jealousy is a purse

christmas day

2011-12-26T23:36:00.000+11:00

We're a month into Summer here in Australia, so Christmas Day is all salads, cold drinks, eating outdoors and this year, one mother of a hail storm. We were on our way from lunch with my family to dinner with Andrew's family when there was an almighty thump on the windscreen. We pulled over and Andrew threw the quilt we happened to put in the car that morning, across the windscreen to protect it. The hail stone were the size of golf balls and were hitting the ground so hard that they bounced several feet into the air...and against the side of the car.
It was only when the rain started that the size of the hail reduced and the scary thumps on the car became more like a bunch of kids hurling rocks at us. That's when I started taking some video.
Once we got home, we looked over the car, which is now very dimpled!

second time lucky

2011-10-03T10:21:00.001+11:00

In February this year, I started the 365 challenge...to take a photo of myself every day for a year. I got to eighty five before the task of editing and uploading photos became too much effort. FAIL. I decided to start again on my birthday because I figured it might make it easier to have the end date etched in my mind. Yep, I'm bullshitting myself but sometimes I fall for it.
I am determined to do this, no matter how many false starts it takes. You just watch me!

salad days

2011-10-03T00:35:00.001+11:00

For over a month now I've been eating a 60-80% simple, raw diet. What do I mean by simple? I mean just fruit and vegies, none of these raw vegan cheezecakes or gourmet vegan raw lasagne. As a friend said recently, "If it doesn't have pasta or cheese, it's NOT lasagne, call it something else".
Prior to starting this eating style, I consumed a lot of oil because I was convinced it was good for me and great for my skin. Well my skin might have looked ok but my health has been far from acceptable.
Eating a mostly fruit diet sits well with me now. It took a couple of weeks to get my head around it but now it makes so much sense because I feel so good. I'd like to share with you what I've discovered with my fruity diet.
First up, my skin looks fantastic. It's glowing, it feels smooth and clear like I've not experienced in the last ten years. I have energy, I can get more physical work done. I just need to get into a better sleep pattern and I have no doubt, my brain will be up-to-speed soon! I've lost just under 6kg (13lbs) and despite falling off the wagon on a few days, the weight didn't jump back on. I put on a kilo or so but as soon as I spent the following day back on my fruit, the weight would be gone a couple of days later.
Overall, I've dropped my salt intake considerably, so I have less headaches and the water isn't just barely scatching the surface when it comes to my thirst.
Something that I have definitely noticed is that when I have a raw fruit meal (eg: ten bananas, four dates and three glasses of water blended together), I feel satisfied afterwards and I also feel full but energised, like I've recharged the batteries. When I eat a cooked meal, almost any cooked meal, I feel sluggish and tired. So I'm confident that I'm on the right path for me, it makes sense and it feels good, so I'm going to keep going.
I've eaten out plenty of times in the last month, mainly fresh, simple, cooked meals, not overly-spiced or flavoured (like Vietnamese rice paper rolls, Tom Yum soup, rice, a vegies burger etc), some healthier than others but I definitely do look at menus differently now. I crave fresh, simple food (and sometimes, chocolate!). I crave it because I feel good when I eat it and I know I won't feel good when I eat something unhealthy.
I won't lie, it's hard to eat like this and be social but that's just something I have to work on. If I'm honest with myself, I'm just making excuses when it comes to social eating. Perhaps it's something I'm reluctant to change because it's easier to just shove it in the too hard basket? Like I said, I need to work on it.

life begins

2011-09-28T20:29:00.001+10:00

Today I turned forty. Man, that's weird to write. I'm sure I'll settle into it but right now it doesn't sit comfortably with me. I'm middle aged! Disagree? How many centenarians do you know?
This past weekend, I had a birthday lunch at The Napier with my family and a few of my closest friends, it was a great few hours. Then Andrew and I headed off to my favourite cinema with my friends to catch a film. Not done with the day, we then all moved on to The Botanical for drinks and a laugh. Perfect day.
The next morning I met my girlfriends for breakfast, followed by a book buy-up at Jeffrey's Books, which a good friend owns.
Tonight, Andrew took me out for dinner and now we're just chilling out before getting an early night. I feel like I should be knitting or playing bingo or dying my hair blue....
At forty, I'm blessed to have incredibly supportive and understanding friends, family and partner. If any of you are reading this.....I don't know what I'd do without you....or my hairdryer.

good luck with that...you loon

2011-09-01T14:45:00.007+10:00

Twenty two years ago I decided that I wanted to be a vegetarian. I was eighteen and didn't know any vegetarians but I just knew that I wanted to be one because eating animals just didn't make sense to me. I realised that I was only eating meat because that's what I had been taught, what I was used to, what was socially acceptable, convenient even. My decision was met with mockery, judgement, pity, bewilderment and questions and that lasted exactly twenty two years. Whatever.

So embarking on a new eating adventure, I was ready for the same things and while social eating habits have become a lot more diverse in the last twenty two years, it seems fruitarians haven't yet received their invite to the culinary party.

Just to clarify, I am not a fruitarian or raw fruit vegan, I am only eating two thirds of my diet as raw fruit, the rest is very simple fare and usually cooked/blanched. You can't be almost raw vegan, you either are or you are not. I am eating vegan meals but I am not a vegan. I am a vegetarian. Feel free to ask me the difference, I'll be happy to answer.

Ok, so the idea of eating up to ten bananas in one meal sounds insane, right? Until you try it. People have said to me, "I could maybe eat three or four but I'd feel sick if I had more". Yeah, I kind of felt the same but I can assure you, I feel fantastic after my meals. I go to bed with a happy stomach, I wake up with a happy stomach, I'm hydrated, my skin looks amazing and I have lost 3kg/7lbs in only a week.
Not convinced? How about, I can eat as many calories as I like, in fact, to succeed with this way of eating, you must eat no less than about 3000 calories a day. This lifestyle, although it appears restrictive, is actually about abundance.

I was struggling with getting my head around this lifestyle but then I realised that it was the same as when I became a vegetarian. I was eating the way I was conditioned to. I was living to eat, not eating to live.
Do I sound brainwashed? I'm not, I've just had that little lightbulb go off and now I see things a bit differently. Don't get me wrong, there will be chocolate cake and Mexican food in my future but those indulgences will be exceptions rather than the norm. I love food, I love cooking but I have to move away from letting food rule every day of my life. I have to adjust my entire way of thinking and just view food as fuel. I need to remove my emotional attachment to it. Easier said than done but I feel like I'm finally on the path that will get me there. The idea of living the rest of my life with no guilt or restriction with what I'm eating sounds too good to be true but I'm living that reality right now and I love it. Before you judge it, why not try it for a week or a month, what have you got to lose?

My average daily diet consists of around 10-15 bananas, loads of kiwi fruit, mangoes, dates, berries, broccoli, tahini, mashed sweet potato (with some avocado instead of butter or milk). For a treat, I've had a banana or two with organic tahini or peanut butter (organic, made with only peanuts). I've had a piece of toast with Vegemite and I've had steamed rice with a little sesame oil and tamari. One night I felt like ice cream, so I put some frozen bananas in the food processor with a little water. Bingo! Banana ice cream. Am I sick of bananas? Nope. When I blend them up with 750ml of water (3 cups), they turn into a delicious thick shake. Add some dates and it's hard to believe that it's good for you.

To learn more about the 80 10 10 Diet, you can find a wealth of information online or you can buy the book or check out 30 Bananas A Day or Megan's website. If you have any questions, feel free to email me, the link is in the Contact section above.

food glorious food

2011-08-27T22:12:00.004+10:00

A few days ago I started a new eating plan, some might call it a diet. I'm hoping it's an answer.
Regular readers know that I have a condition called lymphoedema, so what I put into my body is important because putting the wrong things in can lead to serious fatigue, swelling and time off work. Not cool. Kooky chronic illness aside, I have always had a problem with food. Always. I had convinced myself that I just loved food too much and that if being overweight was the consequence I had to pay for that love, so be it.

It's only in the past few days that I have realised what a pathetic way of thinking that actually is. For the last twenty years, I've given myself permission to abuse myself on a daily basis. If I was doing it with drugs or alcohol, I'm sure my family and friends would have intervened but because it's food, it's completely acceptable. I convinced myself that because I've been vegetarian for the last twenty two years, that I was healthier than many, so this whole overweight thing was just my lot in life. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent, together person, so the weight thing couldn't possibly be my mindset, it surely had to be factors outside my control. Surely?

I have dieted since I was eleven. ELEVEN. It has done me no favours. I'm not a chronic dieter because I love food and cooking far too much, hell, I've even written a cookbook (I haven't printed it yet!). So far, nothing has worked for me.
Recently, a friend introduced me to the 80/10/10 way of eating and at first, I thought it was insane. I mean, eating just fruit and vegetables and huge amounts of them sounded absurd but I did some reading and watched a lot of YouTube videos about it and the penny started to drop. A little. I still wasn't 100% sold because the whole concept goes against every dietary rule I've ever been taught. It goes against the way I've lived for forty years. It's bizarre.....but then, it's not. Every time I had a question, there seemed to be an answer for it that made sense.

Walking through the supermarket the other night, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. At first, all I could think about was all the things I couldn't buy but as I started to fill my trolley with organic fruit and vegies in large quantaties, I started to feel a weight fall from my shoulders. It was the weight of too many food choices and I was now free of them. Man it felt good.

I'm not for one moment thinking that this is the answer but I'm willing to give it a try for the next month....or two.....or three. I'm on my third day of this diet and am surprisingly devoid of my usual cravings. Normally, I have chocolate almost every day, it's a staple for me but because I'm eating so much fruit (11 bananas, 4 kiwi fruit, 1 mango, half a pineapple and berries today), the sugar craving is taken care of. Now I should stress, I am not following the 80/10/10 religiously. I do it for two meals a day and for the third meal, I allow myself whatever I like. No, I don't mean pizza or pasta etc. Today and yesterday, I had a head of blanched broccoli with a cup of chickpeas and a sauce of organic tahini with lemon juice, which satisfies my savoury cravings.

Oh and then there's water, I am now drinking two to three litres a day and that is hard because I am not able to sit on a toilet all day. But I'll do this to see how it affects my weight and lymphatic system. I need a solution.

I turn forty next month, my health is ordinary, I'm unfit, I'm overweight, this is not how I imagined myself at this age. I don't hate myself but I am angry at decisions I have made, why haven't I sorted this shit out? I could beat myself up about it but I'm not going to, instead I shall put that energy into moving forward.
I've heard people say this diet is confronting and now I see what they mean. It's hard to explain but it's a journey I feel I need at the moment because I've had my head buried in the sand for too long.

Wow, quite a heavy blog post....and now I feel like a big cry. I did say it was confronting! I'll let you know how it goes.

slacker

2011-08-03T00:22:00.000+10:00

I've let things fall by the wayside. Again. When I've worked mostly at home, I find it easy to blog, take photos, respond to emails and call people. But when I'm working mostly outside the home, I find I just don't have the time or inclination to do any of that. Perhaps working a 'normal' job makes me feel detatched from my online life? I don't know.....but I don't like it. Not one little bit.
So what's been happening at Club Nicholson? Well, about a month ago, I headed to Bendigo to see my gorgeous nieces perform in a dance concert. Mabel, who is 13, has performed on stage quite a few times but Molly, just about to turn 7, was making her debut. Oh the joy in watching a six year old mentally prepare herself for those precious moments of sequinned glory.

A couple of weeks ago, Mabel came to stay for a week during school holidays. We had a ball, shopping, cooking, laughing ourselves silly. For a smartarse like me, there is nothing that makes me prouder than hearing the quick wit of my teenage niece. She's quick with a stinger and as it turns out, she's pretty damn nifty in the kitchen too. I can't wait for her to visit again soon.

Paella by Mabel

Chocolate Date Cashew & Coconut balls - we called them Maybe Balls

Alas, my handbag business is still on hiatus. It's a tough thing getting back into running a business full time, especially when you've backed yourself into a corner of secure employment that pays well, is interesting and educational. Don't get me wrong, I want...no, I NEED to get back to running my handbag business full time...and it really NEEDS to be full time, none of this part time bullshit.
My hope is that I can make that a reality before the end of the year but in order to do that, a few things need to fall into place and hopefully that will happen soon. I'll keep you posted!

The other thing I have sorely neglected is my 365 self portrait project. I have over two months worth of photos in my camera but the task has now gotten so big, I can't see myself catching up unless I dedicate two or three whole days to it and right now that's not possible. So, I'm starting the project again and I'm doing it right. This is something I've wanted to do for a few years now and I'm determined to finish it. Given I'll soon be turning the big *gulp* four-oh, I've decided to re-start my 365 on September 28th, when life apparently begins.....more like grey hair and crows feet.

