Beckybean Christmas Sale!

Ho! ho! ho! Merry Christmas everybody!

Yes that's right... wait for it... it's SALE TIME AT BECKYBEAN!

To celebrate all that is wonderful and merry (and ok... a little stressful for many of us!!!) at this time of year, we're having a 10% off sale in the shop up until 24 December 09'. So not only do you not have to battle the crowds at your local Westfield, you get something that's a one-of-a-kind, handmade with love item. Simply order online, we'll wrap it up and 'make it look pretty' and can post to anywhere in Australia for free!!

We've also hugely discounted some of our existing Beckybean stock, becausw frankly, we're sick of looking at it and want the space back in our sewing rooms so we can go and make some more in the new year! So the 10% off also includes sale items as well. All you have to do is take it through the checkout, pay for it, and we'll jump on Paypal straight away and refund the 10%

Too easy, easy peesy :)

Now if only Jett would have wanted a handbag or pochette out of the shop, instead of me having to pull a tummy muscle trying to carry his new bike and Thomas Tank track, while pushing a pram, back to the car... would have been WAY easier!!! Ah the joy :pOk shameless plug over, I promise. I guess I should get back to my browsing on Etsy for more Christmas pressies while Jett's asleep. Have a lovely week everybody :)

BIDM wrap :)

Last Saturday was the December BrisStyle Indie Designers Market - and what a day! Sure it was hot, but there were yummy cupcakes, good coffee, and lots of water to go around. Not to mention all the awesome wares on offer! After a few days of R&R to get over the excitement of it, I thought I better post some pics. I'd brought along a fan to help cope with the hot day but luckily found I didn't need it - it was put to much better use blowing some air into the portacot of Bel and Em's gorgeous little boys behind me - if second babies are this easygoing them I'm not so worried about welcoming our next one. I can't believe you barely heard a peep out the little guys and they were there all day - little marketers already!! There's no way Jett would ever have been this easy as a 5 month old!!!

Anyway, I think this was the least stressed Bec and I have been going into this market, and by making a few things easier for ourselves like simplifying our tagging, less props etc, we managed to get the stall set up early and still have time to eat breaky and check out everybody elses stalls - yay!

Here's a few pics of how we looked at the start of the day :)


And luckily for us, we managed to sell a few bags early on, so Bec and I got to tag team while we went about the market buying up Christmas presents for the family! Hooray! Here's a few of some of the very lovely things I picked up for my nieces and nephews. These items are for my pink-loving niece - a hairclip holder and clips from EmBelISH, skirt by the Seamstress and the Daughters, and cute cupcake and polka dot belt by Hip Brown.
For my mum, a 'just because' present by Hot Toffee - Nicole makes the best earings!!
A pair of aeroplane PJs for my nephew who's Jett's age, by Katie from Miss Kitty Boo Boo.
For my other niece - who is not a pink-loving little girl!! Pretty skirt by Christine at Little Diva, a beautiful necklace by Amanda from Twinkle Star Art, and some hairclips by Chicuff :)
And one of the presents I got for my five year old nephew - who wouldn't want to be a superhero for a day? This cool outfit was by Chicuff as well.
I have no pictures to put up but Jett didn't go without - I've purchased him and the little man still in my belly some lovely plane wall prints with their names on them from Twinkle Star Art too. I can't wait to see them! Amanda does such lovely kids illustrations :)

OK, I think that's the market wrap up for me - so many good things to buy, never enough time or money to get it all!!

So new stock has now been uploaded to the Beckybean shop - but I'll do another post about that one at another time :) Have a lovely weekend everybody if I don't do it before then. xxx

Sneak peak of some new Beckybean bags :)

Today I finished all my machine sewing for this Saturday's BrisStyle Indie Designer's Market - woo hoo!

