Sydney

Isn’t Sydney BEAUTIFUL

Going out

I’m currently on a bus, on my way to meet some friends in Surry Hills. I got a bit dressed up tonight, and I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I look GOOD.

It’s amazing how the simple act of throwing on a pretty dress, bothering with a bit of makeup (I’m usually pretty much makeup free) and fixing your hair can be so very therapudic, and how a night out the friends can be exactly what you need.

More tomorrow

So Much for my lovely day

I didn’t get to wear a dress or lay in the sun reading books.  But I did get to walk in the rain and wear my Lulus.. so things are still pretty good.

Oh man, how cool is this

I freakin’ LOVE Penn Badgley

Things for which I am thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, despite the fact it was yesterday here, it is currently Thanksgiving in Vancouver, and that’s what counts.

Here is my (first) annual list of things for which I am thankful:

1. I am thankful for my parents, are are surprisingly cool, wonderfully supportive and still ridiculously in love, despite being married for almost 30 years.  Plus, they live in China, so I get to visit

2. I am thankful for my brother Thomas, who is in a band, and who makes the BEST apple pies you can imagine.

3.  I am thankful for my brother Joel, who has a blog, and who never lets me say anything stupid without pulling me up on it.  Also, he wrote a rock opera, and has a song in 5/4 time just for me.

4.  I am thankful for Thomas’ girlfriend Kaely, who is lovely and friendly and sweet, and a bit like the sister I never had.

5.  I am thankful for MEGAN! She’s far away, but she’s the best best friend a girl could have.  As well as my most loyal blog visitor.  And I’m thankful for our friendship, which is now into its twelfth year and still going strong, despite distance and time.

6.  I am thankful for my assorted friends, who all share each of their own lovely qualities with me.  Every one has a unique perspective.  It’s a cliche (which is also a cliche), but those individual differences make life so much richer.

7.  I am thankful for books.  Oh, I am so grateful to own and read so many books!  How dull life would be without them.  I’m so thankful for all the things I get to learn, the words I get to enjoy, and the experience of sharing books with others.

8. I am thankful for Sufjan Stevens- not that that ought to surprise you.  His music has been a constant source of joy and pleasure for me this year.  I very much hope that, this time next year, I’m thankful for his new album

9.  I am thankful for a new job, that I enjoy, and a career of which I am proud and with which I am content.  I am truly blessed to have found a career path at 24!!

10.  I am thankful for Skype, for my computer with webcam, and for the fact I can easily and cheaply converse with my parents, though the live on the opposite side of the globe.

11.  I am thankful for my lovely little flat in Ultimo, my flatmates there, past and present, and the fact I have a tiny home in the wild, wild world.

12.  I am thankful that Barack Obama won the US Election.

13.  I am thankful for the dozen-or-so political writers who’ve kept me entertained and engaged all year.  I am especially thankful for Ezra Klein, whose writing is both informative and inspirational.  I am thankful for Bloggingheads.tv, from which I have learnt much, both about politics, but also about how to have a constructive disagreement.

14.  I am thankful- and this is pretty stupid- for my Lululemon pants.  I freaking love them.

15.  I am thankful for you, my loyal readers, and the fact I live in an age and place where I was educated, have internet access, have my own computer and have the freedom to write.

So, dear readers, what are you thankful for?

Oh No!

Megan, our worst nightmare has come true.  They are making a sequel to I Am Legend.

I only just started sleeping normally again after I saw it the first time.

Chris Hayes on Olbermann

Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.

It’s weird, because I became interested in the whole American political scene largely because of blogs and bloggingheads.tv, so Chris Hayes, to me, isn’t insanely awesome pundit (which he is), but is rather the person who featured in my all-time favourite Bloggingheads.tv episode, looking substantially less focused (literally, not metaphorically) with who else but Ezra Klein.  I wish they’d do another together.  Check it out.

I’ve just discovered Amazon Wish Lists…

… It’s bad, it’s very bad.

I am very greedy when it comes to books.  And kitchen appliances.  And movies.  And music.

Oh dear indeed.

Cider

One of the things that truly, truly confuses me is that cider, isn’t more popular in Australia.  It’s the perfect thing for the Australian climate.  It’s a clean, crisp taste.  It quenches your thirst.  It’s sweet and nice and just perfect.

If you ever get to a pub that has Bulmers Irish Cider on tap, please treat yourself.  It’s just fantastic.

And, very fortunately, at my local!

Really, it’s the perfect drink for our climate.  Refreshing.

Things are good!

You know what?  Things are pretty darn nice at the moment.

The weather is finally, finally warm.  I just came from drinks with an old friend, whom I’d not seen for, well, more than a decade.  It was really lovely.  We had cider at an Irish pub, and I cannot remember a drink being so perfectly matched to the weather or my mood.

Then I walked home, down through Darling Harbour.  There was some kind of Christmas Party or Formal at the Chinese Gardens, and they had a band playing Walk Like an Egyptian.  Again, the perfect song for the night.

Tomorrow, I’m going to wear my pretty white dress with flowers to work, the one that makes me feel like spinning in circles on the grass, and pretty white strappy heals.  At lunch time, I’m going to take a beach towel over to the park, lay in the sun, listen to music and read some wonderful book.

Then in the evening, I’ll walk home, and maybe skip across the paved area in front of the exhibition centre, because you just can’t- CAN’T walk across there.  Walking just does not suffice.  I’ll buy some sparkling wine, and Heidy and I will celebrate the fact she’s done for another year.

Far too early on Saturday morning, I’ll drag myself from bed and make my way to Cammeray to see my babies.  We’ll go to the Park.  The eldest will tell me everything he’s done in the last month, and thrill me with stories of what he wants for Christmas.  The middle- my favourite- will be reserved at first, but then tell me his secrets and his thoughts.  He’s smarter than any five-year-old has the right to be.  The youngest, a beautiful little girl, will cling to me, and touch my necklace, and laugh her irrepressible laugh.
Then home again. Maybe a run and a swim.  Dinner with friends.  A movie.  A late-Sunday sleep.  Coffee in bed with the sun streaming in.
Oh, who said things weren’t lovely?!