#your husband is found the next day by the local lake. his clothes are nowhere to be found.

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

That nosleep post about the lady who killed her husband who came back six months later is making me think things

[doraspenlow]

ok it’s clown movie fanfic time

We Go On

(you can read on ao3 here)

It’s been three years now and Derry, Maine is a nice town, anybody will tell you that. There’s been a little boom of people moving in, who knows why– getting away from the city, enjoy the suburbs, commuting in to work. It’s a nice town. The people are nice too. There were some… incidents, quite recently actually, but who wants to talk about that. So some madman who once killed his father busted out and killed some kids. Well, he died. (The cops never found out what happened to Henry Bowers, his skull split open, but they weren’t investigating too hard). So that one poor man got thrown off a bridge. The town had a nice little candlelight vigil. It made the local news, and those boys all went to juvie. Nobody talks about these things anymore. Sometimes it’s as if they’ve forgotten entirely. It’s a nice town. Sure thing.

(The five of them will never, ever go back.)

Bill’s new book is coming out, finally, and the preorder numbers are higher than they’ve ever been. The New York Times gave the ARC the best review they’ve ever bestowed upon him. Something about “fundamental humanity in the face of terror”. Something about “the agonies and joys of growing up and facing your childhood”. They still think the ending is shit. That’s alright. Can’t win ‘em all. Anyways, he doesn’t love the ending either.

He and Audra got divorced– a month after the movie project he’d split from came out. The critics loved the movie. (Loved the ending especially, though it’s not his ending, it’s the work of some guy they yanked out of nowhere to ‘fix things up’). Everybody said the director’s an auteur, Audra’s a genius, that if the academy didn’t hate horror it’d get nominations for sure. All the buzz drove him crazy while he meddled around in his office. He screamed once too often. She left him. It’s probably a good thing– he didn’t know how to cut the chain. Three years later and she’s doing prestige stuff now, she’s engaged to that pretty boy actor boyfriend of hers. He’s happy for her. He really is.

He’s left California for Oregon. It’s cool, northern, but with a touch of that west coast freshness. Everything back east is so old. He doesn’t date, he’s taking time to “work on Bill” as he tells any interviewer who asks. One day he might try again– find some nice woman. A blonde or a brunette. Somebody who doesn’t remind him of anybody.

Richie’s still in LA, and he’s started dating, really dating, for the first time in his life. There were some half hearted attempts at having girlfriends in college, and a few hookups with men here and there, but he’s never done the whole romance thing. He feels awful pathetic, dating for the first time in his life at over forty, but it’s alright. The men he’s gone out with have been very understanding. This latest one’s real nice– a clever, tidy sort of guy, doesn’t care for stand up and had never heard of him before a mutual friend introduced them. They’ve been going for a month maybe. He doesn’t think the guy’ll last, but he’s hopeful someday someone will.

He took a long break, after Derry. An unexpected and abrupt hiatus. There were a few months were he wanted to die, a few months after that where he went to a lot of parties and snorted a lot of coke. That ended, and he started visiting this therapist– some beaky little woman his manager recommended. He still wanted to die a little bit, but he decided it was probably better to live. The tour after that crisis was the “Come Out Comeback Tour”– he wrote some of his own jokes for the first time in a long time. He told funny stories from when he was a kid. It was strange, he reflected, that he had funny stories to tell. Rooting around through his memory was like running his tongue along a line of rotten teeth. It ached, almost unbearably. But there were pleasant moments, and he was glad he hadn’t forgotten them.

“I guess my first real crush was this kid in middle school– he’d been one of my best friends forever, but about seventh grade I started having all of these feelings– and I decided to do something nice for him, something discreet– I was going to give him a popsicle. Like a literal popsicle, you perverts! C’mon! Anyways, at lunch one day I bought a bomb pop, I went to our lunch table and… I chickened out. I stuck the popsicle in my pants pocket, because I was 12 and a fucking idiot, and I went on my merry way. It was only after my next class was over that I realized the popsicle had melted through my jeans. It looked like I pissed my pants. But I pissed my pants for love, and how many seventh graders can say that?”

The divorce was a mess– Bev had expected it to be, but it still made her panicky. She didn’t so much as want to see Tom again, much less have a legal battle. For months, she’d wake up crying, miserable dreams dripping out of her mind like water. She won, in court, testified and showed pictures of bruises and witness reports and described how it was all her work, and wound up getting a restraining order against Tom and full ownership over Rogan and Marsh fashion– now just Beverly Marsh fashion. She thinks about changing the name to something modern, anonymous– but she doesn’t. It’s nice to know she has something hers. That she can be just her, and be alright. “You’ll be nothing without me––” well haha, she is something. She’s Beverly fucking Marsh, and that’s something.

It’s nice to be loved, though. Divorce is as sweet as a summer's day, and remarriage is as sweet as honey. She and Ben got married less than a week after it’s all finalized, in a courthouse, in their everyday clothes, a couple of her friends as witnesses. They bought rings on the way home, simple little bands. They split their time between Chicago and Nebraska– Ben’s used to working remotely, and she doesn’t mind it. He’s started talking about maybe building them a house of their own– she says maybe New Mexico? It’s so warm and dry and safe in New Mexico– and all the artists love Santa Fe.

So maybe they’ll move to New Mexico, or maybe they’ll stay here. It doesn’t really matter where they go. They’ll be together. It feels so good to be loved like a person. It feels so good to know she’s a person. She still has bad dreams, but she has nice ones too. Lovely ones– a boat on the ocean with the sky clear and blue. A litter of puppies she can hold. Her husband kissing her. A group of children, laughing children, playing little kid games. There’s seven of them, the children, all splashing each other in a lake, like they’ve never suffered and they never will. She wants to have children, though she’s getting older now. She wants two or three of them. She likes to think she’d be a good mother.

Ben thinks she’d be a good one too. He adds plans for children’s bedrooms to his favorite piece of mental drawing paper– a building titled “the dream home”. He’s been working on it for a decade– the dream home had a double bedroom before he had anybody to share it with. He was so used to loneliness it took him a while to get used to another person’s rhythms– how she’ll get into bed and just then remember to brush her teeth, hopping back out again, how she sings in the shower and refuses to acknowledge it.

He’d once thought he’d be lonely forever. Now, at 43, he’s trying once more to make friends. He goes to dinner parties and makes meaningful conversation, he takes up fishing with a man from work. You might never love your friends as brilliantly, as totally as you do at 11, but there's a comfort in the easy, mild talks about the weather, about work. He lets himself eat ice cream, now and then, and a social life means less time for working out. Nobody really notices– Bev says he’s still hot. But of course she’d say that, she loves him– And oh, it rushes over him sometimes, she loves him, she loves him, she loves him.

