Remember me?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm finally back after a much longer than planned break. Its fair to say that the Christmas rush was a bit of a shock to the system. I mean, I hoped to be busy and complained often in October when it was quiet but then when the orders did start coming in, they came in thick and fast and I was seriously not prepared for it.
I am totally amazed that Chambers & Beau has done so well. Feels like my little baby has properly taken off, much more than the little hobby I imagined, and I am feeling very excited and hopeful about this coming year.
Here are a few mentions from the past couple of weeks that has helped it on its way.

Wed Devon magazine.

Sunday Times Style magazine (get me)!

Baby Hampshire/Surrey

The Christmas break has been wonderful. I normally find the build up is the best bit and then the big day a bit of a let down but this year was ace. A well earned rest surrounded by my fab family, the new wood burner and some amazing presents and parties have made for one of the best holidays ever.

My sister came up trumps (as ever) with her gorgeous gifts for Molly, Mr C&B and I (check out her blog here).

Super cute robins for moi....

....beautiful owl cushion for Molly moo...

... and a lovely big chest for all of Mr C&B's camera equipment (so sick of seeing the stuff all over the house - now he has no excuse).

I bought a couple of these CUTE 'strap- ons' (cute and strap- on in the same sentence - lol) for my nephew and daughter. Get yours here - handmade in Cornwall!

And, this fantastic picture entitled 'Mulcrone Cowboys' (mulcrone is my married name) for my husband. Check out our friend Tom Wood's incredible works here.

Finally, that lovely Mr C&B, who will leave his camera gear all over the house no more, commissioned a Sarah Bowman painting for me (gulp).
OMG!
How lucky am I? When i mentioned that i would like one of her paintings on a previous post I never thought for a second that he would actually take any notice. It was a Christmas/I'm so proud of you present and it made my cry (especially as she has become a very good friend who makes me laugh more than anyone I have ever met).

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too and I look forward to having some time now to start dropping in on you again from time to time.
Here's to 2010
xxx

P.S Was thinking about a little New Year give away. What do you reckon, a good idea for the next post?

Escape

This weekend while we waited for Mr C&B's callout to Afghanistan (he finally left yesterday) we managed to spend some time with lovely friends we don't get to see often enough. They helped ease the stresses that we had been feeling not only due to the big trip to a WAR ZONE but also the fact that everything in our lives seems to be breaking down - car, boiler, oven and finally my mobile. I thought bad things were supposed to come in threes!
Anyhoo, to escape all the crap at home we visited friends Tom and Hanna who I have posted about before. Their son, Alex, is now 4 months old - he is growing so fast and is totally adorable. Didn't hear a peep out of him all weekend.

In between cooing over Alex and enjoying their home grown food (they have a veggie patch/field to die for) we admired Tom's new sculptures in their garden. Check out his clever, clever work here and here.

We then made our way to Howard and Laura's (clever lady of Cloudfishing fame) aka 'The Bungalow' for an amazing bbq feast. The kids played together brilliantly, tearing round the huge stretch of sand at Westward Ho, dodging the jelly fish with faces caked in sand and ice cream.

The sea air and wonderful friends blew away our dark moods very quickly and we had such a fab time.
Finally Laura suprised me with some super cute bunting she made for the nippers. It is hanging in their rooms and I would love to post a picture but would you believe it, the fecking camera has decided to jam.
I do not have a picture of me in tears but Molly looks an awful lot like me in times of crisis - you get the idea!
Things can only get better x