Someone better push play!

Well Bec and I have so many thank you's to say of late to people that someone may need to start playing that music they play during the Oscar speeches to hurry people up... I'm not saying any more than Bec has said already, but feel it's important for me to say it too.

Firstly I wanted to say a big thanks to all the wonderful people who voted for Beckybean and also the other Brisstyle girls who were nominated for the Etsy best Eco friendly-finds - we managed to come in 10th spot and Bec and I are super proud, chuffed and excited to have done so well. So thank you! This little softie came it at number 6 - how cute is it???

One of a Kind - Sunshine Hoot Owls - Radiant Raye by Buttercupbloom

Next in line for a thank you is Cam from Curly Pops shop and blog who was recently a guest blogger on the Cuteable website. She chose to feature one of our bags from the Crema Range which was very cool. Yay! I currently have my eye on this lovely bag that I'm adding to my Mother's Day wishlist for Kym...

Handbag - Beautiful Butterflies by Curly Pops

Julia from Studio Home Creative also featured two of our coffee bags on her blog - thanks!!! Studio Home Creative is a little portal into what and who is new, old, exciting, creative and worth a mention downunder. Check it out :D

Thank you Therese from Little Mary Moo blog and shop (also a Brisstyle member like myself) for featuring another of our bags from the Crema Range on her blog. Therese makes some very cute bags and purses in her own shop and I confess to owning three myself. Looking forward to the next Brisstyle Market in July to re-stock!

Words to Knit With Purse by Little Mary Moo's Place

Rebecca from the lovely Edward and Lily blog and shop (and another Brisstyle girl!) also featured one of our Crema Range bags on her blog - thank you!! I urge everyone to check out her gorgeous purses, softies and homeware goods in her Made It shop.

Chic Boots Zipper Pouch by Rebecca from Edward and Lily

Finally a big thank you to Anastasia from Anastasia Drawing and Dreaming blog, and Percival Road Designs, for featuring my Creme Brulee Pochette on her lovely blog! I'm yet to own any of Anastasia's beautiful handmade paper goods but I'm adding them to my wishlist too :D

Sweet Greeting Collage Card - Smell the Roses by Anastasia of Percival Road Designs

Hmm.... I think that may be it. Oh and I'd like to thank Jett and Kym and my family for making it all possible - he he he. Hang on, if this is an Oscar's speech I should probably thank god and say 'God Bless America' too... just kidding :P

On a different note, I don't particpiate in Watcha Wearing Wednesday and yesterday I discovered why I don't! I went out for a walk yesterday so I could get Jett to sleep in the Ergo. I was walking for a little while along the street when I discovered this.

What a very 'I need to get some more sleep' mum thing to do. I've gone out before with baby-sick/sticky fingers stains on my top, or been shopping only to realise I hadn't fastened my breastfeeding bra properly and it was fallng down, but this was a new one - two different shoes! Bec made me feel better when she told me she once went to work with two completely different styles of shoes on! He he he, sorry Bec, I hope that wasn't one of those things I wasn't meant to mention to EVERYBODY! Anyway, next stop, Woolies in my trackies I think :P

Phew, how far did you get through this LONG post before you were wishing someone started playing the wind up music earlier? I'm sorry, but I didn't want to miss anybody!

Eye Spy...a magical elixir

This has been the week for magical elixir's in this house. I've had a cold now for more than a week and I've had my share of magical potions in the form of nasal sprays, steam rooms, raw green beans, panadol, echinacea and vitamin C lozenges... It seems if you say you are still breastfeeding you walk away from the pharmacy with paracetamol - woo hoo! Or go crazy with some nurofen!!! That always does NOTHING to stop your nose running or coughing when you have a cold... :( Tempting to take my obstetrician's advice when he said 'just don't tell the doctor you are pregnant or breastfeeding when you have a cold as they way are too cautious, and the pharamacist is even worst. Call my office and I'm sure we'll say it's OK to take'. It was certainly tempting...

But I think last night and today was when the 'special big guns' potions were administered - Bec made a really yummy chicken and spelt pasta vegetable broth - didn't that soothe the soul? It was excellent. And then this morning Kym got Jett up and let me sleep in for an extra hour, and then made me some freshly stewed figs, strawberries and raspberries with porridge. Double yay! I can feel myself getting better already.

Soon I will be back to my daily maintenance program of fruit smoothies, earl grey tea and lots and lots of chocolate!

Thanks to Amy for picking this cool theme and of course to Cindy for hosting - head on over to her site to play along.

Cast your vote for Etsy's best eco-friendly finds!

It's time to cast your vote for your favourite environmentally friendly item on Etsy - and we're a bit chuffed to say that one of the Beckybean bags has made it to the top 60 nominations!!! Yay!!! OK, we're more than just chuffed - we're super dooper excited :D

We're also in some pretty good company too - five other BrisStylettes made the top nominations too - congratulations Ruby2GoGo, REread, ArtDecadence, Epherelli and Pedrosprout! We're so proud to be part of such an inspiring group of people.

So if you haven't cast your vote, head on over and check out the fabulous Etsy Eco-friendly finds.

Eye Spy...a surprise!

I had been worried about this post as I didn't think I had any surprises this week - and couldn't think of any lately. But alas, Jett to the rescue!!!

Last night I discovered Jett has FINALLY got his first tooth. Yay! Given he's just turned one, I was beginning to get worried they were never coming... I mean, how long can you blame restless nights, not eating sometimes and bad moods on teeth? But ah, not to worry anymore.

