Even after centuries years of marriage, I sometimes still have cause to look at Fletch in amazement, shake my head and say ‘Really? Seriously? I mean, you REALLY, even now, still don’t GET me?’
I mean, he couldn’t understand me, could he? Not when I only find out LAST NIGHT that while he was swanning around at the British TV Awards last week he met and had a photograph with MR BIG. Yes… THE Mr Big, of Sex and the City fame. AND he FORGOT to tell me!!!
Mr Big (aka Chris Noth) and Fletch at the British Soap Awards
How in a zillion years could you forget to relate such a momentous meeting?
Me, who has always been such a HUGE Sex and The City fan. Me, who has the entire box set of every series, who adores Sarah Jessica Parker, who aspired to be my own version of Carrie and who obsessed over Mr Big for years?
Not even a phone call on the night? He could have passed the phone to my fantasy beloved and we could finally have had a REAL conversation??
Seriously peeved. But that’s fine. He can have a ball, kicking up his heels with the rich and famous in London… because I can make my own fun. And I will. I’m heading off to a winery now for a VERY long lunch. Let’s see how that goes….
(And yes, I have AGAIN failed to stick to my Blogging schedule as today was SUPPOSED to be Fashion Friday Blog, but I needed to vent. In fact, I think a signature of my Blogs will be the footnotes at the end of each story, explaining and justifying WHY I haven’t stuck to my own Grand Plan, yet again. And again. Well, the art of rationalisation is something to be admired, isn’t it??)
I was thrilled to see a girlfriend’s name pop up on the mobile this morning and very much enjoyed our half hour chat. Especially as it’s been a bit of a bugbear for me lately that people just AREN’T making the effort when it comes to communication.
We lead such busy lives, that often it’s easier to just send a text or an email. But nothing beats a REAL conversation. Dry words on an electric device just don’t carry the same depth and meaning and can often lead to mis-communication.
Take this example last week when I received a text message from a girlfriend in the UK after she spied Fletch making an appearance on a TV show over there.
‘No email, no text. He just turns up on Loose Women. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be Okay.’
Wow – my eyebrows to nearly hit the ceiling. My first reaction was – ‘Of course, she’s joking.’ But what if she wasn’t? What if she was genuinely offended we hadn’t let her know Fletch was heading over there?
And that’s the problem with text messages – there’s no TONE in them. We can’t hear the sarcasm, the dry irony, the jesting voice – and that’s where the miscommunication comes in. Luckily in this instance our lovely friend was OF COURSE joking, but it did give me cause for a few unsettled moments until we clarified the issue.
Likewise, I’ve been told by a few friends lately that I need to be a better blogging communicator – that I need to have a BLOG PLAN so that readers know what to expect from this website. They want a clearer picture of what’s coming up on which day.
Point taken. I get that. And especially as you may have noticed some new advertising at the top and bottom of these posts, I’m aiming to put in more effort to make this magazine-style Blog a more professional venture.
A promise to my readers to kick off with – I vow NEVER to allow POP-UP advertising on this website. I abhor those.
I can’t promise to post a Blog every day – (even Fletch thinks that’s overkill) – but I’ll try to stick to a certain theme or topic for each day of the week. So the Blog Plan I propose is this:
MONDAY – A feature interview or opinion piece on a topical issue
TUESDAY – A light-hearted look at life or a family story
WEDNESDAY – Beauty tips or a review of the latest products
THURSDAY – Health forum, dietary advice and recipes
FRIDAY – Fashion review and Internet shopping tips
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY – Most likely rest days, but if I’ve been to a fun social event, I’ll post pics here and call it The Social Pages.
SO that’s the plan. Stay tuned to see how it pans out. But right now, isn’t there someone you need to phone?
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…
Sometimes the logistics of running a family get tricky. For instance, what happens if your husband has bought a ticket to a Neil Young concert this weekend (in Geelong) and then at the same time, you’re offered an amazing weekend away along the Great Ocean Road, staying at an up-market beach property overlooking the sea, to cover the Airey’s Inlet Music Festival – but your teen daughter needs DESPERATELY to go to a party in Melbourne and your son is playing in an all-important school cricket match???
Hmmm… As I said, tricky. Plus, this weekend happens to be our 23rd wedding anniversary. Which we celebrated in fine style at Ezard’s restaurant in the city last night. Definitely one of Melbourne’s best on every level. I was particularly impressed that they noted it was a special occasion and decorated our desserts to suit.
But back to this weekend. Often my amazing Mum and step-father help out with the kids, but as it turns out, my older brother had already booked their services… So Fletch, bless him, realised this was a great blogging opportunity for me and gave up his ticket to see Mr Young to stay home and ferry the kids about to their various commitments. What a guy!!!