See you again soon!

mummy dearest

2011-06-24T20:12:00.000+10:00

Last night my niece, Mabel, was inducted into Girl Guides. Sitting next to Mum after the Promise ceremony, we had this exchange
Me: "Remember my Brownie Promise ceremony?".
Mum: "Were you a Brownie?"
Me: "YOU WERE MY LEADER! I WAS SIXER OF THE LULLIGULLAS!"
Mum: "Oh, ok"
And then proceeded to talk with the Girl Guide leader and my sister all about a Brownie camp I never went on.

boys don't make passes at smartarses who wear glasses

2011-06-08T22:30:00.001+10:00

Like my new frames? I've had several people recommend Zenni Optical to me over the last year and I could kick myself for not trying them earlier. The ordering process is so easy and it took all of two weeks to receive my new glasses in the mail. Oh and the best part, these new frames cost me $25.80...including $9.95 delivery!
Have I just blown your tiny mind?

the medical profession is sick

2011-05-26T18:20:00.003+10:00

I've been wanting to update my blog for weeks now but every time I sit down to type, what I end up doing is ranting about the hospital/medical system in Australia. WTF? I hear you ask. So, I'm going to just purge and get this out, then no more ranting for a while. Hopefully.
Look, don't get me wrong, there are some fantastic doctors, nurses and other medical professionals out there. My sister is an ER nurse and I know she's great at her job. My mother was a nurse for over 40 years and I know she was great at her job. They both work/worked with some people who were also a credit to their profession. The chiropractic clinic I visit weekly provides the most incredible patient education and care I've ever experienced.
But when I was diagnosed with Lymphoedema, I was misdiagosed several times before I actually went back to a doctor and suggested it as a possibility. Before I suggested it could be Lymphoedema, I was subjected to a myriad of tests, only to be told I needed to lose weight, I should quit my job, I should work less hours, that I had arthritis (I don't) and that I just need to deal with the pain I was experiencing. These were conclusions drawn by different doctors. I cannot tell you how frustrating and infuriating that experience was.
A few months later, I was injured in an accident and was treated like total shit by the surgeon dealing with my case. After months of pain, physiotherapy sessions and not being able to walk without a crutch, I was belittled and mocked in that final appointment. It was a humiliating experience.
More recently, my mother has been diagnosed with Whooping Cough and pneumonia. When she first presented at the hospital with symptoms, the doctor glossed over her results and essentially sent her home to die. She endured six weeks of hell, until she was rushed back to hospital by ambulance. Mum being a tough cookie, gave that same doctor a real piece of her mind and told him that she deserved a hell of a lot more respect than he had shown. The second doctor to treat her admitted that he knew very little about Whooping Cough, so she suggested he get online and educate himself. Why the hell should she even have to do that? She is still on medication and slowly recovering.
My aunt, who had been in contact with my mum during her contagious period had to be taken to hospital because she had similar symptoms to those my mother had when she first got sick. That hospital refused to test her for Whooping Cough. She too ended up back in hospital again.
The father of a friend has had months of seizures and has seen several doctors, one neurologist who was an arrogant, useless arse and one who was a lot more helpful. They still don't have any answers and his life is basically on hold because of these daily seizures that are somehow a medical mystery.
My own father has had several surgeries in the last few years and he ended up with one botched surgery and plenty of follow ups as a result. My sister inlaw just had major surgery and ended up discharging herself because of the poor treatment. Hell, they didn't even change her sheets in two and a half days, despite her complaining several times.
In my recent visit to an ER because of my back, the ER staff were fantastic. But once I was moved to the Short Stay Unit, I was treated like crap. The unit manager was a disgrace. My sister requested pain medication because I was feeling horrid and when one of the nurses asked the unit manager to sign off on the meds, she instead asked that nurse to check out something cool on her iPhone. The nurse repeated the request and the unit manager tutted with annoyance, like providing pain relief was somehow asking too much. Between the unit manager being an epic fail and me spending four hours sitting on the edge of a bed, in a hell of a lot of pain, waiting for a doctor to see me, I was fed up and discharged myself.
These are not isolated incidents, I'm constantly hearing of friends and family having shitty experiences with the medical profession and honestly, I'm fed up. I wrote to the hospital that my aunt was admitted to, I have so far had no reply. So, Ballarat Base Hospital, consider yourself named and shamed.
For most of us, when we see a health professional, we are placing ALL of our trust in that person or institution. When we present with pain or with serious symptoms, it's a scary fucking experience and I just wish all health professionals would remember that.
Look, I can be a ballbreaker of a customer/client/patient, generally don't take any shit. I once walked out of an appointment with an optometrist because the douchebag ate a sandwich during my consultation and didn't even look me in the face. I stood up, told him he was a pathetic joke, walked out and as he walked out behind me, I told the reception staff what had occured, then went home and wrote an email to his employer. I've also walked out on an appointment with a GP who was just phoning it in. He couldn't have given a shit about my problem.
Most people take the word of a doctor as gospel. Yes, in this day and age, we should do our best to better educate ourselves about our bodies and the factors of our lives that have an affect out health. Yes, we should be more assertive in the level of treatment we not only expect but deserve. WE need to be far more proactive in our own health care, for sure. Many of us are more proactive when it comes to poor customer service in retail but will not question anything their doctor tells them.
But the medical profession as a whole needs to regroup and get its act together. GP's need to start getting to know their patients again and stop handing out antibiotics like candy. Oh, don't get me started on that! Hospitals need to stop treating patients like cattle. I realise there is an enormous strain on their resources but pathetic employees like the unit manager who was in charge of my care have no place in the industry. Judgemental doctors also need to pull their heads out of their arses and treat people with equal respect. My mother is a smoker and while I detest the habit, the first doctor to 'treat' her was completely dismissive because she smokes. Same thing went for my aunt at the other hospital.
Like I said at the beginning, I know there are many great health professionals out there and I cannot praise them highly enough but the chain is only as strong as its weakest link....and there are a lot of weak links in the Australian health care industry at the moment. Something needs to change. Now.

reason #483 why he hates shopping with me

2011-05-21T18:09:00.000+10:00

Sales Assistant: "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Me: "No thanks, we're happy shoplifting"

*more blog posts coming this weekend.

there's something about mary

2011-05-08T00:12:00.000+10:00

It's just after midnight here in Melbourne, which means it's officially Mother's Day.
My mum, Mary, is an absolute legend and the glue of our family. Right now, she's recovering from Whooping Cough AND Pneumonia....yep, she had them both at the same time.
Mum is as hardworking as they come, funny, opinionated, caring and generous. When I was younger and told that I had some of her traits, I would cringe. But now that I'm older and a little wiser, I'm proud as punch when the same comparison is made.

Thanks for everything, Mum.

Love, Jodie x

v is for valium

2011-04-14T14:57:00.000+10:00

A photo I took in my ER cubicle

Last Tuesday I drove by myself for the first time since my back went on strike. I was in discomfort more than pain, so I thought the two hour drive to visit my family wouldn't put too much strain on things.
When I arrived, I was a little sore but I was expecting that, so didn't think too much of the twinge. About an hour late, I was feeling pain, so I popped a couple of painkillers to knock it on the head. Didn't work. So I thought an early night would be a good idea but by then the pain in my lower back was so acute that there was no way I could fall asleep.
I hobbled out to my mum and in the few minutes that followed, the pain went from acute to unbearable, I couldn't stand, I couldn't sit, I couldn't lay down. My chiropractor had told me to take deep breaths regularly throughout each day and especially when I was in pain but the more I tried to breathe deeply, the harder it became to actually breathe at all. I was hyperventilating. Mum says my face was red and my nose was purple.
My sister, an ER nurse, arrived and made me breathe into a paper bag, this helped for a bit. But the pain remained and so the struggle for breath continued on and off during the half an hour ride to the hospital, which was also where my sister works.
We arrived at the ER around midnight and the painkillers I'd taken earlier also contained a sedative, so I was in pain, having trouble breathing and I was as dopey as all hell. I really was a delight to look at, sitting white-knuckled in that wheelchair.
I was wheeled into a cubicle where my sister, Tracey, informed the doctor that I am a total needlephobe. I'm pretty sure she repeated it several times because the doctor was confusing me with someone who doesn't like getting needles. Let's face it, no one *likes* getting a needle but I am scared to death of having needles. Scared. To. Death. The last time I had a blood test, I had to be held down as I went into panic mode and I sobbed the entire time. It was a humiliating experience, especially seeing as I can't explain why I am so fearful. I'm not at all concerned about the pain, so I really don't know where this phobia came from and I KNOW it's completely irrational.
So they loaded me with Valium, Endone and something else to help with the pain, then they put me on oxygen to help with my breathing because I was still hyperventilating to the point where I almost passed out. This happened again when a needle was ordered by the doctor. Tracey tells me that the doctor asked about my psych history because my reaction to the needle was so severe. Ah, hello.....FO.BEE.AH.
I remember apologising a LOT and doing it with the oxygen mask on as I continued my struggle to breath deeper and slower.
Then the Valium and Endone kicked in, so my memory becomes quite hazy and I had to rely on Tracey to fill in the brain gaps.

I giggled, I sang 'Tiny Dancer' and I giggled some more. Tracey suggested some Nitrous Oxide to calm me and an injectable pain killer to knock the pain right out because I was still in pain, despite the laughter and singing. For some reason, I agreed to give it a try and after breathing in that sweet sweet gas, I could feel my body levitate. I then declared that my feet were cookies and my hands were brownies, which amused my sister. Oh and I kept asking for more "nice socks". But her bonus was drawing plenty of blood. I'm still amazed that she managed to do it.
The rest of the night was pretty blurry, although I did remember the damn blood pressure monitor going off every half hour and driving me to the point of insanity.

Just after 7am I was wheeled around to have a CT scan and by then, the sweet sweet drugs were wearing off. It wasn't until my sister arrived that I was fully loaded up with drugs again and was able to shuffle out of the hospital. I slept for 15 hours straight when I got home.

Today I'm back to the chiro again for my second adjustment of the week. Because I bruise like a peach, my lower back looks like I've gone ten rounds and I've had to resort to applying arnica oil each day to reduce the black and blue patches.

My back is a hell of a lot better than it was three weeks ago but I'm told I've got a long way to go because it has been out of whack for so long and I've just been so used to the constant discomfort that I haven't done anything about it. Talk about not listening to your body! Once my back is sorted out, I'm off to the damn dentist, who needs money in their savings account anyway.....

back crack and sack

2011-04-04T22:20:00.000+10:00

Today was Day 8 of Acute Back Pain. It was also my third chiropractor appointment since Thursday....and as you can see, someone mucked around with their signage.
I thought I'd be ok for work today but after a moaning, groaning, teary thirty minutes with my chiropractor, I couldn't even stand up straight. Just being a passenger in the car was enough to make me gasp. Did I mention that I am the best fun ever to be around at the moment?
I spent pretty much the rest of the day in bed, with ice on my back to reduce the swelling. With my amazing ability to multi-task, I decided to watch some of the movies I had saved away but had never found the time to watch. I got through Cinema Paradiso, The Lovely Bones and Balibo. And I do believe I'll have myself another movie half-marathon tomorrow, given I've got another day of back icing, rest and spine manipulation ahead of me.
You'd think with all of this free time I'd be busy getting some work done on my handbag business, doing research, sketching loads of designs. Well the problem is that with the amount of drugs I'm on, I'm functioning on a very limited attention span and I'm a little distracted by the discomfort. What was I saying? Oh yeah, I've not managed to get much done at all, which is annoying. But the pain is subsiding each day, so I'll be up and about soon and chomping at the bit to get on with everything.

photographic memory

2011-03-30T11:21:00.000+11:00

For those following my 365 days of self portraits, I've had to take a few days off thanks to this pesky back issue. I'm basically confined to the bed or couch and on some delightful painkillers, so taking snaps is off the cards for a short while. But I will be back and will make up for the lost time by taking some more daring/inspired shots. Feel free to give me some ideas and I'll see what I can do!

