ooooooohhhhhhh! had a big shopping day with my mum, and aunty today - gee those girls are fit!!  they just keep going - and they run on a snif of an oily rag i tells thee!!  clansee and i had been up since 4:30 this morn, as he had woken for a feed at this time and then grizzled til 5, so i just let him have a little nibble more and cuddle up in our bed until 5:30.  so i suppose we were struggling from the beginning eeeekkkk! 

over to mums by 8am (after amy has numerous nervouse breakdowns deciding which jeans with which top as this is the standard in closet  at the mo’- ari monster grumbling, but supportive).  got to the folkes on time - yay!  mum must leave at 8:30 and not 8:15 as she fears the school traffic of the gold coast.  oh, did i say we were on the gold coast?  the place just scares me a bit.  i went to LA when i was 4 and can only remember disneyland ofcourse (and wetting the bed, sorry anty kare!  who was sharing a bed - eeeeeK!  and also mum and my aunty getting free cocktails when my dad walked a golf course.  and .  .  .  . an upside down ice cream cone with a face .   .   .)  anyway, i think the gold coast is spread out like LA would be.  so, um, yeah, we have a good run up and get to my aunty’s for coffee - the third for me today but i’m quite imune now.   good chats and off to the shops!  we do myer, mum and keryn want to do the revlon counter for new lippie and mascara (i don’t wear a lot of make up - just a bit of eye color and lip when i go out,  and tend to find i slip away and dream of just wearing a hint of chanel or peek of dior sweety), get back to the girls and they’ve made multiple lippie purchases and scored themselves a free bag of goodies.   .   . which they give to me, which is so cool (but i don’t tell them i like the packaging bag more than the contents - mum says she ‘really needed that extra lip pencil - "they come in handy,  and i get a free goodie". )  i like her thinking, and i also like the thinking of the revlon marketing team too .  .   .  ok off, i briefly admire clinique and ski II and we dissapear into the mass small sub-continent they call "pacific fair"!!!!!!  off to find clansee singlets and tights, as i mentioned to ‘the girls’ that was the only possible thing he needed at this stage.

we end up spending most of our day in target, kmart, and best and less finding clansee about a bag full of singlets and a bag full of tights, as family does he he he.  so clansee is set for our trip to melbourne in may - few.  the other place we spent most of our time in was toys ‘r’ us.  you know it was fun to see the little ‘thomas the tank’ engine and lovely wooden toy selection they have .  .  . but i’m sorry, the ADHD crisis has doubled the percentage in the last 10 years and man, i felt on edge leaving that store!!!!  the amount of stimulation in those stores is just tooo much!  i hope i don’t sound like a bad mummy, but i put a ban on too many electronic toys.  i allowed "the girls" to buy an abbicus and a set of wooden skittles!  i was just reflecting the other day (watching sunrise actually), one of their reporters was at the ‘currumbin bird sanctuary’.  all the rides and kids stuff they have there now is insane .  .   ‘i remember in my day, when all i needed was a dam lorekeet to sit on my head and, my goodness!  i was the happiest 6 year old in the universe!’  but as ari keeps telling me, our kids are going to be on the computer at the age of 2 or 3 and will be programming our ‘dvd", not video,  in like a month.  so i’m trying to chill, but i’m still saying a HUGE NO !!!!! to plastation 3 ARI!!! 

on another note, i’ve decided i want to paint all my furniture black, some a nice shiny black, so that’s my project this week.  and also entering our combined art work ari and i are doing for a marine exhibition in byron.  he’s done a painting of julian rocks and i’ve created a sculpture out of my nannas old button collection to look like coral underneath (we‘re using lights to create an effect . . .  .  just hoping it’s not too crafty pretentious), but i think i may just worry about things a little too much - shikes!  my mind never stops, it’s alway’s onto something, but that’s just me i suppose.  i’ll shut it off now and watch some reality tv - ‘i know, i’m a victim too’ : (  it gets a lot of us, even me who is only a season 2 watcher of the now ‘BB’.  sorry chickies!!  i think it’s just because my best frient kiri and i don’t haunt the bars of newtown demanding martinis anymore - i just love other peoples social stress?
xx ames

