Friday 24 January – Hungry Fridays

 

Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, Counting down until lunchtime! I was starving today (thanks to my day starting at 5.20am for another bootcamp!). There was such a beautiful sunrise this morning, which almost made getting up that early worth it. We had a subs' lunch at Bread and Circus, and it was sooooo good (Chrystal and I accidentally dressed the same today!). Then this evening,  a few of us went out for pizza. YUM.

Thursday 23 January – Life on a Thursday

Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, Subbing. Thursdays are our busy day at New Idea, as it's the day we go to press, and today was no exception. We have lunch delivered to the office, and work through until it's all done. There's a great buzz and even if it's a long day, everyone's usually in pretty good spirits.

Wednesday 22 January – In pain!

Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, Trying not to move. I was in so much pain! This morning, very early, I went to my first ever bootcamp session. And it was so hard! I had signed up to go with a bootcamp group but when I turned up this morning, at 6am in the rain, I found they were nowhere to be seen. I was pretty mad but a lovely different group said I could join them. They seemed lovey – until I had to go crazy weights and squats and sprints and things that made me feel sick and like I was going to faint! Bootcamp is so hard! However, I have to to admit that, once it was over, I kind of loved it.

This evening I hobbled down to Circular Quay to meet Jess, David and Val, who had been out for dinner. We enjoyed a glass of wine by the Opera House and I wore my Opera House-inspired ring for the occasion!

Tuesday 21 January – Meeting little Louis Thomas Harrison

Current location: Erskineville
11.11am, Looing at photos of Louis!! He is my brand-new baby nephew, the first child of my sister Claire, born on 18 January. I am so excited and I already love him to pieces. I had spoken to my parents and all my sisters and was ssooooo proud and pleased and happy, and then I got to see pictures and now I'm even more smitten. Hello gorgeous Louis Thomas Harrison. xxxxx

Monday 20 January – Take a leaf...

Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, Reading in bed. Not very wild! I've just started our new book club book, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, and am loving it so far. I hope none of my friends in book club read this, as I am usually very forceful on the rule of not talking about the book before we've all finished it!

Sunday 19 January – Getting it in early

Current location: Coogee
11.11am, Sitting on Coogee Beach. Kara and I were just sitting there looking at the sea and chatting and enjoying hanging out after not seeing each other for a little while. We had got up super early (well, early, for a Sunday), and gone to Coogee (I'd run while Kara cycled), which is about 8km away. So we were tired and happy, and had gone straight in for a swim in the lovely sea. It's such a nice thing about living in Sydney!
I had a pretty lazy rest of day, which involved me going food shopping, doing some cleaning, then watching TV!

Saturday 18 January – Paddleboarding!

Current location: Erskineville train station
11.11am, Waiting for a train. Andy and I were on our way to Manly, where I had a paddleboarding lesson booked. It was a present from my lovely City girls before I left to come to Australia, and I had finally come around to booking it! It was a gorgeous day and, despite the little hangover, I was so excited to get in the sea and give it a go.

It was so good! I loved the tranquility of being out on the calm water, and it was so nice to paddle around the harbour (avoiding the boats) and be out in the sunshine. Manly is such a cool little part of the world, I really should go more often!

Friday 17 January – One of those ridiculously awesome nights

  
Current location: Circular Quay
11.11pm, Drinking wine at Opera Bar.I was having the BEST night! I finished work early-ish so went home and got my glad rags on. It was a beautiful, sunny, boiling hot day, and so it was really nice to get ready for a night out without having to worry about staying warm!

I met Emily and Gemma at the Forresters pub, and they'd nabbed a cute little outdoor spot for us, so we got some wine (to cool us down, obvs) and started on our mammoth catch up. Emily and I used to go to City Uni together, where we did our Master's, and it's been ace seeing more of her here since we both moved to Sydney. Her friend Gemma is awesome too, although today she announced she is moving to Melbourne (sob!).

Before too long, our beautiful friend Sophie turned up, with her girlfriend Daisy. Soph also did the Master's with us at City, but I hadn't met Daisy yet, so it was so exciting when they turned up! We had a fab reunion and, as Daisy and Soph had only arrived that morning (they're on a 7-month trip around the world!), we were excited to show off a bit of Sydney to them.

Embracing the tourist in all of us, we hopped in a cab and went down to Circular Quay, where millions of people were already at Opera Bar. The atmosphere was amazing, and I always love being near the Opera House and seeing the Harbour Bridge. More wine was drunk and the hours seemed to disappear as we laughed and chatted and had the best girls' night.

