Welcome to the Real (chicken) World

Just 3 days ago we rescued 10 battery hens from imminent death. Every year the battery farms discard their egg produces after 18-20 months and sell them off for next to nothing to the producers of dog food or chicken nuggets. Knowing the state they are kept in we were very apprehesive about their condition and if they would survive even the trip home.

Survive they have - and then some!! These girls are finally getting a chance to see what being a chicken is all about. For the first time in their lives they have felt the warmth of the sun, scratched in dirt, walked on grass, eaten bugs, flapped their wings, been rained on and had more space to walk around in than they know what to do with.

Being Vegan we wont be eating any of their eggs but will be giving them to friends or selling them to clients if and when the production increases. Each night since we got them we have taken our picnic blanket and glasses of wine and sat in front of their cage and watched their antics. And some people say animals don't have personalities! They have obviously not watched a brood of chickens working out their pecking order.

I am already planning an extension to their coup - having resuced a few more than originally planned they are fighting for the best positions. The best part about our chicken coup is that it is relocateable and we can move it around our property. Unfortunately I doubt we will ever be able to let them roam completey free around the acreage as there are too many foxes and hawks around, but also 2 of our 3 dogs are just taking too much interst in them (well, at the moment that is).

On the work front, I have been updating the DIVA Consignments site as more girls are sending through their pre-loved suits. If you have anything that you no longer need or want for competitions why not consider getting it listed at DIVA CONSIGNMENTS . You have never been to Diva you can check out the site and see what other girls are listing.

I have been gradually updating most of the pages on the STYLE ON STAGE website too and these will be published very shortly. It is a mammoth task and as some of you know, working on your own website/s is time consuming.

I will post again soon, with news and updates from both sites and let you know how our new girls are going!

take care

Back in blogland!

How awefully disgusting is that - over 10 months since my last post. I am mortified - but also a little amazed. Just goes to show how busy I have been throughout 2009.
I am finalising all the left over orders that girls don't want or need until 2010 and Allison and I are taking some time off to do 'STUFF' together. Today was new car shopping, tomorrow is vegie patch and garden stuff, and I think Sunday is 'cleaning out Jo's storage room' day. That one will be a mammoth undertaking, it is full of shoes, fabrics, lace, apparel, and pretty much anything that doesnt fit elsewhere! On top of that my ebay store was officially closed during the year and I am still to go through the stock that is left over and make final decisions on what to do with it all!

One of my last posts mentions my daughter graduating highschool - and I thought I felt old then! She officially moved out of home the other weekend and is living with her best friend at North Lakes. She has been working full time now for the Optical Superstore as an Optical Dispenser and is quite the independent woman! I think we have seen her a handful of times this entire year and the next time we get together will probably be Christmas Eve. I might have to make a trip into Brisbane to have lunch one day before then. Geeze, I even have to check her facebook page to see what she has been up to!

Ok, news on the Style on Stage front.... things are growing beyond all expectations and as most know, I had to close orders very early this year to ensure the orders I aldeady did have got completed and delivered in time. I can tell you there were some close calls. I had 80 bikinis that were all needed for the one weekend - 40 for a show here in Brisbane and the other 40 needed for shows on that same weekend around Australia. You can imagine how fratically I was working to get them all out - and then that just set me back for suits were needed in the following weeks. All in all I think I did close to 200 bikinis in that July-October period and was still conducting 30-50 hours of posing sessions a week. It all equated to a lot of sleepless (literally) nights.

But honestly, how many businesses these days can say they have had to turn business away? I am so thankful for all my clients and realise that without them (you) there would be no Style on Stage.

Once again, I have a few things in the pipeline to mention soon, but I am just getting the finer details all perfect first, so keep an eye out for some news and information right here!

On that note I have three hungry canine critters that are wanting their dinner so I had better say goodbye. I would like to promise I will be posting more regularly but I have been told that I shouldnt make promises I know I cannot keep, so I will just say "I will do my best!".

Take care
Jo

A Good Start to a New Year

I certainly hope you all had a more exciting New Year's celebration that we did. We just aren't really into the whole 'Happy New Year' thing. We snuggled up with each other and a glass of wine to watch a movie or two and then headed off to bed around 10.30pm. That suited us both just fine. And what is even better, is to find out we weren't alone! I have had a few clients admitting to similar NYE's.

So what is happening on the SOS front?? I have a bookload of orders to begin and quite a few orders that were postponed in 2008 for various reasons. So after having a good amount of time to chill and relax, I am back into it all officially tonight. I started cleaning off my work table so that I can see just a teeny bit of wood (lol) and made a list of orders that need working on first.

I still need to do a stocktake of my men's posing trunks and to make sure I have a good starting quantity of swarovski crystals as well as finish going through all my fabrics (and trust me -there is heaps and heaps of it) to decide what I want to keep and what I would like to sell off on ebay.

Yes, I have had an ebay store for years now - but as SOS got bigger the time I had to stock my ebay store diminished. There are still a few things on there - mainly dance and lace trims - but I have sold posing shoes and posing trunks on there in the past. With the increase in Ebay's charges and rules & regulations it is very nearly time to opt out and when that happens I will be announcing my newest online store..........

Oh, I am not going to tell you about it yet. There are one or two people out in Blogland that know already but for now I will keep it a secret. Just keep an eye on my blogs and facebook groups and you will find out oh so soon enough.

So, enough procrastinating for tonight. I have a bikini to finish and a few others I would like to commence. I feel the creative juices starting to bubble again and I cannot wait to start producing some beautiful suits for you all to wear!

Mwah!