Edited highlights: Pancakes, date loaf and Swedish foodstuffs

June 1, 2019 / alexcellent / 3 Comments

We like to make things in this house… well, not all the time, we can open packets and buy pre-prepared stuff with the best of them (chicken-on-a-stick, fish-in-a-box), but when we do make things from scratch we are very proud!

Exhibit A: Date loaf for school election day cake stall…

Exibit B: My mothers’ Day pancakes, made for me by George

Made with a little bit of help from this…

I may have dropped a hint by buying pancake mix the day before.

The date loaf looked good, but I didn’t taste it and hadn’t baked a second one to keep for us. I wrapped it and literally took it straight to the cake stall still warm. Someone whacked a $7 price tag on it and after I came back from doing a bread and chopped onions run for the school BBQ, the date loaf had sold! Hope whoever bought it enjoyed their afternoon tea.

This sifter belonged to my mum’s mum, Philippa. I love it. This is George doing his bit for election day school fundraising.

The last days of Autumn have brought some pretty sunsets…

We’ve had high school information nights to go to in preparation for next year and dinner out with some school families.

A Mother’s day outing in the city to many favourite destinations…

Dobinson’s is one of my favourites. And is soon to open in Woden!

This past week we’ve had a visit from my mum, aka Batgran, aka George’s “Naughty Granny” (naughty because she was the one who introduced a much younger George to chocolate, hot chips and video games – not all in the same day). Maybe that’s just what grannies do.

This weekend, we introduced Granny to IKEA. “They’ve got it sown up!” she said, impressed with the cafe, the grocery section, the checkouts, and the other cafe at the checkouts exit where you buy the $1 hotdogs. She came out armed with Swedish foodstuffs and confessed to buying them “because they’re Swedish”. I know what she means. Sometimes I feel like I live in Europe when I visit IKEA. It’s a nice little escape.

We had been enjoying the last of T-shirt and shorts weather (George) before being hit by an icy blast at the end of May, which saw snow in the Blue Mountains (but not in Canberra). But still, he has relented and started wearing his long pants to school this past week.

And finally last week, George got his first pet… two actually, a pair of baby guinea pigs!

We’ve been learning a LOT about Guinea pigs. Will post more about that next time.

Have a great weekend.

Summer Retrospective – birthdays, beaches, green thumbs and too much leg.

March 24, 2019March 24, 2019 / alexcellent / 4 Comments

Hello! Well we’re well into nearly at the end of March now and that means we’re well overdue for the Alexcellent Summer Retrospective. But hey, this is Canberra in March, therefore still hot, and it still feels like summer to me.

There’s also the second-half of last year retrospective that I really need to get to, but I think we’ll just leave that now.

I’ll compress summer into a few words and pictures.

My Peace Lily flowered twice. Spider Boy just told me I’m “flexing on the internet” (that’s what the kids say these days) about my green thumb. And by the way, Spider Boy doesn’t want to go by that name anymore. It’s George. When I started this blog he was still four years old – last week he turned 11!

But more on that in a later post, now back to greenery…

I set up my cactus station with a glowing green cactus from Kmart (I think).

There were concerts with acts from the 80s… (Pseudo Echo and Bananarama)…

…and acts that were close to 80… (well, Old Man Moss is 67… I know, so bold, still beautiful)

This Ronn Moss banner advertising his upcoming concert caught friend Gigi’s* eye back in December…

…and then her lips got stuck to it.

There were Canberra Christmas lights (not our house).

There was Christmas sparkle (might be our house)…

There was a birthday for mum very close to Christmas.

There was school holiday water fun in Sydney.

There was New Year’s hijinks with auntie Señorita Margarita,

There was a glorious new year’s beach day at Sydney’s Neilson Park.

George got to work in Granny’s courtyard garden for a little while.

