Batten down the hatches

It sure has been a wild and woolly few days especially for our Queensland friends and now the weather is heading south towards NSW. The heavy rains hit here last night at around 9pm and haven't really stopped. I'm watching the weather and flood warnings but where I am, not far from the Tweed River, there are flood gates that will be closed if there is any chance of the river rising too high. [edited to add: the levee gates were indeed closed with the water just 10cm from going over the top. We had an evacuation order at 2.30am Friday morning. South Murwillumbah was devastated with the whole area going under. Heartbreaking to now see every home with all their belongings on the footpath. This is the worse flood event ever seen here. So fast and so strong. Murwillumbah Matters] All the schools are closed (not that the kids mind at all!) and they're telling everyone to not go out if at all possible even suggesting businesses close. Stay safe everyone and listen to the authorities and DO NO drive through flood waters no matter how desperate you are to get home, it just isn't worth it!

Given all this rain and wind it is still warm and very muggy, I've given up on my hair! We lost power yesterday for about 30 minutes or so and the wild weather hadn't even hit us yet. I believe something large blew a bit further up the coast which effected pretty much all of the Tweed. They have warned we may get power outages over the coming days. My phone lost service earlier this morning but is back on again. I'm sure this will be an ongoing thing with the high winds expected later this afternoon. As long as no trees fall down or roof tops are blown off and everyone is safe I am sure we can cope without power/phones for a bit.

Easter Nibbles For Everyone - $50 delivered

A few more Easter orders have come in, thank you, but I am still hoping for more! Never pleased :-) I've also been working behind the scenes on the website, still, trying to get the right balance of user friendliness and search engine friendliness. Our rankings on Google seemed to have fallen with all the changes I have made but as I've mentioned previously I need to be patient with this as it can and does take awhile for anything real to happen. Good or bad! Here's hoping it's more good than bad! The search engine terms for Easter seem to have helped a bit which I am hoping will continue to improve leading up to Easter and then in turn improve the orders that are coming in. That's been the plan and why I spend so much time doing this seoing business! Did I mention how exciting and glamourous it is running your own online business?! I still love it though.

If you're stuck indoors and looking for something to do may I suggest heading to our website and getting your Easter gift giving sorted??

Take care and be safe,

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady

A Couple of more books, Easter eggs and a Lizard

Another warm and humid day greeted me yesterday, this meant big hair (don't care) and time to do some washing! I have mentioned before how exciting life is for a small business owner haven't I?! I also made another trip to the library (I had an appointment at the council which is just next door to the library) and returned a couple of books I'd finished (Maeve and Ellen's book - both books I did enjoy to a certain extent but probably wouldn't recommend them. Maeve's book mainly because it's short stories and I'm not a fan of short stories, they're like the beginning of what could be a wonderful novel but then the author just seems to give up. Ellen's book was just short chapters of nothingness really, it does have some funny anecdotes but for the most part it's filled with nothing. I thought it was going to be an actual story of her life, it's not.) The two new books I borrowed, I've still got a couple to read from the other day, are 'The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank' and 'A Mother's Story by Rosie Batty'. I did hesitate getting this book as it's obviously going to be a sad and tragic read but I know how strong and resilient Rosie is so I am hoping I will get to know more about her and how she has coped with the loss of her son at his fathers hands. Gulp.

Yesterday afternoon as I was faffing away on the computer I heard a noise and my front door rattle. I go and have a look and there's a water dragon clinging to it, thankfully on the outside! If it was inside you would have heard me screamed! Just the other day a much smaller baby water dragon was on there, I'm thinking this maybe his older bother or sister! There are often lizards wandering around the garden and a couple of times I've encountered them in the car park at the local shopping centre - didn't I move fast!!

An unexpected visitor!

A few Easter orders came in over the weekend which is great but I do hope (fingers tightly crossed) that a few more come in. It's always so hard to gauge how many Easter Eggs to order, here's hoping we got it right this year! There's only really a couple of more weeks for Easter gift sending but I know from previous years people tend to leave ordering to the last minute so am anticipating a very busy Easter week. 

