Swimming Pretty in the Glass-Half-Full 2012: Day 15 (Sunday 15 January) -

Today I finally packed away all the Christmas stuff.

I had pulled the tree down during the week one night while I watch two episodes of Eureka - yes I think I missed the whole point of chilling and relaxing and watching my favourite TV show - and mostly organised things neatly around, not in, the red and green boxes I used to store things. So today it all got re-sorted (after many years of me just packing things into the nearest box) so all the tinsel is together in one box with the baubles and lights - no searching through 10 boxes to find it all! - and all the ornaments without boxes were all in bubble wrap and together.

It was feat of massive reorganisation my friends, and helped greatly by a Darrell Lea milk chocolate reindeer that lost its life to make it all happen. He died a good death.

(Oh and by the way a great way to lose weight. I sweated like there was no tomorrow!)

Once showered, I made up a new dish - Paprika Chicken on Quinoa (a South American protein that is a protein not a carb so I love it!) - and it actually turned out really well. Not that I thought that at first since I was in a bit of a funk over the car and everything looked less than pretty as a result. Turns out it tasted good, and everyone (my gorgeous guy and my house mate Aidan) loved it.

Swimming Pretty in the Glass-Half-Full 2012: Day 8 - I cleaned to get control

Yes I did.


Feeling completely violated and angry by the theft of my car, I suddenly needed to clean up my room, and start tidying things. I knew exactly why I was doing it but since it didn't involve 'cutting', excessive calorie consumption (although the white chocolate bear I got for Christmas from my gorgeous guy's mum did lose its life rather quickly mid afternoon) or graffiti of public spaces, I went ahead and let the impulse take me where it wanted.


By the end of the cleaning binge, lots of financial papers (the ones on the bed) were neatly sorted, I have things sorted out into easy to file piles and the bedroom look much tidier. I even started pulling down the Christmas decorations on the cupboards, doors and bookcases resulting in this brightly-coloured Christmas plush toy funeral pyre.


Time to tackle the tree which goes drown tomorrow night...

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 364 - Delayed gratification and the art of biding my time

Another chilled day - brunch with Waz at South End cafe (the pea and haloumi pancakes of course) then I bought my new TV at JB Hi-Fi (thanks to the very friendly, helpful Robbie)! Well picked it out at least... they were out of stock so the actual purchase didn't take place till the Saturday...

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 363 (Thursday 29 December) - Lazy days of summer

After a frantic, but delightful five days with our families, today was very much a chill day with the only major activity being brunch at Cafe Valente in Dulwich Hill.

So nice to just kick back...

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 362 (Wednesday 28 December) - Putt putting our way back to Sydney

One last lovely day with my gorgeous family before we jumped on a plane - not literally of course; I have eaten too much over the last week to even contemplate doing that - so we headed out to Summerland House With No Steps for putt-putt golf (which Zara adores), lunch in the cafe and playing in the water park (well Zara and Chelsea anyway).


A perfect day and a lovely way to say goodbye to everyone before the flight later that afternoon...

My gorgeous guy is very good at putt-putt gold because he is  patient and takes his time; unlike slapdash me!

Still I did manage to do a hole in 1 almost immediately and then my game went into free fall.

Zara loves putt-putt golf and loves to do everything herself.

She takes great care to get the ball into the hole but if it doesn't go in, or is too difficult, she simply picks it up, and puts it in the hole!

When you hit the ball into this one, the chicken clucked until the ball came out the other side.

Zara observing my guy's technique.

Maddy putting to par.

Martin riding the tractor that starts up but goes nowhere.

Another victorious hole for my guy.

Zara loved the tractor.

My darling mum with Bodhi.

Chelsea and Bodhi on the tractor.

My game magically improved at the final hole. Yay!

Lois, Helen and Zara at lunch.

Zara and Chelsea.

Nanna looks away while Bodhi plays with his Nanna's camera again.

A cute moment for my guy and Bodhi.

Everyone at the table.

Helen and Zara and wedges.

Bodhi eating the burger with gusto!

My brother Steve and Bodhi.

Martin and Lois with their kids, Maddy and Chelsea and Nanna,

The Gillmans with Nanna. (I love that Steve is so much a part of the family now!)

Zara never does anything slowly and runs with gusto into the water. No wonder she gets tired!

She loves standing in or on the water fountains. 

Chelsea joined her for a play in the water park.

Running again!

In her towel cape - clever piece of clothing!

One last smile from Bodhi and we left for the airport.

Then we were back in Sydney, dinner with our friend Fahmi at Stir Crazy Thai and a walk back through Pleasant Street and their fabulous Christmas light displays.

Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 361 (Tuesday 27 December) - Burgers with the cuz

We started the day off with a brisk washing of my mum's car so it would be all spick and span for her drive to a wedding of a former colleague and close friend on the Gold Coast later that day. Thank goodness it wasn't too sunny or humid.

While we were finishing off the cleaning, my friend Sue arrived so we did the last shammy wipes, changed and headed out to a cafe in the Main Street of Alstonville for brunch. Alas, it was the ONLY cafe open in Alstonville so we had to drive out of town a whole two minutes to Amaze'n Place for food. It turned out to be an unplanned great choice as the breeze was beautiful, the food delicious (enough) and we had a lovely 1 1/2 hours before we had to get the car back so mum could leave for the wedding. It's always lovely to catch up with Sue, and I must hold to my promise to see her and nice new home in Melbourne the next time we're down.

Back to the Ancestral Estate for another cute shot of my adorable nephew Bodhi before we headed out to the supermarket to buy supplies for dinner that night. Bodhi loved the shopping at Coles in Alstonville Plaza, so much so he ate at least four of the mini-cupcakes and schmeered them across his face both in the trolley and on the coin-operated tractor ride. I haven't had so much fun grocery shopping in ages!

I got back in time to see Zara in the swing - she loves to "go big!" and encourages you to push as hard as you can so she can go as hard as she can - and captured some fantastic shots of her close up. It was so much fun watching her have so much fun!

Back inside, Bodhi finally opened his gifts from me and my gorgeous guy, and the train with air-assisted pop-up balls was a massive hit. Both Bodhi and Zara loved it. He also looked great in the clothes we bought him.

After a long, exhausting drive from Sydney, my cousin Lois, and her lovely husband, Martin, and kids (Madison and Chelsea) arrived and we prepared very yummy beef and chicken hamburgers (two types, not combined!) which mum arrived home in time to enjoy nice and hot. We had the loveliest night catching up with Lois and Martin and my second cousins, who despite being exhausted, were very sweet. So glad we got to see them!