Lovely Things: A Little Catch Up

Every now and then I like to do a little catch up. Because it’s fun!

This is a little question template I use from Pip at Meet Me At Mikes. 

Making: A crochet kimono and it’s coming along quite nicely. It’s taking ages but I don’t mind because I love crocheting. My plan is to wear this in summer over bodycon dresses with lace-up sandals. Very Byron Bay.

Cooking: Anything Mr Smaggle wants. He’s been in Japan for 10 days and basically couldn’t eat a thing. It’s one of the worst countries for eating gluten-free so the poor thing basically lived off 7Eleven boiled eggs and dried bacon the whole time. You can’t even really eat rice because they add wheat laden flavourings to it to make it sweet. I’m fattening him up with butter chicken, cauliflower fried rice and chicken soup.

Drinking: Water. So. Much. Water. I’ve totally cut out caffeine recently because bub has been craving it so I figured I’d cut her off at the source and make her go cold turkey on that situation, I swear I’m going to be wrestling short blacks out of her hands when she’s born. I also don’t want to increase artificial sweeteners while pregnant so I’m having lots of water and decaf tea. Sigh.

Reading: The Woman in The Window. It’s bloody good. Really enjoying it.

Wanting: New summer sandals but scared to buy any in case my feet explode. I’ve been told that can happen in pregnancy. I’m 7 months ATM and nothing has changed except my belly but I don’t want to count my chickens. Might just have to keep wearing my worn out old staples for a bit longer.

Looking: At our neighbour’s dog through the gap in the fence. He’s an ancient and darling old husky, quiet as a mouse and sometimes I look up and just see him looking at me. He’s such a sweetheart.

Playing: Codenames. It’s our latest favourite board game. Mr Smaggle’s grandma is obsessed with it so we bought another game to keep to at her house.

Deciding: Whether to add a pressure cooker section to Smaggle. It’s pretty much the only way I cook these days and everyone always asks for recipes whenever I mention cooking in it. Thoughts?

Wishing: For the world to calm down a bit. Everyone seems so angry and often illogical. It’s a bit crazy. Let’s all chill shall we?

Enjoying: Having Mr Smaggle back home. I quite like him.

Waiting: Until I can drink wine again! I’m really keen to just smash a bottle of red with one of my girlfriends and get a bit silly. Honestly, I don’t even feel like alcohol and I’m not a massive drinker anyway but I miss my once a month boozy dinners with friends.

Liking: Bare legs! We had a rogue warm day in Melbourne last week and I took my pasty pins for a spin down Sydney Road. It was lovely. I hope I didn’t blind anyone with my super reflective skin though.

Wondering: About that ad on TV about ‘your local liney’. It shows a guy up a ladder working on power lines and everyone in the street knows his name and he’s talking about how he’s fixing stuff and how friendly he is. I have two issues with this. 1) What are they trying to promote? Random tradespeople? 2) If you have a ‘local liney’ who is outside your house so often that you know his name, he might be a bit shit at his job or the power lines outside your house are faulty. Fixing power lines doesn’t (shouldn’t) involve regularly recurring customer service. It’s not like the post office. I’m just very perplexed by the whole thing.

Loving: This magical moment in the Christopher Robin movie where three of my most favourite Brittish comedians (Mackenzie Crook, Simon Farnaby and Matt Berry) appeared on screen in the same five minutes. I actually gasped out loud I was so excited.

Pondering: Whether or not cute dogs know they’re cuter than other dogs. Obviously, all dogs are cute but there are ones that look like adorable creatures from the land of Kuwaii and I’m just curious if they know they look like teddy bears or they’re just like ‘Whatevs. Give me a snack.’

Considering: All the places I want to take our daughter when she’s old enough. We’ve got a while before she’ll be 105cms (minimum Disneyland ride allowance) so we need a good couple of years of non-height pending activities. Mr Smaggle is pretty delighted to have a legit excuse to go to all the petting zoos now. Not that it ever stopped him before.

Buying: Not a lot really but I did grab a bamboo tank dress from Bamboo Body and it’s heaven. Will definitely be getting more of them, they’ll be my summer staple when my body doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing for a few months.

Watching: Breaking Bad. I watched the whole thing years ago but recently went to stay with my parents and they’re watching it for the first time so I caught a few episodes and my lord it’s a fabulous show. I swore I’d never watch it again (too intense, I don’t have the energy to go through all that a second time) but I might be just about ready to do it while I wait for more episodes of Better Call Saul.

Hoping: For a little bit of chill time. September was quite a stressful month so I’m looking forward to things calming down a little. At least I hope they calm down a little!

Marvelling: At my family. We recently celebrated my Nanny’s 80th birthday (on my mum’s side) and I’m so lucky to have this big, loud, loving group of people in my life. I’m also loving my grown-up friendships with my cousins and their partners. We all get along so well and it’s just lovely. Also not one of my cousins hooked up with an asshole. I love ALL of their partners, including and especially my brother’s wife. It’s like jackpot city. So lucky.

Cringing: At strangers who want to tell me their horrific birth stories. I’m certainly not against people talking about the birth of their kids, especially if that’s what we’re already talking about but the number of women who go straight from ‘Oh you’re pregnant? I was in hospital for months after my labour, totally ripped my body apart.’ Cool, thanks, Janet. Just wanted to know if you had these tights in a medium, but sure. Tell me all about your destroyed vagina. It’s important to have these conversations but I like to have them with people I know and trust and at times when I’m feeling confident enough to hear about them. Giving birth for the first time is very daunting and it can be quite stressful to have an otherwise pleasant morning ruined by a random woman on the tram who wants to tell you about her daughter who almost died giving birth. Not helpful.

