If listening to me rabbit on about myself is about as interesting as watching paint dry, then look away now...

Paint drying by ian@m5j21

Or perhaps this post would be better named "I am unworthy". Because for some bizarre reason I have been the lucky recipient of a few blog awards lately. Which is weird because I always feel a bit guilty that I go too long between posts, and then when I finally get around to posting, it's often late and I'm tired and I end up doing some big long self-indulgent waffle....ahem...yes, much like this one...

But hey, I guess some people like waffles. Boom boom!!!

So anyway, I am very honored to have been given a Lovely Blog Award from Kate of One Flew Over, Rebecca of Edward and Lilly, and Amy from Grey Grid Paper. And a Love Ya award for being exceedingly charming by Helen from Ruby 2 Go Go and Ali from Charlie and Grace. Each one of these ladies writes an amazingly wonderful blog (check them out and you'll instantly see why I feel unworthy!)

However I'm going to be a wuss about passing these awards on (plus a list of 60+ blogs might get a bit overwhelming) and just direct you to my blog roll. In fact, this has been a reminder to update it, as my blog wanderings seem to be far and wide at present. There's just so many interesting, talented, creative and articulate people out there blogging these days. Totally inspiring!!!

I've also been tagged by the ever so lovely Steph from Bondville, with what might possibly be the longest tag-interview in the history of blogland!!! So I won't be at all offended if you would like to tune out now. Maybe just talk amongst yourselves or something. Otherwise, here's a little insight into some of the minutiae of my life:

Q. What's your favourite colour?
Red. Though it's not a colour I wear a whole lot, I love having little splashes of it around. I love our red tiles in the kitchen, and my latest fav red thing is our letterbox. Matt made it. All his own design and construction. He can be quite creative when he wants to be!


Q. What's your favourite clothing in your wardrobe?
My cotton summer dresses. They make me feel like I'm 7 years old.


Q. What's your dream job?
I'm livin' the dream baby! Actually, I really am. Although I never imagined my dream job would be to stay at home with the kids and run a hobby business that involves sewing!!! But it turns out it IS my dream job. I can't think of a single other thing I'd rather do every day. I love how even when the kids are having one of their feral moments and I give in to my inner fishwife (i.e. screeching at the kids), that they only have to say "sorry mum" and suddenly I'm on my knees hugging them and all is forgiven and we never think of it again. That NEVER happens in the corporate world :P

Q. What's the last thing you bought?
Er, petrol for the car. For me specifically, it was some gorgeous gift tags from the lovely Anastasia from Percival Road.

Q. What are you listening to right now?
Princess Natasha (kids cartoon) the washing machine humming, and a dog barking in the distance....If I had my ipod with me I'd be listening to Kate Miller Heidke.


Q. Whats your favourite ice cream?
Chocolate. And not the fancy type, like toblerone. Just plain chocolate.


Q. What's your favourite fruit?
A good juicy peach like the ones that used to grow on the tree in our front yard where I grew up. Very hard to find these days.


Q. What inspires you?
My kids' imagination, colour, stories, poems, zen, my veggie garden.


Q. Whats on the walls of your bedroom?
Lots of marks. It really needs painting....


Q. Who is your favourite artist?
Oh goodness. SO hard. I think Elsita is an amazing artist, and inspiring person. I love this little print of one of her drawings that we have at our front door.


I adore the customised art prints I bought from Amanda from Twinkle Star Art last year for the kids and their cousins.


I also think Tracy from Hey Harriet is an incredible artist, and I have quite a few of her little pieces now. This TTV photo I have of hers makes me giggle every time I look at it! For me good art is something that makes me smile every time I look at it, no matter how many times I've already seen it....



Q. Do you admire anyone's style?
Oooh, so so many people. Ranna from Only Shallow (so girly, so vintage, so quirky!!), Elly from Ellybeth on Flickr (oozes casual style and makes many of her own clothes), and oh, and I'm finding the Braid Wednesday group on Flickr really inspiring too . I've even been inspired to try out the Heidi Hair that was featured on the Meet Me At Mikes blog. Here's my very quick and rough attempt......


Q. Describe your personal style.
He he...mutton dressed as lamb :P

Q. What language would you like to learn?
Italian. I'd love to be able to say something more than "Dario non e sempre in ritardo..."

Q. What is your favourite quote (for now)?
Never trouble trouble 'till trouble troubles you.....no idea where it came from - I remember hearing it as a kid somewhere.

Q. What is your favourite magazine?
Peppermint Magazine - Fresh. Green. Fashion. Truly inspirational, and the only glossy (eco of course) I ever buy regularly.


But if we're talking 'zines', then I'd have to say MixTape - indie awesomeness at its best.


Q. If you had $100 what would you spend it on?
A lunch date with Matt. Or a hot stone massage - never had one before. Always wanted one...

Q. What is your current obsession?
Sweet and Salty popcorn. Seriously. Don't laugh until you've tried it.

Q. What are you wearing today?
Jeans, campers, singlet, t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirt, bomber jacket, crocheted beanie, scarflette, leather gloves. OK, I should put this in context and tell you I'm about to head out to the Rocklea Twilight market for some fruit & veggie shopping, and wood-fired pizza for dinner. The food will be great, the produce sensational, and the music live and atmospheric. But it'll be COLD!!!!!

