Emma

Even if you’re not familiar with the name, Billie Justice Thomson yet, there’s every chance you’ve admired her work. It might be her sign writing and iconic food imagery painted on a shop window, or her joyfully unpretentious illustrations in print. Deceptively simple and laced with humour, Billie’s distinctive style has a nostalgic, kitschy appeal and is both a celebration and documentation of the every day. Now based in Adelaide after a stint in Melbourne, Billie originally studied Visual Art at the University of South Australia. While the move east paid off, with her career growing relatively quickly and very organically, Billie was drawn back home for a quieter life after six years. “I felt like it was an easy decision in the end,” she says. “The reasons I left Adelaide were the same reasons I came back,” she reflects. Speaking from her Thebarton studio, the move proved serendipitous; meeting her partner and then welcoming a cheeky baby boy, Marvin, nearly a year ago. “I always knew I wanted to be a mother. Of course I was appropriately nervous in the lead up to his birth, but it felt really natural and special and I didn’t think that being a mum would be this much fun,” she says. Juggling a thriving art practice with the demands of parenthood comes instinctively to Billie. While her partner shares the load equally, motherhood has made her “much more efficient”! It’s a skill that will stand her in good stead given her client list already spans the likes of liquor behemoth Dan Murphy’s, to iconic Australian fashion brand, Gorman. A recent series of commissions for Gourmet Traveller is especially important to Billie. They represent a career-long ambition to collaborate with the pre-eminent foodie bible and one that came post-baby after moving back to Adelaide – two life events she felt could potentially hold her back professionally.   With a number of varying and exciting projects in the pipeline, other key commissions are on the cusp of fruition; most notably as one of Australia’s leading artists featured in the Qantas Curates initiative. Her quirky Fairy Bread illustration will adorn the amenity kits for Qantas business class on international flights. “[It’s an] art exhibition at 38,000 feet!” she says. In keeping with unusual gallery spaces, her most recent exhibition to date, Home Paintings was shown at her local pub, The Wheatsheaf Hotel. The highly personal and witty domestic paintings reflect what Billie describes as a kind of ‘manic nesting’ period before Marvin’s arrival. “I was nervous and be too tired to paint,” she says, “Home Paintings felt like a last-ditch effort to get as much work done as possible, and it was only when I stood back that I realised how home-centric the paintings were,” she says. In a case of art imitating life, the themes of homeliness, comfort and domesticity that thread throughout her body of work have spilled out into her actual art practice. Her first at-home studio enables her to make time for painting without compromising time with Marvin. “My world feels like it has shrunk and in the past I wouldn’t have liked it, but now I love it,” she says of working from home. A subtle shift in what motivates and inspires her as an artist has been a happy side-effect of motherhood too. “It’s for Marvin,” she says. “He makes me want to work harder and to make sure I do what I love.” billiejusticethomson.com @billiejusticethomson Meaghan Coles Photography 

@dannii.odonnell There is so much delight to be found in becoming a Mum and getting to know these tiny little humans who have turned your life upside down. As you unravel their little personalities, you learn how they like to be held, what makes them laugh, and what makes their sweet minds whirl with excitement and curiosity. It is a joy to witness, but, if you’re anything like me, just as you feel like you’re really getting to know Them, you realise you have forgotten all about You. Self Care: it’s a simple concept. It means, doing things for yourself that make you feel good, physically, mentally and emotionally. Then why, when we become Mothers’, does this become so, damn hard? Immediately, our focus shifts from our own needs, to the needs of our kids and any forms of Self Care are abandoned. Before you know it, you can barely manage to shower daily, or brush your teeth, let alone fit in a yoga session, or a leisurely beach walk. Me time, becomes a thing of the past. Personally, I know that one day, very soon there will be more time for Me. But for now, it is about making do with the limited time that I’ve got and seizing any opportunities for Self Care, no matter how small they may be: like sitting down with a hot cup of tea and taking a few deep breaths while the kids eat their breakfast. A quick stretch on the yoga mat while they nap, or a long, hot shower once they’re in bed. These acts may seem small and insignificant but they bring a sense of calm to the chaos of my days and remind me that I too, am important. I profiled four Adelaide Mum’s for an honest look at what