The Wedding Planner

I have a wedding to go to this weekend. It is spring here, but the weather is being unpredictable - tops range between 21 and 31 degrees at the moment. This means that although I will wear a light dress (it's a beach wedding) I will need a cardigan. I am thinking about a silver sequined one.

As for shoes, I still want these, but clearly that is out of the question, so I have to find something else.


I have also decided, if I can find the time, to have a manicure! I never paint my fingernails (the last time was my own wedding) but I love the short dark nails here, so I'm going to see if they work on me.

True Romance

For years I have been assiduously collecting pictures from magazines and keeping a file of What My House Will Look Like.

Reality, sadly, is no match for fantasy. In my dream house, I have a big kitchen, with plenty of space for everything, including my rather large antique French oak dining table. In the house over the fence, I barely have room for the necessities. This is what it looks like at the moment.


But I am willing to 'refine' my possessions so that I can have, at the very least, a decent fridge and a decent cooker.


This is my fridge. Apparently it is smarter than some of my ex-boyfriends (and definitely more attractive). It's so clever it needs its own plumbing.

Before I can put the fridge in, however, I must get said plumbing. And a floor.

Just a couple more photos so that I can remind myself - when it's done - what it looked like. This is poor Phoebe's room ...

The Strong Life Test for Women

Work avoidance? Possibly. But I did this quiz that was on The Huffington Post and the results were uncanny.

The Trouble with Harry

The Trouble with Me is that I want clothes that have nothing to do with the life I live.

My weekday generally goes like this: Get up (grumpy), shower, throw on jeans and a top, pack lunches, get children to eat breakfast, get child/ren to school, go up to studio and write. At the end of the day, it's much the same, except in reverse and there's dinner and homework involved.

Weekends are a similarly glamorous whirl of kids' sport and housework.

I want to wear dresses like this:


when my life is more like this:

Happy Feet

Back to the topic of happiness, it seems even world leaders have been thinking about it. Apparently Sarkozy has been talking about a happiness index instead of GDP - an interesting topic briefly covered here (the comments are also worth reading).

Closer to home, we sent a bit of birthday happiness to school with Phoebe this morning. We're not supposed to send in whole cakes and I think I will scream if I see another cupcake, let alone have to make and decorate 33 of them ... I really don't understand the whole Cupcake Thing.

Oops, I went off on a cupcake rant. It's been a long week.

Back to the title of this post - since it's Happy Feet, I have decided that what would make my feet happy is some new shoes for summer. For some reason I'm very taken with silly colours right now. So I've been checking out these (I have a silk top in the same colour)


and these (and I HATE yellow)


or the ever-useful silver.


I have even been considering the humble espadrille


(probably NOT in pink), but maybe I'm getting carried away with the warmer weather and straying into frump territory?

Apocalypse Now

This is what my street looked like at six o'clock this morning. Not the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, but a dust storm blown across the state by gale force winds. Even more extraordinary than the orange sky was the blue sun - no photo, unfortunately.

Walking around it's like wearing an orange filter, so the blue in everything is highlighted - trees and grass are an eery blue-green and Phoebe's eyes are bluer than normal. There is a layer of orange dust on absolutely everything, including the rabbits! Plans to hang washing on the line have been derailed.

Back to the normal world, I promised to report on my success or otherwise yesterday:


1. The Tardis got finished. It is wonky and weird, but we built it from scavenged stuff and masking tape, so it has an excuse.


2. The baby was happy. So happy it didn't even notice its mother was absent for three hours. Is it bizarre that my youngest is not quite 9 and I'm already looking forward to grandchildren?

3. The profiteroles were horrid. They looked pretty enough, but I'm not sure they were edible (I was so full by then I didn't even try; my mother left one on her plate, which was a loud and clear THESE ARE DISGUSTING message). Normally a kitchen failure would drive me to despair, but hey, life's too short.


4. Dinner was lovely (apart from the profiteroles). I had duck and pistachio terrine, pork fillet with lentils and the cheese platter. I thought I might explode. The almost birthday girl had steak and frites (and ice cream). And escargots, of course. This is the child who doesn't eat egg, mashed potato or tuna ...

5. The floors are progressing, but I didn't get a photo. Other people's houses-in-progress are dull in the extreme, I imagine.

The Commitments

I am a little overloaded at the moment. It's partly because I have a number of big jobs on for several different clients. And it's partly because I am prone to overcommitting, not because I am a nice person (I'm not) but because I WANT to do everything.

I normally do come through with what I promise, but sometimes at the expense of my own sanity. Today, for instance, I have a deadline on a job and a phone conference briefing for another job; I am also finishing creating a Tardis as a prop for the school musical; I have agreed to look after a friend's baby while she goes on a job; I agreed to make a croquembouche for Phoebe's birthday dinner tonight; I have to check that the contractor in the new house is going ok with the floors.

