One month at a time or one day at a time. However you're moving through this year I hope it's with kindness and an intention to really be that positive change you want to see in the world. If there's to be change, let's damn-well make sure it's good, healthy and positive.

IN JANUARY:

I WENT TO... Sydney's Yabun Festival. This celebration of Australia's First Nation Peoples is held on Australia Day and because it's a day I don't feel should be handed to me as a celebratory public holiday, I tripped into the city and volunteered at the Australian Red Cross stall and worked alongside Elders to raise awareness of the humanitarian organisation's work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and its Aboriginal Reconciliation Plan.

This feels so long ago, it's hard to believe it happened only this month. My sister lives interstate and with a 40th looming, I booked Airbnb accommodation at Brighton. We spent four days celebrating her birthday at the start of January and seeing family and friends made for a lovely post-Christmas mini break.

I ATE... A friend introduced me Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem last year and gifted me the cook book. I had to leave the mouth-watering recipes alone because I was overseas for a month, starting a new job and making plans to study, but I've come back to it, and the wait was worth it. Everything I've cooked from it thus far has been outstanding. Top pick Mandy.

I OP SHOPPED... Dresses for work, vintage paper sewing patterns from the 1950s and '60s and a sheet of old glass buttons from Czechoslovakia.

I MADE... A shirt from a 1980s-era paper sewing pattern and 1970s polyester fabric and a knitted cardigan for the grandkidlet's doll. Damn it if those tiny knits aren't harder than an adult-size version. Who knew?

I READ... I finished Geraldine Brook's The Secret Chord. I am a fan of Brook's writing, but this one took me a while to get into. I picked up Holly Throsby's Goodwood to read in Brisbane. If you grew up in a country town, you'll recognise your people. This last read, the audio book version of Ella Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend, has been a long haul. I dunno. What did you think? I have started the second book in the series, again as an audio book. Usually I am gripped by audio books but have found myself struggling to press play.