Self Care means to them, how it’s changed since having kids and how they make it happen, as they navigate their way through the early years of Motherhood. Georgy Keen – Mum to Clancy, one. @georgykeen What does Self Care mean to you? For me, Self Care means putting time aside from obligations, work or daily duties (the endless to-do list) to do something small for myself that benefits me physically, emotionally and mentally. It means that caring for myself is just as important as caring for all of my loved ones, and when I am feeing recharged that the whole family benefits, win-win! Has your approach to Self Care changed since becoming a Mum? My approach to Self Care has changed since becoming a Mum as before I had my daughter, I had a tendency to be a bit of a martyr when it came to having a clean and tidy house and everything organised and in order. Being a Mum has forced me to relax a lot more with things I cannot control and be okay with the fact that my life is rather chaotic and messy – and when you can only muster 20 minutes to yourself at the end of a long day, it is TOTALLY okay to put my own Self Care needs before those crappy chores. I think as women and mothers we have this incredible, innate ability to multi task but it can often be our undoing. So often we are cooking, tidying, baby wrangling, washing, working, micro-managing our to do lists, liaising with friends and family and trying to keep everybody happy, seeing everybody that needs to be seen in order to maintain relationships, making sure we are providing our babies with enough stimulation and learning opportunities. So if we need to power nap when opportunity presents itself, we need to embrace that opportunity sans guilt. Own that nap. How do you incorporate Self Care into your daily life now that you are a Mum? I have always been an early riser and I take my mornings very seriously. I love that time I have alone before my husband and daughter wake up to feel calm and collected. I often start my day at a time most people would cringe at, waking up and making a pot of coffee and getting organised for the day. I try to get to the 5:45am F45 session 3 times a week, which lets me have a good sweat before my husband heads off to work at 6:30am. We live very close to the beach so one of my favourite things to do is take my dog for a walk along the beach to see the sunrise, and listen to a podcast or a favourite playlist. I feel best when I am eating whole, natural foods so I try to have a fridge and pantry stocked with snacks ready-made, like boiled eggs, cut up veggies and home-made dips which make time poor days that tiny bit less stressful. I try to squeeze in this prep time whilst making dinner (queen multi-tasker at it again!) Alana Spain – Mum to Ayla, two. @lovelightandlife What does Self Care mean to you? To me, Self Care means taking time out for yourself to nourish your body, mind and soul. Has your approach to Self Care changed since becoming a Mum? Since becoming a Mum I’m a lot more time conscious as well as money conscious, which is reflected in my Self Care routine. Self Care used to involve expensive massages and facials, long baths or long walks, but now it’s little things like a face mask here or there, or sitting down to paint my nails during nap time. Some days even putting a hairbrush through my hair is a Self Care win. Just little things that make me feel a bit more human again. How do you incorporate Self Care into your daily life now that you are a Mum? Once Ayla is in bed I always try to take at least a bit of time for myself after cleaning up the mess that has been made throughout the day. Sometimes I’ll sit down with a book and cup of tea or do

Finding Your School Mum BFF If there’s anything I’m grateful for in life, it’s friends. And Nutella. Mostly Nutella. But as I’ve grown older [and older, and older] I’ve realised that different friends perform varying but equally vital functions in your life. Some friends, you might have an unspoken agreement with to pluck out each others moustache hairs should you wind up in a coma [resulting from being forced to listen to your son talk about bey-blades, for example]. Or to delete your browser history upon your unexpected death, because no one’s legacy should be how many hours they’ve spent googling “poodles wearing pants”. Some are friends who might really, truly commit to pretending the floor is lava when you’ve declared “the floor is lava”, when other, lesser friends might act like it’s not, even though you clearly just said that it is. And if you’re lucky, you’ve probably met someone along the way who would spend the necessary amount of time searching for the perfectly filtered picture of you on your Instagram to give to the police if you went missing; because if you’re gonna be on the news, they know you’re gonna wanna look like the best lit freakin’ Valencia version of yourself with just enough dialled up highlight and dialled down sharpness to make you look damn good but also enough like yourself that the police will