Too Hot for Summer

We are on struggle street dealing with this heat.

There is still two weeks until the air conditioner is repaired. Ugh.

Luckily for me, The Blonde Bombshell has air conditioning, so I got to spend three hours in the comfort of her lovely home with a bunch of crazy ladies, eating her beautifully prepared food and drinking her delicious punch while testing the Le Reve oils and perfumes.

I enjoyed my day there, especially sitting beside the snorting/laughing Tweedle Dee and had forgotten all about the heat, until I opened the door to leave! That was a shock to the system!

I made a beeline for my workspace when I arrived home, because it's the coolest room in the house, and I sat there for a couple of hours trying to work out my problem with three of the photos in my shop, which are appearing as square thumbnails instead of landscape like all the others.

I've checked, double checked and triple checked everywhere I can think of, but I can't figure it out and I'm obviously missing something!

Tomorrow is another day.

Check these out!

These were taken in Melbourne at Artvo. Vegan Chickie and Chicklet obviously had a fabulous time there and I hope to check it out for myself while I'm there in March.

Anyway, it's 11.30pm so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

In Straya

Yep it's Straya Day.

The best place to spend Straya Day is in your own lounge room away from the craziness.

I must be getting old and anti-social.

No alcohol. No barbecue.

Plenty of work at the desk. Plenty of tennis. Plenty of cricket. Chicken, vegetables and rice for dinner (not very Strayan).

Half a pawpaw for lunch.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my Straya Day.

I rode to the Seat of Knowledge this morning and spent about half an hour with the boys. The tide was high and the water was so clear that I could see the bottom.

The river was a rich teal blue and I walked halfway down the steps to stand knee deep in cool refreshing lapping waters while I watched the schools of pike darting back and forth near the rocky bank.

It was still mild for that time of day, with a nice breeze blowing and the outriggers, all decorated with Aussie flags and green and gold balloons, were putting on an exhibition for the early risers who were setting up their gazebos and deck chairs in the Lions Park.

I didn't even have my camera with me!

From there I rode to the supermarket to pick up some avocados and the girls who were serving were all dressed in red, white and blue. There were long stripy wigs, face paint, sequinned dresses, hats with beer cans, sparkling red, white and blue false eyelashes and all sorts of other accessories and paraphernalia.

It's one of the things I love about the owners of our Foodworks. They get involved in all of the festive occasions. Halloween, Christmas, Australia Day, Easter, St Patrick's Day and any other excuse they can find to dress up and decorate the shop.

I was home by 9am and spent the entire day at my desk.

I needed to! All those hours and I'm still trying to wrap my head around some tricky stuff that hardly makes any sense to me. I was so focused, but the jargon really has me stumped sometimes. There were a couple of moments today, when I felt excited about my progress and could see my finish line, but twice, an obstacle appeared and really slowed me down.

One of them, I gave up on at the end of the day and will return to it tomorrow or Saturday.

Despite the obstacles, I still feel like I've accomplished a lot today and I'm happy with my progress.

I did get a good night's sleep last night, which helps, and I'll give myself another early mark tonight.

The Blonde Bombshell is hosting a Le Reve party tomorrow morning, so I'm looking forward to catching up with some of the girls again.

On that note, I'm outta here!

Nite all.

A Standout

I was very impressed with our meals at the Hervey Bay Golf Club today.

I had an entree of Lemon Myrtle and Mountain Pepper Calamari, which was melt in your mouth delicious, followed by Atlantic Salmon with Pea Puree and Lemon Aioli. It was served with small potatoes and broccolini.

My plates were both completely clean at the end of my meal.

De-bloody-licious!

I am going to take Adoring Husband there for a lunch date before I go away next month.

I came home from lunch, ate a bowl full of cherries and watched the movie 'Steel Magnolias' with Adoring Husband.

It doesn't matter how often I watch that movie, I bawl my eyes out every time. Ugh. Exhausting.

I'm off to bed and it's before 10am! Let's see if my body is ready for a sound night of sleep.

Nite all.

