Well, I would consider last weekend a success. I didn’t get 5 ticks in the boxes, but I came close. 3 ticks and some amendments and a happy family at the end of Sunday. What did I do, what did I achieve and did I take any baby steps or giant leaps?
I have this theory that every job done is either a baby step or a giant leap closer to an end goal. Generally, at the moment my goals are finishing unpacking and sorting out our new place, designing and building our garden and getting Drawn Outdoors off the ground and growing. Well, they are the big ones on top of the day to day – getting everyone out of bed, fed, dressed, cleaned etc… So, when I say this weekend was generally a success, here’s why.
I took a trip to the Riverside Farmers Market, which was a lovely start to the weekend, and tick number 1. The Karma Soap Company, one of my Bizness Babes friends was holding her first stall there, and we (the Drama Queen, the Daredevil, my Mum and I) dropped by to lend our support. While I was there, I took the opportunity to not only do some of my weekly shopping, but checked out the plant and flower stalls for a little bit of garden inspiration. I would love to include some productive elements to the garden, and herbs are high on the list of must haves. The end result was a whole lot of really fun baby steps and a DramaQueen with a gorgeously painted face and a purple helium balloon! (more about the balloon later)
The Karma Soap Company stall at Riverside Farmers Market
Herbs glorious herbs
The second tick on the list was my trip into the blogosphere – I found a couple of new blogs, but confirmed my suspicions that there aren’t a lot of people out there in cyberspace doing much with landscape – so, my question is, does this mean there’s a gap in the market or is it an avenue no one is interested in travelling down? Add another thing to the Drawn Outdoors to do list…
The third and most enjoyable tick was our Balmain baby cino. I got to catch up with the lovely Katherine and have a very girly chat and she got to grill me about what I was doing with this Drawn Outdoors thing – the process helped me work through a couple of issues I’d been wrestling with. You see, Katherine and I have the same schooling. We’ve known each other since we were 7, and switched and changed schools together right through to University where we both studied landscape architecture. So, if there’s anyone that understands why I think the way I do it is her, and I value her feedback and input immeasurably.
All up, so far a lot of little baby steps, very fun baby steps, but nothing I would call a giant leap. Until I spent Sunday morning with a friend I met through the Drama Queen’s mother’s group. Philippa is a marketing guru who, after many years in the corporate world is toying with the idea of heading out on her own. She very generously gave me some of her time and expertise and helped me work through my branding for Drawn Outdoors – something I was having a bit of trouble getting my head around – finally one giant leap for the weekend. Needless to say I left with quite a few more things for my to do list, but a very renewed sense of purpose and direction.
In terms of my missed ticks for the weekend, the Drama Queen and the Daredevil were a little under the weather for most of the weekend, so heading out and doing anything too strenuous was pretty much off the agenda, instead I decided to make a baby step start to the garden – I did say baby step! Both of my little people love being out in the garden, so we did a bit of seed planting. Not sure that we used the most horticulturally sound techniques, but we had a heap of fun, and that’s what it’s all about.
The Drama Queen hard at work being supervised by the Daredevil
Finished pots, and the Drama Queen hard at work
the Daredevil tried his hardest, but had more fun trying to destroy the Drama Queen's hard work
What happened to the balloon? Well, the Drama Queen learnt the hard way what happens when you let a helium balloon go outoors. Many tears later, we had a house full of balloons, and had learnt that it was no use crying over balloons that had flown away when we could put that energy into finding more balloons to play with – maybe a good lesson for us all!
And yes, I did have my glass of wine!
Sam
drawnoutdoors 