2008 has been a very difficult year for me - at least so far.

It’s such a shame as I’d had such high hopes for so many exciting things getting underway this year, but so far I’ve been dogged by health issues and unexpectedly high demands from my four day a week job, which has been more like a five plus day a week job for much of this year!

Of course this has undone a lot of the effort I’ve made to cut back on things in order to try to lead a more balanced and healthy life, quite apart from the impact it’s had on my business.

So mostly I feel a little bit like I’m drowning - but I am still here, so consider this a friendly wave!

I shall keep moving forward on things as best I can and will keep trying to balance things out - and, most importantly, keep working to finally get some new and exciting things up and running.

Of course I’ll be sharing the details of those here as they finally start getting closer to reality! So do stay tuned.

I’ve lived in my current home in Sydney for around three years now. But several months back - after realising that I’ve ended up in Sydney more by accident than by design - I decided I would be leaving this year.

My destination was to have been Melbourne, but after getting to the point of actually going over to look at rental properties I came to understand what the ‘housing crisis’ in Australia is actually all about. I decided with a bit of a heavy heart that now is not the time to be going anywhere - especially given that I’ve currently got a good deal.

The big problem with that was realising that I’d stopped feeling at home here as I had been so committed to moving, but also that the place wasn’t functioning anywhere near as well as I needed it to. So the Great Apartment Fix Up of 2008 commenced! This has been devouring so much time and energy of late, so I thought I’d share it.

The first thing I did was to move my office out of what I’ve always called my ‘workroom’ (really the second bedroom in the apartment) and into the lounge room - and above is the outcome now that I’ve changed a lot of things around and bought some new bits and pieces.

I work entirely from home and I work pretty vast numbers of hours … and spending so much time in a tiny and cramped room wasn’t really ideal. Moving a working space into a living space felt like a bad thing to be doing, but as I’ve mentioned earlier it really works and the lounge room actually looks better for it too. Having more rent I can claim as a tax deduction doesn’t hurt either!

I’ve also painted my ugly orange wood laminate bookcases - a colour I’d ended up with not by choice. They’re now a shiny white which is a huge improvement. I did a pretty rough painting job (I have no patience for painting!), but with the books on them nobody will notice - not even me!

The view from my desk now takes in the refreshed bookcases, along with my new screenprinted Keep Calm and Carry On poster - a message I frequently need to read as I’m working!

Generally I decided that I was completely fed up with looking at various colours of wood, so a lot of painting has happened - and there’s still more of it to do. The wicker chair and Depression era chest of drawers have been painted a glossy black, which looks much better. I’m sure some people will think it was sacrilege to paint an antique, but it’s a badly made and also badly damaged piece. It really wasn’t going to be worth the huge effort to try to restore it. I’ve got a few other dark wooden pieces from the same period in my bedroom which are much nicer and which won’t be getting the painting treatment.

I’ve also sorted out my mildly strange little bathroom and feel much happier with that too. The mirror was here when I moved in, but it was painted a really horrible purple which had blue and gold paint sponged over it. It immediately got hidden in a cupboard and was replaced with a very boring mirror. But I actually quite liked the design - just not the colour. So it got the black glossy paint treatment too!

The kitchen still needs a bit more work, but I’ve done a big reorganisation to make it more functional and have generally got it looking a lot better than it was. I even replaced the dead plants in the window boxes!

Oh yes - and my courtyard has had a lot of gardening-type attention too! Things are looking much better even outside.

Finally there’s my workroom, which is now pretty much a dedicated jewelry studio. Everything in this room has been moved - and there’s some quite heavy stuff in here! I also now have an Ikea kitchen island which is being used as my buffing station (the buffer is in the box behind the fabric) and the area where I keep my metal pickle. That frees up a small table, which now sits in front of the window to provide both an extra working surface and a space to photograph my work.

There’s a lot more I want to do to my bench in particular. I have a lot of ideas for modifying it, but I’m going to have to pay someone to do the work, I think. Woodwork is not my forte!

So all that’s left to do now is to … get the entire apartment painted! Unfortunately the walls have some pretty big cracks in them which need patching up (again!) before being painted. But I decided it would actually be easier to reorganise the place first so that after the painting I’ll know exactly where everything needs to go.

I’m pretty sure my landlord will be happy with it being painted white rather than the buttery cream colour it is now. The apartment is a bit dark and the walls make it seem much worse than it really is.

Once that’s done the place will finally feel like home again - although it’s already pretty much there already. Although I know full well I still need to ultimately resolve my rather major ‘where to live’ dilemma. Sydney is not the place for me, I suspect. Melbourne might be more the place … but other destinations around the globe call my name more loudly.

But that dilemma is for another post.

More photographs on Flickr.

Handmade stuff

Below is a list of some of the handmade items you’ll see in the photographs above.

