The Word.

Happy Australia Day! Do you have any plans? I’m heading up the coast to spend the day with friends, which should (rain or no rain), be splendid.

Often I find that Australia Day feels more like New Years Day – that after the hurried jumbled thing that is the first few weeks of January I’m only just ready to start mapping out the year ahead.

Last year, I followed Susannah’s lead and chose a word for 2011 – Action, and I think I lived up to it. I found a job I wanted to commit to and an apartment to buy – stopped dabbling so much and started building a life I think I can be happy with long-term and use as a base I can keep building from. This year, the word is Explore. Creatively, personally and professionally, I want to have my eyes wide open every day, recognise what matters to me and go for it. The action of last year, particularly moving, consumed my attention. It was important to do, to have that base, but it also narrowed my gaze. It’s time to look ahead, look around.

On the back of the envelope my friend Louise sent my Christmas card in, she wrote ‘always keep a weather eye on the horizon.’ It’s staying on the fridge as a reminder.

My Year Without Snacks.

I know it’s crazy, this coming on the heels of a post about cake (of which, let’s be honest, I had 2 3 slices), but please indulge me with a little suspension of disbelief while I tell you my proposal for a year without snacks.

As the clock ticked over into 2012, I didn’t make any new years resolutions, but on my return to work I did quietly resolve not to reach for The Snacks. My office is a particularly snacktastic place. We have a tuckshop with an honesty jar, well-stocked with freddo frogs, fantales, gummi snakes and more. There’s a jar of ‘crack nuts’, a mixture of cashews, peanuts, rice crackers and pretzels of which I am particularly fond. And when we work late there are ‘heroin chips’, plain salted crisps we scoff by the handful, along with maybe some doritos and a glass or two of wine.

We work hard, and we are rewarded with snacks. It’s not bad, and yet, it’s not so good. And my clothes have been getting a little tight.

I’m cutting other snacky rewards back too, cause they certainly haven’t been ending at the office door. Late night treats of chocolate, crisps and wine have become a fixture, a signal that the day is done; it’s time to relax and unwind. I started in on that years ago, whenever mum was in hospital, then in palliative care – dad and I would get home late from visiting, exhausted but unable to wind down without a glass or two and a snack. Then, it was a necessary comfort; now it’s just a bad habit.

Now, I’m not cutting snacks out completely – that might work for a couple of weeks but long term I would be Doomed to failure. DOOMED. But I want to get the treats back to an occasional – not daily – thing. When I was little my mum would buy a chocolate bar maybe once a month, and cut it into quarters to share with me and my brothers. And it was so great, a proper treat. That’s the kind of routine I want to get back to.

The inevitable 3.30pm hunger pangs are now being met with a piece of fruit, which I’m actually not hating. I’ve stopped having sugar in my tea, which probably adds up to a tablespoon less per day. If I’m hungry after dinner, there’s low-fat yoghurt and if I’m seriously craving something savoury late at night I’ll have a le snak.

Le snaks, if you’re not familiar, are 3 crackers and some cheese – a perfectly portioned savoury something. No, it’s not gourmet, but if it was, let’s say, some heavenly triple cream brie and crackers – there’s no chance I’d be able to stop after just a couple. I’d probably demolish the lot, along with half a bottle of wine. I’ve stopped the wine on school nights too, unless I’m out with friends. That’s probably the hardest one, as it’s taking me longer to fall asleep, longer for my brain to stop chattering, but that’ll settle down eventually, right? It’s ok if it takes a little while. I’m playing the long game. And apparently using sports metaphors. This whole no snacks thing could have all sorts of consequences, but I never thought a sports metaphor would be one of them. I’ll try not to let it happen again – don’t want to replace one bad habit with another.

Chocolate & Raspberry Cake.

What did you get up to this weekend? I got a lot less done than planned, but in a good way. I was going to do a whole lot more stuff in the flat, but I just wasn’t in the mood, and I’ve been itching to turn the oven on and start to get acquainted.  I’ve made this cake a couple of times before, so I began with that. Knowing how it should turn out was handy, and it went pretty ok, I think, though maybe a little dry – nothing a little cream wouldn’t fix. I added raspberries too – pushing them into the batter just before it went in the oven. You can’t go wrong with chocolate and raspberries.