Not quite ready to wrap it up yet, we carried on the party to the Glenmore, which is in The Rocks and has fab views of the harbour. The night just kept getting better and, when they closed the rooftop garden, we simply ordered some tequila and moved the party downstairs. I caught the last train home and woke up the ext day to this message from Emily, which pretty much summed it up:
"Last night gets a 10/10. x". It sure does!

Thursday 16 January – Work hard and be nice to folk

Current location:
11.11pm, Watching TV with Andy, Rochy and Jdog. Today was a nice one – busy at work, then came home to find a present from Andy (a netball!) and all the dinner already made. So I watched TV and looked on Instagram, where I found this perfect quote that summed up today nicely.

Wednesday 15 January – Book Club in Elizabeth Bay

Current location: Elizabeth Bay
11.11am, Emailing. The book club girls were just organising times for tonight's event, which was book club at Sarah's house. We'd just read Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (I finally finished it at lunchtime today) and had a lovely evening out on her balcony discussing it, and other things. I personally didn't enjoy the book at all, which really surprised me because all I've seen so far about it are good reviews. I literally haven't read a single bad, or even mediocre, review yet, but I thought the book was really boring! It's a shame because the plot (based on the true story of the final few months of the last woman to be executed in Iceland, in the 1800s) was so interesting, but I just found the writing so dry. Don't be put off by me though, because everyone else in the world seemed to love it (bar a few of us book-clubbers)!

Tuesday 14 January – It's almost finished!

Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, Reading in bed. Because the book club book I'm reading keep sending me to sleep, I still haven't finished it yet! Today was such a beautiful day so after work I decided to go for a glass of wine at a pub round the corner and sit in the sunshine and read it. It was lovely! Then I came home and made some snacks for book club. We're trying to make it healthy tomorrow, so Rochy and I made 'Quinoa, cheese and broccoli bites' – and they were actually amazing. No picture but seriously, these were so easy and so yummy.

1 cup of quinoa, cooked.
3 eggs
1 cup of cheese
1 broccoli head, finely chopped
(I also added 1/2 cup sundried tomato, but these are optional)

Mix them all together, cook in muffin tray for 20 mins on 350˚F, and voila! You can't go wrong.

Monday 13 January – Sending me to sleep

Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, Fast asleep. I'd actually fallen asleep at 8.30pm, then 9pm, then given up and gone to bed at 9.30pm. I wasn't even that tired but I was trying to finish a book (Burial Rites by Hannah Kent) for book club on Wednesday and it kept sending me to sleep!

Sunday 12 January – City to surf

Current location: The Rocks, Sydney
11.11am, Having a coffee with Robyn and Josh. They're friends from London, who now live in Melbourne, and who've come on a little trip to Sydney this weekend! We had a coffee and a pastry in the courtyard of a cute little French patisserie, and then wandered through the city until we got to Hyde Park. Sydney Festival is on there at the moment, so we had a meander and watched a man blowing bubbles and people queueing to bounce on the giant inflatable Stonehenge. It was a scorcher of a day so we decided to just chill out and watch a band play for a bit (we saw an amaaaaazing ukelele band consisting of four 14-year-olds!). Then we ate dumplings and sat in the outdoor library (great idea!), just catching up and enjoying a nice, slow Sunday.

After a few hours, I said goodbye (Robs and Josh were going back to Melbs) and hopped on a train to the coast. I got there in time for a trip to the beach, where we swam, sunbathed and played bocce until the sun went in and we felt the need to go for a beer and some fish and chips. Life just feels so different up here on the coast, I bloody love it!

Saturday 11 January – From beach to party

Current location: Wollongong 
11.11pm, Chatting to some of Andy's friends. We were at an engagement party of our lovely friends Jase and Gen in Wollongong (about 90 minutes south of Sydney). It was such a beautiful party, and there were lots of people I either didn't know or hadn't seen for ages, so there were lots of good chats to be had! Our friends Charlie and Sydney, who we know from Cornwall/London but who now live on the Gold Coast, had also come to visit for the weekend, along with their German friend Axel, so we had quite the crew!

This morning, before they arrived, I decided to go for a run. It was a scorcher of a day so while Andy went to pick the others up from the airport, I ran to Coogee beach and met them there. It was so hot, but so lovely to be able to plunge straight into the freezing sea at the end of the run! After an hour or two on the beach, we went to meet Nick and Bree in Paddington for a late lunch, and then they went up the coast and we went down the coast for the party. A long, lovely day full of all my favourite things.

Friday 10 January – Farewell friend!

