Point + Shoot – Weekend Wrap Up

I’m a bit late, but I’m here, pointing and shooting! It has been a fun weekend for us. Saturday saw Pebble and I pottering about doing a bit this and a bit of that while Paul helped his brother with some of the last few jobs before he moves interstate. I kept our day low key because it was DATE NIGHT for Paul and I on Saturday night, and I wanted to make sure that Pebble was nice and relaxed, and not too tired (but tired enough, you know?). We had a little excursion to the shops to buy her cousin a birthday present, and that’s about it.

Saturday afternoon we dropped Pebble off at Grandma’s and returned home to chillax with some tunes, some conversation (without interruptions!!!) and a little drink. We were supposed to use our much anticipated Gold Class voucher but ALL the shite movies sold out. I couldn’t believe it! Literally every session was sold out. We were kind of ok with that because there really wasn’t anything on that we desperately wanted to see. There looks to be some good stuff coming up in the next few weeks, so we’ll pop out for a mid-week session then. Mid-week date night! Woo hoo!

We decided to hit up our local pub, which we used to frequent quite a bit more often in the old days. It was SO GOOD to just sit together, chat, laugh, drink, people watch, chat some more. Oh, how I laughed! We really don’t have many relaxed conversations these days. We’re both busy with the (adorable) kid and then any chit chat after her bed time is all business stuff, catching up the mundane communication of this thing we call life. We so very rarely just hang out together, just the two of us. I loved it.

Not to mention the ability to blast music at all hours, stomp around the house and collapse into sleep knowing that I won’t be woken up by a little voice calling “mummy”. I love being mummy, but a break like this is so very appreciated. Thank you Grandma!

Sunday we went to our nephew’s 1st birthday party, a very cute outdoor affair with a jungle theme. We had an easy afternoon of catching up with family and chasing the (many, many!) littlies around the playground. We got home late on Sunday arvo and somehow, before we knew it, the day was done. Goodbye weekend, see you again soon (but not soon enough).

See what other’s are Pointing and Shooting this week at Lou’s place.

Never Say Never

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I just Googled this blog post title to try and find an appropriate photo to go with it. You know what I found? A boat load of Justin Beiber. Who knew? Apparently I share the creative genius of a prepubescent pop prince.

Anyhoo. I have ALWAYS said Never.

I’ll Never get married.

I’ll Never have children.

I’ll Never live far away from my family again.

I’ll Never work in a job that means working after hours and weekends.

You know what? I did it all. I did it all and more. You want to know something else? I’m pretty damn happy. The marriage …. as a kid who saw most of her family get divorced I wondered why the hell anyone would bother. Since then quite a lot of them have gotten remarried. Happily. And I grew up. And I met Paul. It was just right.

The kids. I’m not sure where this Never started, but once I started preaching it I got kind of stubborn about it. I do have a vague early childhood memory of seeing a horse give birth, and making the connection that mummies push babies out of their bodies. And if babies had legs like that foal then NO WAY was I going to have babies. Then in my early teens I was told that I may never be able to have babies, and I used this Never as a protective barrier against the world, the unknown. Again, I grew up. I wanted to have a family. So I did. I am SO grateful that it turned out to be so much easier than we thought, too.

Living away from family. Paul and I are from opposite ends of the long stretch of metropolitan Adelaide. My parents live about 30kms and an hour away. It’s far, but it’s not THAT far. We make it work. I love where we live now, it’s just beautiful, surrounded by gum trees and koalas (and the odd ‘roo!) in the backyard. We’re making our own life, our own family, and I wouldn’t change a thing… unless that thing was to somehow crinkle up the Adelaide landscape so that the gap wasn’t quite so far.

The job. Nowhere in the shiny education degree brochure did it mention the work load, never ending drain on your head and heart, not to mention bank balance (did you know teachers buy most of their own resources?). Somehow, somewhere along the way my passion for this thing they call teaching took over, and the extra work load, the huge responsibility, it all became part and parcel of something that I love.

Four HUGE Nevers. Life changing decisions that have brought me, slowly but surely, to where I am and who I am today. Which brings me to one more. One more MUCH less important and MUCH less life changing… I have also said that I’d never pay for fitness again. No personal trainers, no treadmills, and NO GYMS.

Yep. I totally just joined a gym.

