late
I am back from my self imposed exile ....just. I feel like I have definitely been flattened by a bus. Five days of hell trying to write something in the kind of style that big corporations like it to be - unintelligible corporate speak also known as
gobbledy gook. I love talking to people, love having ideas but I hate writing it all down in a report. It was 38 pages and it took me hours and hours. Grammar, punctuation and spell checker. I am not so good at the detail. It doesn't come easily to me at all.
But I don't obsess about it like I used to, I just ride it out until it's done. It's like childbirth or a 24 hour plane trip to London. Once it starts, you can't just say I have had enough now, over it, can we please just stop. You have to see it through. Anyway, its done..at least until the draft comes back.
I have learnt one important thing about myself over the last few days. I probably could do camping after all. For the last week I didn't brush my hair, never wore my usual warpaint, wore the most comfortable clothes I could find (
ok, ok, it was mainly my
PJs if I must tell the complete truth) and ate anything I could find that was in a can or that was raw. I think I can do without the hairdryer after all. I was not an attractive sight though when I eventually did come out of hibernation.
After 13 hour days I just couldn't wait to have a long luxurious bath and crawl into bed. I love my bed. I love beautiful, luxurious linen (I did a post ages ago that will tell you just how much I love linen). I have started to design my own now. I like monochramatic, and texture fabrics and plain colours. I do not do patterns on anything, ever. I am kind of very particular about colour and like things to match - hence my hair colour in the profile pic is now red just to show you how pedantic I can be.
We have to have some luxuries in life and spoil ourselves. Being loved is a basic. Being fed and clothed is a basic. Having a voice is a basic. And unfortunately, these basics are luxuries for many and that is truly horrific.
So, I do appreciate my luxuries. Along with the high thread-count sheets - I also have a few others that make my life a bit more pleasant.
1. Sunshine, blue skies and beaches - watching the sea always makes me feel that things are
ok in the world. It's the best place to think, dream and consider life. When I lived out of Australia, this was 'the' thing that I missed the most. I realised that I took our way of life for granted. Even when its colder we have sunshine and blue skies. Nothing can compare to our coastline and it is a luxury that I would never like to have to give up ever. Plus its free...
2. Good red wine - well,
ok, I will settle for any red wine, I am really not that fussy.
3. Fresh flowers -
lillies, funnily enough, are my favourite flower - white ones at that. I would rather spend money on flowers than buy food in fact.
4. Chanel No 5 perfume - this was my very first 'grown up' perfume given to me years and years (and years) ago by my older sister. I have tried many perfumes since and I always come back to this one. Every time I spray it on I think of London for many and varied reasons. Perfume to me is like music, the smell of it always brings me to another time and place....
5. A passport - travelling is truly 'the' most wonderful thing that anyone can do. Many of my most bizarre and precious experiences have happened while I have been travelling (and I have had a few of those). Australians travel from a young age just because we are so far away from the rest of the world. It also helps that we have four weeks holiday a year - I know other countries like the USA aren't that lucky. (And if you are reading this over there in WA - I think France and Italy via the
FB's grassy plains is the go).
6. Music - I have music on as much as I can and never watch TV anymore. I like all sorts of music but age has mellowed my tastes and now I can even handle some classical music. It all depends on what mood I am in. It could be ACDC, INXS, Pavlov's Dog, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks (music I grew up with), Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin (have a fascination for the Rat Pack and the Sands Casino), Eva Cassidy, (for my mellow and reflective times), Keith Urban, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Rait (I was born in the country music capital of Oz - can't take the country out of a girl), Andrea Bocelli, Pavarotti (I have to turn up Nessun Dorma X LOUD) gosh there are so many...
7. Jewellery - well, for me its only about earrings. I kind of have a bit of a thing for earrings and don't really like wearing too much else - jewellery that is. I have been collecting earrings for years - I like ones that are antique looking, mainly Italian and they must be a drop earring. Stones, pearls but always gold. Maybe one day I will have a go at making some myself because I have very definite ideas.
8. Fluffy white towels - I love beautiful fluffy towels. White ones. I am always kind of in trouble because I like using lots of towels and I know that all that washing is no good for the environment either...
9. Baths - Nothing like it! But you have got to do it right. Candles, music, every kind of lotion and potion that
Estee Lauder invented, glass of champagne and whatever else takes your fancy.
10. A good hairdresser - If I were to be honest I would probably say that I would rather get my hair done then eat as well. Good hairdressers are hard to come by and when you find one you never want to let them go. As a rule I have always preferred male hairdressers. I used to have a good arrangement with one hairdresser, who was a Creative Director for
Schwarzkopf. I would do the makeup for his hair shows and he would cut my hair. Then I moved away. I found another one again. I instantly feel fantastic when I have had my hair done. In fact if I was a millionaire I would get my hair done every day.
11. A Backberry - There is something about being able to talk or email your girlfriends anytime, any place, anywhere in the world. Like today I had a friend ring me from Scotland at 7am my time and late at night for her and another ring me from the other side of Australia a bit later in the day. Come to think of it, I think if I had to choose between a good lover and a good girlfriend mmm not so sure. There is nothing better than sharing your troubles, having a laugh and solving the world's problems (usually men problems) with a friend. Throw in a cocktail in the mix and life couldn't be better. I know men find the whole 'girlfriend thing' hard to understand. For a while I was organising (with another great girlfriend), Girls' Nights Out in a club in the UK. I would still like to do this again because it was so much fun. We had great music, chick flicks, cocktails, new and unusual food, clairvoyants, massages, chocolate fountain and cupcakes. However, I could swear I could have sold more tickets to males just to stand outside the windows and look in then females to get in the club. Men were intrigued about what was going to go on - I think they thought it was all about male strippers or something. See, they just
don't get that we females are not the same as them.....but I have never seen so many women dancing on tables by the end of the night .... of all ages...
Anyway, there is my little list and I am sure there are a few other things to add to it like live concerts, books, art AND GELATAI ITALIA LEMON & LIME SORBET but hey, that's enough for one day.