Cloey lately.

I’ve been struck down with illness these past few months. It’s a happy illness that will hopefully produce a baby at the end of it. My husband and I are delighted and feeling very pleased with ourselves.

The last couple of weeks the morning (24hr sickness) has lifted a fair bit and I’ve been able to start walking again.

I walk very slowly most afternoons along the coast walk for about 45mins depending on how I feel. I’ve missed it so much!

We are looking at moving but are happy to stay out for the time being. I was so sad looking at bigger houses further south and felt so relieved when my husband and I decided to stay and wait til we could buy.

Can you blame me?

Between Summer and Winter

My husband was cuddling me in bed the other morning telling me how much he loved this time of year. (Not me) He then went on to say there should be a word for this time of year, ‘you know, between summer and winter.’ I looked at him a bit confused and realised he wasn’t joking. At all.

I said ‘There is darling, and its called Autumn’. He replied ‘oh yeah’. Then tried to move on very quickly. Haha – I still think its very cute a few days later 🙂

Anyway ill just post a few photos of Autumn around the Eastern Suburbs.

A walk at Watson Bay.

A walk around Surrey Hills

Leaves on Queen Street Woolhara.

The Gap. I went walking with a friend and she’s never heard of The Gap Angel, Don Ritchie. It’s incredible the amount of safety barriers, cameras phones etc up there. I have actually been on the scene at an attempted suicide and it was truly violent, frightening and so so sad. I think any suicide that can be prevented by these measures is worthwhile.

We had a snackeroo at Watsons Bay Hotel.

And perused the cocktail menu for my upcoming birthday 🙂

The last few days have been lovely going for walks and pottering around the house. I changed lightbulbs, bought lavender to pot, cleaned out cupboards and caught up on phone calls. Bliss

Off to work for a few days then back to Toowoomba. Take care

A day off

Husband and I decided to take a weekend off and not renovate in Toowoomba. Physically the travel is very draining, drive to the staff car park, bus to the terminal, an hour and a half flight to Brisbane, then cab to the parents to borrow a car to drive the 1hr 45mins to get there. The whole process usually takes about 6hrs each way door to door. We have been going to work then traveling like this non stop for a couple of weeks at a time for about 4 months now and we both need a break. We are still in contact with our builders etc who are doing fences, driveways, flooring etc so there is not much we can physically do ourselves up there anyway.

Anzac Day I worked a night shift. Living so close to the Clovelly Hotel is great but when you have to work and you can hear the crowds playing two up its really hard to not feel a bit down.

Here’s me laying in bed listening to the crowds go off….

Husband went to a BBQ with MY work friends. He had a good time but I had major FOMO seeing everyone relaxing and having a good time while we had a horrendous night shift with poor little babies coming from everywhere.

The rest of the weekend was fantastic. I caught up on the Real Housewives of Melbourne, had Miss Chu, and today went to Bondi to spend my Aquabumps voucher.

Pulled over to snap this rainbow at Tamarama.

Bondi was looking very overcast..

I bought an Aquabumps print that I’ve been thinking over for a long time. Named Lone Swimmer it’s one of his most popular ones but I love it so much I thought Id just bite the bullet and not care that its probably hanging in every second house around the Eastern Beaches.

Lone Swimmer looks fantastic in the big prints do I would recommend buying the biggest one you can afford (which for me was the amount of my voucher!)

I hung it as soon as I got home I’m so chuffed with it.

Now I’m just waiting for dinner to cook which is some lamb cutlets, duck fat potatoes and green beans. I’m also nibbling on some Danish blue cheese and crackers while the husband folds the washing 🙂 what a man!

Take care 🙂

Catch ups

It has been a whirlwind these last couple of weeks. I smashed out about 9 shifts in 10 days so that I could get up to two weddings in Queensland, help my hubby renovate and not have to fly back and forth.

I flew up Friday arvo and met my school friends for catch ups at Mr and Mrs G RiverBar. It was lovely, having a few bottles of prosecco and an antipasto platter over looking the river. We ended up out until about 2am as we had to meet my besties new man and have a few drinks with him. We all get a bit carried away when we reunite.

Ooh.. I didn’t mention that my beautiful mother greeted me with flowers at the airport! I love my Mum so much.

We had the first wedding at South Bank, followed by a reception at Stokehouse. I ended up home in bed at 10pm which was a pity. I got a huge headache and felt as though a migraine was fast approaching. I had to make my excuses and leave. I made it home to bed just in time. Here are some photos of the wedding and her beautiful dress.

I caught up with all the girls again with all the partners and kids on Sunday. Two of my friends are having twins now. What luck! We had a lovely lunch at Beccofino before I raced off to kiss a few more friends babies. Brisbane put on a huge thunderstorm for me too which didn’t help much with my Brisbane pining as I love a good thunderstorm!

Monday, bright and early saw me driving up to Toowoomba to start some hardcore reno’s. The houses look amazing and we are just so proud.

We have finished painting the interior and exterior of the old house which is amazing. We’re just waiting the the tiler and the kitchen to go in, then the carport, fences and turf. Then I’ll add a few plants etc in too.

The new house is just waiting for the floors, the driveway, fences and turf. I made the controversial session of putting in vinyl ‘floorboards’ and carpet in the house. I do NOT like tiles in a house for the main flooring. I’m not against them in other people’s houses, each to their own, but they will not be appearing in any of my houses. Having said that, it will be interesting to see these vinyl floorboards once they are done.. I’m a little worried about them. The door I chose for the new house is shocking!! Hopefully ill get better as we do more houses.

We spent the week painting, sanding, fixing, driving to and from bunnings at least 12hrs/day. At night we lay in bed for about two seconds, bone tired before falling asleep. It was a very satisfying week. On Friday we drive to Byron Bay for our second wedding. We had an amazing weekend and the wedding was beautiful. We had so much fun in Byron and it was a good way to wrap up the week.

