Thursday, July 28, 2016

Best things (PM)

Ice cream is one of the greatest things around for sure. I came quite late to loving it, due to not being mad on dairy as a wee one. Interesting fact: apparently I didn't like food much when I was a baby. I discovered this only last night, when I was at my parents' house feeding KB and mum commented on what a great eater he is, adding "not like you were". 
"Exfudgingsqueeze me??!!" I asked. Apparently I wasn't into food. Not fussy about what I ate, apparently, just harbouring a take-it-or-leave-it attitude to food. I could not believe my ears because I absolutely do not feel that way now. 
Anyway, I definitely recall not liking milk but eventually I came around to that, and which in turn paved the way for ice cream love. But i have to say that J and her outstanding ice cream making skills have nudged me further along the path. I regularly think about the cinnamon ice cream in a gingerbread biscuit sandwich in the shape of snowflake she made for us once. I reckon if there was a choice between seeing blur and eating that again I would see blur every single time. But it was totally outstanding. 

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Best things (AM)

Today, I just wanted to talk about something I really love. 

Guys! Just because it is my Bluriversary today doesn't mean I'm going to go on about how great it was to see them a year ago or how much I love them or Damon. Give me some credit. Sheesh.




No, today I want to talk about ice cream. I don't know when I started loving ice cream so much, but I just love it. I feel like I know it well and understand it and if I could dedicate more time and effort to it I could do something really special. Has my early days working in an ice cream shop got something to do with it? I don't know. 

Where does the magic of ice cream lie? Is it the way it is both creamy and refreshing? The way you can pretty much make it any flavour and it will probably work. The way you can add it to cake or biscuits and both ice cream and companion are transformed into something better? The way it works with a warm pie?!? A warm anything! ICE CREAM GUYS!

According to Wikipedia, in Ancient Greece Hippocrates recommended people to "eat ice as it livens the lifejuices and increases the wellbeing." I think that by extension he would have said the same about ice cream right. And he's the father of western medicine. Or something. 

I feel like if I could spend my life getting to know ice cream better me and the world would be better off. I just want a lab and some testers and some ingredients and some time. And to try all the ice cream related things I've invented in my head. And then to share them with the world. And to have something better to do with the egg whites than make meringues. And to see Blur again. 

Monday, July 25, 2016

I got nothin' (PM)

I've got nuthin too! But you know who has something? Whoever has this hanging over their staircase. 


Those guys have really made it. 


I got nothin' (AM)

Well I've got heartburn. And backache. And a freezing bedroom. And if I'm being honest I also have a great roof over my head, great family and friends. My health. But for you I've got bupkis. I don't know if it's the book I'm reading leaving me depressed or the grey skies of the weekend or the fact I'm hungry or that I tried to write four lame blog posts, two of which I couldn't take anywhere and two of which I wrote on my phone but would not upload. But I'm human. If you prick me do I not bleed. And ask you why you would do such a thing.

Let's all just look at this picture of a sunset from last weekend and think about how great nature is. And how it's the little things. And be soothed by the beauty.



Thursday, July 21, 2016

Once around the sun (PM)

Geez, I can't believe KB has been here a whole year. They grow up so fast.

You know what this means? One year ago K was having to come to terms with the fact she wouldn't get to see Blur. And in a week it will be one year since I saw Blur. God, what a special week June 21-28 was last year. Truly one of the greats!


Once around the sun (AM)

Today is KB's first birthday. 
A whole year of love and terror and comfort eating. 
Hooray!



Monday, July 18, 2016

Hunks on notice (PM)

On Saturday morning Baby said to me "Maybe we should go to Scienceworks." And I said "Yeah we can do that soon." And literally minutes later I looked at Instagram and saw this and it made me question all of my decisions.



But I'm so glad K brought this up. Partly because hunks! What a great way to start the day. But also I've naturally had some thoughts about Tom Hiddleston and Oscar Isaacs myself so I'm grateful for the opportunity to explore these thoughts further.

I didn't even know Hiddleston was going out with TSwift until the weekend but I guess that's because I don't care.

Of course my introduction to Hiddleston was as Loki in The Avengers. But there he just looks like a young, well-groomed version of Severus Snape and as Thor's adopted brother and the bad guy I obviously did not pay him a lot of attention.

Here he is having a great time with Hemsworth on a rooftop somewhere.




And here they are enjoying the paper on a Saturday morning together.

