what a great day!

Today I attended a Student Industry Day. Total focus of the day was on making your move on the media industry. More particularly making it as a journalist.

We were fortunate to attend workshops fronted by journalism experts. Among those presenting were journalists, freelance journalists, reporters, investigative reporters and editors. My did I enjoy the day. Today confirmed my passion and drive to forge a career as a freelance writer/journalist.

I've got some serious planning to do, to navigate my path to success. Feeling totally inspired to knock on doors to gain some practical experience.

Today reinforced for me it's about time I jump onto twitter and started tweeting! I've got to get connected with current social media tools.

I can't explain how I love reading and listening to news and current affairs. It's a big part of who I am. I'm buzzing tonight after such an inspiring day!

Garance Dore

Not so long ago I was introduced to Garance Dore, one of the world's most renowned fashion illustrator's, photographer's and blogger's. Garance is self taught.

I'm a huge fan of Garance's blog.

Recently I was fortunate to view an exclusive art exhibition collaborated by Westfield with Garance Doré and seven iconic Australian designers.

In celebration of winter fashion, Garance Dore was commissioned to create seven illustrations inspired by the winter wardrobes of Arthur Galan, Bettina Liano, Country Road, Gorman, Leona Edmiston, Thurley & Zimmermann.

The illustrations were just amazing. I am in love with this French lady's work.

Here is the link to a little film titled 'A Month In Fashion' on Garance's blog. (You'll need to scroll down the page a little to find the link). Here Garance share snippets from fashion weeks in New York, Milan and Paris. Hope you enjoy it as much I did. What a life!

living a busy life

It's been more than 3 long weeks since I last wrote here.

I'm realising it takes alot of organisation, excellent time management skills in conjunction with perseverance to keep a blog going.

For lots of reasons I've been absent, in a nut shell I've been focused on other things. Very busy doing other things. I've been distracted by other things.

But I am somewhat surprised by the fact I have really missed writing here. More than I would have ever expected.

I'm hoping I can manage to turn over a new leaf and post here more frequently. Hoping I can get my act together. Hoping tomorrow is the day I get myself and my life in order so that I can write here again.

My goal, to write here 3 times a week. I'll be giving it a red hot go!

To those of you who are regular bloggers what is your secret to never dropping the blogging ball? Are you willing to share a tip or two?

How do you manage to keep blogging without fail when I'm sure your life is just as busy as mine. I'm sure it's not without all the little dramas which always seem to pop up just when you think life is running to schedule.

It seems I don't cope well when I hit a bump. Or when the unexpected happens. Or when I just get busy juggling lots of balls.

cooler days and new technology

We have almost reached the end of week one of term two. Already! I am constantly amazed at just how fast the day, the week, the month, the season seem to pass. Is this a sign that I am getting older? I remember as a child I never realised time passing by.

As I write the heater is on. I'm feeling the cold, the change of temperature seems quite dramatic. Autumn has definitely arrived in Melbourne. Cool nights and days are now part of our daily weather forecast. Currently a rather fresh 15 degrees. The time has come to pull out our winter jackets and boots. Time to rug up. I do enjoy the fact the winter allows us to enjoy lots of soups and stews. I find them quite easy to prepare and very healthy! It won't be too long before I am piling the groceries into one of these.

picture from Sunrise

This morning whilst watching a breakfast program I caught a glimpse of a story on new high tech shopping trolleys known as the 'smart trolley'. Smart trolleys are currently being trialled. The smart trolley comes complete with a GPS navigation system, who ever would have thought this possible?

The trolley has the capacity to track details of shoppers' movements in different aisles which in turn will trigger an appropriate ad. It has the capacity for the shopper to scan items whilst shopping, providing pricing information and a tally of the shop. It also provides meal ideas and ingredients required.

These trolleys are expected to be in Melbourne by July. What do you think? Will you find the ads annoying? Will the ads cause you to purchase impulsively? I'm still processing the fact that this technology is available and will soon be part of our shopping experience.

good old fashioned fun

In Melbourne we are enjoying the second week of the school holidays. In this house we tend to actively live and breathe technology in our lives, so playing noughts and crosses with the boys brought a happy smile to my face today. The joy of such a simple game kept them happily engaged and playing so nicely together. It was nice to put the DS away, it was nice to have the Wii turned off, it was nice to have the TV turned off. Good old fashioned fun, can't beat it! The challenge is to enjoy more days like this.

hello there

Lately I've really missed being able to dedicate some of my time to blogging. I've simply been too busy! I know it isn't a great reason to have been kept away but other things have needed my focus and attention.