Just Chocs with added Easter Eggs! - $33 delivered.

Time to pop the kettle on, make sure the flycreen door's securely closed and then head out to a couple of meetings I have in town.

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady who's not a fan of unexpected visitors (especially if they don't have any chocolate)

A few errands and F1

TGIF!! I didn't have a super hectic week but enough to keep me out of mischief and fill my days so it's no surprise it's already Friday!

I went to a healthy eating talk at the school on Wednesday, truth be told I only went because there was going to be free food :-) It was quite an interesting evening in the end and we went away with some food (literally) for thought. I think the main 'take away', no pun intended, was to limit the processed food and drink and only have 'not so healthy' food a few times a month and not have it in the house all the time. The temptation is just too much. Chocolate is an exception ;-) This is quite an obvious thing I know but sometimes when the kids are fussy with their food and life is just getting a bit overwhelming it can be easy just to have some frozen bits and pieces in the freezer and packets of chips in the pantry for when the kids come home from school 'starving'! I really feel for my sister, I only deal with this intermittently when the kids pop in, my sister deals with this day in day out. So what ever I can do to help and support her I will :-)

Another visit to the library and another bunch of books to read in the coming weeks. Two biographies and two novels. 'Seriously......I'm kidding - Ellen DeGeneres', 'Life as I Know It - Michelle Payne', 'The Someday Jar - Allison Morgan' and 'A Wedding in December - Anita Shreve'

My drivers licence is due for renewal in April so I thought I'd get in early and get that sorted. The letter that came with my renewal notice said that most places now posted out your licence so it was best to renew a few weeks before your renewal date so it had time to arrive, although you would get a paper licence in the interim. Anyway, I went up to the local RTA, did the eye test (I wear contacts - passed!), paid my money (half price because I'm such a fabulous driver!), had my photo taken (do not smile) and then low and behold they were able to print it out there and then - woo! So technically I have two drivers licences now, funny considering I hardly ever use my car. I either walk everywhere or my sister does the driving!

The season of F1 is starting this weekend in Melbourne. I use to follow the F1's but have found it a tad boring the last 4-5 years so rarely watch it now. At least with it being in Australia it's shown at a decent time and I am assuming they'll be showing the V8's. I'll have it on in the background anyway, possibly mute it a few times when the waffle gets too much!

Enjoy your weekend, be safe, eat chocolate and balance that out with some fruit, and send a gift or two from Rainbow Designs. I'm off to help (I use that term very loosely) my niece with a PDHPE assignment, wish me luck!

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and excellent hider of chocolate ;-)

It's Handy Having my own Gift Shop

It's hard to surprise my family these days with presents because 'generally' they know sorta kinda roughly what they are going to get. I do run a gift hamper business so why not use said gift hampers for my own gifting?? Why not indeed!

What's not to love if you're a beer drinker?? Happy Birthday!

The lollies and chocolates are always very well received by the youngans and the beer hampers, lets just say, dad looks forward to my gift the most on his birthday ;-) With such a delicious range of products that go into our hampers I've always been able to find something or somethings for everyone plus I can get feedback too! It's been a great way to test out new gift ideas and products under the premise of 'happy birthday', ha ha.

This pleases the kids no end!

A few times when I've added something new I've actually had to order in an extra box of something just to set aside for visitor. Generally some form of chocolate, Easter is often when this happens - one box of Easter eggs for Rainbow Designs, one box of Easter eggs for family ;-)

Even I find it hard not to eat an Easter egg or two!

It's great that the family show so much interest in my business but I do wonder if it's just so they can get free samples :-)

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady

Salad or Chocolate Coated Peanuts

Now I had every intention of buying a bag of salad, honest I did but I also had every intention of sticking to my shopping budget I had set. So what's a girl to do when I could only get one more thing and my budget would be hit. Technically I guess I had two choices - I could have either gone over budget and got both or made a choice between the two. One of my small things (see previous post) was to stick to my weekly shopping budget (sort of a matter of necessity really) so the first option was out plus what's the point of having a budget if you're just going to go over it?! This meant a choice was needed to be made.

