The sun came out today and put a smile on everyone's face and gave us all renewed energy and enthusiasm to get out into the yard and do some much needed weeding and garden chores. Whilst getting stuck into the garden beds today I noticed that the first daffodil buds were sticking their heads up out of the ground, which is always a good indication that the worst of winter has passed us by. And judging by the amount of newborn baby lambs that are wiggling their frisky tails and leaping about in the fields of the nearby farming properties, it is clear that Spring is now definitely on the horizon. 
The first sun after a long wet winter stretch is a truly marvelous thing, it really does have the power to lift ones spirits, which is just what I needed after last weeks illness. Off to the dentist to get my tooth fixed tomorrow and the whole fiasco will be a distant memory. I am back to 100% health, back into my 30 day yoga challenge (day 27 down) and feeling really positive about the coming holiday to Singapore. 
A busy week lies ahead as the days to Singapore melt away and preparations need to be put into place, but it is nothing too taxing, just some small things to do. This time next week I will already be in Singapore, now that's a pleasing thought, and proof of how quickly these planned trips sneak up on you.
I am getting really excited now. I love travelling so much and the chance to take off for a few days mid-winter can't ever be looked at as anything but a blessing, so yeah, it's fair to say that I am getting pumped. This holiday that my sister has organised (and paid) for me to go on, would have to be the most generous and lovely gift that I have ever received in my life, so I am also quite overwhelmed by the outpouring to be honest and really grateful to be going, the whole thing is just the nicest experience to be a part of; I am super chuffed! 
I think I might round out my good feelings by catching a few last rays on the deck with a coffee and a good book this afternoon, before the sun leaves us again. I do believe that a good dose of vitamin D will be the perfect way to end my quiet, and yet totally productive weekend.  

SUNSHINE
Release Date: 2007
Rating: M
Running Time: 107 mins 
A science fiction thriller directed by Danny Boyle and adapted from the screenplay written by Alex Garland. Boyle sited 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris and Alien as some of his influences when considering the claustrophobic space environments that he desired to create for the film, and production designer Mark Tildesley won the Best Technical Achievement award at the British Independent Film Awards for his original and creative merit. 
It is 2057, and the Earth is perishing because the sun is dying. A crew of international astronauts are sent out in the aptly named spacecraft 'Icarus' to deliver a payload of nuclear weapons that will hopefully re-ignite the dying star and save the planet. 
A fantastic ensemble cast including Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans and Michelle Yeoh make up the very convincing crew, and the sets, designs and CGI are all tastefully orchestrated to give viewers a genuine feel of infinite space and severely claustrophobic living arrangements. This is a gripping and deeply atmospheric watch, the peril is palpable and the creepy level is set to high alert, making this is a thrilling and entertaining journey to the sun. 
FINAL SAY: So, if you wake up one morning and it's a particularly beautiful day, you'll know we made it. 
3.5 Chili Peppers ​

Almost three years ago I was diagnosed with IBS. It's a pretty big deal to be diagnosed with IBS, it's life changing stuff, and when there is a history of colitis and bowel cancer in your family, it's actually bloody terrifying. I have been doing my best to be diligent when it comes to food, especially when it comes to what I can and cannot eat, but if I'm being 100% honest, sometimes I do cheat. You try to not eat the homemade flat bread in a Greek restaurant, I dare you to!  
Anyway, I am virtually gluten free, like 98% of the time, and I intake very little dairy and I have generally adopted a pretty healthy eating regimen in order to assist myself. However, regardless of my efforts, at least once a year and completely out of nowhere, I get a random bout of inexplicable stomach and intestinal pain that is absolute agony. And I mean slap me down and steal my lunch agony, this shit is NOT fun. 
The cramping is so intense, like labour pains in discomfort levels, and they are always accompanied by my body forcing its entire contents out of either end for around 5 to 6 six hours straight, with small 20 minute windows of reprieve (sorry a bit graphic I know, but I really want you to get the full picture of horror here). Then my stomach continues to relentlessly cramp for another 24 hours after which time my body then feels like it has been run over by a bus, bashed with a baseball bat and stuck with tiny pins. Just to add insult to injury this time, I also managed to chip my front tooth tripping in a rush to the toilet and smacking my mouth on the side of the bowl, so I also have to see the dentist now too! Brilliant, talk about a comedy of errors. 
This happened to me two days ago and I am still recovering. I am as weak as a kitten and as useless as tits on a bull. I am a lump on the couch, a half toothed wonder, lying here like a sausage with it's guts squeezed out, moaning with a blanket over me. Sexy times I tell you. 
​It is also the third time that this has happened to me in less than three years, meaning that once a year I get this ass-raping of an illness that I can only assume is a by product of my IBS, and honestly it sucks big time. Maybe I shouldn't cheat with the FODMAP diet and then I would be alright, but honestly, sometimes a girl just has to live. However I cannot deny that this getting sick once  year shit is wearing thin, maybe I do need to get 100% tough and eat like a saint. Yay, cucumber sticks here I come, well at least that will shift some of my fat off, if I can ever digest solid food again that is! 
It was inevitable that life was going to sneak up on me and smack me upside the head at some point, I was just feeling way too zen and enjoying myself far too much, and I was only saying about a week ago that I may have mozzed myself by gloating about how good I was feeling. Oh well, 'cest la vie, back on the horse I say, onward and upward is the only place to go from here, I won't let this shit keep me down for too long. 

