Easily Bored

Well, I know I’m not working at the moment, so I have no real right to be even thinking about these sorts of things, but this is where my mind is today …

Hawaii

photo from smh.com.au

Greece

image from stresstips.com

Mexico

image from destination360.com

Sri Lanka

image from onlyexclusivetravel.com

Tahiti

image from hotellx.com

This is my eye candy for today. Sigh. Someday …

Wow, it’s 2010, how did that happen? It’s like I blinked and suddenly it’s a whole new decade. 2000 doesn’t even feel all that long ago.

I’m not really into making resolutions, but I thought it might be good to think about the sorts of things I’d like to accomplish this year, under broad categories, to give myself a little direction, if nothing else.

Work
I’m almost reluctant to list this category first. I don’t really like the way our society places so much importance on our chosen profession. Like it’s the one and only thing that defines us. But anyway. This year my goal is to find a new job and really settle into it. I need a period of stability. Last year was full of such upheaval and drama, and I need this year to be simpler and calmer.

I’m also studying, of course, so if I can start finding some freelance work in that field, that would be great as well.

Creative
I’ve really let my creative stuff slip in the last few years since I lost all the extra free time that being a uni student offers. My top priorities are to push my photography more, and also to start writing again. My editing course has really made me remember how much I enjoy writing, and I’m keen to get back into the habit of it again, with a long-term goal of writing something novel-length. I don’t really care about getting it published, it’s more for my own fulfilment and sense of accomplishment.

Home
Things with Kev are great, so I want to keep them that way. Getting settled in a new job will help with the home side of things tremendously, giving us more freedom to do things we enjoy, and putting less pressure on him. Once the job thing is sorted, it’s more about building some financial stability so we can think about buying our next house (obviously not going to happen this year!), as well as continue upgrading our furniture and accessories.

Health
Kev and I have both made an effort to become more health focused lately. We’re much more conscious of what we eat and cook, and we’re trying to be a lot more active. At the moment we’re taking walks together in the evening 2 or 3 times a week. I try and go for walks by myself on the days Kev and I don’t walk together, and I want to get back into the yoga I started last year. I hurt my neck a little while ago (not doing yoga, I should add!), and totally got out of the habit while I was waiting for it to feel better. Must make an effort to start it up again!

Travel
It’s unlikely we’ll travel overseas this year I think, but I’d like to take some weekend getaways out of the city and see more of NSW. We both want to do a big Europe trip as our next holiday, and that will probably have to be next year now, so this year needs to be all about conserving annual leave and saving cash!

So that’s about it for now. There probably should be more, and I’ll think of them later. Always the way! But overall I guess I want this year to be about simplifying and streamlining. Cutting out time sinks and focusing on the things that are really important to me: Spending time with Kev (whether it be relaxing at home, getting out and being active, or travelling – preferably a good balance of all three!), focusing on my passions (photography, interior design, needlecrafts, writing, reading) and improving my health and fitness. And all of this needs to happen on a background of work-stability, so I can work towards my hopes and dreams for the future.

The last few years have been amazing, but oh-so-hectic at the same time. I’m really hoping for a little more peace and tranquility this year.

2006 – Moved to Sydney, and moved in with Kev. Got my first full-time job.

2007 – Got a new job. Bought an apartment. Got engaged. Planned wedding.

2008 – Took minimal leave in preparation for honeymoon. Got married. Went on honeymoon. Moved home to Melbourne. Rental property hunting.

2009 – Job hunting for 3 months. Got new job that I didn’t particularly enjoy. Uncertainty about whether would stay in Melbourne. Moved back to Sydney. Job hunting again.

2010 – ? Who knows! Job hunting at the moment. Also studying.

Writing it all down like that kind of puts it in perspective. Although I kind of feel like I need a rest after all the craziness in the last few years, now that I’m looking at everything we’ve accomplished, I’m actually kind of proud. I mean, do I really want an entire year to go past in which nothing much really happens? It’s those big ticket items that make life really interesting. And yeah, they’re tiring,  but I actually really hope they keep coming. Because it means we’re moving forward, not wasting our days. And that’s awesome.

Happy 2010 everyone!

Is this what it’s come to? Seasonal posts? I hope I can do better than 4 posts a year! Lately I’ve been re-evaulating the blogging situation. It’s not something I want to give up just yet, but clearly what I’m doing at the moment isn’t working. So I’ve been toying with what to do. Perhaps its time to give up the domain and just tinker with a free blogging service instead. Or perhaps I just have to put less pressure on myself to write lengthy posts. Short and sweet. Maybe that’s the way of the future.

