Holidays are all about doing something different. Me? I ate eel.
Yes, eel. Slimy, gross-looking, incredibly delicious eel.
For four days I woke up to this stunning view and now I think a bit of post-holidays blues have set in. I’m considering using this as my computer wallpaper, but in doing so I may run the risk of making myself even more blue.
I really do wish I was back in Rotorua, looking out to Mokoia Island, sipping tea and kicking back with a great book.
Incidentally, this book just arrived from Amazon. I’ve only read the first chapter but I’m hooked. I was inspired to read it after writing this post and wanting to know more about alternatives to charity work. I want to find out what really works. Once this book arrives, I should be a little more educated.
Mum always said, if you’re feeling depressed, do something for someone else and you’ll feel a little better. This is my slightly ammended version: reading about better ways to help others will help me get over my post-holiday come down. :)
“It’s more like grace, not earned but bestowed.” A blogger writing about the comfort she receives from the affection shown by her dog. Beautifully put. (Link to come.)
Where the families go on a sunny Sunday.
A whole new world was opened up to us this morning when we met some friends for a catch up at a local park/playground. It was like a kid market. You could just stroll along and choose which child you wanted to take home with you. ;) We saw Russell Crowe playing with his two sons, which was incredibly sweet. It’s not every day you see am Oscar winner at the swings.
Our 5th anniversary, celebrated at Bistro Moncur. We spent ages discussing the iconic mural, then rolled home with bellies full of duck, veal, butter and wine. Ahh, the French!
A colleague emailed me this morning and said, “Enjoying the Friday feeling?” and yeah, I am.
I have a movie date with my husband tonight, dinner with friends tomorrow and I’ve just stumbled across another inspirational woman.
This 26-year-old former Sydney girl is now the editor of the Harvard Magazine Managing Editor of The New Yorker (which is even more impressive!!). I’m so very impressed. http://bit.ly/QkBNV
I’ve been heading over to sites like TEDblog, NYTimes etc and using them as an intellectual palate refresher, to remove the guilty aftertaste left by some of the gossip blogs I read. I always find people who are genuinely inspirational receiving the acknowledgment and accolades they truly deserve. These people are always innovative, entrepreneurial and world-changing in some way.
One such woman is Elizabeth Scharpf, Founder and Chief Instigating Officer of SHE (Sustainable Health Enterprises), who I found via We Do This, We Do That.
What Elizabeth and her team are doing is truly, truly wonderful. You know how sucky periods are, right? Imagine having your period while living in third world conditions with limited or no access to sanitary protection. OK. Well, all my stupid first world problems have just been put into perspective. SHE aims to redress this issue by amending “females’ lack of access to affordable, quality, eco-friendly, sanitary products and services for menstruation”.
I am totally and utterly touched by this endeavour. I’ve suffered dysmenorrhea (Wikipedia link) since I first started my period. Managing this pain sometimes required me to take up to 14 high strength across-the-counter painkillers per day for at least the first three to four days. You can imagine what that did to my liver! Combined with heavy blood loss (sorry, if there are squeamish people reading this), which resulted in low iron levels I was, essentially, physically ineffective for one week a month. Nothing catastrophic ever resulted from this; chores would simply be left undone, social engagements curtailed, I would still be at work but probably working at around 50% capacity. To be honest I’ve always viewed this with a bit of a victim mentality. Poor me, suffering so much, so frequently. It’s so hard.
Yes. Having a couch to recline on, access to medicine and a husband to pick up the slack is really doing it hard. You may reach through the screen and slap me if you wish, I wouldn’t blame you.
The New York Times Magazine focused on the theme of Saving The World’s Women and notes in this article that, “traditionally, the status of women was seen as a ‘soft’ issue — worthy but marginal”. Fortunately this view is being replaced. “The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution.”
On a personal level, I love SHE’s solution. I can’t imagine having to go through what I do each month while living in extreme poverty. I also love that SHE enables women to work their way out of poverty by bringing a sliver of relief to other women. Supportive and nurturing!
I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do with this information, this newfound enlightenment, but I’m sure with more reading, more questioning and more soul searching, something will come up.
The really lovely profile pic of Ms Scharpf you see up there is courtesy of Why Do You Do What You Do.
Crown st in Surry Hills is my place of inspiration. I never get sick of exploring it and it never fails to provide me with something new to experience. This time it was a new cafe, Coffee Cup. Very homey, like the living room of a very artistic, creative, off the grid family. The chai wasn’t the greatest but there’s so much more for me to try next time.
Oh, pop culture, you clever thing you.
You’ve used photos of animals to retell the utegate scandal. http://dailylolz.lolpolz.com/2009/06/coming-soon.html
Whatever will you do next?
It feels like summer. Last night I was at a crammed, sweaty gig - Doves, they were everything I was hoping for, moody, melodic and soaring -and today we had a BBQ out the back for work. Nothing better than eating snags in the sun! Sydney winters are nothing short of amazing.
Last night was the launch of the IKEA Home Project, an auction that celebrates 30 years of IKEA’s near-iconic KLIPPAN sofa while raising money to support families and individuals who were affected by the Victorian bushfires.
IKEA invited 32 artists to design covers for the KLIPPAN sofa, thus bringing two of my favourite pastimes together – looking at pretty things while sitting on my arse! See pics below.
You can bid for sofas online at www.graysonline.com
Untitled Del Kathryn Barton & Romance Was Born
I love that the cartoonish facial parts are actually created using incredibly delicate embroidery. It appeals to my sense of contradiction.
Untitled by Samuel Hodge
This is a couch that demands to be sat upon while naked. It’s silk with the most delicate repeated pattern, apparently created by photographing water and coloured ink. I’d want a matching doona to go with it, it’s such a great design.
Black Cockatoo by Catherine Martin
I gasped when I saw this then exhaled when I saw the artist’s name. Of course I would fall in love with what is likely to be the most expensive couch, considering Catherine Martin is a two-time Oscar-winning designer. Actually, I wonder if this couch will bring in the highest bid? It will be interesting to watch. Regardless, I love the swirly, almost majestic treatment she has given the humble cocky. It appeals to the bush baby in me too, as I’ve spent a bit of time in the desert and find myself drawn to its flora and fauna.
Black & Gold Couch by Mickie Quick
Very wry and droll. I like this guy’s sense of humour.
