Last week a friend invited me to join her bookclub. With trepidation, and as a nod to my recent resolution to say “yes” more often than “no”, I accepted. Six months ago, I might not have… You see, for over half a decade, books and I have been going through a rough patch. Since becoming a mum, the prolificness of my reading has suffered. Instead of devouring books in every free moment I could find, I began to read only at night, and then only a few pages before unconsciousness beckoned and my eyes would close. It would take me...
September has been a month of pleasant surprises and lucky breaks. Just four weeks ago we travelled “home” to the Bahamas after a month in the UK (don’t even get me started on what or where “home” is!), to find that paradise is even lovelier than I remembered and it was, indeed, lovely to be back. One forgets after time away how laid back island life is – and how good an end-of-the-day gin & tonic tastes as the sun sinks into the blue Bahamas sea.
It has been great to see the familiar faces who have become good friends over...
Some weeks are just longer than others, aren’t they? I’ve had one of those this week. One of the ones where you start seeing red by 3pm and you’re clock watching by 4. Where more than two consecutive hours of sleep eluded me on several nights and the wine fridge was opened more often than I’m proud of.
But next week is a new month, so I plan to press the reset button and – as I say to my daughter – adjust my attitude. In the mean time, here are a few of my favourite things for March.
...
Happy weekend! In our house we’re looking forward to our last weekend at home for a while (more on that later), so we’ll be doing all of our usual favourite things.
Eatin…
On Friday nights we always go out to our local pizza restaurant with a group of friends and neighbours. To me it’s a wonderful way to put a fullstop on the week and welcome in the weekend with it’s different rhythm – otherwise (especially with small kids) we were finding our weekend nights tended to look exactly like our week nights – and weeks and months were slipping away from us. So...
It was 7.34pm on the night of my 21st birthday party and, as I fumbled chaotically around my dressing table for the right shade of lipgloss, my guests were already gathered, sipping champagne, at the venue 10 minutes away. My phone beeped. “Only you would be late for your own party.” It was my friend A (still one of my very best friends today), who – unlike me – is always on time.
Because I am – and always have been – chronically late. It’s my least favourite thing about myself. It was bad enough in my 20s when I could just about...
When I was a teenager, The Oprah Show was on TV every day at 6pm. For my mum and I, it was our special time. Homework done and dance classes finished, we would always, always watch together – on the couch with a cup of tea or at the kitchen table while dinner bubbled away on the stove. It was more than just a TV show – it was our daily meditation, the full stop at the end of our day, one of the many things we shared in quiet companionship.
...
Yesterday I talked about why I’ve been thinking about teachers so much lately, and featured my chat with a dear friend and passionate teacher, Fiona Dunajewski. When I interviewed her I asked her what teachers want parents to know at this time of year as we prepare for Back to School. Here is what she said…
...