To help motivate myself, I will photograph what I manage to achieve, except the work ...

Happiness

Lots of bloggers have been talking about happiness recently, so I thought it might be my turn.

I don't think of myself as an UNhappy person, but I'm the first to admit I'm not always cheerful. I'm easily frustrated (a trait shared by my son) and sometimes find it hard to let go of things that are bothering me.

Life has thrown up some challenges over the last few months and I know I haven't met them with anything of the grace and good humour I would like. But I do keep trying to see the sunshine.

So, a top 12 of things that make me happy, in no particular order (if I added lists, it would be 13, so I won't):

1. Putting plants into our new garden with Little Miss Sunshine, who tells me that she LOVES gardening and that she can't WAIT for her strawberries to fruit. She speaks in capitalised words, truly.

2. The fact that LMS is the most naturally happy person in the world. It can't help rubbing off on me sometimes. She had a very difficult start to life - born at 26 weeks, 102 days in intensive care - and yet her capacity for joy is something to behold.

3. Talking to Mr Almost a Teen when he's in the mood. When he's not being monosyllabic, and we're not fighting (note the similarities in temperament), I love listening to my boy. He has a lovely mind. When he was three, he said to me 'Mummy, if you could taste the sun, it would be melted butter'.

4. Watching Andrew dedicate himself to teaching the kids things like riding a bike, throwing a baseball, catching a ball, etc. Even when I can tell he doesn't really want to do it, he does. Because he wants to be the best dad in the galaxy (which is what Phoebe calls him).

5. Listening to the kids this morning, talking about what they will eat for Phoebe's birthday dinner tomorrow night - 'I want snails for starters and I'm having the cheese plate for dessert'. Music to a foodie parent's ears.

6. Watching them in the kitchen with my mother. Every child should learn to cook something with their grandmother, especially if she writes cookbooks.

7. Catching Andrew and Phoebe pulling up in the car with the music on full blast, singing their heads off. I don't tend to like loud music, so when it's just the two of them, they really cut loose.

8. Talking about books and movies with Andrew (except when he asks me the plot of a novel that a) I have only just started or b) doesn't really have a 'plot').

9. Cooking a special meal that takes hours on a Saturday afternoon, just for the four of us. Or cooking food for a big party of friends.

10. 'Getting' (mind and body) a yoga pose that challenges me. It's a flow thing.

11. Reading a book (or a poem or anything) where a sentence or even just a phrase resonates so strongly that I think 'that's EXACTLY how I would have put it'.

12. Watching both the kids, curled up on the couch, totally engrossed in books.

Se7en

The Seven Deadly Sins. Wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principle. - MK Gandhi

If only one could live up to such lofty ideals.

Less lofty ideals, well, I have a few of those too. One of these is to grow some food in our small inner city backyard. Generally, spouse is more amused by than interested in this concept.

But last night, he said to me and the small one 'let's get chooks at the new house'. Knock me down with a feather, etc. So chickens we will have. Phoebe has been researching chickens on the internet and is determined to have a bantam. She doesn't eat eggs but maybe having her very own laying hens will change her mind.

Of course, this is some way off, given that we probably won't move in until January or February, but it's exciting making plans.

She's Gotta Have It

I don't diet. But way back when I was in my late teens or early 20s and tried a couple of times, I noticed that the minute I decided I couldn't have a certain food, it was all I wanted.

Resolving not to buy anything unnecessary is the same sort of thing. Suddenly I NEED a white/cream blazer for summer, some metallic sandals, a couple of new scarves, maybe even a new suit for those occasional corporate moments ... or a maxi-dress.

Of course I don't need any of it. But I confess I snapped up a pair of True Religion jeans when they landed in my email inbox at a staggering discount. They are this cut, but not this wash or this stitching. And, miracle of miracles, they fit 100% perfectly, except for length. How many women out there wear size 25 jeans and are 6ft tall? I just have to wonder, given how LONG these are.

Tomorrow, apparently, I have to buy a bath. I'd much rather buy some more clothes or shoes or books ...

The Lost Weekend

It was a weekend of house stuff, mostly pulling out dreadful plants that having been growing wild for almost 30 years. On Sunday afternoon we did manage to have a small gathering of sorts - we invited all our current neighbours to come and have a look at the new place and drink a glass of bubbles with us. The picture above is our (haha) 'water view' from the upstairs living room, which has improved slightly since the large daytura (Angel's Trumpet) has now been removed. I must add that the mess at the bottom is the neighbour's backyard, NOT ours!