He used to write poems, but he hasn’t since college. He feels like he’s getting rusty with words somehow, and he’s always been better with his hands. He’s fixing to unveil this stunner of a municipal building in Chicago– it’s maybe the best thing he’s ever designed. He takes Beverly on a private tour a few days before the ribbon cutting– there’s some last minute things being put together, furniture and lighting, but she still tears up when she looks around. “It’s so lovely,” she says, “this is the most wonderful–” and cuts off, moved. He thinks, looking at the light caught in her hair ‘I’ll build you something even better, darling. I’ll build you a future.”

Mike heads down to Florida, like he used to dream about. On the way there he made a stop in Atlanta to see Patty Uris. She was very polite, pleased to meet one of her dead husband’s old friends– hungry for stories of a childhood he never spoke of. The mirrors were still covered, and she tangled her hands in and out of knots. Mike still felt guilty. He’s been trying to not feel guilty. He told her anecdotes about Stan as a child– he didn’t know him as long as some of the others, but he knew him enough. He knew him when it was important. “Your husband was a brave man.” He told Patty, who closed her eyes. “He was, he really was.”

He contemplated, for a moment, staying in Atlanta– befriending Patty, telling more stories. But he’s a little sick of playing historian, of being a keeper of ghosts. He heads down to Florida. He gets a job in a small town library, makes acquaintances, meets a woman. If he wants, he can go anywhere in the world. The freedom shocks him, the lightness. Anywhere in the world– Rome, Tokyo, Sydney, Helsinki, Cairo. Places where it never rains, places where it rains all the time. He keeps a framed photo of his parents on the counter– his parents as he never knew them– young and just married and laughing to each other. He likes to think they’d be proud of him for leaving. For having the world at his feet.

He has two dogs and a cat, eats vegan, takes up biking. The children at the library call him ‘Mr Mike’ and climb over his arms like a jungle gym. Eventually, his neighbors start calling him Mr Mike too, which is funny. Most people don’t look at him like an intruder, and when they do it’s easier to shake off their stares. His hair starts greying at the temples and he relishes it. He’s made it this far. He hopes to keep making it.

It’s almost always Mike who send the emails, a tradition at this point– “Hey everybody!! Want to meet up? Where, this time? Kansas? Colorado?” And the others will reply– yes-yes-of course-yes-let’s go to Denver-lets get Greek food-I know this really great spot-how about Mexican-July-maybe August?– And he amalgamates their suggestions into plans, sends off the group message, mark his calendar. He sits back and smile, types out “I can’t wait to see you all again”. Presses send.

So it’s been three years now. And here they are, in a Mexican restaurant in Denver (they never get Chinese). They’re chattering about their lives, the five of them– Mike’s girlfriend, Richie’s boyfriend, Bev and Ben’s fertility treatments. Bill’s a little quiet. They look at him. He pulls the new book out of his bag– four copies. They coo dutifully over the cover, flip through the pages. Get to the dedication. Stop. To six that made my lucky seven– Stan, Eddie, Richie, Beverly, Ben, Mike. All my love. The loser’s club rides forever.

“The ending’s still awful.” Bill says, to stop their tears with laughter. They shake their heads and say they’re sure they’ll love it. He thinks they probably won’t– even he thinks the ending isn’t great. He’s bad with endings, he’ll admit that now.

The friends in the book, they all go off. They kill the bad guy, get their tidy endings, resolve their trauma, end up with their sweethearts or happily alone. He wrote it, and yet it still rings half hollow to him. No one can walk off the page happily ever after. They’ll still have nightmares. They’ll ruin relationships, try to pick up the pieces. Things are always going to be difficult. But they’ll keep going. And that’s the other thing he’s always hated about endings– the finality, the never-see-you-again. That’s the worst thing of all. He’s lucky, he thinks as he looks at his laughing friends, his best friends, the loves of his life, he’s lucky that life isn’t a story. That it goes on. That they’ll keep going on.

The loser’s club rides forever.

[littlefeatherr]

Prompt fill for @maroucia : Mail-order bride modern AU. In a modern Westeros, the North is much poorer than the South and Sansa is lured by all the riches and temptations of the south and so, she decides to offer herself as a mail-order bride. Of course, she catches Sandor’s eyes who himself has turned to the idea because he hates dating seeing that his face is burned and all, but he still would like to find a wife. Read more below or on AO3 here.

Chapter 1

Settling down with a mug of tea, Sansa needed to take a break from job hunting. Opening her tablet, she decided to indulge her favorite escape: perusing vacation blogs, pretending she was planning a visit to the southern countries of Westeros.

While the south was full of cities bustling with diversity, plenty of jobs to be had for the asking, and mild weather, the north never recovered from the war. And the ten year winter season was a burden itself.

The poor economy denied basic resources for northerners, especially since King Joffrey placed tariffs on all the products exported from there as part of a trade war. In the past year, many industries closed. And families that Sansa had known all her life were moving away.

Since her father passed away five years back, there had been huge financial burdens on the family, and Sansa couldn’t bring herself to leave them. So she settled on a local university to continue her dream of becoming a custom dressmaker.

Bran’s snowboard accident happened not long after; in-home physical therapy and medical bills further strained the family funds. Sansa had to quit school and work two jobs. Since their mother spent her time working and caring for Bran, Arya and Rickon grew wilder by the day. Winter had come with a vengeance for the Starks.

Sleet rattled against the windows, shaking her of her recollections. Gods, what she wouldn’t do to be on a southron beach right now. She was determined to reach her dreams, one way or another. She just needed a plan. 

Sansa tapped her finger on the bookmark of her favorite blog. Escape to the warm, sun-kissed beaches of King’s Landing! Sansa wished for nothing more.  Life seemed so carefree for the people who lived there. The sight of the wealthy, young, tanned and fit men and women frolicking in the waves sent a pang of envy through her.

Sansa couldn’t remember the last time she had a vacation, could barely remember a time when she felt the effortless contentment in the people smiling back at her through the screen of her tablet.

Eagerly she moved onto the second one. The beautiful shores of Port Lannisport, one of the largest, richest cities of Westeros. Come to visit and see it’s prosperity for yourself!

More beautiful, tanned people, Sansa complained inwardly. This time they were wearing swimsuits that barely covered their most intimate places, enjoying champagne under burgundy and gold cabanas of the exclusive Casterly Rock Club.

