Home

Hello, lovely friends! Wow, it sure has been a long minute since I’ve been here! It’s been so busy at work, and I’ve been buried in documentation. I kind of feel like I’ve had my eyes glued to a computer screen for the last two weeks, getting end-of-term learning and development reports done. I’m clearly not used to spending so much time in front of the computer because now my right arm hurts, my neck is stiff, and my shoulder is sore. Or maybe it’s just older-lady stuff. Nope. I’m blaming it on the computer. Haha. But today is Friday, the last day of Term 3, and I am SO ready for two weeks off. Woohoo!! Yup, I’m feeling extra happy about this and a few other things, so here’s a quick look at why. Two weeks off I love all the term breaks, but the spring holidays are definitely my favourite. I don’t love the cold weather, so the winter holidays are mostly about staying warm at home and enjoying a break from our windy playground at preschool. But once spring rolls around, I’m bursting to get out and do things. My husband’s work schedule has changed yet again, but this time it’s actually better. He’s doing more hours over three days, which leaves him with four weekdays off, so we’ve got some fun plans lined up for the holidays. And, in a very modern development, we’ve actually put them all on a digital calendar on our phones. No more old-fashioned diaries for us. I suspect we’re about 10 or 20 years behind everyone else, eh? Sydney spring weather I LOVE spring! The flowers are blooming, the sun finally feels warm, and everything is just a whole lot brighter. Mind you, Sydney weather has been completely all over the place lately. We’ve had super hot days, freezing cold days, and some days where we’ve had all four seasons in one day. But it’s still all good because I know warmer days are soon going to take over. Not waking up to an alarm That alarm when it goes off every morning is just not my favourite sound. It doesn’t matter what alarm sound I choose; it’s still not great. The thought of waking up naturally, without that horrible noise yanking me awake, is making me very happy right now. Although I have to say my cats are a problem. They come into my room early when they hear an alarm. (Yes, they know how to jump up, pull down the handle and open the door) And when there’s no alarm, they are the alarm. They want to be fed. They won’t go to anyone else but me because they know the routine. Mum gets up every morning and feeds us. Blah! A city staycation We’ve got a couple of staycations coming up, and I am so excited. The first is a night at the Harbour Rocks Hotel. We’re having dinner at the new restaurant Grappa, and I’m just looking forward to wandering around, finding a nice bar or two, and walking along the harbour near the Opera House. I never get tired of our beautiful city. Staying at The Rocks is such a treat because it’s right in the heart of everything. I’ve always wanted to live in the city, so for one night, I get to pretend I do. Yay! Heading to Bowral The second week of the school holidays, we’re heading to Bowral, in the Southern Highlands, which is a completely different vibe. It’s all country style, with little boutique shops, cafes and beautiful old gardens. Even though I love the busy city, a change of pace will be fun. I’ve heard they have some nice antique shops. Mid-century is antique now, right? Maybe I’ll find a retro treasure! The countdown is on Once September hits, I know that we are on the road to all the festivities. There’s Halloween and end-of-year concerts and parties to prepare for, and then there’s Christmas and the summer school holidays. We are basically in countdown mode as we wrap up the school year. It’s a crazy time of year, but it’s definitely my favourite. And those are the things that are making me feel so extra happy right now! This happy camper is signing off now and getting ready to enjoy two weeks of school holidays. Thanks so much for stopping by, and I’ll see you soon 😊

I always walk home from work, and today I thought, why not walk home with me? So here’s an ordinary Friday walk home. Except it’s not ordinary because there’s nothing ordinary about Fridays. Mondays are for getting through Monday. Tuesdays are still a little too close to Monday. Wednesdays, we’re halfway there. Thursdays are Junior Fridays, although I’m not completely convinced. But Fridays? Fridays are special. And because it’s Friday, I always take the long way home. I like looking at the houses along the way, checking out who has done what with their gardens, seeing the new builds, houses for sale and the renovations. Occasionally, I pick a favourite. Friday afternoon house judging. It’s a thing. Come on, let’s go… It feels so good to step outside the preschool gates and onto the quiet, tree-lined street. It was so cloudy this morning, but this afternoon it’s warm and sunny. So warm that I’m having to carry my puffer jacket, along with my heavy bag full of all the things. Spring is definitely showing up now. There’s new colour and growth everywhere I look. Love that! The longer route takes me past the fruit shop, and although I don’t actually need anything today, I still like having a look around. They have a nice selection of things, including smallgoods. I’m so hungry