The last of the sunny days

Winter is slowly creeping up on us over in Perth, we seem to have cold days, rainy days and sunny days all mixed in at the moment. But as June bustles along, it's clear we're heading for the last of the sunny days.

The last weekend in May I took the opportunity to head down to my favourite WA destination with some writing friends for a little R&R. Man was it worth it! The perfect way to farewell autumn and welcome winter with great company, good books, blissful surrounds, tasty food, quality wine, beach appreciation, explorations, realisations, hilarity and silliness and ofcourse a spot of writing.

Lately it's been a mix of creativity, socialising and burying myself under the doona with my favourite Grey (Earl of course) in one hand and a good book in the other - all of which have been an absolute tonic for my soul.

As the darkness of winter mornings make it increasingly more difficult to get out of bed at a productive hour, I'm taking on a training regime for the City to Surf in August to burn off all the extra 'layering' I've done in the lead up to winter. Urrgghhh is all I have to say about that at the moment.

But the thing I love most about the change in seasons isn't just that I can bring out all my favourite cardigans (I am a cardi-lover for sure!) but that it awakens my creative home-body self with writing, knitting, sewing, cooking and other crafty projects all in the works to accompany many a quality glass of winter friendly red wine.

How will you be spending your winter?

Back in the land of the living

I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been well... ah... absent lately.

I'd love to say that my absence from this space (and several other spaces both physical and virtual... and mental now that I think of it) is because I've been on some spectacular trip sunning myself, sipping cocktails or trekking through majestic mountains with my nearest and dearest... but no. I've been working. Working harder than I ever have before on a program/event. But I must say, climbing that metaphorical mountain has been a significant challenge and the view from the top is pretty darn good actually. I've not climbed down yet, I'm staying up here with the sunset for the time being, assessing the world from this height and appreciating every bit of it.

But now that the climb is over and the next phase begins, I've been taking time to rejoin the land of actually living, instead of the land of the working dead - yes I mean working, not waking.

I've been able to appreciate little things like the smell of jasmine from a tree in full spring bloom, the incredibly happy face and wag of tail from my hound running around the park, even a cup of tea. I've had time to start new projects, to read beautiful books, to eat cake and start planning a big exciting trip in the not too distant future with MR. There's been time to sip wine on friend's front porches, to watch soccer grand finals and to celebrate the coming of the new season with those I love. 

I've come out of my cave just in time for my favourite time of year in Perth. When the sun wakes earlier and goes to bed later, as do I. When I want to be out in my garden more, want to exercise more, want to generally celebrate more. And the sunsets are starting to become really beautiful too.

It's good to be back in the land of the living.      

Thia week's pearls

1. Blue skies and sunshine - hasn't the weather been fabulous! What winter?

2. Forgetting which Tuesday of the month the play writer's meeting was and going into the city on the wrong night... so I bought myself dinner and had a glass of red over a good book in one of my favourite bars. I should do that every week!


3. A much overdue lady date with a girlfriend and spotting another kind of date at Elizabeth's Bookshop on the way home. I love love love this concept!

 

4. A Sunday roast chicken dinner (not pictured because we were too busy gobbling it) with my beloved, in which all elements were perfect - which is more than I can say for my last attempt with floury gravy and woody parsnips. Sunday roast success!


5. The book club - come food and wine club that was altogether the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

6. Love, friends and family making my week.

Reading - finally!

Over the last couple of months I have struggled to find a book in my stack that really captured my interest. I've picked up a few different books, persevered for a few pages, picked them up again, forgot where I was at, lost interest, picked them up again, reread the same few pages and then pretty much given up. That's not to say they're bad books just... not what I'm in the mood for right now. And then I picked up Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Noone Writes to the Colonel and by the first page I was hooked.  I've not read one of his books before but have been meaning to read this one for quite sometime. Already I want to read more of his work and can see me wanting to add to my already large 'stack' once I've finished this one.

It's a short book, more of a novella really so I'll probably be having the above dilemma again in another week. But for now, I'm happy reading. My only regret is that I started it on a day when I couldn't just sit in a corner and devour it over several cups of tea. Such a travesty!

Are you reading anything fab at the moment? I'd love to hear if there's a book you think I absolutely must read.

101 Books

It's official. I have an actual problem. I realised last weekend that I hadn't read anything since moving into our new abode and with all the craziness of the move before that - suffice to say it's been too long between books. (Since then I've been pretty much inhaling Chuck Palanhiuk's Choke - awesome read.) But that's not the problem. Oh no, no, no. That is the least of this gal's problems. Read on.

So once we finally put the bed together and the shelves up, I decided it was well overdue to let the books out of the boxes. But with so many books and so little space, I figured I better be reasonable and you know, just unpack the books I hadn't read - because those are the priority. If I do that, then I'll have something to focus on, a pile you know... turns out, it was a little more than just a pile :/ 

Hi, my name is El and I'm a book-aholic.

A selection of the unread books I own. It's a travesty. It's a problem.

I wrote about my book diet earlier this year and now the reality of just how necessary it is for that to be imposed is sinking in. I have a first-world real booking problem here. 

Now some of these I have actually started... and not quite gotten around to finishing before I got distracted by some thing, some book else (wow I'm sensing a life pattern here - eek), but at least that's a start I suppose. But the overwhelming pile of books just kept growing until it took over the whole bed! And then I counted. There's 101. 

Holy shitballs I have alot of reading to do!

Marking pages

I bought these oh-so-cute wafer thin metal bookmarks, I don't know how many months ago and then ofcourse because they're so teeny tiny, I lost them almost instantly in my house. Then came packing and moving and I was delighted that they reappeared and I put one pride of place at the top of the page I was reading in Jack Hourac's On The Road (a book you definitely need a bookmark for, if you lose your spot you're likely to have to start all over again). 

I can't for the life of me remember where I got them, but I found them at Yeestore on Etsy, along with many more! Aren't they just adorable? I love creative bookmarks, especially little ones.   
 

The book diet

I am on a book diet. By which I don't mean I'm not allowed to read any books (just try and stop me if you dare!), I mean I'm not allowed to buy anymore books. What a most torturous fast to be on, hey? The book diet occurred on account of the fact that I mostly refused to get rid of any as we packed boxes for the new place and MR is already just a little bit nervous as to how all of my 'stuff' (read: books, vintage vases, clothing and shoes) is going to fit in the new humble abode.

In all honesty, I do have approximately 50 books in said boxes that I've not yet read (something tells me I need a holiday), but since when has that ever stopped a girl from buying books? I mean really. I can always justify buying books. And like many book-a-holics, I never stop at one. I always leave a book store with a paper bag bulging with books. Three at a time is a fairly standard book shopping exhibition for me. However, I have started to think that MR might actually be on to something here and it probably would be wiser for me to at least wait until we moved...and unpacked...and bought new shelves...or found somewhere, anywhere, to put my books before I buy any more. <Insert sad face here>. Maybe I should also read a few of the ones I've been meaning to for quite some time, I suppose.

So having breakfast at Daily Planet on Sunday morning and smelling the scent of fresh, new paperbacks as the doors to Planet Books were pushed open was almost more than a girl on a book diet could handle. And so, we went in, but only for a look, I promise!

Wow! Who knew it was that easy?

It shows my ignorance that I didn't realise The Silver Linings Playbook was a book. 

I absolutely wanted this Alice in Wonderland Giant Poster and Colouring Book.
It was tough work convincing me otherwise.

You know, for when you get bored.

*No books were purchased in the making of this post.