Nana Naps

I had a lovely morning with the girls for our weekly coffee date. Today is Day 24 without coffee for me! I drank lots of filtered water instead.

It was Reality TV Queen's birthday today, so I blew up three balloons to tie to her chair and gave her a small gift which she seemed to love. This birthday is not as happy, as she still struggles with the death of her husband.

Tomorrow is lady's luncheon day, so she will receive lots of love and support from lots of ladies.

I arrived home at about 10.30am and spent a little time in my workspace before I decided that I was hungry and needed an early lunch.

I threw together a nosh up of leftovers from last night, which included some mashed potato. I've had potato three times in three days! It was one of the things that I wanted to remove from my diet and today was a perfect example of why.  Within a couple of hours of eating it, I needed a nap because I was literally falling asleep at my desk!

Potato seems to send my brain into a fog and I get really sleepy. All carbs do it to me but I don't eat other carbs - just potatoes. If I must have them, I will save it for dinner, because I don't need my brain to function at night and I can go to bed and sleep it off.

Or I can just not eat them :)

Anyhow, by 2.30pm I was snuggled in bed with two pedestal fans aimed at me and and switched to high. What was supposed to be a Nana nap turned into a 90 minute deep sleep! I felt much better for it.

So, once again, not a lot of productivity today, but I got a little bit done ... as I keep saying ... small steps.

Well, look at that, it's 11pm already! That's what happens when you nap in the afternoon!

I must go to bed, so that I look and feel fresh and vibrant for the lady's luncheon tomorrow.

Nite all.

Blurgh!

I had a terrible night!

Nightmares that had me tossing and turning all night until 3.30am. I lay awake, but with my eyes closed, until Adoring Husband's alarm went off at 5am.

I spent some time with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and then enjoyed a short walk along the beach. The water was much cooler, so splashing through ankle deep water was very refreshing. The beach was completely empty - now that the tourists have finally returned home - yay!!

I was completely brain dead until about noon, at which time I lay on the bed for a short nap. An hour later, I was woken by the courier truck delivering my last box of jewellery for the website.

I got a little work done over a couple of hours in the afternoon and I ordered some ring boxes and other jewellery packaging.

Adoring Husband picked up my photos from the framers ...

... they look pretty good! I'll check with the post office to see if they have a safe way to send them in the mail, otherwise, my next option is to roll them and send them (without the mat board frames) in cardboard cylinders.

I think I'm done for the day.

Nite all.

Happy Dayz

I had a productive day at my desk.

However, I am continually amazed at how one day I feel like I am close to making an announcement, only to discover that there is more to do, more to learn and the announcement is still a distant vision!

It's a lesson in patience, time management, planning, co-ordination, structure, formulation, improvisation, manipulation and visualisation.

I no longer beat myself up with each disappointment. I just have to build a bridge and get over it. Move on. Go forward.

Eventually, I will reach the finish line.

Even with 5 hours at my desk today, I felt like I had only achieved what a professional would have taken an hour (if that) to complete.

Still, I am being overly cautious and double checking everything because I don't want to have to backtrack to fix mistakes if I can avoid it.

Adoring Husband came up with a brilliant idea for lunch and we had fish and chips from the local takeaway, so I didn't have to leave my desk.

At 3.30pm I pedalled off to meet The Blonde Bombshell and Reality TV Queen for drinks.

Reality TV Queen is struggling with the passing of her husband and this afternoon was a drinking session combined with group therapy. It's a process that she is going to have to endure to get to the other side of grief, and right now she needs lots of love and understanding.

I just wish I could make it all better for her.

I think it was after 6pm when I got home and I made a quick nosh up of lamb mince with cabbage, carrot, zucchini, onion, garlic, chilli and the juices from Friday night's lamb roast. It was pretty yummy, as were the strawberries with chopped hazelnuts, shredded chocolate and coconut ice cream that we had for dessert.

It's just after 10pm so it looks like I can have an early night. Roger Federer has just won his match in the Aus Open, so I can head to bed feeling satisfied that all is right with my world.

Nite all.