Yes, Casterly Rock Club was very elegant, but she would feel too out of place there if they even allowed shabby northerners into the place. Every one of the guests was surgically enhanced and dripping in gold and diamond jewelry.

Swallowing hard, her hand instinctively went to the silver and sapphire direwolf charm at her neck, the last nameday gift she had received from her late father. It was a reminder of better times, and the ones she prayed to the gods were ahead for her. She fingered it while whispering a quick prayer to her father before tapping on the next bookmark.

Shop the opulent Lannisport Outlet Mall, your one-stop destination to luxury!   Oh, she would much rather visit there! Ever since she was a little girl, Sansa loved embroidery, sewing, and designer clothing.

The scenes showed happy families laughing while eating southern delicacies, bringing up a bitter lump in her throat. Young people in the latest summer fashions carried designer Dornish leather handbags as they shopped and flirted under a shaded canopy.

Wrinkling her nose, Sansa glanced down at her sweats and ratty sweater. When was the last time she went shopping? Aside from The Wall Mart, there weren’t many places to shop near Winterfell - and none of them fashionable. She would definitely need to do some serious online retail therapy if she ever visited Port Lannisport.

Faintly Sansa could hear her mother speaking to someone. On to the next region, she said to herself as she tucked her feet under her legs.

Visit the rugged hills of the Westerlands, the richest lands in Westeros. A landscape dotted with golden, rolling plains and caves from which gold and silver mines pour forth deep veins in astonishing quantities. Abundant gemstones and precious metals mean lower prices on all your jewelry needs!

With widened eyes, Sansa clicked on the pictures of black fertile fields, apple orchards, Pinot grape vineyards, and Black Mission fig tree groves. Further inland lay dense maple forests that opened up to crystal blue lakes and river rapids, reportedly renowned worldwide for whitewater rafting.

Gemstones of all kinds, gold and silver jewelry, beautiful log homes in the verdant foothills all caught her attention. Oh, she would definitely visit the Westerlands first! The featured delicacies and riches were sensational!

But how could she go? The family barely had enough money to get by; not many opportunities presented themselves as of late. Her gaze fell on a bookmark icon for a mail-order bride broker she had set up months ago. Missandei’s Marriage Brokerage Suite. Let us help you find your perfect match with a beautiful, northern bride of your choosing.

That’s one way to get south. And if I’m chosen, I could put my husband’s fee in a trust for Bran. From what Sansa had seen on the website, Lannisport and King’s Landing was teeming with beautiful women, but the farming areas surrounding them were not heavily populated. The men there depended on agriculture and vacationers for their incomes – jobs that left little time for meeting potential partners.

Her mother’s voice pulled her out of her fantasies - and back to the dreary reality of life. Stern Aunt Lysa was impatiently tapping her foot; Sansa had been so caught up in her musings that she didn’t realize she’d entered the room.

“Sansa, are you daydreaming again? Put down the tablet for a moment, please.”

Her mother had a way of saying “please” that sounded anything but polite, especially when she was about to lecture to one of her children.

No wonder Arya and Bran are nowhere to be found. Suppressing a sigh, Sansa braced herself and turned to face them.

“I cannot understand for the life of me why you haven’t yet settled down with someone and moved out,” Catelyn began. “I was married for four years at your age.”

“Mother-“

“It’s all I can do to keep Winterfell let out, and food on the table for Arya and Rickon, and Bran with all the medical bills, I can’t afford to feed you too.“

“Mother, I know,” Sansa struggled to remain respectful. Ever since she turned eighteen, this had become a well-worn topic between them, and at twenty, Sansa had already said all she had to say on the subject. 

Enter Aunt Lysa.

“That is why I started college,” Sansa pulled her mother close, “so I could make real money, not just the little I bring doing housekeeping and selling on Etsy.”

“And what good did it do you? You knew from the start that we could ill afford it, but you were determined to waste what little money your father left you on it.“ Aunt Lysa interjected. "And here you are, squandering your days on that damned tablet!”

Her words stung. “I wanted to help the family by having an actual career. I thought maybe I could open a clothing store and help the local economy, but there aren’t any opportunities here.” Sansa stepped away and wrung her hands.

Exasperated, Aunt Lysa shook her head. “Always with the dreams. Well, it’s time you grew up. Take your educated self south, Miss.”

“I would love to go, but since I, as you say, wasted my money on education, I don’t have a way.”

Aunt Lysa and her mother exchanged a look. "Uncle Petyr lives in King’s Landing in the famed Red Keep and he’s offered to take you in. You could work with his showgirls’ costumes-“

Tears stung Sansa’s eyes, for this, too, was a familiar and unpleasant topic between the three of them.

“No, absolutely not! He’s not my uncle, so I wish you both would stop with that! And they aren’t showgirls, Aunt Lysa, they’re sex workers!”

"Ungrateful child!” Aunt Lysa sputtered. “This family has no better friend than Petyr, especially since your father and Jon both-”

Sansa rolled her eyes.

“Sansa that is just a terrible rumor started by jealous people trying to discredit him.” Catelyn insisted.

“So that’s the official party line he has you two repeating.“

Catelyn gaped at her, but Sansa went on, “He’s always staring at me in the grossest way. Sending me friend requests on my social media. He’s a stalker.“

“Sansa, that’s your college third wave feminism talking! Petyr is old-fashioned, and he’s not about to hide that he’s interested in you. What’s wrong with that?” Aunt Lysa fumed.

“What’s wrong is that I’ve made it clear that I don’t want his attention - and yet he refuses to take no for an answer!” Sansa set her jaw. “If you like him so much, why don’t you go live with him and leave me alone?”

Catelyn pinched Sansa’s arm. “By the gods, Sansa, you can be just as willful as Arya at times!”

She jerked away from her. 

“You don’t have many options. So, it’s either go with your Uncle Petyr, young lady, or get in touch with a marriage brokerage.”

“A marriage brokerage? To offer myself as a mail order wife?” Sansa’s nervously considered the possibility. It was an honorable way to find a husband and definitely a good opportunity…

“Petyr offered to do it himself, but I don’t like your attitude, so you just do it on your own!” Aunt Lysa hissed. "Just go on and become a mail order bride on one of those bargain sites and see what kind of monster you end up with!”

“Whoa, wait just a minute - Petyr offered to buy me outright, didn’t he?!” Sansa shouted. “And not just for my sewing skills!”

Catelyn side eyed her. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“Mother-”

“I married your father as a mail-order bride.” Her mother arched her brow.

Great, another guilt trip.