well, we got out for a few hours last night to catch up with my friend rachel - woo hoo!!  i think ari and i are ready to start a bit more socialising, cause we really enjoyed it.  we went to this place called the ‘balcony’ in byron that has comfy couches, so we sat there sipping g and t’s and bloody mary’s and had a good old laugh and chin wag.  the funny thing is we were home by 7:30!!  mum had to get home which is about 20 minutes away, but we were like, ‘wow it’s been a great night, it feels like we’ve been away for ages’  - we are soooo daggy now .  .   . but love it!   the funny thing is that this morning ari has a hangover after 2 beers and a bloody mary as he doesn’t drink at home (i indulge in a glass of wine with dins during the week i must admit), but ari’s not like that.  so it’s been a while for him between drinks - poor little light weight he he he.   isn’t it funny how our babies turn into these magical easily going to sleep creatures when nanna is around.  ‘oh he had a few little cries and then not a peep’.  hmmmmmmm, little bugger! he he he

the one thing i never tire of is a good market.  i love the vageing out and cruising around the eclectic organised chaos.  we decided to head off to bangalow market for a little outing this morning which is quite common for us really.  we spend a lot of our time in bangalow (which used to be a little town of about 5 people and has ofcourse blossomed into a metropilis of ritzy sydney enspired up market stores), but hey,  it’s still such a gorgeously quaint little place, even with about 1 million more people!.  the market itself is such a mixture of plants, home made goodies (such as tea towels and knitted baby cardies, so cute), organic seedlings, rainbow headbands, jewellery and jewellery and jewellery, crystals and more crystals!  and some nice little local dressmakers making a name for themselves too.  it’s great!  i especially love the pony rides (having once been a member of mullumbimby pony club and having had many gymkanas in bangalow), it’s just such a good vibe.  .  .  . i mean there’s even a stall that has chocolate coated bananas!!  we got an organic falafel instead though, which clansee loved (he had a face covered in hommos and tabouli!).  no, i don’t think i shall ever  get out of the routine of op shopping and frequenting the markets .  .   . i didn’t even buy anything, not even a $10 top!!

anyone who knows me wouldn’t know this, but um, well .   .    . i’m a west wing fan!! eeeeeeK!  i love politics and sometimes wish i had of studied political science - aaaaagghhhh! i know!!!    anyway, i love this show and the last episode is on tonight on the ABC.  it’s been moved around so much from one network to the other, to have now been put on at 9:30 (it’s my late night).  it’s almost as bad as what they did to ’six feet under’.  i was pregnant and staying up until 10pm to watch, but when it got to 12 i had to throw in the towel and wait for the dvd.  anyway, i think i may have to start from series one again when the west wing is over - i just love that clever witt and political satire .   .   . if only the world was run by a democratic martin sheen hey?

well it’s amazing what a good haircut can do for your self esteem!!  i’ve been feeling a little erk lately as i’ve had this limp dead hair that’s been really effected by the breast feeding and it’s been over a year since i’ve been to a real hair dresser!!  i don’t call my snips at my fringe and cut off pony tails and then fix ups proper hair dressing.  so with lack of sleep, my sewing scissors and a vogue mag under my arm i headed off to the bathroom to style myself into a frenzy this morning - good idea?  my shaggy bob turned into a shaggy dog and i decided i deserved a ‘proper’ hair cut.  but then, frantic that i’d have to wait until monday with my hair like a pooch - erk no thanks,  i finally got into a lovely hair dresser who uses yummy organic products mmmmmm!  she was funky and gave me a make over!  i’ve gone from diy bathroom mess to 1930’s garconne inspired bob!  thank goodness!  i feel youngish and freeish again - yay!!

my mum came down and hung out with us for the afternoon which was fab.  the only thing ari pointed out was how similar our hairstyles were!  aaaaaagggghh!  they’re no that similar, but kind of-ish  he he he.  .    .  i don’t mind.  it’s great that we’ve moved back to byron for this year to spend with my folkes, i’m having a great time with them.  i’d been in sydney for  8years and only had little visits with them, so we’re all enjoying the reconnecting - going to be hard to move again though ..   .  . .. .

