Change of Plan

So my plan was to go to the movies to see ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and then do a train trip to Brighton Beach to check out the location for this wedding.

I began walking, stopped on Vegan Chickie’s recommendation, to purchase a coffee, which was delicious and served by a very happy and friendly gentleman.

I walked some more, approximately two blocks, when I came across Spencer Outlet Centre.

I thought to myself “Self! This looks like the place for you!”

I found the entrance and in I walked.

I was warmly greeted by a very friendly woman who told me I was tiny and scoffed at my choice of size 10 pant that I first tried on. I swear Melbourne sizes are very different to Queensland sizes!

Of the dozen shops that I entered, only one had a less than friendly attendant.

I was rudely reminded of my age when I was chatting to a woman whom I considered my equal, commenting about the clothes and I offered her a top that I was holding and that she was obviously admiring. When she tried on the top, the male attendant asked her if she wanted to show her mother (me). I looked at her and realised that she was about 30, so yes, I could easily be her mother.

Ugh!

I was feeling so young and vibrant until that point!

Spencer Outlet Centre captured my attention for five hours. I spent a lot of money and now have my entire wardrobe sorted for Spring/Summer.

Lunch was lovely in the food court and the coffee was divine.

I must say that the walk back was not as pleasant as the walk there. Walking uphill with a dozen bags of goodies at the end of a tiring shopping day was hard work!

I stumbled upon a fresh juice bar just around the corner from Vegan Chickie’s apartment, so I bought myself a celery, apple and ginger juice which gave me a perfect boost of energy.

Vegan Chickie had made a deliciously spicy butter chicken with brown rice for dinner, so a perfect end to the day!

My gear is all packed and ready to go to the wedding tomorrow.

The maximum will only be 20C so I bought myself some boots to wear in place of the Summer sandals I brought with me. Hopefully I’ll be running around so much that I won’t even feel the cold.

It’s after 11pm. Best get some sleep.

Nite all.

In Melbourne

My flight on Wednesday was delayed an hour which kind of threw all of our well laid plans out the window and caused a bit of stress and anxiety at this end, but we recovered well.

The flight seemed long. We left Maroochydore at 12.30pm and arrived in Melbourne at 4pm (remembering Daylight Savings). 

I watched a movie on the Virgin App - Oceans 8 - which I’ve seen, but still enjoyed it the 2nd time. I tried to watch Young Sheldon too, but the app decided to freeze and I couldn’t get to work, so instead, I listened to one of my audio books.

Because the flight was late, my booking for the shuttle bus from the airport to CBD was missed.  I had changed the booking when I knew I would be late, but we were even later again, so I had to wait 25 mins for the next shuttle to arrive. At least they dropped me right at the front door so I didn’t have to drag my luggage through the streets.

Chicklet had already left the apartment to spend Halloween with her Dad, and Vegan Chickie was at an appointment, so I let myself in and relaxed, listening to more of my audio book.

It was nice to spend time alone with Vegan Chickie and we sat up til quite late - we’ll it felt late because we were both exhausted - then Chicklet was delivered home at precisely 5.50am! VC took her straight into her bedroom where she spent quite a bit of time before bounding into the lounge room where I’m sleeping to finally give me my hug hello. She welcomed me with her fabulous loosy toothy grin.

We spent the entire day at home, eating and drinking and watching a movie on Netflix called ‘Coraline’, playing a little Dragon Sim and drawing some pictures.

Tomorrow has some rough plans surrounding it, but nothing concrete yet. Maybe a movie, maybe a trip to Brighton. We’ll see how the motivation moves me.

Very warm weather here today and tomorrow will be only slightly cooler. The day of the wedding will be very cool so I’m glad I brought something a little warmer to wear - at least it has sleeves!

That’s about it for me. I’ve typed this on my phone which is kind of awkward and I have just 1% charge left so I’d best sign off fast! 

Nite all.

The Night Before

Here we are at 8pm the night before I fly to Melbourne and I'm still not packed.

We leave at 7am tomorrow.

I've gathered my camera gear, put it all in a small suitcase with wheels and weighed it.

This is the suitcase that I want to carry with me onto the plane because I don't trust that it will survive a trip in my check-in luggage. I figure it could be stolen or damaged, so I need to keep it close to me.

So two camera bodies, four lenses, two batteries and a charger weigh 10.8kgs.

That's too heavy for carry-on luggage.

So I removed a camera body, two batteries, the charger and the 2nd largest lens.

It STILL weighs 7.6kgs. I'll take my chances.

I currently have many items of clothing spread over the bed. I need five outfits. They need to be lightweight. They need to be crush proof because Vegan Chickie does not possess an iron. They need to be presentable enough to wear in public because there is something planned for every day. They need to be suitable for all weather situations because ... Melbourne!

I need to make a list to check, otherwise I'll be under pressure in the morning and I'll forget stuff.