I've got a hunch....back

2011-03-28T22:14:00.000+11:00

Yesterday morning I walked into the bathroom and noticed that the toilet roll holder was empty. Not realising I was about to participate in an extreme sport, I opened the bathroom cupboard, grabbed a roll and walked over to the loo. As I bent over to slip the new roll on, I felt something in my lower back *pop* and I've been in a world of discomfort ever since.
I can't walk, sleep, stand or sit without experiencing pain. I'm currently sitting on the couch, with pillows supporting me and a heat pack doing all it can. I'm loaded with painkillers and I'm hoping that I'll wake up in the morning, pain-free. Although, I hoped for that last night and woke up this morning feeling like I'd been kicked in the back by several horses.
But it isn't all misery! This morning, when the valium and codeine kicked in, I lost my tiny mind. For absolutely no reason, I started laughing hysterically....to the point of tears. I laughed and laughed and laughed and I don't remember any of it. (Un)fortunately, Andrew spotted the camera and caught some of it on video, so he was able to prove my lunacy once I was lucid. Before you ask, no, I won't be sharing the video. It's funny as all hell but it ain't pretty.
At least all of this extra time on my hands is allowing me the chance to catch up on working on various parts of my website/range and catching up on my blog reading (hello, What Katie Ate!)
I've just popped two heavy duty sleeping pills, so I had better get a few more onliney things done before I lapse into a coma. Oh and the photo above is Day 41 of my 365 days of self portraits. It was taken the day before I screwed my back.

keepin' it real...organised

2011-03-21T11:03:00.003+11:00

A few days ago I joined Pinterest. The site is basically a way to file all of the cool images you find on the interwebs. You can create a bunch of folders and as you discover stuff, you can just file them into those folders, for the world to see. For someone like me who is forever jotting down website addresses, bookmarking images and sites and who has a laptop overflowing with inspiration, Pinterest is a lifesaver. I have six invites available, so if you'd like to join, send me an email.

living where I live

2011-03-08T00:40:00.000+11:00

Tonight I started another photographic project because I realised that I haven't really taken the time to get to know the suburb I moved to mid 2010. So, every few days or so, I plan to snap pics that are of places within 3km of our house. Even the few photos I took this evening were enough to prompt me to do some research on the small lake I have driven past many times but never stopped to appreciate. Now I plan to stop and inhale those roses.

sneak peek

2011-03-07T18:50:00.000+11:00

You've all been so patient, I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what I've been working on. This is one of my brand new designs....it's a Pendant Purse. It's a purse that you wear as a pendant. Genius? Well, I wouldn't say that. But you're welcome to.
They will be available in a range of shapes and colours. This one is made from the softest silver leather. My Pendant Purses will be available in leather, canvas and satin, so there's something to suit everyone!
My new-look range will also include handbags in all shapes and sizes, as well as cosmetic purses, jewellery pouches, travel wallets....oh the list goes on!

brain purge

2011-03-02T00:13:00.000+11:00

Right, so it's March. MARCH! When did that happen? I swear Christmas was only two weeks ago. I also swear I only turned 30 last year.....not ten years ago. I'm going to apologise in advance for the melting pot that this blog post is going to be. I really should post more often! That'll learn me.

First up, thanks to my sister, I have not had a single mosquito bite all Summer. Not one. You're intrigued, I can tell. Well, she gave us the tip that drinking a glass of tonic water or bitter lemon will deter those pesky mozzies. The reason? Tonic water and bitter lemon both contain quinine, which mozzies are not fond of at all. So Andrew and I have had a glass every day and in three months, he has only had two bites, I've not had one, which is quite mind blowing. Try it. Add some gin if you like.

What else? As you'd know, from my last post, I started the 365days challenge. This means, I have to take a photo of myself every day for one year. I'm loving it. It's liberating, it's fun and I'm enjoying the committment. Sure, I'm only 16 days into it, but I am determined to see this through because I can feel the good coming from it. Next step is to learn some mad photo editing skillz. And just to demonstrate how much I'm loving it, I've joined another challenge...wait for it....Face Down Tuesday, hence the pic. It's me, at work, once we'd closed for the day.

This weekend just gone, I went to Luna Park for my niece, Mabel's, 13th birthday party. I can't even believe that my gorgeous little niece is a teenager this year *sniff*

This weekend coming, I've been invited to an afternoon tea hosted by the fabulous, Lou Pardi. I'm really looking forward to meeting her and taking along my current favourite dessert, lemon tart. Joy.

And finally, I know I have said it before but this time it's for real......next week, I'll be revealing some of my new leather handbag designs. I'm so freaking excited. And nervous. But mostly, excited. I can't wait to hear what you think about them.

too much me is never enough

2011-02-14T22:56:00.000+11:00

I've decided to take the plunge and do something I've thought about doing for a while now. Those of you familiar with Flickr will no doubt have heard of the group '365', but for those of you out of the loop, the idea is to photograph a self portrait every day. Every single day. For a year.
I see it as a challenge that I'm hopefully going to get a lot out of. It's going to mean stepping out of my comfort zone, learning new things and maintaining a committment. I'm excited.
The photo above is my first one for the year. No, I'm not trying to impersonate a fly.

'Straya Day

2011-01-26T22:04:00.000+11:00

It's Australia Day today, a day when we kick back, relax and ask ourselves if we can convincingly call in sick for work tomorrow.
This morning, we woke up bright and early, had a breakfast of hot cross buns, then watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, ate Thai curry (that I cooked) for lunch, went Vietnamese grocery shopping in the afternoon, then stopped in at Bunnings to check out plants and garden tools. When we got home, I baked a lemon tart and had leftover Thai for dinner. Not a lamington, meat pie or pavlova in sight! The pav in the photo is one I whipped up a couple of weeks ago. That counts, right? Oh and I'll post the recipe on my food blog shortly....promise!

In other news, my parents house is still under threat of flood. They live literally across road from the Murray River and the water is currently sitting at the road, with river levels expected to peak in a day or so. It's hard to believe that it's Summer here right now and that in the southern states, we're dealing with flooding, not bushfires! The photo above is about 15min from their house. That little 'island' in the centre of the photo is actually a power sub station that is surrounded by thousands of sandbags.

australian floods

2011-01-14T16:26:00.002+11:00

The floods in Queensland have been completely devastating but there are many places along the east coast of Australia that are also experiencing flooding. One of those places is where my sister and her family live, Castlemaine in Victoria, about 80min from Melbourne.
Here are some photos taken in her street and also the local botanical gardens. Everyone is ok.

Across the road from where my sister lives.

The dance hall across the street.

A neighbour across the street.

Her backyard.

Her street

The creek that is usually either dry or a trickle.

The Botanical Gardens, Castlemaine.

book lust

2011-01-13T19:06:00.000+11:00

There's a long long list of books that I'm lusting after at the moment. Cook books, gardening books, design books, autobiographies....the list goes on. Here's just four of the books I desperately want to add to my shelves.

Big Book Of Small, Cool Spaces

Pattern

Tord Boontje

Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret And Extraordinary Lives

queensland floods

2011-01-11T20:09:00.001+11:00

VIDEO:

Living in Australia, you pretty much have to accept that there will be fires, floods and drought. Here in Victoria, we're moving on from the worst bushfires in our history. It's still sickening to think about that weekend, the smell of smoke thick in the air, the look on the face of my sister after she finished her nursing shift in the ER department of the hospital closest to the fires, the rising death toll, the gut-wrenching stories and vision. It's etched in my mind forever.
So watching the news updates of the Queensland floods, my heart goes out to my northern neighbours as they watch their towns being overwhelmed by tsunami-like surges of water. Some are dead, dozens are missing and the destruction continues.
If you'd like to donate to the relief fund, click HERE.

2011....belated

2011-01-09T23:22:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year! Ok, so I'm a little late but I've been busy busy busy. But this week I'll be back on track as far as my blogging goes, so I'll be updating all three blogs over the coming days, with tidbits about what I've been up to, new recipes (I cooked a stellar pavlova today *drool*) and health info.

This year looks set to be the best in years for me.....I can't wait to see how it all pans out.

See you back here in a couple of days!

christmas eve....eve

2010-12-23T07:35:00.000+11:00

It really doesn't feel like Christmas is only two days away. Here in Melbourne, it's supposed to be Summer. It's supposed to be warm. Instead, we've had buckloads of rain and have lighting the fire to keep the house warm. Insane!
Thanks to the ever-changing weather, many people are sick and I'm one of them. Yep, just loving this throat infection. I look pretty much the same as I did three years ago (see here) when I was also ill at Christmas time. Did you click on the link? Are you going to ask Santa for new eyes? Yeah, I don't blame you.
Given we're off to the country to spend Christmas Eve and morning with my family, the Christmas afternoon and evening with Andrew's, I thought I'd take this opportunity to wish all of my readers a superb holiday season. In 2011, when I'm back in the handbag business and working from home a majority of the time, I'll be posting more often. Ooh, lucky you! *rolls eyes at self*
Thanks so much for your support and comments.

easy like sunday morning

2010-12-17T10:16:00.000+11:00

Last Sunday, I got to spend the day with my gorgeous niece, Mabel. I took her for a wander around the Melbourne CBD, checking out some of my favourite places in the city. Below are some photos of the day, which was a lot of fun, even if the weather was not on our side!

Melbourne is the cafe capital of Australia. I think there's ten cafes for every person. I may or may not have made that up....it just feels true.

You haven't tasted good cupcakes until you're tried the ones from Little Cupcakes *drool*

We had lunch at Laurent Patisserie....one of the many reasons I miss working in the city.

This is Mabel in the Bourke Street Mall. We went to check out the Myer Christmas windows, which are based on The Nutcracker this year. Then it was into the Myer cosmetics and fragrance floor for Mabel to sample as many testers as possible. *joy*

And while the day with Mabes was fantastic and I can't wait to do it again, I'm going to have to come up with a different transportation plan next time.

wishlist

2010-12-08T22:10:00.003+11:00

The tree is up, most of our Christmas cards have been posted, some of the gifts have already been wrapped....so it's time to be a little self-indulgent and list some of the things I'd love to find under the tree for me! It'll also show me which family members actually read my blog.

FOR THE KITCHEN

I think this super speedy popsicle maker is excellent. I'm thinking some icy treats in adult flavours will do the trick this Summer.

A swisho, clever teapot. Yeah, that's what I need. My days need more tea in them.

I would love to eat at Quay in Sydney but until I do, this stunning cookbook by Peter Gilmore will definitely suffice. I was drooling over it on the weekend.

And since I'm on the topic of cookbooks, I could also definitely do with one by my favourite chef, Heston Blumenthal.

GIRLY STUFF

I have been in love with this Victoria Mason necklace for a while now. I'm pretty sure my life won't be complete without it.

Oh earrings, how I love them, especially these Mock Orange hoops by my dear friend, Simone Walsh.

And because I can't get enough of gorgeous earrings, I'd also love these Polli baskets.

Oh....I'll definitely need somewhere to hang my new earrings. I'm loving this jewellery tree like crazy.

But it's not just my ears that are in dire need of something new, so best I get these Bally 'William' shoes so I'm walking on sunshine.

Ok, so I've got the jewellery and the shoes....I guess I needs me a handbag. Right now, there's one that is making me go ga ga and it's this Alexander McQueen clutch. *sigh*

I am a hand cream addict. Seriously, I can't get enough of the stuff. And I needs me the good stuff, none of that light lotion, I need a rich, thick cream that also absorbs easily and makes my hands feel soft and smooth. I'd like a vat of Kiehl's Hand Salve. Actually, anything by Kiehl's is welcome in my bathroom cabinet.

Scent for me is only a smidge behind hand cream in the addiction stakes. I love feminine perfumes and Antonia's Flowers is one of my all-time favourites.

Something I swear I'll do every year but never get around to is going to the ballet. Somebody needs to buy me a season pass, so I'll have no excuse!

And on the topic of subscriptions, I could really do with one for Peppermint Mag.

AROUND THE HOUSE

I saw this lampshade online a few weeks ago and swooned. Feel free to buy me two or three. I could use them in the dining room or as bedside lamps.

But one source of light is never enough, so I'm pretty sure I *need* some Polli tealights as well.

Wondering where I'll put those tealights? Wonder no more! I do believe this bookshelf I've been lusting after will be perfect.

You're probably thinking that my walls are looking pretty bare. Yeah, me too. I've found the perfect piece for my studio in this print.

And of course, I'll need to keep cool this Summer, so this Dyson fan will be put to good use as it gets hot as hell here in Melbourne.

MISC.

I'm sick of those god-awful but very functional bags you get from the supermarket. I want my shopping bags to have a bit of character, so I need a few Envirosaxs.

I. NEED. A. LOMO. CAMERA. I really, truly do.

I vac almost every day, I just hate crumbs or other bits on the floor. This Dyson handheld vac would make my life a little easier. Yes, the sound you can hear is a tiny violin.

To save money of petrol/gas and on parking each day, I could really do with an electric bicycle to get to work.

I'm not allowed to use a powered lawn mower but I do miss being able to mow the lawn. One of these push mowers would enable my cutting desires without causing any grief to my legs.

It has been a rather wet start to our Summer here, so I'd like to avoid getting saturated....in style with a gorgeous brolly.

And just looking at the Eiffel Tower is making think that I'm well overdue for some overseas travel, so I'm going to need a travel wallet.

Still don't know what to get me? How about some wall art? Or how about some of the other kitchen items I lust after?

