Early bloom
Getting organised for my 20 Days challenge to get this house in order
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Heading for my morning walk with TBM
Early bloom Getting organised for my 20 Days challenge to get this house in order
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![]() Today I committed a cardinal sin. I cheated…on my hairdresser! I can hear you gasping at the thought of changing the one person apart from yourself that you trust with your doo, and yes, I felt the sameway. There was nothing wrong with my previous hairdresser I need to put that out there, but I had came across my new hairdresser, Mooch, online through a networking group. A strange place to find a new hairdresser, but I didn’t care, her prices were fantastic (about half of what I was paying) and she was from Scotland, a big bonus for me being from there myself. I also knew she would be well trained as most hairdressers from the UK have a very different training than they do here. So I took my courage in both hands and called her up, after a quick chat I booked in and this morning I made my way to her funky home salon, crossing my fingers my hair would look better coming out than going in. OK I have to be honest, it couldn’t have looked much worse than it did, 2 months since my last haircut and my ‘boisterous’ doo was well out of control. I had grey hair sprouting at a horrific rate and instead of growing down it had started to grow out the way, so my style had a closer resemblance to a pyramid of hair rather than a long bob.
After chatting about what I needed done - cut and colour - Catherine gently persuaded me to try foils to help hide my natural highlights (i.e. grey hair). Never having foils before I was game to try (after the said persuasion) but had a few requests, I insisted I wasn’t to go blonde and they had to be fine enough so not to give me (or TBM when he came home) heart failure. Two hours later I was done, coifed to perfection and very happy with my new look, Catherine even managed to persuade me to grow out my fringe for a change of look. All I can say is if you feel you need to change your hairdresser do it. Find someone you think you will be happy with and give it a try, the worst that can happen is that you need to go back to your old one looking sheepish (but hopefully not looking like a sheep) and get them to fix it. Sometimes it pays to be bold and I am so glad I gave it a go! I’ve been wanting to write a blog all week, but my week has been sooooo boring I have had no inspiration to get my fingers on the keyboard and share anything with your guys. Do you have weeks like that? I have done more housework than I care to think of to ease the boredom, I even baked AND ironed clothes, yes I was that bored.
I didn’t even have TBM at home some nights this week to help entertain me as he’s been working so much. To keep me from falling asleep at 7 o’clock, and believe me I could if I put my mind to it, I have been looking for some fun blogs to read. I thought I would share a few of them with you so you have other things to amuse yourself too. From China Village This is lovely blog from an American Lady living in Dublin with her husband. She blogs about everyday stuff, Dublin and crafts. Currently Coveting I love this blog! Erin, the blogger, has great style and shares her outfits with you. Makes me feel inspired and excited that spring is on it’s way in Oz so I can get out of my lazy girl jeans. Woogsworld I’ve been following Mrs Woog for a while and she rocks. She has a very funny take on life and makes me laugh most days. Would love to hear if you have any favourites so I can add them to my reading list! Do you still get the odd scary dream waking you up from your nigh time slumber? Last night I had a creepy dream about ghosts, I didn’t think much about it apart from launching myself back into bed after a trip to the loo in case a ghostly hand grabbed me and pulled me under it. Once I got back into the warmth of my bed I snuggled down and got back to sleep with no more spectral disturbances. Fast forward 5 hours and TBM told me he had a creepy dream too… almost exactly the same as mine!