Spent this weekend with Zoe and Lachlainn, as they ventured over from Geelong for a catch up in Enfield. It is always so lovely to have them stay with us, it gives me a chance to fatten them up with goodies and spoil them rotten for a couple of days. The everyday stresses of living away from home, juggling work and study can certainly take their toll, and I like to try to alleviate some of that when they come over by letting them take a break. I know that I enjoy letting other people spoil me and take care of the thinking on occasion; hopefully Zoe and Lachlainn feel a sense of rest and relaxation when they come around because I do like to try to offer them that.
Just having someone to cook a meal or two can be a really big deal when you usually have to do it all yourself, and I do worry about the kids not getting enough time to enjoy their lives. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day stuff and money worries when you're starting out that you forget to just enjoy the life you're living, but I suppose that we are all a little guilty of that from time to time. 
In the spirit of alleviating worries and having a few laughs, we all went to the movies on Sunday afternoon to see the new Ghostbusters offering. Craig and I can recall going to see the original when we were around Seth's age, so it was pretty nostalgic for us to go and see the remake. I already had the original (which I really liked a lot) reviewed on my blog, and I have posted it here after the new review as a comparison. 

GHOSTBUSTERS
Release Date: 2016
Rating: PG
Running Time: 117 mins 
After hearing and reading a string of mixed reviews, I wasn't holding out a lot of hope for this reboot of Ghostbusters, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a fun and entertaining viewing that was just as good as its predecessor and proof that the ladies can bring on the busting just as well as the boys. 
​Two paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker team up to try and stop the city of Manhattan from being taken over by otherworldly entities. 
​With a fresh approach from director Paul Feig and a hilarious new cast that included Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and a raucously funny Chris Hemsworth, this movie offered a number of good belly laughs, some great nods to other horror films and also breathed some much needed life back into the lungs of this 30+ year old franchise. 
There are cameos aplenty as the old Ghostbusters cast gets on board to reignite the spectral fuse and I get a sneaky suspicion that this is not going to be the last that we see of these ladies in overalls, especially after what is alluded to after the credits have rolled. Yep there's a little extra hidden footage there to catch, so don't leave the cinema too quickly or you'll miss it.
FINAL SAY: Booyah! Emphasis on the boo. 
3.5 Chili Peppers 

This whole '30 days of yoga' challenge has been really good for me. I have been feeling really energized and generally a lot calmer and more focused lately. Given the fact that I am only onto my 17th day, I am pretty chuffed about the results that I am seeing from rather little effort. I'm only sacrificing an average of thirty minutes a day to do the program, and so far I have managed to scrape off two kilos of excess weight, started to tone up my body and I have attained a level of zen that I am seriously digging on. 
With results this promising, I think that I will be taking my yoga efforts well beyond the thirty day challenge realms and making it a regular part of my daily routine. I set myself the challenge of mastering meditation last year and failed dismally, but it seems that I am picking it up this year through osmosis, and I am honestly enjoying the process. Yeah, shocker much, me enjoying regular exercise - what next? Quit drinking? Ha! That is never going to happen, I quit smoking and took up yoga this year, that is more than enough of the healthy business for now I think, surely all that has extended my life for an extra 5 years or so, I don't wanna be living forever. 
Seriously though, I am finding that I am way less fazed about stuff at the moment. I just don't see the point of getting all worked up over anything really, it's such a waste of time - it's just all water off a duck's back for me these days; but I suppose that it is easy to say things like that when you have just come back from a two week break, so it will be interesting to see how long this zen-like state lasts as the term progresses, but hey, I'm enjoying it for the time being.
​I don't know for sure if it's the yoga and meditation that is doing this to me, or if I have just turned over a new way of being, but whatever it is, I like feeling zen, so I think that I will just keep doing what I have been doing and see where the road takes me. I just pray that I am not putting the mozz on this zen state by talking about it, you know how the human condition always seems to slap you in the face when you think you're doing okay? Well, I really don't wanna come back down from this cloud right now, I rather like it up here. 