There's only a couple of weeks to go, best you get shopping! *wink*

christmas countdown

2010-12-07T22:21:00.000+11:00

The Nicholson-McHale tree for 2010 is up, lit and ready to shelter plenty more gifts beneath its plastic and glittery goodness. Those gifts underneath are actually chocolates for unexpected guests....we're prepared!
I have been compiling my Christmas wishlist and will be blogging it in the next day or two. Hey, a girl can dream.

rounding the straight

2010-11-24T19:12:00.003+11:00

Can you believe it's December in a few days? I honestly can't.
I remember when I was young, adults were always telling me not too grow up to fast because life just flies by when you're older. At this rate, I expect years to whiz by in seconds by the time I'm seventy.
So I've had people asking me when if re-opening my online store. In fact, I get that question several times a week. The answer is that I definitely will be relaunching in 2011, most likely in January.
This past year has been Me Time. A time to really invest in my relationship, to relax, to work on my cookbook, to experiment in the kitchen, to start a new job that sucked balls, to quit that job after seven weeks and find a different job that rocks and rolls. And of course, it has given me time to work on many new designs, which is pretty damn exciting if you're standing in my shoes.
When I first started my handbag label, I wanted it to be an asset to my life, not a liability and to be honest, at times it has unfortunately been the latter thanks to, ironically, being too successful. This has forced me to reflect on what I was doing right and what I was getting wrong, so now I have ideas, plans and systems in place to enable me to increase production without sacrificing my lifestyle. That's right, I've finally discovered that life balance doesn't just happen, you need to plan it.
I had toyed with the idea of opening shop for one week next month but have realised that it is a much bigger task than it first appeared and I just want to see the rest of 2010 out at the same pace I started it. Which means I'll be gently putting my foot on the accelerator in January 2011....and that sounds just fine by me.

well hello, dolly!

2010-11-22T19:46:00.002+11:00

Yesterday, I discovered that Dolly Parton is touring Australia in 2011 and I damn near pee'd my pants.
I grew up listening to Dolly via my Mum, who is a huge fan. Almost every long drive we had as a family resulted in at least one spin of a Dolly Parton cassette and so, I know pretty much every song by heart, which is why I'll be snapping up a couple of tickets as soon as they go on sale.
Fortunately, my mum doesn't read my blog, so it won't spoil the surprise.....because I plan to take her along as a thank you for introducing me to Dolly all those years ago.

scary spice

2010-11-01T00:50:00.001+11:00

This is my favourite photo from today. It's my niece, Molly, who looked totally adorable.
Every year, my sister throws a big Halloween party for my nieces and their friends. This year she and my mother outdid themselves.
You can check out the rest of the photos here.

thanks for stopping by

2010-10-22T22:02:00.000+11:00

I was just looking at my Google Analytics blog stats and thinking how cool it is that the world is so accessible these days. In the last week I've had people from all of the countries below, read my blog....and promptly
fall asleep.

Australia

New Zealand

USA

Indonesia

Japan

India

Pakistan

Mexico

Canada

Russia

Finland

Sweden

Norway

Brazil

Argentina

United Kindom

France

Germany

Italy

Croatia

Denmark

Bulgaria

Slovenia

Turkey

South Africa

Greece

Feel free to leave a comment or send me any email any time. I get several emails a week from readers of my three blogs (yup, three...I'm a blog hog) and I love hearing from you. So, don't be shy!

car concerts

2010-10-21T13:28:00.000+11:00

Sia - one of my favourite artists at the moment

You know those dorks who sing loudly in their cars...the ones who don't care if everyone else hears them...the ones who pretend their steering wheel is a drum. Yeah, I'm one of those dorks. Life is too short not to fall in love with a song and then sing the shit out of it every time you hear it.

Some of the songs that are making my Car Concert series are (YouTube links)...

Fader by The Temper Trap
Clap Your hands by Sia
Don't Wanna See Your Face by John Butler Trio
Do Wah Do by Kate Nash
Only Girl by Rihanna
Sunday Best by Megan Washington

prints charming

2010-10-13T18:18:00.002+11:00

I'm on the hunt for some ace prints to fill our walls. Thanks to the magic of the interwebs, I've found some treasures. If you've got some suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Droplets 1 by Sandra Frieden

Collective by Jodi Fuchs

Departure Lounge 1971 by Inaluxe (I love everything Kristina does!)

Connections by Kate Banazi (who is a screenprinting genius)

staring 40 in the eye

2010-09-29T08:58:00.001+10:00

Yesterday I turned 39. I know, I know...I hardly look a day over 38!
I spent the night before, making goodies with my birthday gift from Andrew, which had an added degree of difficulty given my thumbs are out of action.
In the morning, Andrew made me a breakfast of perfectly poached eggs and in the afternoon, Anna came over for an afternoon tea of cake excess. Good day.

Able & Game birthday gifts from Anna. I'm in love with the calender of Melbourne train stations. And I can't wait to hang out the tea towel.

I made passionfruit sponge cakes & double chocolate truffle brownies. I'll post the recipes on my food blog shortly....hopefully today!

Anna made a lemon ricotta cake which was seriously delicious.

Oh yeah...and Kate drew a picture of me. Here's where she got her inspiration. Next, she has requested that I snap myself looking like Limahl.

all thumbs

2010-09-26T09:49:00.000+10:00

It's my birthday in a couple of days....Tuesday to be exact.....and yesterday, Andrew gave me an early present. He knows that kitchen gadgets float my boat, so this was a perfect gift. Perfect.

Less than a minute after I opened it and was starting to set it up, I cut my right thumb, deeply, on the blade. There was much blood and I may have gagged a little. Andrew wrapped my thumb up tightly in gauze but it bled straight through and blood was dripping everywhere. This was a stupidly deep cut.

as it started to drip through the gauze

So, he headed down the street to buy some Elastoplast, which took all of ten minutes. If that.

A hand covered in blood but still full of excitement for my new kitchen toy, I made my way back to the kitchen counter to check it out and have a play.

When Andrew returned with two packets of Elastoplast, I was sitting at the table and asked him if he loved me no matter what. He said he did. Then I revealed my left thumb, wrapped in a blood soaked napkin.

He has taken to calling me Hugh. As in, Hugh Idiot. Later in the day, he asked what other things I might like for my birthday. I said I wanted a decent culinary blowtorch but his reply was, "No fucking way". Then he laughed.

So, if you're feeling inclined to send me birthday gifts that I can cut or burn myself on, here's some things that I'm lusting after at the moment.

Le Creuset French Oven

Microplane Classic Grater/Zester

KitchenAid Artisan Mixer

Cuisinart Pressure Cooker

Laguiole En Aubrac Cheese Knife

Emile Henry Flame Tagine

blogaholic

2010-09-20T22:04:00.000+10:00

So I've decided that I need another blog (and a life, apparently!). I have such a love of cooking and food that I really want to write about it, share my recipes, tips and finds. You can find my culinary ramblings on my new blog, titled....May Contain Traces Of Nuts.

I'm still putting the site together, so it's not yet filled with all the information in the sidebar that I plan to have. Give me a few days and thy will be done!

she makes shiny stuff

2010-09-13T21:04:00.000+10:00

I'd like to introduce you to another very talented friend of mine, Simone Walsh...aka: God. Look, I could explain the nickname to you but it would take several hours, a series of charts and probably some therapy. I only ever refer to Simone as God when communicating with her and she only ever refers to me as Pie....this proved amusing when we met for the first time at Melbourne Airport. Just imagine someone waving and calling out, "GOD!", then the other person shouting, "PIE!". Yeah, people gave us some strange looks.

Simone and I met online via the Etsy forums and hit it off immediately. A shared love of being a smartarse generally brings people together. That was three and a half years ago and I now consider her one of my closest friends.......who will surely forgive me for her belated birthday card and gift!

Not only is Simone intelligent, witty and hilariously politically incorrect, she is also a master metalsmith who makes the most gorgeous jewellery.

Simone lives in the Blue Mountains and I'm looking forward to visiting her soon, so I can check out her new digs, make her scones and present her with the Snuggie I keep threatening to buy her.

If you're loving what you see in the photos, why not check out her online store. Tell her Pie sent you. She'll probably charge you double.

hungry town

2010-09-08T08:04:00.003+10:00

For those of you who don't know, I'm writing a cookbook. I love to cook. Love it. I especially love cooking for others, so even when I'm just cooking for the two of us, I'll generally make the dish for six to eight people and just portion off then freeze the rest. I must have been a caterer in another life.

Yesterday I was sampling some recipes I'd scribbled down and this one was an absolute winner.

Ginger cake with a dulce de leche (caramel) filling. It was delicious on the day I cooked it but infinitely better the second day after the cake had developed a mildly sticky top, thanks to the treacle. The filling had also worked its magic and made the cake really moist.
I left half of the cake unfilled and had both versions in airtight containers in the fridge. Just like the filled version, the plain cake has developed beautifully.

GINGER CAKE

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
1 cup treacle (or molasses)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoons of ground ginger
1 & 1/2 cup of self raising flour
1 cup of almond meal (ground almonds)
2 eggs
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F
Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy
Add eggs and treacle and beat until well combined
Slowly add boiling water, continue to beat
Sift all dry ingredients in another bowl, then add in three part to wet mixture, beating well each time
Pour mixture in a greased cake tin (I used a non-stick slab tray sprayed lightly with canola oil)
Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 20-30min (test with a skewer after 20min).
Allow to cool slightly in the tin, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

FILLING

Combine some dulce de leche and icing sugar/confectioner's sugar until it is thick. It can't be too runny.
You could just use the dulce de leche on its own but I didn't want the flavour to overpower the ginger, which is why I toned it down with sugar.
To make a quick version of dulce de leche, click here. If you'd like to have a go at making the real deal, click here.

well it's about time

2010-09-07T17:43:00.000+10:00

We finally have an election result. Some seventeen days after Australia voted. Seventeen. Days. The decision was left in the hands of three independant MP's, who for some reason, couldn't make up their minds. Oh, sure, WE had to know who we wanted as leader over two weeks ago but for some reason, these stooges were able to play it up for all it was worth and leave the country in limbo.
Seriously, Australia, let's not ever leave the fate of our country in the hands of indecisive, media whores again. Ok?

So now Julia Gillard is our first elected female Prime Minister, who also happens to be atheist, childless and unmarried. I'd love to be able to say that Australia has opened its mind in a big way but given it's the closest election result in decades and voters basically couldn't decide between two pathetic campaigns, well, it's more a case of her direct competition being a total dickwad than her being an impressive candidate.
But she likes twinkly stars, so she can't be all bad....*sigh*

Ok Gillard, time to impress.

saturday: in pictures

2010-08-30T22:55:00.002+10:00

Saturday, we headed across to Leffler to buy some leather for my handbags, only to discover they weren't open. Boo.
So we made our way to Docklands to pay Costco a visit for the first time. FYI my American friends, we only got Costco in Australia a year ago and we only have one store....and it definitely floated our boat. I didn't think I'd buy into the whole buying-in-bulk way of shopping but after two minutes in the store, my inner shopping geek came to the surface and I was mentally calculating my savings on pretty much everything we walked past.
This kooky sculpture thing is one of many kooky sculpture things at Docklands, just outside Costco.

Next stop was my favourite suburb, Fitzroy. We parked right outside Simon Johnson, which Andrew had never been into before, so it was the perfect time to introduce him to my idea of heaven. We sampled cheeses and the most delicious balsamic vinegars I've ever had. My tastebuds are screaming at me to go back and buy that $140 bottle of sticky and sour 20 year old balsamic.

The reason we were in Fitzroy was to visit Wilkins & Kent because we're having our bedroom furniture made by them. As luck would have it, they had a bed frame on display that is EXACTLY what we've been looking for. It's simple and gorgeous and will go perfectly with the bedside tables and tallboy.

Then it was a super-quick trip into the CBD, where I just had to grab a snap of the Pollon shop as we drove past. It's gorgeous.

On our way home, we decided to stop in to say hello to my friend Linda, who owns a bookshop on Glenferrie Road, Malvern. Unfortunately, this was a rare weekend that she wasn't working, so we just perused the store and added some more books to our 'must buy' list.

Once we get home, it was time for something to eat and we opted for something casual to go with a nice bottle of red.

Weekends are just too short.

it's not what you say, it's how you say it

2010-08-27T19:27:00.001+10:00

Me: "So, can we buy the funky dining chairs?"

Him: "Yes"

Me: "Are you saying that reluctantly?"

Him: "Yes"

Me: "I'm choosing to just hear a yes"

marriage is about love...

2010-08-26T20:35:00.000+10:00

...not whether or not your genitals are different.

limbohands

2010-08-23T19:33:00.001+10:00

The Australian people have spoken and they said......"meh".

Now we're left in a state of limbo, waiting on four independent MPs to decide which party will form Government. And that says so much about the election campaigns of the ALP and the Liberals. Both parties ran rather pathetic, negative campaigns that barely kept the public awake. The only party to kick arse was The Greens and they can thank their positive advertising campaign, which clearly got noticed.

