Resting and reading

In the past eleven days, I've had one day off work, and today is my first day off after seven days straight. Admittedly, two of those days were only short shifts (three hours long), but even so, I'm feeling somewhat drained of energy today on this blessed day off.

I need to do some "home" work today. Part of my job as a book shop employee is that I must read as much as possible in order to recommend books to our customers. Not a hardship. My current reading pile includes several titles which will be appearing in our next catalogue. My only problem is deciding which one to read first. I think it might be the two children's books today. Too sleepy to contemplate anything more challenging. 

The divine book below was a treat to myself after finishing work yesterday. So very, very gorgeous.

Peace in the chaos

A very trying couple of days here with a couple of dramatic situations playing out. Time to take a deep breath and focus on the good moments.

 I worked on Sunday. When I'm standing at the counter, this aesthetically pleasing bay of books is directly in front of me.
At one point on Sunday, I witnessed a couple of twenty-somethings (male and female)literally fondling a couple of these books before they came over to buy one. I can most definitely relate to this.

 

 

 On Monday, E, Z, and I went out for brunch at a nearby restaurant.

No, the phone never leaves that girl's hands.

 

 

 The restaurant has recently changed hands and now has a herb nursery and health food shop attached. Z is ecstatic about this.
There were hundreds of intriguing herbal concoctions on display and we felt like we were in some weird apothecary in the Harry Potter world.
 What on earth is "False Unicorn Root", for instance?

We purchased some lovely soy candles and this poster.

 

Today, so far, is very quiet and peaceful.

 

 

Found ivy growing in our garden. I have no recollection of planting it here, but it's staying. One of the few things that isn't either wilting, burnt or dead due to this horribly dry summer.

 

 

 

Smoochy kitties are always a good thing.

....... and the sky is this colour.

This paragraph, from Tana French's "Broken Harbour". So very true.

Idyllic

 Last night, I attended my work Christmas function - dinner at this wonderfully bucolic location (as one of the girls described it)
We dined outside and enjoyed antipasto platters, flat bread, salads, a selection of gourmet pizzas and a lovely glass of wine.
Ten women, aged between seventeen and fifty-four and never a lull in the conversation the entire evening.

 

 

We watched the evening shadows fall across the vineyards and as the daylight waned and the air developed a chill, we moved inside for coffee and dessert.
A lovely relaxed get-together.

Sunlight

Today was my only day off work this weekend so I had to spend most of my time getting the housework up-to-date. After tomorrow, I will have worked three Sundays out of the last four. Not a fan of working on Sundays but it's unavoidable at present. Hopefully my working hours will be back to normal soon -  at least until the crazy Christmas retail rush is upon us - all too soon. Believe it or not, I saw Christmas trees for sale in K-Mart yesterday!

 

Anyway, despite having to deal with domestic duties today, I did take the time to appreciate the lovely sunshiny day.

 C, Z and I walked to a local cafe for morning tea and soaked up the sun.

This afternoon, I loved the way the sunlight flowed into our house.

 

 

 

 

 

A very busy couple of weeks here for some family members. Many hours put in at work and school for some of us. E and Z are both grateful for school holidays.

My working hours have meant little opportunity for my usual walks which is not good because there have been way too many sweet treats in this house lately.

E went to two bridal showers last weekend and contributed mini cheesecakes to the first of these.

 

C bought these melt-in-the-mouth macarons for she and I to consume while watching a movie.

 

I made Raspberry and White Chocolate muffins for an after school treat.

They didn't last long.

 

 

 

 J's birthday cake was a chocolate mud cake strewn with chopped up snickers bars ( his favourite chocolate)

We also have a cheesecake in the fridge which C brought here on Thursday.

So much temptation!

I'm thinking maybe one more piece of mud cake and then no more sugar for quite some time.

I will probably fail miserably at sticking to this resolution!

 

 

 

Planning




Pink sunset last night.

Working full time hours again for most of this week has delayed my pre-New Year cleaning, reorganising, de-cluttering plans. Some of my cupboards need some serious attention. Oh well. I'll get to them eventually.

Here's some more pink - just because.

Solstice

The longest day of the year is extra long when you don't start work until 3pm and don't finish until 10pm. On the plus side, after completing 36 hours at work since Sunday, I only have 14 hours to go before the working week ends!

Such a beautiful day today. It really feels like summer when the cicadas start their noisy singing.

 

 



Gorgeous windchimes are a present from daughter, E.
Purchased from a market at Venice Beach, California.