Headed into Melbourne with my eldest sister for the day yesterday. I love visiting Melbourne, it's always so interesting. There's a million things to look at, the best people watching action possible and to top it all off the sun was shining brightly and the first kiss of the coming Spring warmth on my skin was absolutely divine. 
We finally got our arses into gear and went to Fitzroy to check out our other sister's new city apartment, which is hidden nicely amidst all of the hipster cafes and specialty shops in the area. An absolutely perfect place to stop over for day trips to the Exhibition Buildings or Melbourne Museum which are an easy 5 minute walk away. Tram stops are even closer, so it's a super good spot to hit the city from. 
Yesterday we walked over to Lygon Street, doing a spot of shopping along the way and stopping in at Hellenic Republic to indulge in some delicious Greek fare. I adore Greek food. I actually adore all things Greek if I'm being completely honest; love their food, history, mythology and especially their country and people which are just amazing. I have to say that Hellenic Republic had the best Greek food that I have eaten since I went to Greece 10 years ago, this place was fantastic and I highly recommend a visit - yummy!  
Needless to say that I ate so much for lunch that I didn't even need to eat dinner, but what a feast it was! Greek white cod roe dip and flat bread, chicken croquettes, saganaki , lahanosalata (cabbage salad), crispy spit roasted chicken, slow roasted lamb, garlic fried potatoes and loukomadies (greek doughnuts) for dessert. Throw in a couple of wines and a coffee, and you can see why dinner was not required!  Seriously worth the drive to Melbourne just to stuff your face at this place, amazing! 
It was so good to get away from Enfield and get together with my sisters again, we have really been having a great time together lately, and it has made me all the more excited to be going to Singapore in a few short weeks time with them, the anticipation is really starting to build for me now. The weather in Singapore is currently a delightful 30 degrees most days, can't wait to have a break from the winter conditions here for a week either, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't considering the food possibilities there as well! 

Everyone remembers the weird kid that went to their school. It might have been the kid that always had snot hanging out of their nose, or the strange teeth/ dorky haircut kid, or the kid who always looked dirty or had head lice all the time or something, but there was just something about this one kid that you remember. It was never a good thing that made the weird kid memorable either, they had something about them that you definitely didn't want to have yourself. 
Their were a couple of stand out weird kids for me growing up. One in particular in primary school that I can recall was a really smelly girl called Monica. She had a truly weird scent about her; I may be able to identify that smell as an adult and probably not think of it as that weird, but back then, my young and stupid brain thought that Monica really stank. You see, I don't remember what she stank of exactly, I just remember that everyone knew that she stank. I don't think that I ever picked on her about it or anything, but I do recall that she was generally a bit of an outcast, some kids did give her a tough time and looking back on it, we all treated her pretty badly just because she smelt weird.
Generally speaking, kids are bloody ruthless mutha fuckers when it comes to ostracizing other kids. Any sign of weirdness and boom, you're on the outer and labeled the weird kid for all of eternity. Even years later, when the weird kid works that 'weird shit' out that made them weird and sorts it out, they still never really bounce back to full status again. Let's be honest, we know that this is true because we can still clearly recall the weird kid from our childhood, we never forget those labels, that horrid shit sticks.
I recall being deathly afraid of being singled out, especially when I was in primary school. Being accepted by your peers was a right of passage, and I wanted in. I often chose to align myself with kids that were way cooler and more popular than myself in an attempt to be part of the crowd, unfortunately a lot of them were also assholes. ​It wasn't until I got to my upper years at secondary school that I worked out what an ostracizing load of shit it was all was and how little I actually gave a fuck about what my peers thought of me. But the years leading up to that realisation were hardly glittering, and when I think of the petty shit that I accepted as good reasons to ostracize someone, I feel pretty horrible. 
Poor Monica, I wonder if she ever recovered from being called stinky all those years ago. I know that some of the cruel crap that was said to me as a kid has certainly had an affect on the type of adult I have become, I can't imagine that being the weird kid would be easy to forget. Sometimes I do wonder about the weird kids, and how they all turned out. I like to think that they all got successful and super happy and are going to bed content every night, secretly flipping us all the bird as they climb into their four poster beds with their super hot partners.
All that I know for sure is that I am genuinely sorry to anyone that I may have upset or offended over my formative years, a time when my brain was under construction and I was probably a total dickface. And sorry to Monica, wherever you are now, for going along with the smelly thing in primary school and allowing the other kids to make you feel like shit, that was not cool of me at all. I hope that you can forgive me as you climb out of your bubble-bath spa, smelling like a rose and banging your Fassbender look alike husband every night under your Egyptian cotton sheets, I so hope you can. 

