I saw Callie Shell's behind-the-scenes photography of Obama's 2008 campaign on a BBC documentary the other day. It's very evocative. I especially love the ones showing Michelle and Barack together. (It might interest you to know we have a Michelle Obama magnet on our fridge, right next to a picture of Hildegard of Bingen. We like smart ladies.) I would urge you to look at the full exhibition here.

I'm scared to watch the news tonight. I might not live in the United States, but there are plenty of people I love who do, and I cannot bear the thought of that tax-avoiding, Muppet-hating twatface having any power over their lives. Please, America, make a good decision today.

In related news, Fin and I have been spending a lot of time lately watching a fantastic new television programme. We're talking the cutting edge of small-screen entertainment. You might have heard of it: it's called The West Wing.

Yup, that's right. We have NEVER SEEN THE WEST WING. Or rather, we hadn't seen it until last month, and now we are obsessively working our way through the entire seven-season box set. Seriously - why did nobody ever tell me? It's BRILLIANT. Sure, it's set in an impossible liberal fantasy land where everyone at the highest level of government is wise, principled and downright hilarious, but who cares? It's brilliant.

Is it too late to ask Martin Sheen if he'd like to run for President?

The last three months were, frankly, a blur. I lived in three different flats. I spent four hours a day on various forms of public transport. I helped sign up over 300 people to raise money for charity. I went to three weddings, styled two photo shoots, wrote a grand total of seven blog posts. There was a mysterious and somewhat gross infection in there too, a lot of standing around awkwardly in shopping centres holding a pink bucket, not a lot of sleep. But it was good, I think.

Now I'm back. Back in Edinburgh, back at work, living in a fully furnished home and wearing clothes that didn't come out of a bag. Adjusting to life sans dishwasher, slowly.

Some things are new. I walk to work now, across a park, navigating a stream of students on their way to lectures. I don't live beside a lighthouse any more, but I do live on the edge of a great heap of urban wilderness, which makes up for the lack of sea. Smidgen loves it. I have carpets, and some new things on the walls that I kind of love. I have a new neighbour. Soon I'll have another, smaller, one.

I'm back at the same job, back in the same city, but it feels different. Maybe it's the change of scene, or the changing of the seasons (I'm a winter girl through and through) - whatever it is, I feel refreshed.

I read this excellent post the other day, by a blogger who has fallen out of love with blogging. I wondered, as I read it, whether the same might have happened to me. It's been a month since I last blogged. A MONTH. That's just embarrassing. And it's hard to start again, once you've stopped; I feel like I practically gave birth to this post, it was such a effort to get it out. Am I rusty, or am I simply done? Am I over blogging?

I don't think I am. I've loved it too much to just ditch it. Plus there are so many exciting things coming up that I could write about: Christmas! Blonde Bridesmaid's wedding! Artem, topless! So, here I am. Trying to take advantage of my new-found sense of rejuvenation, for as long as it lasts.

All of which is to say, hi. I'm back. How's it going?


Smidgen yesterday, checking out her new 'hood. I was convinced she was going over the edge.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's easy to be dismissive of the pink fog that descends over everything this month, but behind all the pink froth and nonsense are real people affected by breast cancer. People like my mum.

In honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Care have launched their Pink Fridays campaign and are asking as many people as possible to turn their Friday pink. You could hold a pink day at work, have your friends over for pink cake (or pink cocktails for that matter), do a sponsored pink hair dye - it doesn't matter what you do, as long as it's pink, it's fun and it raises money for Breast Cancer Care.

Some of my ace blogging friends have started the ball rolling by turning their blogs pink for the day - a full list will appear here as their posts go up throughout the day, but for now you can find a very special Any Other Photo from me over on Any Other Woman, some simply lovely pink pictures on What Kristen Saw, and a post you can't afford to miss from style guru by night, GP by day Rebecca of Florence Finds.

So what can you do to turn your Friday pink and help people affected by breast cancer this October?

1. Sign up now for your free Pink Fridays fundraising pack and pick a Friday to turn pink. Or a Sunday. Or a Tuesday. We're not fussy.

2. Help spread the word about Pink Fridays by telling friends, colleagues, random strangers in the pub, your mum... and don't forget to tweet about #pinkfridays.

3. Check back here throughout the day to find out who else has been turning their blog pink.

That's it. And if you do throw a Pink Friday, you can be damn sure I'll want photos.


SIGN UP NOW to receive your free Pink Fridays fundraising kit and help make 2012 the best year yet!

If you would like to support Breast Cancer Care but can't throw a Pink Friday of your own, you can donate here.

We moved out of our flat yesterday, into a temporary place while we wait for our new lease to come through. The days leading up to this one have been horribly, overwhelmingly busy, culminating in me sobbing over the phone to a bemused letting agent five minutes before we were supposed to hand our keys in. We finally closed the door on our flat nine miserable hours later.