We had a good coffee morning with the girls, though we missed Lady Lynn, Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be announced) and Maid Marian. We welcomed the return of Reality TV Queen after quite a few weeks away and The Whinging Pom who returned from her month long holiday.

It was a slow day in the shop.

Adoring Husband and I put the new glass cabinet in place and I filled it with jewellery displays.

AH took all the cardboard boxes because the shop recycle bin is full and The Motivator's recycle bin is full, so the boxes have now filled our home recycle bin.

I wrapped another gift box.

I tied up a couple of the coaster sets.

I selected one of my photos to donate to the local pub for their Melbourne Cup raffle and wrapped it accordingly. AH delivered it to the pub this afternoon.

My last customer of the day bought up big on our selection of unicorns including fridge magnets and snap buttons. His purchases totalled almost half of our sales for the day and I'm pretty certain that his two young daughters are going to be wearing wide grins when he offers them the gifts he took from the shop.

By the time I tied up some loose ends and did a small grocery shop, it was almost 4.30pm when I arrived home.

Adoring Husband showed me the progress that he'd made with the pool landscaping today - the pool is so close, I can almost taste it!

Anyway, best go pack.

Happy Hump Day!

Nite all.  

Surprisingly Busy

For a Monday, it was surprisingly busy at the shop today.

There is a large group of ladies in town, without their husbands, for a week long holiday. Half of them came into the shop today, did not buy anything, but promised to return with the entire group on Tuesday. They are excited to be without their husbands!

Just four of them were VERY loud, so I can't imagine how loud they will ALL be when they are in the shop together. That will bring an interesting energy into the space!

The Gypsy returned to work after her two of weeks off. During that time she ran a couple of successful retreats on the Gold Coast, so she was positively glowing.

There was a steady flow of customers in the shop all morning, the last sale was made at about 1.30pm and then I think it was the weather that kept people away because storms were building with lightning and thunder and quite a bit of rain.

I had asked Adoring Husband to cover for me at the shop for the last half hour so that I could have my hair done, but the storm meant that I couldn't ride my trike, and because The Motivator happened to be in the shop, we decided to close the shop half an hour early so that AH could drive me to my appointment.

I love my hair. Future DIL did a wonderful job again.

The storm passed without issue but it's still overcast and there is more rain to come tonight. Storms are forecast for tomorrow and possibly Wednesday ... as long as I can fly out from the Sunny Coast on Wednesday without issue, I will be happy.

I made an easy dinner by baking a butterflied chicken in the oven and serving it with a simple salad.

I'm still not packed for my trip to Melbourne ...

It's almost 9pm, so I'm off to bed. I'm thoroughly enjoying my new sleep regime and I'm feeling good!

Nite all.

Hibernation

Total hibernation today.

I felt a little discombobulated and totally unable to face the world, so I remained in bed until after 4pm.

I watched hours of Trevor Noah and Ellen Degeneres and Graham Norton. Informative, feel good and funny.

Adoring Husband delivered food and water when necessary and left me alone when necessary.

On Friday night I was talking to Baker Hater about my trip to Melbourne and she asked some relevant questions about my trip and attempted to give me advice about what I should do at night - just quietly, the only nightlife that I participate in is raffle night at the Bowls Club - so I scoffed at her suggestion of going to the IceBar one night.

She told me that the 'brown trams' in Melbourne were free and I told her that all trams in the CBD are free ...

"FREE Tram Zone – Melbourne CBD. Since January 1st 2015, the inner city CBD has a new FREE Tram Zone. This means that any tram trip you take that starts and ends within the City Centre (designated Free Tram Zone) will be free. This is a new initiative to assist visitors staying in the city to move around."

I told her about the wedding that I'm photographing in Brighton and she told me how dodgy Brighton was and that I shouldn't leave my bag or any valuables lying around.

So I did some research and discovered that it is ranked as the 4th best suburb in Melbourne and has a 5 star rating for safety, eating out, families, schools, parks, clean environment, night life and the many reviews that I've read have been outstanding.

I told her that I was photographing the wedding on Brighton beach where the colourful beach huts are and she told me that there weren't many of them left now.  I felt a bit sad and disappointed about that because I had big plans based on their existence!

I discovered that there are actually 82 beach huts currently on Brighton Beach.

Baker Hater ... I know that you don't read my blog or even know of it's existence for that matter, but ... WERE YOU DRUNK????  Crazy woman!

Adoring Husband has spent the day in the back yard doing pool preparation work so he's been much more productive than I have. He's also been much dirtier and required two showers throughout the day. He made a quick trip into The Bay to visit my favourite (not) place, Bunnings.

Having done nothing all day, I still feel quite tired, so I'm off to bed. It's just after 8.35pm. My daily practice of meditation is training me to go to bed at a reasonable hour every night and create a habit of sleeping soundly. Except for a couple of hiccups, so far, so good.

Nite all.