When he described his dream it brought back the memory of mine, lights were whizzing about in a room in our house that we were watching in a monitor, kind of like Most Haunted, without Yvette Fielding shrieking like a banshee. Unlike Yvette I was not up for going into the room to experience the ghosts/energy balls in the flesh, but TBM was ready to go in and sort it out. In his dream the ghosts were playing with the lights and ended up turning them off. I wouldn’t go into the room they were in but he would and the light balls formed a screen and started to talk to him. A wee bit too similar for my liking! I have never had a similar dream to anyone I know on the same night they had it before. We weren’t watching spooky stuff on TV, TBM had been working till 10 and I was watching a movie with Meryl Streep who isn’t scary in the slightest. I wonder how common an event this is, has it ever happened to you? Do you think it we have had a ghostly visitor in the night and I should find a bible or garlic from somewhere?! How's your week been? Have you squeezed in some time for you in amongst the hustle and bustle? I love to read, it's total escapism for me and this year I set myself a bit of a challenge to read better books. I read a lot, but generally lightweight books that take not time at all to get through. I enjoy them but I felt it was about time to get back into a slightly better class of books. I just finished The Great Gatsby and loved it, the language was fabulous, so rich and interesting and now I’m hooked. I downloaded On the Road for my next classic read and can’t wait to get stuck into it. I’ve noticed a bit of a theme in my favourite things for the week…food! I love a nice snack, a tasty brekkie or delicious lunch and this week I got my hands on some food loot from back home. Hula hoops, fudge bars and some fruit pastilles. Good job I have been going to the gym! Are you loving the recent weather as much as me? Winter is slowly being replaced by warmer weather and you almost feel like Spring is round the corner. I’ve seen some blossom on the trees and it was so warm on Thursday I didn’t even need my cardigan on when I was at a client meeting at Little Manly. Tip of the hat to you Spring! Sometimes you need a bit of encouragement to get out and exercise in the winter. To help things along I like to combine exercise with a good gossip and this week I caught up with a friend who had been overseas. A walk from Queenscliff to Shelley Beach and back gave us plenty of time to catch up on each others news and burn some calories while we were at it. TBM has to work today, and I’m feeling like I’m getting a cold so what better way to spend a Sunday than watching movies? Confession of a Shopaholic is filling my afternoon and I’m looking forward to Julie and Julie tonight.
Hope your week has been filled with fun and frivolous things that have made you happy! Shopping for food is one chore I could do without, obviously I can’t or we would starve, but it’s the one chore I really grudge doing. I especially dislike going to the shops when it’s busy, there are so many annoying people there! I break them down into four groups
The hunter gatherers. These are possibly the most annoying people in the shop, they abandon half filled trolleys at random places and go off in search of something they have forgotten. I think next time I go to the shops I will grab a few small things and just throw them in abandoned trolley so they get a nice little surprise when they get to the check out. Maybe some haemorrhoid cream would do the trick… The ditherer These shoppers have no idea what they are after and stand at inconvenient places looking around for god only knows what. Generally of the male gender these clueless individuals probably shouldn’t be out of the house on their own, never mind trying to fill a trolley with food for their families. The wanderer Closely related to the ditherer they wander from one side of the aisle to the other, blocking all attempts to get past by anyone who wants to move faster than the pace it takes to read every label on the shelf. Can also be found to stop at exactly the place you want to get something and go into dither mode. The conjoined twin These shoppers enter the store at the same time as you and follow you round, often shopping for exactly the same thing as you so you can never get to what you want without having to wait. Impossible to avoid when one appears, and you have to be polite to them the whole way round the shop. The argy bargy I almost admire these solo shoppers, they know what they need and are brutal at getting it charging through the crowds happily knocking into you to get to the object of their desire. The first to snarl at someone who is rude they are the rudest of shoppers themselves. Thank god I have signed up to Aussie farmers and only need to go to the shops for a few things these days, maybe if I can get more organised I won’t have to go to the big supermarkets at all! Wordless Wednesdays are when you just share photos of your day, so here are some photos of my day :)
Every time I open the fridge something silver and shiny winks at me in the light. Diet Coke, my nemesis, something I have been trying to get out of my life for quite a while. I have tried (and failed) to stop drinking the stuff on several occasions now and decided to try again last month. I don’t drink tea very often and never drink coffee, I hardly ever even have a glass of wine so my only vice had been this caffeine laced drink. I have colitis, which is an inflammatory disease, and found out that caffeine can be a big contributor to inflammation. On top of this news there are plenty of people out there who say it’s bad for you in other ways, I don’t know about that, but I figured I had been feeling pretty crappy so it was worth a go, I only ever had one can of it a day, how card could it be? I had tried to stop drinking Diet Coke several times in the past, but always thought I should ‘give it up’. The thing that made a difference this time was I changed my mind set about it, I decided that I didn’t want to drink it any more, rather than give it up. I figured if you feel you are giving something up you don’t really want to stop doing it, if you decide you no longer want to do it you have a much better chance of stopping!
