Day 8 - The "mbwngtm" challenge: We made it.

Arran and I have both been on an 8 day challenge. He doing the Great Southern Brevet (a couple of good photos of Arran riding in the snow today. Idiot). Me ensuring Aiden and Charlie survive the week while writing a blog update each day.  Not sure who had it the hardest but at least I had a comfy bed each night and easy access to wine. We both finished our challenges today.

Walking Aiden to day-care this morning and walking home again I wondered what I would talk about today. My last post of the "my brain will not go to mush challenge". I hadn't been inspired yet. I didn't have any "bad mummy" stories, as my sister puts it, nor any other amusing tales. Maybe my brain has gone to mush? As I sat down to write I hoped that something would come to me. And it did.

At the end of a project, or when a goal has been achieved, it's good practice to look back, to reflect, and to contemplate.  What did I learn? What could I have done better? I didn't know if I could write everyday. Would I have the time? Would I have the discipline? Would I have the material? Would I get bored of it? I used to hate writing. It didn't come naturally, so would forcing myself to do it everyday take the fun out of it?

So here it is:

• I can write a blog post about just about anything, or nothing. Not sure this is a great life skill, but there you go.
• The most popular posts are the ones where I tell you about stupid things I do or life happenings. The amount of people who make comments about these posts or tell me face-to-face how much they laughed makes me wonder if I should move into stand-up comedy. To tell you the truth sometimes I'm killing myself laughing, laughing at how dopey I am, while writing them.
• I still like writing and I like working out how to take photos that look good on the blog to illustrate what I'm talking about. I might need some new camera lenses. Just saying.
• It's easy to find the positive in most situations.
• I felt confident enough to enter a blog competition with this post here
• I probably won't continue to write a blog post everyday but will try to blog a bit more regularly
• I am actually a pretty organised person, despite what my family think. I'm able to achieve lots more than most people in a day. Cool.

I wonder what Arran would say he learnt on his 8 day challenge? Would he agree with this list?

• He still doesn't listen to what his body and his bike computer is telling him
• He missed the boys (and me hopefully) more than he thought he would
• It can be really cold in NZ in summer
• It's hard to sleep when your feet are cold and wet and you don't have a pair of warm, dry socks.
• It's not a good idea to ride into the snow in the middle of the night
• His Spot emergency beacon thingy actually works. Yes, isn't it nice to be called in the middle of the night by someone in an American call centre to tell you that Arran has activated his "Spot" and they can't contact NZ search and rescue? And I'm supposed to do what?
• He still loves Mountain-biking
• He owes his wife big time.

2011 The year that was....

It seems to be a tradition in many families to put together a newsletter detailing the last 12 months activities, to send to their family and friends, usually in a Christmas card. Well I’m crap at writing Christmas cards. I often buy a pack of pretty cards with the very good intention on sending them. Some years I have even bought stamps! As a result I have quite a good selection of cards.

During 2011 I started writing a blog and got a really good camera so I have combined the two. Consider this your Christmas and New Year greeting plus family newsletter from Arran, Aiden, Charlie and I. Here are some highlights!

 

Aiden learnt to ride a bike

We went to the park a lot and had fun on the slides

We went to Brisbane for Mum’s 60^th Birthday

Mum and Dad at the Party

Aiden had fun with his cousins in Brisbane

Jordi, Aiden and Marley

 We went to cafes and restaurants

Me on a work trip in Singapore - Gotta love chilli crab!

 Winter in Sydney was very cold. We had to "rug up"

Marley and Jordi Vaggs (the cousins) came to visit with their parents Emma and Brett

Emma, Aiden, Marley and Jordi

The Vaggs: Brett, Marley, Emma and Jordi

We went on some road trips

And read some books          

I started a blog

Aiden got his hair cut

One of the times he didn't throw a tanty

Said goodbye to the mini  *sob*

Had some great photos taken by Andrea Thompson and wrote about it here

  

Had a little break

Read some more books and kept clean

Did a photography course

Played with some trains

 Went swimming

And went to the museum

Practised my photography skills

Did some stuff around the house

Practised some more photography skills

Played with some dinosaurs

Got some new summer clothes, which seemed a little premature (bloody Sydney weather)

Went to Bondi Beach

Met a birdy

Had some toast

Welcomed Charlie

Took a trip to Bowral

Went to playgroup at Vision Australia

Went to a cyclo-cross race

Arran in action

Had some more toast

Hung some art

Salvage chic!

 Thanks to everyone who follows my blog. Happy New Year. Looking forward to 2012!

Floral Fever

When I first moved to Sydney I got a job in Human Resources for a large global company. My direct manager was an Aussie expatriated to London. One year for my birthday she sent me flowers from Grandiflora in Potts Point. OMG! I had never seen flowers, or an arrangement, like it. Incredible sculptural and unusual flowers. When Arran and I got married I wanted flowers for our wedding from Grandiflora, but they were closed over the Christmas period, (we got married on the 28th December) and they recommended another amazing florist (who unfortunately I can't remember the name of). The flowers made the (very) hot and humid day. They helped create a beautiful space for the wedding and party. 

The following two photos were taken by Andrea Thompson of our wedding flowers. You can read a bit more about Andrea here or view her website here.

For my birthday this year Arran bought me a digital SLR Camera, a Canon 60D and a digital SLR course with Sydney Photographic Workshop, which I completed in October. The course was great and I highly recommend it. I practised some of my new skills on a road trip to Parkes. The next two shots I took in Orange at this lovely old park we stopped at on the way. You can see it was spring when we were there. All the flowers were in full bloom.

The other three shots were taken at home when I was doing some more practise.

 

 

So why all the shots of flowers? Mum bought me this amazing book for Christmas, by the florist Saskia Havekes from Grandiflora and it inspired this post. It details some of the large events she has styled flowers for. The book is called "Grandiflora Celebrations". I have just finished reading about each of the events and drooling over the glossy shots, in between looking after Aiden and Charlie and getting ready to go on holidays for a week. It strikes me that Saskia is much more than a florist. She is really an artist and architect who just happens to work with flowers as her preferred medium. Her writing is also "blog-like". It is like she is having a conversation with you about each event and some of the challenges. Very inspiring.

 

Christmas Lunch - BBQ at the Beach

This year we stayed in Sydney for Christmas. We usually travel to Brisbane to be with our family but this year, with the arrival of Charlie we decided to stay put. We were invited to friends, Simon and Julie’s for Christmas lunch, an invitation that no sound person would decline. I have written about Simon and Julie’s cooking prowess before. You can read about them in this post.

Simon and Julie had been planning and thinking about Christmas lunch for about 3 months. They often trial meals before they cook them for guests and spend much time sourcing the best ingredients. This year they settled on the theme “BBQ at the Beach”, maybe because we are holidaying together soon at Mollymook. The menu was traditional at heart with twists of an Aussie seafood Christmas. Julie's brother helped out with the cooking and we ended up eating ourselves into a stupor on the delicious fare.

Lunch under construction on a wave-board

Roast pork sandcastle, surrounded by oyster rocks

Turkey breast roasted with prosciutto on a bed of 'sand' cous-cous.

Luscious and tender. 'Seaweed' spinach rounded out the meat platter 

Confit turkey leg and fresh tiger prawns

Black pudding 'rocks' and marine garnishes round out the presentation

My favourite shot.