• Circa Ceramics cups
• Apple cushions by Ruthscrafts
• Damask cushions by Francisrose
• ‘Trying’ print by dkim
• Screenprinted ‘Keep Calm’ poster by sfgirlbybay
• Tea towel (or kitchen towel for you American people!) by PataPri
• ‘My little red shoes’ print by pollyjarman
• Ceramic bowls by shoshonasnow
• ‘Vandal’ cup and saucer by trixiedelicious
• Handpainted vintage coffee cups purchased from unicorn

This is a quick blog post to let people know that I’m still alive! Phew.

I’m working hard on pulling myself together after a very difficult end to 2007 and start to 2008 in terms of my health and ending up in a bit of a mess.

Unfortunately ‘working hard’ actually means taking a large number of things very slowly, something I’ve been finding frustrating as it’s so unlike me. However I’m coming to accept that is the way things need to be just now.

I’m also pulling back on a number of commitments - at least temporarily - having realised that I really do need to put my health ahead of all sorts of things just now, no matter how interesting those things might be.

However, I’ve still got some exciting plans for my business this year which I hope to be able to bring about - but they will happen more slowly than I would have liked and after a big reorganisation of the other things on my plate.

I’ve also got lots of ideas for new work which I’m hoping to start to deveop very soon. Thankfully making jewellery is going ahead at the usual pace!

As for blogging … I hope to be back to doing more of it very soon.

Just call me Gloria Gaynor!

Melbourne Museum (see below)

A belated happy new year to all! I hope you have a most excellent 2008.

I have lots of plans for exciting things this year, many of which I’m sure I’ll share here in due course. But unfortunately I’ve not had the greatest start to the year so far, so I’ll have a little whine here before I get into it!

Shortly before Christmas I fell over and injured both legs quite badly while racing around. Shortly after Christmas I fell over again and re-injured one of them so badly I couldn’t touch it! Don’t worry - I’ve been checked out and all is okay and both falls really were accidents rather than anything more sinister. But the injuries have definitely slowed me down a lot and made me a tad mopey and frustrated.

But also more generally my health really isn’t fantastic just now. This is most likely the result of taking on too much and working truly insane hours for far too long, something my body and my over-taxed brain aren’t coping with too well, even after a bit of a break.

So while I was planning to spend the last few weeks starting all sorts of exciting new projects, I’ve actually achieved very little. Instead I’ve come to the realisation that I desperately need to sort a few things out for myself personally so I can be a bit more functional this year - and work more effectively on the things that are most important to me without killing myself in the process!

At this point I don’t expect any of this will really impact on the core of my business and I’m managing to keep up just fine with orders and the like. However, I have been finding general communication a bit of a challenge, so if I owe you an email or something, I sincerely apologise for being a bit crap and will do my best to get back to you soon. If I happen to owe you a phone call, you probably don’t have much hope - the phone and I aren’t really on speaking terms just now!

Once I do start getting on top of things and start being a bit more functional, I hope to get those exciting projects underway and to be making some interesting changes. But more about that later.

So instead of telling you all about the exciting projects I’ve (not) got happening, I will tell you that I went to Melbourne for the first time in around fifteen years recently, where I had a very interesting look around to refresh my thoughts about the place and also where I spent some time with my friend Meringue.

I’ve put up photographs from this trip on Flickr, if you’re interested.

So this is Christmas … almost. Sales have finally slowed after an extremely frantic month or so and I have come to the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia (where my parents have unexpectedly moved to!) in order to celebrate Christmas with my family, but also to try to recover from the last few months - really from the whole of 2007, which has been truly exhausting all up!

View over the inlet at Port Broughton, including the jetty.

I’m staying in the little town of Port Broughton, which is about 150km north of Adelaide - so, yes, it was a very long trip to get here from Sydney with almost two hours flying time and over two hours driving time - not including the taxi trip to the airport through very busy Sydney traffic!

Normally it would be extremely hot here at this time of year, however, since I arrived we’ve had quite a bit of rain (to everyone’s surprise - the ‘worst drought ever’ is seriously bad here) and today it’s a very pleasant 19C (66F) - about half what I’d dreaded it would be! But while some of you will be having a white Christmas, I’ll be having a mostly brown one!

Looking back towards Port Broughton from the other side of the inlet over some farmland and the water.

Yesterday we went driving around the general area and I took some photographs, which you can see on Flickr. Unfortunately I forgot to pack my proper camera, which is a shame as I’d love to have taken some better photographs.

As for Christmas, we’ll be spending another two hours in the car on Christmas eve to travel to my brother’s home on a property in a little town near the Barossa Valley (you may have had wine from there!). I’ll be spending Christmas day with my little nieces which should be fun - and exhausting!

Once I return to Sydney in a little while I’m very much looking forward to getting my head around the challenges of a new year. Of key importance is clawing back my health, which is now very much worse for wear given that I have a few health issues that respond rather badly to working 100+ hours a week!

