If you’re anything like me, then the mere thought of visiting that massive maze IKEA, leaves you reaching for the whiskey bottle. I’d rather watch Tony Abbott attempting a Baywatch sprint along the beach in his budgie smugglers than go anywhere near the place. (Actually, that might be overstating it a tad…)
Past experience has taught me that you never escape IKEA in less than two hours, by which stage you’re tearing your hair out with frustration after getting stuck in the maze that is its furniture display area, fighting through harried crowds of similarly frustrated customers, then arriving home with a load of junk you never intended buying and swearing you’ll never go back. It’s even worse than trying to shop at an Aldi supermarket.
Fletch with fellow Neighbours actors Saskia Hampele
With Fletch being in the UK, I decided to freshen up his office to surprise him on his return. (It’s okay – he’s on a plane now so won’t read this before getting home.) After much research, the best option for a new rug – taking price, size and colour into account – was… sadly… IKEA.
A bit unfair when you think about it. He flies overseas, swanning around presenting prizes at the British Soap Awards while I get stuck with a visit to IKEA.
But the desire to renovate was stronger than my IKEA-phobia, so I decided not to let the place defeat me. I’d make a cunning plan and come out tops.
And GUESS WHAT? The plan actually WORKED!! I managed to get in and out of that vast wasteland of consumerism in FIFTEEN MINUTES. I was very up myself about this record-breaking feat, so tweeted the fact and was met with a big reaction – meaning LOTS of you guys related to the trauma of an IKEA visit. So I thought it best to Blog my tips to help you all when you next take the plunge.
IKEA SURVIVAL TIPS
1. Do your research before heading to the store. Jump on the Internet and work out which items you need and write down the details. Then phone the store to check they are in stock.
2. Do not take small children with you.
3. Wear runners – not heels – you need to make some quick crowd-busting moves.
4. Try to plan your trip mid-week when fewer customers will be vying for attention from sales staff.
5. Accost the front-of-store help-person on arrival to verify the location of the goods you’re looking for. If you’re in luck, you can TAKE A SHORT CUT and head straight to the MARKET HALL section, by-passing the entire furniture display area. This will save you at least half an hour. I was in luck yesterday as all I needed was a rug.
6. If you can’t see your item immediately, accost another sales person to help you otherwise you’ll waste precious time wandering around.
7. DO NOT STOP to look at any other items that grab your attention. They are NOT on your list. STICK TO YOUR LIST.
8. When you have all your items, head to the self-checkout service section, which is much, MUCH quicker than queuing for a checkout assistant to process your purchases.
And what a difference the rug made to Fletch’s office. Just over a year ago, we’d rearranged rooms and somehow, he’d ended up with an old faded, stained pink rug that used to be in Veronica’s room when she was little. Well past it’s use-by date…
What an improvement! A clean, cream rug to lighten up a dull space. And it was on sale too.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, that is a spare bed in his office. Just in case he’s in the doghouse or snoring too loudly. A girl’s got to be prepared…
That was also brought home by an embarrassing visit to the dentist this morning. As I lay back in the recliner chair, I noticed a newly designed courtyard outside the facing window of the surgery. It’s a pretty white-pebbled and ferny space; a pleasant distraction from the painful work going on inside one’s mouth.
‘Gee, you built that quickly,’ I remarked. ‘That wasn’t here last time.’
‘Ah, no, it wasn’t that quick,’ said Christine, looking at me as though I was one snag short of a barbie. ‘You haven’t been here for two years.’
TWO YEARS? Are you kidding? I felt like I’d been woken from a coma. Usually I visit the dentist every six months like clockwork. It occurred to me two weeks ago that I hadn’t received a reminder notice for a while, so made this appointment without being prompted. I thought maybe a year at most had passed – probably less than a year – so I was staggered to find out it was in fact, more than TWO YEARS. How slack! Or was I sub-consciously avoiding something I dislike intensely?