“And I married your Uncle Jon as one, the Seven rest him.” Aunt Lysa added, even though Sansa had turned her back to her. “You have a duty to your family. It’s time you made good on it.”

“We need the money, Sansa, and there aren’t many prospects up here-“ her mother gestured to the shabby conditions around them, “and Bran and Arya and Rickon need me. What would you have me do?”

“Stop being so selfish, Sansa!” Aunt Lysa shouted.

“Good gods, Aunt Lysa, even the marriage agencies give women the right to choose their husbands!”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Sansa fought to calm her temper and think rationally. Perhaps if I joined up with one of the free sites, I will find a nice man, settle in with him and who knows? Love might follow. It worked out pretty well for my mother. Less so for my aunt.

Biting her lip, Sansa thought it over. Could she really muster up the courage to reach out to a strange man? To be his wife, and share his bed? 

Sansa had already looked at a few sites, and they didn’t seem so bad; each one had ways and means to ensure successful matches. The only caveat was the marriage had to be consummated the day of the wedding, and if they didn’t get along by the end of the trial period, Sansa would need to return the money - and to the north.

Excitement and a bit of fear took hold of her, while Sansa’s silence increased her mother’s unease.

“Stop that lip nibbling, Sansa, it’s unladylike and a disgusting habit you picked up from Arya. So what will it be: go stay and work with Uncle Petyr, or become a mail order bride?”

Sansa had so little ownership of her own life since her father died. Yet today she would regain control, snatch it out of thin air, all for herself.

“Fine, Mother, I’m going to do it my way. I’ll meet with a marriage brokerage as soon as possible.”

Without a word, she picked up her tablet and left the room, leaving her mother crying over her ungrateful daughter and her aunt harping on her duty to the family.

[tomandharriet]

Farewell for now, India

A night sleeping under the desert stars was always going to be a tough act to follow, so we gave the honour to another night bus and headed to Udaipur, ‘The City of Lakes’. Udaipur is a truly beautiful city, with stunning architecture, palaces, hilltop vistas and old havelis everywhere you look. We decided that it was an apt place to up our accommodation budget and treated ourselves to a stay in a haveli hotel, complete with rooftop pool. If Varanasi is the last place anybody should start their time in India, Udaipur has to be a strong candidate to be one of the first. It has a lovely cafe culture and at times almost felt European. It’s lakes offer some great cycling routes and one is even home to an observatory!

We decided to put a couple of very old bikes to the test and they just about got us to a palace at the top of a large hill on the outskirts of Udaipur. It became apparent to us on the climb that cycling up the hill isn’t the usually done thing and as more and more locals cheered us on or just looked at us in amazement, we had no option but forget about the fact our bikes were basically falling apart and push on to the summit, where a stunning view and a gaggle of monkeys awaited us.

Apart from all the food, cafes and an excellent cookery class which will of course be covered later, we spent the rest of our time wondering around the beautiful streets or chilling back at our hotel, where we (Tom) found out the hard way that the rooftop pool, which looked so inviting in the warm but deceptive winter sun, was infact unheated! We finished our time in Udaipur with a quick tour around the main city palace. On its own we’re sure it would be pretty spectacular, but off the back of all the other forts and palaces in Rajasthan, a form of fort fatigue was setting in and we didn’t give it the time it likely deserved.

Now winding our way back to Jaipur with just a few final days left in India, we bypassed Chittorgarh, famous for.. it’s fort, opting instead to visit lesser known Bundi, off the back of recommendations from Ciarán and a guy we met in Varanasi. Being an old town in Rajasthan, Bundi does of course have its own palaces and forts, but the interesting thing here was that Bundi is significantly less touristy compared to the other places we visited in Rajasthan and much of it had been neglected as a result. When entering the fort, which was long since abandoned by the last maharajah, we were offered two options, to take either a guide or a stick, as current inhabitants are monkeys and they don’t take too kindly to visitors! After a brief demonstration, we opted for the stick and set off on what turned into a 5 hour exploration of the eerily quiet palace and overgrown fort ruins. The whole experience was actually far more interesting than walking around the well maintained counterparts found in more popular parts of Rajasthan (although Jodhpur still holds the top spot in our eyes!).

Bundi has an abundance of Stepwells. A common feature in most the places we visited, but nowhere more spectacular than here. Originally used for bathing and as a source of water, many are now neglected and in Bundi’s case, dry as a result of a mini drought starting to effect the areas water levels. Our favourite stepwell really encapsulated what we saw so frequently in India, beauty and disorder combined. With a seemingly endless network of steps, the design of this stepwell in particular was stunning. But it has also fallen into disrepair and covered with what at first glance looked like lots of rubbish. We were later informed by a local that this was Pooja, or offerings to the Gods, often consisting of picture frames, flowers and candles which cannot be cleaned up or removed.

After spending the past few days in some of India’s most touristy areas, it was really nice to spend some final time back in a part of India that wasn’t set up for visitors. One of our favourite things about our time in India was the level of interest shown by locals to our visit. Always intrigued to know what we think of their town or country. In fact we (mostly Harriet and her blonde hair) caused quite a stir everywhere we walked in Bundi and frequently found children flocking around us, fascinated by our cameras and amazed to see photos of themselves.

Bundi was also home to one of our favourite accommodations of the trip, Dev Nivas Heritage Hotel, a beautiful 400 year old Haveli with lovely staff and simple but delicious food. It also had a rooftop for kite flying, something which seemingly every child in Bundi practiced in the setting sun, in preparation for their upcoming kite festival. Naturally we had to give it a go, until it shared the fate of most kites, entangled in electricity cables, a common sight at this time of year!

After one final night bus, we reached Jaipur, our last stop in India. We knew how much we would miss the food, so spent a lot of our time here stuffing our faces on walking tours and at restaurants. Although not explicitly on a food tour, our guide on the first tour soon realised we were most interested in sampling the best Jaipur had to offer and he was happy to oblige (more on that to follow!). Between food spots, we learnt about some of Jaipur’s other features, such as Makrana marble, one of Rajasthan’s proudest exports - used to build the Taj Mahal, along with many other monuments. We found time to visit some final temples, forts and palaces, the most striking being the Amber Palace. However, it wasn’t enough to topple our front runner, Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh fort, which will likely cite our blog on next years pamphlet. We are delighted to announce that Jaipur did offer us a winner for the best tuk tuk favour stop. Just as it looked like Agra’s embroidery shop would take the crown, on our last afternoon, our driver passionately pitched a nearby block printing shop. As he had been our driver for the whole day, we decided to go along with it and were pleasantly surprised! Having studied similar methods during her art foundation course, the printing was of great interest to Harriet. The quality of their work was also really nice, so we left with a table cloth and matching napkins to remember Rajasthan by.

