Most of March was mundane, but I crowned it with a lovely holiday!
I reflected back on March last year when I got sick. From my instagram feed there were so many reminders of the good times throughout the scary time.
One thing I have discovered is David Jones sells some lovely tea and I go and look for sales. In particular I have enjoyed Dandy Chai from Ovvio which is a caffeine free chai. I am fully stocked with tea now for both myself and gifts! I need to find some other reason to go to David Jones.
I was growing my hair out for the last year, but decided to go short again. It had reached that meh length where it didn't look good worn out and I was bored of always tying it up. I went for a longish bob, and then in a couple of months I'll go for a short short bob again.
There was a girls night with JM and JK and I enjoyed a really nice mocktail. It's been really really good to socialise regularly and do fun things, makes a huge difference to be not just dragging through the routine of life, working and food prepping and doing the things I have to do.
Taking it a little easy with exercise still. Would like to be working out 3 times a week but its usually only once. I have mixed a bit more walking and jogging in though, and I think it's important to have seasons of variation. I've been exploring the old parts of my suburb, walk/ jogging around the park, and really enjoying being outside now its cooling down.
Maitland Levee had a thing where shops displayed art in windows. I really love these architectural sketches on cereal boxes, and I follow the artist on instagram as he draws around the world. I regret not buying one of these really. But didn't know if I wanted to frame a cereal box.
The next childrens book is under way, about a free range chicken, which I have enjoyed a lot. Getting good at drawing on ipad and enjoy the process.
Getting to the nice part of the month! Last year AM gave me an eshakti voucher, and I should have used it on my bridesmaid dress, but I didn't, so I decided to buy some dresses in time for my birthday this year. I got 2 in knit cotton with long/half sleeves, which will be good in cooler weather. I like wearing shift dresses more with my bloaty tummy. They were both longer than I wanted so I hemmed them and I'm very happy with them.
I finally got around to sewing one of my cockatoo fabrics into a shirt as planned since January. I wanted to wear it on holiday! Good motivation. It wasn't that hard a job and the fabric was great to sew up. It slips to the side a lot, maybe my shoulders are crooked. So just have to make sure bra straps are respectable.
I repotted my pilea to improve the soil with perlite for drainage and to extract a baby and grow it in its own pot. I can't get the leaves to stay flat though. The plants are growing well, but with curled leaves. Very annoying.
In the outside garden I dug up and divided my irises and shared them with friends. I now have 2 clumps from the original 4 irises and the clumps have been shared with several so that's not a bad result.
Denise sent me flowers a week before my birthday so I could enjoy them before my holiday!
I organised a family lunch and a friends dinner, both groups about 8 people, and I'm very thankful for feasting and family and friends, it especially felt like ages since I'd had a big group of friends out for dinner which I used to do often in Sydney for Eat Street. Greenhills was a very suitable place for eating out and then hanging out afterwards eating yoghurtland or tellaballs for dessert in the courtyard.
And then I worked on Monday and Tuesday, my colleagues got me a nice chocolate tart and sang happy birthday, and then I drove down to Sydney and had thai takeaway and slept over with Anna.
We flew to Melbourne (plus taxis), checked in and had a rest, then went out for a late lunch in a laneway cafe, I'm pretty sure I've gone to this one twice before, its not intimidating and it is nice.
I had a very short list of clothes I can justify buying if I found them in Melbourne. So no more shirts or dresses, but a cute raincoat would be allowed. Nothing tempted me anyway. We walked over to the art gallery because I wanted to see it, last time I only had time for the Van Gogh exhibition. There was actually a ladies evening dress exhibit set up amongst the regular paintings of the free entry parts of the gallery which we really enjoyed.
We had a well equipped kitchenette so we had dinner in the hotel and watched our free movie Jurassic World, which later Anna said was a highlight of the whole holiday. I continually pointed out the whole situation could have been avoided if they had good SWMS, risk assessments, and followed emergency protocols and chains of command. But no, instead of double checking the tracking devices first they opened gates willy nilly and it went downhill from there and lots of people died. Other than that is was really fun.
