The perfect evening

~ Beer with a friend after work ~

~ Good movie with my favourite cousin ~

~ Debrief complete with tea and laughs ~

~ Walk outside in the balmy summer Perth night ~

~ Private Practice double episode ~

The perfect evening after the crappiest day.

Sx

Balls

I think I need to grow some balls. (Please excuse the crassness, but I feel its appropriate in this instance.)
Hmmm, note in my sentence I say "I think", this is what I'm talking about. I need to be more decisive, not be afraid of making mistakes, understand and accept my weaknesses, be more assertive and understand that I'm not going to be seen as mean or loose friends over the fact that I'm purely communicating clearly what I want and what I don't want. 
I've always had strong people in my life who I have looked to for guidance and advice. This has often gone beyond guidance and advice and I've ended up foregoing what I want in order to please others. 
The reason for my big bold "need to stop this bulls**t right now" is that I'm trying to find a house. This has been going on for months, and by months, I mean over a year! I'm s**t scared about making a mistake, I'm s**t scared about blowing a substantial amount of money on a house that doesn't work out to be a 'smart investment'. I'm trying so hard to be smart about this purchase (my very own first home) that I'm completely dismissing opportunities that may not be quite perfect or fit my very detailed list, or alternatively I've been procrastinating for so long that I've missed houses who have gone to more deserving (ie decisive) people. 
Now I don't really want to do this, because its so cliché, but I blame my mother. As much as I love her dearly, she has fostered in me a strong level of self disbelief. And it all stems back to when she was 17 and bought a car without getting her dad to 'look over it'. Now my grandfather, whilst amazing, was not a mechanic, he was a farmer, and in my mum's eyes that means he can turn his hand at anything. It goes without saying that the $200 mini morris was a lemon, but we still tell stories of it! So that $200 car, while not being the most reliable of vehicles, has given us 30 years of stories and laughter, not a bad 'investment' after all...
So my mum wants my dad (also a farmer) to look over any house I want to look at. Which is almost impossible, he lives 3 hours away and is in the early stages of a very busy harvest, which then leads to his 'stand ins'... My brothers (ditto with busy-ness), my brother in law (also not a builder or realtor), my male friends (geologists, engineers - not structural, lawyers, IT consultants etc etc), my female friends (teachers, lawyers, enviro consultants, etc). So no one I know who is more qualified than me. So why don't I just make the decision about whether I put in an offer on a house or not? Anyone? (the beauty of a non-readership) I thought as much...
So with this in mind, I have just sent an email to the agent of a very cute little duplex'd house in a beautiful street to ask to have a look through a second time. I have already fallen in love with the idea of this house, god help me!
Sx

Home sweet Home

I'm homeless, well not in the strictly speaking "I live without a roof over my head" homeless. I'm homeless in the sense of "I feel like I'm living in someone else's home and I want to put down roots of my own" homeless. 


I live in a home that was already furnished when I moved in, which was handy; I sold my furniture when I left Sydney 4 years ago and haven't needed to buy any since. But this means I don't feel settled. I am rarely at home (haven't eaten there in over 2 weeks) and on weekends I leave early and arrive home late. The house is owned by my parents (whom are farmers) so I rent it at extremely low rent and a great location. But I want my own home.


I'm conflicted, I'm buying a home by myself (singlish remember) and I'm trying to be extremely sensible about it, this will be the biggest item I've bought by a long shot. And coming from a long line of farmers, I'm trying to buy a house on a little tiny bit of land as opposed to a unit or a villa. I've been at this for months. Extending the already long list of suburbs I'll consider, changing my mind about renovated vs "character", tossing up between 2 or 3 bedrooms, calculating how much gardening time I can dedicate each week and on and on. 


I've come close to only 1 property that I quite liked and considered putting in an offer on. But that was sold for considerably more money than I was willing to pay for it. And so the search continues.


I know I'll find it; my character cottage on 400sqm of land, close to the city with only minor work needed to make it sparkling, for a bargain price. 


Fingers crossed 
Sx 

Friday Musings... I love Fridays!

Fridays mornings are generally my most hellish time during the week, people wanting me to do just one more thing before the weekend. The company I work for/kinda own (still can't get my head around it 2 years down the track), consults and manages some other companies (vague, but I want to keep it like that) who all have oversea's interests, so we have a lot of international deadlines. So come oh 1pm, my afternoon is fabulous (generally). The guys I set up my company with and I, very much subscribe to the view that we are a lifestyle company first and foremost. So we long lunch most Friday's. I love them, tucked up inside a cosy restaurant drinking bottles of pinot in Winter, or out in a sunny courtyard when we have one of those magical winter days (crisp air, but the sun is out so warming us up) with a crisp SSB or two. And then leave early to start Friday night drinks with my friends. 
To add to my beautiful Friday, (which miraculously involves an un-forecast sunny day!) the blogs I trawl as a matter of course on my mornings have mostly included beautiful sunny flower arrangements. So I share with you, a beautiful arrangement from the team at Design*Sponge. 
Have a fabulous weekend.