Food

Something that was very popular in Udaipur that Harriet got to enjoy a few times for breakfast was the aloo paratha. Made fresh to order it was a roti dough stuffed with spiced potato mash, flattened, fried in ghee and served fresh and warm. The dish would normally be accompanied with a tangy plain yoghurt and lime pickle or tomato chutney. A very comforting dish, that was such a great and simple meal to start the day with.

There was a clear highlight for us when it came to the food in Udaipur (and probably even India) and that was our brilliant Indian cookery class with Shashi. The story behind her cookery business was so inspirational we couldn’t help but feel in absolute awe of her ongoing determination. Shashi tragically lost her husband 20 years ago with three young children to look after and limited to only being able to work from her home due to being a woman in her religion. Shashi’s strength was in her cooking and slowly with support of friends, family and passing travellers she built up her company and reputation from nothing. We lost count of the number of dishes we cooked in the class. Everything from curries, chutneys, sweet and savoury breads to the most delicious chai we have tasted all trip. With the help of Shashi and her son and alongside a really lovely South African family we were continuously helping, watching and tasting for over 4 hours! By the time we sat down to our banquet of food we were already pretty stuffed but wow was it delicious. We cannot wait to start cooking some of these dishes when we get home.

One of the most interesting things we learnt on the course was that for pretty much all curry dishes they use a base sauce that they call “magic sauce”. Made using chopped garlic, chillies, ginger, pulped tomato and a combination of spices you can then freeze to use when you wish. You would think everything would end up tasting the same but that really isn’t the case. Just a really great way to add instant flavour to your curry.

We spent our time in Jaipur cramming in as many Indian snacks and sweets as our stomachs could handle. This was only accentuated during our brilliant walking tour of Jaipur, which just turned into more of a food tour of the city. Our guide lead us to the back streets of the city where they made rabri on mass for local restaurants. We saw deliciously light and fluffy naans being skilfully placed and baked inside a tandoori oven, mustard oil being made from a machine that looked like it had been running none stop for the last 100 years (probably because it had), the chilli wholesaler who could barely move in his shop for all the mountains of dried chillies and tumeric being ground up covering the entire shop (and workers) in the bright yellow spice.

However, our favourite meal in Jaipur was the poha we had for our final breakfast in India. This felt appropriate given it was one of our first meals in India, eating it before climbing the Kalavantin Durg. We do talk about this in our first blog post but for those who want a little reminder it’s a breakfast dish commonly found in the North of India. Made using flat rice, dry fried with a combination of spices and served with chopped red onion, chillies, nuts, pomegranates and coriander. Sweet and spicy with all the textures, such a uniquely brilliant dish.

India ‘Outro’

And so here we are, at the end of an era. The blog has finally reached the end of India! We’re not quite sure whether this, or the moment we actually left India is more of an emotional landmark for us. But seriously, India has a firm place in both our hearts and our renowned ‘top 5’ lists. How somewhere can be so vast, yet so warm, friendly and of course, unique, is staggering. You could spend your whole life in India and still be surprised and amazed everyday, by what it has to offer. We’ll remember it for the people, the food, the chai, the smells (good and bad) and then for the food again. Leaving India brought on a feeling that neither of us had felt before. But then we’d never spent 2 months in another country before and you learn and adjust a lot in that amount of time to the customs and way of life - and there’s so much to love about the way Indians go about their lives. We’re still sorting through thousands of photos we took during our stay, but nothing we can show or tell you about India will really do it justice until you’ve been there to find out for yourselves. And we’ll definitely be going back for more.. as it turns out sooner than we thought, back to Mumbai, albeit very briefly, for a stopover on our flight home!

Travel Jukebox - ‘Blood’ by Rhye

With the amount of night buses we took during this section of India, it’s fitting that we talk about an album recommended specifically for those occasions. Rhye’s second album, Blood, was picked by Xanthe and her suggested occasion, as a night bus album, is a perfect one.

Put simply, Rhye’s music is a treat for your ears. Beautifully soothing doesn’t go far enough. As with their first album, Woman, the album is brilliantly paced, with some excellent instrumentals supporting what is Rhye’s obvious USP, the vocal. We’re not going to share the fact that Xanthe gave us when recommending the album, because we think that it’s better you listen to some of Rhye’s music first and then do a little research into them. You’ll discover the fact pretty quickly, and then when you know, you’ve got to go and listen to the album all over again. We still can’t quite believe it’s true!

TLDR; Rajasthan gave us the perfect send off from India and could be the perfect starting point for you!

[jerome-blog1]

Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love

via

Bedtonic founder Julie Ramsay. Photo Rae Fallon.

I always admire it when people don’t merely just dream or talk about doing things, but they actually go out and give them a red-hot go. It makes sense that I frequently admire small business owners, professionals and creatives, and one of my favourite local businesses is also run by one of the nicest women. Julie Ramsay, the founder of Bedtonic, is not only a wonderfully generous person who has the most infectious energy; she also founded, in a highly competitive market where most small businesses go bust in two years, a successful, sustainable small business selling the most beautiful linens for the home (and body). On top of that, she started Bedtonic in her early 50s, wrapping her head around the complicated worlds of tech, e-commerce and social media at an age when, to be quite frank, I know other 50-somethings who can barely send a text message!

I can personally attest that Julie’s Bedtonic linen is a pleasure to have on our bed… and on my body. (Her iconic Poet’s Tunics are one of my go-to’s, particularly perfect for holidays and days at the beach).

This year we have had the pleasure of experiencing one of the new pure French flax linen bespoke blankets from the Bedtonic range too. I could probably write a blog post just on this blanket and how much I love it. Here it is, below. If you think of linen as being hard and rough, you’d be extremely surprised. Julie’s flax linen blankets are super soft straight off the bat, they come in the most beautiful colours, and they keep you so snug and cosy. It has been absolutely freezing at night this winter, and we honestly have not turned on the split system in our bedroom ONCE all these chilly nights. We pop the blanket over our lightweight doona, and the blanket is enough. It’s perfect. And it’s perfect on warm nights too – you don’t get tooo warm – and we just chuck it in the wash when it needs it. (I next want to buy one for Little Nerd’s bed… lucky boy! I believe all of my childhood sheets were 110% flammable polyester).

Our Bedtonic bespoke blanket teamed with my Euro Hawtrey cushion from Orno Interiors.

