Following on from yesterday’s post about keeping Christmas simple, I wanted to share this short video.
I am looking forward to having the family together at Christmas and this video just says it all.
Category Archives: Holidays
Planning For Christmas
Leave a commentIt is a little over 7 weeks until Christmas so it is time I at least gave some thought to plans for the festive season.
This year we will be at home for Christmas and most of the family will be joining us with some coming from interstate and overseas. It is a few years since we have been at home for Christmas Day as the last 3 years have included 2 Christmases in Melbourne and another at the beach. I am looking forward to the opportunity to be together and share a meal on Christmas Day. That is the essence of Christmas for me. I expect there will be fun times and other meals to share during the extended break at that time.
I will most likely be catering for 9 adults and 3 children (9, 7 and 6). There are food allergies/preferences to consider so there will be no gluten, seafood, nuts, roast pork or kiwifruit. I will have to put my thinking cap on as I like to come up with some new things to try as well as tried and true favourites.
We tend to keep the gift-giving modest and low-key as most of us do not really need more ‘stuff’ in our lives. I try to include experience gifts for our grandchildren as they will remember those far more readily than another pile of toys.
What do your Christmas preparations include?
Business at Byron Bay
3 CommentsI have been away from home for a couple of days on a work-related trip. Byron Bay is a beach town close to the most easterly point of mainland Australia. This distinction is held by Cape Byron which, unsurprisingly, is marked with a lighthouse.
This was taken just before dawn on the second morning of my visit. There is quite an extensive area of beach which is designated for dogs and there were plenty of pooches and their owners taking advantage of the crisp, clear mornings.
I was able to witness the sun rise over the easternmost point of Australia, although the summit of Mt Warning, a little to the north-west, is actually the point that is first touched by sunlight.
A blush of orange heralds the sunrise.
The golden orb clears the horizon.
More Holiday Shopping
Leave a commentWe have been home from our holiday for 3 days now and it is over a week since my last post.
I hope you all had a relaxed and happy Christmas, wherever you were and whatever you did. We had a delightful day which we shared with our daughters and some festive food but did not over-indulge.
The other shopping I did on my holiday was a little more planned than the random collection from my last post. I went to my favourite shop in Melbourne, Rivette & Blair, where I replenished my supply of tops.
The are all simple styles and basic colours that will mix and match with existing pieces in my wardrobe.
A simple v-neck black and white tee.
The same style in plain red.
3/4 sleeve red with scoop neck for cooler days.
Both of the red ones are waiting to be ironed.
Plain black linen with pleats at neckline. This is the same style as 2 spotted tops I already had.
Finally, a loose navy v-neck top in very fine polyester. It is super light and cool.
I look forward to sharing the different ways I wear these as I mix and match with shorts, trousers and skirts.
Holiday Shopping
Leave a commentI rarely purchase impulsively because on the days I am in the office I am simply too busy to be interested in wandering around the city to look for stuff to buy. Since we live in a semi-rural area I have to make a specific trip for what I need so unplanned buys rarely happen.
Holidays seem to be a different story because I actually have time to stop and look around.
This is a fun post to share my purchases from today.
Peanuts, pomegranate molasses, facewash and moisturiser was my haul for today.
We went to the A1 Lebanese Bakery because my daughter wanted pomegranate molasses for a salad she is making for Christmas lunch. It seems to be a relatively common ingredient in Middle eastern cuisine and since I was not sure how easy it would be to source at home, I bought a bottle.
The peanuts were from a stall at the Queen Victoria Market and I thought the price was pretty good – $7/kg so I bought a kilogram. I plan to use these to make my own peanut paste in my new blender.
Finally, the facewash and moisturiser are Sukin, which is the regular brand that I buy. The small chemist next to the entrance to the market had a special with 20% off all Sukin products so I could not pass up an easy saving.
I am not sure that I would have ever bought pomegranate molasses if I had not been here as would not have known what to do with it but the other things would have been bought at some time.
Do you buy ‘different’ things when you are on holidays and more relaxed?
Farewell
Leave a commentWe are on holidays and flying to Singapore tomorrow. I have a separate holiday blog so please pop over and follow our adventures here.
Regular blogging will return when I get back.
Local Sightseeing
2 CommentsThe last few days have been pleasantly busy as we hosted some friends from interstate. It was a great opportunity to do some local sightseeing and discover some hidden gems in our own backyard.
After meeting our guests at the airport in Brisbane and then having lunch we headed home on the road less travelled. There is not a lot of interest on the highway between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast so we took the scenic route via Dayboro and Mt Mee. We had discovered this route a couple of weeks ago and you can read more about it here.