Fortified by this new way of thinking and allowing myself to have a drink of it if I really wanted one meant I wasn’t giving anything up. I was stopping it, changing my habits and didn’t need it in my life any more. After 1 week I noticed a big difference, I felt better, less bloated and had a bit more energy. I had a drink of it while at the movies one night and felt really wired as I wasn’t used to the caffeine buzz! I’m now 4 weeks into it and slipped last week by opening a can. I managed 3 drinks from it and felt so sick that I poured the rest of it down the sink. I can’t say I’ve kicked the habit, I sometimes want to have a drink of it when I open the fridge and see them standing there all shiny and tasty, but I know how bad I will feel after it so remind myself it’s not worth it. So now I have to think what’s next in my big diet clean up, booze has gone (for now) caffeine has gone too. My acupuncturist suggested going wheat free or maybe dropping sugar and see if that helps any more. Not sure I could give up my choccie or toast though! Well peeps it’s been a slightly better week than last, I’ve even cracked a smile or two and had a giggle thrown in for good luck.. Anyhoo, things are getting easier and I wanted to share some of my favourite things this week with you to help your week end (or start) with a bit of inspiration to enjoy the small things. Top of the list is my visit to the MCA in Sydney. The Museum of Contemporary Art blew me away, I will be going back very soon to spend a bit more time looking at the fabulous things that pop in, and out of, talented people’s minds. We were sent the most beautiful flowers by the ladies at Moggie and Doggie who looked after Angus when we went on holidays. They made me realise what an impact our wee man had on other people, so this is as much a celebration of him as the flowers themselves. The Olympics is not such a small thing, it has had me on the edge of my seat on several occasions and I am so sad that they are nearly finished! Very proud of my home nation (go Team GB you out did yourselves!) but disappointed for the Aussies who had such high hopes. Oh and I loved the games Google had on their home page each day, even though I was a bit crap at them… A lovely new top, my friend P gave me this beauty for my birthday and I can’t wait for it to be warm enough to wear (I have 3 layers on today so it might be a wee while!). It took a while for us to catch up after my birthday, but finally we got to sit down for a cuppa and a laugh at her 1YO and his antics. Last but not least... I ran 5K today! Yeah I know a lot of people ran the City to Surf today, but 14K is a loooong way off for this little lady and I was impressed at managing 5K after a very long break from running. Next week I’ll try it again and see if I can do it any quicker. Would love to hear what made you happy this week, did you scoff a tasty cupcake, go somewhere unexpected or hear from an old friend? Feel free to share and give me some ideas on what to do next week!
They say you can only write from experience and that’s not going to come from sitting in my ‘office’ dwelling on the random thoughts that go through my head. So on Wednesday I did something different, I headed into Sydney town on the ferry to have a bit of fun. It started out as meeting a facebook friend who was over from the UK to have a bit of face to face time, but I decided to make a day of it as I don’t go to the city center that often. I met the lovely Eilidh Milnes (check out her website or facebook page) and it was like a blind date! We had met on facebook through a friend and had arranged to meet while she was in Sydney, I can say what a lovely woman and what an inspiration. She is a very well respected speaker about confidence and gave me a well needed boost just by her enthusiasm for living. After a cuppa and a quick dash to take a photo with the Harbour Bridge in the background, Eilidh had to go to meet another friend for lunch. It was too early to meet my TBM, who was my next date, so I got out my kindle and read my book soaking up the sun for a while with the tunes of a fantastic busker in the background soothing my stressed head. Next stop lunch, TBM promised me a burger to remember and we headed to The Grand Hotel to indulge. TBM had said the beef burger was fab but I went with the falafel burger, big mistake! I had a bit of the hubster’s burger and spent the rest of the meal with serious food envy! Next time it will be mine… Lunch over and done with TBM headed back to work and I made a beeline to the Museum of Contemporary Art. If you have not been here you HAVE to go (and it’s free so your hip pocket won’t complain). The different types of art inside this building were amazing, from a very cool installation as you went in that played music as you walked under it, to paintings and sculpture it was all amazing. There were a few things that made me think, eh? But that’s what’s so good about art, you don’t always have to get it to enjoy it! I’ll definitely be heading out on more trips like this on a Friday when I’m not working, it’s good for your head to experience new things and it’s fun to be a tourist in the place that you live. Not sure where my next trip will take me but I’m open to suggestions!
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