Thursday, October 28, 2010

Cast Your Vote!

Without further ado, here are the contestants for the 7th Annual PPCC 2010. Any and everyone please vote taking the short survey below!


Rollin' on 40 inch rims and complete with dice in the mirror, the Pumpkin Smasher will surely roll over any competition that gets in his way. But don't be fooled by his flaming hair, Mr. Smasher is actually a sweet guy who enjoys bike rides, wine tasting and curling up with a good book.





Yo NotoRiou$ P.I.M.P.kin up in here. A.k.a Flavor P yo. I be ballin' with da bling in ma grill. Just chillaxin with ma homies. The hunnies be lovin my stash yo. Fo shizzle.





Meet Mrs. Jack Skellington. Yes, boys. She is taken. She's just like your average girl... likes taking long walks on the beach, taking FOREVER to get ready and of course, helping jack prepare for christmas. During Halloween time she can get a little... scary, so i would keep your distance.




Please cast your vote: (the survery scrolls down)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

PPCC 2010

Since it's inception in 2004, the Patterson Pumpkin Carving Contest has been a highlight of our year. It started out very humble and has grown into an intense competition. This year we tried to introduce Drew into her heritage of pumpkin carving, but she was quickly disqualified when she refused to even touch a pumpkin seed. Hopefully next year she will understand the true meaning of Halloween.

The contest will be posted and ready for your vote either by tonight or tomorrow morning! Until then, enjoy our past year's contestants...











Thursday, October 21, 2010

Autofocus



This last January we were in San Diego at Seaport Village. We stopped outside a cute surf shop at a duck pond and I pulled out my camera to get a picture of Drew and the ducks. My lens would not work and the camera refused to take a picture. It completely stopped working on autofocus mode for the rest of the trip, and I am terrible at manual. So all of our Disneyland pictures the next day were taken with my zoom lense where I had to stand about 20 feet back to get my family in a single picture. I sent the lens in for repair immediately after that trip and it has worked perfectly ever since.

Until our most recent San Diego trip in September. We were at Seaport Village again. Outside the same cute surf shop. Next to the same duck pond. In fact my feet were probably planted in the exact same location. Drew was loving the ducks and I thought it would make a cute picture. It crossed my head that this is right where my camera stopped working last time, but there is no logical reason why it would happen again. Lo, I took out my camera and it refused to snap a picture. On autofocus mode. I still do not have a picture of Drew and those cursed ducks.

I don't know what voodoo is going on at Seaport Village, but I have not been able to use autofocus for the last month and a half. I have been forced to shoot in manual, which means two things. One, I have not taken many pictures and two, of those I've taken most are slightly blurry. Really, how do you shoot in manual mode with a three year old?

But more than this, many aspects of my life could do with some autofocus. This last month has been a blur of sewing machine, unruly puppy, emails, attention demanding three-year-old, packaging and shipping, and busy husband. Having a small business has been both exhilarating and stressful. And everything in between there. There is so much I love about it and a lot that needs to be changed to keep this one-woman-show on the road. Because always the attention demanding three-year-old and busy husband should be the focus. And maybe the unruly puppy, but he has lost some standing with me lately.

Either I should get my autofocus fixed, or get better at doing it in manual.