I love salads and I love chocolate peanuts. I've been eating salads a lot throughout summer, pretty much every day for the last month or so. I've been eating chocolate a lot throughout my life, pretty much every day for as long as I can remember (he he). Salad is good for the body. Chocolate is good for the mood. Salad is a summer food, chocolate is an all seasons food. It's now Autumn (even though it's still very warm). I'm a sweet tooth.

So, what do you think I went with?

Surprised aren't you?!

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and her idea of necessity may differ from yours ;-)

Edited to add: I found $2 in the bottom of my handbag so went back and got my bag of salad - alls well that ends well ;-) Who says you can't have your salad and eat chocolate too??

Start small.

It's always (well for me) hard when you start something new with great expectations and high motivation to stick to it. I read something just recently to help with this. It said to start small, really small. So for instance if you want to start exercising regularly start with something small, like a single push up and then each day add another one. It's something so small and to start you may think insignificant but being so small it's more a thought or question of 'why wouldn't you just do it'? One push up isn't hard and takes all of 10 seconds to do so no big deal in fitting it into your day. It's not daunting to do or too hard. Something small can lead to something big.

I've been wanting to get a bit more active as mentioned previously I don't walk anywhere near as much as I did in Port Mac so just wanted to be able to do something at home. I've now started doing a few smallish exercises, think lunges, touch toes and running on the spot, but I've started small. I put some music on, doesn't matter what just something I enjoy (obviously) and have to be active doing all or one of these activities. I've now worked up to doing a single activity per song which is still only about 10 minutes but it is better than no minutes!

This starting small is also relevant to my business. I wanted to start blogging a lot more regularly than I was so I thought I'd 'start small' and just set a goal of doing 4 blogs a month - focusing on anything. So technically not really 'focusing' at all but giving myself free range on what I blog about. So far it's working and I've actually been blogging more than my small goal. I know my posts aren't awarding winning writing but that is something I wasn't aiming for. It was never my goal to be a 'writer' as I know I am not I just wanted to be able to share what I did and think (for the most part) about my business and life in general. Sometimes I ramble, well ok most times I ramble, but I am actually finding it beneficial to me and using it as a springboard or for want of better words, a dumping ground, for my thoughts and worries. It's been a bit of a release. When I've been feeling overwhelmed or disheartened blogging has been a help and has enable me to 'talk' about what I'm going through even if there isn't anyone else around! Maybe that's a good thing.

So if you have something you want to do or something you have found hard sticking to when you've finally got around to starting it, start small. Don't be hard on yourself either. Keep things small and relaxed and informal. Don't beat yourself up if you miss a day or don't do the 'number' you had aimed for. Let it go and go again tomorrow.

When I first started my let's get active idea I had thought 'ok, I'll do touch toes until an order comes in' let me tell you if I had stuck to that I would have probably broken the Guiness book of records of the longest time someone did touch toes :-) Small steps people, small steps.

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and believer (not Belieber) in bigger isn't always better!

Working towards goals

I've set many a goal in my time and to be honest most of the time I never reach the goal - oops. This year I have one main goal (getting Rainbow Designs back on track) which leads to having reasons why I MUST achieve this goal. Not the least of which is, quite obviously, eating and paying bills BUT I also have other reasons why I want Rainbow Designs to get back on track. These are things I am focusing on to give me the MOTIVATION I really, truly need to get things happening.

All You Can Eat - an amazing variety of the products that go in our hampers!

When I start thinking 'this is too hard' or 'what's the point' I look to the things I want to be able to do to push me on. To make me get up every morning and get on with things. It's never been a walk in the park and I can't imagine it ever will be but it has been getting harder and harder to keep going. I woke this morning with the intention of letting go of the negative thoughts and to try, try, try and focus on what I need to do for my business (and my sanity!). I know I'll have down days (I'm just wired like that) BUT I am going to try so very hard to limit them and limit how much they affect me and my attitude to Rainbow Designs (and life in general really).

