Everybody needs a Colin

Dad does and always has done so much for all us kids. Fixing up cars for us, houses, any kind of repairs, you name it - he's probably done it for us. I feel very lucky to have a Dad like ours.

Even last week when the storms wreaked havoc in SEQ and my downstairs area was flooding a bit - Dad was out in the rain with Kym digging a trench to stop a repeat happening that night. When Matt and Sarah needed a house renovation for three more rooms before the arrival of my third nephew, he did it with my uncle in only two weeks. When Bec and Matt needed another air conditioner installed for the kids or a cubby house, he did it. Yep, Dad's pretty handy!

I find it impossible to recount all the times he's gone above and beyond, but have a few that are impossible to forget - my Mini breaking down in Melbourne at 5.30am and him leaving home straight away to make the 4 hr drive to come and bring me another one, or the time I crashed my car (in Queensland!) and he drove up from Victoria with another... It sometimes seems I cannot make any home decision even now without first consulting my Dad - this probably should annoy Kym more than it does, but it doesn't - he knows his limitations most of the time in this area! I joke with Dad about it and he says he's happy to do it as long as Kym cooks him lunch!!

Why am I talking so much about my Dad at the moment you may ask? Well he's done it again. He's helping Bec and I once more. This time he's helping us at the Beckybean shop.

Dad has so many tools in his shed and after talking about it with Bec and I he got to work and experimented with making some buttons for us. I love how each seems unique and special when I know that Dad has carved out each one and put the drop of linseed on with his very own hands. Even some of the wood he's used is red gum from the Nyah Forest in Victoria where we all grew up. Very special indeed. And check them out!
How totally awesome are they? They just go perfectly with our coffee bags and market totes! I've included a few pics of the latest ones that just got uploaded to the shop.This little tote was sold on Friday to the lovely Teneale from Wicked Child Designs - she currently has a blog giveaway on that ends midnight tonight so you better hurry up and check it out to enter!!


I was telling one of my best friends, Jodie, about how Dad was making these buttons for us, just after I'd finished telling her he'd fixed our flooding problem. "Everybody needs a Colin" she'd said to me. Yes, I think she's right :)

Thanks Dad!

Eye Spy...something green!

The rains they are a comin'!

After a little spell of dryness in BrisVegas we've been blessed by the rain gods and I must say I'm loving it. I love going to sleep listening to the sound of the rain on the roof. And I think Jett sleeps a little better with the white noise - double yay! After days of bad sleeping I'm pinning my hopes on tonight being a little better...

As a result of the rain everything is becoming 'green' again. Kym was out in the garden all weekend mowing, whipper-snipping, and trimming our very pretty but very prickly Bougainvillea. Just in time! So this is my green pic looking out the front of our house.
I did also have to throw in this 'green' pic too. It's not the best photo as it was taken today with my phone. Jett is currently obsessed with balloons. I'm not much of a fan myself (hate the anticipation of the pop) but we still have a few floating (boom boom) around the house from his birthday, plus he seems to come home with one every time we get back from the markets... so this is Jett playing with his new favourite toy. How easy pleased he is :p I'm not sure we have a playpen full of toys when he's happier with this!

Thanks Trashalou for picking this weeks theme! Head on over to Cindy's blog to play along.

From the catwalk to the pages of a magazine...

OK, so this possibly isn't as glamorous as my title makes out to be, but it's probably as glamorous as things might get for me :PThe Stitches & Craft Show has been and gone in BrisVegas and Bec and I got our first glimpse of some Beckybean bags on the runway for the Wardrobe Refashion Fashion Show. Sure I'm a few weeks late with this post (it was nearly 3 weeks ago...). And being the consummate business professionals that we are (not!), we forgot our cameras to capture this moment in time... thank goodness for iphones! Actually I think we were too excited to get shopping that we didn't even think of it...oops. These pics aren't great as the phone has no zoom (grrr...) but you get the general idea. I can tell you, I'm sure I looked a right twat taking pictures of our bags with a camera phone :D People probably thought I was a relative or something of some of the models! But it was pretty cool to see some of them teamed up with some fabulous fashions.I umm'ed and aagh'ed about putting in these next pics...but I'm going to do it!
So this month's issue of Vogue Entertaining and Travel is out and Kym and I are in it (from our trip to Hamilton Island for the Vogue Produce Awards I mentioned previously), along with a few other chefs and partners.

I was really really REALLY hoping they night airbrush me but no such luck. And it was a side on pic - aagh! That's Kym and I in the bottom righthand side of the page. Very paranoid about this angle of me since having Jett - I miss having definition between my face and my neck... Bec tried to make me feel better by saying she thinks it is the light and thinks Kym has a shadow there too but I think she may just be being the nice big sister and trying to make me feel better! I also think I have a mis-conception in my head of how I think I look and how I actually look and don't realise this until I see it on paper...hmm.

Anyhoo, it's out, so if you want to learn how to make Kym's 'Holy Luna Goat's Cheese with Danish Pastry, Fruit and Cumquat Puree', check it out :) Actually it was originally for a croissant dough I think, but they deemed the recipe a little 'tricky' for us mere house novices, so it was simplified!

Photo taken from the Vogue E&T June/July 2009 issue

Photo taken from the Vogue E&T June/July 2009 issue

Photo taken from the Vogue E&T June/July 2009 issue - this was Kym's dish!