It was so cheap! So close to home! With a great time table!

I’m not kidding myself, or you, dear readers. I’m not about to become a gym junkie and hit the weights room every day. I am going to move my body more and get healthy. Or at the very least, healthier.

Have you ever said Never? Then changed your mind?

Date Night

This weekend marks two years since Paul and I got hitched and last night we celebrated! First we dropped Pebble off at Grandma’s for the night, her first ever sleep over at Grandma’s house. Then came home to wine + loud music + getting pretty to head out to dinner. We never get to pump the music anymore, the only thing played around here lately is Play School and The Wiggles – it was so fun to just blast it and bop around. And when I say blast…. I’m surprised the neighbours didn’t come knocking on the door!

We’d bought one of those dealy vouchers for an Indian restaurant and to make up for the money saved on dinner we splashed out on a cab so that we could both enjoy a glass or two of wine. We got a lovely corner spot in the back of the restaurant and promptly ordered some lovely starters and a bottle of sauvignon blanc. The entrees arrived in no time, beef kuftas and machchi pakoras and they were huge (sorry, no pics, too busy living it!). They were also divine – so tasty and with beautiful sauces. After those and a glass of wine I was feeling full up already, but the main course arrived to test my belly.

We ordered my fav, lamb saag, and a chicken madras, along with a naan, rice and pappadums (naan and pappadums, oh we were treating ourselves, weren’t we!?). The curries were The Best Indian Food We Have Ever Eaten!! Seriously!I have had some lovely Indian food before, but this was just amazing. The meat melted in your mouth, the sauces were packed with flavour, had beautiful texture and weren’t oily at all. The bread….. oh the bread! It was fluffy and soft, slightly sweet, and hot. I will say that I just couldn’t eat the pappadums, there were a bit too salty and I couldn’t fit them in. With just the two curries between us there was plenty left over, I reckon we could have shared everything with two others. Paul ploughed on though, taking it all for the team He also enthusiastically ordered a second bottle of wine which was barely touched by the time we were done eating and ready to call a cab again. Oh well, we had fun. We relaxed, talked, laughed and we were just us. It was so nice. So nice.

After dinner we went to our favourite night club – our house! The music was pumping and we were dancing like complete twats around the lounge room. It was awesome! And the DJ knew all our favourites . We danced well into the night before collapsing happily into bed, two blissfully happy people.

We didn’t stir all night, no baby to wake us up for a midnight cuddle, and enjoyed a little sleep in before getting up to make the Best Eggs I Have Ever Cooked. I love eggs and I’m a little obsessed about cooking them just right. I’ve never mastered poaching and usually wrap eggs in cling film if I try it. It works, but it’s not proper poaching, if you know what I meean. However, I was feeling very inspired by Masterchef and not having a small child hugging my knees, and decided to make poached eggs with hollandaise sauce. Dad (otherwise known as The Egg Man) had dropped around two dozen eggs earlier in the day, so I had plenty of produce to work with.

I used the Mother’s Day Masterclass poaching technique, but went for a slightly more cheaty version of hollandaise. As if I was going to stand over a pot for 30 mins! The cheats version of hollandaise was fool proof – though I did half the recipe because I didn’t want a huge quantity, then halved the butter quantity again because 125g of butter seemed obscene. The result was a slight lighter hollandaise but absolutely devine nonetheless. The eggs came out perfectly, and I got to eat them HOT. Honestly, I don’t think there is anything that makes me happier than perfect eggs *sigh*

Moving on… after a brief spell on the couch watching Insiders over breakfast we picked ourselves up and quite eagerly went to pick up our small girl. I did find myself in an odd mindset lying in bed in the morning – I really wanted to stay in bed cuddling for longer, but I also really wanted to pick up Pebble and give her a hug and a kiss. I was literally torn by these two things, it was such a bizarre feeling, but also nice to know that I do miss my kid, and do want her to come home again

Pebble had a perfect night away, she slept like an angel, waking up at 3am to get into bed with Grandma, which she did without complaint. She was a little bit all over the place when she saw us, kind of happy/sad, as if she couldn’t quite get a handle on her emotions, bless her. Now we’re all back to our regular routines and moving on with our lives.

What a fabulous night though, really. Happy Anniversary to my gorgeous hubby, I’m so happy and grateful to have you to share this life with, love you always xxx