that I’m visualising eating my way through the whole shop. Oh yes, we’ve run out of cashews. I grab a packet. I walk out of the fruit shop and spot yet another Lime bike. A while ago they just appeared overnight, and now they are everywhere. I guess people ride them? This house is for sale, and I immediately wonder what ridiculous price it will go for. The market has dropped, so maybe it won’t be quite as ridiculous as it would have been a few months ago. Now I’m making a mental note to see when this one goes to auction so I can go and have a sticky beak. Is there a nosy Parker in all of us? And then I turn onto one of my favourite streets. I don’t know what it is about this street, but it has good juju. Even when it’s not as sunny as it is today, this street always feels welcoming. Sometimes I see people walking their dogs or young families out for a walk. There’s a guy who usually exercises to music on his front lawn. If the nice Macedonian lady is out the front gardening, we have a chat. It’s a great street! And today it was even more special because you wouldn’t believe what happened. I walked past a house where a young guy was chatting to the homeowner at her front door. He turned around, smiled at me and said, “Do you remember me?” I knew I knew him from when he was a little preschooler, but my brain was frantically flipping through the old mental Rolodex, trying to work out who he was. “It’s Isaak!” He said And instantly, I remembered him. I’m not usually a hugger if I don’t feel comfortable with someone or know them well. But this was Isaak. He was that little kid I remembered, only now he was a young man standing in front of me. I had to give him a hug. And he hugged me back, just like he was still that little boy. He told me he’s 22 now and is a plumber. He was doing a job at the house on my favourite street and introduced me to his coworker. “Look, this is Ruth, my preschool teacher, and she looks exactly the same.” Ha! I loved him even more! We chatted for a bit, then said goodbye, and I walked the rest of the way home feeling happy and nostalgic at the same time. Gosh, doesn’t time just go by so fast? I get home and check out my little plants I planted last weekend. I’m hoping they grow colourful flowers like they did last spring. They’re so tiny at the moment. These girls always greet me at the door, but I’m a little suspicious they know it’s dinner time and aren’t actually greeting me because they missed me. I go feed them. I start tossing up whether I should blog first or do a quick Friday clean and get it out of the way. Quick clean wins, and I grab my cleaning caddy. I put on some SBS Chill because Steve isn’t home. He hates chill music. He left for work just before I got home. He doesn’t love Fridays like I do. Friday is the start of his working week. Main bathroom done. Ensuite done. Quick vacuum, and then I water the plants. The Monstera is doing well, the small plant didn’t make it, and the other plant is hanging on. I can see some new growth there! I turn on the lamps as it’s starting to get dark. Sam gets home from his casual job at the kitchenware shop with more freebies. This time he brings home some earthy coloured plates and bowls. All of a sudden, my all-white set looks very boring. “Mum, are you thinking of changing everything?” “No.” (Maybe yes.) He also brings home lots of dinner knives. Knife anyone? I give everything a wash and leave it to air-dry. Then I make myself a chai latte before heading to the office, which was once upon a time a garage, to start blogging. My positive peas are sitting at my desk believing in me. They’re telling me, “GO YOU”, so I take the hint and get blogging. Now I’m typing away, trying to get finished so I can join the Friday Favourites link-up. Every week I say I’ll write a bit every day so I’m not rushing on Fridays, but here I am, about to finish writing and press publish in real time. I didn’t have to worry about cooking dinner tonight as I have chilli con carne, rice

Hey there, friends! I hope you all had an amazing week! I’ve been all over the place with blogging lately. I haven’t really been posting regularly or following any kind of schedule or pattern. But I’m glad to be back today to link up with Erika and Andrea for Friday Favourites. I joined the Share Our Lives link-up on Monday and chatted all about my favourite current music, so I didn’t do my weekend recap. I thought I’d do that today and share what we got up to last Saturday. Last Saturday was the 150th anniversary of Hurstville Public School, and to celebrate, they had a big fair. My husband went to Hurstville Public School, so we were excited to go along with our son and his girlfriend and see the place where so many of his childhood adventures took place. Over the years, we’ve heard plenty of stories about his school days, and some of them have become family favourites that we still tease him about. I’ll just say that he was more mischievous back then than he is now. Our sons find this particularly hilarious because anyone who knows him today would probably describe him as a bit of a goody-two-shoes! But we know better. Haha! First stop was the school hall, where they had all the school memorabilia on display. When we spotted the naughty book with all the