Because I believe that it is best to start the New Year with a smile on your face, I’m going to tell you a story. A story of a vintage related injury I incurred the other day, which upon trying to tell Mr. SKM about, I quite nearly incurred another I was laughing so hard.

On my recent Christmas trip to Sydney, I was sharing a large King Bed with my two little girls whilst Mr SKM slept in the other room for some peace and quiet. The girls insisted I took turns sleeping next to each of them, which meant that the other evening Miss Two was alone on her side of the bed. Looking at the sharp corner of the night stand, I decided it would be a good idea to pad it up with a pillow should she fall out of bed, (she is well known for night time adventures on the floor).
As the evening progressed and the two girls snored like two little angelic trolls, I changed into my lovely 1950’s satin nightgown and settled down on the far side of the bed to Miss Two. It had been a big day and I had taken a few meetings with some representatives of the Chardonnay region that evening. So the minute my head hit the pillow, I fell into a deep sleep….

…until… I was woken by Miss Two’s blood curdling scream! Before my brain even had time to engage I sprang up and leapt across the bed towards the small child stuck between the bed and the night stand, to save her from deaths door. But with the sheer urgent force of the leap, combined with the vintage satin nightgown, I slid across the bed and flew into the air like a First Class Olympic ski jumper, landing butt first into the small space between the bed and the wall, legs akimbo. But even jammed into this space, I dove sideways to rescue Miss Two from the clutches of whatever evil had befallen her; only to discover that she was still sleeping soundly in bed and the “small child stuck between the bed and the night stand”, was in fact, the pillow I had placed there earlier to avoid such a disaster!

I limped back to bed, shaking with laughter and crying with pain.  A valiant midnight saviour in a satin nightgown with a spectacularly purple bottom!

And so it is that I go to greet the New Year. Battered, bruised and sleeping naked tonight!

* Yes, I was tempted to show the you bruise for it’s incredible size and sensational nature, but I don’t have an outfit to go with it!*

The lead up to Christmas can be such a hectic time that we save up all our relaxing for the day after. Boxing Day in Australia usually means hang overs or early mornings to hit the post Christmas sales. For me, I like to spend those few days between Christmas and New Years taking a few deep breaths and taking stock of what has gone before. What has worked and what hasn’t. It is less about making resolutions for the new year than it is about thinking of the things I would have liked to have had time for and figuring out how to make that happen.

I’m also choosing to extend my Christmas glow this year well into the new year, by having friends and family join me on my return to Melbourne for yet another “Christmas ” party.  That is, a chance to chill out with my puppies and nearest and dearest instead of running around with days full of commitments.  It seems only fitting to enter a new decade with a fresh perspective, a new modus operandi if you will. So many of us feel compelled to start each new year placing more and more expectations on ourselves only to be sadly disappointed with our lack of achievements come the following December. And while I believe that a good plan is the key to success, it isn’t the be all and end all.  So in a some what contradictory fashion, I have come up with a plan to do away with a the pressure of a plan. (Stick with me, it is just the way my brain works).

There are loads of things I want to do this year, but instead of looking at the things I  want to do, I am focusing on how I want them to make me feel.  For instance; my studio is full of materials and good intentions that have not been touched in the last twelve months.  I am itching to get stuck into some good projects and finish many of those that were started several years ago.  Ordinarily, I tend to put myself under pressure to get things done once I start them, often tackling only those projects that can be finished in one day so that I feel ‘complete’.  What the last year has taught me is that working this way means I often spend what should be enjoyable, therapeutic creative time, being crabby and time pressured; snapping at people around me and not enjoying the process. So the upshot of all this is that if I focus on enjoying the process, then no matter how long it takes to finish something it will still be a success and I will still have found the benefit I set out to achieve. Ergo, success through a lack of traditional, externally quantifiable goal posts. (Clearly I am onto my third espresso of the morning here – or I have been watching too much holiday special Frasier).

I’ll be interested to see just how well this works for me being a rather driven, list making, type A personality. But whatever happens, you know you’re along for the ride!

*I’m still in Sydney, eating too much, sleeping little and finding excuses to dress up. I’ll have lots of pretty pictures on my return home to my super speedy internet connection.*

I’m heading off today on a bit of a road trip to Sydney for Christmas, so I won’t be online for a day or two. I’m looking forward to a bit of down time, shopping, eating and generally just being. So, should you not see me before Christmas I want to take this opportunity to say a big Thank You for reading and Merry Christmas!

It has been an amazing year and I appreciate the time you all take to share this journey with me. There is loads in the works for next year, including responses to so many of your requests. So if you’re looking for something to entertain you during this minor Christmas break, make sure to break out your inner Shakespeare and enter the big SKM contest. You could win $700 worth of Hideo Wakamatsu luggage and your very own Kodak mini digital video camera!

Just a quick note to let you know that today is the last day to VOTE for Super Kawaii Mama in the 2 Threads Best Fashion Blog awards. If you’d like to show your love for the blog, please head on over and vote here. If you’ve voted before you can still vote again.

Love,

Last night I hit the town for the Nuffnang Australia Blue Christmas Party. You all know I love an opportunity to dress up, so having the chance to go monochrome was right up my alley. And yes, I didn’t have to buy a thing for this outfit, it was all in the wardrobe already! (Please forgive the somewhat sub par cropping of the outfit shots. I had to take these at 1am on the return from the party!)

The dress I found a few years back and is a 1980′s cocktail dress from Syndicate, authentically polyester and all!  The cocktail hat came from my grandmother and was one she wore to a family wedding back in the 1980′s too. The hoochie shoes I found online last year at Urban Originals and yes I love their blue, platformed, spike heeled-ness. I can actually stand all night in these!

The party was cracking fun in at Terra Rossa in Melbourne. Great venue, great food and a fantastic crowd of fellow bloggers. It is always fun to spend time with people who understand this blogging obsession we have, and even more so when we all get to dress up! We had food bloggers, travel bloggers, fashion bloggers, parenting bloggers, photo bloggers and even a lovely lolita blogger!  We must have looked as though we were having a blast as a few of the other venue patrons came to question me about how they could join the party too!

It was a perfect evening, the only thing that could have topped it was if Elvis had shown up for a Blue Christmas!

The one small irony of the evening was that I was so busy chatting, photographing and Tweeting the night away, that I didn’t even get to have my favorite thematic tipple – Bombay Sapphire Gin!