One thing that is very telling is the increase of informal voting. Look, you may see it as a way of voicing your disgust at the political options, but when you don't vote (which is essentially what casting an informal vote is), you're giving your power to others. You're giving up a right that citizens of other countries fight and risk their lives for.

election 2010

2010-08-20T20:51:00.000+10:00

Australia goes to the polls tomorrow to vote for our next Prime Minister and for the first time in my twenty years of voting, I am completely disillusioned. For twenty years I have voted Labor because I have believed strongly in their policies and/or their leader. Right now, they are being led by a leader I didn't vote for and one I don't have faith in.
The Opposition Leader is a conservative lunatic and I am scared as hell that people will swing towards him after all that's happened in the Labor Party over the past couple of months. I would be completely mortified if Tony Abbott became our leader, I really would.
Looking at the minor parties, the only one that I'd really consider is The Greens but I am not sold on them or their leader. But their preferences go to Labor, so do I vote for them, knowing that it's still a vote for Labor in a bid to send a message?
I can't believe that it's 8.30pm on election eve and I am still undecided. I feel a sleepless night coming on...

shoe business

2010-08-19T17:12:00.001+10:00

I have some seriously talented friends, who also happen to be rather excellent people, which works out quite nicely for me.

Yesterday I was chatting to my good mate, Tony, in London, via Skype. I met Tony through my very dear friend, Alex, over ten years ago. They had been friends and housemates for the longest time, so when Tony and I got to know each other, it was double trouble for Alex!
Aside from being a stand up lad, hilariously funny and uber cool, Tony is a stupidly talented shoe designer. And before you ask....ladies, he's already taken.

Hopefully, I'll be getting to London in the next few months and will be able to catch up with the lads again. And yes, Tony, I do plan to wrangle as many pairs of shoes from you as I can fit in my suitcase!

Below are some pics of my favourites from his designs. You can see more of his mad shoe skillz here and here.

squeaker

2010-08-17T14:25:00.002+10:00

I've lost my voice and it has been replaced by some weird, high-pitched squeak (click on that link, it's my actual voice!), which Andrew is finding most amusing. And I keep forgetting that I have no voice, so when I start to engage in conversation, I'm startled a little each time because I'm not expecting to hear a cartoon robot mouse voice.
The doctor says it's a virus, so I just need to rest up and ride it out. Done.

Above (top photo) is how I'm resting up. Well, mostly I've been watching Project Runway whilst sipping soup on the couch. And in between resting up, I've been organising things around the house. The next thing to take care of is my studio (above). Right now it's an empty canvass and I can't wait to set it up. There's going to be a cutting table, a sewing table and a desk for our laptops, plus a packing area. It's going to be absolute bliss having the space to keep each of those areas separate.

We've also been searching for new furniture because we really want to upgrade pretty much everything. Fortunately, we've both fallen in love with this bedside table below from Wilkins and Kent. We're going to get a pair of them and have a matching six drawer tallboy made, along with a bedhead. Now we just need to find furniture for the living room that we both agree on. Feel free to pass along any links to fabulous sofas!

While it's sunny outside, I'm going to get off this couch and go do some gardening. We're planting a herb garden soon, got any tips?

vote

2010-08-13T22:27:00.000+10:00

Just don't vote for him. Please.

who's on first?

2010-08-11T18:56:00.002+10:00

Mum suggested buying Chinese food for dinner. All was good until it was time to decide on dessert...

Mum: "What do they call that ice cream that they fry?"
Me: "Fried ice cream"
Mum: "Yes, what is it called?"
Me: "Fried. Ice. Cream"
Mum: "But what's the name?"
Me: "Let's just have cake"

Oh how I love that woman.

moved

2010-07-27T21:15:00.001+10:00

With the scent of household cleaning products hanging in the air, I can now declare the house move complete. Thank god. I swear, when we buy a house, we shall live in it for the rest of our lives.
Over the next few days, I'll post more photos of our new digs and things in the area.....then some of my new range. Yep, exclusive sneakus peakus!

flashback friday

2010-07-23T21:23:00.001+10:00

Last week, during some Twitter banter, Camille (aka: Curlypops) had the bright idea for Flashback Friday blog posts. The idea is simple. Take a dodgy photo from your past, then tell the story behind it. So, here's the story behind my delightful *ahem* photo.

This photo was taken twenty three years ago by my mum. That's my debutante ball partner, Paul. We weren't so much speaking to each other that day. There is so much wrong with this photo, I don't even know where to begin. Firstly, my dress. Yeah, I designed it. I wanted to look like Fergie. No, not the one with the lovely lady humps.

The back of the dress is sporting a massive bow and thirty six pearl buttons. Oh and just to pull it all together, I had a matching satin bow in the back of my hair. Then there's the petticoat, which had so many layers of tulle that it flared out from my waist and added about three dress sizes to my hips....which is exactly what you want, isn't it.

Look, I could wax lyrical about my dress and hair but I think it's important to move beyond that and take you to the end of the night, when we were busted by the vice squad. See the newspaper article here.

drowned rat

2010-07-18T23:50:00.003+10:00

This weekend was a busy one with moving house but I took Sunday afternoon off to catch up with my friend Anna at Design:Made:Trade. It was a cold, rainy Melbourne day and I couldn't find a park to save myself, so had to walk a couple of blocks (and passed the curious sign in the photo) in the rain to the Exhibition Buildings. Enter, drowned rat.

With my hair soaking and glasses covered in raindrops, I found Anna waiting for me, with barely a drop having touched her. Damn her repelling powers! And off we set around the exhibits, checking out the creativity of others, thanking our lucky stars that we were not on the other side of the booth.

Once we'd looked around all of the displays, we headed down to Brunswick Street for some cake and conversation. It has been ages since we've caught up, so it was great to shoot the breeze, brainstorm and laugh.

I've come away from today with a whole bunch of inspiration and potentially, a cool project to work on with some other crafty peeps. Oh and there could be go-go dancing in my future. Happy days.

pause for thought

2010-07-16T17:03:00.000+10:00

I have been madly packing the house up, getting my new range ready to launch, sorting out day-to-day logistics with Andrew as a result of the move and job changes, wanting to kick GoDaddy in the nuts, trying to fit in time with family and friends and just generally sweating the small stuff.

Then I read a blog post that stopped me in my tracks. Once I'd moved past feeling immense sadness for the family, it hit me that life can change in a second and we just don't know what's around the corner.

Time for a cup of tea and a think.....

lift with your knees

2010-07-15T12:50:00.001+10:00

This photo is of the beach five minutes from our new home. I took Mabel (my niece...in the pic) down there last week to check it out on a rather gloomy day and she gave it a big thumbs up.
The move is almost complete. Just one more load of belongings to go. I only wish there were magical helpers at the other end to unpack it all.

customer non-service

2010-07-14T10:19:00.001+10:00

After years of working in customer service, one thing I know for sure is that the customer is not always right. In fact, in many cases, the customer is wrong and sometimes the customer is just batshit crazy. So I don't believe companies should have to bow to every demand a customer makes, I'm not one of those customers. Really, I'm not.

For the past six weeks I have been in an email exchange with GoDaddy.com regarding my domain name and what has driven me to near-insanity is the fact that in the majority of the emails I've received from them, the staff have not bothered to read my email properly and have just responded with a copy + paste solution to a problem I don't have. With every email I then have to send again, I become increasingly annoyed and frustrated, it becomes a topic for my Facebook status updates and my Tweets and now my blog posts. I start telling pretty much everyone I know how crappy GoDaddy are with their customer service.

So when, after I take it to Twitter and one of their staff reads it there and FINALLY someone reads the issue properly and addresses it but offers me a solution that is still going to cost me more than I would have paid had it been correctly addressed six weeks ago, then no, no I am not going to be satisfied and yes, I am still going to bitch and moan about it. So that extra $40 they want to charge me as a peace offering actually ends up costing them a hell of a lot more than that in the end thanks to negative word of mouth when all they had to do was solve the problem satisfactorily and I'd be singing their praises.

And here's a tip, GoDaddy.....offering a solution that costs me more money and telling me how much cheaper it is than if I went through someone else is just idiotic because if I'd gone through another company I'm guessing I wouldn't have had the problem in the first place.

oh, here it is

2010-07-13T21:16:00.001+10:00

You may have noticed I've been mucking about with the look of this blog. I've really just been playing around for the sake of it, which is really a waste of time seeing as my talented friend Simone Walsh is going to overhaul it for me in an uber cool way. Now that I'm not working a 'proper job' as such, I've had this massive surge of creativity and I don't know quite how to channel it.....or rather, didn't.
Today, after a long bath and a hearty lunch (balsamic mushrooms, oh how I love them), I sat down and started to get some design sketches down on paper, then played around with some fabric, made a few pieces and jotted down some recipe ideas.
I've been so focussed on business logistics and moving house, I'd let all of this creative energy build with no outlet. Which is a good way to become annoying to be around.

So, the creative side is back on track and there's only one more trailer load of stuff to go for the house move to be complete. Looks like there's no excuse not to get the new label up and running!

And as if by fate, less than an hour after I wrote the above, I heard that the fabulous Finders Keepers Market is coming to Melbourne. Looks like I've got some serious work to do before applications close.

is there a doctor in the house?

2010-07-04T00:22:00.001+10:00

Andrew is suffering with a sinus infection. Correction, WE are suffering with a sinus infection.
He has had it for a while now and has taken two courses of antibiotics but for some reason, is even worse. Tired of seeing him exhausted, frustrated and in pain, I dragged him to a medical clinic today. Saturday.

We walked up to reception, Andrew signed up as a new patient, we cracked a few jokes and made our way to what looked like, a relatively empty waiting room.

Ninety minutes later, I asked the receptionist, Margaret, if she could give me a ballpark idea of how much longer we'd be waiting. Margaret made a grand, sweeping gesture with her arm and said, "You know as much as I do, each visit could take five minutes, it could take twenty...I just don't know". Call me crazy, but given Margs works there, I thought she may have just the teensiest inclination of how things roll.

At the two hour mark, Andrew and I started giving the other patients nicknames. Pinky was our favourite. She was dressed all in pastel pink, in an outfit that looked like it needed to be surgically removed. She also walked like she was wearing flippers. But our most favourite trait of Pinky was that every 15 minutes or so, she'd walk up to where all the waiting files were and would go through them to see where her name was in the queue, until finally, Margs let her have it.

At the three hour mark, I walked up to the good looking young guy we nicknamed 'VD' because we figured that's what he was there for...he had just tried the same move as Pinky, so I asked him if he was next because the rest of us were taking bets. He was next, so we figured Andrew was after him. Excellent! I went and bought dinosaur jellies to celebrate.

Much to our disappointment, Andrew was not called next or even next next. It was now three and a half hours since we entered Burmuda Time Triangle and Andrew was over it. We both were. He asked Margs how much longer but just copped attitude, so we left.

Now I know for some of you in other countries that this is quite common but neither of us had ever experienced anything like it. I've never had to wait that long, not even in Emergency. So now we get to do it all again tomorrow. We're going to allocate nicknames from the moment we arrive.

inspire desire

2010-06-30T15:40:00.000+10:00

I've spent much of today searching for inspiration and so have looked a gazillion websites, including hundreds of images on Flickr. Food inspiration, sewing inspiration and educational inspiration. And it was well worth all the clicking because I've managed to find inspiration for each.
I have some more recipe ideas for my cookbook (I swear, it WILL be finished and printed this year). Thanks to reading many, many tutorials, I now have some cool sewing techniques to try and after checking out the TAFE site, I have my eye on several courses.
Oh, I also managed to get the laundry done, clean the fish tank (how much can one fish poo?!), mop the floors and give myself a manicure. Productivity WIN.