students’ names who had been given detention, you should have seen Steve’s face! Luckily for him, the last entry was 1966 — way before his time. I’m guessing they must have had another system by the time he was at school. There were quite a few food trucks, and the smells made us hungry, so we stopped for an early lunch. Then wandered around all the stalls. We checked out the grounds and saw one of the original buildings. I think there are quite a few original buildings, along with some newer additions, but they were all blocked off. Seeing this building made me wonder what it must have been like 150 years ago. There must have been so much open land around back then, and it’s so different now with all the high-rise apartments in the area. We live about a seven-minute walk from the school, and I’d never actually been inside the grounds, so I was surprised by how big it was. Spotted a few vintage cars they had on display. Saw the ponies. We sat down for a while to watch the current students perform dances and play in the bands. Before we knew it, we’d been there for hours and decided it was time to head home. On the way out, Steve bumped into a friend he didn’t even know had been in the same Year 6 class as him at Hurstville Public School. Oh my goodness, we were in stitches hearing all his stories! I won’t go into detail, but they involved the principal, the cane, his mum at the principal’s office, and then having to face his dad when he got home. And it was all over footy cards! I mean, it sure must have been traumatic for him at the time. But on this day, hearing him tell us the story, we were all laughing so hard. Poor guy! Sounds like school was way stricter back then. Do you think so too? Anyway, it was a fun way to spend last Saturday. Reminiscing and laughing about school days. Time goes way too fast, doesn’t it? Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Friday 😊

Happy Friday friends! I feel like I blinked and we’re at the end of another week. How does that happen? When I was thinking about what I wanted to share today, I realised that, as usual, it’s the little things that end up being my favourites. The simple moments that give my ordinary week a little zing. So here are my Friday favourites… A Coffee Date It had been ages since we had walked down to a café that specialises in Portuguese tarts. And oh my goodness… why did we wait so long? These little tarts are so good! I only had one, but  I could have easily eaten three. No problemo! A Meal I Loved This Week Is there anything better than coming home to someone else cooking dinner for you? I think not. I’ve shared before that I kind of like to do everything myself. Some might call it being a control freak… I prefer to think of it as being very helpful 😜 The funny thing is, while I absolutely love being cooked for, I can sometimes find it hard to hand over the reins in the kitchen (or anywhere else… yikes!). I’m not quite sure why… maybe it’s a little bit of only-child syndrome. But this week I had a staff meeting and arrived home later than usual, so my husband took care of dinner. Veal Chasseur with vegetables was on the menu that night, and it was delicious. Something I’m Wearing on Repeat Thank you to the fashion gurus for finally letting us breathe again and giving skinny jeans a rest! I’ve been loving wide-leg pants for a while now, and my current favourites are my JW Anderson Uniqlo jeans. They’re so comfortable and easy to wear, and every time I put them on I have a major fashion flashback… yep, I’ve done this fashion cycle before. Back when I was at uni in the early 90s, my uniform was basically straight-leg jeans with plenty of room, a simple top, and black loafers or sneakers. I’m that old that I’m now wearing the same trends I wore the first time around. Oh, and see that leather belt? I’ve had that belt for ages! It’s a Country Road one that I bought in 1989 with a lot of my hard-earned part-time job money. At the time it felt like a big purchase, but I remember thinking it was worth it because I really, really loved it. And you know what? They’re right when they say “buy once, buy well.” Thirty-seven years later and I’m still wearing it. I’d say younger me made a pretty good investment. Something I’m Enjoying Watching The Other Bennet Sister! It’s so good! And it stars Ruth Jones (Nessa from Gavin & Stacey), which made me even more excited to watch it. Do you know what I always say? “I can’t stand period dramas.” And yet here I am… hooked again. Seriously, what is wrong with me? Because clearly I’m lying to myself. I’ve loved The Gilded Age, Downton Abbey, A Woman of Substance, All Creatures Great and Small, and The Durrells, so I think it’s time I admit the truth… I’m Ruth, and I love a period drama. A Little Unexpected Gift Walking home the other day, I found a little bunch of wattle just lying there on the footpath. It was like a little gift, and I have no idea where it came from or who had picked it, but there it was, just waiting for me to find it. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make you happy, isn’t it? I took it home and put it in a little crystal jug. Anyway, that’s it from me this week. I hope you have a lovely weekend, and I’ll see you back here soon. Linking up with Andrea and Erika