another very close person in my life is my aunty keryn who is brilliant.  she looked after my nanna and pa, and then just nanna for many many years, she’s even become an aged care worker and has just got a new job.  we’ve alway’s been very close (she’s my mums sister), and doesn’t have any of her own kids, so i’m pretty much hers too!  we laugh a lot together, she’s sarcastic and funny.

i’ve included a photo (that’s a few years old and at chrissie) of my little fam on my side, my nanna past away a couple of months ago.

xx ames

idon’t know if anyone else has gone through this experience, but since having clansee i’ve turned into a sobbing mess!!  when i was a kid i used to cry in movies at the drop of a hat (i wasn’t allowed to watch ET until i was about 7 as i just got too upset  - and i really did!).  benji was also out of the question and the one with the labrodore that gets rabies (ol’ yella?), i practically needed a sedative!!  but then as i ‘ve gotten older the waterworks have stopped - up until now!  i thought during my pregnancy the small outbursts when i saw a sad story on the news it was just the crazy amounts of hormones, but now i’m not so sure .  .  . i’d just recently started watching ‘love my way’ on dvd and was really enjoying it, until  i got to a certain episode and well, if you’ve seen it you’ll understand what i’m talking about - i haven’t been able to watch anymore - traumatised!!  ari came home to a sobbing mess on the couch.  i even had outbursts of anger at the writers!

another thing that’s changed is my angsty will power - such as ooh, i don’t know, watching poxie presenters on a sunny morning show!  since being pregnant and waking at around 4am and watching american morning programs and then tuning into kochie and mel on sunrise, i’ve been feeling a bit old and boring of late.  ari and i were talking about it the other day saying,"yeah, it’s the one thing that makes me feel old".  i wonder why this is?  it’s not like we’re the only (almost 30 somethings!!) that watch this show.  many funky people we know tune in for that cereal and coffee  watching session every day.  maybey i’m just being paranoid?  i’ve had one of those exhausted (crazy mum) weeks where i think everyday is turining into one big day.  i cut myself some slack though, cause my waking hour for the past 1and a half years has been around 4:30-5!  with wee clansee waking between 4:30 and 5:30 and me being an insomniac pregnanct potato!  ari and i tried to share the early waking, but he has type 1 diabetes (really badly) and really needs that extra 2hrs sleep - so crazy mumma is in that groundhog mode.

anyway, if these are the only fogie things i can think i’m doing (besides pushing a pram i have a complex about, but i think that’s more to do with me wanting to carry clansee everywhere but now he’s too heavy), things musn’t be too bad hey?

well, i’ve decided to stard my baby clothes at the byron bay and bangalow markets and on this website - so i will create a page soon to let you see my stuff.  i’ll also have my website together shortly.

xx amy

it’s so funny how doing loads of washing can be relaxing. you see, up until recently my partner and i had been without a machine as the flat we were living in had no laundry connections (it used to be an office) - so dodge. before that we’d been in share houses and just did our washing at the laundromat, where every week i would think i’d gained a bit of wait but in actual fact the clothes had shrunk to a size only a small bandicoote could fit into. so my clothes have been battered and bruised for the last few years, and i really do love them. so now, with my 5kg white wonderfullness i do load after load (when i need to, i live in byron so i try and conserve water as much as i can) - but oh it makes me happy. sad i know. but hey, i’m realising (learning) that these little things can make all the difference and are all you need. the other thing i love is when your aunty offers you a spare fridge she has which is bigger than the one you have just purchased (and haven’t paid off - eeeeeeK!) and then your mum says she needs a small fridge for down stairs and offers to buy yours!! - awsome! btw - my partner does washing too and loves it. the simple things can make us the happiest hey? you forget that sometimes. xx ames

