Pretty in pink

I get to cross two things off my list today, and neither of them happened with any conscious effort by me.  The first is simple.  Last night I watched the sunset! 

I’ve been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately, and find that walking in the evening helps to tire me out.  I have a circuit that I love, through parks and past posh houses and calm streets.  When I have time, I take a big detour up Red Hill.  It’s steep, but I feel like from the top I can look over all of Canberra.  It was a blustery, hazy dusk last night, but I thought I had time to do the hill.  I wended my way up the saddle, wondering if it would rain on me.  I quite like walking in the rain.  Mindful of the gusts at my back, and the kangaroos on the hillside, I didn’t actually look up  until I reached the top.

I must have looked rediculous, being surprised by what was in front of me.  It was spectacular.  A solid grey roof of cloud, the Brindabella’s fading below like a Japanese print.  In between the most luminous slash of pink.  As I made my way up, the wind got stronger, and the sun slowly slid through the gap, even more pink itself.   I found a rock to sit on and enjoyed the show.

The o ther thing I’m crossing off, I’m not so proud of.  In between all my very personal goals, the most boring resolution of all – lose weight.  But over the last three months, what with the walks  and the heat and the summertime food, I’ve melted.   I lost 4 kilos in 3 months, and I’m under 60.  I’m not sure if this is sustainable, but I’ve bought myself size 8 jeans for the first time in years.

So happy Monday, everybody.  I hope your goals are slowly approaching, too.

The big list

So I gave the list it’s very own page.  Some things are already crossed off (like making this blog!), while others are works in progress.  I shall update it regularly, I hope.  There are four things items left blank because I didn’t want to put them out in the public domain.  If they happen, I’ll let you know.  Others are sort of boring health-related maintenance things.  I’ll spare you the details.

Writing out the list definitely made me feel like I’m making progress.  That’s a nice surprise.

I wish you a nice surprise today, too.

Food and Love

In my last post I mentioned I had a food blog.  I guess I started a food blog because I will always, always eat and always have food to write about.  A slight obsession?  Perhaps.  But it’s deeper than that.

I believe food is important.  I believe stories are important.  I believe the people who share our stories and our food, in some ways become family.  And our family are really those that, in their heart, know all our stories.  If we can grow our ‘bigger’ family by sharing more food and more stories, we spread tolerance and acceptance and abundance.

Cheesy, no?  But hold that thought.  I’m not all about sunshine and light.  The last time we went to the ANZAC dawn service, we heard a lovely minister speak – the chief chaplain for the Australian Defence Forces.  He asked us to pray for peace in our world, and peace in our homes.  The first, well, I guess I can pray.  But peace in my home I can work towards.  And it can start with anzac bikkies and a story shared over a cup of tea.

So now you know how central food is in my belief system ( Check out some one else’s here).  It should come as no great surprise that many of my 101 goals are food related.

15.  Go vegetarian for a month

16.  Have a dinner party once a month

17.  Take better food photos

18.  Make a cook book

19.  Bake my own bread.

20.  Make a ginger bread house

21.  Make my own cheese

22.  Go on a picnic

23.  Cook Christmas Lunch

24.  Make tofu

25.  Try 10 new restaurants

26.  Take a cooking class

Happy August

I hope you had a great July.  I have big plans for August.  We will be going climbing near Mittagong, I’ve taken up bellydance again, and I have so much stuff I want to write about the posts keep getting jumbled up in my head.

I want to write about work.  I am not totally in love with my job.  My boss is kind, highly intelligent, and over committed to his work.  The system we maintain and run is his baby!  This is inspiring, as far as it goes, but it is not my baby.  I think I want to teach.  I think I would be a great teacher of this technical wizardry that has become my profession.  I want to write and teach, and build websites – none of which I get to do in my current job.  So in my list of 101 things there are a few to do with writing, re-training and getting outside my professional comfort zone.  One day I would like a life where I write, teach, blog and don’t have a nine to five job.  One day.

10.  Find out about teaching at the universities near where I live.

11.  Learn about website SEO and internet marketing.  Do more of it.

12.  Get a TEFL qualification – because I think teaching English would be incredibly rewarding.

13.  Start a blog about my technical field

14.  Keep my food blog alive and kicking.

A good Monday

Yesterday started well. I had time for an unhurried shower and I made myself a thoughtful breakfast. My favourite jumper was clean and waiting for me to wear it.

When I got to work, it was even better – my desk was clear, my coffee mug was clean, and my to-do list was waiting for me to get started. I got to enjoy my morning ritual of making peppermint tea. Best of all, I was the first person in my team to get in. That always makes the morning feel peaceful.

Small things give me joy. They don’t cost much money or time or inconvenience others. They are small bursts of private happiness.

Not every morning is sunsine and light. Today I slept in an extra half hour, couldn’t find any ironed clothes and didn’t have time to wash my hair. I was the last person in, and the phones were already ringing. Bleh.

At the moment, I have more bad mornings than good ones. But I have a plan. I’m going to build some habits and routines. I’ve added them to my 101 things:

7.  Use flylady to get morning and evening routines under control.

8.  Find a routine to add spiritual practice into my day.

9.  Make it a habit to do the Lifetime Fitness Ladder every day.

Why the rope?

I am a rock climber.  Not professional, not competitive – not even particularly good.  But a couple of times a week, I grab my gear and head to a wall.  If the weather is good, Ryan and I will go bush and look for rocks to hug.

I climb because it is fun, exhilarating, social and cerebral.  I’ve never found a physical activity that involves so much mental problem solving.  Climbing is seductive because you can return and return to the same route, the same problem, until you nail it.  You can talk it through with your belayer, stop, have a coffee and try again.  Maybe nobody else will ever climb that wall the same way you did,  because everyone has different strengths, different reaches and different technique.

Climbing has changed my body.  My feet get squished into climbing shoes, and I’ve developed callusses on my fingers (even my pinky!).  I have biceps for the first time in my life and  I don’t need help opening pickle jars.  Even better than physical changes, climbing has changed the way I view my body and my fitness.  I feel strong.

Before my birthday, I sat down to write a list of 101 things to do in the next 1001 days.  I’m going to post all of them on here eventually, but I thought I’d start with the climbing goals.  Here they are:

1. Take part in a bouldering competition
2. Get comfortable lead climbing
3. Climb Kilimanjaro (impossible?  no.  improbable?  wait and see…)
4. 10 chin-ups in one set
5. Make time for more climbing outside (real rocks, not the gym)
6. Get across the climbing gym ceiling (this one really could be impossible)

I’ll keep you posted.