still be able to recognise you when they eventually find you lost in the kids craft section of Kmart. One of the newest brand of friends I’ve come across in the last couple of years, though, is the school-mum BFF. She’s that one mum who you’ve met at school drop off or an excursion or around the playground after pick up time that just inherently understands your need for 5pm wine and calling your kid an asshole behind their backs every now and then. We’ve all got one [a school mum bff, not an asshole kid, well actually… probably both]. If you’re lucky, you’ve got a few. Finding a school mum BFF is like getting that long straight piece in Tetris. You’re just like “ooohhhhhhhhh yeahhhh, things about to get GOOD”. Here’s how you can spot one: 1. You like their kids and they like yours. And I have it on good authority that kids can be pretty difficult to like. I don’t even like my own kids half the time let alone someone else’s. You know you’ve really connected with someone when their kid accidentally spits half chewed jatz biscuits in your face while telling you about the Lego Star Wars Sandspeeder he just built and you don’t even bat an eyelid let alone recoil in disgusted horror. 2. You’ve seen each others houses, even when they look like your floor has been converted into a [sticky] agility course that’s been custom designed by a three year old to kill you in your sleep. You both understand that you will one day clean your houses. And by clean, I mean drink wine and spray everything with Febreze. 3. You’ve seen each other in your natural states. No I don’t mean nude. This is not #dickheaddean from Married at First Sight’s poly-amorous fantasy life. When I say natural, I mean ugly. 4. She can tell off your kids and you don’t feel like cutting a bitch. 5. She’ll tell you you’re not a shit mum and/or a shit human. Or that you are when you need a cold hard honesty bomb dropped on you from a great height. 6. You pick up each others slack. You’ll look after her kids when she’s running late for pick up or remind her its Harmony Day and they have to wear orange to school, and she’ll have enough snacks in her tiny handbag to feed your three hungry children who have the appetites of five thousand, when you can’t even manage to remember to bring all their water bottles. 7. She doesn’t judge you or get a “tone” when your kid acts like a jerk. She might even make excuses for them to make you feel better, even though really she knows they’re just being a jerk. Your kids are equal assholes, she gets it. 8. She’ll offer to help out when you’re suffering “mum flu” [similar phenomenon to “man flu” but no one gives a shit]. 9. You actually accept her help when you have mum flu instead of insisting “no no, I’ll be right” and soldiering on through the sheer and utter misery that is not being able to breathe with your mouth closed whilst simultaneously having to run around after the tiny army of miniature humans you created yourself that never appear to be able to find their own shoes. 10. She automatically hates the kids that are mean to your kids. When you text her to say some little twat face year 2 called your daughter ugly in the school yard she texts you right back with “right, who do I have to kill?” 11. You also know inherently which selfies are appropriate for social media and which aren’t 12. She knows what you’re thinking from across the school yard dependant on who you’re talking to, what facial expression you have and what you’re doing with your arms, without you even having to say a word. 13. You can have spontaneous catch-ups without having to spend 3 weeks scrubbing the dried weetbix off the bench top or hiding all the superfluous rubbish in the laundry ahead of her arrival. Usually you need at least a months notice before doing anything spontaneous. 14. You understand and respect the rules and boundaries you both have for your children even though they might be different. Like she won’t let your 6 year old son watch Jurassic World for example, no matter how much he reassures her he’s allowed to despite the fact that he gets scared and has to leave the room when Mr Todd gets cross in Peter Rabbit. 15. You’re honest with her about your opinion on those really uncomfortable, expensive shoes

School holidays. They are a blissful break from those chaotic mornings spent packing nude food lunches and finding matching socks, library books and overdue excursion forms while screaming so loudly that your neighbours can hear you but your teenager (deeply immersed in maintaining her Snapchat streaks) cannot. For working parents, however, a new daily challenge presents itself, with an arguably higher degree of difficulty. That challenge is to provide the adequate level of supervision and stimulation for one’s offspring so that their back to school report does not read, ‘In the holidays I sat at Mummy’s work on the iPad and ate Barbeque Shapes.” It is in these moments that I ask myself why I didn’t become a teacher like my mother, so school holiday cover was automatically