The ‘time whizzing past’ concept also reminded me I haven’t posted a New Year’s Resolution update for more than three months. As I said in the last update all those moons ago, I was beginning to find them repetitive to write on a WEEKLY basis, which meant they must have been boring to read, so decided to take a short break. Which became a longish break…
Now it’s definitely time for an update, so here’s how those resolutions are looking nearly five months down the track:
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION UPDATE
(1) Sugar free challenge (apart from wine) – HA, HA, HA and HA! Hmmm… yes, I was starting to fall off the wagon at the end of six weeks and things haven’t improved since. To be honest, I ate a Crunchie bar for breakfast this morning. So NOT GOOD. I love the concept, though, and would like to tackle this again, but on a less extreme level.
Regardless, I will keep eating The Muesli for breakfast most days – except when there’s a Crunchie Bar lying around.
I felt great (and lost weight!) when I gave up sugar, but there were too many treats I missed – sharing chocolate with my daughter while watching a DVD, buying a fruit bun down the street while doing the food shop and ICE-CREAM.
Now I’ve come across a new diet – which includes a lot of GREEN JUICE – and I’ll share that with you next week. It also involves some tips from the Crazy, Sexy Diet book by Kris Carr, which is well worth a read.
After much research, I’ve even bought a whiz bang juicer and will give you the low-down on which is the best on the market and why, next week.
(2) Not to play I-Phone Games – I failed on this one too. I went through a downer-patch in Feb/March and resorted to playing games as a mind-numbing way of blocking out the bad stuff. I suppose it’s better than taking drugs.
(3) To tidy my office before the end of March – And again, I laugh. Not because I failed, but because I COMPLETELY FORGOT this one. I have managed to clear a mass of paperwork piles from the floor, but the desk still looks like a tsunami’s hit.
(4) To go to the gym at least 3 times a week – At last – a tick! YES!!! For a short while I was inspired by my new trainer, Ross, who I Blogged about. Then Ross left for another gym, so now I’m doing classes instead. Which I like. In fact, this week I have been to a Spin Class (stationary group bike-riding) three times already. Yay, me. It helps to combat that sugar addiction.
(5) To NEVER smoke another cigarette again – Another tick. Big back pat. It really does get easier all the time. Especially when you pass the one-year mark. This is my biggest achievement and even though I was slightly tempted on a recent girls’ night, I stayed strong.
I don’t think I’d be surviving as many spin classes if I was still a smoker and the financial saving is also a huge bonus.
So overall, I’ve scored two out of five. Which doesn’t say a lot about my willpower. Or are New Year’s Resolutions pointless? Did you make any this year? Have you stuck to them? I’d love to hear your stories in our comments section.
This was going to be one of those ‘Inspirational Life Changes’ stories – you know, where I interview someone who has dived into a radical career change mid-life and made a ripping success of it all.
But in this instance, that’s not really the case. You see, horse-riding champion and hair colourist extraordinaire Linda Chisolm IS taking a new direction in life, but she’s also going to continue working in the salon. So it’s really an ‘Inspirational Life Juggling’ story – a case of combining careers, rather than ditching one for the other.
I first met Linda about eighteen years ago when I was working at Channel Ten and moved from Nunawading to the Como building in South Yarra. I stumbled into a hair salon across the road and found Linda, who was not only a brilliant colourist, but we got along famously. So even though it was very convenient having Linda so close to work, as soon as she left for a new salon, I followed. And I’ve been following her ever since.
Linda ONLY does COLOUR – no cutting, primping, curling etc… and that’s probably why she’s a master at her craft. I reckon she also makes a damn fine therapist with her ability to dish out pithy, down-to-earth no-nonsense advice when you thrust one of your dramas under her nose for dissection.
I also love the fact that she’s rarely impressed by celebrity. While she’s got a long list of famous VIP clients, she’s never a name-dropper and has been known to refuse to work with certain celebs if they prove to be difficult clients. She just couldn’t be bothered.
I asked whether she was nervous, colouring Kylie Minogue’s famous tresses many moon ago. ‘Not really,’ she said. ‘I’ve worked all over the world and people are people. They’re all the same – they just want to look nice.’ Simple, but true.
