Invitation inspiration

Somewhere, somehow through the magic that is Etsy I stumbled across this beauty by Cheerupcherup which got me thinking 'why not?'

 A rides a lot, in fact he's doing a 100km mountain bike race in a couple of weeks time! I've tried my hand (well, whole body really) at triathlons. Why not have bicycle themed invitations or Save the Dates? They're super cute and would show a bit of our personalities. Further searching uncovered these...  

DIYpaperie

mylittlebuffalo

blimpcat

So, what do you think?

Feeling guilty

It sucks.

Why does it feel so bad to do something that you know is right for you?

I've been under the pump at work this year. It's been stressful, there have been tears. At times I've looked at myself or something I've said and gone, 'That's not right. That's not you'.  So I decided that it was time to get out, in fact I should have moved last year when I had the chance. I'm a fairly optimistic person though so I kept thinking "It'll be better next year". It hasn't been.

A couple of weeks ago a job came up and I went for it. Went through 2 interviews and a lot of agonizing over if it was the right thing to do or if I should stick out this year for the sake of some of the lovelier students I teach and the commitments I made to other things, overseas excursions, national grants etc.

Today I got the message saying "please call us". I did, thinking that it was going the be a "thanks for applying but..." phone call. It wasn't. I've got a new job. I should be excited, I am a little bit. Mostly I just feel guilty. Like I'm selling out and letting people down.

I know it's going to be awesome. A lot of work in a positive, productive way rather than the current banging-head-against-brick-wall way.

But right now I feel awful.

Bridesmaid shopping

I'm off bridesmaid shopping on Sunday. Or should I say bridesmaid dress shopping - I have bridesmaids, no need to buy them. My sister would probably have paid to be a bridesmaid if that's what it took, she's pretty keen!

A and I suffered at least four years of when-are-you-going-to-get-marrieds and her squeal of excitement down the phone line when we rang her to tell her we were engaged was something to behold!  For years, to put her off asking, I told her if she wanted to be a BM she'd have to wear a 'cow poo green' dress but to no avail.

So keen she'd probably wear camo!

 Via Brides.com

Jokes aside, she's been awesome. Her and her boy went and checked out our reception venues after A and I narrowed down the options on the internet. I think she enjoyed pretending that they were the engaged couple, plus there was a complimentary bottle of champagne involved so no complaints from the boy either!

In reality, thankfully, there will be no camo or cow poo green dresses.

Hoping we'll find something simple and relaxed but still, ah, stunning like the Rose and Ruby dresses. I adore them. I would need a second job to make them mine but I do adore them. 

Excuse me while I sit here slack jawed and admire them a bit longer.

All via Beauty and Lace

Handmade Heaven

This Saturday was the Handmade Market, a quarterly craft market. Friends over at Honi and Lemon had their first stall. All their goodies looked just wonderful.

Biggest fail of the day was taking no money to a market that doesn't have an ATM :-(

So I'm left hankering after this fantastic tea towel by third bird.

It would look great as part of this tea towel blind that I saw in Real Living a while back which I plan to put over the sunless sunroom window (a whole other story).

So I'll be saving my pennies until September (and remembering to take them out of the bank on the day)!!!