It was back to Eastern Suburbs for today. Hubby and I had lunch at Bondi before unpacking, grocery shopping, organising, and cleaning. We’re home for another 10days before we’re off to QLD again. I’m working most of Easter but I hope you all enjoy yourselves. Be SAFE and please spare a thought for those who are not as fortunate as us.. It must be hard for them on holidays.

Bondi – icebergs end.

A lovely little Monday

I am pooped. Today was my first day off since last Sunday and work is do busy at the moment I don’t see how I could possibly have days.

I’ve had a babe all week on High Frequency Ventilation, with Nitric, inotropes and extremely anxious parents. I had a win though, extubating the baby straight from High Frequency to Bubble Cpap with Nitric and who thrived. Last I checked he was still off the vent 36hrs later and weaning the PEEP. It was the first time I had extubated a baby off High Freqency and also only the second time our unit had administered nitric through the Bubble CPAP. To say it was a stressful extubation is an understatement… I had a group of doctors and nurses watching. I could even feel one of the Fellows breathing on my neck she was standing so close behind me… Talk about the pressure!

Soo.. This morning it was time for a restorative swim in my beloved Clovelly.

Aaaah…. So good.

I said hello to the dog of my dreams and creepily took a sneaky photo…

I love me a chocolate and white border collie. When I have one I know I will of made it in life!

I changed to Telstra for my phone contract.. Thank god. I finally have reception in my house.

I finished my latest book ‘Finding Ultra’ by Rich Roll. I found it very enjoyable to read and also extremely motivational. In a nutshell it’s about an overweight middle aged man who decides one day to change his lifestyle and becomes an exercising maniac… Here’s a pic.

I FaceTimed my sister who put me on with the chooks and the dog…
Yes, well, it’s been a lovely day and I’m exhuasted with a bit if my new favourite beef stir fry.

My bed table

I have a nice little pile of books to read at the moment.

1. Persuasion by Jane Austen.
I loved her books in high school but had our English teacher helping us along with themes etc. I thought this could be a little book that I could tackle without getting too overwhelmed by ye old English.

2. Le petit prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
We read it in French at school and I struggled then and I’m certainly struggling now! I thought if I could battle sentence by sentence I might remember a thing or two at the end.

3. Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas
I thoroughly enjoyed The Slap but I’ve heard this book isn’t as good so I’ve all but given up on reading it. However… I really need to give it a chance as its nice and thick and I need a good long book!

4. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.
I’ve read it but can’t bear to to put it on
the shelf yet. I want to read the last few chapters again particularly the passages about how a painting can get into your soul.

5. Cheers to Childbirth by Lucy Berry
No, I’m not pregnant, I just want to read this for work. (Sorry, I’m defensive, I’m just used to defending my married but not pregnant status up almost everyone) It’s the stories told by male public figures and their experiences of child birth.

6. The Violinist by Rachel Urquart.

My husband bought this home from the airport as a present. I was pleased with his choice because I’ve read her other books and enjoyed them. They are light, chick-lit easy reading books.

Catch ups with my phone

I thought I’d look back through my phone and share some photos to catch me up with life lately.

There’s been some cooking.. A highlight was the chicken and basil lasagne I made last week.

Lots of renovating and building. We found some beautiful floor boards in the old house.

Old versus the new house.

Spending time with the little darlings…

Even at 630 in the morning in the park!!!

Of course weddings are still flowing
steadily.

And im still picking out presents for little ones… The airport now has a Seed.

Life is still good at the beach…

From boozy stormy days at Bondi Icebergs…

To Coogee afternoon runs.

Life’s busy but fulfilling at the moment.
Cheers.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I have been waiting for a book like this for months. A thick book that you can’t put down, is actually very well written, and the subject matter is novel and interesting.

It took me about 2 weeks to read on night duty, flights etc (and I’m a very quick reader) so its hard to find a book that will sustain me longer than a couple of days.

Read it.

My old friend…

Hello, a big long abscence from me. life has been so busy with our renovations and work that I can barely see any other life than the flights interstate, driving the highway to Toowoomba, painting, sleeping poorly and then work. Ill do a post with some updates but cane on to write about my old friend insomnia that has hit me hard this past week. Coupled with a big ol dose of anxiety and a upper respiratory infection I’m not feeling too great. I thought if I talked about here, as boring as it may be it might put me back to sleep.

I downloaded some sleep apps to try out. they’re mostly hypnosis and meditation but I can’t stop my mind whirring long enough to hear what they’re telling me to do. And believe me… I really want someone to tell me what to do to go the hell to sleep!!!

My husband is away which sucks but lucky for him because I would normally wake him up to tell him I can’t sleep and that he can’t go back to sleep until I’m asleep. He usually says something sweet puts his hand on my head then turns over and falls back asleep snoring like a chainsaw. Bastard has no problems sleeping ever!!

Anywho, hit me with what you’ve got. By the way, this isn’t shift work insomnia, I haven’t worked nights for a few weeks 🙂 this is the real deal do I’d prefer not to medicate 🙂

Here is the view from where I am laying and staring into the wall.. Enjoy

The best news..

Today I heard the best news I’ve heard in a long, long time! My dear friend is pregnant…. With twins! I can’t believe it! She deserves this with every bit of her soul. These babies are so wanted and so deserved…. I do not think they could belong to a better set of people! I wish her the best for a long and uncomplicated pregnancy and birth. I’ll be thinking of her every step of the way, willing her babies on every day and cheering and cheering!

Hehe, It’s funny because I feel smug for her. Twins!! How amazing!!

Ok I have to sleep now…. But I’ll be dreaming about them 🙂