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr! the thing i really hate is when you get asked to do something and you do it and then someone else gets the job!!! i was asked to do some graphic design for this company (i didn’t go for the job, i didn’t apply for the job) - they asked me out of the blue. anyway, i did some designs for some tshirts and sent them off, the company was too busy to go through them at this time and would get back to me. so today i get the email after about 3weeks saying they’ve hired a design student to do the work for them!!! yeah thanks mate! i could have used that time with clansee or working on my own business - i just thought a bit of pocket money might be nice. i’ve had a lot of these types of experiences happen in my life, you know the ones where you don’t set out to meet a person or do anything .. . . . it comes to you and you think, cool, that’s great. and then you get dumped! it’s happened a bit with men - eeeeekkkk!! anyway, i’ve had a couple of lovely days apart from this happening. clansee’s beeing a cutie and is just such a delight to be around, he’s so responsive and finds me funny (which i’m chuffed about he he he) and it’s getting cooler which i love. i’ve also been talking with my best friend kiri from sydney. ari and i have also been discussing moving back to sydney at the end of this year as we miss our friends terribly. we don’t want to live right in the city and thought maybey the blue mountains might be alright. i’d be interested to hear from anyone who lives out there and anyone who might live in areas around sydney that are quite reasonable in rent price. thanks cats xx ames

well today has been a run around. first it was to the folkes for a coffee as we had to escape our lawns being mowed - we’ve been a bit skint of late so the lawns are the last thing we think of paying for, so now the jungle living is over . .. …. for now anyway!! so over to folkes and mum was there, dad was in mullum at work. then it was off to billinudgel (yes, it’s a real town, i actually went to primary school there!) to show ari’s art to the gallery. then over to mullum to go to another gallery and catch a juice with the dad. then to bangalow to show some more of ari’s paintings and yay!!! they’ve taken 4 of them to hang, so we are very happy and excited. we’ve been missing our friends in sydney heaps and have been a little slumped of late, but things are picking up this week which is cool. ari’s art is taking off bit by bit and my little business is finally coming together, so that’s what we came up here to do so that’s grand. also, to see my folkes and we’re doing heaps of that, almost too much, but it’s awsome to have them around i must admit he he he! i finally caught up with a friend i haven’t seen for about 7 yrs which i have been wanting to do since i’ve been up here. i’m really terrible at phoning people. most of the time i call in the day and they aren’t home, then by the time it gets to 5 or 6pm i’m just shattered and think, oh tomoz … …. ….. 3 or 4 months later and no calling has been done. so, she’s doing locam work as she’s a pharmacist and just happend to be in the chemist in byron i go to. i had this impulse to buy clansee a pair of sunnies, so naff i know, but the sun is so bright and scares me so i want him to get used to them. the smallest they had were clear around the front and kind of glittery and yellow on the sides. they kind of make him look like that glady flowing Dame Everidge, but gee they’re cute. ari hates them, but i think when bubs are this little it’s fun to dress them as you like - as you can!!! the clansee’s new nickname is clansine!! it’s all a bit of fun really. enjoy lovelies, xx amy

well, it’s been quite a month or so. i’ve been very busy getting my samples together for my little small business i’m starting in baby wear. i’ve found a stitcher to help with the applique and i’ve managed to get all my screens made and even printed my designs - wah! it’s so much more difficult with a little munchkin with you. my partner works nights, so is a lot of help during the day, but he’s trying to launch his own art career so is busy in our studio - AKA "the garage"!! we’ll get there though. i had a cold too- pooh! i’m excited about the new business spaces that are coming up, it’s cool as it looks that it might launch at the same time i’m ready to get out there. if anyone does have any advice at all about starting their own business - i would soooooo love to hear about it. i’ve been going through that whole ’second guessing’ myself stuff of late. we made it to sydney a couple of weeks ago which was quite caotic with all the catching up stuff!!! ar’s family is down in sydneytown so there were dinners and socializing and breakfasts and babysitting, and then we had to do all that stuff with our friends (and yes, some babysitting!). it was lovely though, i really miss my friends, but sydney is a bit full on for me at the moment, bit polluted and fast. we all got a cold. the wee clansee man is ‘cruising’ (that’s what it’s called in ‘BABY LOVE’!!) he’s standing and leaning all over the furniture. and daylight savings is such a novel idea, i love the way our kids still wake at 5am - which is like 4am!! not happy man .. … .. …… . hope everyone is doing grand. xx amy