On Sunday we ventured to the Glasshouse Mountains lookout, a short drive west of Glasshouse Mountains township. I had previously noticed signs about this but had never sought it out. This is a fantastic spot with great views, picnic tables, BBQs and a short walking circuit.
Monday saw us take off in yet another direction where we sampled cheese at the cheese factory in Kenilworth before travelling along various back roads and finally ending up at Boreen Point on the edge of Lake Cootharaba. We had a picnic lunch and then adjourned to an historic hotel for a quiet drink. The Apollonian Hotel was relocated from Gympie where it was built during the goldrush days of the 1870s.
What gems have you discovered in your local area?
Tracking 2015
4 CommentsToday is Saturday. Where did the week go? I am very busy at work so although I have been thinking about my blog that is as far as it went.
Not only is it Saturday, it is Saturday 31st January. The final day of the first month of 2015. 1/12th of the year gone. Have you already forgotten what you resolved to do better/differently/more consistently in 2015 already?
One of my goals was to actually track how much we spend. We have never worked to a real budget – actually allocating a certain $ value to each item/category but we keep careful track of the regular bills – rates/insurances/phone/internet but is the variable spending that is more difficult to calculate. I do not have a specific amount of money for groceries each week as I tend to bulk shop for dry goods and meat and buy perishable items on a weekly basis. I need to average my grocery spending over at least 6 months to get a fair and accurate idea of how much we spend.
As I said it is the last day of the month and we have been shopping so there will be no more spending today. The grand total of our variable spending in January was $5,134.53 – yes, over $5K! Almost exactly half of that was airfares and accommodation for our Singapore holiday later in the year. So, $2,618.73 looks somewhat better. This figure includes food, clothes, gifts, hobbies, eating out, entertainment, alcohol, car fuel and maintenance, haircuts, public transport, pets, medical/dental and incidentals.
Apart from the holiday spending which is really a one-off, the categories with the highest spend were food $623 closely followed by public transport $620. This is really interesting because what finally prompted me to track our spending very carefully was that I wanted to know how much we would need to live a comfortable lifestyle on our terms in our retirement. Giving up paid work is a few years away yet but it is important to budget for life without regular employment. We will still need to eat when we are retired but public transport will cease to be an issue as all of that expenditure is related to our lengthy commute to the office.
Do you know how much you spend? Working or retired? I would love to hear your comments.
Feels Like Friday
2 CommentsI have not posted anything for the past couple of days as I have been totally committed to work. We have had colleagues from interstate working with us for a few days and I had to give it my undivided attention so as to maximise the results from being able to work face-to-face. Despite all of the advances in technology which allow us to connect via, phone, email and videoconferencing, there is nothing quite like being able to sit down and look at the same work together.
Everyone has headed back to their respective locations and I am now home with the prospect of 5 days at home stretching out in front of me. It really does feel like Friday! I will be doing some work from home tomorrow but other than that my time is my own. As an added bonus we have a long weekend due to the Australia Day holiday on Monday.
I hope to make some progress on a number of projects around the house and garden and I am sure I will have lots to show you.
We have the prospect of slightly cooler weather for the next few days and possibly some heavy rain. I think the first thing I will do is make sure all of the washing is up to date while the weather is still fine.
It is lovely to have time to look forward to spending as I choose rather than having a diary crammed full of appointments.
Do you plan every moment or do you go with the flow, so to speak?
Planning a Picnic
2 CommentsOn Saturday we were going to be out for the whole day so I decided to pack a picnic lunch. We knew that we were going out for dinner so it seemed ridiculous to consider ‘eating out’ twice in one day.
This is where we had our lunch. It is not out in the country but a suburban park about 4km from the Brisbane CBD. There is a bus depot across the road and a major freeway and interchange a few hundred metres in another direction, yet it was a quiet and peaceful oasis where we stopped for our picnic.
We unpacked our picnic set and cloth, added the food and drink and we were ready to tuck into our feast.
I had made a mixed salad of lettuce, capsicum (red peppers), cherry tomatoes, cucumber and cheese as well as a couple of hard-boiled eggs. There were rice crackers and some mango chutney as well. I packed some walnuts and dried figs to finish and the whole lot was washed down with lemon cordial and soda water.
A pleasing note is that the lemon cordial, mango chutney and soda water were made at home, the chickens provided the eggs and the cucumber and tomatoes were picked from the garden.
Just a few minutes spent planning meant that we saved at least $30 and were able to enjoy some of our favourite foods in a pleasant setting rather than doing battle with holiday crowds at a cafe or food court.
organised castle 