Now I must finish writing my tales of high fashion and magazine spreads (he he he) and get back to my oh so glamorous life of unstacking the dishwasher, putting away Jett's toys, sweeping the floor and putting away the clean clothes. Sigh :(

Warm fuzzies anyone?

Pic of my flowers from mother's day

I was feeling a little jealous and perhaps slightly jaded (boom boom!) yesterday as we drove Kym out to the airport so he could go to Sydney for the night to attend the Vogue E&T Good Produce Awards (he was a state judge). He was going to get a full day looking around some of Sydney's best restaurants, check out some of the bars, attend the awards, then get a FULL NIGHT'S sleep with no little man to wake him up... (see where the jealous part really kicks in?)
I was cheered up though when the postie arrived when I got back from our drive and had this little guy waiting for me. He is one of the many cool things Hayley from RERead sells in her Etsy store. And I won him! Yay! Thanks Hayley!

Hayley, another BrisStyle talent, awesomely (is that a word???) gives away a little item each week on her totally cool blog so it's worth checking it out (if not for the freebie but for the always amusing and often crazy things she writes about!). It's definitely one of my favourite blogs to read :) And for all the hopeless romantics out there, read this post and help bring two lovers together by supporting Hayley's shop!!

I should say I was also cheered to speak to Kym this morning and hear that he still woke a few times through the night (partly out of habit and partly because he would wake to noises and think they could have been Jett!). I'm ashamed to say that did make me feel a little better to know he didn't sleep awesomely :P
Another BrisStylin' girl, Eliza from Elven Hair is also hosting a giveaway on her blog - go check it out! She is also currently having a sale on some items in her Elven Hair Etsy shop to raise funds for her furbaby's (thanks Helen, I stole this one from you!) veterinary operation which happened yesterday. I hear the operation went well and wish Gem a speedy recovery.

OK, only two more hours until I get to go and pick Kym up from the airport - I should probably make a token 'tidy up' effort and get off this machine that I sometimes feel consumes my day. Perhaps I need to go find an Internet Addiction Anonymous rehab centre? I wonder if one even exists... if it doesn't already I suspect there will be a need for one in the not too distant future...:P

I'll finish with a few pics of my mother's day with our extended family. Perfect day. Beautiful flowers and a massage voucher, followed by an awesome sunny day in the park, breakfast BBQ with sparkling wine, bike ride, yummy morning tea, afternoon nap, another bike ride, lamb roast with one of cellar red wines from NZ, massage and then early to bed :D Couldn't ask for anymore than that! Hope all you other mother's had a great day too.

Eye Spy...what I am reading now

I feel the theme this week is very apt for me... the Beckybean sweatshop had been working pretty hard the last few weeks and we'd both been feeling a little worn so decided to put the brakes on a little - not too much, but just enough to get motivated again. This has given me some time to do something else I like to do in my spare time. Read. Escape.

I borrowed this book off Bec months ago and it's taken me some time to get into it as I was only ever getting enough time to read a page or so before I'd fall asleep. So last night and again tonight I'm curling up on the couch, with a cup of tea, TV off, and reading more of Raymond Feist's 'classic fantasy, the Magician'.

I love escapism in my books. After having Jett I was needing some easy reads to get my brain back into gear and was really into the Diana Wynne Jones books and the Artemis Foul series by Eoin Colfer (who doens't love a bit of teen fiction???). But after reading Tom Robbins' Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates (which with my post-baby brain took me a bit to get into but then totally loved it) I'm getting back into some adult fiction again and loving it!

Thanks so much to A Glass Half Full for picking such a great theme. Can't wait to see what everyone else is reading (perhaps I'm the only nerdy science fiction lover???). Head on over to Bugandpop to play along.

BrisStyle @ Stitches & Craft, BrisStyle Giveaway and new Beckybean bags uploaded!

Saucy Apron by Made by Miffy

I've been a little busy this week so have had to skip this week's Eye Spy theme of 'A Work in Progress' by Melissa from Hugo and Elsa... I will try and be organised on Sunday for the next theme I promise!!!

I'm a couple of days late (surprise surprise!) but if you're in the Brissie area go and say hi to some of the lovely and very talented ladies from BrisStyle at the Stitches and Craft show (look out for them wearing a BrisStyle badge). By doing so you can also pick yourself up a 10% discount voucher to use at participating BrisStyle stores - how awesome is that? Who doesn't love a bargain??? You can read about the participating stores and also who will be at the show here.

Scooter Girls by Ruby2GoGo

Finally, BrisStyle is having another double giveaway! Oh if only I could enter... the super talented Katie from Kitty Boo Boo and the lovely Benita from Bettsy Kingston (I know I've said it before but if only Jett were a little girl so he could acceptably wear the 'P is for Punk and Miet' ruffle pants!) are the featured members this month so get your entry in for your chance to win :D

‘Galaxy’ Boo Boo Booties by Kitty Boo Boo

Girls' Hungry Caterpillar ruffle pants by Bettsy Kingston

Finally, the next upload of the 'Crema Range' coffee bags are in the shop. All of these ones have been lined with a gorgeous hemp/cotten blended fabric and the insides feel divine. I really need to make one for me with this hemp...(you know what they say, leaky pipes at the plumbers house!). Head on over to check them out and tell us what you think!OK, housekeeping done!!! Now, I'm off to do a spot of sewing while Jett's in bed and before I stop running on adrenaline and the tiredness kicks in...:P Happy weekend everybody!

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!