radelaide

2010-06-29T21:45:00.000+10:00

Greetings from freezing Melbourne! Seriously, it's bitterly cold here right now, so I've been guzzling tea and soup in order to keep warm on the inside.
Andrew and I got back from Adelaide on Sunday night after almost four days of eating, sightseeing, eating, sleeping, eating, eating and did I mention....eating? We stayed in the beachside suburb of Glenelg but didn't go near the shore as there was just too much to see and do in a short space of time.
We arrived in town on Thursday afternoon, after about ten hours of driving and enjoyed a fun dinner with Andrew's son, who was pleased as punch to be out on a school night. After dropping him home, it was back to the hotel to lapse into a coma.
On Friday, Andrew showed me around 'his' Adelaide, the city he grew up in. I was introduced to double-cut rolls, pie floaters and Penfolds winery, right in the middle of the suburbs. I love a good wine tasting session! We walked all over town, up and down Rundle Mall, along the river and around the festival theatre centre. You know he loves you when he patiently waits while you take photos of EVERYTHING, including what you ate.
Saturday, the three of us caught a movie, then Andrew and I went for dinner in Glenelg and enjoyed one of the best meals we've had recently. It was then back to the hotel to get some sleep before the big road trip back to Melbourne on Sunday morning.
We left Adelaide around 9am and stopped off in Hahndorf for a look around and some breakfast. What a beautiful little town, despite being friggin' freezing. The sun was shining but everything was still icy and the chill in the air was insane. Just up the road was the Beerenburg Farm, where we stocked up on pickles, chutneys, sauces and jams. Worcestershire chutney, people! By the time we hit Bordertown, we couldn't wait any longer, so bought some crusty bread and bitey cheddar, then tried the Beerenburg goodies. Hot Bavarian mustard was an absolute winner.
Andrew also bought eight cartons of Farmer's Union Strong Iced Coffee in Bordertown because you can't get it in Victoria. There's now six cartons left in the freezer. He addicted to the stuff.
It was around Bordertown that inspiration struck for a handbag design. I was without my sketchbook, fabric and pins, so I had to make do on working out the logistics by performing a bit of origami on an envelope. Next thing, Andrew pulls the car over and we're both taking turns at folding the envelope to work out the best way to get the design to happen. I think it's a winner but won't get a chance to make a sample until later in the week. I'm excited about this one.
So that's the trip. Now it's time to put my head down and get some serious work done. But first, I need some more soup....

road trip

2010-06-23T19:23:00.002+10:00

It's 7.15pm Wednesday and in about ten hours, Andrew and I are leaving for a road trip to Adelaide. It's his birthday tomorrow and we'll arrive in the city of churches just in time for a celebration dinner.
We're both big fans of road trips, with the only drawback being our differing taste music. *note to self: hide his Dire Straits cd*

crazy much

2010-06-21T11:51:00.001+10:00

Thanks to everyone who has snapped up a wristlet from my new online store. I've got a busy day ahead of me, packing and posting orders. Annnnnnd, loving it.
In case you missed the special offer on Twitter or my Facebook page, you'll get an automatic 20% off if you type BLOG at checkout.
Did someone say super bargain?
I'm moving house and getting my leather and canvas ranges all set to launch, so I need to wave goodbye to my eclectic range of fabrics.
*sniff*

there's a party in my mouth

2010-06-20T22:36:00.001+10:00

A tablespoon full of salted chocolate ganache......my tastebuds had multiple orgasms.
Last night at the supermarket I spotted dark Lindt chocolate with sea salt. My eyes lit up and I felt a smile stretch across my face. I had to buy it. Had. To.

Today I made one of the blocks into ganache. A simple process that produces a sublime result. Just heat some cream in a saucepan and once hot, remove from the heat and add broken chocolate pieces. You can use white, milk or dark chocolate. I find that the dark gives a more sophisticated and flexible ganache. Flexible in that you can bastardise it more than you can with the white or milk. But hey, that's just my personal taste.

Once you've added the chocolate, just whisk until blended completely. What you'll be left with is a soft, glossy pool of heaven that can be used in all sorts of ways. Try adding a smidge of chilli for some chocolate with bite. Or you could add a bit of blue vein cheese for an unusually delicious taste. Then, of course, there's the more classic additions of orange zest or mint.

Try it. That's an order.

profanity hands

2010-06-19T13:21:00.001+10:00

Hmmm, almost a year away from selling online and I'd somehow forgotten how big a task it is opening a new store. It's not difficult, it's just incredibly time consuming. And my job is that much harder because I lost all of my photos (I'm a serial laptop killer), so have had to download every photo from my Flickr album.....it's either that or take all the photos again. The latter option would cause my brain to liquify.

As a result of my tiny mind being stretched beyond its limits, I'm just going to put everything in one store and list it all in US$ as this is where the majority of my customers are based.

To make conversion easier, here's some idea of what a US$16 wristlet will cost you if you're from somewhere else on the planet.

Australian Dollar - $18.33
Canadian Dollar - $16.34
EURO - 12.92
UK Pound - 10.79

Right, I need to push on with loading items. Someone please bring me a cup of lemon tea and a ginger cookie, thanks.

back in business

2010-06-18T18:20:00.003+10:00

It's Winter here in Melbourne and there are leaves everywhere (which makes it impossible for you to fully appreciate my cute heels). I love the cold, windy days....as long as I don't have anywhere to go. And right now, I don't have anywhere to go. So with the heater cranked up, I am just about to start loading up my online stores with wristlets and bamboo handle bags. I've got one store in Australian Dollars and one in US Dollars. You can buy from either store, no matter where you live on the planet.
All bags are discounted heavily as they are stock from late last year and I'm simply wanting to clear my previous inventory before launching my new, kick-ass leather range. Please keep in mind that I have a very limited quantity of these bags left. Once they're gone, they're gone. I will not be repeating them and I am not accepting custom orders until at least September. So, if you see something you love, best you snap it up. They also make great birthday and Christmas gifts. Why deny others? Why? WHY?
It's 6pm Melbourne time (4am in New York and 9am in London). I should have everything up in about five hours. Meet you back here then!
*hits the panic button*

UPDATE: It's going to be a few more hours. I'm sifting through a lot of inventory and splitting it between the stores. I'm heading to bed now but will start again as soon as i wake up. Promise!

the travel bucket list

2010-06-18T00:16:00.001+10:00

COMPLETED
Been on every ride at Disneyland. Some, twice.
Strolled along Venice Beach. Sadly, Xanadu-free.
Got sunburnt in Hawaii. Sunburn wasn't in the plan.
Watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
Viewed Paris from the top observation deck of the Eiffel Tower.
Window shopped in Cannes.
Felt completely out of place in a Monte Carlo casino.
Taken a gondola ride around Venice, then danced around the Piazza San Marco at dusk.
Pretended to push the Leaning Tower of Pisa over for a photo.
Stared in wonder at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Thrown coins into the Trevi Fountain.
Stood inside the Coliseum.
Laughed at comedians at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival.
Watched the sun rise through the morning fog from the Charles Bridge in Prague.
Went to Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam. She wasn't home.
Downed a stein or five at a beer hall in Munich. Don't remember getting back to the hotel.
Bought a Swiss Army watch in Switzerland. Doesn't have any fold out knives or anything. Useless.
Been ripped off in Istanbul.
Partied on Mykonos. Had a four day hangover on Mykonos.
Eaten Greek salad on a rooftop in Athens with a view of the Acropolis.
Thrown up for most of a cruise around the Greek Islands. I assume the scenery was nice.
Floated in the Dead Sea.
Sipped cocktails at sunset in Bali.
Drank sangria in Barcelona, after seeing the Sagrada Familia. Oh Gaudi, you crazy genius.
Stood in the Salzburg church from The Sound of Music.

It's been a long time in between adventures. Time for some new ones.....

hope you're hungry

2010-06-15T12:12:00.003+10:00

Last night I had one of those 'panic attacks' that we creative types know all too well. It's where you start to question your craft, your skill, your knowledge and your appeal. It's the question that pretty much all self-employed (or is that, self-unemployed?) artists/crafters ask at some point....."What if no one buys my stuff??".

And it doesn't matter how successful you are (or in my case, have been), when you launch a new range or try to take your business in a different direction or if, like me, you've taken a break from your business for a bit, you are essentially setting yourself up for potential failure. And that is scary as hell.

So last night, in a bid to cure myself of self-doubt, I read my reviews, interviews and feedback to remind myself that I CAN do this and I'm actually kind of good at it. I've sold several thousand handbags to people all over the world. I had wholesale accounts with stores in Australia, USA, Singapore and Japan. I could barely keep up with demand.
That all looks great, on paper, I know. But the proof is in the pudding and I'm now using a new recipe (leather). Let's hope people find it as delicious!

domestic bliss

2010-06-14T21:20:00.002+10:00

See the photo above. See what I see when I look at it? That door is the first thing you see when you walk into our house. Best. Leadlight. Ever.

It was the Queen's Birthday, (public holiday) today here in Australia. That's right, today. Not her actual birthday, but she can do what she likes. She's on our money. So today we hit the shops for all things domestic, including groceries, which included the ingredients for dinner. Sweet potato, ricotta and spinach cannelloni. Hello! I made a cheese sauce for the top, which turned a gorgeous golden brown and added just a bit of crunch. We'll definitely be doing that again.

I'd love to show you a photo but we were starving and dived in as soon as it came out of the oven. Our mouths both require skin grafts. Lava hot.

pillow talk, 8am sunday

2010-06-13T21:27:00.000+10:00

Me: "Good morning, how are you?" (because he has a cold)

Him: "Employed. How are you?"

Me: "Single"

get ready

2010-06-13T13:28:00.000+10:00

Ten months ago, I closed my online store for two months. Ten months later, the cyber 'closed' sign in still on the door. That's all about to change. I had planned to take two months off in order to revamp my store, get my website finished and put the final touches on my new leather range (of handbags, people...of handbags).
Well, that plan went out the window after a series of events shut my creativity gene down for a while.

Realising it was going to be some time before I opened my shop again, I accepted a retail management position which I quit, rather spontaneously, last Friday.

Because I've been so busy at work, I've not prepped my new range enough, my website isn't finished, my research isn't complete and I'm wondering if I can pull it all together in time. You know, before I have to sell my hair to a wig shop, like Jo in Little Women.

Nothing like a dash of fear to get those motivational juices flowing.

Please note, you're all required to buy twenty handbags each when my shop re-opens in week or so. Think of my hair!

there's no business like gateaux business

2010-06-10T22:07:00.002+10:00

A couple of posts back, I was talking about some of my goals for the rest of this year. One of these is to learn some culinary discipline. Sure, I love to cook. Love it. If I could spend every day cooking for friends and family, I'd be blissfully happy. I'd also be Alice from The Brady Bunch.

I'm great at turning random ingredients into something delicious. Take the dessert in the photo, it's an invention my niece Mabel and I came up with....chocolate lasagne! (layers of cake, flaked chocolate, cream and mousse). But I am terrible at following a recipe. I am forever wanting to freestyle it and experiment, which is not a bad thing, it's just that I'm of the belief that you can't truly experiment until you learn the basics. I think building my culinary foundations will enable my creativity in the kitchen to thrive.

I've decided that I'm going to dive right in at the deep end and start with Petit Gateaux at the Savour School.

I'm excited.

revenge is a gum best served cold

2010-06-07T22:33:00.001+10:00

Today at work a woman came in with her young son. She headed straight for the racks to look for clothes and paid no attention to her son at all. That irritated me because it was left to me to chat with him and keep him company. And I was busy.

The little boy asked me my name, then told me his name was Rowan. He told me his birthday was yesterday (I later found out it was two months ago) and that he was seven (he was four). He said he had chocolate cookies but that I wasn't allowed to have any (cruel) and he was fascinated with our National Geographic magazine, explaining that his family had taken all the photos (sure, Rowan).

Next thing, he starts showing me all these chewing tricks with his chewing gum. I was kind of amazed that a four year old had been given chewing gum but it wasn't my place to say anything. His mother continued to shop for the next twenty minutes and then finally came to the counter to purchase.

She picked Rowan up and put him on the counter while she looked for her credit card. She then noticed that Rowan was chewing and asked him what he was chewing. He pulled it out of his mouth. She looked confused and asked him where he got it from. "Off the footpath", he said. The expression on her face was priceless.

delicious

2010-06-06T21:28:00.002+10:00

Yesterday I made Dulce De Leche. For those unfamiliar, it's kind of like caramel.....deep, rich caramel. I used some of it to sandwich ginger cookies together. A match made in sugary heaven!

There are several ways to make it and I plan to try each of them. For this first batch, I chose method below. It takes the longest time but apart from checking in on it every half an hour and topping up the water, there's not much else to do. It's my version of fishing, I guess.

Method:
Take a can of sweetened condensed milk and either pierce two holes in the top or open the can lid about a third of the way.
Place in a saucepan of boiling water, with the water level sitting at around three quarters of the height of the tin.
Simmer for around 3-5 hours.
Be sure to check in on it every 20-30 minutes and top up the water with boiling water each time.
Don't worry if the top of the milk doesn't look like it's changing colour much....right below that, it's turning a beautiful golden brown tone. The longer you simmer it, the darker it will get. I'd recommend 3-4 hours for the best result.
Once the time is up, remove the can and when it has cooled enough to handle, remove the lid and stir.....you'll see it change colour and you'll probably want to scoff it all. Resist the urge. Oh hell, lick the spoon. You've earned it!
Either use in a recipe or decant into a jar.

I'm thinking of making salted caramel and ganache tarts with with rest. Jealous much?

flickaaaaah

2010-05-29T20:03:00.005+10:00

Firstly, yeah, I made both of the dishes above. I am awesome.

I have just spent the last two hours looking at porn on the interwebs. Well, my version of porn. Flickr. For those of you familiar with Flickr, I trust there are some of you as addicted to it as I am. For those who have never heard of the site or just never really taken it for a spin. Go. Go now. No. wait. Read this first. Yeah, wait until I'm done. It's the polite thing to do.