Sx

Double Dose

Is it kosher in the blogging world to delete blog entries? I’m pretty certain I don’t want to become a blog whinging about my friends or the cost of petrol. I wouldn’t want to read that and I’m pretty sure that my non-existent readers don't want to read it either.  So what are my alternatives? A witty commentary regarding my current crochet project? I don’t think so.

So I find myself right back to my very first post, already, only 6 posts in and I’m repeating my content. Apologies.

I’m thinking of creating a list. You see I’m not fabulous about completing anything. I have a very low tolerance to extended projects. But like everyone, I have a list. On my list…

a)Sail around the Whitsunday’s with a beloved/many beloveds for an extended holiday

b)Learn to play the guitar

c)Finish a babette crocheted rug

d)Buy a house

e)Learn how to speak either French, Italian or German

f)Get fit

So now I need to find a way of motivating myself to complete these goals. I’m the queen of procrastinating – even as I type I’m thinking, “I could get up early tomorrow morning, however it will probably still be raining and if I was going to get up early I should already be asleep, I can’t walk in the rain as I’m still recovering from a cold” et al.

I’m thinking bite sized pieces, which should be easy, right? Example, the babette rug, the individual squares each take from 5 minutes to about 30 mins depending on the size to complete. Easy huh.

My first short term goal to reach my Ultimate goal ‘c’ is to complete 10 squares a week. I figure a week rather than a day gives me cramming time. And as I need loads of small squares, in theory this target will be extremely easy to reach, (I need 128 squares of varying size in total). Yikes, so if I only just manage to make my weekly targets this rug will take me months to complete! But I guess if will be complete…

Ok, I’m heading to bed now to contemplate my new goal and to work out ways of tackling my other goals in bite sized chunks.

Sweet dreams

Sx

 Just to prove I can do it, here are some squares I prepared earlier ;-) 

Struggle Town

I’m struggling today. The weather is getting me down, its supposed to be spring and we just have overcast days and rain here in Perth at the moment, I’d rather spend my day either a) sitting in a coffee shop with a friend and/or good book b) curled up on my couch under a blanket watching a movie or c) sitting at home on my computer scanning blogs and my favourite website wishing I didn’t get paid so much money doing something I’m only ‘ho-hum’ about at the moment.
But the straw that’s breaking my back at the moment is someone close to me going is through a tough time at the moment and being extremely negative and moody.
Now I’m generally an upbeat sort of person who can manage not to be too affected by the moods of others, but this is really starting to get me down. I can empathise with this friend; they’re going thru some tough stuff at the moment, and they’re the sort of person who wears their heart on their sleeves, nothing is hidden. But they’re starting to take me down with them! I’m struggling at the moment not to hide myself away from them to wait out the storm. I can feel my anxiety levels rising and I keep telling myself to breath. This friend also works with me, very closely and in a very small office, so I feel like I’m tippy toeing around the place constantly. What do I do?!?!?
This brings me to my second problem; I’m posting this on a blog, which has no audience (well I don’t think I do). Am I posting this in the hope that once I put it out into the blogosphere, I will feel like my problem has been shared (or rather aired) and then I can put it behind me and move forward?
I’m a big fan of the Bossy Blog on news.com.au, Bossy is a psychotherapist and holds nothing back. Her advice is sensible and blunt. My guess with most the of the people who write in, is that as soon as they hit that send button (and sometimes earlier) they cotton on to what advice is going to be give and what path they will be taking before Bossy has had a chance to unleash herself. So I wonder if the same will happen to me.

Sx

Back in Happier times, circa 1983. Pre Lil Sis, I loved that heart headband!

Perth Appreciation Society

I love Perth, I really do, mostly.

§ I love that it takes me 15 minutes to drive to work when I live on the other side of the CBD to my office

§ I love that even though my friends live suburbs away they are all still no more than 20 minutes away

§ I love that the beach is so accessible to everyone and that it doesn’t cost a cent to park there all day

§ I love that my family are all in this state, if not in the city with me

§ I love that people are so relaxed

§ I love that mostly, things are not too expensive

§ I love the fresh air, Kings Park, cycling around the river and Sunday Sessions.

There are things I don’t like, naturally. However, I’m only focusing on the positives at the moment… So I won’t mention them here. ;-)

Ok, using poetic licience, this is @ Redgate near Margaret River