a new direction.

Life is a funny old thing. It throws up so many great surprises. It delights me. I can't get enough. Newly married. settling in a new role at work and now a good 14 weeks pregnant! Boy, that feels good to say.

Yup. Little old me and little older Ben have ourselves a honeymoon baby on the way. What joy!! It's something we have wanted for so long now and to be currently nestling baby in belly feel nothing short of a miracle. My belly is starting to pop (much to the dismay of my new op shop jeans) and I have passed the hard sickness stage of the first trimester and moved my grooving body onto stage two. I only occasionally feel light headed in the shower or really tired from growing bodies and brains and stuff.

Anyway, as a result of this news, I wanted to share two things with you. Firstly the awe inspiring ultrasound!



If you look really closely as Baby Brock's arse you can just make out the 'Made in Vietnam' stamp.

And with the ability to be able to share this news, I am also able to share my latest project. A blanket for baby of course. This will be the biggest blanket I have ever made - quite the challenge for me. I am making it single bed size so that during cold nights when I am feeding bubs and I can stay warm, and then when he/she is big enough, they can have it on their first ever bed! You'll notice I have kept the colours very neutral as we wont be finding out the sex of the baby until I have pushed it out over a 36 hour period.



Soooo...you make a square. I like this one.



This fabulous red material is a fav. I purchased it from Patchwork On Central Park.



Each square is different. See how great these colours are!!!
Right now? I am going to go home and eat soup and change into trackies that fit and watch TV til my delightful husband comes home. I might even eat some of that smashing apple and blueberry crumble I made last night - geez I'm getting domesticated!

Other people's money...

There's nothing better than spending other people's money. I don't mean that in a bad way. eg. I'm not robbing change purses from old ladies on the tram. I merely mean, when someone gives you the gift of a voucher and you get to head out and spend it.

Ben and I allocated all day Saturday to the fine art of spending other people's money. We had been given two vouchers for a our wedding, a Chapel St Bazaar voucher and an Australian galleries voucher. Noice!

We headed to the Chapel Street Bazaar first. Swinging past Tusk cafe for a really overrated breakfast and coffees that never actually made it to our table. If you've ever been to the Bazaar, you'll know that walking in there can make your head spin. There are so many little nooks and crannies, filled with retros goodies ranging in price and diverse in their age.

It was so incredibly hard to choose something in the end. We wanted it to be something that reminded us of the beautiful people that gave us the voucher, but we also wanted it to be something that would live on in our lives for many married years to come. After much debate we finally settled on...

This stunning late 1960's radio. See how it has NSW, QLD, VIC etc. And it still works. I love the art deco shape and the cream and blue colour. It has livened our kitchen tenfold!



And of course, no house is complete without a wall clock....or in our case, a retro clock!




Ben and I love this clean display and fancy the idea that it runs on electricity. An odd wire here and there has never fazed us!

busier than bees when their busy...

It's been a hectic week. so much frustration, emotion and nagging, aching tiredness. I would say 'I need a holiday' but I know I've just returned from one. Why does Vietnam seem so long ago?

I'm finding I like going to bed at 9:30pm on.the.dot. not a minute before and most definitely not a minute after. I feel like every time I pick myself up off the couch and head to bed before ten more wrinkles appear around my eyes and my hands start growing their very own walking frame. Could I really be this old already?

I'm putting most of it down to work at the moment. As it is the end of the financial year, there is SOOOO much happening. We are always manic in June and I had prepared myself for that, but to make matters worse I am having recruiting issues and internal stresses and also have to co-ordinate three juniors and a work experience girl. So you get where I'm coming from.

Ben has been a great help - as usual. He can lighten my mood from the minute I walk in the door. Seeing the muddy face of Maggie the Kelpie also eases the stress. I want to take the two of them and head to our beach house, lock all the doors and allow winter to batter around outside as we read books, drink wine and eat well.

Tonight I am off to another function that I have been guilted into attending. When you're this tired the last thing you want is your mother on the phone saying 'but I already told them you'd come!'. Anyone else as weak as me? I hate disappointing people. I would drag this depleted body half way across town to a fancy dress I haven't prepared for, to hang with old work colleagues I have lost touch with and enter into conversation that might actually freeze my brain rather than disappoint my mother, or her very lovely friends.