Needing: To do my taxes and really, really not wanting to. I hate it so much. I have so many revenue streams it’s just a nightmare every year. Sob!

Questioning: Whether it’s okay for me to have an opinion about the Serena Williams thing. I know nothing about tennis at all but from the history of newsworthy tantrums I’ve seen over the years from male players like Kyrios, McEnroe and Agassi their outbursts seemed worse (swearing, breaking of tennis rackets, full on aggression) and garnered less (or equal) punishment. That’s a purely outsider view though and all tennis fans seem very upset by her behaviour. I think maybe I shouldn’t weigh in on it… but also it’s a feminist issue and in general, women do have to answer for their behaviour in a way that men don’t and they also get punished for it a lot longer. Unfavourable male behaviour is more excusable than unfavourable female behaviour. Take Breaking Bad for instance. Arguably the most unlikable character in that series was Skylar.  For real, everyone just hated her and the actress who played her (Anna Gunn) had a really rough time during filming and actually copped abuse on the street and hate mail. Everyone loves Walter though and you know what? He’s actually a piece of shit and everything he does in that series is so far and beyond worse than anything Skylar does but it’s okay because unlikable men are charming, roguish and often quite fabulous, but unlikable women aren’t. I just think it’s important to try to change that narrative whenever we can. Just a few thoughts I’ve had around the whole debacle.

Smelling: Jasmine! Spring has sprung and I’m getting lovely wafts of sweet-smelling blossoms when I walk around the streets of my suburb.

Wearing: All the same stuff I’ve been wearing for years. 99% of my clothes still fit me, which is ace. I don’t think I’ll need to buy any maternity clothing at all, I’ll just stick to my stretch dresses for the last few months. I haven’t even had to buy new bras yet. Bonza.

Following: @garyjanetti on Instagram. I cannot get enough of him. He creates these funny narratives of Price George next to photos of him and they’re just priceless. He’s a crack up.

Noticing: This amazing guy at my gym who really gets into the high fives at the end of class. If you’ve ever done F45, you’ll know that you’re supposed to high five at least the people in your station and the trainers at the end of each class but there’s this one guy who fucking LOVES his high fives and collects one from every single person in the room. It’s just delightful.

Knowing: I’m going to watch the last season of Pretty Little Liars eventually so I might as well just get it over and done with.

Thinking: Of trying a floatation tank. I’m not too fond of the idea of floating in water in the dark but it’s apparently amazing for meditation and reducing stress (which I’ve had a lot of over the last month). I’m worried I’ll be scared of sharks the whole time though. Logically I know there’s no sharks in there but sharks also aren’t in swimming pools but that doesn’t stop me from having mild panics and splashing to the water’s edge before Jaws gets me. Maybe it’s not such a great idea.

Admiring: A Pinch of Yum. Their photography is just outstanding.

Sorting: Out all the business things – lots to do before maternity leave in December.

Getting: Excited for summer – I wore my Akubra hat yesterday. Can’t wait to give it another workout this summer.

Bookmarking: Educated by Tara Westover. A lovely lady on Instagram recommended it to me because it’s about being raised a devout Mormon. I’m randomly quite obsessed with polygamist Mormons (is that weird?) so I’m looking forward to reading this one.

Coveting: Everything at Alice McCall. Whenever I’m cruising through Instagram, and I see a dress I like I’m all ‘Ohhh! Where can I get that?’ 9 times out of 10, it’s Alice McCall. 

Disliking: The new social media tracking thing on the latest IOS. I mean I LOVE it, because I can block out Facebook all day but every time I update IOS (which is often when a new one comes out) it re-sets all my settings and I have re-select the stuff I don’t want limited like music and podcasts so it doesn’t cut me off after 15 minutes. So annoying.

Opening: Packages from Bohemian Traders – maternity jeans! My bump isn’t quite big enough for them yet but it will be. They’re so comfy! I’ll snap a pic of them soon.

Giggling: Guilty dogs. Can’t even handle it. 

Feeling: Good. Really good. I’ve been a bit stressed this last month (work stuff – nothing major, just busy!) so I’m working on keeping that under control but totally fine apart from that.

Snacking: On berries and yogurt! It’s pretty much the only thing I ever feel like eating. I keep forcing myself to eat other foods for variety but really, berries and yogurt is where it’s at.

Wishing: For the weekend to be here already. I so need it.

Helping: My Crochettes to make stuff. I really love my Crochet Coach group. They’re just gorgeous.

Hearing: Jazz. I like listening to music without lyrics when I write (because lyrics are really distracting!) and I’ve been listening to hardcore jazz. I’m normally not into it (it’s quite messy and all over the shop) but I love it for writing because I can’t get into a rhythm of listening with it. Keeps me on my toes.

As always this charming little list is from Pip Lincolne at Meet Me At Mike’s. If you want to do your own be sure to credit her if you do! You can even just do it in the comments if you like!

Making :
Cooking :
Drinking :
Reading:
Trawling:
Wanting:
Looking:
Deciding:
Wishing:
Enjoying:
Waiting:
Liking:
Wondering:
Loving:
Pondering:
Listening:
Considering:
Buying:
Watching:
Hoping:
Marvelling:
Cringing:
Needing:
Questioning:
Smelling:
Wearing:
Noticing:
Knowing:
Thinking:
Admiring:
Getting:
Bookmarking:
Opening:
Closing:
Feeling:
Hearing:
Celebrating:
Pretending:
Embracing:

So how are you? What have you been up to? Pick a few questions (or all of them!) and let me know!

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