After spending the last hour and a half sewing on lots of Dad's wooden buttons, my bed has never looked so good... so before I trot off to dream of fabric, buttons, Scotchgard, and thread, I thought I'd leave you with a sneak peak of some of the Beckybean bags that will be on offer :) This was the line up of a few bags waiting their turn for a light Scotchgard!

Nighty night :)

BrisStyle is Comin' to Town

How quickly the weeks are flying!! Only three and a half more weeks until Christmas :)

If you're like me than you have barely started your Christmas shopping and panic is slowly setting in about how much time you have left to get everything you need. Have no fear, fellow bloggers, you are bound to find something for your little ones (or for yourself :p - I know I will!) at the BrisStyle Indie Designers Market this coming Saturday 5th December - St Augustines Church Hall and Grounds at Racecourse Road, Hamilton.

Here's a little sample to whet your appetite of some of the lovely wares that will be on offer.

(felt and fabric necklaces from littlechrissy)


(Twinkle Star Art gift cards in packs of 5)

(Offerings from Selvedge House)

(labradorite ear candy from rocknwrap)

Of course, Beckybean will also be there with bells on (boom boom) :) I won't write too much about what we have been working on, as you can read about here, on Bec's blog. I'll just leave you with one pic of our new range of shoulder bags which are incorporating the humble tea towel :) Why waste such beautiful linens on something as boring as drying dishes???

Anyway, we hope to see you at the market this Saturday!

A chef, who'd want to be one?

As I lay in bed at 3.45am last night I had actually written this blog post in my head. However that was 5 hours ago and things in the middle of the night when sleep deprived from continually getting up to settle Jett, always seem much worse. It was a rant. I was pissed. I'm getting over it already though.

Kym's back at work and is doing CRAZY hours. Not crazy like before, but CRAZY CRAZY. Like 7 or 8am until 3am. WTF? There have been a few articles lately in various publications like the Sunday Mail, Courier-Mail, GT, and Brisbane Times, all raving about the architecture, the food, the produce. Yay... However my 'yay' as I lay there last night worrying if he's crashed his car on the way home due to sleeplessness, switching between worry and anger over something that sometimes in my opinion (and much to Kym's horror) is 'only food', had definitely fizzled.

These are lovely parts of cheffing - the stuff that's not always so glamourous, and the stuff that isn't usually portrayed clearly on shows like Masterchef. Like seriously, who in their right mind would want to become a chef? Work anywhere from 60-95 hours, getting paid for maybe 38 of them, in a super stressful, and in Summer time, usually 40+ degree kitchen? Waiting on suppliers who are supposed to bring your food in the morning, and decide to send it in one hour before service time instead. Not me.

And you need a thick skin - having worked in hospitality as a waitress before I've seen chefs pushing around apprentices, throwing plates at them (of course Kym would never do this), another one used to be really hard on one particular apprentice only to turn around and tell people when he wasn't there that he was the 'best apprentice I've ever had and don't want to him leave'!

Neither Jett or my unborn, or for that matter any niece or nephew, is allowed to become a chef. They can learn how to cook, maybe work in hospitality to earn some cash while on their way to something else, but that's as far as it goes. I still think it's important to know how to cook, and to learn about foods, what they are, what they do for us. I certainly don't want him to be like one checkout I had the other day at the supermarket who asked me 'what is this', and I looked up thinking it must have been a 'fancy' vegetable I had purchased - no, it was the common 'zucchini'. Perhaps I should have confused her and said it was a 'courgette'??? he he

It's insane. Only a very select few will ever become great - I know that's harsh, but it's true. Those small percentages are the ones whose hard work pays off. Luckily we're in the latter, but that still doesn't excuse you from working six days a week and only seeing your family on Sunday's (which by that time you are a walking zombie anyway!). Aagh! So needless to say you need to have passion - as Kym told one 'would-be-apprentice' the other day - you can teach speed and knifeskills, but you can't teach passion and that's why I'm giving you a go.