I guess Loki has the section Thor wants to read #brolife

According to his IMDb page I haven't seen most of Hiddleston's other work, my greatest exposure to him being repeated viewings of Tinkerbelle and the Pirate Fairy, in which he voices Captain James but frankly that is not what started me thinking he may be a hunk so I assume it was just exposure to him as a guy about town that made me see past Loki and into the guy that may possibly be a hunk. Probably I saw him on Graham Norton a couple of times or something.

Anyway, I am definitely willing to admit that this guy got a thing and could totally be shortlisted for future hunkvelopment.

As for Oscar Isaac, well the grand tradition of the supremely attractive musician jerk meant that even, or especially, playing super douche Llewyn Davis, his hunk potential was apparent. I think to his detriment is that he is a bit chameleonic. You know like a good actor should be, but not like a hunk should be. But I am definitely interested in seeing where this thing goes.



K is right Oscar Isaac and Tom Hiddleston, you've done some great work to date. Let's see where this thing takes us!


Hunks on notice (AM)

Hunks. They're one of the reasons this blog exists. They don't get as much airtime as some of our other themes, and its not because it's crass to hear a couple of middle aged ladies talk about hunks. Being middle aged, being mothers of sons, having piles of adult responsibilities: these things are absolutely no impediments to our hunk talk. No. It's because the supply of hunks is so woeful. It might also be because we never really get to go to the movies anymore. But we watch lots of TV, and everyone says that TV is where all the good stories are now, ergo that should be where all the good hunks are. But no, readers, no. There are no hunks on TV. Jon Snow is attractive, but he is not a hunk. So yes, it's because the supply of hunks is so woeful.


Obviously there's Hemsworth and thank god for that.

Here he is with his lovely wife at Melbourne Museum this weekend. 

But is there anyone else? I don't think so.
But there are two fellows out there who I'm putting on notice as potential hunks and if they lift their game...really apply themselves 110 per cent during training then maybe, just maybe there will be a place for them on the squad. 

First: Hiddleston. 


The taller and pointier member of Hiddleswift. I've seen him around. He's caught my eye. He's not a sure fire hunk but I enjoy it when he pops up on my screen, and not in an entirely PG was. He's got a long way to go but I want to give him some hunkcouragement to walk that path. 

Next is Oscar Isaac.
I fist saw him as a young and handsome Jose Ramos Horta in Balibo. Then suddenly he was everywhere. Including Inside Llewyn Davis as the super douche Llweyn Davis. 

He's got a certain something, right? Like a swarthy Casey Affleck. It's not properly hunky but it's in the ballpark. Which is why k want him to keep practicing and see where he can take it. 

This is not an accelerated development program for hunks. No. This is hunks on notice. Hiddleston and Oscar Isaac: you're good work has been recognised. Now it's time to really put your shoulders to the wheel and go for it. We'll keep our eye on you and see where this thing goes.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

The promised land (PM)

Holy smokes. I forgot about my crab responsibilities until about midday on Friday. I thought I was really on top of things this week but no, it looks like I'm not. Right now, KB is playing with the kitchen bin which is his favourite toy so I'm going to steal a few moments to say this: late October me will probably be  tired and shabbily groomed, just like July me. But compared with second half of 2015 me, she is as polished as QEII. 
Onwards to October! 

Thursday, July 14, 2016

The promised land (AM)

Right now it's the middle of winter, as I'm sure most of you are well aware. This means, presumably for everyone, at best dressing as well as you can when you just want to be as warm as you can. Which can mean dressing pretty badly sometimes. Desperately. For me it also means I'm in a 3/4-length puffer most of the time, so who even cares. Except I do care. A further confounding factor is that I'm 6.5 months pregnant which means I'm very uncomfortable and can't fit into most of my clothes. So looking good and feeling good is not really an option for me.

Furthermore I had a haircut about a month or so ago and though I was and am perfectly happy with it, I feel like I need to shake things up and make a substantial change. Don't worry, if you've been enjoying the sweet relief of this blog sans hair complaints I'm not going to ruin if for you. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying I'm contemplating some future options for my hair. Including:



And:*



And I plan to make this change just before I have the baby, which will be in spring.

We all know how much I make of the colder seasons, my love of autumn fashions and doonas, but there is nothing like a winter pregnancy wardrobe and blah hair to make the arrival of spring seem so full of promise.

My projected late-October self is dressed so well with such great hair. I'm reasonably slim and look younger. Even though the real late-October me will not just be 3 months older but a whole other child older too. And no doubt tireder. I will probably be at home as much as I am now, without the incentive to dress nice and with the added disincentives of being frequently covered in baby vomit and excess milk spilling from my bosom. But though I know all this in my head my heart still envisages a beautiful me, dressed however I want, but always really well. Probably laughing and looking casually, comfortably glamorous. God, I can't wait to be late-October me. 

