AND THE WINNER IS...........

ME!  Who? Yes! It's me!!!

WOOHOOOO!!!

It was so cool, going into the Colosseum and seeing all the beautiful photographs on display, so while I'm browsing, my kids are running around trying to find my photos...

...then my 5 year old screams out "Mum! Your photos!"

...and then my 14 year old yells out "Mum! You won!"

...and I do a most impressive power walk in the direction of their voices and there they are...

 

At this moment we're all jumping up and down and I'm hugging my hair and make up stylist, Miss Parnz, and trying to squeal quietly (to no avail)...

 

I just got huge sense of satisfaction just seeing my work up on the wall, but the red ribbon above it got me a teeny bit emotional...

 Why? It's not like I just won $10,000, its an iPod touch! woohoo! (very cool... yes!) 

But the emotional thing is... its my very first photo competition, and my very first win and I was in complete awe! Seriously I did not expect to come anywhere... remember? I was in it to just share and for the fun of it!  And I loved every minute of our 1950's photo shoot

 

 

And look my first interview... haha! I hope I wasn't speaking gibberish...  Warren has been a photographer for 30 years and he was super nice and supportive, he gave me some great tips and places to go on line to learn more about my Canon, I was very glad to meet him...

I explained to Warren that I was led to photography by my love of it, I can't paint, or draw but I found that I can take photo's, and I do it because I love it, its a creative outlet for me so its something I will keep doing...

In honesty... I'm what I label "a second place getter!" lol! yes, I've become accustomed to coming second and to be honest it doesn't really bother me, I'm not a "I'm going to win, I going to win!" type person, although I do try my best if I'm going to be in the running for anything, but truthfully I don't mind coming second!

But this weekend...

I'M A FIRST PLACE GETTER!!!

and I like how that feels...

 

And just like the Oscars... I would like to thank

My mummy

for booking up my Canon EOS Camera on her Qcard lol! xox

My family

The spunky Mr C and our beautiful babies, they are my main models and don't mind at all, they let me get in all the practise I want xox

My Sissy

Miss Parnz... For her expertise with hair and make up and her willingness to help me out even though I only gave her 2 measly hours notice xox

The Flood family

For Chloe Kenny and Jerome Flood, the most funnest (I'm sure that's a word) and gorgeous models everrrrrrr! xox

Bishop and Kimberly  Aporo for the use of the stunning Ford Bonus, which truly made the photo shoot and for their support xox

My BFF

Mrs H, thank you for supporting me and telling me I was going to win... even though I told her I wouldn't... thank you partner! xox

And to you...

Thank you for coming to visit me here at curves...

I can see we're going to hit the 5000 mark before the school holidays are over... Dani and Buba suggested that I use my greeting cards as a blog prize, and that's a GREAT idea... and so this is a post of "FIRST's"

MY FIRST BLOG GIVEAWAY...

be in to win...

Visitor number 4999, 5000 & 5001 will be sent a 5 pack of my mini greeting cards...

To win...

you will need to leave a comment as the

4999th, 5000th or 5001st visitor

AND 

take a "print screen" of curves sitting at either one of these numbers, paste it into an email and send it and your postal address to me at kidcouch@hotmail.com

Good luck and Thank you!

Mrs C

xox

CARD LOVE...

I'm doing two posts today because I'm going to give myself the weekend off YAY! So here is Saturday's post 2 days early... xox

So... today I ended up in the greeting cards section of the  supermarket and i couldn't believe the cute cards I found there, look at these... Dirty Dancing - It's Baby and Johnny - woohoo!!! OMGsh... so cute! And there's also Audrey, Michael and the Wizard of Oz crew!!!  

And this one is so funny, I just had to pxt it to Mrs H...

which got me thinking, "Hey, I can do this." So check these out, what a great idea to turn some of my photographic images into greeting cards...

They're mini cards and I gave the first one to Mrs H and her family with a little bag of chocolate fudge for Easter well wishes... I think they turned out pretty great... what do you think?

I Love that these are my images, it gives me a sense of accomplishment, just a little sense, but a sense nonetheless.  

Printing them onto good quality card makes them look very professional... I did the Vespa series this time around, next time I'll do the 1950's series...

It's good to know that I have cards now whenever I need them and because they're blank and the picture is pretty general, I can use them for anything... Wairarapa people watch out for these in our local stores... I'll let you know which ones I stock.

Mrs C
xox

A few of my favourite things...

Yay!  The holidays have returned to my life, waltzing calmly into my welcoming, tired arms... "Where have you been!  I've missed you so much!" lol.  And in the words of the gorgeous Mrs Princess Pookie I plan to "Shop, eat cake and wear something fabulous" for most of the next two weeks.

I have a few videos for you to look at this post... Have you heard of positive daily affirmations? Well this cute little girl has and she does it well! Imagine doing this every morning... it's sure to be a great day if we started out like this...

Today is the last day of school and I'm looking forward to the weekend.  So far it will consist of...