Sydney - Smooth Festival of Chocolate!

My biggest motivation is my family and being able to spend time with them doing 'fun activities'. I think they all start to get a bit nervous when I mention a 'fun activity' now as the last few haven't been 'fun'. Well, they have but not necessarily for everyone or when it was actually happening - great memories though. The last 'fun activity' I planned was with my mum climbing a bridge - mum is terrified of heights so lets just say not much 'fun' was had by her that day. (sorry mum) We can laugh about it now and even though during the climb mum wasn't having any fun at all the time we got to spend together is irreplaceable. We've even got some photos so if mum tries to block it from her memory I can whip out the photo album and remind her all over again :-) ha ha

The dreaded bridge! It's not that high mum.

I've been lucky to have had many fabulous holidays and weekends away but am now paying for it or more accurately still paying for them - gaaaaaa. I've always tried to justify using credit saying that I'll be able to pay it off in no time as the business is trucking along ok but in reality this hasn't been the case. Boo. So for now 'fun activities' are to be in the 'dreaming and planning' book to hopefully transfer over to the 'things we're doing' book.

Over the past few weeks we've added our Easter range plus a few new 'all purpose' hampers plus in the coming months we'll be adding some more fabulous hampers - which I am very much looking forward to. In the mean time I am focusing hard on being more regular with my blogging as well as Facebook - my main trouble is working out what to talk about and what to share both on the block and Facebook. I know I need to promote Rainbow Designs and her gifts but I also want to add other 'stuff' in the mix so it's not just a sales pitch day on day out. Nobody's got time for that! A balancing act which I am still learning even after 13 years running Rainbow Designs.

If you have any suggestions or ideas for our blog or Facebook or have any questions you think I might be able to help with please let me know - I'll try my best :-)

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and fun activities officer!

With added stuff

It's been another week of tinkering and writing, updating and deleting here. I've been fiddling around with the blog and added a couple of things, after a few small tanties - nothing is ever as easy as it seems especially when it comes to computers!

I've added a blog roll (on the right below Pages) - which is a list of my current favourite blogs I read regularly. I might add a few more as I have recently come across some travel/cruise blogs that I've been enjoying (and feeling slightly envious about!). Most of the blogs I've included I have been reading for years now, gawd I feel old, and they're still a great read. They're from Australia as well as a few from the USA, UK and even Singapore. A great variety of topics and people and perspectives too. Have a look and see if any take your fancy. If you have a blog or any that you read that you think I'd like hit me up in the comments - I'm always looking for inspiration or a laugh or knowledge. A bit like books, can never read too many!

Something else I added was a Pages section (on the right below blog posts) which currently has our hamper selections in price categories. This is something I will 'hopefully' update regularly, well when there is anything to update, and am still in the tweeking stage. I just want it to be a bit of a 'go to' area for anyone looking for a gift and has a definite set budget. I haven't put descriptions of the gifts (yet) but have linked them all to the website. I might also put a couple of photos but I don't want it to get to cluttered and cumbersome. Less is more and all that!

So today is Friday, already, goodness this week went fast and I didn't really do that much either. Just lots of small things which obviously helped to make the days go by very quickly. I think focusing on the behind the scenes aspects of Rainbow Designs takes up a lot of my time and attention - which is a good thing I just wish it would then turn into orders. So far, not so much but I will persist!

I think I might do a backup of my computer as it's been a couple of weeks since the last one. I am trying to make it a regular thing but, you know, best laid plans and all!

What have you been doing this week? Any new additions? Happy St Patrick's Day!

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) and faffer extraordinaire!

The 9am slump

Easter orders are starting to come in now, which is great, including a lovely corporate order. It's only a few weeks now until Easter arrives (yes really) so I'm hoping the orders continue and grow over the coming weeks. As I've previously mentioned it's been a bit of a lean time for Rainbow Designs these last couple of years so a boost this Easter would be very welcomed indeed.

