Oh, hi. And 10 Things.

Hello, friends. I've missed you.

1. I disappeared.

Thank you so much to those of you who wrote me an email or a little message to check in and see if I was okay. I'm okay! I'm alive! I'm back!

2. I decorated for fall.

Brace yourself. I went wild and crazy with the fall decorating this year. I bought an owl. Then I put it on a shelf.

I really outdid myself this year, yes I know.

3. I tore stuff in my knee.

Yup, busted. I wish I could say that I was break-dancing when I did it. Instead all I can say is that I have wobbly bones and stood up in a weird way. I've been on crutches for the past four weeks and am currently on a wait list to see a specialist. Let me just say that chasing a toddler with only one good leg is mentally and physically challenging.

4. I've made absolutely no progress on any home related projects since August.

Not one iota of progress, people. You know what, though? I'm okay with it. After a nice long break I can feel the motivation starting to kick back in a little bit.

5. I went to Homesense for the first time in three months.

It was magical, really. I bought a cartload of Christmas stuff just to make up for my long, heart-wrenching absence. Alex was thrilled when he brought all the bags in from the car. Hee hee!

6. I took a break from offering photography sessions until at least the New Year.

By the end of the summer I was pretty overwhelmed. I was working on photo sessions every nap time and every night and still couldn't keep up. I finally realized two things. A) My workflow is way too slow. I need to take some time to learn some shortcuts, and B) I was not charging nearly enough money for the amount of time I was putting in. So, I made the super hard decision to take a break. I'm finally catching my breathe and learning some new, technical, kinda boring (but super helpful) things.

7. I'm pretty sure my kid is a creative genius.

I will let the following pumpkin speak for itself. ;)

8. We had our own family pictures taken.

This is huge. HUGE. Since I am the world's least photogenic person I usually avoid being in pictures at all costs. After my hard-drive crashed (see #9, boo hoo) I realized that I had not one good photo of our little family. So I bit the bullet and hired my talented friend to take our pictures. We had the session a few weeks ago and should be getting the final gallery later today. Eeeeeeeek!

9. My hard-drive crashed and burned.

Remember how I have computer tech-y hubby? Remember how I was taking a break from photography to get organized and become more efficient? Well, one of the things on my list of to-do's was to back up all of my stuff. I'm pretty sure Alex nattered at me a thousand times to back up my pictures on this giant box he has in the basement. I kept replying, "Yeah, yeah. I'll get to it later." Well. Guess what happened my friends? While I was working on organizing some folders on my desktop one innocent Wednesday afternoon, my screen went completely black. And then everything was gone. Yup, all my photos of my dearest little Coopster. Yup, all my school work from the last few years. Yup, all of my family photo sessions. Yup, all of my everything. I pretty much cried for three days. Then, I gave myself a pep talk and told myself that there are way worse things than a fried hard-drive. It was a major lesson learned for me and a major I-told-you-so for Alex. ;)

P.S. We sent it away to see if any of the data can be recovered. It may cost a small fortune but I'm willing to try anything. Fingers crossed!

10. We've been doing fun things.

Despite the busted knee and the fried computer, we've been really happy just enjoying the little things.

Like: Halloween crafts, birthday parties, Coop's first ring pop (guess which picture?), a hockey game, a trip to the pumpkin patch, and of course trick-or-treating!

Thanks so much for dropping by. I'll see you again soon. :)