Linda is a little unusual in that she didn’t want me to photograph her working AND she doesn’t want me to mention the salon where she works. That’s because she’s not looking for new clients (being the best colourist in Melbourne) as her diary is chockers and she doesn’t need new people pestering her for a dose of hair magic.
The other reason Linda doesn’t want me to advertise her talents is that she’s cutting back on hours to focus more on her greater passion – HORSES.
This new gig Linda’s taken on is quite obscure. The fact that it’s SO unusual meant I had to write about it. Although when I first suggested to Linda that you couldn’t find two professions further apart – horses and hair – she rightly corrected me. ‘There’s some similarities between the grooming of horses and people. There’s products, plaiting, lots of washing!’
But don’t get the wrong idea – Linda’s new role doesn’t involve horse grooming. Instead, she and her partner, Stefan, will be importing top-end horse trailers from the United States. (See, I told you it was obscure.)
The opportunity arose when Linda spotted a huge gap in the horse trailer market. ‘We’d bought a couple of Australian-made ones and we weren’t happy with them. Not with the fit-out or the finish or the options. So we started looking in America and we bought our first one and through that, became dealers for the American brand. Which is Trail Rider Trailers,’ she said.
Linda and Stefan researched many companies overseas and Trail Riders came out on top. ‘They’re the best built in the field, offering the biggest range of options. It’s also a small, family-owned business and the trailers aren’t mass-produced so we knew we’d get good workmanship. They do a fantastic job and are happy to customise.’
Linda has been riding horses in events around the country since she was a child, so has a pretty good idea about what people are using and what’s on the market. She says it was hard to find trailers in Australia that offered simple luxuries like an oven or even a toilet.
As for sleeping quarters, the Trailer Riders bed is five-star compared to what’s on offer from other brands. But Linda says not all her trailers are as ritzy as this one we’re looking at. ‘They can be very high-end or not so high-end. But it’s the quality of the fit-out that makes all the difference. You can customise the size to whatever you want, that’s legal in Australia, which is 43-feet long.’
The range of options you can put in these beauties is astounding, including a washing-machine, electric fireplace, a ceiling fan – all sorts of options Linda says you just can’t get in Australia.
Now she’s the envy of her horse-riding friends. ‘I usually get a big WOW when they walk in,’ she says with a smile. ‘For a horse-person, these trailers are heaven. Everything is in the right place and it’s a great ride with fantastic suspension. You spend a lot of time and money on your horse going to shows, so you want to be comfortable. It becomes your holiday, your pastime. Most horsey people don’t head off to Bali for two weeks. They go to a national show and it’s their life-style.’
On top of colouring hair and marketing her new horse-trailer business, Linda also competes at events. ‘I do a sport called reining,’ she said. ‘It’s a discipline that started in America. The reining horse is known for its ‘sliding stop’ and its ‘turn around’ and spin,’ she explained.
‘They’re manoeuvres that came from when horses worked with cattle on ranches and they’ve been exaggerated for the show ring. You ride in a pattern and unlike dressage, it’s all at a canter. Or a lope, as we call it in the western world.’
Apparently it’s a huge sport internationally and is growing in popularity in Australia. ‘It’s very big in America of course, and Germany, Italy and we’re now a sport that’s involved in WEG. That’s the World Equestrian Games. I think it will become an Olympic discipline eventually.’
Linda’s been ‘reining’ for about seven years now and has won several awards – one about two months ago in Werribee. ‘It’s a difficult sport,’ she said. ‘Much harder than I thought it would be! Like any horse discipline, you’re always learning and working at it. It’s more difficult than it looks as it’s a one-handed event.’
ONE-HANDED?! Jeez… then I’m guessing Linda has a pretty good connection with her horse to ride with such control.
‘Ah, you need a horse that’s really broke’ she laughed. ‘My horse is gorgeous. His show name is Red Hair and Freckles. He’s definitely up there with my favourites.’