Julie grew up in picture-perfect Wanaka, New Zealand (yes, home of the famous Wanaka tree). She later moved to Australia, married her husband Donald, and they had a daughter, Mollie, spending the first year of her life on a cattle farm north-west of Perth where Donald had farmed all his life. The flat and often very dry landscape was completely different to the scenery Julie had been used to growing up amidst the spectacular lakes and soaring alps of Wanaka, but inspired Julie all the same.

When Mollie was still young, Julie saw an opportunity to start a drive-through coffee business in Broome.

“We were building our own house at the time and noticed there was nowhere for all the tradies who were starting work at seven to get a good coffee first thing in the morning! My husband said I would ‘blow my dough’ but that didn’t stop me. I started with a tiny trailer that I trucked over from Brisbane and made twenty coffees on my first day. Four years later I was making four hundred or more coffees each morning.”

Donald’s initial skepticism of Julie’s business concept disintegrated quickly and he joined her in the coffee shop. “My husband swapped cows for coffee and we worked like mad together in the business for four years,” she says. “We had incredible community support and went on to win a small business achiever award for the Kimberley region. I learnt a lot about grit and determination during this time.” In 2013, they sold up and moved to Perth to be nearer to their families.

Photo Jessica Wyld

Bedtonic began after Julie realised she was getting tired of working long rigid hours in hospitality. She knew she wanted a new job that would give her more flexibility with family life. “Mollie was put in daycare from 18 months to five, and I really wanted an online business that would allow me to be present with her more,��� she says. “I also felt washed-up in hospitality at 50 when we moved back to Perth. So I took a year off and creatively brainstormed ideas around how I wanted the next chapter of my life to look.”

Photo Rae Fallon

Julie could see the transition with e-commerce, noticing more and more people were gathering faith in buying things online, and decided to begin an online store. “This suited me with Mollie who was seven at the time,” she says. “I saw the retail environment changing and e-commerce becoming the new way forward. Removing the retail overheads was also a big tick for me. By taking the wholesale out, I could pass the savings onto our customers. Providing personal customer service in a timely manner was and still is also key.”

But what to sell? Julie soon realised her favourite business ideas related to sustainability – and her happy childhood. “Growing up in New Zealand, my mum was a seamstress,” she says. “I remember a constant stream of ladies coming in and out for fittings and alterations, with patterns and pins and Mum’s Singer sewing machine taking pride of place on our dining table. My dad had a rafting business and was involved with the conservation and fisheries department. So from a young age I was very aware of sustainability, and nature and all that it offered.”

Searching for a sustainable business idea, Julie looked back to her roots for inspiration. “I’d always loved natural textures and fibres – oh, and I LOVE my bed,” she laughs.

“It’s the place I go to escape the flurry of life. It is my sanctuary when I need to unplug.”

With both of these loves as her inspiration, she decided to create her own line of high-end, long-lasting bedding, blankets, cushions and clothing, and started researching all sorts of different fibres. “I have always worn natural fibres and before I fell in love with sleeping in linen, I was always an Egyptian cotton girl… thick white crisp sheets like Grandma’s!” she says. “But ultimately, linen won me over,” she reveals, adding that she thinks of linen as nature’s wonder fibre. “Linen is a sustainable crop. It uses fewer fertilisers and four times less water than cotton during cultivation.”

And the feel.

“I love the fact it’s soft washed (with pumice stones) which makes it so buttery soft from the first time you wear or sleep in it… it’s not scratchy like grandma’s old tea towels!” laughs Julie. “It’s so soft but still has a weight that drapes around you. It’s whisper quiet, breathes well and keeps you cool in the summer months yet warm in winter. And the garments are so well made – French seam finishes ensure longevity and durability.”

Some people think that a hotel-like bed is only possible in well, hotels. But Julie says she believes in investing (in a good quality mattress, toppers, bed linens and pillows – whatever you need) to make every night you sleep at home as rejuvenating as you can.

“We spend $200 on a garment or pair of shoes but often short-change ourselves when it comes to sleep,” she says. “And we shouldn’t – after all, we spend one-third of our lives in bed! Bed is our haven so our bedroom should be the place we go to unwind. A comfortable bed with your favourite bedding is key to a good night’s sleep.” (Perhaps a good night’s sleep every night is why she has so much energy?)

Photo Jess Wyld

Starting with only a few key items in her online shop, it wasn’t long before the name Bedtonic was well-known – now Julie’s linen products have appeared in an impressive host of nationwide magazines and newspapers and her thrilled customers regularly give her five star reviews (“Gosh, I wish we had started those reviews three years ago!” she moans) and one of her biggest sellers, her iconic poet’s tunic, has become a staple of effortless capsule wardrobes, with fans from millennials to the more mature.

“I think it’s the structure of the garment, its French seams (no raw edges) and durable weight give it an industrial, lived-in, no-fuss look and feel,” says Julie on why she thinks they are so popular. “The cut of the garment allows it to fit all sizes and it cuts across generations in appeal. They are the epitome of the capsule wardrobe staple. We hear stories all the time of our tunic being spotted in different corners of the globe. Customers wear them straight out of bed to the school gates, beach, bar and back to bed! We have customers who own up to five of them in different lengths and colours. They really do have their own cult following!”

One of the Bedtonic Poets tunics (modelled by my lovely friend Kaylie Bodeker! Perth is a small world city). Photo at Kawa Heart Studio.

So how does a typical day running her small business go? As much as Julie loves her bed, she will leave it for a hot cup of coffee, which is how she starts every day at work. “I get up for coffee – always!” she says. “I’m actually a tea drinker for the rest of the day but it must start with coffee.

“Then it’s a walk around my neighbourhood with our schnauzer Buddy in the winter, or in summer I try and swim as many mornings as I can. It’s without doubt the best start to my day. By 9.30 I’m in my home office – even though I have an assistant, Cass, there is always my nail it list to work through.

“Orders are packed by my niece who’s studying, so she comes three days a week. By 5pm I’m either ready for a glass of wine before dinner or it’s tea on the run and more work. I’m trying to make myself stop work at nights and lock some Netflix in. No two days are the same though. Next week I will be in Shenzhen visiting our makers again which I do each year.”

2019 has been a huge year for the Bedtonic team behind the scenes as they have been working on a rebrand to tie all their labels, packaging and swing tags in line with each other, they’ve introduced new eco-friendly reusable and recyclable shipping bags, and Julie has been working closely with her seamstress designing new loungewear to add to their collection. “This design process is really important for me so I can hold me hand on my heart and say this has not been copied form another store – true ethically designed products,” she says.

