Sydney, jeans, sick.

I worked two days, very quietly alone in the office listening to books and music. On Wednesday I went to Sydney. I drove to Morisset and caught the train. Lots of old ppl.

 I always forget that Martin Place is hard to get to so I went to wynyard because I ran out of time to figure it out. Eastern Suburbs line, but I'll forget again. Why isn't it on the city circle? Anyway. Got to Ortho 5 min late so that's ok. Teeth are going well and they'll make a replacement retainer for free because I cracked mine.

Then I went and ate laksa at MM office and that was lovely. Helped with a little thing. 

Then I went jeans shopping. I had a $20 pair of skinny jeans which I often wore under boots in winter, or folded up on cool days. They ripped, inside leg is where jeans really die, so I sadly binned them and had only one pair of jeans left, my favourite comfy Levi's that I patched after I fell off my scooter in them. I think they must be 5 years old, they are from the end of the bootleg era and I've sewn the lower legs narrower. They are getting pretty frayed. I had in mind another skinny pair for boot wearing, and maybe red or something not denim. But jeans shopping is hard. I tried on a few pairs at just jeans, checked out Gap and something else then looked in myer. Found a bunch at miss shop section and had high hopes of a dark maroon pair of myer brand ones, but they felt really stiff. Compared to the lee riders I also tried on (but the pockets were fake!) and the old Levi's I was wearing that day, stiffffffff. Crunchy. Hardto bend legs. So I went browsing the other clothes and in dangerfield I found this pair of trousers.   

I had to try them on. So then I just grabbed another pair of lee riders to make it worth while. I was quite delighted with those trousers. 

So comfortable. Pockets. Stylish. The antidote to all the bad jeans I'd tried on. They divided opinion on Facebook however. Since they were slightly too short and not what I was shopping for I resisted them, because I was there for JEANS only. So I tried on the pair I had grabbed on my way in and behold. They fit. It was a miracle! 

I noticed that since I'm a size 14 I don't have to rummage in piles of clothes, I just flip the pile over and 14s are on the bottom because that is as big as they go. Wha. 

I didn't want to rush to catch the train I wanted to continue being leisurely so I went to haighs. Their sample dark chocolate made my throat a bit irritated. Went back to MM to chat to H, throat got sorer. So I thought I must be getting sick.  There've been two separate sick people staying with parents in the last week so it was nearly certainly. I bought a Julia Booth juice at boost on my way back to Central. Apple orange carrot and GINGER. Yeah. 

On the train my nose pretty much exploded with snot. I sneezed prolifically. One man actually changed seats. I felt sorry for the one who sat next to me. I tried to keep my head tipped back. It was kind of funny. I bought big box of tissues at Morisset for the drive home. 

Then I was off work for two days. Then it was Saturday. I went to the women of truth conference and listened to Patricia Weerakoon. Then I spent the evening with some girls from church, which was really nicel we talked about singleness and real estate. Ahhhh real estate, a topic that is occupying my mind a lot although not much of my actual time yet.

On Sunday I joined mum and my aunt on a Morpeth visit. And mum found a pair of red (port actually) jeans and they were on sale for $40! So there you go. 

something this foggy day: That gentle and quiet spirit thing

something this foggy day: That gentle and quiet spirit thing



Saving this link to remind myself.

Moving on.

Don't really know what to blog about this week. Work was same same, nice weather nice walks cows ebooks. I got a work iPad on Friday so I've been setting it up this weekend, getting a SIM card and all that. I also helped jk move house. I also went to the regal cinema near the Uni which is basically a community hall movie theatre. Cheap good night.

Here is the shortness of my hair. I got it cut last Saturday. This photo is part of a twitter project to declutter beauty products. So I finished these samples. 

On other news I forgot about my lemongrass and mint and they almost died. I watered them and I think they will be ok. There are a few leaves on the mint. 

A reflection on the two month mark. Right after my move my Sydney life faded away. And I've basically enjoyed life up here and felt very lucky. I have been a bit lonely but not like moving to bowral. But I woke up at 3.30 on Saturday morning and all I could think about was where I used to live and how good it was and convenient and beautiful and walkable and I had so much to do and people to do it with. So there is some regret underneath everything. 

I'm going to Sydney on Wednesday just to the Ortho, on the train. Will also shop for jeans. Looking forward to that. I love the flex day part of my job!

Beautiful twig, cow traffic, enjoying life.

