I forgot my own blog's birthday

When Jemima turned one I did not forget. Not that she was impressed.

I just realised that my blog turned 1 year old on Wednesday. I obviously celebrated by giving it no thought what-so-ever.

But I would like to do a giveaway of some sort. I will have a little think over the weekend and let you know when I have thunk it out.

Have a great weekend!

Blog love

The lovely Evie of Handmade Romance blog has honoured me with a blog award. How nice! It's quite pretty actually. Pink and pleasing.

Now, to share the love: there are a lot of blogs I love and still feeling like a bit of a newbie to blog land I feel a bit funny to be "bestowing awards"- however I am going to shake that all off and just pass on the Blog Love to fellow bloggers to whom I am happy they have a blog! How many times can you say blog in one paragraph? One more time. Blog.

Some of you may already have this award. No matter, you can have more than one. Just feel extra loved. Pass it on if you wish.

Idey Spidey

A little bird told me

Pepper stitches

Hoppo Bumpo

Dandelion

Two Peas

My Mama Made it

Filth Wizardry

Clutterpunk

13mimosa

And so, I sew

Tea Pony

Bug and Pop

The Bird Bath

Myrtle & Eunice

Thanks for the inspiration etc!

I started this blog for the purposes of sharing stuff I am making, but sometimes one can't avoid the fact that one is actually a person and has thoughts and actions not associated with crafting (!)

I also started this blog because reading blogs without writing one, felt a little voyeuristic to me, and when I don't blog about me, I still feel voyeuristic, because I am not sharing anything about my true self.

Obviously I am not going to make things I feel are private, available online for the world to access, but I guess it's just about developing a sense of balance. 

I wanted to share a little about a recent decision of mine. 

I returned to work 2 days a week as a paediatric Speech Pathologist in Term 4 last year (Octoberish), and then lost my job due to staff cuts, and then got it back again Term 1 (end of January) due to staff resignations.  Caleb is at preschool both the days I am working and my mum is kind enough to look after Jemima and drop Caleb off and pick him up. 

I have mentioned before that I wasn't real happy with this arrangement. I was feeling overwhelmed by the demands of my job and as a result didn't have the headspace for home. I hated saying goodbye to the kids in the morning, and felt jealous of mum who was getting to spend the day with them. They were fine with me heading off to work by the way: Grandma is a well loved mum substitute who gives them more chocolate than I do.

I have been doing a lot of thinking and praying and discussing with Chris and we have decided that I will discontinue paid work. For now. We are in the fortunate position where our finances don't dictate what I have to do work wise, and while I enjoy many aspects of my job, and take pride in my profession, something had to give- and it couldn't be my family.

In one sense it hasn't been a difficult decision, but in other ways it is a tough one. I have been reading other bloggers' grapples with the same thing, and I think the best thing to do is different for each family. Our decision is made. And I am really excited about it! I feel that while there are challenges in being at home full time, ultimately I will be more fulfilled focussing on my home and family, and everyone will be better off as a result.

So I have about 3 weeks to go, and then a new life begins (again). I will have more time to spend on craft- but less money to buy supplies!

Seven

Thanks Madeline for tagging me! I will play along, but I won't pass it on as being quite new to blog land, I don't think I have a total of 7 blog buddies. (Don't feel bad for me, I have loads of friends, truly.) So I invite anyone who visits and would like to play along to do so- and let me know in the comments so I can learn more about you.

The Rules..

Link to your tagger and list the rules

List 7 random facts about yourself

Tag 7 people (and make sure you check back and see what they say)

If you're tagged play along and pass it on!

1) We have an iMac and lurve it.

2) I am awesome at Guitar Hero on the Nintendo DS. Really.

3) I have a patch of hair in the back of my head that is quite curly. The rest of my hair is wavy, but not like the patch. It's really weird. And hard to get to with a hair straightener

4) I am a preacher's kid. I grew up in a rectory behind the church, said grace at McDonalds and everything. I still go to church each week.

5) I don't own a pin cushion. 

6) Both my children were 10 days overdue. And both ended up being born by caesarean.

7) When I first met my husband he had hair past his shoulders in a curly mullet. It wasn't even the 80s. I was very unimpressed. I was 16.

So there you go. 

Grosgrain Inspiration

One of my favourite blogs is Grosgrain by Kathleen. Everyone in crafty blog land already knows all about her, but there might be some of my real life friends and family who haven't heard of her. She designs and makes incredible clothes for girls, and then... just gives them away. She is very talented, yet so humble. Go take a look- especially the Marie Therese gown. A-mazing. She is opening a shop soon, and I'm sure she will do very well. Read all about it:

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

I have never entered one of her giveaways before, but I have entered her latest one. I'm not sure why I waited until now. I have really liked everything that she has made, I guess I have felt a bit new to this scene and have been happy to watch from the sidelines for a while. 

On the subject of blogging, I am quite enjoying writing this little blog and how it enables me to "join in" with other people who like sewing. Blogging itself has motivated me to make more stuff and each comment I have received has been really appreciated. It's nice to know one isn't talking to oneself, though I must admit I regularly talk to myself, so why should cyber-Bek be any different?

Why am I here?

In February I bought an $89 sewing machine from K-Mart and became a craft mum.

I have been cruising the net looking at mainly art/craft blogs for a few months now and have a little collection of favourites... but was feeling a bit voyeuristic... so I have decided to put myself "out there" too, at least a little bit, for at least a little while. That way I can step into the light and join in this little community without feeling like I am peeking into people's lives from the bushes. I will "lurk" no more. How liberating.

I'm a bit nervous about this whole blog thing. I'm sort of a private person but in real life will probably tell you anything- I wear my heart on my sleeve most of the time. But I fear putting my self "out there" on the internet. I think I am a little bit afraid of people I don't know. Actually, I know I am. Also there seems to be all this blog etiquette that mostly seems to be good manners, but I'm worried about offending people, so apologies in advance for any unintended rudeness! 

I think this little blog will mainly be about stuff I have made so I can feel like I can say "look what I made" to the whole world, but sticking to one category has never been my forte, so let's see what happens. 

"Red Chocolate" comes from the brain of my 4 year old. When I asked him "what sort of party" he wanted for his b'day, he told me he wanted a "red chocolate party". It was a fun party and the phrase just appeals, thus the name of my blog.

So welcome to my own little red chocolate party. I wonder if anyone but me will come visit?