It's all about me me me!

Yep folks, the theme of today is.... well... me! Starting with a couple of my fav birthday presents that I've been meaning to show. My very lovely in-laws gave me a voucher to spend on Etsy for my birthday, so I decided to try and find myself some clothing. So much beautiful stuff on Etsy I tells ya, but with the AU dollar crash everything seemed to be just outside my budget. And then I discovered Victoria n' Bird.


I can't tell you how much I love this dress - I've tried it on with just about everything I own and I love how I can dress it up or dress it down. Oh, and it's got pockets (and I'm sure I've mentioned before how much I adore dresses with pockets).

Another favourite present is this gorgeous cookbook that I got with a book voucher (one of the gifts from my lovely husband).


I'm sure I'm probably the only person to not know about Frankie Magazine's Afternoon Tea, but hey, even if I'm late on the bandwagon, I'm so glad I got there eventually! Not only are the recipes drool-inducing (I'm busting to make:

Nelly's apple shortcake..

...as well as


Pip's Best-ever choc chip cookies) but the photos are just divine, in that wonderfully stylish, crafty, vintage way that Frankie has. And the recipes are all old-fashioned, simple treats.

They remind me of the big morning tea spreads we would have at our outback country tennis tournaments, where all the local mums would try and outdo each other with their home-baked treats. Morning tea was always my favourite part of weekend tennis :P

Lastly, a little present from me, to me.


After making countless market totes for other people, I finally got round to making one for myself, and I love it. I used some gorgeous organic cotton/linen blend fabric from Duckcloth, with a piece of vintage linen tablerunner across the front, and orange homespun on the inside.


And the wooden buttons seemed to go with the natural fibre feel of the bag. It has been getting quite a workout lately, and not only at the markets!!!

And so what would a post about me be, without a meme all about...well....me! Lin from Paper Doll tagged me for the 6 unspectacular things about me meme some time ago and I've been super slack in getting it done. I know I've done this a couple of times already so I've been wracking my brain for some new and interesting mundane facts about myself. So anyway, here they are (feel free tune out or wonder away from the computer now....)

1. I get nervous about memes. I like reading them, and I don't mind doing them, but I worry about passing them on. Like really worry. So my solution is to leave them as an open invitation (so play if you like - just let me know and I'll edit this post and link to you :))

2. I love the smell of mangoes but don't like the taste or texture of them. Blurgh!

3. My favourite time of day is late evening, just before twilight, when there is a sepia toned glow to everything and sounds travel further and have a certain echo to them. If someone is cooking something yummy for dinner and the smell wafts over then even better. The ambiance of it always makes me feel like all is right with the world. Unfortunately, since having kids I rarely get to enjoy this time of day. Usually I am doing the dinner/bath/stories dance with the kids, who at that time are tired but fighting it so it's all kinda manic....*sigh*

4. I think one of the most useful things I learnt in High School was touch-typing. It is a skill I use every day :P

5. Speaking of touch-typing, I got through a whole year of typing class in high school, only to find out at the end that the teacher didn't even know my name. She actually asked me what "Bet' was short for - she thought it might have been something Norwegian. When I said "No, Bec - short for Rebecca" she was genuinely astounded. She was pretty old I guess, and probably a lifetime spent around manual typewriters did nothing for her hearing!!

6. If I was rich I would only ever buy ethically made fabrics. I come close to this by mostly only using salvaged and reclaimed fabrics in my sewing, but I would love to use more new organic fabrics, and fabrics made from hemp and bamboo. Sewing with the organic cotton/linen blend fabric I got for my bag was SO satisfying (in fact, I think it may have been the most beautiful and pleasing fabric I've ever sewed with). I'd love to do more of it.....just have to find the $$$$

Ok, so enough about me - I promise I'll keep myself out of future posts...for a while anyway:)