My mac desktop background is a photo I took of tiny piece of lichen. So the other designer noticed a twig on his driveway with super pretty things growing on it and brought it in for me. He's quite thoughtful. I put some pics on facebook and everyone loves the twig. I said he should start an etsy store. He's got trees full of them!

The dairy cows have been a part of the Parasol Club lunchtime walks this week. They get milked 3 times a day so they occasionally cross our path at lunchtime. Look at this cow, she could pretty much burst poor thing.

In other news, I went to bible study this week and enjoyed it. It's a large group with a mix of marrieds, parents and singles. The study was good, the discussion honest, and the prayers were AMENed. I'd prefer breaking into smaller groups for prayer. Oh, we finished at 9pm. So it was good, and I finally met a few more people.

Friday: Dinner with S from school, potential to move in, a useful friend as well.

Saturday: went to open inspection of house I like. I'm super fussy about location, I want to be halfway between work and Newcastle and also have things I can walk to, so there's only one suburb that really meets that criterea. And I'm not in the market for a family house, ie 3+ br with big backyard—I would like 2br with small backyard, and that's not a big portion of the market up here, although what there is is usually in my price range. It's so nice to actually have a price range, one that overlaps with the prices. Anyway, I'm looking.

Also I hung out at the local shops w jk for a bit then got my hair cut off. I've been thinking about shorter hair for a while but I like it in a bun in summer. Now it's getting annoying to dry in winter so I suddenly decided to do it.

Sunday: Breakfast in the park with bible study, a bit of composting and trimming in the backyard, church, and a newcomers dinner after work.

I finally feel like I'm making friends. It's been two months since I moved here.

Boots sleeves chicken bucket.

I had a dilemma this week. Last Friday night in Sydney I wore my winter boots with new orthotics for the first time and they were way tight. Disaster. Winter without the Aragorn boots is unthinkable. So on Thursday night I went and joined the library and then went to the local ziera shop and tried a pair that were ankle boots, all they had in my size without heels.

 Not as good as knee high. But then, I tried my boots again and my feet must have been smaller because they fitted more ok, so I doubled my socks and tried to stretch them w the hair dryer and they were good enough to wear to work. 

Anyhow on my way between the library and the shoe shop I saw some kind of cafe or bar in what used to be a shop. I checked out the menu and saw this:

Bucket of chicken wings. File that away and tell jk. 

I did two sewing jobs on Saturday. I cut off some very long sleeves off an exercise shirt. They now go to elbow instead of knuckles. Also I have a pj top with sleeves too short and gapey, so I cut some sleeves off an old skivvy and added them on as cuffs. Pretty proud. 

Had an early lunch w mum in Morpeth where we did some gift shopping. It was delicious. 

Jk was free so we saw Spider-Man 2 in the afternoon and discovered Turkish delight shop. It sells kebabs too. 

And went the bar with the bucket. I tasted some craft beers which are all the rage now. The bucket of wings was good and we plan to eat it again. 

Field Day.

Tocal Field Days is an annual ag expo. I did bookstore duty on Sunday morning then went for a look round. I ate lots of bad food. Here are assorted pics. 

Strictly Sydney.

I took thursday and Friday off work to go down to Sydney. I stayed w a work friend L who lives close to the city. So I drove there and then walked to work and had lunch w work friends. Then I  gave blood and did some shopping and had a rest. The event I mainly came for was strictly ballroom the musical that night. My review: sparkly, wonderful sets, good accents, original songs not good and the singing rather heavy, and the Scott character was meh. I expected better dancing. We've all seen contemporary dance on TV. The ensemble of other characters were all perfect. Such a fun show, and sparkly. 

Then on Friday L and me had breakfast out. I did not miss a chance to eat in Sydney. 

Then we went bed shopping. 

Then I went to a friends house for lunch then the dentist 2.30 appt then home for a rest. Then picked up jk and went to Marrickville golf club to hear G sing in her choir. Then 4 of us had dessert at max brenner Newtown. A boy proposed to his girlfriend. I forgot my phone so no pics of the evening. 

On sat the virgin network crashed which was annoying. Had breakfast w A. Went to virgin shop to find out what. Went to the south area to see D and we went to a Portuguese tart bakery and then I did a lot of Asian food shopping at hurstville and then I drove back to maitland. I was extremely tired. And went to bed at 8pm. It was an excellent visit.