The most pressing of which have been two uni assessments which were due for submission on Friday. A learning log worth 10% and an essay worth 15%. I spent literally hours, many late nights and lots of coffees working on these. Maybe it's because this is my first semester back at uni after a very long 18 years but I'm finding getting but into the study routine and mindset is taking me a little while to get used to again. Possibly longer than I had anticipated. I'm also finding the unit is a little intense with its philosophy content but I am enjoying the challenge and am eagerly awaiting my results.


Good Friday we continued with what has become a family tradition, we enjoyed a lovely day out at the Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt at Werribee Park. All proceeds from the day go to the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal. Collectively the boys gathered in excess of 250 small solid eggs. Just in case you are wondering, they definitely don't eat them all! Much to their disappoint I'm sure. We share them amongst family and friends. The enjoyment is in the collecting, the anticipation of how many eggs they'll manage to collect. The event has become a nice way to enjoy family time on Good Friday and in doing so we are supporting charity.


Best wishes to you all for a very Happy Easter.

mother's instinct

I need to write about this incident that occurred yesterday, Sunday afternoon, in the hope that I'll feel a little better about what happened. Not being selfish just working through this.

My beautiful seven year old little man was invited to a school friend's eighth birthday party. They have known each other since they started three year old kindergarten, many years ago. Kids love the opportunity to attend a birthday party. Mine are no different.

So excited was Master Seven when he pulled the party invite from his school satchel. Reading the details I immediately started thinking, this party is not aged appropriate - 'timezone'. I'm standing there reading the invitation and as eager as can be he is asking if he can go. I can't remember my exact reply but it was along the lines of needing to check mum and dad's work rosters. We both work some crazy hours at times and both the occasional weekend. He was happy with my response.

For the next few days, the party invitation kept popping into my head. Occasionally he'd mention it. I chatted to another parent who felt the same. I eventually made the decision (although my gut was clearly not hundred per cent happy with it) that he could attend in my presence. I was reluctant on the idea but he was so keen to join his friends.

Sunday arrived and we drove the 30 minutes or so to a part of Melbourne I am less than familiar with. Eventually finding our way to 'timezone'. Oh, I've just realised I haven't explained 'timezone', arcade type games and the laserquest games. It was a two hour party. I stayed on site with other parents.

The kids all seemed to be having fun, enjoying themselves. Master Seven particularly enjoying the ten pin bowling. With only about 30 minutes to go until the conclusion of the party it was time to play the laserquest game. I felt uncomfortable. I couldn't join him as he entered the dark room to play the laserquest game, at which point he was smacked on the head with a laser gun, in the dark. Me on the outside and unaware of his injury. I'm not sure exactly how long he was in there, about ten minutes at a guess. He came out white as a ghost, blood on his forehead. I'm not good around blood, immediately feeling faint and nausea. Some parents with much stronger stomachs than mine were brilliant in attending to him. Calming him, cleaning his wound and applying some band aids.

Not long after the incident we left, the party was over. Master Seven carrying a decent gash to his forehead. Driving away I decided we needed to see a doctor, I needed a doctor to have a look. He needed to give his opinion. To avoid hours in the emergency department at a public hospital I decided we'd head to a private hospital's emergency department. It was busy, it was Sunday night, about 6.30pm. We waited and we waited, as you do in an emergency department of a hospital. Master Seven was highly spirited, although thirsty and hungry. Following the nothing to eat or drink before seeing the doctor rule. 'Dad' came to join us. His presence instantly lifted my spirits. He was here to support us and be with us. What a difference it made having him there. He is so much better and stronger than I in his ability to cope with a variety of situations. Master Seven chatted and fired endless questions, as only he can, until after close to two hours of waiting we were called to the cubicle. Finally a doctor was going to have a look at this gash.

The doctor was just lovely. He did an excellent job at making Master Seven and I feel comfortable. His opinion, glue the affected area, cover with some medical strips and clear glad wrap like covering, keep dry for five days, no sport, no swimming and come back Friday morning for a reassessment. My main concern the scaring, the long term scar that could potentially be an unwanted reminder of what happened. The doctor's advice to give it a year and half to heal at which time if we aren't happy a plastic surgeon can be consulted. Time will tell. I know Vitamin E does wonders when it comes to repairing scars, I'll be applying it rigorously.

A number of things have left a bad taste in my mouth in relation to this incident. My instinct was that he shouldn't attend this party. As far as I understand it was a somewhat deliberate 'accident'. The mother of the other child hasn't approached me about the incident. I need to accept people are different and don't think the same as I would in this situation. I'm just hoping he isn't left with a nasty and obvious scar.

What a lesson this has taught me, next time if my mother's instinct tells me no, not suitable or not age appropriate I'm standing up to what I believe in, regardless of other parent influences and opinions and the demands of my children.

What a day! What a way to finish off the weekend.

Thanks for reading and (listening) to my story :)