They recently launched three news clothing items – their Field Dress, an oversized linen shirt called the Mollie Shirt (“think big comfy pyjama shirt with large shell buttons!”) and Slouch pants, which Julie is very excited about! “They are THE most comfortable slouch pants you will ever wear with a wide ribbed top to fold over for superb comfort!” she says.

“I had friends over in different shapes and sizes when these pants were being sampled and some would say, ‘Oh no, I won’t be wearing those.’ I said just try them for me and then, ‘Oh you’re right, they are soooo comfortable’.

“I’m super excited about these pieces as they are as comfy as pyjamas but you can wear them out for coffee, lunch, to the bar and home to bed again, just like all of our Poets tunics!”

My new linen Euros with our bepsoke blanket – I love these colours together.

While Bedtonic keeps her busy, Julie also says one of the wonderful things about Bedtonic is the work-life flexibility it gives the Ramsays. Julie, Donald and Mollie, as well as their schnauzer x poodle Buddy and cat Harry (“they are best mates”) currently live in Daglish, where the human members of the family think big – and exciting – when it comes to the future.

“We sold our workers cottage in West Leederville so we’re in a transition period of renting while we plan out our next digs,” reveals Julie. “The plan is to spend six to twelve months in France before Mollie finishes high school, and then I would love a pod home on land back in the country and a weekender in Perth!” Her own interiors style is an eclectic mix of contemporary and vintage and I love contemporary art. “A lot of my furniture is repurposed, some from kerbsides or bought from travels,” she shares. “I love mixing things up and I’m not afraid of colour. I have moved so much over the years that I now loathe clutter (or maybe it’s an age thing) I really like the notion of ‘less is more’ and I hate waste.”

So what advice would Julie give to other people wanting to take the plunge into their own small business?

“You have to really hone in on what you’re passionate about,” she says. “What makes your heart sing, what works for you around your lifestyle, family, your location, etc and then go for it! If you truly follow your passion then you will not tire of it and on the nights long after everyone else has gone to bed, it really won’t feel like work at all! There is a saying that goes starting a small business is like jumping off a cliff and building a model aeroplane on the way down… true that!” Maya x

The post Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love appeared first on House Nerd.

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Posted by anneedmonsonus on 2019-10-16 13:29:18

Tagged: , Online , Guides , E-Guides , E , Service

The post Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love appeared first on Good Info.

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Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love

Bedtonic founder Julie Ramsay. Photo Rae Fallon.

I always admire it when people don’t merely just dream or talk about doing things, but they actually go out and give them a red-hot go. It makes sense that I frequently admire small business owners, professionals and creatives, and one of my favourite local businesses is also run by one of the nicest women. Julie Ramsay, the founder of Bedtonic, is not only a wonderfully generous person who has the most infectious energy; she also founded, in a highly competitive market where most small businesses go bust in two years, a successful, sustainable small business selling the most beautiful linens for the home (and body). On top of that, she started Bedtonic in her early 50s, wrapping her head around the complicated worlds of tech, e-commerce and social media at an age when, to be quite frank, I know other 50-somethings who can barely send a text message!

I can personally attest that Julie’s Bedtonic linen is a pleasure to have on our bed… and on my body. (Her iconic Poet’s Tunics are one of my go-to’s, particularly perfect for holidays and days at the beach).

This year we have had the pleasure of experiencing one of the new pure French flax linen bespoke blankets from the Bedtonic range too. I could probably write a blog post just on this blanket and how much I love it. Here it is, below. If you think of linen as being hard and rough, you’d be extremely surprised. Julie’s flax linen blankets are super soft straight off the bat, they come in the most beautiful colours, and they keep you so snug and cosy. It has been absolutely freezing at night this winter, and we honestly have not turned on the split system in our bedroom ONCE all these chilly nights. We pop the blanket over our lightweight doona, and the blanket is enough. It’s perfect. And it’s perfect on warm nights too – you don’t get tooo warm – and we just chuck it in the wash when it needs it. (I next want to buy one for Little Nerd’s bed… lucky boy! I believe all of my childhood sheets were 110% flammable polyester).

Our Bedtonic bespoke blanket teamed with my Euro Hawtrey cushion from Orno Interiors.

Julie grew up in picture-perfect Wanaka, New Zealand (yes, home of the famous Wanaka tree). She later moved to Australia, married her husband Donald, and they had a daughter, Mollie, spending the first year of her life on a cattle farm north-west of Perth where Donald had farmed all his life. The flat and often very dry landscape was completely different to the scenery Julie had been used to growing up amidst the spectacular lakes and soaring alps of Wanaka, but inspired Julie all the same.

When Mollie was still young, Julie saw an opportunity to start a drive-through coffee business in Broome.

“We were building our own house at the time and noticed there was nowhere for all the tradies who were starting work at seven to get a good coffee first thing in the morning! My husband said I would ‘blow my dough’ but that didn’t stop me. I started with a tiny trailer that I trucked over from Brisbane and made twenty coffees on my first day. Four years later I was making four hundred or more coffees each morning.”

Donald’s initial skepticism of Julie’s business concept disintegrated quickly and he joined her in the coffee shop. “My husband swapped cows for coffee and we worked like mad together in the business for four years,” she says. “We had incredible community support and went on to win a small business achiever award for the Kimberley region. I learnt a lot about grit and determination during this time.” In 2013, they sold up and moved to Perth to be nearer to their families.

Photo Jessica Wyld

Bedtonic began after Julie realised she was getting tired of working long rigid hours in hospitality. She knew she wanted a new job that would give her more flexibility with family life. “Mollie was put in daycare from 18 months to five, and I really wanted an online business that would allow me to be present with her more,” she says. “I also felt washed-up in hospitality at 50 when we moved back to Perth. So I took a year off and creatively brainstormed ideas around how I wanted the next chapter of my life to look.”

Photo Rae Fallon

Julie could see the transition with e-commerce, noticing more and more people were gathering faith in buying things online, and decided to begin an online store. “This suited me with Mollie who was seven at the time,” she says. “I saw the retail environment changing and e-commerce becoming the new way forward. Removing the retail overheads was also a big tick for me. By taking the wholesale out, I could pass the savings onto our customers. Providing personal customer service in a timely manner was and still is also key.”

But what to sell? Julie soon realised her favourite business ideas related to sustainability – and her happy childhood. “Growing up in New Zealand, my mum was a seamstress,” she says. “I remember a constant stream of ladies coming in and out for fittings and alterations, with patterns and pins and Mum’s Singer sewing machine taking pride of place on our dining table. My dad had a rafting business and was involved with the conservation and fisheries department. So from a young age I was very aware of sustainability, and nature and all that it offered.”