Q. What's for dinner?
Oops, just answered this. Vegetarian wood fired pizza, and maybe a hot jam donut for dessert :)

Q. What would you eat for your last meal?
The best and freshest sushimi and sushi rolls I could get my hands on, with loads of wasabi. And an Asahi beer to go with it.

Sushi by Blue Lotus

Q. What do you think of the person who tagged you? Friendly, warm, humourous, sincere, ethical and enthusiastic.

Q. If you could have a house paid for and furnished anywhere in the world what/where would it be?
A huge property somewhere in the northern New South Wales hinterland, with multiple modest little eco-cottages on it, and one big communal pavillion with a huge table so that our extended family could all live nice and close and in walking (or riding) distance from each other, without actually living on top of each other, and the pavillion would be where we could have our family dinner parties. There would also be a big communal veggie garden, and an orchard, and a big mountain-biking track in the native bushland reserve (that would be part of the property). This would be for Matt and Kym's benefit of course....Oh and Jade and I would have a big separate sewing studio too, and we'd need a super big shed/workshop....and everything would be solar powered and ecologically sound. Ahhhhh.....ok, time to stop dreaming now. Sorry. Got a bit carried away there....

Q. Do you collect something? Buttons, fabric, books, crockery that takes my fancy....



Q. What is your pet peeve?
Being cold. Being cold just makes me cranky. Being cold can just go away and stand in the corner and have a good think about itself. It can came back out when it has warmed up a bit.

Q. What's the most important rule for life?
If you have lots of regrets then you're spending too much time in the past. If you have lots of worries, then you're spending too much time in the future. Staying in the here and now is the best way to happiness. Easier said than done though of course. Oh, and drink lots of tea. That's a pretty good rule too :)

Ooh my god, it's, like...so RANDOM!!!!!

OK, this post has taken quite a bit of effort. I was tagged by Maggie from The Bird Bath and Kara from Fabric Fantastic to do the 7 Random Things meme. Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

And here my seven random things:

1. I have the same breakfast every morning. Peanut butter and jam on wholemeal toast, with a cup of early grey tea. For me, breakfast just doesn't get better than that. The only exception to this is Saturday mornings, when we have breakky at the markets, and then it's a pain au chocolat - otherwise known as a chocolate croissant - and a half-strength coffee. That's me lettin' loose!!

2. Sometimes I feel a little sad that I will never again have multi-coloured hair. At least, not until I am really old and can justify those funky blue and pink rinses. When I was younger I used to have VERY short hair and it would often be blue, pink, purple, spearmint....not so much bright vibrant colours, but soft pale colours reminiscent of sherbet. But now I'm a mum, and I'm 35, and I'm not going to be that sad person holding desperately onto their youth. So no more freaky spiky hair or weird colours for me....

3. I love rain. But I HATE being cold. This is why I love Brisbane so much - it rains without getting cold (yeah I know, hot, muggy etc...but I LOVE it!)

4. I feel uncomfortable on all forms of transport...except trains. I'm not phobic or anything - I drive a car every day, I travel by plane every year, and I've caught many buses, boats and taxis in my time. But I never enjoy the ride. I'm always very happy to get to where I'm going and get out. Trains however are a different story. I love being on them, I love the clickety clackety noise and gentle rocking motion, and I always feel like I'm off to somewhere very exciting when I'm on a train. I wonder if this is where Lee gets his train obsession from...hhhmmmmm....

5. I'm quite small...and I've always been tiny (except when I was pregnant, and those two times were the only brief change in size for me in 20 years. When my husband and I were first together and living in Melbourne, we rented a flat in Elsternwick with no heating, and it was so cold, that my mother-in-law gave me Matt's old snow overalls (very blue and very shiny) that he owned when he was a 12 year old boy. They fit me perfectly, and I wore them in that flat over my clothes all the time. It was a great look!

6. My name is Rebecca, but people always forget and call me 'Rachel'...I mean ALL the time. I must look more like a Rachel than a Rebecca...

7. My childhood self would be appalled to come across my present-day self and discover she was a stay-at-home mum/housewife. Until I had kids, I was very, very undomesticated (luckily my husband was the opposite!). Even when I took maternity leave from my job, I never imagined I wouldn't go back. Funnily enough, my husband never imagined he would work in an office and be the breadwinner - but life kinda led him into a job he loved, with good $$$, and I realised I was really happy doing the domestic thing. It's weird, as we are actually a very non-traditional couple doing quite traditional roles at the moment. Sometimes it cracks us up (especially when Matt comes home and sees me wearing an apron. He still cacks himself over that).

So now I need to tag seven other bloggers to see if they want to play, so I'm tagging the following blogs:
Betty Ninja
Flossie Teacakes
Great Stories
Starashan
lille-ursus
Scrapsister
Area Thrifty One

By the way, I just couldn't do a post without a photo (how boring) so the above one is a bag packaged up and ready to be sent off (the Dame Washalot bag found a new home last week). I'm currently experimenting with interesting forms of packaging. I think I quite like this one. What do you think?