WINTER 2013... I'VE DONE IT

THREE months. Three months? Let me assure you my monthly “I’ve Done It” posts disappeared through June and July not through a lack of...



THREE months. Three months? Let me assure you my monthly “I’ve Done It” posts disappeared through June and July not through a lack of ‘doing’ but a serious stretch of overdoing.

In June, July and August...

I READ: David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day, on the recommendation of a friend, and Slow Readers Book Club choice, The Night Circus. The latter had me turning pages like no book has done for years. I liken it to Enid Blyton’s The Folk of the Faraway Tree for adults.

I WENT TO: a two-day youth leadership and participation event in Sydney. Well, truth be told, I organised and lead the event and brought 60 girls and young women from across NSW and the ACT to Sydney to give the Girl Guide movement their big ideas on the kind of activities they’d like to take part in. You might not know, but Girl Guides has one of the best youth participation models in the world and many not-for-profits model their leadership programs on Guides.

A flurry of activity and planning comes from such a big event and a lot of empowered young decision-makers are now out there challenging the status quo. Even better, six of the 60 are heading overseas on service and leadership programs as a result of the event.

Proud Girl Guide leader? Much.

I also had a quick couple of days off work and flew to Darwin for an extended long weekend (bliss); chaperoned a Girl Guide unit to a sleep out under the stars with 1000-plus other Girl Guides at Taronga Zoo, Sydney, and went to a very special girl’s first birthday party.

I LISTENED TO: Girls and young women. (Read the above.)

I ATE: Delicious Asian-inspired breakfasts, lunches and dinners at the Parap, Nightcliff and Mindle Markets in Darwin. You gotta take your food street-style in Darwin. It’s sooooo good.

I SAW: Manchester United. Way? Yes way. If you’re soccer mad and live in Sydney you might have seen the twin brothers Rafael and Fabio da Silva on the front page of The Daily Telegraph when the team was here in June. Me and my UNICEF colleagues were behind that media moment. Hot dang was it a crazy afternoon.

I MADE: I've added an 'I made' header. I started this blog more than five years ago as a creative kick up the backside but that motivation to make and create and pick up the camera has slipped and I need to bring it back.

To that end I've been trying to squeeze in little moments to craft and create, the most recent project being my step-granddaughter's first birthday present.

I made her a corduroy pinafore from a vintage Sportscraft skirt bought for $3.50 at the op shop. The pinafore was made using a vintage pattern from my Mum's pattern stash and lined with fabric and finished with buttons from my own stash.

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