It was fun, and was the only time on the weekend when I wasn't dressed in ripped denim shorts and a faded, paint-spattered Nanowrimo t-shirt. Obviously enough, things sartorial were far from my mind, although the very warm weather (30 degrees on Sunday) did bring out everybody's summer wardrobes.

I celebrated by donning white jeans - so impractical, which is why they always feel slightly glamorous to me. I noticed when dashing up to the shops for supplies for Sunday afternoon that the maxi dress was EVERYWHERE. I'm still not sure about it. I can see the appeal but I'm not sure it's something I could do ... maybe because I'm too 'petite' (just say SHORT, people!). Or maybe because I'm not great with prints. Hmmm.

The Big Easy

Inspired by my inability to finish anything right now, I bought more yarn ...

I love the look of this simple cardigan, which is sort of a shrug with a bit of body added to it, so I decided to splurge. The sage colour is this picture is beautiful, but I worried that it might not go with enough things. I bought grey. Am I terminally DULL?!

Changing Lanes

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. - John F. Kennedy

Today [this was written yesterday] is the day I get the keys to the new house. So it seems wonderfully fitting that my daily 'meditation' email was the quote above.

Of course, moving over the back fence is NOT a big deal. I've had much more momentous changes in the past. In fact, I used to be an itchy feet sort of person. Maybe that itself has changed?

Before this house, the longest I'd lived anywhere as an adult was almost four years - and that was our apartment at Bondi, which preceded this place. I think part of it is having kids. The big one is deeply averse to change; the little one is happy wherever you take it, but both of them love our area. We are part of the community, what with school and baseball and soccer and swimming ... and bumping into at least five people you know every time you go out. It's hard to break with that just for the sake of it.

I wonder whether it will change again when the kids leave home and we are empty nesters? Will we move again - I like the idea of a small house or apartment in the city and a small block of land in the country - or will we be SO habit-bound by then that we DIE in the same house!?

9 to 5

I know I'm lucky because I don't have to go into an office every day. I know I'm lucky because my work is something that fits my skills, indulges my love of solitude and pays reasonably.

Here are the Top 3 things I don't love about it:

1. Clients who think that they are writers. They brief you. You write exactly to brief. They change it all, with particular attention to adding words and syllables, then send it back to you so that you can take in their changes. You wonder why they hired a writer in the first place. You grit your teeth and bill them.

2. Clients who don't know what they want. They don't brief you. Instead, they call you in for meeting after meeting. You make suggestions. You submit proposals. They still don't know what they want. You go ahead and write something anyway. They discover what they DON'T want - which is, of course, what you've just written. Grit teeth. Bill.

3. Clients who think you sit around all day waiting for their call. They ring you or email you and say 'I need some help with this'. You say 'Fine, I can get it back to you by ...'. 'Oh no', they say, 'Actually I need it this afternoon.' You wonder how long it has been sitting on their desk. Depending on how often they pull this stunt, and how many other client sins they commit, you grit teeth and get it done, or say 'sorry, no can do'.

I am really complaining a lot at the moment, aren't I? I probably just need a slap and a good shake. Or as a friend of mine used to say 'Remember - at least you're not plucking chickens in the Western Suburbs'.

The House of Sand and Fog

Lordy, that was a sad movie. Then I read the book (I normally do it the other way around) and it was more than sad. It was bleak beyond belief.

So, a cheery introduction, no? I'm feeling a bit like that today. This morning I went (in the drizzle) for a final pre-settlement inspection of the half house we've just bought. It seems to have got even smaller than last time I looked at it ...

I have been dying to get the keys and get started on fixing it up, but my enthusiasm seems to have waned. I hate shopping because there are too many options, and I get overwhelmed - it seems to be the same with this renovating lark. Just as I think 'yes, I'll do it like that' some helpful person says 'oh, but have you thought about THIS?'.

Looking on the upside, there is a strange room that we have decided to call, rather pretentiously, the 'library'. In the short term we'll just pile all our bookcases in there - nine at last count; longer term we'll build them in right up to the ceiling and have one of those cool library ladders. The library also has a working fireplace and french doors onto the internal courtyard, so it's potentially a fabulous place to curl up with a book or some knitting ... there will be NO television in there.

Home Alone

I've just been in Perth visiting my oldest and dearest friend (we grew up together in Singapore) for a few days, which was great fun. While there I cooked a huge chilli crab lunch for family and friends and much eating, drinking and laughing was done by all.

Although I had a fabulous time, I did miss my people, and was very happy to see them all last night. This morning it was back to the airport again, dropping my mother off to catch a plane to visit her sister for a week.

So right now, for the first time in weeks and weeks, I am in my studio, all by myself. It is almost disconcerting ... I may even have to do some work.