A Scrumptious Spoonful.

Just before all my house-moving craziness kicked into top gear, I had the pleasure of spending a day baking and photographing a scrumptious Hummingbird layer cake for issue 06 of Spoonful zine. The recipe, by Katrina, is a piece of sweet indulgence, all too easily scoffed with a good cup of tea.

As well as the recipe, this issue of Spoonful is jam-packed with goodies – words, images, and crafty lovelieness. Something to be savoured and re-read. Check it out!

New Year.

Hello lovelies. Sorry for the lack of posts; that was a longer break than planned, as there has been so much happening hither and thither. But there is a rosy sky outside my kitchen window and I can feel energy and words gradually returning.

See you soon!

xo

A Brief Intermission & Some News.

::: Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball ::: via Awesome People Hanging Out Together :::

 

Hello lovelies! Just a brief word to say:

1. Sorry for the absence. Just a couple more weeks and then (hopefully) me and my tippy tappy fingers will be back.

2. I bought a flat! I probably should have told you that bit first. That’s why I’ve been gone. I got the keys today, so now it’s actually, really properly mine, so I can tell you without jinxing the whole operation. I’m moving in in two weeks, after I’ve had the floors and walls spruced up. Exciting! Scary! Awesome! Eeek! Hurrah!

 

xo

Weeks 41 & 42, 2011.

Gentle reader,

Isn’t that a lovely way to start a blog post? It’s how The Shy Lion starts all of his. He’s a crafty chap, and his lastest post is titled ‘If you don’t love books you’re dead inside‘, which is obviously the best title for a blog post, ever. Go see!

I have other good things for you, too!

::: A life in writing.

::: Good financial advice.

::: An important voice.

::: Jess (for the gilmore fans)

::: One of my favourite places in New York City.

::: Comedy gold.

::: Bite off more than you can chew ::: (below) ::: via Girl From The Corner Table

Happy Monday! xo

Week 40, 2011.

My head is elsewhere. It’s with a flat I saw yesterday, which I’ve been considering. It’s nice. It’s fine. It’s got nothing wrong with it, apart from the tiniest kitchen in the land which would probably drive me completely mental, but apart from that, it had a nice vibe and I’d probably be comfortable enough. But it’s not The One, I don’t think so. Tell me, how sure should I be? Given a supremely limited budget – how much compromise is ok – how much is too much?

I keep promising myself not to rush any of this, but I’m feeling such incredible pressure. I wish I had someone to nut through all of this stuff with.

Thank heavens for hot cinnamon doughnuts and hot ginger toddies.

Today I decided to completely clear my google reader. I’ve had what must be 2000 plus unread items build up, and it’s been driving me a little crazy, knowing it’s all sitting there. So I marked most as read, and unsubscribed from a bunch, but I still couldn’t help from dipping in here and there, and I’ve found a handful of lovely things for you. Yes.

::: A blanket.

::: Honey and toasted nutmeg ice-cream.

::: Somehow I’d managed to block out from my brain the fact that I have some nutella in the cupboard, but this reminded me. Yum. I know what I’m having for breakfast tomorrow!

{Can you tell I’m fairly intensely into comfort eating at the moment?}

::: Beautiful porcelain.

::: Less is more.

September.

A couple of seconds ago I heard a loud whooshing noise, kind of like a train that doesn’t stop at your station. That was September. And now we are already a week into October. Weeks 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 39 have all flashed by – how did that happen?

I’ll tell you how – I’m flat out flat hunting (thanks for that one, Yassy!) – looking for somewhere to buy, somewhere to call home. And it is all consuming, truly it is, full of ups and downs, hopes dashed only to be followed by new hopes, hot on the heels. I’ve seen seen about 20 places so far in the flesh (and hundreds online), but I haven’t found anywhere yet to make an offer on. Oh my.

So forgive me for my absence. I’m horribly tense and tired at the moment, and don’t have 2 spare brain cells to rub together and say something coherent to you lovelies. But I miss you lot, I do.

Want to see some pretty pics of what I imagine my future home might look like? I’ve got a cracking good pinterest board going on, if I do say so myself. Mmm, yes.

 

Spring Blossoms.