without finding the ones I was looking for.
See the excited expressions on my baby’s faces when we picked them up at about 5pm.
Have the wonderful experience of time to ourselves, but the even more wonderful experience of being reunited with our babies.

So tomorrow is back to school (5 more days of it than I realized – I guess I was getting excited for the end of the year). I just hope the weather picks up and the sun shines so our strawberries and tomatoes are given a fighting chance. I know the rain is good for them but enough is enough.

And so for my Monday Mosaic, I share a little reminder of why we have rain. It gives me hope for more t-shirt days in our near future.

It’s Moustache Thursday. Why Not?

Today:

Catching my breath after a few busy weeks at work – not that it’s going to get quieter, just need to catch my breath every once in a while.
Excited that my front door is being painted RED as we speak. I have wanted a red front door ever since we moved into our house four years ago and it’s finally becoming a reality. SO much better than pukey purple (yes, purple).
Wishing the rain would go away, but grudgingly accepting the fact that we chose to live in Portland and with the good comes the bad.
Looking forward to another charity event in memory of a good friend’s father and supporting the Downs’ Syndrome Association. It’s a golf tournament to be held on Columbus Day. Of course I’ll be taking photographs, not playing golf. It’s best for everyone involved. (Details coming soon!).
Thrilled that I have some client sessions coming up. I have been so busy over the past few months that I had to take a short break, but I realize I need to take time to do this. It makes everything else easier in the long run and ensures I have an exciting (very) long term goal to work towards.
Motivating myself to get started on a couple of photo book projects – one of them being my 2010 family book. It seems to take me about 6 months of “reflection” before I can begin pulling my yearly albums together (at least that’s what I tell myself so I feel better).
A little too excited about the Lost finale on Sunday.

Finally, enjoying these little forgotten gems that I found when flicking through photos last night.

Happy last-day-before-the-last-day-of-the-week!

11 years.

Eleven years ago, on a cold day on MT Dandenong in Victoria, Australia, I married this man.

It’s crazy to think that it all happened that long ago – in many ways it feels like the blink of an eye. But then I think back on all we have achieved together and it seems incomprehensible that we did it in such a short time. After we made it through that first (very rocky) year, it seemed there was nothing stopping us. We bought an apartment in Australia and lived there for a few years, then moved to Hawaii for a few months, drove across the United States and back again, settled in Portland (where we knew no one but each other), found jobs, bought a house (after selling the apartment in Australia), had two adorable babies and, in the midst of it all, found time to travel back to Australia numerous times, all while balancing a full time job each, daycare/school schedules and everything else that life throws at us.

Sometimes it’s hard – it’s always busy – but I really don’t think I would be where I am if I didn’t have the most wonderful partner in the world. And I’m happy with where we are, with what we’ve achieved, with the little people we’ve created and the parents we are striving to be. I think we balance each other well and keep each other sane (most of the time). We’re partners in life and, above all, we love each other (well, I love him. Kei may have to write his own blog post to confirm).

Happy anniversary honey. I couldn’t imagine having spent these past eleven years with anyone else and I look forward to SO many more. Mwah!

Motherhood

This week’s I ♥ Faces photo blog challenge is all about celebrating motherhood. So of course I went back through my photos to find one of me with the kids and, sadly, there weren’t many to choose from. Ok, there were a few, but I didn’t like the way I looked in them. It’s tragic that when I look at a photo of me with the kids, I find it so hard to get past the “me” part. It’s the curse of the photographer – never wanting to be in front of the camera.

So I am determined to take more pics of myself – with the kids, with my husband and by myself. I bought a remote for my camera a while ago and I have barely used it. Consider this my wake up call.

Thankfully I did find one photo that I love. It’s not perfect by any means, but I love how it shows the fun part of being a mother. I so often get bogged down by the frustrations and the arguments and the terrible two’s (which we are knee-deep in by the way), that I forget how much fun we have together.

35.

Thirty-five. No longer in my early thirties. A whole new survey check box. (35-39? Check.) Past the prime fertility age, but not quite in the Oprah-sanctioned “confident forties”. Right where I thought I would be in some areas of my life (family), not quite there in others (um, would like to be paid more).

Older? Definitely

Wiser? Maybe…

Happier? Most days.

Excited to see what’s next? No doubt.

Never Undervalue a Little Girl Time

Last weekend was the end result of weeks of anticipation and zero planning thanks to a friend’s wonderful mother who kindly loaned her house (and her wine cellar) to five overworked mothers in need of a little down time.

At one point during the evening I declared my appreciation for having close girlfriends who I could share anything with. I may have had a couple of drinks and was therefore feeling a little more touchy-feely than usual, but the sentiment remains.

There was a time when I doubted that I would ever have close girlfriends. I made it through high school and then college without making the kind of lasting female friendships that I hoped for. Oh, I had friends (really!), but few of them survived the trauma of time and distance. Then Sex and the City became popular and, well, that show just rubbed it in. I didn’t have that group of women who I could confide in and talk about relationships, work, men, children and… well… sex.

As it turns out, I just had to wait until my 30’s.

So a toast…