With so much going on (selling trailers, reining competitions…) I was most relieved to hear Linda wouldn’t be ditching her colouring job. (PHEW!!) ‘I love my hair, I like my clients,’ she said. (YAY!!) ‘It might get a little tricky, juggling both, but I’ll manage.’
If you’d like to contact Linda about these impressive horse trailers, you can email her at
lindachisholm06@gmail.com
and check out the trailer website at: australianhorsetrailers.com.au
or she has a Facebook page, for updated news – just reference Australian Horse Trailers and LIKE it!!
And just in case you want to TRY to get a hair colour appointment with Linda, she works at Salon Golightly in Prahran. (Now she’ll kill me.) Good luck….
Salon Golightly: 175 Greville street, Prahran Ph: 9533 9966
It’s pretty simple really. If you go along to the Cambridge Studio Gallery in Collingwood anytime between now and June 1st, you’ll be a winner in more ways than one.
(1) You’ll get to see a brilliant art exhibition by famed painter OTTO BORON.
(2) Your visit is very likely to help the BUILD FOUNDATION in their mission to help underprivileged children in Cambodia.
(3) You may possibly BUY a piece of art that will be a wonderful investment – and if you can’t afford one, then a raffle ticket for just $10 may end up sending a masterpiece your way.
I was asked along on Wednesday night to officially ‘open’ the ART FROM THE HEART Exhibition. Set in the light and airy Cambridge Studio Gallery, I was mighty impressed by Otto Boron’s collection. It’s easy to see why his work has been highly acclaimed over the years, winning many awards including Otto being named Victorian Artist of the Year, twice.
This exhibition is bold and expressionistic; a combination of images ranging from portraits of children in Cambodia, to derelict, deconstructed buildings abandoned in Australian rural landscapes.
I think you can see a touch of Cezanne, Picasso and even Fred Williams influences in some of these pieces and I truly believe they will make for a great investment, because they are so modestly priced.
Robert Lee, President of the Contemporary Art Society of Victoria spoke on the night, highlighting Otto’s achievements and explaining how Otto’s work, with its strong textures and images, presents an often-poignant view of the world.
I was delighted to meet with Otto on the night and learn we had a couple of things in common. One – we’ve both worked in TV. Otto was in fact head scenic artist at the ABC for twenty years. Two – like Otto, I also prefer working with oils when I paint. And he gave me a couple of great tips about texture too. (This will only interest any aspiring artists out there – but if you like working with a palette knife, Otto says he has a better idea. He buys firm but flexible plastic strips from Bunnings – in the paint section of the store – to get thicker strokes. I’m heading there tomorrow.)
He might be into his seventies, but this Italian-born painter (Otto migrated here in 1959) is still as productive as ever. He says his ability to paint quickly comes from the pressures of working in the TV industry. Ah ha! I get that…
Not only exceptionally talented, he’s also a generous soul. Fifty per cent of all works sold will go to the BUILD FOUNDATION, helping disadvantaged children in Cambodia.
Otto’s daughter, Tania, is part of the BUILD FOUNDATION which began five years ago. Headed by Mark O’Connell, it started out sending volunteers on trips to Cambodia and is now involved in a five-year-project, which is halfway to completion. The project involves the building of a Community Development Centre, which includes a medical centre, classrooms, vocational training building, a library and agricultural areas.
Tania Boron and Mark O’Connell from the Build Foundation
What’s really impressive is how much BUILD has been able to achieve – funding all this through its own fund-raising efforts. Congratulations guys, for doing such an outstanding job – changing the lives of so many people for the better!
And congratulations to Otto Boron and the Cambridge Studio Gallery for putting together such an inspiring exhibition.
Now, here’s the artwork you could win if you buy a raffle ticket before June 1st. So for a mere TEN DOLLARS you could win this painting, worth $1600!!! Get along to the gallery and put your hand in your packet for a worthy cause.
