Remember when you used to spend time titivating your blog? arranging widgets, adding people to your blog roll? thinking "oh, I could blog that?". I seem to have lost of all of that plus, of course, the disciplien of writing. I could blame all sort of things (oh, the distraction of twitter and other social media, oh, my life is so busy) but the fact is that I still love to read other people's blogs and the minutae of their lives. The fact that I was so grumpy about google reader closing demonstrated to me that there are a lot of lives I like to snoop on through the internet. So, like any muscle, you have to keep using it to keep it shape so I am going to attempt to post every day for an unspecified period of time.
It was a grim week what with the Gillard overthrow and the return of that insufferable prig as PM but I am leaving all that aside for the ballot box come September. The end of a quarter was also exhausting but it is the weekend now so we can set all that aside for a couple of days.
I love waking up early on a Saturday. Even Charlie has mellowed with age and no longer demands to be walked at crack of dawn. Instead, he is happy to share a crust of toast and curl back up again on the blanket until a more civilised hour. He got a new fan this week as the dog walking "club" he goes out with once a week had a work experience kid who pronounced Charlie his favourite of all the dogs, all week. The fact that this kid threw the ball for Charlie for 45 minutes solid might have made the adoration mutual. We all continue to be besotted with the dog. It is so immensely soothing to have a creature whose complete happiness comes from spending time with you. We went to see Man of Steel last night (sooooo long, so many repetitive fight sequences) and it was saved by Russell Crowe doing his man of integrity role, a cattle dog as a trigger for the demise of Kevin Costner and a border collie who appeared to survive.
I'm on a work travel hiatus. This year, I've done France, Dubai (twice), Mexico and Brazil. I've got Russia and India lining up but a couple of months at home in the interim. We are holidaying in Hawaii shortly. I bought a hotel deal before Christmas and snared some budget flights so it is all paid for. I am super excited as I have not been on a vacation with the kids for some time (visits to family are visits to family even when they involve long haul flights). We are now veterans of the long haul flight and are eschewing paying extra for the entertainment system with loading up tv series on our laptops and planning our packed lunch.
I have to go and buy some off line storage today as I am seriously slack in my back ups (which bit me when I spilled coffee on my laptop last month) and I need to do something about boosting the rubbish wireless signal in the bedrooms (who knew blogging in bed was going to be a requirement?). I sold the ipad when I got a macbook as between that and my phone I didn't think I was using it much. But then I found the lack of a small device I could carry about easily was lacking on one of the last trips so I bought a ipad mini. Despite a couple of colleagues raving about theirs, I loathed it. I kept having to enlarge the screen to read anything and the resolution seemed nothing special after the retina display so now I am wondering if I "need" the ipad with retina display. I think if I am honest, I am more attracted to the idea of the Kate Spade cover than the device itself.
I am back on flogging stuff on ebay, which is soo much easier using the mobile app. The thing that used to stop me putting stuff on was the taking of the photo, finding the cable, loading it to the machine, blah, blah. Now I take rubbish photos on the phone but get away with it with my lavish descriptions and easy to recognise labels.
Sadly the Aussie $$ is falling against the US $$ but I am still confident of bargains in Hawaii. I am planning my holiday reading (hmm, wonders if kindle on ipad weighs in its favour?) and shopping list of cosmetics and cotton t-shirts. Even when retailers open in Australia, the prices are ridiculous (I am looking at you Zara and your year old stock at 50% more than I paid for it in Singapore last August.)
We have not been eating much new but I have been rereading Ottolenghi and thinking about the amazing salads I ate in Dubai. Tabbouleh that was mostly mint and parsley, tomatoes sprinkled with sumac, hummous slicked with oil and the most amazing minty lemonade. The weather here demands soup and mashed potatoes but I still dream of that tabbouleh. Laters.
Recent Comments