I wouldn't say that I read a lot of books, because I don't. I do love to read, the act of curling up with a good novel, a cuppa and a blanket has massive appeal to me, especially at this time of the year. I adore the escapism of books, the sheer indulgence of delving into another world or the mind of another is unmatched by anything else, not even cinema can offer the full scope of understanding and depth of emotion that the written word can, this is undeniably true. 
I however, am always looking for a quick fix when it comes to my indulgences, and cinema offers me that. I only need around 100 minutes to smash out a new story, so cinema will always be my number one drug of choice when it comes to entertainment. I do find it really hard to squeeze in a lot of reading when I am so often glued to the screen watching things, but I do still read around 15 books a year, a bit more than one a month, which isn't too bad really. 
There is always one major downfall when it comes to reading the book before you see the movie version, it very rarely, if ever, lives up to the epic-ness of the book. You just can't get all of the inner dialogue and depth into a movie, so it often falls really short and you leave the cinema feeling ripped off, driving everyone else mad with your diatribes about how inaccurate the characters were and how they totally fucked up the ending. 
Every now and again, some brilliant director picks up a book and actually gets it right, not often, but once and a while it does happen. Last night I had one such moment, I had already read the book, had high expectations, sat down and prepared for let down, and.... well, you can read for yourself. 

Still four days of holidays to go and all of the big stuff that needed to be done for this half of the year is done. Go me! I think that I will big up myself on this one because things have gone pretty swimmingly if I do say so myself, and I have even managed to spend a sizable amount of my holiday time doing three parts of 'fuck all' as well - so can I get an Amen? 
Why am I so pleased? Well let me tell you what's been going on. 
Seth has secured a position at our first choice Secondary College, the co-ed catholic one that I thought we didn't stand a chance in hell with actually offered him a place after all, so there's a shocker - a good shocker, but still an utter surprise. He also didn't get anything under a 'C' on his report and has taken up sketching as a part time hobby, which is about 500% better than the gaming that he usually pursues 24/7. 
Zoe's birthday went really well, in as much as we managed to get everything done that she wanted to get done, she felt spoiled, the food that I made went down a treat and everyone departed with smiles on their faces after the three day celebration. My bank account has still not bounced back yet, but pay day is tomorrow so I'm almost out of the woods. 
Vince, the geriatric guinea pig, who was sadly rejected by said 'needy' child, was happily adopted by the Grade 6's and a dear teacher friend and her daughter who are all pitching in to give old Vince so much loving that I don't think he knows what to do with himself, so everything turned out okay for him in the end. 
It is also only one month until I go to Singapore now, so woo-hoo for me, can't wait for that to happen. It has rained and rained and rained over these last couple of weeks, so I am more than ready and happy to enjoy some sunshine O.S. 
Other good things that have made me super happy over the last fortnight: having time to knit, paint, sketch, read, sleep in, go to the movies, binge watch TV series and spend hours in the kitchen inventing and baking. Also, I've had time to catch up with some friends and family, and even started a 30 day yoga challenge to try and pry some of this flab off myself. This is all good stuff, this is all definitely stuff to be happy about. It's just so nice to be happy and to feel really good about things, I wanted to write about it because often I am pointing out shitty things that are going on, but right now, I am too grateful to be anything but happy. 
​Oh my, what a lovely way to be!

With the whole of Australia going to the polls this week for another election, we have found ourselves in deeper contemplation about the current state of our country. We've all spent more time being attentive to what is really going on; we've listened a lot more carefully to government proposals and promises and we've thought a lot more about our values and our rights as Australian citizens.
​We've considered our future desires for our great nation, and most importantly considered who we want to be 'the face' of us all. And even though election day is now over and our votes have all been cast, we still don't know who has actually won yet, proving that we are a country that is truly divided when it comes to what we want. 
When it comes to politics, I know nothing, absolutely nothing. No point pretending to is there? I have never had a political head and I have no desire to have a political head, but that does not mean that I don't give a shit about it either. Of course I care about who leads our country, and of course I value my right to vote and naturally I am going to vote for the people/ party that I feel most closely represents my personal values and best interests, but when it comes to tallying the votes, the numbers of seats...etc...etc...I am utterly clueless. So at this point I am forced to just wait out the final count and trust that the people that are in charge of that business are doing an ethical job of it. 
At the end of the day, I have always been tremendously skeptical when it comes to anything that any politician has to say. They are notoriously unreliable and generally full of shit, which has always made me feel that politics is a dreadfully disingenuous business, and therefore, something that I have no interest in investing any of my spare time in.  Now I realise that my lack of political knowledge has probably made me somewhat quick to judge here, so I would like to state that I am not claiming that all government representatives are opportunist scumbags, just a very large majority of them are - in my opinion. 
Anyway, within the next few days the next Prime Minister of Australia will be announced and we will have to deal with it, whether we like the outcome or not, and even though we have been given the freedom to vote, we are not free to make any further choice other than that from this point forward. So for all of the extra pondering and consideration that we all spent our pre-election time doing, well, that is all irrelevant now. Essentially, a shit load more decisions are going to made from here on in that we will have absolutely no choice about whatsoever. 
Kind of makes one feel a bit dis-empowered when you really think about it, and that's why I don't like to think about it too often.