I love to cook, so I use Flickr as a resource for recipe inspiration. With millions of photos, one could spend hours....days....surfing the site, stumbling across some brilliant shots. Being a foodie, I tend to mark culinary photos as my favourites (chocolate whore much?).

So how do I find all of these excellent shots? Type a word into their Search bar, like 'lamington' and next thing you know, your screen is filled with images of everything and anything to do with lamingtons that people have snapped. I've also typed in 'camel toe' (don't ask) but the results, although hilarious, were far less appetising.

Once you've found photos you like, click on the photostream for that person and if their snaps appeal to you, make them a Contact. That way, whenever they upload new photos, you'll get to see them in your Contacts photostream.

You can also find new contacts and great pics by looking at the favourite photos of other people. I've found some spectacular stuff that way. Basically, there are tons of different ways to find superb photos. And of course, there's also the opportunity for the interwebs world to see all of your photos. For me, that has meant a vast improvement in the quality of my photos.....although, to be honest, I'm the laziest photographer ever. Point. Shoot.

In a few weeks, once my online store is back up and running, I'm planning on embarking on the 365 challenge. I've been wanting to do it for a while. Wish me luck!

Ok, NOW you can go and check it all out. Go on. Off you go.

Goals

2010-05-25T21:37:00.001+10:00

Kate Banazi told me to get my Adam on. So I did.

I compulsively write notes and lists because I have a memory like a sieve. Sure, I can remember the skirt I was wearing for my birthday in 1986 or the name of the girl in kindergarden who used to annoy the crap out me.....my brain keeps The Past locked and loaded. It just struggles with The Future. Stupid brain.

I thought I'd share some of my goals for 2010. Mainly so I'll remember to actually do them. Well, most of them!

Finish my cookbook. My last computer died, taking with it dozens of recipes I had been working on. *profanityhands*
Make a family book using Blurb. It's going to be like a photo album but will also contain stories and quips from my family. I figure it will be a cool Christmas gift.
Get my motorcycle licence. I want a scooter.
Crack the Europe wholesale market with my handbags.
Take a patisserie course. I want to develop culinary discipline and what better way than through French pastry classes.
Learn yoga. Proper yoga.
Leave the country for a holiday.

What are yours?

hurdles

2010-04-04T15:45:00.006+10:00

Howdy Cowdy's! So I'm still here.....just haven't really been 'interwebs here' for quite some time now. It's time I needed away. Basically, the last eighteen months wiped me out in the brain department. There was drama upon drama, some stressful and very tense moments. I just couldn't wrap my head around all that was going on (and there was a LOT going on) with several different parts of my life, as well as operate a business, so I took some extended leave.

Fast forward to now and almost everything that was going on last year has either come good, healed, been fixed or finished. And it's about bloody time!

I have plans to open my store in May. I can't wait to get back into the groove of things. As soon as I'm all ready to launch, you'll be the first to know.

Thanks for being so patient.

2010

2009-11-30T14:19:00.003+11:00

Just a very quick update to let you know I'll be back in January (Ah, hello? Where did the year go???). I plan to have my jodienicholson.com shop open by the end of January, full of loads of new designs. For my arty/crafty friends, I hope your December is fruitful.....I can't wait to join you again in the new year!

return to sender

2009-10-10T19:09:00.004+11:00

I've pretty much been offline since July. In computer time, that's like....four thousand years. And when you're offline for four thousand years, those people you were in regular interwebs contact with, be it personal or business, tend to write to you to find out where the hell you are. When you don't write back, they write again. When you still don't respond (because you haven't seen their messages), they hunt you down via Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and any other site you may have an account on and they write to you there.

Here's the thing, if I am dead or have lost my arms in a farming accident and have not yet mastered the art of typing with a straw in my mouth, no amount of Goodwill Jodie Hunting is going to get you a response.

Dear Hunter, I'm not ignoring you, I'm just offline for various reasons. Love, Me.

In other news, I'm about to get the wheels turning again and at this stage, I am tentatively planning to re-open my online business by December. Look, it may not happen and if it doesn't, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I'll just open in January. But I would like to get back in the saddle before December because this would be my first Meringue-free Christmas in ten years and I the idea of that does not make me happy at all.

Who knew I'd miss the 18 hour days sitting at the sewing machine, the no-life, the room full of wristlets and the daily trips to the post office!

See you all soon-ish.

seriously?

2009-08-18T18:50:00.005+10:00

I've had an awful weekend, truly miserable.....which was punctuated with the following. *plug hairdryer in, see sparks fly, realise sparks are also flying from my computerised sewing machine, then smoke, then all electrical devices in the room shut off, then panic sets in, then a ray of hope is ignited when fuse switch is flicked and tv comes back on, then all hope is lost when it is confirmed that the sewing machine and hairdryer are casualties*. Fuck. Still no computer and extremely limited internet access. Not a happy camper.

still offline

2009-08-11T18:22:00.004+10:00

Just a super quick update to let you know that I have not run off to some tropical island (I wish!). I am still computerless (see previous post, below) for various reasons. Which I may tell you all about when I'm back online. I've been doing my best to respond to urgent order enquiries. If I have not replied, I'm not ignoring you, I promise! I currently have over 800 emails waiting to be read (*weeps*). I will be back online shortly......on my new Macbook Pro (*wets pants with excitement*). For those who have been asking when I'll be launching the new range. It will be around mid-September. So sorry for any inconvenience!

byte me

2009-07-27T18:42:00.003+10:00

I kill computers. There. I said it. I'm currently sitting in a seedy internet place, with several dozen computers surrounding me. All filthy. I don't even know how the chick sitting across from me is using the headphones because I wouldn't pick up the set on this desk with a pair of disinfected tongs.

So, why am I here? Well, Saturday night, I opened up my laptop, clicked the power button and waited for the magic to happen. Only, what happened was a rush of error screens that I've never seen before (and trust me, I've seen plenty of error screens), then my trusty laptop rebooted itself again and again and again, causing it to get very dizzy.......then it died. And after I'd finally sorted out my internet fiasco!

The laptop before this one died fairly soon after I got it. The sales guy said it was the motherboard and "just one of those things", so they replaced it with this one. The first one I killed had a blown backlight (no big deal) and then just stopped working completely.

I won't lie, I did allow myself a two minute teary last night, which contrasted nicely with the "WTF, computer?" session the night before.

Now I need a new computer, which was not in the budget this month because I have been spending all of my spare time and cash on getting the new range ready. I think what I'm going to have to do is wait until next week once I've finalised a couple of wholesale orders because I have sworn off using the credit card. Damn you, credit card, for being so handy! Damn you to hell!

Given it's not really feasible to run an online store without a computer and because I've almost sold out of current wristlets anyway, I called my sister and got her to put my Etsy shop in vacation mode until I am back online. It's just not an option to drive all the way to an internet place to try to do in one hour what normally takes 4-5 each day. It's unrealistic and kind of stressful.

If you are expecting a parcel from me, all have been shipped except for the last few where buyers were advised they would be shipped this Tuesday. If there has been any delay and I've let you know that I'm looking into it, I most definitely am. I can't apologise enough for not being able to reply to all enquiries immediately but given I receive 70+ emails each day (that require some kind of response), there's just no way for me to get this done away from home.

I won't be back online for several days or up to a week. I'll be busy working on the new range, getting to last of my current orders out and trying not to stress about the four billion emails I now have to read and respond to.

For now, I'm going to go home, disinfect my hands and make nachos. It's what my laptop would have wanted.

one flu and feeling cuckoo, at best

2009-07-08T21:00:00.006+10:00

{Anna having her makeup done for the shoot}

Hey! Guess what! I've spent the best part of the last week or so, in bed....sick....again. Ridiculous. I thought I had a simple head cold, insisting to friends and family that I would be fine the following day. Three days later, I had a fever and was curled up in bed, shivering, coughing, sweating and being all attractive.

So, I headed to the local medical clinic where I had phoned earlier to make an appointment. The glass doors of the clinic were plastered with the same sign, which read, "If you have cold or flu symptoms, DO NOT ENTER. Call reception and wait for someone to come for you". If I'd known, I would have worn a pig costume. The doctor I saw was not one I had met before and as I sat down, he noticed the red blotch on my wrist. He pointed and said, "Dermatitis?". Still coughing, sweating and dabbing at my right eye which was weeping uncontrollably, I gave him a puzzled look and then said, "I'm a little worried about your diagnostic skills". I then told him it was a birthmark. He checked me out and said I had flu AND a chest infection. Fantastic! I headed home and collapsed into bed.

Thirty six hours later, I had to drag myself out of bed for a magazine photo shoot with Anna. I am really not looking forward to seeing the final photo, which is ironically for a feature article in Women's Health magazine. As soon as it was done, I drove home and climbed back into bed, feeling like I'd run a marathon. I'm feeling a lot better but I still don't have much energy, so I'm not pushing myself too hard. I reckon it's time to go chat to some professionals to find out what the hell is going on with my immune system. Somehow it got switched to Screwed.

july

2009-06-30T22:34:00.003+10:00

It's the end of June and time for me to start my July pledge. I've decided to do two for the month. The first is to not use the clothes dryer for the entire month. It's the middle of Winter here, so that's harder than it sounds. The second, is to drop 6k (14lbs) by the end of the month.

I look forward to achieving both of these. Neither may sound like a big deal but not using the dryer is great for the environment and also for my power bill. Losing the weight is a continuation of what I've already been doing, but I figured if I made the goal public, it would just give me that extra push.

I'll keep you up to date with my progress. Feel free to join me with your own month-long challenge. Wish me luck!

moonwalk

2009-06-26T17:00:00.003+10:00

What a weird day. Michael Jackson has died and the internet is in meltdown. Many grieving the loss, some celebrating it. I don't recall ever seeing anything like it.

Here's the thing, I am a Michael Jackson fan. I remember eagerly waiting in front of the television to see the first showing of the Thriller video. I remember LOVING that song and video. I still love it. Give me a few drinks and you can even see me perform it. Hell, 'Rock With You' is my favourite song to sing in the shower.

I'm mourning the performer, the artist. I don't know about the alleged details of his personal life, so I'm not going to judge him on it and I'm not wanting to debate it with people. I do know that his life was a circus...and unfortunately, so is his death.

Thanks MJ, for some amazing moments in music history. My personal favourites include:

PYT

Thriller

Bad

Rock With You

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

Wanna Be Startin' Something

Smooth Criminal

Workin' Day and Night

master baker

2009-06-22T21:03:00.006+10:00

Andrew and I both like to cook for each other and other people. Until recently, there were very clear lines defining us as Iron Chefs. He is very good at cooking some things and I am very good at others. Like, he's become quite the bread maker and his pizza bases are incredible. He's also a man who knows how to barbeque really really well. The first dish he ever made for me was a simple, spicy vegetable bake that is still one of my favourite things to eat.

Anyway, like I said, we each had our own cooking territory, with the only real crossover being pumpkin soup....until now. Now he's treading on my cake turf. The man has become quite the cake baking expert and has perfected Parkin, a traditional English ginger cake that ages like nothing I've ever tasted. You're supposed to leave it for three days before eating it, so that it becomes rich, dense and sticky. It's really quite amazing to see it change.

So now, I feel challenged. Cakes/desserts are my thing. Well, were. Now they're Our thing. My competitive nature has my culinary brain ticking over as to what recipe I can come up with that will rival his Parkin recipe. Oh, it...is...on.

I'm a Twit

2009-06-17T22:25:00.004+10:00

I joined Twitter last year. Hated it. Deleted my account. After some coaxing from friends, I joined again a couple of months back and this time, I'm actually enjoying it. One of the people I'm following is Jane Fonda. Oh she gives sweet tweet!

So, if you're interested in reading my 140 character mind spills, then come follow me.....you can just unfollow me when it all gets ugly.

PS: the image above is courtesy of Pip from Meet Me At Mikes

a month of.....

2009-06-10T09:56:00.003+10:00

A friend of mine has decided that he would not touch a drop of alcohol this June. He announced it on Twitter and has been keeping everyone updated in a lighthearted way. I like this idea, it shows commitment to an idea and is a good way to get encouragement.

So I've been thinking about the rest of the year and things I could (and probably should) give up or do for a month. Some things that immediately come to mind...

Air drying instead of using the clothes dryer
Not eating any processed foods
Drink nothing but water
Eat nothing fried
Going for a walk for 30min every day
Flossing my teeth every day (once or twice a week is not enough, the dentist always knows!)

