finito

For A, Pisa, Italy

All I can say is ph-ew. It may seem paltry to some, but an order of nine garments amongst single orders really throws me right now. And going down the made-to-order route means changing machine and overlocking thread almost every garment (not to mention mindset)!

It's a little challenging right now as Audrey has slept through a total of four times in the past two weeks (or whenever it was since I last wrote), meaning from the 10pm-ish feed through to 6am. It's something I guess. It, at least, shows she can do it. What I will not be doing for the forseeable future is drinking 2.5 glasses of champagne (getting giddy at a daytime 3rd birthday, which is about my lot these days) when nursing (not meaning at the same time, just nursing fullstop). Audrey slept fitfully that night, waking every 40 minutes to be resettled until I gave in and took her to bed with me. Peace was restored around 1am through to morning after shifting her back to her cot. So not worth it, even when the champagne is fancy fizz. I would have thought she could handle a curve-ball-food through at her at 9-10 months, but...obviously not. Oh how I miss Mexican food.

Open Letter to Silk

Oh you are are so lovely to touch, lovely to look at, but utter torture to sew with. Why must you make it so hard? You with all your slipperiness, you and all your finery. You masquerade as soft and gentle and delicate, but once under the foot of the machine you contort and slide and misbehave, making me want to hurriedly dismantle the sewing machine and throw it and you out the window into the pouring rain.

But now you have taken the shape of a dress, you have reverted back to your soft and gentle self again, and that brings me some relief. Peace even. And, as you may notice, Lucy is beside herself, as you turned out far more princessy than I imagined (or cared for), even in your unfinished state. I think a Liberty version will be a lot more pleasing to sew with. With perhaps a patent leather belt... Though I don't think Lucy will react quite the same way as she did when she saw this pink silk version.

The Art of Crawling

Audrey crawls. And she does so at impressive speed. She disappears quickly, and is often found fossicking around in my wardrobe, Lucy's drawers, or rifling through my makeup. Since she started crawling about a week or two ago, her speed seems to shift into a new gear every day. She is a seasoned crawler now. She crawls over large objects, and even attempted to wade through a bean bag yesterday ('fail'). I am fascinated by her enthusiasm for crawling and exploring and could quite possibly follow her all day. As she descends from my arms to the floor her knees are already shuffling back and forth before she touches down, impatient to get cracking on another adventure. And Lucy is busy being the bossy older sister (nothing personal, Fiona) often heard shrieking 'Augie, don't touch that! Stop!! MUM!!!'. It's all very dramatic.

Brendan thinks we have our work cut out for us with Audrey. Lucy never really touched things she shouldn't have as a baby, however I have to agree Audrey looks set to really test our parenting nous.


And we are now on the eve of the 1st of December! I'm so excited, as excited as Lucy (maybe even more, just quietly). An advent calendar in the shape of a Christmas tree is waiting patiently by her bed, and tomorrow she gets to open branch no. 1. And we are also putting up our tree tomorrow. Lucy is busy learning Jingle Bells, though her version goes something like this:

gingle bells, gingle bells (hard G)
...WAY!
Oh what fun...ride
one forse open sleigh

Tis very cute. When I try to join in, she shoots me a look of disbelief and annoyance by way of a screwed up face, telling me she wants to do it by herself. Okay, it's your Christmas.

there's hilarity in misery

...someone else's misery. Freeman Hall's to be precise, author of Retail Hell.

I started reading his book the other day, and can't put the thing down. Freeman writes about his time as a handbag salesperson at a department store dubbed 'The Big Fancy' - for anonymity I guess, though on the inside back cover it states he worked most notably for Nordstrom as a handbag manager/salesperson. Okay!

It usually takes me a while to get into a book, that's if I give it the time past the first page or so, but I keep plopping Audrey down so I can pick it up to read some more, it's so darn funny. And a bit frightening. Really makes me glad not to have ever worked in retail (though I have held a couple of jobs that might come close to rivaling it).

Freeman has a blog too. An hilarious little time-waster, if ever I read one.

The only downside to a book like this is, what if you realise the person he's referring to is you?

materialistic happiness

Three things made me happy today. I had forgotten the thrill of buying a pair of shoes, it's been so long (not counting Chucks). These will be perfect for Summer (and beyond), and having a slightly heavier heel means I'll still be able to chase Lucy in supermarkets. Gets me out of my daily outfit of Converse so that has to be a good thing. Also, the cardigan was my sisters until this morning. We have different body shapes, and she thought it didn't really suit her so threw it my way. She said I might have to take it in a little, but I love it just as it is. I'm also wearing a pair of Workshop brushed cotton skinny leg pants and my own stripe top. Very blue and grey today. Who would have thought only five years ago I was the colour queen?!

And my Aunt recently went to London, and was kind (or silly) enough to ask before she left if I wanted anything brought back. Um, yes, please bring me back this list of Liberty fabrics. So my poor dear Aunt reported she was driving down Old Brompton Road with her head stuck out the window of a black cab trying to find this shop she'd never visited before. Luckily it was near Harrods so there was something in it for her too. I absolutely love the two prints far left, especially together, and am making a singlet out of them very soon.