Yuk.

It's been one of those weeks.

As a result of a lethal dose of fudge from the Candy Cow, lollies, sugary drinks and Texas Hold 'Em, Zac vomited 3 times on Monday night. Said he felt so much better afterwards. Unbelievable.

I reminded him that I hadn't vomited in over 14 years (if not longer) and it was so gross that he could pretty much vomit on command just to make himself feel better after too many sweets. Surely this is not good for you? Vomiting is a very distressing experience.

Well, yesterday the drought was broken for me after taking some medication for tonsillitis. I was sitting on the edge of my bed. It went on my foot and all over my hands before Dad came running in with a bucket. There wasn't any carrots and I hadn't eaten anything much so it was just pink and red - the colour of my tablets.

Trust me to have colour-coordinated spew.

Zac's response? (actual sms) "Darling! Oh my gosh! You vomited! Yay! But that sucks. Do you need me to come and help you?"

hahaaaa. Gee, thanks Zac.

Phil.

Met the most amazing man on Friday.

You know when you met an "old salt" and it makes your day happy and bright, and not only because it's 37 degrees out?

Phillip Everitt has been printing since 1963. He is thinking about retiring but he still has the most beautiful letterpress machines (4 of them!) in his little print shop at Whiteman Park.

We got given this golden piece of information from Chantelle's Mother-in-law and I was so excited about a Real Live Letterpress Printer in the state that I dragged Zac along before we started work on Friday.

He showed us his machines, he told us about how he used to print, before digital, before offset even. He turned on a Heidelburg for us so we could see and hear it at work. Amazingly elegant machine.

He showed us stock, metal plates and nylo plates. He showed us lead type and complained the those who made the plates could charge whatever they want because their product is so rare nowadays.

Phil was surprised that letterpress is making a comeback and the rate at which studios are opening on the east coast. He laughed when I asked about whether he runs classes and said he isn't allowed to have anyone in the shop because OC, HEALTH and SAFETY want to shut him down. All those moveable parts. How dangerous.

He was embarrassed to charge us his meagre fee for labour and was sorry that we have to source our own stock. We don't mind. We would do business with him in a heartbeat, he's the sort of person we hope to be when we are his age.

Gentle, passionate, content and dedicated to our life's work.

Smokin' hot.

Went out a few Mondays ago to look at the Winter 2010 suits that had come in to the city department stores. Zac tried on a great suit - it was called the 'sweet/sharp' by our old mate Hugo Boss and he looked smokin' hot.. The slim cut, lapel style and everything else suited him really well.

I'm a firm believer that if the girl gets to buy a really nice dress for the wedding, then the boy should be able to buy a nice suit and not have to rent one that doesn't fit properly.

Besides, he will actually be able to wear his outfit again... unlike yours truly!

599 pt2.

Did I forget to mention that the ENTIRE time we were having that crazy conversation about the fabric, the man was talking to us about his opinion on getting engaged?

man: so what are you buying for?

clare: it's for our engagement party. two long tables etc etc

man (whispers to Zac in front of me): don't do it! you're crazy!

zac: uh, (politely laughs) haha, yeah mate. Women...

man: no seriously, you'll get married and it won't be what you think and you'll end up in Graylands.*

clare and zac: *------*??!? huh?

man (whispering to Zac): get out while you still can!

zac: uh.... -------*?!

man: so I do it for you 599. 40m. a whole bolt.

So the next day I went back, to buy something I didn't think I could afford the previous day.

man: you were in here yesterday?

clare: yes, the tablecloth

man: yes, you're getting married aren't you?

clare: yes, still getting married *polite smile*

man (leans over and whispers): don't do it! Get out while you still can!

clare: uh, do you have any grey or yellow gingham?

man (across the store): AUNTY!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY GINGHAM OVER THERE WITH THE LOW QUALITY COTTON!?

man (whispers): seriously, don't get married you'll end up in Graylands for 3 months. I did!

clare: really!! what happened?

man: so I was engaged to this girl and we don't sleep together before the wedding.

clare: know the feeling

man (leans in over the counter): so I get married, I take her to bed and...

(leans in closer, whispers) she's a lady-boy!

clare: woah!!!!!!!!

man: yeah, so I went crazy, I spent 3 months in Graylands!

man's brother (chirps up from a computer behind the counter): yeah, I blew $50,000 on that wedding and it didn't even last the night! 3 months in Graylands!

*for all of our interstate readers, Graylands is a hospital for people who are mentally unwell.

Benches.

This week we are preparing for our engagement party and crossing things off our list left, right and centre.