Easter Gifts galore! from $33

I'm trying to get in the habit of having breakfast but I'm not doing a very good job of it! This morning I've got my yoghurt and muesli happening but for the most part I don't really eat anything until around 1pm (yoghurt and muesli) and just drink tea and maybe some chocolate. This isn't the ideal way to keep my energy levels up or my motivation levels for that matter. I can find myself hitting my 3pm slump at about 9am some days! I've also started to do some exercise as since moving to northern NSW I don't walk nearly as much as I did back in Port Mac. The scenery's not quite the same plus I need a reason to walk, I don't just walk for the sake of walking. Now that I've joined the local library that gives me somewhere to walk to. It's only about a km away so not a huge walk but better than nothing.

Port Macquarie - that isn't me up there!

I'm thinking about buying an exercise bike ($89 at kmart) but will have to wait and see how the Easter orders go first before splurging. ;-) It's not really what I call an essential and as mentioned in a previous post I am limiting my personal spending on just the basics to try and get back on track. It is relatively easy to do except when it comes to family and wanting to do stuff with them. Free activities is certainly getting a good work out on google these days!

So another day of writing and updating, googling and budgeting, procrastinating and pulling my finger out - this is the life, ha ha.

It's a nice rainy day here today which I find makes being indoors a lot nicer and generally makes me work more efficiently and productively. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything when it's grey and raining as opposed to when it's bright and sunny, I think that's what's termed as fomo (fear of missing out). Not sure what I think I'm missing out on but anyway....

Morning cuppa and yoghurt

Do you eat breakfast? What do you have? I need some 'easy' ideas.

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and rainy day lover (unless of course I have to go out in said rain!)

Writers block?

Not so much writers block I guess as I am most definitely not a writer but maybe inspiration block or subject matter block? I wanted this blog to be about a whole range of things related, roughly, around running my business all the issues and road blocks I come up against as well as all the highs, lows and in betweens that is part of my small business life.

Chocolate is a must when I'm working

I want the blog to have information, obviously, of new gifts etc up coming events, like Easter, how I go about my daily business life or finding new products, suppliers etc but also the parts of my small business life that aren't directly related to Rainbow Designs but are an every day part of my life or a needed part of being a person. :-)

So this is where things can get a bit 'blocked'. I'm not out and about all the time, I don't necessarily have a funny story or anecdote to share each day or even each week, for the most part each day is basically the same. Get up. Shower. Fire up the laptop. Cup of tea. Read, delete, answer emails. Process any orders (if any have come in!). Cup of tea. Eat some chocolate. Open up the blog. Close the blog. Check facebook. Pop a post on Facebook. Rinse and repeat.

No spending rule doesn't include chocolate.

I've got an enforced 'no spending' rule on at the moment. Hence the trip to the local library the other day! A necessity unfortunately which I have to stick to. The only spending allowed is for bills ie electricity, rent etc and the bare minimum of food (I do buy a little bit of chocolate BUT only if it is on special, a good special) and household stuff ie toilet paper, toothpaste etc I still allow myself to window shop but do not take my purse with me and I still holiday dream - these are things that give me some motivation to get Rainbow Designs back on track but the main motivation is to be able to pay my ever day bills without breaking out into a sweat on whether or not my card will be accepted!! Fun times, not. I was going to do a course through the community college but realised I didn't have the funds for it so I am hoping that next term it will be available and I will have some money to do it! Another thing to get motivated about.

I'm enjoying my weekends as I, for whatever reason, feel a bit of the pressure is lessened, I think it's more a case of, orders can't be processed, sent etc over the weekend so I can focus on other stuff! Also, if orders don't come in during the weekend it doesn't seem quite so bad as when they don't come in during the week. As much as I would love orders to be flying in day and night, weekends or weekdays, weekends aren't so disappointing. Luckily as I think I would be rolled in a tight ball on the ground crying!!

