What to do with dust collectors?

Ah Chia!

Your food looks amazing! I wish I could have a bite of all of them! The muesli bars look amazing! And the muffins look soft, comforting and delicious! I can already see my full stomach and me grinning in happiness and wincing in pain from eating too much!

You look soooo gorgeous! You remind me of one of those kitchen goddesses like Nigella Lawson or something!

I'm still on my mission of cleaning and have uncovered these:

They are trophies from tennis, hockey, table tennis, indoor beach volleyball, soccer, the Mudd Rush, the Tim Winton Young Writer's Award, citizenship award and miscellaneous running events.

I don't know what to do with them as I just don't have any room for them, but then I don't know if I am ready to part with them yet.

Do you have any suggestions?

Welcome back and bringing baking back

Annnna! Welcome back and congratulations on the news :) We will have to do a post work celebration. It's great to hear from you again and I cannot wait to see what other things you'll get up to. Like a bat tat.

Haha... Why is it that friends can always make you laugh with just the smallest things?

As requested, here's photos of what I baked today. Ham and pea quiche tarts, berry and sour cream muffins, cracked pepper crackers, cranberry and coconut muesli bars and chocolate chip oat cookies.

The odd shaped cookie cutters brought back memories of travels. The apple and brolly ones were from an art museum in Vienna two Christmases ago. I think the deer one was from Budapest. Cute but not very practical because the narrow bits burn easily. Haha!

Literally rolled out of bed at 6am and baked for 5 hours straight. Felt superb to be baking purely for fun and no one else.

Now I've got a fridge and pantry with food to come home to. I've already eaten two muffins, four tarts, a handful of crackers and a cookie. Oh dear!

I'm going to bring these yummy quiches to share with the staff. The lovely ladies are such expert bakers I'm very hesitant to bring anything in unless I feel the result is up to their standards!

PS. Yes country people do make their own jams and trade vegetables from their garden. Isn't that just wonderful?

A trek in the past

Hi Chia!

I've become super productive yesterday, today and very likely, tomorrow. I've been going on a cleaning spree, digging out all the stuff I have hidden away in my drawers, and stuffed in my bursting wardrobe.

I've been procrastinating this one task for a few years as I knew it would take more than one or two days to clean out and process the items that have been stored away for safe keeping.

So what started out as a 'throwing away' activity, turned out to be the opening of a time capsule. I've been finding special things here and there from my childhood through to teenage years. It's been a lot of fun!

Here's some of the things I've found in chronological order:

Circa 1996 -

My first yo yo. When Moose Yo yos became a huge hit.
I wasn't cool enough to get a 'brain' but me and my 'tornado' yo yo could do amazing things.

Circa 2000 -

A photo on a rainy day of my high school friends in and around year 10

Circa 2001 - 

A photo taken at a table tennis session during lunch time.
It was sometime in my upper school years.

2002 -

A note with the lyrics of Aerosmith's 'I don't wanna miss a thing'

Circa 2005 -

My diary from my first Europe trip. I was 19 years old

Last but not least; when I found this little memory in my drawer, I cracked up and knew that I had to wear it with pride.

Circa - 1997, worn today -

My baddass BAT TAT!

I'm still laughing when I see this on me. So hardcore. I feel 10x cooler now.

What do you think of my 'Bat Tat'?

Freeee!!

Hi Chia

So things have been a lot cruiser for me this week. I've been taking my time with things, slowing down life and really appreciating what I have - the gorgeous people who surround me, time and a healthier me. As I hear the loud click of the second hand of the clock above me, I relish in the feeling of not having to stress about wasting a second or minute that would normally be billed to a client. My days have been slowly unproductive and free. Deadlines are not mandatory and it just feels wonderful. Admittedly, I still have a niggling feeling in the back of my mind that tells me that I should get going with figuring things out. But I'm slowly hushing that nagging voice away. I'm telling it to give it a rest for the time being, as there will be plenty of times in the future when I'll be needing it; just not now.

Also, I'm allowing my mind to open up to the endless possibilities that lay before me. To start considering things that I've only been dreaming about in the past. These dreams are currently only half baked, and a little fragile in my mind, so I won't be describing them to you just yet. In time though, once the ideas become a real consideration, I'll let you know :)

The past few days have increased my overall well being. So much so, that I can see it in my face.

Kev took this photo of me this weekend. It really captures the the feeling I've lacked over the last few years - genuine happiness.

It's only the beginning.

I know that it is only going to get better!

New day, new life, new hair

Hey Chia!

It's been a looooooong while since both of us have blogged! I know that respectively, we both have been busy. On my side, my life was preoccupied with work, and trying to get through the minutes, hours, days and weeks without going insane. Admittedly, I wasn't happy. I haven't been happy for a while and because we wanted our blog to be inspirational and one of positive thoughts of big and small, to be honest, there was nothing to write about.

So, eventually I hit breaking point at work. I'm not going to go into the details of what happened, but it wasn't good, and so I resigned. I decided to hang up my suit and call it quits to being a lawyer.

It was a long time coming. The rational side of my brain trying to convince the creative and emotional side that to stick it out in law was the right thing to do. I mean, I've been in law for almost 10 years - 5 years at uni, then straight into work as a law clerk, articled clerk and then lawyer. 2004 to 2013. It seemed silly and foolish to let it go. But deep down, I knew it was right.

Now, I'm just free to recover from the stress and to reassess life.

I haven't felt this good in years. I also felt compelled to completely shed my old self. This included a makeover.





I've never had my hair this short!!! Apart from when I was in pre primary school! It was liberating and I feel so free and different! All these years I was too scared to do the bob! But after resigning, I was literally like 'why not! It will grow back!'

So with old Anna gone and new Anna to be discovered, for the first time in years, I feel hopeful. I had lost all hope previously, without even knowing it.

So...What do u think? Does it suit? :)