Last Thursday was definitely one of the worst nights we'd had in nearly 6 months (I didn't get to sleep until 3am!) so I'm pleased we have something to show for it. I've been trying for the past two days to get a proper look at it but he just won't play ball - this is about as much as he lets me see. You can't see it, but trust me it's there :D

Thanks to Miss Muggins for choosing this week's exciting theme, and as always to Cindy for hosting.

The crazy and wonderful week that was

I mentioned in my last post that I would give an update of Jett's first birthday and our trip to Hamilton Island... so here we go.

There was a bit of madness in our household in the days leading up to the party on Sunday the 30th - lots of cleaning, trips to the lolly shop, trips to Big W for party supplies, trips to Dan Murphey's for booze, trips to the market for food, etc etc etc! All of this for a little man who was turning one and really wouldn't have much of a clue what all the fuss was about anyway :P But we did it. And it was fun. And I'm glad we have a whole another year until the next one!

There were party bags to be made for the kids who were coming (making sure each had girl or boy stickers and weren't filled entirely of lollies!), pass the parcel to be organised - not to mention the look of EXTREME disappointment from my nephew when he unwrapped a lollypop instead of a chocolate frog - only for it to happen again when he unwrapped for the second time! Very funny for us adults, but not funny for a gorgeous little boy who doesn't really like eating any lollies except chocolate. He was probably the only one being the eldest who really got into pass the parcel so he was even more frustrated!! Sorry Mr Lee... I promise next year I will be more organised and write down what's been wrapped in each layer :P

I tried to make the cake the day before. Tried. I was organised. I had everything. I baked the cake during the day and was going to decorate it when Jett went to bed. It was all going to plan. The butter icing was too morish and the time came to cut the cake down the middle and assemble it into a Pirate Ship. It looked cool - I was in the middle of icing it when Kym's mother pointed out I had two bow's - shit, I cut both ends to a point! Crap crap crap! I tried to stick them back on at one end but to no avail. I'm beginning to panic and could see myself heading to Cold Rock in the morning for an ice-cream cake... I was trying to make it 'stick back on' with loads of icing but it wasn't working. All I kept thinking was oh shit, I still have to make the mini-quiche's and crumb the chicken and it was already 10pm - when will I sleep??? I sent Kym a message saying I had ruined it (OK the message I sent may have said I did something else to it starting with 'F') and he called to let me know if he couldn't fix it he was on cake duty in the morning - he assured me that he's turned around cakes from start to finish in less time. So I felt better. I popped it in the fridge (some great advice from Marilyn as I think the more I tried to fix it the worse it got) and forgot about it. And true to his word, Kym started on it in the morning and it was 'fixable' - it took a little while but I think it turned out pretty well - what you think??? It certainly passed the 'happy to pick at it kid test' on the day...We made Jett's favourite foods - mini quiche's, sausage rolls (OK... these were Mrs Quick's but I did take them out of the packet and bake them in the oven!), Jatz bikkies with hommus, different olives, southern-style crumbed chicken, organic free-range lamb chops (which were yummy - thanks Kym!), and so many other tasty morsels brought from fabulous family members.

So anyway, the party was a success and although it was busy busy with nearly 20 adults and about 8 kids running about, it was fun. And somehow Jett seemed to understand it was all about him!

The day after his birthday we flew out to Hamilton Island and had a fab time. The weather was better than perfect and Jett did really well being babysat by a complete stranger two nights in a row (in fact he did way better than me who spent most of the time worrying about him!). The photoshoot for Vogue E&T ended up starting two hours late and we had to leave a bit before the end to relieve their Editor who was the designated babysitter while the shoot was on - poor thing, she probably thought it would be for less than an hour and it ended up being over two...! So it will be in the next issue apparently if you want a squizz at us attending a mock cocktail party :P (hmm, in case it's a crap photo of me or we don't make the cut maybe I should say nothing...)

They put us on the top floor at the Reef View and we were thinking it was fabulous until we went to Qualia that night for the dinner and saw what we missed out on - the rooms they were in weren't $1300 a night - they were about $2500...No Champagne on arrival or bottle of Champagne in our room like the others got :( Oh well, the 'kid-friendly place' we were at was still awesome - check out the view from our balcony!
So the real fun started once Kym was no longer required to work and we could explore the island in our golf buggy, eat terribly crap and overpriced food (at least the view was amazing!), drink cocktails in the pool and enjoy that long romantic walk on the beach (sure... I had a little boy strapped to me asleep but it was still pure bliss).

But I'm back to reality and getting back into the swing of things. I even got to sew another bag yesterday which felt good. It had been at least two weeks and I was missing it. Oh and those coffee bags are now in the shop too if you haven't seen them or read about them on Bec's blog.

OK, I am starting to feel a little more up-to-date now!

Eye Spy... a new development

Walking hanging on with only one hand... ta da!

What a super (and somewhat appropriate) theme for my return from the Whitsunday's back to blogland. So many new developments happening in our household...Almost walking, improved language skills (OK, I'm counting the 'UH OH' he has recently started saying), the lie on your back tantrum...

Jett also had his first birthday party last weekend which apart from my panic-stations with his pirateship cake (I had a moment last Saturday where I thought it best I stop and put it in the fridge to harden and get Kym to help when he was home from work), was a raging success - even if my attempt at pass the parcel proved a little long (with too many items wrapped up for short attention spans!)...

I still can't believe he's already one. Where did the time go??? He isn't walking yet, but these last few days have really seen him gain confidence and even attempt the 'one handed walk'. Very proud mother I am :D And how awesome is the ladybug he's holding onto in the picture? Thanks Bec! One of the many new toys Jett got for his birthday...

But now it's late and I'm too tired to go into details of the party and our recent mini-break - that's for another post. Tonight it's all about new developments :P

Thanks to Christina for picking such a great theme and head on over to Cindy's blog to play along.