THAT IS WHY FLETCH GETS A HUGE GOLD STAR THIS WEEKEND.
This ALSO left me free to turn this into a ‘girl’s weekend’ and invite along a few mates for a break from domestic and kiddie duties. And yes, they were pretty happy with the offer to head down to one of Victoria’s most picturesque holiday locations for an uber cool music festival AND stay at a beautiful holiday home.
Driving down to Airey’s Inlet, I had to stop along the way and marvel at the view from the Great Ocean Road. Truly stunning, isn’t it? As a child, I was lucky enough to enjoy several family holidays at Fairhaven, just up the road from Airey’s Inlet, so it felt a bit like going home.
Erin Hughes, from Great Ocean Retreats sorts us out
I dropped in to Great Ocean Retreats to pick up our keys and was mighty impressed with their organisational talents. Marketing manager Erin Hughes had printed lanyards for the music festival ready and waiting, printed directions to our property with the keys AND she had even found out what wine I liked and told me TWO BOTTLES of chardonnay plus a cheese platter were in the fridge waiting for us. Tick, tick and DOUBLE tick. I knew from the moment I met her she was my kinda gal!
Then we set off to the house and found a magnificent two storey property, with double-bedrooms both upstairs and downstairs, two bedrooms with bunks for the kids we left behind, and two living areas. Both double bedrooms also come with their own massive ensuite bathrooms.
The kitchen is modern and open-plan, with wonderful wide benches, which would be brilliant if we actually wanted to cook, but no, maybe next time… There’s too many bands to see down here to waste time slaving over a hot stove.
Even better, most of the bands are playing at the Airey’s Inlet Pub which JUST HAPPENS to be a stone’s throw from our beachside mansion!!! Now ain’t that a happy coincidence… Oh yes, the house is also walking distance from the beach too. Of course.
I’m going to show you more pictures and give you the lowdown on the music festival on Monday, but for now, I want to get to the pub and enjoy myself. And if you haven’t got anything planned for tomorrow, jump in the car and head on down. Cheers!
You all loved the blogs about my muffin-top experiment so much that I’ve decided I really should get off my butt and try another beauty treatment – just to keep you entertained. I mean, heck, it’s not like I CARE what I look like, or anything??? All in the name of duty, right?
It just seems that’s there’s so MUCH stuff out there about how to improve our faces and bodies – how do we actually sift the good from the shonky and know what actually works?
Don’t go thinking I’m going to turn into some kind of Jocelyn Wildenstein, though. I do understand the meaning of restraint. And just in case I went all silly, I KNOW Fletch would pull me into line. He even hates lipstick. To the point that he WIPED HIS MOUTH after kissing me at the alter during our wedding. The shame…
Luckily the kind folk at the Liberty Belle Clinic in Toorak, where I underwent the Cool Sculpting process, are happy to help out, so I went along to check out the different procedures available.
Looking through all their brochures, I learned there’s a helluva lot of different and NEW treatments available to improve ourselves that I’ve never heard of. I could easily hang around this clinic for years. After focusing so much on my tummy last year, I thought it was time my face got a bit of attention. When I saw this brochure with the line ‘A Fresher Face WiTHOUT Surgery’ – I snatched it up faster than you could say ‘Botox’. Because, yes, I have had Botox and I love it, but something new and different is always appealing. This treatment is called Pelleve.
I’m at that age where anything promoting WRINKLE REDUCTION warrants immediate attention, especially now those nasty lines around the neck region are becoming more prominent. Unfortunately, if I’m to blog about this, it means more humiliating photos of myself to show you what really happens….
So I have to show you a really ICKY close-up photo of my face without makeup, so you can get the gist. Ewww. These pics are taken by the lovely staff at Liberty Belle in the same photo room each time so the lighting is consistent too – very legit!! This snap was taken before my first treatment.
But getting back to howPelleve works… In the brochure, it explains how a metal probe is used over the skin – using gradual radio frequency that becomes quite hot at times – to stimulate the re-growth of collagen. The effect is not immediate and you really need about three treatments over a course of several months. But I’m assured it WILL work.
To give you a much better understanding of the science behind all this, I’m going to interview Dr Chris Moss (you met him last time, chatting about the Cool Sculpting fat freezing treatment) who will explain it properly. He’s a very busy man, but I’m going to nail him down in the next few weeks for the nitty gritty and get back to you. Then I’ll have some Pelleve sessions and, over time, we’ll see how my wrinkles go. (Away, I hope.)
(For further enquiries, contact the Liberty Belle Skin Centre on 9826 9988 Address: 504 – 506 Toorak Road, Toorak)