Here's the thing, it's TOUGH running my business. It can be a bit soul destroying when you look at the end of the week and realised you haven't made enough to cover your bills. I've worked so hard for such a long time and currently it's just not showing it. I will keep on keeping on and persevere and work hard and be positive and try and push through this very difficult time but how long can I last? How long can my business last? This is the $64 million question.

I may have 'writers block' but I certainly don't have 'waffle' block - I sure can waffle! Now I'm hungry ;-)

Are you a writer? Where do you find inspiration from?

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and waffler from way back. 

I read, a lot!

So, some people think that I have way too many books at home. Some people think I should get rid of them. Some people suggest I go to the library. So, seeing as I am not getting rid of any of my books and, yes I concede, I do have a lot of books I have officially joined the local library and borrowed my first book! Well, books I borrowed 5 books but I am a pretty quick reader. Not as quick as my mum, I don't think anyone is as quick as my mum. I have 3 weeks to read them before they have to be returned - I am up for the challenge!

I find reading helps me relax and take my mind of my worries if only for a few hours each evening. I need to have a book to read at night. I find it so hard to get to sleep as it is and without a book I may as well not bother and just stay up all night. I do watch movies but honestly I prefer to read a book.

This first outing to the local library I brought home two novels and three autobiographies. One I am really looking forward to reading but I am also sad about reading it. It's called 'Breakfast, School Run, Chemo' by Julia Watson - a gorgeous lady who was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer in 2013. Sadly Julia passed away just before Christmas last year. She had a wonderful, funny, honest blog where she shared her life as well as dealing with her diagnosis. I am excited to read her book but at the same time it saddens me knowing she isn't with her beautiful family any more. [edited to add: beautiful book, Julia was such a natural writer. So honest and funny and of course sad but in a fighting, strong way. Her love for her family is clear. I loved her book and her blog. Thank you Julia.]

The other two autobiographies are Aussies as well, Amanda Keller and Jessica Watson (no relation to Julia - well I don't think so any way). [edited to add: Amanda's book was hilarious and such a wonderful read. I had many laugh out loud moments. It was the perfect book to read to take my mind off my life. What an amazing life she has. Such a hard worker, so honest and sincere.]

My fiction books are 'a hundred pieces of me' by Lucy Dillon - I've never read any of her books before but the brief look at the back made me think I'd enjoy it [edited to add: so far so good, loving it] and the other book is a Mauve Binchy book 'A few of the girls' It's lots of short stories. I can't remember if I have already read this one or not as I've read everything she ever wrote and the last one was a short story book. That's one good thing about having a terrible memory I can reread books as if it was the first time I've read them. I've never read a bad Maeve book so I don't mind rereading hers - I think I've read all of her books at least twice some even 3 or 4 times!

I was going to get some businessy ones or some motivational ones but I just wasn't feeling it. They can wait until my next visit in three weeks :-) Businessy ones don't help me relax and at the moment I need books that will take my mind of my business and every day life even if just for a little bit each day!

So, are you a reader? What's on your bedside table at the moment.

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Design boss(y) lady and book worm.

And the new gifts keep coming, this time Easter!

I've been busy as a bunny bee working away on adding our Easter range for this year! I am so eggcited for these hampers and think they'll do well (fingers and toes hot crossed buns). As always I have tried to keep the prices low with them starting at an eggstraordinary $33 including the delivery. I think that's eggcellent value really!

We are using the eggsquisite Chocolatier Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies - yum. The chocolate is just so smooth and creamy, I love it! It's an eggsperience like no other. (too far?)

I 'Easterfied' 5 of our fabulous every day hampers as well as adding Easter eggs to our Just Chocolates and Big Chocolate Boxes plus we have half kilo and kilo gift boxes just of Easter eggs and bunnies! YAY!!

Half Kilo - Easter Egg Overload, $35 delivered

Good Friday is April 14 and we have a cut off date of April 7 (you've got a month!) to ensure all deliveries are made before this date. You can order later and we will send them out but we cannot ensure they'll arrive on time. Your best bet would be to either order early or upgrade to eggpress post, all of our gifts have this option.

