Lavender & Twill : January 2019

Monday, January 14, 2019

༺ Sugar Doll ༻

I’m so excited for this new year!

It does promise to be one of a upheaval, as we have plans that may see us moving back to Australia before the end of 2019. Although we are not at all sure when that will happen, I think we are all looking forwards to going home.

It’s not that we don’t enjoy living in Thailand still, as there are certainly things here that we really like and will really miss ~ I think it’s just that we are ready to move back. We have done what we set out to do, and we are getting to the stage where now we miss everyone back home, as well as our life there.

It’s been a grand adventure, but I guess missing Christmas back with our family has really hit home on how lonely it can be in a country where you don’t speak the language. I think we all have {but especially me} a good ol’ case of homesickness. Yes, we’ve met people we are friendly with {I’d call them acquaintances}, and we do have fun hanging out and chatting when we can, but you can’t really make friends easily.

I don’t think that’s necessarily the only reason we have for moving back though… We are also at the point in planning for the future where we’d either be committing to staying in Thailand for a much longer term, like five years or so, or we are coming back.

The long and the short of it is that we never wanted to make this overseas stay a permanent thing. Yes, we were open to it if it turned out that was something we really wanted as a family, but I don’t think that’s really happened. We’ve enjoyed our time here, but we haven’t really found an alternate home, if you know what I mean. We are so ready to move back.

It’s just time.

After a year and a half of our overseas adventure, it’s time to start the next one! While moving back to Australia might not look like an adventure on the surface, there’s definitely a lot of stuff coming up that will be keeping us on our toes.

Butttt, although that is where our minds are at presently, there is so much still up in the air as to when that might be happening! So we try to get on with it, and just figure out what we need to do in the meantime.

That seems to involve our usual weekly routines, like dressing everyone up on Sundays! We go out to Central Festival and have lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, either Panda Palace {not actually the name of the restaurant} or Sukishi {actually the name of the restaurant!}.

I wore this new-to-me Bernie Dexter dress a few weekends ago, and I’ve got to say, I am so obsessed. It was one of those ones that just make you feel special as soon as you put it on, like it’s total “end result of a movie makeover montage scene” moment. That’s when you know you really love something, when you feel like a million bucks wearing it…

The original cherry red belt was no longer with the dress when it came to me, but I substituted this cute scallop edged, shell-toned one instead ~ and made up for the lack of red with my 1930’s celluloid leaf necklace.

The necklace is a bit dusty and stained, even after a gentle wash, and a couple of the delicate spots have snapped. But you know how it is ~ you just can’t beat true vintage for those special details.

I was inspired by the gingham bow print fabric to wear a giant red gingham bow in my hair and I gotta say ~ I am into it. Hehe.

I don’t usually go for cherry prints ~ although I really adore cherries as they are my favourite fruit! I personally feel like they’ve become so ubiquitous to rockabilly and modern pinup {along with polka dots which I also don’t “do”} so much so, that no matter that they are found in vintage prints, I simply don’t like to wear them.

I had to make an exception for this dress however, as the gingham bow print is too perfect with the cherries and I really couldn’t resist! I’m glad I didn’t ~ I just love it!

Plus, how cute does my jelly purse look with this frock? I received a pink jelly purse for my birthday from the Mister, but when I was back at that shop later, I saw the blue one and knew it would go so well with so many dresses in my wardrobe that it came home with me too.

All in all, this ensemble is a totally eclectic mix of true vintage, modern pinup, and flat out high street-modern fashion, but I just don’t care. I love the look and that’s all that matters!

xox,

bonita

༺ ♡ ༻
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Wednesday, January 2, 2019

༺ That Sea of Time ༻

Oh, it’s this time of year again… Although it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I love the rite of sitting down and remembering all the things that happened in the last twelve months. Especially as I don’t always get a chance to record those thoughts or events in my actual journal.

It was a very quiet year here on the blog, but that’s not so surprising. We’ve had a busy year ~ spending the first half of it in Australia, then coming back and really getting into the hard push to start up our own business…. But let’s leave the rest of the reminiscing to the post shall we?

As always, if you wish post these questions for yourself, please do! This was a great way to look back over the year. Here’s how 2018 went down at Lavender & Twill! ♡

1. What did you do in 2018 that you'd never done before?

I wish I could say “Started my own business” but that’s not true as I’ve started and run a few successful businesses previously ~ in fact, I first started my own business when I was 12 with an odd job service called “Helping Hands” where my sister and I worked to together cleaning, walking dogs, pet sitting, washing cars, etc…

So… Hm.

I can’t think of anything! Haha!

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions?

Yes, I kept some! One was to start Teacup Girl, so I definitely did that.