sorted. Then of course it dawns on me that controlling my own three children is such a stretch most days that multiplying the number of small people in my care by ten is probably not a sustainable or safe career path. So we set about juggling days off and calling in favours from family and friends and somehow we always manage to conjure up something resembling school holiday fun. We schedule the odd play date so that on their return from Susie’s house they can declare that Susie (names have been changed to protect the innocent) has 67 Shopkins and we only have 33. This may or may not be because I have been known to bin them if I step on one in bare feet. Sometimes we might venture to a playground. But I find there can be mothers there who have packed grapes in zip lock bags and whipped up a dip in the Thermomix and I find this altogether too damaging for my already fragile parenting self-esteem. We have a swing at home and also grapes. Well, grapes that have been crushed into wine. And Gaganis Bros tzatziki. I do actually enjoy hanging out with my children during the holidays. I try to spend some one-on-one time with each of them. We go on an ice-cream, sushi or shopping date and I ask them about their hopes and dreams and they ask me what it was like growing up in the olden days when phones were connected to the wall and you had to hang up if someone needed to surf the world wide web. These school holidays though, we have used that under-rated planning system known as a diary and applied for a few days off. My friends invited me to go camping. So I started a list of what I would need. 1. New friends. I did not make that joke up. Unfortunately I also did not make up the fact that I am going camping. For real. No toilets. No showers. No power. No 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi. Pray for me. And let me know what I’ve missed on Instagram. But we will be making some quality family memories. And gathering some excellent material for that back to school story: “And then Mummy said to Daddy pack up the tent, we’re checking into a hotel. The End.” School Holiday Tips Spend a day cleaning out the children’s wardrobes and toy box and do a run to the Salvos or your charity of choice. Teaches kids to help those less fortunate while decluttering. Win win. While you’re rifling around in cupboards do a school uniform stocktake so one does not discover on the first day back at school that the winter uniforms are way too small. This happened to a friend of mine. (Ok, it was me) Try to book a one-on-one activity with each child of their choice. Support a local children’s theatre production. Take a road trip. Try lunch at Patch in Stirling, milkshakes at 21 Junk Street in Yankalilla, fish and chips at the Flying Fish Café at Horseshoe Bay. Don’t compare the quality of your school holiday activities against that of other parents on social media. Not having a craft box/baking day/museum session does not make you a bad parent. I hope. Coffee and wine help. @rebeccamorse10

With seven children between them, Edited Interiors co-founders Nadia Yelland and Caroline Owler know just how much an organised home can contribute to a happy family life. Meeting when their children started school together, the pair soon discovered a shared passion for creating beautiful homes and interior spaces. After years collaborating on styling and organising their own homes it was time to turn their hobby into a business. Thus, much to the delight of their friends and family, Edited Interiors was born. Edited Interiors now offers home styling, product sourcing, editing and organising. “We are professional organisers and stylists who believe that style and organised go hand in hand.” Nadia Yelland. Caroline and Nadia’s top tips for an organised and stylish pantry 1. Use clear storage containers. Decant items like flour, sugar, rice, pasta, nuts and cereals into clear airtight containers. They make it easy to see what you have left and what you need to stock up on. 2. Like with like Use storage bins or baskets to group similar things, such as snacks or tinned goods. Also try to keep together items that you use together, like baking goods or spices. 3. The right containers for your space Look at the space you have and choose your storage containers accordingly. Although large baskets and delicate glass jars might look great in a large walk in pantry it probably won’t be suitable nor functional in a small pantry. Aesthetically, stick to two or three types of containers, bins or baskets as this instantly helps to make your pantry look and feel more organised. 4. Lazy susans / turntables Lazy susans and turntables are perfect for storing sauces, oils and spreads you use frequently and are also great for those under-utilised corners in the back of the cupboard. 5.Labels Label as much as you can! Labelling all your containers, baskets and canisters helps to make sure items are easily identified and everything has a home. Edited Interiors  Instagram: @editedinteriors Facebook: @editedinteriors