An outing to Mad Pizza in Darlinghurst with friends

And a visit to our former local park with another Sydney friend**…

I tried to write my goals down but it’s now March and I still haven’t done that… just busy living a goal-less life where I constantly feel like I’m running to catch up with all the things I should’ve done that I haven’t done.

Maybe because I spend so much time just doing nothing, like photographing a random passer-by on a paddle board.

I could get some wisdom from Señorita Margarita’s new book…

There was a Spider man movie and Spider man dreams of web slinging for George…

There was the bizarre choice to ice-skate at a synthetic ice rink on a 39 degree canberra day. The ice was made of a greasy wax-like substance and wasn’t cold. Wouldn’t do it again – it’s real ice for us next time!

There was lots of my beloved coffee from The Espresso Room at Woden Plaza.

There was a half-hearted attempt at this wading pool in the front-courtyard-with-fake-grass after work.

There was the much more satisfying swimming in a hotel pool

And a yummy hotel breakfast just for a treat.

We squeezed in another quick visit to Sydney at the end of January. A determination to have one swim at Bondi Beach in the limited time we had meant turning up there at 6pm when the wind was blowing a gale… but at least we got in the water!

There was a pre-birthday birthday cake for me with George and my mum

Birthday selfie with me and my boy

I had a second birthday cake during a quick Blue Mountains visit our dad’s place in the Blue Mountains. This one was an ice-cream cake with Marzipan kangaroos and trees! I was very lucky.

There was cosy capuccino with Señorita Margarita…

before our beautiful bush walk in the mist…

Several bird appreciation opportunities….

Blue Mountains parrots

Canberra parrot

Back in Canberra we went to an amazing tropical plant sale at The Jungle Collective…

I even wore tropical-themed shorts just to get $5 off my plant purchases. Mama’s gotta pinch the pennies where she can.

Showing leg in tropical shorts: dollar-saving hack #1

And back at work I had to confront this reptile in the car park down in downtown Tuggeranong. That’s the bush capital for you!

And that was just some of the edited highlights of the Alexcellent Life this summer 2018-19. (School uniform shopping, school stationery foraging, work and vacation-care negotiating, failed dieting, failed body hair removal and bill shuffling not pictured.)

*the friend formerly known as Lulu

**the friend formerly known as “the magician”

Autumn highlights

June 3, 2018April 26, 2019 / alexcellent / 2 Comments

How is it already nearly the middle of 2018! It is already the third day of Winter as I write this, a Sunday morning, and outside my window I see clear blue sky with an overlay of bare dark branches wearing a skirt of sparse golden leaves. They are losing their battle to cling on, like gold spangles hanging by a thread from the lace on a blue silk dress.

I feel like I haven’t really absorbed Autumn as much as I wanted to. Life is so busy and I feel like I skate over the surface of things. To quote my busy dad, “Life just goes, and goes and goes.” Like falling spangles.

So a little thankyou and farewell to Autumn, my absolute favourite season, especially in Canberra. The burning dry heat of summer becomes less intense, and even though March can still be very hot, you know relief is coming soon. There’s the anticipation of that first chill in the air and you notice the leaves are starting to turn.

Everything is easier and prettier in Autumn with it’s warm colour palette, transeasonal wardrobe cosy evenings and cool weather cooking.

I didn’t take as many Autumn walks as I wanted to, or as many photos, but here is what I did manage to capture…

Dreaming of a husky like Harley

Saturday afternoon bike ride

The afternoon sun enhances the trees splendid red outfits even more

Leaf-covered wall and roof of a friend’s garage

Autumn really does know how to paint the town red in Canberra! Until next year, Autumn

Summer 2017/18

May 14, 2018April 15, 2019 / alexcellent / Leave a comment

While I was thinking about blogging, but not blogging, here’s the summer life we were living in Summer 2017/18. Click on the pics to read the captions.

Spider Boy and I spent three weeks in Sydney over Summer. Here’s one Sydney bus on Boxing Day: It was a Christmas Bus!

poolside life at an amazing Air B&B my friend Nadia found for us to stay in for a mini-break in January

Wallaroo sunset over the Brindabellas

There was lots of fun for the kids!