On Thursday I went to the International Flower Show. I discovered this was on only earlier in the week from an instagram post, I was superjoyed to find out it was on when I was in town, and all I had to do was catch the free tram across the CBD and I was there. I spent maybe 5 hours there until I got tired. I had a wonderful time.
I planted a plant but I had to leave it in the hotel.
The exhibition hall was full of displays of art, dresses made of flowers, shops with cool plant related things.
I wanted to buy many things, obviously couldn't buy plants. But I bought some bulbs and corms (which I posted home to avoid confiscation in Tasmania).
I met Bei En! A lovely social media friend who lives in Melbourne and I never met before. I returned the books she sent me when I was sick, and we hung out and ate takeaway and maybe watched something forgettable on TV, but we were overall both relieved that we liked each other and were normal. It's wonderful to find another kindred spirit! I'm always slightly amazed whenever I connect with new friends, it's nice to think that we don't actually stop making friends as we get older. It gets a little rarer after school and uni and onwards, but its still happening.
On Friday Anna and I went to a sales pitch for the timeshare we were staying in, because they bribed us to attend with a $100 Coles Myer voucher each for our 2 hours. We both walked away without buying timeshare. It's like a gym membership, good value if its the solution to your needs, but I already enjoy my holidays adequately, and I don't need more resorts, I need more weeks of annual leave tbh.
Then we went out for brunch, then we checked out, then we went to Queen Victoria Markets, and there is a lot of junk, but the food is good, so note to self and others, next time go there FIRST and buy food you can eat in your hotel, we wasted opportunities to eat gourmet food and instead ate supermarket food.
There was also a houseplant shop and I bought a watering can for my indoor plants, which I have been wanting for a while because you really do need a long thin spout to in through the leaves.
We had an afternoon flight to Launceston and I had paid for a window seat because I decided i wanted to look out the window as we flew over Melbourne and Lon. I then wished I had picked the shady side of the plane, but the way the clouds were lit was amazing.
We had a short flight then a long wait on the plane for stairs then a long wait in the airport for bags. Country airports. The sniffer dog caught fruit in Anna's bag.
Rachel took us home and we had the most delicious meatballs and spaghetti I have ever had. It was wonderful to live with an amazing home cook.
On Saturday morning we all (with Bec) went to the markets for breakfast and browsing. They are really good markets.
Bec had to go to the theatre for the matinee and evening shows, so she left, and we went to a craft market.
Somebody needs to do houseplant embroidery like this, they are really cute.
I bought a few overpriced handmade things, a headband and a keyring and some chocolate. Then we looked at the Japanese monkeys. You cant really see but its swinging on the rope. They also walked around in water which was funny.
We went to the last night of Strictly Ballroom and Bec was amazing and professional as the grandma. I also thought the leads were perfect and the musical was overall a lot better than when I saw it in Sydney when it opened. Not the strongest musical out there but really fun.
I ran over a pademelon driving home.
We had some down time on Sunday. I went to church with Rachel while the others rested, and I did some reading, I read CS Lewis' The Weight of Glory and Learning in Wartime. And Alexander McCall Smith's Emma. Great holiday reading.
I did some walking around Grindelwald. It's quaint and odd.
On Monday, the 4 of us jaunted off in the car to a Hazlenut farm and we gathered hazlenuts and had morning tea!
And then we went to Woolmers, a colonial estate a bit like Tocal in that its a homestead and farm, but a different sort of farm, more gardens, and a lot of original decor from the 1800s and early 1900s. A time capsule. Tastes have really changed.
There was a fabulous fancy rooster which really amused us.
You can see the two halves of the house, the Georgian extension and the older colonial style.
On Tuesday we didn't do much, we went to Cateract Gorge and did some browsing of the shops in town and I finished my book and we had a last dinner together and watched Strictly Ballroom on DVD.
And then we flew home on Wednesday morning! After about an hour and 40min delay at the airport because of fog in Sydney and then a brief Jetstar system failure.
I had a cafe lunch with Anna in Botany and drove home and then it was back to reality and also April.
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