The basic idea is two, long tables filled with family and friends, family-style-served food under lights and in the backyard tennis court. The look is 'rustic chic' if you had to give it a name. Lots of native grey foliage from our garden, bunting and lanterns to light the way to the tennis court, yellow flowers in mason jars and hessian table runners. We are borrowing most of the decorations from friends or sourcing materials from our house and garden.

One problem we have encountered is seating. Hiring nice chairs is expensive, and hiring cheap plastic chairs is out because they are 1) ugly and 2) still wasteful and expensive. So here are our options.

Build some benches. Re-use the sleepers in the vegetable garden at the O'Neil's place.

Use sleepers, but support them on hay bales, reuse all of it in the garden:

Just use hay bales, but of course hay can be scratchy, so we could cover them with pretty coloured or patterned sheets, we could also build some couches (reusing everything of course):

photos from Snippet and Ink (1), Carl Zoch (2), Scott Chester Blog (3)

Decisions, decisions....

599.

I swear, I am so dumb sometimes. Today we were at the fabric shop to buy a bolt of white fabric for the e-party table clothes. You usually get a discount when you buy a whole bolt so I was asking the awesome Persian (?) man what the best price was that he could give us..

Me: So, if I buy this bolt, how much is it?

He: I can do it for you. Five ninety-nine.

Me (thinking): 600 bucks! I only budgeted 250 for this. Why the hell is this so expensive?

Me: Uh, ok.. what about this one here?

He: I can do that one for you. Four ninety-nine.

Me (thinking): Wow, this is really expensive.. I'm going to have to readjust the budget on the sly so Zac doesn't notice.

Me: Ok, so what about a plain cotton, not table cloth material?

He: That one is seven ninety-nine.

Me: Ok.. so this one is 599 for the bolt? And this one is 499 and this one is 799?

He: Yes, but if you buy two bolts I'll lower it some more.

Me (thinking): Don't try to up-sell me, man. I up-sell people allllll day long.

Me: So HOW much is this a metre and what is the cost of a bolt?

He: This one? I can do for you. Five ninety-nine.

Clare: ****!?!?!???--------------------****** (brain shuts down)

This conversation kept going on like this for 10 minutes. After talking with Zac about how much we needed, and the pros and cons of the different textures we went to the counter.

He: That's Two Thirty.

Me: Oh, ok! (thinking) WTF!@?!?????how?!?!?!?!?!??what the heck is going on?!?!?!

We get in the car with our 70 metres of fabric wrapped neatly around their cardboard tubes.

Me: Seriously I'm so confused. I thought he was saying that a bolt of fabric was $699!!

Zac: Nah, he was talking in metre-age. $5.99/metre

Me: But I was asking him about how much a bolt was and he kept saying he could give it to us for Five Ninety Nine!

Zac: Yeah, that's the discounted rate per metre.. Seriously, (laughing) why are you so confused?

Clare: What the hell is going on?!?! SOOoooooo confused! He kept saying 599! I don't understand how I could have asked it more clearly??! He kept saying 599!

2 hours later after dinner.

Me: I'm still confused about the fabric.

Zac: Oh my gosh. I need some floor time.

Dress.

*drum-roll*

Found a dress yesterday!

I was starting to think that I wouldn't find one until the Very Last Minute . I tried on so many dresses at a few different places but I just didn't like any of them. Too bulky, too much skirt, bead overload, too little fabric, itchy, hot, heavy, see through (!), boring, interesting (but not in a good way), beautiful but not flattering on me... you get the idea.

Some of the dresses I have tried on:

photos from smartbride.com.au (1, 3), pronovias.com (2), onewed.com (4), weddingo.co.uk(5) oldschoolromance.wordpress.com (6)

Enter: Aurelio Costarella - great designer and all-round good guy. I've been a fan since Chantelle wore one of his gowns to her wedding back in 2007. She looked stunning.

I loved Post Emporium (his store). I loved all of his gowns. I liked that Vanessa and Ali, the sales assistants, remembered my name when I walked in the door. Everyone kept telling me that I would know "the one" (seriously, it's just a dress, it is not a deep spiritual experience) when I saw it on, I did not have a "ZOMG THIS IS THE ONE!!!!1!!" moment.

I just felt so very comfortable. Myself. Relaxed. The dress was simple but still looked liked some imagination had gone into the design. I felt like I didn't need to worry about the weather on the day. I liked that I am supporting a local designer, not some overseas company who get their dresses manufactured in China. And the fabric... I love how it felt! So I didn't "know", I just drove (very quickly) to work and thought about it for a couple of hours, called a friend, called Zac and eventually called Post to put a deposit on it.

Done. Simple. Just the way I wanted it to be.