One of Canberra’s beautiful suburban ponds with trolley art-installation

It’s so lucky when the skywriting matches the wall of the public pool (Civic, ACT)

In Sydney for a pre-new year’s eve outing. Dec 30 is the new Dec 31. No crowds! Here we are celebrating on the top floor (think it was 36th from memory) at Sydney’s Shangri La hotel

I have a friend who is an amazing baker and whipped up a few of these for friends and family over Xmas – amazing Ginger Bread house.

We took in the Hyper Real exhibtion at the National Gallery

Spider Boy found another friend in Wallaroo

And a plucky cavoodle called Sophie at the dog park near Batgran’s place in Sydney

We finally saw the famous Christmas lights in Bissenberger Crescent, Kambah ACT

We discovered the quaintest little coffee cart on the shores of Lake Tuggeranong on a saturday walk

We can’t help ourselves. Part of our Dec 30 fun – and the dancefloor was sparsely populated!

Spider Boy got his first proper bike with no training wheels! And was riding it within an hour of getting it, thanks to his Dad.

Focus Schmocus

November 11, 2017 / alexcellent / 8 Comments

Where has the year gone? I ask myself every year at about this time.

I was just reading my most recent blog post (apart from the Angelina Jolie garage sale reblog the other week) from SIX months ago…where I said, “…I’m clearer now about what I want this blog to be. So here’s to my renewed focus!” Blah blah blah.

Winter and almost all of Spring have passed since I wrote that sentence, and the new blog focus has clearly not manifested.

So what have I been doing? Plotting and planning for The Alexcellent Life, figuring out the best way to structure my actual life,which – I’ll let you in on a little secret – is sometimes the mediocre life rather than The Alexcellent life – but we have to have something to aspire to! There’s parenting, my school-hours job, any freelance work, other business ideas, family time, extended family time, social time, life-admin, house maintenance, and just the business of living.

I will sum up the past few months with a visual retrospective of what I didn’t blog about…

Winter in Bondi is magical

My soccer from the sidelines view

Book week costume. All you need is cardboard! #craftisfun

Exciting work trip to Melbourne.

Bondi laughs

Meeting the llamas at a friend’s place just outside Canberra. I’m pretty sure they were all named after hot beverages

Sydney in Winter sparkles

He’s king of the hill and top of the heap down in downtown Gowrie, ACT. Who needs New York?

My first Mt.Taylor climb since moving back to Canberra

Took in the winter-wonderlandiness of Skate in the City at Garema Place

Trying to stick to my training regimen

Jumping a train to Sydney with some little friends along for the ride

I love the contemporary classical lines of the National Library

My oldest friend from school by my side made it a lot easier to front up to the school reunion. This one made school so much better!

I also didn’t blog about:

My 30-year high-school reunion which I was nervous about going to but turned out not to be so bad. In fact I’m really glad I went. It was great to reconnect and realise that those girls are just real people and we’ve all had our share of knocks
Lots of joy in the ordinary, but also a decent amount of worry, tiredness, and frustration
Flu for Spider Boy and me
The passing of Spider Boy’s grandfather, my-ex’s dad
Lots of work. Work work, housework, personal work
Bill juggling, haggling and staggering
9am Sunday morning soccer in Winter
Several Sydney visits as well as visitors from Sydney
Plotting, planning, thinking, consolidating.
NO Tinder-swiping which has been a big fat relief

I have loads more photos on my phone but my old MacBook already has so many photos on it that it really struggles to cope with more. Otherwise I’d show you more pics here. I really need to buy a hard-drive or something.

So that’s where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing. So I’m not going to talk about things like “my renewed focus”. I often think about something my year 3 teacher from 1978 said. I can’t remember her name, but I remember her well. Our class motto was “Don’t say it, do it!”

And that is exactly what I will do.

Happy New Year… now it’s Mother’s Day!