So, yes, I need to find a way to work less and look after myself more. However, I have lots of exciting ideas about how I might do that which I’m very much looking forward to exploring. I’ll tell you more about those soon.

Season’s greetings to all!

I’d like to wish everyone who I’ve been in contact with in one way or another (and any casual readers) a very happy festive season and a prosperous 2008. Thanks in particular to all of those who have supported me in one way or another during the past year - it’s very much appreciated.

I pretty much have no life at the best of times. But at this time of year I really have no life at all. My existence pretty much entirely involves working, sleeping a bit, working some more, eating hurried meals, working again, etc..

Funnily enough, I realise that I could probably get more done more efficiently if I worked less. But because I work too much I have to keep working too much because I’m less efficient than I should be because I work too much. I’m sure that makes perfect sense!

Anyway, I thought I would share the above photograph with you after a few days of hard work to catch up on handmade jewelry stock for Christmas. I did actually get a bit more done than this, but some was put away already and other pieces had already been sent to customers.

And now … back to the grindstone!

It suddenly dawned on me last night that there’s just over ten days to go until I leave for my very relaxing holiday in Ubud, Bali. EEEK!!

As a reminder, I’m going to be unable to ship items from my various online shops between 12 and 25 July. So if you need (or even just want!) some of my handmade jewelry during that time, you’d best think about it now.

Initially I felt very nervous about having booked it as it’s really not the type of trip I’d normally take. In particular I am entirely crap at relaxing - I honestly don’t think I can remember how to do it properly! So I have visions of getting to the second day of my relaxing holiday and having utterly no idea what to do with myself and desperately wanting to go home. But the good thing will be that I can’t - I’m going to be forcing myself to get on with it!

However, finally I’m feeling much more excited about going - even if I still feel entirely disorganised. In fact, I’ve just emailed the Bali Spirit Hotel to ask about extending my stay for a couple of days. The rest of 2007 is going to be frantic to say the least and if I’m taking a holiday I guess I really should make the most of it.

carbon offsetting

For those of you in Australia, I did a bit of research in relation to doing a carbon offset for my flights - something I decided a while back I should try to do from now on for long distance trips especially. Unfortunately a lot of the organisations which do this are commercial in nature and aren’t really overseen in any way - it’s hard to know at this point which ones to trust and if your money is really going to help.

However, I found a non-profit organisation called Carbon Neutral, which has links with Trees For Life - a South Australian organisation that my parents have had a lot to do with over the years. They appear to be working with Government to comply with recommendations being established for these sorts of organisations, plus any money you send their way is entirely tax deductible in Australia. Plus you can figure out offsets for other areas of your life apart from travel - for your home, running a car, etc..

So if you’re remotely thinking about this, I’d highly recommend having a look at Carbon Neutral.

… As you can probably tell from my previous posts. So, dammit, I’m taking one!

I’ve completely stunned myself by booking a holiday to Ubud in Bali in mid-July for ten days. I’ve never seriously pondered Bali as a destination I’d travel to before - it’s really not very ‘me’! However, I’ve been convinced by a few people (including the lovely meringue) that it’s a really great place to go and relax, especially if you avoid the notoriously iffy bits of the island and go at a good time of year (which is pretty much right now).

And a relaxing holiday - as opposed to a ‘travelling’ holiday - is what I desperately need. In fact I don’t think I’ve had one of those for over ten years!

Ubud is in the mountains and I gather it should be quieter and cooler than many places along the coast. It’s also known as being the main centre for fine and performing arts in Bali.

I’ve booked myself into a great looking hotel with gorgeous grounds, a perfect swimming pool (see above!), air conditioned rooms and excellent reviews - the Bali Spirit Hotel.

So now there’s just … a lot to organise!

Today I’ve finally managed to purchase a perfect daypack for getting around with and taking on the plane. This proved to be a surprisingly difficult and long-winded task when shopping online. It was hard enough to find exactly the right type of bag, only to discover that most US retailers completely refuse to ship internationally (I guess my money isn’t good enough for them or something!), while most Australian retailers either have an extremely limited range or utterly over the top pricing ($350 for a daypack? I don’t think so!) and UK retailers have a great range but when you convert things from Pounds Sterling into dollars … ouch. Of course I would love to have purchased one from an indie designer, but I had no luck finding one who makes what I need - although Timbuk2 was indie once upon a time.

Now I need to find some decent walking shoes, organise vaccinations and travel insurance, get my head around the ever-changing visa situation and baggage restrictions, get a letter from my doctor explaining that, yes, I really do need to take all of those medications with me, sort out some bathers/swimmers, get my plants minded … and much more. Nothing like wearing myself out even more before I take my desperately needed rest, huh?!

As for my shops on Etsy, Mintd and Bouf … I’ve decided to keep all of them open but will try to make it as clear as possible that there will be a delay in terms of shipping, which I will get to asap upon my return to Australia after my ten day trip. If you’re considering purchasing something for a gift or an event, you might like to bear this in mind.