I'VE DONE IT... JANUARY

What a leisurely start to the year. I got this one right. I took a couple of days leave to have the week of Christmas off and went back to w...

What a leisurely start to the year. I got this one right. I took a couple of days leave to have the week of Christmas off and went back to work on New Year's eve.

katiecrackernuts.blogspot.com || Jacs Powell portfolio pic

In that week, I only worked three days because of the public holiday. Then, the following week, I took a day of leave to make it another short week and scooted down to Adelaide for four days. Then I worked my usual four days, and THEN, I took two days off on Monday and Tuesday of last week to be at a Board meeting on the Tuesday. The Board meeting was shorter than expected and because it was close to home, it just felt like a gentle start to the rest of the working week. AND THEN, there was a public holiday Monday. January has been one long holiday, with the up side of keeping on top of my workload and even getting ahead on some projects. Winning!

IN JANUARY:

I WENT TO... Adelaide. My sister and I spent four days there, tripping out to the Barossa, to the Adelaide Hills and to Tailem Bend, where Scouts Australia hosted its triennial Jamboree.

I ATE... Adelaide has so many great drinking and dining choices, it's a wonder it doesn't make more of how much it's changed, and changing, to entice interstate visitors. We drank at Pink Moon Salon, for it's easy CBD location and seasonal cocktail menu. We ate at La Rambla for its sensational tapas and because it was just one street over and the perfect location to progress from Pink Moon Salon. My sister and I would have gone back for the smoked cod croquettes alone, but alas, there were other places to explore. Mother Vine, for example and Bar Torino, the latter being my pick of the two for food, cocktail and wine choices, ambiance and location.

Outside of Adelaide we treated ourselves to lunch at Maggie Beer's The Farm Eatery and brought home a couple of choice treats from the Farm Shop.

Closer to home, a colleague and I explored the streets near our work to discover northern Spanish eatery, Casa Asturiana, in Liverpool St. The food was decadent and delicious and I was eyeing it off for city-based celebrations later in the year.

I OP SHOPPED... An Oroton silk scarf, $3; a cute pair of plastic wicker wrapped salt and pepper shakers, $5; and, a bolt of green cotton fabric, $9 for 4.5m.

I MADE... A cool cotton tank for wearing in this summer's heat. I make one of these tanks every couple of years and then wear them to death. The last one is so thin I know the seams are about to give way. I also have cut that op-shopped green cotton to sew into a new summer dress.

I READ... If you're a fan of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, there's a fair chance you'll be equally enthralled and appalled by The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, by Meg Elison. I whipped through it and will be hunting down the sequel.

I also read Rick Morton's One Hundred Years of Dirt and was reminded of both the hard cold data that is poverty in Australia and the fragility that can bring most of us, and in my observations, more women than men, to its door.

My final read for the month, finished just last night, was Almost Everything: Notes on Hope, by Anne Lamott. Through the early chapters I was nodding and marvelling how this woman could be in my head and thinking my thoughts. By the last chapters I was like, nope, good to have shared this time together, but I'm not quite sure this is "almost everything" and I reckon there's room for a whole lot more hope. Read it with an open mind and heart and time to ponder.

You Might Also Like

1 comments