May 13, 2017May 13, 2017 / alexcellent / 5 Comments

It’s been a long time between posts here at The Alexcellent Life. The last post I wrote was about George Michael’s death while I was on a Sydney visit over Christmas/New Year.

January was busy. We had a beautiful wedding to go to, and raced around visiting family and friends and a couple of beaches because, Sydney in January.

I had many post ideas to write in the last quarter of 2016, but they remained in my head. Time constraints, as well as not having a clear direction for this blog, contributed to the lack of actual posts. As did my finally working out how to hook up Netflix. I binged on episodes of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend every night.

But now that that’s over, I’m clearer now about what I want this blog to be. So here’s to my renewed focus!

While the changes to The Alexcellent Life are brewing, here’s a little retrospective of just some of what I didn’t blog about…

My cousin Angus’s New Year’s Eve wedding by the harbour. He married the lovely Alex (a different Alex)

However sitting on the sheep’s back was NOT such a good way of dealing with the heat

My Australia Day pav. A lot better than my Christmas Day pav fail. This one was better thanks to me buying the base from a supermarket

Spider Boy and friend living La Dolce Vita in Sydney’s Centennial Park in January

Last day of school holidays fun at Dickson Aquatic Centre

Spider Boy and I tore it up at the Canberra show

Our last day in Sydney in January. One of my favourite beaches in the world, Neilsen Park beach in Sydney’s east.

Back in Canberra, we dealt with the heat at Civic pool

Canberra summer

And I found some colour in Kingston

With my girls at George Michael tribute Karaoke night

A February visit from my Dad. I took him to Rodney’s at Pialligo so he could roam free in his natural habit.

A February visit from Señorita Margarita and it was back to the pool

Edited highlights: Spring flowers, food and boys in the wild

October 10, 2016 / alexcellent / 3 Comments

Lately I’ve been enjoying so many colourful blooms in Canberra and that doesn’t even include Floriade, the National Capital’s annual flower festival. Now that the cold of Winter has passed, let’s look back at some Spring highlights…

I noticed a neighbour planting bulbs a few months ago and look what happened!

Fields of gold: Spring literally springing

Spider Boy and I were invited to the most delicious Indian dinner at a school friend’s house. Cooked by an auntie visiting from Mumbai. It was honestly THE best Indian food I’ve ever had, including my favourite butter chicken.

Amazing flavours of India

I found myself in the position I hadn’t been in since last year… unemployment! But it was only for a week and it was the last week of the school term. I have a new job starting today, first day of the new school term! #Timing.

But there was that day three weeks ago when I had time to go to the gym after school drop-off and then stop into a cafe for coffee and a muffin that just looked too good to resist. Yes, don’t worry, I walked to the coffee shop afterwards. Better than when I was in my 20s and would get a taxi to the gym and then a taxi to McDonalds.

HAD to replenish after the gym.

The following week, Spider Boy’s Dad took him to his favourite comic shop, Impact Comics, while I sat in Dobinsons and did some plotting and planning, just like old times in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

This Canberra city cafe reminds me of home, as it’s named after the former Dobinsons of Rose Bay and owned by the grand-daughter of the original Dobinson. It’s my little bit of Rose Bay in Canberra when Lake BG just isn’t doing it for me. Although what am I talking about, how could Lake BG not do it for me!

Sun streaming in the Dobinsons window on a rainy/sunny Spring afternoon

Spider Boy came into the Canberra Centre with me a couple of times this holidays and played with the wall art. You press a button and the light changes colour. Plus he’s developed a mysterious craving for Subway sandwiches. Funny, since I never take him there. But at least he’s over his McDonald’s obsession!

Canberra Centre: where the magic happens.

The Daffodils in the first picture actually started springing up in August. Now this little mini-field of fireballs has sprung up. Well done, mysterious neighbour whose name I don’t know! I practically don’t even need to go to Floriade any more! It’s right here in my own shared driveway.