When I tell people my Mum rarely drinks, never smoked, doesn’t swear and often goes to Church on Sundays, people raise their eyebrows and question where I came from. Okay, so I don’t smoke anymore, but really, I’m not THAT bad!! We just do some things differently…
Regardless, we spend a helluva lot of time together because our families are close and Mum and my wonderful stepfather Ken, do an enormous amount to help out on the home front. They even walk the dogs for us when I’m strapped for time. (I know – I’m spoilt.) When the kids were very young, they’d have sleep-overs at Grandma and Papa’s practically every Friday night so Fletch and I could have a social life. (Again, yes, very spoilt…) And if Mum babysits, I often arrive home to find the ironing all done. (Okay, I’ll shut-up now…)
But I also have siblings – two older brothers and a younger sister – so most of the family get-togethers involve lots of relatives with aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews and fabulous, noisy mayhem. So the one day of the year I get Mum all to myself is when I take her to the annual Crown Mother’s Day Lunch. It’s always a very special day and we both feel very lucky to be included.
This year’s event was at the uber cool Mr Hive restaurant at Crown’s Metropol Hotel. Ken even drove us in – bless him – so we didn’t have to bother with parking or a taxi.
As we walked out of the lift, you could hear the buzz from the restaurant – the place bursting with excited conversation as we arrived – everybody trying to get around to as many people as possible before we took our seats. The room looked stunning, each table adorned with a beautiful floral arrangement.
As always, Crowns’ General Manager of Public Relations, Ann Peacock was there, stylishly dressed and greeting everyone with a warm smile. Knowing what Annie was going through, with her mum, Susan, battling cancer, I knew it must be a tough call. It was the first time in sixteen years I’d been to the lunch and not caught up with Susan. For Annie to see everyone there with their mums and not have her own by her side must have been bloody awful.
Yet still she took to the podium and made her annual Mother’s Day speech. Bravely, she spoke about her Mum’s ordeal and what Susan and her family were going through. Every year I take a tissue to this lunch because something emotional happens and I’m a big sook. But this year I wasn’t alone. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house when Annie finished and was met with a standing ovation. She spoke with grace and dignity, her words of love and pain, direct and honest. God knows how she didn’t fall apart… I’m betting she’s inherited a good dose of her mother’s strength.
If there’s no greater love than that of a mother for her child, you can imagine the feeling in Hive over lunch – all these mothers with their children – to whom they have given so much love and support, enabling their kids to get to where they are today – it’s a pretty powerful vibe.
Here’s a photo collection of some of the mums and their sometimes famous off-spring – starting with radio host Jules Lund, whose mum was giving him an earful over his new piercings – all part of an on-air dare. Jules has promised Judy he’ll have them removed as soon as possible. And yes, there is also one just under his lip – it’s not clear in the pic.
We were lucky enough to be on the same table as the delightful Anthony Callea and his partner, Tim Campbell – both famous and talented in their own right and a gorgeous couple. Mum wanted clarification though – she couldn’t believe Santina was Anthony’s mother. ‘She’s far too young!’ Mum exclaimed.
A highlight of the day was hearing Anthony and Tim sing together, along with leading vocalist Susie Ahern – a truly spine-tingling moment. And when Anthony sang ‘The Perfect Fan,’ for his Mum, the tissues came out again and there was another standing ovation.And then there was another standing ovation…
I could relate to that song. My Mum has always been my perfect fan, as most mothers are of their children – whether they’re in the public eye or not.
I was part of an acting workshop recently where some of the students revealed stories about traumatic childhoods where they were abused by their parents. Shocking stories that made me sad and angry. And also very, very grateful. I have only ever known huge love and support from my Mum. I remember when I first started reading the news and Mum would phone me almost every night to tell me what a brilliant job I had done – even when I hadn’t.
Before we knew it, it was time for dessert. Whoa – now THAT’S what I call a dessert! That’s one thing Mum and I DO both share – a love of sweet treats.
As we tucked in, I looked around the room at all the other mums and felt quite smug. There were lots of other lovely mothers there, but quite frankly, I know mine’s the best of them all. It’s just not debatable.
