Road Clouds

So beautiful! If you keep your eyes peeled, even being stuck in traffic can make you smile.

Happy weekend everyone.

Return to Daylesford

Lunch today was at Du Fermier in Trentham. The food and wine were really, really good, and the service was friendly, informed and relaxed. That makes such a difference - an  everyday ordinary thing, or a special thing like lunch with good friends, can be taken to another level by having people around you that are enjoying what they're doing. I didn't get the name of the guy that served us today, but he was great. Thanks guy! (I want to be that guy in my realm.)

I'm having a weekend away with a good friend of mine.  We've done this trip before, Daylesford is an easy drive from home, and we'll spend time hanging out at our amazing accommodation, wandering around the shops, visiting old haunts, avoiding overrated tourist traps, eating great food... generally having a jolly good time.

As the mist settled over the township this evening, I was struck by how special it is to be ensconsed somewhere cosy and quiet. Good to be away from home for a few days, good to have a friend to come away with, good to just be and recharge the batteries.

The drive up was easy, my 'mixed tape' (I can't bring myself to use 'playlist' yet) made the time pass quickly and it was great to see suburbia disappearing in the rear vision mirror and the hills opening up before me.

I'm not a girl with a passport, so I know I don't have a leg to stand on comparitively speaking, but Victoria ROCKS! An hour and a half from thriving Melbs, I'm in a gorgeous house in a beautiful country town, my friend Sue is cooking a risotto, we're listening to music.... I know that in France, South America and Spain, there are people having their own versions of a weekend away in a cosy regional hamlet, but I really love being right here, right now!

Funny to think that just five days ago I was a having a meltdown and feeling super stressed - life's funny like that, some days you just want to tear your hair out and punch someone in the head, and then you regroup and life's sweet again.

The moral of the story - wherever you are, whatever's going on, it isn't the end (in most cases). If the week is horrendous, like it was for one of the lovely shop owners we chatted to today, it will probably pass and improve, if the days are sweet, then drink that in, it can carry you through dark days that may be ahead.

I love this life of mine. I appreciate it, I'm thankful for what's behind and what's ahead, and most of all I'm thankful for right now. 6.44pm on 25 August 2012 - this is a good moment.

Time for a glass of wine.

Cheers,

Annette x

Stress Management 101

Last week I was having a chat with someone a few decades younger than me (sigh) and we got on to the topic of maintaining your emotional health.

It is so important to make the inner life a priority, but sometimes that can be hard to navigate, especially if the concept of 'topping up the emotional tank' is new.

I am pretty good at filling my emotional tank. I know when to chill, when to sit in a cafe and read a magazine, to pull up the drawbridge and hunker down, to call a friend for a catch up. But...

Now I am wondering about a tune-up in another realm - stress management. I have never been much of a stress-head, sure I can get fired up about stuff, no mistake - but I don't usually hang on to things. The norm has been that when I leave the office, things I have been gnawing at are usually forgotten pretty quickly.

This season of my life is 'learning curve rich' (ahem) - which I have found quite, well, stressful. Some days this has motivated me to do more, grasp new concepts and rise to the challenges. Sometimes I've been left in tears, wakeful and churning in the wee small hours and basically frickin' discouraged and overwhelmed!

Being in that headspace makes it really tough to remember the successes I have had - this week for some reason that's been especially tough.

BUT I am determined to try and find a way to work it out, because to walk away from the frustration I feel in handling stress would be a really stupid, shortsighted move!

Stress management 101, enrolments now open. Anyone want to sign up or even better offer me some tips?

Serenity now!

A x

Word Shelter

This morning I want to take refuge in words - words are my talismans, they help me unravel what I'm thinking and feeling. Words somehow magically have the power to comfort and calm me - this morning I want to hug my Famous Five hardbacks and revisit the carefree nature of being a kid lost in literature. Maybe if I head out to the bottom of the garden and keep walking, I'll come across Silky and Moonface. Thank you Enid Blyton!

Decades after reading those books, what they evoke in my memory and imagination is still so strong. Kind of amazing.

'Netherfield Park is let at last.' Ahhh, that's better.Thanks Jane.

When I feel stressed and misunderstood, this is where I ground myself - in language*, whether that's by writing, reading a book, magazine or blog, listening to great lyrics in some favourite tunes, watching the punchy prose of Sorkin et al tumble from the mouths of talented actors - as long as there are words, I'll be okay. (I really like talking with words too, but I look and feel less like a crazy lady if I blog rather than converse with myself!)

This week I cried inappropriately in the street. The reason for the tears is immaterial here (this isn't a private diary locked in my bedside table, no matter how few people ever read it), but what was great that someone listened to me ramble my way through why I was so wound up that my body flicked the auto pilot emergency release valve and left me crying against a cold tiled wall.

As the tears subsided and the words came out, I felt better. Not because speaking the words did anything to solve the problem, but speaking the words, and having someone hear them and sympathise with the slightly crazed girl crying in the street, helped me back towards equilibrium.

So what's the point of yet another entry into this blog that literally may only be seen by two or four or six eyes? I'm not sure really, but the act of writing helps me get my head straight - okay, straighter.

I don't want to be someone who carries crap around inside - well, any more than I'm already carrying. And if that means I have to suffer the indignity of crying in the street, or the car, or on a beach in Queensland (true story), then so be it.

Have you cried anywhere inappropriate? Lately - or ever? Let me know if you have, maybe I won't feel like such an epic doofus!

Thank you words, I would be lost without you.

Now, lashings of ginger beer for everyone!




*No words were injured in the writing of this post.

Sunday - day of rest!

So today I didn't go to work - a pleasant change after a massive end to the week - a crazy Thursday and Friday, put in extra hours, then was at a photo shoot yesterday and had a very busy weekend at a two day photo shoot last weekend.

This is my new life - hectic, fulfilling, stressful, rewarding and challenging. It is great to kick back today and do not much except watch the Olympics, catch up on MasterChef All Stars and cook.

It took a while this morning to let go of thoughts about work and give myself permission to rest. I am glad I did though! We all need balance and I am usually the first to trumpet kicking back and leaving work behind once you walk out the door. What's great now is that I care enough to be thinking about work at all kinds of odd hours. I can't let it dominate my inner life though. I need to protect my sanctuary here at home.

So Sunday night is here already. There is a chicken pie in the oven, should be super tasty. And then tomorrow, back into the fray!