No Rest for The Wicked

What a great weekend! I got no housework, cooking or washing done. But I did have a great time!

It started with Saturday morning coffee and a trip to the hairdressers. I was so scared because it was Emily's first haircut and I knew we'd be cutting off the last of her baby hair. Why is this such a big deal? I think after she started toilet training early and because she is so physically advanced and big for her age (at 20 months she's 15kg and 90.5cm tall), cutting off her baby hair means that she's now a little girl and I kind of want to hold onto Baby Emily for just a little longer.

My little girl is a bit of a loner most of the time. She can be shy and doesn't like strangers or big crowds. So our plan was to just sit and chat in the hairdressers and if she seemed comfortable enough we would cut her hair. It worked a treat. She even thought sitting in the big chair by herself was great fun and happily let the girl cut her hair. Then she stood in front of the mirror for ages checking out her new do.

The only thing she didn't like was getting her photo taken.

Since that went so well we went off to see my friend Mrs Doodlebug who's husband had gone away for the weekend to a music festival and she had the two boys and her 8 month old (also named Emily) at home. We decided to go for a short walk to the main street of Wodonga as the Harmony Carnivale was on and there were loads of live music, art and market stalls.

First thing Mrs Doodlebugs boys did when we got there was run off so we spent the next half hour searching for them, prams in tow. After finding the boys (I managed to sneak an Organic Olive Tapanade purchase in) and giving them a stern talking to about not scaring their Mum like that again, we sat down for coffee and scones and watched the local primary schools music group perform some singing and dancing. Emily thought it was awesome fun and even got up on her chair and did dance moves I've never seen her do before. See what happens in childcare!

We went home for her midday nap and she slept for 3 hours! Whenever she does that it means she'll be up late that night (usual bedtime is 7pm) so I suggested to hubby that we head back to the Carnivale for a curry dinner and to watch the parade. Emily had a ball and we ran into loads of friends. It was such a great family atmosphere and I definitely think we'll go back next year. Emily even had some butter chicken from the Indian curry stand.

Today was always going to be busy. One of my oldest friends is due to have a baby next week and I wanted to catch up with her before she went in for her scheduled Cesar. She has a little girl 6 months older than Emily and I thought they could have a play together.

Well they didn't exactly play, they wanted everything each other had and there was scratching, biting and a bit of slapping involved. How ironic though that because Emily used the big toilet my friends little girl had to use it too. My friend says she can never get her girl to use the toilet and it's great that she wants to copy what Emily did. On the other hand Emily has never really been very social with other kids and after the initial squabbles, my friends little girl came over and gave Emily a hug and a kiss. Emily thought that was great and reciprocated. It was so sweet!

I can see these two being great friends when they get older, just like her Mum and I were at school.

So after I put Emily down for her midday nap I headed back into town with my Dad for a fun filled afternoon of putting up new shop fittings and re-merchandising the shelves. We still have a long way to go but the beginning of the shops transformation is now underway and it's so exciting.

Showing off my new Gaia Organic Cotton range.

So tomorrow I have Market Day at QEII Square in Albury and it's going to be fine and sunny so I'm hoping for a huge day. I have a stall going and just finished packing the car withy everything I think I'll need. The shop will also be open so fingers crossed we get loads of people with kids looking for baby or children's clothing.

I'm trying to think of something special to do with Emily on Wednesday as it's our new day together. I'll be in Melbourne buying on Friday, then another market on Sunday (which I haven't even sewed anything for yet!).

So with such a busy week ahead I better go get some shut eye.

How was your weekend? 

Wingman

I've been a bit quiet the last couple of days because I was down in Melbourne on my first buying trip of the year for the shop. I love these trips because they give me a chance to catch up with friends as well as work.

This time I had to go to Ikea to get some fittings for the shop and see a couple of suppliers to view summer 2012 kids clothing collection. After that was done I decided to stop for a late lunch on Bridge Road in Richmond and get a bit of shopping in before checking into my hotel.

Did I say hotel? It was actually supposed to be a serviced apartment with a 4 star rating. I drove up Arthur Street in South Yarra to find a circa 1970's yellow brick apartment block and the sign said to check in at a backpackers on Toorak Road. What??? Sorry but the photo's on Wotif.com were so different. Deciding it was way to hard (the Australian Open is on in Melbourne at the moment) and I was way too tired to try and get my money back and find somewhere else, I decided to risk it. The backpacker reception assured me it was freshly renovated inside and beautiful.

Inside it was clean, renovated but definitely not 4 star. Silly me for accidentally booking something that was self-rated. It didn't even have a full length mirror!

This is what they advertised

This is the actual bedroom..... and the bed is more like a sofa divan with the thinnest

Anyway, my girlfriend Ms L and I decided it didn't matter, it was just a place to sleep for the night, and several vodka, lemon and limes later we were standing on chairs trying to see our outfits in the tiny bathroom mirror.

Dinner was at a restaurant and bar called Hoo Haas. We were meeting a couple of old friends of mine, one of which is bravely battling breast cancer at the moment. My friend who I'll call Ms D has incredible spirit considering what she is going through, and she's able to make light of the most terrifying situations. She refers to her surgeon affectionately as "the butcher" ("Well she had three goes at the sucker!" she pointed out) and explained that loosing your hair is actually really painful and her partner would let her lie with her head in his lap while he pulled out the loose hairs like a monkey grooming his mate. Truly she is an amazing woman and such an inspiration to me.

My other friend is single and bought her roommate along (also single) so after Ms D went home we decided to hit a bar. It was there that I discovered a whole new concept on the singles scene, the wingman for women. Basically the wingman befriends the target man, has a casual conversation with him finding out if he's married, attached, has kids, occupation etc etc and then steers him towards the single female. It seemed to work quite well and we were all in awe and wishing we had thought of this when we were in our twenties.

About 10 minutes after our arrival the four of us were standing in the courtyard chatting when a very tall and good looking man came over and casually asked how we were doing tonight. We all replied well thanks and he proceeded to make casual conversation at first with all four of us before concentrating on Ms L (who is gorgeous by the way but also very attached with two gorgeous boys). She was polite but made it quite clear that she wasn't interested. He complained that he couldn't catch a break, she was so beautiful and if he went to the bathroom could she please call her partner and break up with him by the time he got back. I muttered "oh smooth" while my friend said "what?!" and the other two girls had already turned their attention to a group of guys behind us. Just as we were about to give him a serve he says "oh and here's my girlfriend, good night ladies!" and that was it. He walked over to a very attractive blond lady, put his hand on her ass and gave her a kiss. We stood there stunned at the gall of this guy. We also took that as our signal to leave our single friends and head back to the safety of our pretend 4 star apartment where we agreed we were very glad not to be on the singles scene any more.

Waking up the next morning I was looking forward to breakfast on Chapel Street, but I was also really anxious to get home. I love getting away from it all and the opportunity to mix work with pleasure, but I really missed Miss E and hubby.

After a delicious breakfast I headed off on my 3 hour drive home. Pulling up in the driveway it was so good to be greeted by my little girl who clearly missed me. There's nothing quite like the love you get from your child is there.

Ms L & I at breakfast on Chapel Street