• meeting up with old friends
• having a little getaway in a different town, and staying at The Quest (in a hotel yay!)
• Exhibitions and other fun activities at the Square Affair.
• Dressing up.
• A family outing to the movies - Mirror Mirror is top of the list and although I'm not a Julia Roberts fan, this looks fun and I'm sure the girls will love it.

• Sleeping in (oh joy!) I admitted to Mr C the other day that "my bed is one of my favourite places"... wisely (and after 15 years of marriage) he replied "yes, I know."
• Baking bread - yum.
• picking watercress - yum yum!
• Altering a couple of second hand dresses  (I can't wait to show you)

And that's just for this weekend, I still have two weeks worth of holidays to fill... my brother has invited us to spend a few days with him, his little house is just an alley way away from the beach... hmmmm lovely(depending on the weather I guess) so we could end up there.

After my lovely morning on Saturday, I ended up putting my back out and have been painfully uncomfortable since then SO NOT COOL! I have been to the chiropractor once already and am going again tomorrow, I hope I'm in much better stead for the holidays, or my pain in the back will become a hugely annoying pain in the butt!

In saying that I'm grateful that I can still move and that my back injury hasn't ended with me bed-ridden... for Easter I want to leave you with this beautiful video, a song called Beautiful Heartbreak, written and performed by the super talented Hillary Weeks. 

A friend of mine keeps a gratitude diary, I might need to start keeping one as well because watching this video makes me grateful for everything! 

I hope you have a blissful Easter season, and if you're in New Zealand, a safe and happy school holiday with your kiddies...
We'll catch up soon
Mrs C
xox

EVERYONE LOVES A GOOD BARGAIN...

So on Saturday I had so much fun with my 8 year old daughter.  We got up early and did some serious garage sales and got some gorgeous bargains...

Check out this record player, it's so cute, it was $1.  And the retro wind up clock ("Buy me! I don't need batteries" - woohoo!) it was .50c!!!

And don't you just LOVE this coat... the price was 'fill a bag' for only $5... so this coat cost me like $1 maybe less! 

and ohhhhhhh Made in Italy.... and ahhhhh 100% wool! 

But booooo size 12... but YAY... perfect for Mrs H!

And speaking of bargains, my sister has submitted a post all about filling their new rented home with awesome bargains... if you are moving too or already live in Australia you have GOT to check this out... Amazing!
Kush-Life

I'm seriously in love with my iPhone4s 'Ifie'. She is absolutely amazing and its unbelievable what you can do with these babies... My friend Manahi from New York City is sharing this beautiful short movie on his F.B page and now I'm totally keen to learn how to make little movies like this gorgeous.  This movie is completely inspirational and so sweet... ENJOY!

Watch this beautiful short film... you will LOVE it!

This Easter weekend is the Square Affair and we are spending the weekend at the Quest Hotel in Palmerston North... we are going to try and do everything we can for the Square Affair... including going to the gallery to check out my submissions for the photography competition on display YAY! Exciting!

See you on Thursday

Mrs C

xox

A 'Mrs' for 15 years!!!!

Yep that's right! Mr C and I celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary on Thursday...

It was a very quiet celebration, in fact I was running around trying to get my 1950's shoot to happen... and he didn't get back to town from the farm till a little later... so we didn't go anywhere or do anything and we totally accepted that...

After 15 years, well lets just say every day is a celebration... cheesy... yes! But everyone who's ever been married knows marriage is a mix of lots of hard work and great times... its definitely not something that just works itself out, you have to compromise, forgive and be grateful for the good times...

So everyday that you manage to stay married is a good day, who knows what's around the corner but for now... I'm a 15 years 'Mrs' and that's super cool...  So happy anniversary to us!

Hope your having a lovely weekend.  See you Tuesday

Mrs C

xox



A DATE WITH THE 1950'S

So... I gave you a teeny weeny sneak peek at two of the picts from my 1950's photo shoot and I really wanted to share some more with you... As you can see, I didn't stick to any particular type of editing style, I was trying everything just to see which type I liked best... 

I just love my two models, they were so fun and easy to work with... I hope they let me take more picts in the future, they are total naturals, eat your heart out New Zealand's Top Model...

Here are my favourites.  Enjoy.

My favourite part of the 50's is definitely the dresses... oh wait, I do love the cars... but wait, there's also the music...

Whats your favourite part of the 50's?

Mrs C

xox

1950's

It's late... very late, I'm going to bed, but here is a sneak preview of what I've been up too... I hope I can submit my entry to the Square Affair 1950s Photography competition before the 5pm deadline tomorrow... I know... I'm late... I always am...

My models are not models.  Chloe and Jerome are just two totaly awesome people I know who agreed to help me out.  Add a beautiful 1950's Ford Bonus truck to the mix, (which belongs to some more friend's who came to help me out... all last minute I might add.) And voila! 1950's through your lens... 

You see, I was going to drop out because I could'nt find the dress I envisaged for Chloe, but I found it... this afternoon... at the Salvation Army... total SCORE!!! 

Big thanks to Miss Parnz who did a fantastic job of Chloes's make up and hair while I was altering the dress and cardigan... Good times man!!!

I'll put some more picts up as I finish editing them... I had FUN!

Goodnight

Mrs C

xox