Fields of fire

Not too far from Canberra, there’s a unique place to explore our natural world… well that’s what the sign at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve says. And that’s exactly what it is. On the fringe of Namadgi National Park, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is around 50 square kilometres of protected area only about 40 minutes drive from Canberra.

We had a beautiful day with the boys (Spider Boy and his friend), although they DID keep ~~mentioning~~ complaining about the fact there was no Subway there. Thank goodness!

I think a little bit more of this would be good for them.

Have you been enjoying the warmer weather?

What do you like best about Spring in Canberra?

Sydney visitors

August 28, 2016 / alexcellent / 1 Comment

Moving to Canberra means that we’ve been able to host visitors from Sydney.

In the past month we’ve had Lulu and Señorita Margarita to stay (on separate weekends). It’s been wonderful just hanging out with them at home but also showing them just a little bit of what Canberra has to offer. As my sister is always throwing back at me, “…because Canberra has things”.

Here’s just a few pics from their recent visits. I’ll post more later about specific adventures.

Popped in to have a look at Hopscotch

Decadent chips at the Hamlet

Delicious carrot cake and coffee at the rustic Local Press Cafe

Lulu and I hitting the town

The Abrahams girls hitting the town

Cheesy garlic bread at Belluci’s Woden

Frolicking with Spider Boy and Señorita Margarita at Kingston Foreshore, and our driveway

Lulu loves the art at the Gallery and Spider Boy doesn’t seem to mind it

Lemon tart at National Gallery cafe

Kingston Markets – an oldie but a goodie

Welcome to Canberra, Lulu!

Glorious late winter afternoon at Kingston Foreshore

DJ at the Hamlet, Braddon

Let it snow: winter magic in Canberra

August 7, 2016 / alexcellent / 7 Comments

Canberra is gaining a reputation of being a “cool capital”, in the hipster sense. But let us not forget that it is actually very cool in a meteorological sense.

Time has done it’s old trick of running through my fingertips before I can absorb the moments, and I can’t believe Winter is nearly over.

A lot of people don’t like cold weather, but I love it. So I’m in the right place. As long as there are the resources to manage it, I find cold weather exhilarating and an exciting challenge:

“Will I be dressed warmly enough?”

“How many layers will I need?”

“Should I wear my leather gloves” etc.

Probably not, about 27, and yes, always yes.

Exhibit A: Trees resplendent in red in the month of May. Exhibit B: Cheeky June throws off her red gown outside David Jones.

In Canberra in Winter, some days are sunny with clear blue skies, and a crispness that makes your skin tingle. It makes you feel, well, crisp. Like a reinvigorated celery stick that’s been soaking in cold water.

Spider Boy and I took off for Sydney for five days in the recent school holidays. It was warm, warm, warm. T-shirts all year round there. Even though those wussy Sydneysiders (sorry Sydney peeps, I say it with love) were crying “cold, cold, cold”. Ha. I know cold. I come from the cold… I invented cold!

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But I’ll let that one go. I saw this wonderful photo from Pat Rice Photography, shared by This Canberran Life on Facebook. For more great pics of the Capital, check out Pat’s instagram @patriceyee

After the magic created by Pat above, here’s some magic of Canberra just being herself in Winter.

View of Canberra from Mt Ainslie: Cold of climate, but warm of heart in my opinion.

When Spider Boy and I returned from Sydney on July 12, I knew we were heading into a massive cold front. Snow was even forecast in Canberra city. While a dusting of icing sugar on the Brindabella mountains is nothing unusual at this time of year, snow in the city itself is.

The wind howled outside our windows that Tuesday night. We even lost power. We had one torch and the lights around my makeup mirror. We went to bed at 8.45pm – unheard of! But then I got up again when the power came back at 9.30pm! Yay.

The next morning I opened the curtains and sure enough, there they were! Small, dainty snowflakes, gently fluttering past my window! So exciting. Of course, it melted once it hit the ground. We live in quite a low-lying area, but apparently some of the suburbs in the hillier areas had a bit more coverage.