OK I think I'm over it. I know there are a lot of thankless jobs out there, and I have friends and family together who have husbands who also have great jobs which still take them interstate or overseas on a regular basis, and that's hard too. I'm just ranting about the one I live with.

So if one more person asks how's the restaurant going I might explode with a few expletives of my own - giving my lovely husband a run for his money in the language department :p

The times are a changin'

The last few weeks seem to have been filled with lots of changes. With the restaurants set to open in a few weeks, Kym left this morning excited and perhaps a little apprehensive, as he will now be in the kitchen full time, steering a team of I think about 30 or more chefs. I'm thinking I can't write too much about it, in case I upset the PR company... :p (not that they would know I have a blog...he he) But there will be essentially three new ventures opening up - a newly refitted and expanded Urbane (with Sub Urbane underneath to cater for private dining/functions), The Euro and The Laneway. You can read about it here if you're interested.

The past 5 or 6 months have gone fast - although he was always doing things and going places for the restaurant, or working a few shifts here and there to help people out, Jett and I had him mostly at home each night. And usually cooking - yippee! I'm actually ready for him to go back (he he), not because I want him back working 60-90 hour weeks, but because he was getting restless at home and to be honest, I can get back into my little routine with Jett before the next one comes along.

I think Jett is going to take some time to adjust as he's been pretty spoiled having both of us here all the time - you can't exactly explain to a 19 month old what's going on :)

But he too is getting bigger and I'm now really seeing changes in him - he loves playing with his cousins and is super keen to be one of the 'big kids'. He weened himself completely two weeks ago. Which whilst I'm super happy we both lasted this long, it does mean my 'baby' is not really a baby anymore. I know it's silly as I know things aren't really any different and the feeds were so little that they really were only for comfort, but this *tiny* part of me feels less 'needed'. Weird hey? But on the positive side, my breasts get a break for six months before I have to do all this again!!! It's almost like, "hooray, I can have a few drinks - oh that's right, I'm pregnant, no I can't. Maybe in about two more years..." hmmBut I was taken back this week when he woke from his nearly three hour nap and I carried him to the couch for a cuddle and he went back to sleep. Excuse the no makeup in this photo :) It had been so long since he slept on me like this that I just sat back and enjoyed the next half hour - after all in a little over five months he won't be my baby, he'll be a big brother. Exciting and scary changes ahead!!!

I'll leave you with a pic of one of the other changes I'm going to be missing out on more now - Kym's cooking for me. I had been nagging for a couple of months now that I was craving a crab and gruyere souffle, and on Sunday he finally made me one. And it was awesome. The salad of radish, pink lady, and cos was delightful but still not a patch on the souffle. Oh I'm going to miss this!

Eye Spy...shoes!

Oh the shoes of my former life. We had fun. We ate out a lot, we went dancing. You were sometimes carried home when my feet had given up and it hurt too much to walk you up hill to our city apartment. We could still have fun? If only there was a place for us to go that was practical (that takes pregnant chicks and 19 month olds!). But alas, those days for us are few and far between.

Since becoming a stay-at-home-mum I've enjoyed always being able to wear comfy shoes as a day-to-day thing. No need for work heels - woo hoo!

I think I have two favourites that are just rotated between Summer and Winter (I'm pretty boring, always the same brands even when I buy new ones!) - birk's and tiger's. Both are super comfy which earns two thumbs up from me.

Not to say that I don't ever wear heels - but even they are now comfy - my Think! shoes. These are great, you don't feel like there's any heel there and I love the style of them.
So it's not goodbye my lovely strawberries and cream shoes - it's just until we meet again at the next appropriate function (where I won't be standing for long and have access to the car).

All this writing and reading of shoes has given me itchy feet (boom boom) to go and buy some newbies. I'm thinking a new pair of Summer flats are in order - perhaps some more Think! ones or maybe some Naots. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Thanks to Anastasia for picking such a lovely theme - head on over to Cindy's blog for shoe fashion.