*These images are both lifted from The Sartorialist, to whom I am very grateful for taking such great pics of great hair.




Monday, July 11, 2016

Bad news week (PM)

You guys, I'm jonesing for my baby while also loving the shit out of this coffee I'm having right now and that combination is making me lightheaded. 

I think Kimmy Schmit has a lot to teach us, and getting pissed on sounds right. 

But look at this beautiful Coffee I'm having all by myself! 


That's all I can do right now I'm afraid. 


Bad news week (AM)



Happy Monday guys!

It's K's first day back at work I think and I hope it's gonna be great. I have to say, the joys of adult contact and demands on your brain besides what's for dinner and how you can occupy an entire day for you and a baby are great nourishment after maternity leave. Not that spending bulk time with your baby isn't the best, it's just so exciting when you get to diversify.

I had a pretty nice weekend I have to say. My house is super clean, full of flowers, clean sheets on all the beds. I saw friends and family. Made a surprisingly delicious napoli on Saturday night, shakshuka and a French apple cake for my family for Sunday brunch. Before that my kids slept in really late and I got to enjoy coffee and the internet all by myself!  I did heaps of washing. I feel pretty great.

Or I would if the fucking news wasn't so depressing at every turn. Two black men shot by cops for basically no reason in the US. Cops shot in retaliation. And local news isn't any better, babies being sexually assaulted, women being murdered, the existence of Cory Bernadi.

Are you in constant internal conflict about how much you should be engaging with the world. Certainly I don't want to be oblivious to the problems of the world. And yet, I kind of wish I didn't know how fucked it was. Because for me it's not, so I could just go on thinking about French apple cake and forgetting all the bad stuff. But then I'd just be an ignorant douche bag. There's the rub, the old catch 22. God, it's so hard being white and privileged!

Maybe it's just hormonal. A few weeks ago I realised that every night I was going to bed with a smile on my face. Like I just love the comfort of bed and sleep so much that was all it took to make me happy and it's not like the world was any better then, surely. So what's happened. Maybe it's my attitude. Or maybe the world was just going on in its usual fucked up way but without so many terrible things in the news? 

Maybe I just need to take a leaf out of Kimmy Schmidt's book, that positive outlook and denial of the bad. It's like she says, "I don't wanna get pissed off, so I get pissed on!" Maybe I just need to look at the world like that?!

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Haiku Thursday (PM)

All the dumb things - Afternoon edition
When you went away 
For quiet time, come back to 
Heaps of work - so dumb

When you have to work
Clean, a bunch of boring stuff
That's so dumb. That's life

Haiku Thursday (AM)

All the dumb things
When you're awake at
Night, wondering when the babe
Will wake up. That's dumb. 

When you get a cold
The week before going back
To work. That's so dumb!





Monday, July 4, 2016

Post-election reflections (PM)

I voted late on Saturday. I was at a polling booth for half the day How to Vote cards so I waited until 5PM when the queue was super short and I had to be standing around anyway so then I just did my standing around in the queue instead.

The polling booth where I was stationed didn't even have a sausage sizzle. But I', vegetarian so I mainly feel bitter when I see them anyway. Could have done with an cup of tea though. Why isn't there a tea lady selling tea to the people standing in queues. Those bitches are long. The queues that is.

It was pretty interesting handing out How to Vote cards. There were a lot of very young Labor volunteers there handing out their HTV cards which seemed so surprising to me. I was just really shocked by the fact that Labor could inspire that kind of feeling in people. And young people at that. And inspired those kids to make snide remarks about the Greens of all people. I mean I had perfectly nice conversations with those people but the young ones would then make comments to each other about this or that aspect of the Greens. I couldn't figure out if they were dicks or just young but I think it was mostly to do with the latter.

Anyway, what an election result. Or not. I mean, this is a total blue balls result, you can't really feel one way or the other. Even though the coalition will probably win the waiting and fizzing is really a let down.

In other news, Ottolenghi's Instagram feed makes me want a personal feed straight into my mouth. What?



I wish K and I were going to see Blur this July.

Post-election reflections (AM)


Saturday was Election Day, as we all know. I voted very early because KB likes to get up very early. We walked to the local primary school and just waltzed right in, no queue! But the sausages weren't even ready, so we had to go to Bunnings yesterday to make amends.

I saw this fig, almond and cinnamon pavlova on Instagram and now it's all I can think about. 



This time next week I'll be getting ready for work. It's been a whole year since I was there last. Which means it's been almost a year since J saw Blur. I'm just saying.