Yes, I know I have pledged to buy less, choose well but that doesn't meant I can't window shop... right? If, and only if, I was permitting myself to buy a new outfit, right here is what I would choose [well].
Who Needs France Anyway?
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Well everyone of course. But when you have the Hunter Valley on your doorstep, France doesn’t seem so far away. On Boxing Day, we packed up Heath from Bondi (our beloved golfie) and headed inland to the wine region of New South Wales. 3 hours away from Sydney, in holiday traffic, and you could easily mistake the countryside for the rolling vineyards of the Dordogne – well apart from the fantastic array of colourful birds and kangaroos grazing lazily amongst the vines. I am by no means a wine connoisseur, I feel exceptionally silly swishing and sniffing at tastings but I know what tastes good and wine from this region has swiftly climbed the ranks of my favourite tipples. Stop after stop, the bottle count in the car quickly grew until you could hear us coming from a mile away. We now have more wine than we know what to do with (that’s a lie of course, I intend to drink it. All of it).
The bounty (well some of it anyway)…
All images via Wishful Thinking
My 2015
Sunday, 4 January 2015
Happy New Year everyone! Hope we all celebrated in style? I am generally very anti NY celebrations (they never turn out the way you plan and it always seems to be a palaver to get from A to B, safely) but I happened to have a good evening this year, in spite of myself! I try not to make any resolutions, as I generally break them by the end of January but given my adoration of list making, I decided to make a few goals/milestones that I would like to achieve in 2015.
Travel more. 2014 wasn’t uneventful for me on the travelling front but no matter how much I see, I always want to see more. We are planning to make a big dent in seeing this vast land we live in but are also hoping to see Fiji and Japan too.
Start driving again. I am ashamed to admit that after I passed my driver’s test, nerves got the better of me and driving is now something that fills me with abject terror. I’ll conquer my fear and get back behind the wheel again. Mr Smith, please keep moaning at me about this on long car journeys (even if I shout at you). Thank you in advance.
Learn how to paddle board. (A silly goal I know) but an unusual one for me as I am someone who dips their toes into the water and that’s about it, but there is just something so peaceful and alluring about paddle boarding to me. Watch this space.
Be more zen. I want to start taking better care of my body. I know everyone makes and breaks their fitness resolutions but my goal isn’t to become super fit and lose weight (although that would be a bonus). It’s more to learn to relax, unwind and build a healthier body and mind. I started doing yoga for the first time in 2014 and it has been life changing. More of the same for 2015 I hope!
Explore more of Sydney. This goes hand-in-hand with travelling more but I have spent many weekends indoors in front of the tv when I should have been out discovering more of the city I live in. I have only just scratched the surface.
Challenge myself. I am determined that 2015 will be a year of learning and development for me. Whether that be by study or by a major career change. Whichever one comes first…
Call more. More often than not, I find myself preferring to hind behind a screen when communicating with those I hold dear. I am pledging to swap texting and emailing for a simple phone call instead.
Be more productive. Perhaps the hardest goal yet. I think if I had to add up the number of unfinished tasks I have started over the past year alone, I would have a heart attack. It’s multi-tasking gone mad. I hope to be less frenetic and more efficient and most importantly, finish what I start!
See a wombat in the wild. Those close to me have watched on in amusement at my relentless pursuit to see these little cuties in the wild (it has become nothing short of an obsession for me). But alas, they have eluded me time and time again. Not 2015 though, oh no. I will see one, even if I have to make my long suffering husband drive around country roads all night while I hang out the window with a torch.
And lastly, I have a few things I would like to do less of – sweating the small stuff, spending time in front of screens, being less aloof, drinking far less; but I know I will fail miserably at all these things. So I have chosen one simple thing to do less of in 2015 – buy less. Here’s hoping I follow through.
Click on the images to go to the source.
And that’s it for me. Feel free to call me out if you notice me contradicting any of the above throughout the year. How about you? Do you have any resolutions/goals for 2015?
The Trouble with Christmas
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
Image via Wishful Thinking
I don’t do these heart-to-heart posts often on this blog but with Christmas just gone, the topic of loneliness has been on the forefront of my mind and I felt an overwhelming urge to put pen to paper (so to speak). I wanted to start by clarifying that Christmas is my favourite time of the year (lest you think I am a regular Grinch) - I love the colours, the food, the traditions and I embrace it all with abandon. Unfortunately, it’s also the time of year when the absence of family and friends is felt more starkly for most. This year, with just Jordan and I at the Christmas table, the loneliness felt almost unbearable. We tried. We opened presents, we headed down to the beach, we cooked a lovely meal but with hoards of families enjoying the sunshine together, the chasm grew and grew. By late afternoon, photos of family gatherings back home began to appear on Facebook, obligatory phone calls from reluctant relatives were hurriedly received and made (or in my case, none were received at all) and Christmas lunch was eaten quickly and packed away quietly. Wine was drunk and self pity was had in spades. It was the very first Christmas that I wished away. And will hopefully be the last.
A few days away from the confines of home, doing some of my favourite things raised a few new questions and concerns (mainly for the future generation of little Smiths that will share in the same isolation), but thankfully, the time away allowed me to think and helped validate our continued choice of living away from “home”. I also realised something that brought a level of comfort and perspective to me, Jordan and I are not alone. There are others out there that have made the difficult choice to leave all they know behind to carve out new (better) lives for themselves. To have new opportunities, to live without unnecessary injustices or constant fear, to see the world, to have tangible dreams. There are others out there, like us, who are shy and take time to make good friends. There are others out there with family members who seemingly forget about them. And there are others out there who spent this Christmas by themselves, missing home and those they hold dear. If you are one such person, know that you are not alone. There are others who are experiencing the very same feelings and questioning the same choices. It will get better. Christmas just sucks once in a while. Next year promises to be way better anyway.
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