Lazy Sunday Afternoon....

When I was a teenager, the Small Faces had a hit with Lazy Sunday Afternoon. All these years later I really got to experience such a Sunday afternoon. Today Mark & I joined with our good friends Allen & Lindy O'Grady for a quiet lazy late lunch at Moo Moos wine bar and restaurant in the city. Moo Moos were one of the many unfortunate business's that went under in the Brisbane flood. Now back up and running it just has to be Brisbane's best steak restaurant. Late last year Mark did some food photography here and it was he who introduced me to Moo Moos. If you're looking for a great place to dine.. you won't go wrong here. (Mark grabbed a picture of Lindy and me with the "Wall Street Bull" outside when we were leaving.)

Our newsletter sale at the boutique is flying along and we have been very busy at the shop. Remember our factory rebate on Amoena bras finishes on the 30th so with the Easter & Anzac day holidays there are not a lot of shopping days left in which to take advantage of this sale.

Debra

A new product and a new video!

Something a little more positive after my insurance company rant of last week. (Although I do have more to say about that!). I have just posted a movie to Youtube featuring our new mastectomy singlet top. Have a look here!

Debra

Like a lot of others... our insurance company ran away.

After the floods here in QLD, a lot of poor people found out that their insurance wasn't worth the paper it was written on. It's all because of the way the insurance companies determine the meaning of flood. Now my theory is that the water fell from the sky.. it's that simple. While our boutique itself wasn't flooded, we did have the issue of no access to the building and when we did get in we had no power or phones. Because of this we literally couldn't trade for around 2 weeks. Of course we had "Business Interruption" Insurance which we purchased through AON Insurance Brokers. The insurance itself was underwritten by Chateris Insurance.

After we were back to normal, we lodged a claim. On no less than 4 times, the loss assessors contacted us and asked for the same material to lodge our claim. Each time it was a different person... and the whole process started again. Sort of like trying to fix your phone with Testra.. only a lot worse. So today.. they advise us they have knocked back pour claim. Why? Because the problems we had were caused by flooding and not storm damage. Can you believe it??? The storms caused the flooding! To say that both Mark and I are shattered is an understatement and our hearts go out to all those who are also doing battle with these uncaring corporate bookies.

So it gives me no great pleasure to advise any fellow business owners out there to avoid both AON Insurance Brokers and Charteris Insurance at all costs. When it came to the crunch.. they were inefficient and couldn't run away fast enough. We are sure there are other bad news insurers out there. After all, birds of a feather flock together. But for our money.. avoid AON and Chateris at all costs if our experience is anything to go by.

Debra & Markl

In case you're wondering why we were closed ...

In case you're wondering why we were closed this morning ... the police came along and did a drug raid on One Park Road this morning! We and all the other tenants were "asked to leave" while the fire brigade cleaned out all the gear and the chemicals. It would appear that a man in his thirties with an office upstairs was to quote the police)"helping them with their questions". He is known around the area and this might send him away for a long time....

All is back to normal and we're back in action again!

Debra

An interesting forum

Our local Federal member of Parliament, Teresa Gambaro invited me and a lot of other small business owners to a small business forum to be addressed by Tony Abbott and also his opposition small business shadow minister. Around 150 people gathered at Bronco's club tonight where we had the chance to ask questions of the opposition leader and some of his team. Small business is the driving force of Australia's economy and Governments of all persuasions ignore it at their peril. Therefore it was pleasing to hear tonight that the conservative side in politics is understanding of this and the very special challenges that small business faces. Nobody goes into small business to get rich... you do it because you want to be in charge of your own life and in my case I truly want to help our special ladies. Teresa Gambaro is a lovely lady and I reinforced to her the importance of maintaining the external prosthesis rebate program that currently is in place.

Our new newsletter should be in your letterbox in the next few days and you will find our specials on Amoena bras in there as well as some other new and interesting products.

Debra

A Windy Sunday reflecting on February

Another Sunday.. and it's windy here in Brisbane. Sunday is a day of taking it easy in our household. Mark usually takes me out for breakfast and then an easy day around the house follows. And we like to take Dorothy down for a walk along the river. Even though today was windy I enjoyed the walk.. as did Dorothy. And it's good to see the River Cats back again too. (Although there is still a lot of rubbish floating down the river)

Walking along is a good time to think about things and clear the mind and today I was thinking about February just gone. Slowly Brisbane is getting back to normal after the flood although a lot of people are still waiting for their insurance companies to get their act together. And at the Boutique we have heard some amazing tales of how people were affected and how they coped with the flooding. The human spirit is an amazing thing!

I have had Mark busy photographing some products in his studio for our April newsletter; which goes to print this week. We are featuring two new prostheses from Amoena. It looks good.. stand by! Also in February my dog Dorothy had to have surgery to remove a cyst from her head. My grateful thanks to Dr Allen O'Grady from Albion who took care of my baby for me. And of course as mentioned in a previous post, my uncle and aunt surprised me with a weekend visit from Melbourne. They are a delightful couple and we love their company so much. Many thanks John and Pauline.

Talk soon.

Debra

There's nothing like family!

The past weekend was a really happy event in my life. My husband Mark had arranged for two visiting American motorcycle riders to stay with us for the weekend while they awaited the arrival of their bike from the USA. Imagine my surprise when the arriving "Americans" turned out to be my favourite Uncle and Aunt from Melbourne. They had secretly flown into town to spend some time with us. It was just fabulous.. they shouted us dinner at our local Chinese on Saturday night and it completely took my mind off the past few weeks dramas with the shop. There is nothing like family to cheer you up. John even helped trim a small tree that was out of control at home.

(Picture.. me with Aunt Pauline)

Thank you so much John & Pauline!

Debra!