I had to go to work, but Spider Boy’s dad took him to Mt Ainslie (elevation 842 metres), five minutes drive from the CBD, where many people gathered to see the snow. What a fun school-holiday treat! He took some lovely photos.

Snow balls a plenty!

Take that, Canberra!

Other Winter fun has included:

Watching ice-skaters at Canberra’s Winter Festival in the CBD at lunchtime.

Garema Place was a Winter Wonderland

On the way to school and work: says it all really.

Back to the Winter Festival: Spider Boy was out of plaster in this picture. Luckily the landings at the end of the slide and toboggan run were soft.

Edited highlights: Autumn colours, freakshakes and disco

July 17, 2016July 17, 2016 / alexcellent / Leave a comment

As Winter marches on new ideas are brewing in my head about the direction of The Alexcellent Life and ideas for entirely different blogs are taking shape.

In the meantime, while I’m plotting and planning, I want to share some highlights from previous weeks.

We have been doing so much since we moved to Canberra, along with work and school, that I’ve been having trouble making time to document it all. So even though we’re now in the middle of Winter and I feel like I’ve been behind all year, I wanted to showcase some Autumn highlights. Click on the pictures for captions. It will be Winter’s turn next post.

Lulu came for a visit and we took her to the Patissez store in the city. I had vowed NOT to have a Freakshake, as the three we ordered when Senorita Magarita came to visit was too much. We ordered one and it was easily enough for the three of us.

We also ordered a proper lunch this time. It was so long ago I can’t remember exactly what I had, but sweet potato fries were involved and I remember they were amazing.

“See, Spider Boy? We have laughs!”

All that sugar

Pulp fiction feature wall adds to the fun

That night after popping some champagne at home, we went to Canberra’s annual Enlighten festival – like Sydney’s Vivid, except not, but still good in its own Canberra way. We were intrigued by the idea of a “Dark Disco” at the National Portrait Gallery… but once we discovered the little room where the disco was, we found it was more like a blue light disco. But it was free.

NPG opened it’s doors at night for dress ups and disco

popping the champagne before we leave the house

Dark days of disco… and a rabbit, and some thing with a horn. unicorn? couldn’t work it out

I’ve really been appreciating Canberra’s distinct seasons…

flock of cockatoos on the walk to Woden plaza

Autumn leaves against a clear blue sky never fails to impress

vintage-look bicycles outside ‘On the Rivet’ bicycle shop in downtown Tuggeranong.

At the end of Autumn I finished up a work contract and began another one. My colleagues gave me this beautiful hanging basket of petunias. I was warned to actually hang it, rather than just leave it on the ground other wise the frost would get it.

It’s fared surprisingly well – it does droop on frosty mornings but seems to recover quite well in the sun.

Stunning cabbage flowers at south side farmers’ market

my hardy petunias

Spider Boy’s heart and crossbones

I went to the Southside fresh food markets and found these beautiful cabbage flowers. And my rough and tumble Spider Boy found a heart shaped petal and a piece of bark and told me it was a heart next to a skull and crossbones, which was a logo he used to add to every drawing he did when he was four. The heart represents me and the skull and crossbones represent him (he came up with that).

The blue skies and red leaves together look stunning

Autumnal dressing outside David Jones

Code red: close to exciting shopping. Dangerous.

I started a new job in Canberra’s CBD. It is a nice change to be working in the city, but a bit dangerous as I’m close to lots of exciting shops! But I really have needed to ~~add to~~ create my Winter wardrobe here in Canberra. Because the longer I’m here the more I realise Sydney doesn’t actually have a Winter. I wasn’t prepared clothes-wise. But at least I have a reason to wear my old leather gloves now!

Next Time: Canberra Winter Wonderland.

The Alexcellent Life

Writing, life and the joy in the ordinary. And cake.

Edited Highlights