Things I Don't Do

I'm reading Shauna Niequist's new book Bittersweet at the moment, and I've just finished the chapter called "Things I Don't Do".

"Things I Don't Do" are things that take unnecessary time and energy away from the things I do do.

Thing I Do include:

I eat chocolate. I just do. In fact, I've got a block of the new Cadbury Dairy Milk roast hazelnut and honey roast cashews sitting right beside me that I've been plowing through for a few days now. I just love nuts and chocolate together. And I try not to make myself feel bad about it.

I bake. It's the one time where my mind is quiet. I like everything about baking- the mixing, the cooking, the eating. Seeing all these different ingredients turn into something so different from how they all started. All of it. Love.

I teach. I'm a teacher. And I'm good at it. It's the one thing about myself that I know that I know that I know. If everything else about me changed, I think I'd still be a teacher somehow. I'd find a way.

I have to have music in my everyday life somehow. Whether it's listening to the radio in the car, putting MTV on the TV when I get home, practising my violin or plugging in my iPod, I have to have music. I like the rhythm, the sound, the science behind the melody and the harmony and the beat and how it all intertwines.

I like photography- looking at photos, taking photos, being in photos. Something about preserving a physical memory, a place in time representing everyday life and the people that are in it just seems important to me.

I love kids- from tiny babies all the way up to upper primary and beyond, give me a child to interact with and I'll be happy. Their innocent happiness just makes me a better person when I'm around them.

I'll probably always be interested in clothes and hair and makeup and other things that make me look pretty. Part of it is just being a girl, but the other part is me wanting to look nice. And I'm okay with that. If something so simple makes you feel better about yourself, as long as it's not becoming an overarching obsession or taking away from more important things, then I'm okay with that.


Things I Don't Do:

I don't cook. The Food Network, Masterchef, Top Chef, etc do not amuse me unless they do a segment on baking. As much as I love baking, cooking is just not the same. Whether this is because cooking is less focussed on sweet things, I can't say, but I just haven't got the knack. And I don't feel feel any desire to, although I admire those who can and do.

I don't get obsessed with my weight. I know from past experience how caught up I can get with those red numbers on the scale, so I tend to avoid the whole thing. This might mean that there are times when I'm heavier than others, but eventually I'll go back. And I judge the whole thing by how my clothes fit, and not by numbers or digits on a little electronic box that sits on the bathroom floor.

I don't spend as much time studying as I should, but I'm okay with that. I lead a busy life, and I do the best I can and sometimes a person needs to give themselves a break. I've realised that I'm still an excellent student whether I've read the whole textbook or not, and that getting an exemplary grade doesn't make any of the other parts of your life better or worse, really.


And I'm okay with all of that.


And by the way... this is my 200th post! Happy 200th Anniversary/Birthday/ whatever celebration is appropriate to my little blog.

Katy & Luke's Wedding

On Sunday, my friends Katy & Luke got married. I've known Katy for a long time (we went to pre-school together, a fact we only discovered when we both started at the same high school!)

In case you missed it, the date on Sunday was the 10/10/10, and it was seven years exactly to the day that Katy & Luke first started dating! And now it's their wedding and anniversary date too.

The ceremony was on the lawn at the beautiful Vaucluse House, and the weather couldn't have been any more perfect. It was a warm and sunny day, but the chairs were set up under a tree, so most of us could stand in the shade.

Of course, I took tonnes of photos- my friend Keisha was a bridesmaid, so I wanted to get pictures for her too.

Here are the three bridesmaids making their way across the lawn.


Keisha

Katy and her mum walking down the "aisle"

Signing the register

With Luke's parents

With Katy's mum, stepdad & Luke's mum & dad

After the ceremony- Claryse, me, Laura, Elise & Sam

Adam & Keisha

Claryse, Elise, Keisha, Laura & me

Elise said when she saw this next photo, "That is so us!"

After the ceremony, the wedding reception was at The Tea Room, which is a huge beautiful historic room inside The Queen Victoria Building.

Elise, Laura, Elisha (Laura's fiance) & Claryse at the reception

Now, the details:

The table

The centerpieces

The placecards

The menu

The monogrammed napkins (my favourite detail!)

The cake

The bomboniere/ favours

Cutting the cake

First dance

And then the party really started!

Adam & Keisha on the dance floor

Laura

Luke getting Katy's garter off

Tossing the garter

Saying goodbye to the newlyweds

Cake & Cookie Must!

Here it is- the Yoda Cake, finally finished!
I wasn't able to go to the party, but I heard the cake was a hit, and elevated the birthday cool to "super cool" status among her friends!

And of course, once I got on a roll with my baking, I had to make a cookie cake too!

Cake & Cookie lust

So. One of the daughters of the family I just finished housesitting for turns 10 today. (Happy Birthday Miss Emi!)

As such, she has requested that Leashy here make her birthday cake.

Leashy was happy to oblige.



Until she saw the kind of cake that Emi had in mind.



Meet Yoda- the cake.

And this one is my favourite- Yoda the half eaten cake head.

These aren't even close to the more complex Yoda cake designs that I found whilst looking on Google tonight. Those ones just scare me with their intensity.


And then.... THEN.... whilst still Googling, I found this:

Hello, cookie cake love. Where have you been all my life?

I must make one. I MUST!

If only I could convince a certain 10 year old girl that proper birthday cakes are overrated. Cookie cakes are where it's at!

Housesitting

This past week, I have been housesitting for my dance teacher. I've done it before for a weekend (where I ended up spending most of the time at my own house, and only coming over to feed the animals in the morning because I was too much of a chicken to stay the night in an empty house by myself!)

BUT. This week (or rather, 10 days) I was determined not to be a chicken and to spend the whole time here. By myself.

Imagine my surprise then, when I discovered that I actually really enjoyed the experience! I found a new sense of freedom in being wholly responsible for myself. It kind of crept up on me, and then one afternoon when I was sitting on the couch watching countless episodes of Private Practice, I realised that I was enjoying being by myself! I found this unusual, because I am very much a people person, and a noise person who always has music or the tv on in the background. But nevertheless I got a simple kind of joy out of doing whatever I wanted and coming and going as I pleased.

That's not to say that I don't get to do this at home, or that I don't love being at home. I do.

(Hi Mum, I know you're totally going to read this, and don't freak out at me saying all of this!)

But right now, my friend Keisha is over, and she's making us both dinner with Taylor Swift playing on my iPod in the background while I sit at the kitchen table on the computer writing this. And there's something very grown-up about it all that I'm enjoying.

I've had a few "I'm a grown-up" moments this past eight days, where just the act of backing out of the driveway or collecting the mail or switching off all the lights at night stops me and makes me realise how much I'm enjoying the experience of getting to play "adult".

Naturally, my mum was quick to point out that part of the reason it's so enjoyable is because I don't have any bills to pay :)

Which quickly brought me down to earth, but still... I'm really liking this whole thing.