Searching for a sustainable business idea, Julie looked back to her roots for inspiration. “I’d always loved natural textures and fibres – oh, and I LOVE my bed,” she laughs. “It’s the place I go to escape the flurry of life. It is my sanctuary when I need to unplug.”

With both of these loves as her inspiration, she decided to create her own line of high-end, long-lasting bedding, blankets, cushions and clothing, and started researching all sorts of different fibres. “I have always worn natural fibres and before I fell in love with sleeping in linen, I was always an Egyptian cotton girl… thick white crisp sheets like Grandma’s!” she says. “But ultimately, linen won me over,” she reveals, adding that she thinks of linen as nature’s wonder fibre. “Linen is a sustainable crop. It uses fewer fertilisers and four times less water than cotton during cultivation.”

And the feel.

“I love the fact it’s soft washed (with pumice stones) which makes it so buttery soft from the first time you wear or sleep in it… it’s not scratchy like grandma’s old tea towels!” laughs Julie. “It’s so soft but still has a weight that drapes around you. It’s whisper quiet, breathes well and keeps you cool in the summer months yet warm in winter. And the garments are so well made – French seam finishes ensure longevity and durability.”

Some people think that a hotel-like bed is only possible in well, hotels. But Julie says she believes in investing (in a good quality mattress, toppers, bed linens and pillows – whatever you need) to make every night you sleep at home as rejuvenating as you can.

“We spend $200 on a garment or pair of shoes but often short-change ourselves when it comes to sleep,” she says. “And we shouldn’t – after all, we spend one-third of our lives in bed! Bed is our haven so our bedroom should be the place we go to unwind. A comfortable bed with your favourite bedding is key to a good night’s sleep.” (Perhaps a good night’s sleep every night is why she has so much energy?)

Photo Jess Wyld

Starting with only a few key items in her online shop, it wasn’t long before the name Bedtonic was well-known – now Julie’s linen products have appeared in an impressive host of nationwide magazines and newspapers and her thrilled customers regularly give her five star reviews (“Gosh, I wish we had started those reviews three years ago!” she moans) and one of her biggest sellers, her iconic poet’s tunic, has become a staple of effortless capsule wardrobes, with fans from millennials to the more mature.

“I think it’s the structure of the garment, its French seams (no raw edges) and durable weight give it an industrial, lived-in, no-fuss look and feel,” says Julie on why she thinks they are so popular. “The cut of the garment allows it to fit all sizes and it cuts across generations in appeal. They are the epitome of the capsule wardrobe staple. We hear stories all the time of our tunic being spotted in different corners of the globe. Customers wear them straight out of bed to the school gates, beach, bar and back to bed! We have customers who own up to five of them in different lengths and colours. They really do have their own cult following!”

One of the Bedtonic Poets tunics (modelled by my lovely friend Kaylie Bodeker! Perth is a small world city). Photo at Kawa Heart Studio.

So how does a typical day running her small business go? As much as Julie loves her bed, she will leave it for a hot cup of coffee, which is how she starts every day at work. “I get up for coffee – always!” she says. “I’m actually a tea drinker for the rest of the day but it must start with coffee.

“Then it’s a walk around my neighbourhood with our schnauzer Buddy in the winter, or in summer I try and swim as many mornings as I can. It’s without doubt the best start to my day. By 9.30 I’m in my home office – even though I have an assistant, Cass, there is always my nail it list to work through.

“Orders are packed by my niece who’s studying, so she comes three days a week. By 5pm I’m either ready for a glass of wine before dinner or it’s tea on the run and more work. I’m trying to make myself stop work at nights and lock some Netflix in. No two days are the same though. Next week I will be in Shenzhen visiting our makers again which I do each year.”

2019 has been a huge year for the Bedtonic team behind the scenes as they have been working on a rebrand to tie all their labels, packaging and swing tags in line with each other, they’ve introduced new eco-friendly reusable and recyclable shipping bags, and Julie has been working closely with her seamstress designing new loungewear to add to their collection. “This design process is really important for me so I can hold me hand on my heart and say this has not been copied form another store – true ethically designed products,” she says.

They recently launched three news clothing items – their Field Dress, an oversized linen shirt called the Mollie Shirt (“think big comfy pyjama shirt with large shell buttons!”) and Slouch pants, which Julie is very excited about! “They are THE most comfortable slouch pants you will ever wear with a wide ribbed top to fold over for superb comfort!” she says.

“I had friends over in different shapes and sizes when these pants were being sampled and some would say, ‘Oh no, I won’t be wearing those.’ I said just try them for me and then, ‘Oh you’re right, they are soooo comfortable’.

“I’m super excited about these pieces as they are as comfy as pyjamas but you can wear them out for coffee, lunch, to the bar and home to bed again, just like all of our Poets tunics!”

My new linen Euros with our bepsoke blanket – I love these colours together.

While Bedtonic keeps her busy, Julie also says one of the wonderful things about Bedtonic is the work-life flexibility it gives the Ramsays. Julie, Donald and Mollie, as well as their schnauzer x poodle Buddy and cat Harry (“they are best mates”) currently live in Daglish, where the human members of the family think big – and exciting – when it comes to the future.

“We sold our workers cottage in West Leederville so we’re in a transition period of renting while we plan out our next digs,” reveals Julie. “The plan is to spend six to twelve months in France before Mollie finishes high school, and then I would love a pod home on land back in the country and a weekender in Perth!” Her own interiors style is an eclectic mix of contemporary and vintage and I love contemporary art. “A lot of my furniture is repurposed, some from kerbsides or bought from travels,” she shares. “I love mixing things up and I’m not afraid of colour. I have moved so much over the years that I now loathe clutter (or maybe it’s an age thing) I really like the notion of ‘less is more’ and I hate waste.”

So what advice would Julie give to other people wanting to take the plunge into their own small business?

“You have to really hone in on what you’re passionate about,” she says. “What makes your heart sing, what works for you around your lifestyle, family, your location, etc and then go for it! If you truly follow your passion then you will not tire of it and on the nights long after everyone else has gone to bed, it really won’t feel like work at all! There is a saying that goes starting a small business is like jumping off a cliff and building a model aeroplane on the way down… true that!” Maya x

The post Bedtonic – A Local Linen Business I Really Love appeared first on House Nerd.

from Home Improvement https://house-nerd.com/2019/10/16/bedtonic-linen-win/