Current location: The city
11.11pm, Walking to Wynyard train station. It was the end of a fab, long evening of farewells for lovely Gemma, who left work today to go and start a job at Today Tonight. We'll miss her smiling face heaps at the New idea office! After work today, we had a few drinks and then headed to the Bar at the End of the Wharf, which might be my new favourite bar. It's in Walsh Bay and is right on the water. We stayed until the sun went down, then headed to El Loco for a bit of Mexican mania and lots of laughs. Had such a fun, fun, fun Friday night with the girls!

Thursday 9 January – Eating

Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, Eating. Eating eating eating. Today is a hungry day! Work is super busy and there's lots going on, so I'm keeping well-fuelled!

(Picture by Carolinne on Weheartit)

Wednesday 8 January – Moonlight Cinema

Current location: Somewhere in Sydney
11.11pm, Cycling home from Centennial Park. Since it opened in Sydney, I've been so excited to go to the Moonlight Cinema (outdoor cinema in the night time) and tonight a group of us went to watch The Book Thief. We'd brought a yummy picnic, found a great spot, and had just sprawled out on our picnic rug when the heavens opened. Oh no! Luckily, we'd come a bit prepared so up went the umbrellas and on went the waterproofs, but it was still pretty soggy. However, the film was amazing. I was worried I wouldn't like it, as I loved the book so much, but Geoffrey Rush was beyond ridiculously good, and the story was so closely followed, and the filming was beautiful and it was amazing and sad and wonderful. And I loved being outside in the open air, even if it was a bit on the damp side!

Tuesday 7 January – Looking and booking

Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, Looking at flights. I am trying to organise booking some flights home for one of my best friend's weddings, and the prices are ker-azy! But I'm so excited that I don't really care. Home, here I come!

(Picture by BettyyM on Weheartit)

Monday 6 January – Sydney Opera House!

Current location: Newtown, Sydney
11.11pm, Eating Mexican food. Tonight, Andy and I had the best night – we met at the Opera Bar outside Sydney Opera house after work, and had a drink in the sunshine with views of the Harbour Bridge. It was so beautiful! My sister had bought us tickets to see Bonobo at the Opera House and I was so excited. It was the first time I'd been there, and it's so beautiful inside! The acoustics are amazing, and it just felt so awesome to be in such an iconic building.

Bonobo was fantastic, although it was the first time I'd been sitting down in a concert, so there was lots of chair-dancing going on! But seriously, I was blown away by the music and the whole experience. Afterwards, we wanted to kick the party on, so decided to go out for dinner and a drink. We headed to trusty Newtown and prowled King Street until we found what we wanted: Mexican!

Sunday 5 January - WA comes to NSW

Current location: Erskineville

11.11am, Walking to the train station. I was off to meet Mel and Troy, my gorgeous friends from WA, who are over for a wedding. We met for lunch and went to Coffee Club on the river, catching up on all the news before going for a little walk by the river and dipping our toes in. It was so hot and muggy today!

By the time I was homeward-bound, with Brodie in tow, I was pretty sleepy. Rather than have a Sunday lie-in, I'd got up with Andy at 6.45am when he had got up to go to work. Learning my lesson about running in the sun, I went out for an early jog, then came home, drank a smoothie and watched TV until it was time to catch the train.

When Brodie and I got back to Sydney, we hung out at home, chatting, watching TV and being lazy, until Jdog and Andy got home. Then the four of us wandered up to Newtown to eat dumplings. After dumplings, we walked back along King Street and got a frozen yoghurt, and it felt like being on holiday. It was so hot and there were so many people out, it was lovely!

Saturday 4 January - A long day of activity!

Current location: Umina Beach

11.11am, On the beach. I was with Ducky, her dog Frankie, Andy and the Lawrences' dog Dana, and we had come on a little doggie date. Dana and Frankie seemed to be mates, and so we had a walk, threw the ball for them for ages and had some good chats and catch-ups. It was a really warm day so we went for a sea swim, and marvelled about how we had met in London years ago and now we were splashing about in the sea on Australia's Central Coast. How life changes, but in a good way!

After our doggie date, Andy and I went home then he got ready to go and play tennis with his dad. I'm not particularly good at tennis but I was feeling pretty active so I went with them and had a bit of a hit around, with Andy and his dad giving me tips. I like to think I ended a bit less rubbish than when I started!

Thanks to our early start today, there was still time for more fun when we got back, so we grabbed, Jo, Val and Jess (who'd just arrived) and headed off to Avoca beach. I can't believe I haven't been there yet, it's bloody gorgeous! There's a really fun lagoon so we took the kayaks our and had a huge paddle for a while, then went home, had dinner and caught the train back to Sydney.