I really need my head checked. Anyone noticed yet that my capitals are back? I figure there are enough young people in the world bastardising the English language, why should I join them.

oh, and before I forget....another thing that brightened my dull week. My sister sent me a photo of my nephew Charlie lying on the blanket I made him. *Sigh* he's so cute!

holding me back.

hmmmm. i've been so distracted lately. there are so many things that i want to get done and just cant get around to. for instance, i have been meaning to clean out our second bedroom and rearrange all my sewing things, but other things catch my fancy...like baking a deliciously naugthy chocolate hazelnut cake or staring at more photos of the wedding til the point when some might deem it a little narcissistic. anyway, the point is, I have a plan. a grand plan in fact. and as is with most grand plans there are certain things getting in the way. let me list a few.

guitars. our spare room is currently the home to some 7 guitars. my new husband benny is a bit of a rock god. he likes to bang out tunes in the garage every tuesday night with his three mates. strange thing is....why would anyone need that many guitars when they only have two hands? he assures me that in fact he does need them all. even the old battered one in the bent case. each one apparently serves a purpose - yeah, clogging up my friggin' spare room!

books. again with the hording. ben loves books. it's sad that it takes him so long to read one because he really really loves them. as such we have accumulated a hideous amount of books in our spare room. there are so many bad books in fact, that the good books wont fit on the shelf and have to live by the side of the bed. the pile is getting so big ben and i might have to catch a train to find each other in bed at night.

clothes. ahhhh yes. apparel rules the corner of my humble spare room. ben went through a dress up party stage when turquoise leather jackets and brown spandex pants were really, really funny. now they're just really, really annoying. but ben cant throw ANYTHING out lightly. 'i might need that cream and brown striped wide collar shirt'. 'what for?' i would quiz. 'don't know, might have a book launch gig in a 70s bar coming up that it would be good for'.

thankfully bens mum and dad have taken our spare bed off our hands to decorate their new place. it means bens friends dont have to bang their drums around it in the garage and i can start planning the room that i have been thinking about for so long now.

about damn time!

ok, i know that i havent been the most diligent blogger. in fact, i've probably been removed from bloglines around the globe (assuming the globe read this of course) but here i am. i'm back. i have news. craft projects to share and day-to-day bullshit to spread amongst you. see, your mum was right. the best things are worth waiting for!

so...my sister had a baby boy two weeks ago. Charlie Thomas Martin Reid to be exact - thank you very much. he's a stunner. chubby and smart. and he LOVES food. i decided i wanted to make him something. a blanket-com-play mat. i had purchased too much material a little while back and really needed to do something with it. i am now towards the pointy end of the project and loving it! the good people at patchwork on central park helped me pick out the boarder material and the trim. things really could have gone arse ways without them!

here's a little looksee:



found a warm wooly fleece fabric for soft little skin:





i have another project that i am eager to commence, and once this blanket is done i will getting cutting fabric! ben goes to mount buller this weekend to play again and that is when i should find some time.

just have to get through a week of work first...

the wedding...

i wanted to share a few photos of the wedding with my dear friend jenny irish. jenny and i have been friends since i worked with her in ireland over 6 years ago (can you believe that?) i have been back to see her and she has been over to see me. i reckon this friendship will last forever.

jen, here are some pictures of our wedding for your irish eyes...



so...um...i sang a little 'fever' at the wedding...




this beauty was taken by my good friend



easily the best day of my life so far, and the best party i have ever been too. i just wish jenny irish could have been there :)

*sigh*...home again...

well. the honeymoon is over baby. we miss it sooooo much. vietnam was top notch as the aussies say. an absolutely wonderful country with so many diverse things to see and smell and taste. i have to say the craziness of the motorbikes scared me at first but before long i found them endearing and wanted to be side swiped every day i was there.

ben has a travel bug. like a big one. it sits on our dinner table every night asking 'where are we going next?'. he simply loved it. we both did. time to start planning the next one huh?

i wanted to share just a few photos from the trip. i wanted to make you jealous with blue water, sandy beaches and delicious cuisine.

when you are riding around on a cyclo you see this kinda thing...



the newly weds



i did a veitnamese cooking course with a sous chef - it was freakin awesome. i promise to post a pho ga recipe very soon!



and now for the jealousy shots...