Of course you can also send one of our eggstra fabulous everyday gift hampers as not everyone likes chocolate (gasp, is this true??)

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and easter punoholic!

Smooth Festival of Chocolate is on!

The date for the Chocolate Festival have recently been announced, woo! We're excited! This is the third year and the third year, fingers and toes crossed, we'll be going.

The first year it was my niece and I and then last year my nephew joined us. I think it'll be the same three amigos this year - we are all really looking forward to it!

The last two years it's been in September but this year it's a month early in August and, as it happens, the same weekend the City to Surf is on. Not sure we'll do this though - it's 14km's people, 14! I'd rather be eating chocolate :-)

Now I need to start planning and saving (well, earning some money would be a good start). I've had a quick squiz at the hotel situation in Sydney and at the moment the prices are high! Even the hotels we've previously stayed at aren't cheap, I hope this changes over the coming months. I'm also hoping there's a sale on for the airfares too. At least with only being a couple of nights we can just take a carry on bag each so I can book the cheapest fare without having to pay extra for luggage. We'll most likely fly either Jetstar or Tiger as they are always, pretty much anyway, the cheapest.

I always like to find a 'fun' activity or two to do when I go away with the kids (I say kids but they're both taller than me!) so will have to put my thinking cap on. I need something cheap or even better free and 'fun'! Any ideas??

Now I've really got something to get me motivated and hopefully keep me motivated to get Rainbow Designs pumping out the orders like in the good old days! With Easter fast approaching (another year that's flying by) I am hoping things will pick up a lot plus I've added some yummy Easter Egg gifts too which in previous years have done well. I'm still tweaking and fiddling with the website (and haven't even broken it!) plus trying to regularly blog and Facebook without getting spammy (or boring, I'm not boring am I - no, don't tell me!)

This afternoon I'm going to kick back and watch the Supercars, write a few blogs and do a bit of online research for our weekend in Sydney in August. What are you up to? Have you been to the Chocolate Festival?

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and lover of any festival hen chocolate is the main event!

Do you upgrade?

My computer runs on Microsoft Vista, I have an iPhone 4 and my car was built in 2002. My fridge is 20 years old and my lounge and washing machine had their 16th birthday just recently, hip hooray! My dining table and chairs are from Vinnies as are a few on my comfy chairs in the loungeroom, excluding one chair and that belong to my parents who bought it over 40 years ago. The dress I'm currently wearing I've had for about 7 years, I think the newest piece of clothing I have I bought last year at a factory outlet store. The newest piece of technology I have is my TV and that was given to me by my darling nan when she passed away. I have her nightstand which she got for her 21st birthday in the 1940's and my cutlery set I got for my 21st way back when. All my books are from op shops and my bookcases are from when I first moved out of home over 20 years ago.

Crochet blanket from my nan which is about 50 years old (or more!)

As you can see I'm not into upgrading to the newest and latest and greatest! I'm fine with that. I've never seen the point of upgrading or buying something new when what I have or what was made years ago will do the job just as well (sometimes even better).

I prefer to spend my money on doing things and going places (and chocolate). Over the last 10 years or so I've been very lucky to have gone on a few cruises with family plus little trips here and there around NSW and Qld. Those are the things I'd rather have, moments connecting with people in real life and not through insta or facebook. Making wonderful memories. Something wonderful reminisce and talk about in the years to come. Bringing laughter and smiles. Spending time with people I love. Flicking through photo albums and laughing at the clothes we wore or the funny thing that happened in a restaurant in Queenstown.

This is what my business is about. Making memories for other people and, hopefully, earning enough money to be able to make memories with my family. Currently it's been a tough old struggle but struggle on I will. I've loved running Rainbow Designs and don't plan on giving up without a red hot go first!

So here's to making memories, eat chocolate and enjoying the basics, iPhone 7 not needed.

Jacqui ~ Rainbow Designs boss(y) lady and op shopper from way back.