There's plenty more, I'm sure. But they are just off the top of my head. Perhaps I could aim for a different one each month? It's Winter here, so the clothes dryer one will be harder, which is why I definitely should do it now. Will get back to you with a game plan.

sick bed craft

2009-06-09T20:52:00.002+10:00

I've spent a lot of the last three days in bed, coughing and spluttering. Quite attractive. But I've had this urge to get my craft on, get work done, clean house. Last night, I felt the need to mop. No idea why, the floor was clean. Still, I pulled out the mop and bucket, then got to work on the foyer, kitchen, dining room, laundry and bathroom. That wiped me out.

So, today I took it a little easier, I picked roses from the garden, made fabric kusadama flowers and also beaded a doily to re-invent it as a jug cover. Take one doily, add beads. Voila!

reading and planning

2009-06-07T15:56:00.003+10:00

{Andrew and I went to Melbourne Museum last week}

So it's Sunday afternoon, I'm sipping lemon tea and I'm sitting on my bed....sick. Again. What the hell, body?! I'm really kind of frustrated because I can't seem to work out why I keep getting these throat/chest infections. The Lymphoedema symptoms, I can live with, but this getting some kind of infection every few months is driving me bonkers. I don't smoke, I barely drink, I eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, I take vitamins, drink loads of water. My big problem is that I work too many hours and so don't sleep enough. Time for a total body transplant!

Whinging aside, I'm actually having some fun online, reading blogs, gathering ideas, building inspiration. Pip of Meet Me At Mikes posted a link to her blog on Twitter (just mis-typed that as Titter) this morning, which I hadn't read in ages. So, I headed over there and have been following links ever since.

I've also been busy sketching ideas for the design of my stand at the Stitches & Craft Show in Sydney this August. EEK! I've been an exhibitor at plenty of trade shows for past day jobs, but I have never exhibited my own pieces. I'm excited and nervous. It's only a tiny space of 2x2 metres but I have big ideas. Given it's in another state and I will be on my own, I need to design displays that are as light and easy to assemble as possible. I think what I have come up with is pretty clever and will hopefully work. Now I just need to build, varnish, hinge and wallpaper them. And by 'I', I mean 'we'....Andrew just doesn't know it yet.

tunnel vision

2009-05-31T21:43:00.006+10:00

Last night, I bought my new domain: jodienicholson.com . I'm actually surprised it wasn't taken. I'm even more surprised I hadn't bought it long ago. So, why the new direction? Well, I feel like I need to move beyond Meringue. Perhaps it's the affiliation with Etsy and feeling constricted by that? I kind of feel like there are limitations to selling on a 'community' website. I want to expand and take things to the next level. I will continue to sell on Etsy but I will be putting my real energy and resources into my own online store.

This is not about any issues with Etsy, this is about moving forward to see my vision come to fruition. I'm nervous, I'm anxious, I'm crapping myself a little....but more importantly, I'm excited, enthusiastic and motivated. For the first time in the last three years, I can actually see a clear path, I know exactly what I want and what I need to do.

I look forward to revealing the changes to you very shortly!

decadent

2009-05-27T22:01:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I took the day off. Yeah, I know. A Tuesday! Andrew had a rather important business meeting out of town, so I tagged along for the ride. It was a good chance to take a break from the sewing machine and also to spend some time together.

We drove to Benalla, which is two hours out of Melbourne. It was a fun drive up, with plenty of laughs. We'd seen Night At The Museum 2 the night before....oh the scene where they spoof 300. Hilarious.

Andrew dropped me off in the main street around 10am while he headed off to his meeting. This left me with three hours to kill and I managed to fill them by wandering all over town, visiting the art gallery, walking through the botanical gardens, checking out the local shops and sitting on a bench, reading a couple of magazines. No phone, no computer, no sewing machine. I felt a little lost. I definitely need a holiday.

My favourite place in Benalla was definitely the amphitheatre. It is an incredible structure that I definitely want to learn more about. I wish there was something like it near where I live, I would visit it all the time.

Just after 1pm, Andrew picked me up, we grabbed some lunch and headed back to Melbourne where I packed a few orders, shipped them off and then it was back in the car to head on over to The Napier Hotel for dinner and a couple of drinks. As usual, they really delivered with the meals. We're working our way through the new menu, trying a different dish each time. Although, the chef told us that we really need to try the specials as well. Next time. Definitely.

decisions decisions

2009-05-17T18:54:00.003+10:00

Today, Andrew and I had plans. We were going to see a movie, then head to The Napier for an excellent meal and a beer or two...or three. But, my lad is still ill and a game of hockey yesterday didn't help matters. So, while he chose to doze/die on the couch, I started organising my taxes. Oh yes, it was an exciting day, shame I forgot to take photos.

Something that IS actually exciting is the fact that my very good friend, Alex has touched down in the country and will be visiting for a month before heading back to London. I'm hoping to spend some decent time with him and meet his girlfriend. Andrew and I have a few good ideas for things we could all do together. Come on now, get your mind out of the gutter. Geez, people.

On the business front, I have decided that in a week or so, I will close shop for a couple of weeks so I can focus 100% on getting the new range ready and photographed. I've realised that there's just no way I can keep up with wholesale orders, enquiries and my Etsy shop plus get an extensive range of handbags off the ground, so this is my solution.

So, if you've had your eye on one of my Sale items, now is the time to snap one up because after I close my shop, they will no longer be available online as I'm not bringing them back when I re-open. And who knows, if you buy more than one, you might even find a little something extra in your parcel!

juggling act

2009-05-06T18:57:00.006+10:00

{orders I shipped today}

Today I made and received several calls....whilst in the bath. This is not the norm, it was just a very busy day, so mega multi-tasking was in order. Now, I do this full time, it's me, sewing 10-18 hours a day. I also respond to all email enquires, confirm each sale with a personal email to the buyer, I parcel up all my orders, take them to the post office, I buy the fabric and I sketch new ideas as they come to me. I also have a Facebook personal page, a fan page, I founded an Australian Indie Design page, I've got this blog, a Flickr account, a Trunkt folio, my Etsy shop, their forums and for some insane reason, I just opened a Twitter account.

I am active on most of these places on a daily basis. Even when I'm not blogging, I'm catching up on reading other blogs. Then there's all that goes with keeping a house and spending quality time with Andrew, my family and friends (my friends are now laughing because they haven't seen me in forever!). Oh and there's 'me' time.....which explains the 30min bath. Something I make sure I do once a week. The other thing I've started doing again is daily exercise. Leaving the house, the sewing machine and laptop for an hour every day to have time to myself is a real luxury. Ignoring the sweat.

I get it all done. But man, it's a struggle. For those of you with children and/or careers who also run a successful craft business.....how the bloody hell do you do it?!?!?! I am in awe.

driving myself kookoo

2009-05-04T16:51:00.004+10:00

Last week I drove. A. Lot. I drove to Sydney, a journey of some 900km. Now, my plan was to dawdle up there, stopping along the way to take photos of anything that took my visual fancy. As it turns out, they're doing roadworks on the Hume Highway, so instead of a pleasant 8.5 hour drive, it was more like a 10.5 hour punch in the nuts. The speed limit was reduced to walking pace at so many points, it felt like peak hour in the city. Should have flown.

I was staying with my good friend, Julie and her husband. We've been like sisters since we met in kindergarden as innocent little four year olds. Thirty four years of friendship.....and she's still as mental as the day I met her. Eccentricities aside, she's an absolute gem. But I digress.

So I arrived, got changed, brushed my hair, slapped on some lipstick and headed straight out to meet Helen of Pepperina Press. Helen is an Australian who now lives in the US. We met on the Etsy forums a while back and have become firm friends. Hmmm, digressed again.

Right, so after battling with the Sydney traffic, I collected Helen and we made our way to the bar to meet Stuart and Paul. Stuart is an old family friend of Helen's and I met him through her via Facebook. Paul works with Stuart and I met him through Stuart's status updates. Are you keeping up here?

Drinks with Helen, Stuart and Paul was excellent. Loads of laughs, plenty of beer and an education in how to become a geek. I look forward to doing it again sometime soonish.....once I update a few things, like my phone, camera and internet connection for starters. Apparently, I'm living in 1989.

The next day, nursing a pretty solid hangover, I picked up Helen again and we headed over to Darlinghurst for brunch with Simone at Bill's. As you would know from previous posts, I met Simone on Etsy and we become BFF's pretty quickly because we are both equally disturbed. After feeding my hangover a large portion of scrambled eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms, we headed back into the city where Helen and I wandered around The Rocks, enjoying spectacular views of the Opera House....which is definitely one of my favourite buildings on the planet.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Helen and head back to Julie & Cam's to cook them dinner. Somehow, for the first time ever, I got lost in Sydney and drove around and around and around. I gave up, pulled over somewhere in Surrey Hills and called Andrew. He just laughed at me, sympathetically. It's been a while since I've have a hangover, I'd forgotten what a bimbo I become.

I finally made it back to the house, hours after I'd intended. We ordered in some Thai. Then I slept for ten hours and drove back to Melbourne.

The next day was spent catching up on Meringue work and then Saturday was the studio sale, which went swimmingly. I'm still trying to catch up on everything, emails for starters! Which reminds me, I must get back to it.

* Yes, I realise 'kookoo' is not the correct spelling...I was going more for a sound.

I'll be close enough to touch....but don't

2009-04-27T11:32:00.005+10:00

Come to our group studio sale this Saturday and be dazzled by our stitchy ways! All of my wristlets will be $20 and if I can get myself organised, I'll be selling some fabric and bamboo slouch bags too.

Saturday 2nd May

9am-5pm

Level 2 Nicholas Building

Swanston Street

Melbourne

partay

2009-04-19T21:14:00.005+10:00

Last night, Andrew and I had a quiet night in after a very long week. Beer, pizza and a movie. Andrew has *introduced* me to a range of movies I swore I would never watch. Unfortunately, he has also managed to get me hooked on some of them. He likes that this irritates me.

I like that it bugs him that I get Star Wars and Star Trek confused. See how that balances out?

On a totally different topic, I thought I'd reveal some little snippets of what's just around the corner for Meringue.....

My new label will be under my own name - Jodie Nicholson.
The re-opening of my Big Cartel shop under the new label.
A completely re-worked version of my Etsy shop. New photos, new banner, new range.
Online Purse Parties!! I'm REALLY excited about this.
A brand new monthly newsletter.
Releasing my range of OOAK bridal wristlets.

This next week is going to be manic but when I return from my trip to Sydney, I look forward to rolling out all of the above through May. Change is good.

five hundy

2009-04-16T21:31:00.006+10:00

I've been so freakin' busy recently that I completely missed the fact that I had reached the milestone of 500 sales on Etsy. Thanks to Sherry for bringing it to my attention.

And a huge thank you to every one of my customers who helped me reach that figure.

In other news, I'm temporarily closing my Etsy shop from April 23 until May 2nd and I'll be using that time to get fully caught up, ready for the launch of my new range. I will also be heading up to Sydney for a few days. Perhaps I should take the opportunity to snap some of my wristlets in front of landmarks?

Oh how I wish The Big Pineapple was in Sydney....

nice buns

2009-04-09T21:38:00.005+10:00

Today, as I wandered around two shopping malls, in a futile search for shoes....it was dancing in the air. The scent of Easter. Hot Cross Buns. Warm. Straight from the oven.

I love everything about Hot Cross Buns. Everything. The slight crunch on the outside when you heat them in the oven. The soft, chewy insides and the dried fruit that I am normally not a fan of but for some reason, love in Hot Cross Buns.

I stocked up and bought eighteen because my sister and nieces are coming over tomorrow for morning tea. HCBs and chocolate eggs. Does it get any better?

chilly

2009-04-06T17:34:00.003+10:00

I'm a cold weather girl. Oh, sure, I like a sunny day.....but I prefer cool days and nights. It makes for perfect sewing weather. Today was one of those days. Cool and grey outside, a touch of rain and I even had to turn the heating on in the late afternoon.

After the worst/hottest Summer ever (And trust me, this past Summer sucked, even for people who love hot weather), it was nice to work without needing the aircon or fan blasting in my face to keep the heat at bay. Hours of ironing on fusible interfacing becomes far more tolerable when you're not working up a sweat!

So today was very productive and I have almost finished using up the very last of my multi-coloured fabrics for my Meringue Etsy shop. In a way, I'm sad to see the end of this range. It has been popular and has served me well. Plus, it has enabled me to buy loads of different fabrics, which is always fun.

A couple of hours ago, I was wandering the fabric shop and it was actually difficult to resist the urge to buy fabrics of similar designs to what I've been using. That said, I'm excited about the new range. Very. Excited! I'm still working on the photography side of things because I want this to be perfect. All of my other photos have been pretty lazy. I literally just put a wristlet on a piece of coloured card, take a few snaps, crop and list. With this new range, I'm experimenting with backgrounds, including a selection of vintage & retro wallpapers and also moulded plaster ceiling fixtures, which are ornate but white and clean.

So much to do, so little time.....for martinis.