And Christmas is coming. I love Christmas. Cannot believe it’s November – where has 2009 gone? Time seems to be passing so quickly these days. It’s like I’ve suddenly turned around and I’m staring 30 in the face, yet there are still thousands of things I haven’t got around to doing. Still many things that I think it’s too late for me to do. Things I need to come to terms with saying are never going to be realistic goals. And then look to the future, and make sure nothing else has to get crossed off the list because it’s too late.

I’m listening to the New Moon soundtrack. Because I’m obsessed by all things Twilight at the moment. Maybe this soundtrack needs to grow on me a little more, because overall I’m not loving it the way I expected to. The way I love the original Twilight soundtrack. Or maybe it just reflects a darker movie. A book that’s not as easy to read as it’s predecessor. Time will tell. I haven’t actually listened to it all the way through yet, just in dribs and drabs.

In other news, Kev is supporting Movember this year, so if you’d like to donate, click here! It’s a cause that’s close to my family after events of the last year or two, so please give generously.

Life continues to plod along. Winter has us firmly in its grips, and though
I haven’t struggled with the cold as much as I thought I was going to after
three years in Sydney, I’m feeling the usual frustration that comes from
going to and from work in relative darkness, with no daylight hours left
for anything else.

Kev and I are both lacking exercise, and I’d like to get into a habit of
daily walks as a step in the right direction, but it’s so hard when it’s
dark and cold both before and after work. I’m glad the shortest day passed
us by nearly a month ago, and our hours of daylight are slowly on the rise.

In another sign of how quickly time is flying by, our first wedding
anniversary is fast approaching, and we’ve booked ourselves a holiday treat
to celebrate. Originally we had planned to go on a road trip with our new
car, but in the end winter got the better of us, and we’ve decided to
escape to a warmer climate for a week instead. It’s also unlikely that
we’ll get the car in time for the anniversary, so we’ll try and go on some
weekend breaks in the coming months instead.

But as for our much needed escape to the sun, we’re leaving in exactly
three weeks, and I can’t wait. We got a good deal on flights to Kuala
Lumpur, so we’re spending six nights there. It’s not a beach escape or
tropical resort, but we’ve chosen a beautiful hotel in the city with a
lovely pool and day spa, and we’re planning to mix it up a lot, with plenty
of shopping, sight seeing, eating, rest, relaxation and pampering.

We spent 3 nights in KL last year at the end of our honeymoon, so in a way
it’s quite nice to be going back there for our first anniversary, and we’ve
got a local (an old friend of Kev’s) sourcing and booking a great
restaurant for us to eat dinner at on the night of our anniversary. We’re
in the process of putting together our shopping list as well, which is
always fun. This time we’re hoping to be more selective with our purchases,
and I’m thinking of picking up some camera equipment as well as the obvious
clothes, and the odd faux designer handbag from Petaling Street. Though in
honesty I’d prefer a real designer handbag from KLCC Suria, but we’ll have
to wait and see how far the budget stretches!!

My photography is definitely something I want to spend more time working on
in the future. I’ve barely picked up my camera in recent months, and I’m
really itching to get out there and practice. Maybe even take a short
course or two. I also regret not spending more time out and about with my
camera at the start of the year before I started in my job. I think I felt
too guilty about not working, and that I should just stay at home and look
for work, that I forgot to enjoy the free time while I had it.

Last night I put the first stitches on my new side project, The Fortunate Traveller. I find I suffer from a bit of colour fatigue when i’m working on Starry Night with all it’s shades of blue, so I’m hoping some different colours in a 2nd project will help.

The new project is also significantly smaller, which is a boost as well. SN has started to feel impossibly large. I did scare myself a little when I prepared the linen last night though. I’ve significantly overestimated the fabric needed, so it looks enormous! But once I blocked it out roughly, it became much more manageable. Phew!

Work is still doing my head and sanity in with it’s relentless pace and pressure, but we’re thinking about getting a nice new car and I’m thinking about picking up a new extracurricular activity or class, and these are the only things keeping me going at the moment.

Lately there’s been a bug going around seemingly all of Melbourne. It’s ripped through my team at work fairly effectively, and now this week I’ve been stuck at home sick for the last couple of days. The doctor I saw yesterday said that nearly everybody he’s seen recently has had it, so at least it’s not just me!

So I’ve been reading, stitching and watching DVDs for the last 2 days. Quite relaxing, apart from the being sick thing, and the thought of how much work I’ll have to go back to tomorrow (assuming I’m well enough, which I think I’ll just have to be!).