I also kept my resolution to take better care of my health. While this is still a work in progress as I do need get much more consistent with going to bed on time {I’m a chronic night owl and really wake up when it’s 9:30pm but it’s so bad for day after!}, and exercise, in the meantime I’ve discovered that intermittent fasting has really helped my body handle my tummy issues and thyroid problems a lot better so I’ve been making sure to stick with that and it’s been giving me some great results.

3. What countries did you visit?

Thailand and Australia. Nowhere new this year.

4. How many different places did you travel to in 2018?

As above ~ a bit boring this year compared to last!

5. What would you like to have in 2019 that you lacked in 2018?

More organisation and forethought. I spent a lot of time playing catch up this year ~ I’d make plans and if they went smoothly everything would have been fine, BUT… Surprise, surprise, things didn’t go to plan, and I spent far too much time scrambling and I don’t want to be doing that at all this year.

6. What date from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

September 14th, when Teacup Girl launched.

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Oooh…. You are all going to get so bored of me saying this… but launching Teacup Girl! And getting Theo to the point where he can read quite well, Belle is starting to read and we’ve almost got Lottie completely potty trained, and I’m so happy see those as achievements too.

8. What was your biggest failure?

Being aware of the timing of things, or just being aware of time full stop! Half my problem is I just don’t know what the time is or how fast it’s going and that causes various issues throughout the day which will build up and become a problem for the week, and the overflow just keeps piling up!

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Food poisoning was the most notable illness ~ I ended up in hospital for three and a half days in October, and in bed for another three after that with the worst food poisoning I have ever had. It was dreadful.

10. What was the best thing you bought?

Things to help with…. Teacup Girl… Lol. I was seriously excited about my rolling drawers and divided containers though!

11. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Finally seeing one of my life long dreams turn into reality!

12. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Taking the children to fun places. I feel like we spend so much time just doing the everyday stuff, but I don’t want to miss out on the opportunities that living in Chiang Mai offer, and I really want to show the children the fun of exploring, so we need to get out and just do it!

13. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Aimless wasting of time… I spent too much time mucking around.

14. What was your favourite tv show?

Nothing, I didn’t really have a show that stood out. I liked watching Sugar Rush, Zumbo’s Just Desserts and Project Runway for downtime though.

15. What was your favourite film of this year?

I don’t have one, but I have high hopes for 2019 as I’m so looking forwards to the final instalment of How to Train Your Dragon! It’s my most favourite movie ever.

16. Where were you when 2018 began?

In bed, but awake this time! I think I was talking with the Mister and drinking tea.

17. Where were you when 2018 ended?

Out on our balcony peeking at the fireworks and lanterns floating up through the tree tops, in Chiang Mai Thailand.

18. Who were you with when 2018 started?

My family.

19. Who were you with when 2018 ended?

My family ~ the children were snoring away in their beds!

20. What was the best book you read?

I really haven’t had time for reading this year!

21. What was your greatest musical discovery?

BTS and BlackPink, and to a lesser degree, EXO. I have loved exploring K-Pop this year.

22. What did you want and get?

A new business. \ ^-^ / woo!

23. What did you want and not get?

To see my family for Christmas… To ride my horse.

24. What did you do on your birthday?

I had a lovely evening out with the Mister! We had a date and we went to the Monsoon Tea House, walked around Nimman, ate Vietnamese for dinner and finished off with a lovely ice-cream sundae!

25. What kept you sane?

Drawing and making art. But I’m really starting to feel stressed and anxious as I haven't had much time to catch my breath and decompress and it’s beginning to be a bit much.

26. Whom did you miss?

Copper. *whaa* I reallllly want to ride my pony! Ugh, I need to get back in the saddle… I just miss Copper’s calm presence and how the things that bother us really don’t matter to horses. I miss the peace and quiet of the silent communication with your equine partner, and the openness of the paddocks. I miss the feeling of being grounded and at the same time, challenged by the complexity of working with another living creature that doesn’t use many verbal cues. It’s all about reading the signs, and there’s something in that exchange that calms my soul and brings me rest like not much else can.

I do also really miss my friends and family. I think it’s starting to get a bit lonely after not really being able to talk to anyone for so long.

27. Who were the best new people you met?

We’ve met a few people from our Moo Baan so that’s been nice, but mostly I’ve loved meeting new people through Teacup Girl! It’s been so amazing the conversations and connections you can make when you are talking to so many new people.

28. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2018:

That you need to leave double the time that you think you will, and then double it again because nothing goes to plan so start way earlier than you even should to be regularly early!

29. What are your plans for 2019?

To created the most efficient systems for Teacup Girl that we can so we maximise our productivity. We also are working at applying that to everyday life so that we are not running around like chickens with our heads chopped off!

30. What are your New Year's resolutions?

1. Make Teacup Girl sustainable

2. To be mindful of the time I use

3. To not procrastinate so my plans actually have a chance of running smoothly!