I picked up a copy of the new Jodi Picoult novel on Sunday, and I finished it this morning. It was an enjoyable read, despite the slightly heart wrenching topic. And the fact that I had an inkling of how it was all going to end fairly early on. Possibly not the best of her novels that I’ve read, but enjoyable nonethelesss. Now I have the dilemma of what to read next. I’m actually thinking about going back to the Twilight books for a second read, even though I only finished reading them for the first time late last year. Usually I like to wait at least a year before I re-read books, to give me time to start to forget the details.

I suspect the pull I’m feeling towards them has something to do with me finally having seen the Twilight movie for the first time in the past couple of weeks. It was released at the cinemas around the same time we moved back to Melbourne, specifically, the week that I was in Melbourne but Kev was still in Sydney. Although we definitely had plans to go and see it, it somehow fell through the cracks and got lost in our move. Later, I talked Kev into going to see it at Moonlight Cinemas in January, but it coincided with the week of ridiculous 45°C-plus temperatures, and it just seemed far too hot.

So I ended up seeing it via a dodgy copy given to me by someone at work. I still intend to buy the proper DVD when it comes out, so I don’t feel too guilty. But I love it. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about it that I love … But I do. When I first saw that it was being made into a film, I had my apprehensions. Kristen Stewart wasn’t the Bella from my head, and Robert Pattinson certainly wasn’t the Edward I had imagined, in fact, I didn’t even find him particularly attractive. But somehow, it’s sucked me in. The casting suddenly seems perfect, and the movie beautiful. Edward is all he should be, the mood is perfect, and the music is stunning. Something about that score just grabs me. My piano is being delivered here from my parents’ house on Saturday and the timing seems perfect. Is it sad that I want to learn to play Bella’s Lullaby? Perhaps. But it’s a beautiful piece of music, and I’ve always been drawn to beautiful piano music, so as far as I’m concerned, the source is irrelevant.

Over the last few weeks I’ve fallen into a comfortable routine for my weekday mornings. Half open an eye or two while Kev gets ready for work. Snooze for another half hour or so after he leaves. Get up, shower, dress. Down some fruit or cereal for breakfast while I check my emails and read my RSS feeds. The mail usually arrives sometime shortly after that, and then it’s time to decide what to do for the day. 

But next week that routine gets blown out of the water, with my return to the loss of freedom associated with full time work. An unfortunate, but necessary, evil. Last night I actually had a dream that I caught up with one of my old co-workers and told them about this new job. And instead of being happy for me, they were really disappointed and upset with me for taking on a job so similar to the last one I had (that I was also very fed up with and happy to leave.). Ah well. Stepping stones to bigger and better things, right?

In other news, I put in the first stitches on Starry Night last night. It doesn’t look like much right now, just a few scattered (almost) black stitches on the fabric, but it’s going to be fab, I’m certain of it! I need to find a great big pillowcase or something to slip it into so the fabric doesn’t get dirty while I’m not working on it. Hmmm.

As for what I’m going to do with today, my very last day of my comfortable routine? Well, now that I’ve checked my emails and read my RSS feeds, I guess it’s time to sort out the rest of my day. We’re in for another scorcher today I believe (fingers crossed the fires that are still burning don’t flare up too much), so anything I want to do will need to be early. Perhaps the library, or the shops. Anything is possible today!

 

Yesterday was a fun day. The package of threads I ordered from Ebay arrived, so I finally got to finish the preparations for Starry Night. The solid colours are now all wound onto their bobbins in my box. That said, most of the solid colours aren’t actually used on their own, but as part of blends, which I haven’t pre-wound, so I’m sure that will slow me down as I stitch, but we’ll see. If it’s going too slowly I can always stop and do the blends as well. Meanwhile, the fabric is all ready to go, all I have to do is baste it onto the scroll bars and I can make the first stitch!

Apart from that, I’ve just been trying to enjoy the last few days I have left before my new job starts. I’m feeling quite apprehensive about it, but I suppose it’s normal to feel nervous before a new job. I’m trying not to think about it too much until it’s time to go though. No point in ruining the last few days of my holiday!

 

I meant to blog about our Valentine’s Day plans over the weekend, but of course when I sat down to write the post, that was when I discovered all the problems that were going on!

Anyway, we had a fairly low key Valentine’s Day, on account of my being unemployed. We didn’t exchange any gifts, only cards, although Kev did insist on buying me a box of anything I wanted from the Haigh’s store we wandered past whilst out during the day. Awww.

That night we had a quiet dinner at a local restaurant. I had the job of booking the restaurant (again, on account of me being unemployed!), so I was a little nervous about taking us to a place we’d never tried before. Luckily, the food was delicious, the service was lovely, and the prices were extremely reasonable. Even better, it was only a short walk from home, so we were both able to enjoy a bottle of wine without having to worry about driving home.