Friday 5 – tunes I’ve been listening to this week

1) Kishi Bashi’s Manchester
This dude is touring with Regina Spektor at the moment & I really wish he was part of her Australian tour later in the year. He plays the violin like a boss.

2) Zac Brown Band’s Chicken Fried
As a general rule, I don’t like country music but I find this song really cute! It’s from back in 2003 but is new to me. It gets good from about one minute & 13 seconds.

3) Wakey Wakey, Almost Everything
This song kind of makes my heart hurt. Every time I listen to it, I think of my friend who recently had her heart broken. 

4) Sufjan Stevens, For the widows in Paradise
Sufjan’s most well known song is Chicago & I like that too. But this one. It is particularly beautiful. I’ve seen some debate online about whether it’s religious or not, as he’s quite a strong Christian. Either way, it’s a moving piece.

5) The Givers, Up Up Up
I’ve been a bit giddy over the past few weeks. This song has contributed. It’s repetitive, and silly and a perfect backdrop for dancing around like a nut case.

Friday 5 – a few of my favourite things

I’ve been thinking this week about whether material items make me happy. It seems that sometimes they do. Here’s a few things I’m loving right now.

1) My owlies
Selina gave me the pale, spooky looking green owl for my birthday in April. Then Mel  & Jay bought E & I the dark green, stern looking owl as part of a house warming gift. The two of them look so cute sitting above our fire place. 

2) This lovely print of La Grand Place in Brussels – one of my favourite locations in the world!

3) Nude by Nature, Oil Free Moisturiser.
I only just bought this product on Wednesday but already my skin is clearer, brighter, smoother. I realise I sound like an infomercial but it’s true! I guess there really is something to be said for Mineral based products. Currently looking into their other products!

4) I love this money box. Would it be silly to buy it for myself? I love the whimsy and the Enid Blyton-esque style. And at $5, it’s so cheap, it’s practically free! Yeah, I can justify anything.

5)  All of the illustrations by this artist.

Friday 5 – songs I’m loving this week

Five songs I’m love, love, loving this week:

1) Love, love, love
by Of Monsters & Men

Of Monsters & Men are an indie folk/indie pop band from Iceland. Little Talks and Dirty Paws are their two most well known singles but my favorite is  Love, Love, Love. It’s pretty. And they sing the word ‘love’ a lot. Which I love. How alarming is their album cover though? Those white legs? Eek!

2) Sun hands
By Local Natives
Husband doesn’t really like this song. Which is strange to me as he usually likes all kinds of different music. But he claims that this song sounds ‘too country for his tastes’.  I say whatevs Husband! It’s a freaking indie rock song and it makes me want to throw my hair around and dance.

3) The things we’ve grown to love
by All the Day Holiday

This little indie band is from Cincinnati and I like their kind of rock. Sadly, they’re on an indefinte hiatus. Come back soon!

4) Hey Joe
by Blitzen Trapper

This quintet is kinda country, kinda folk. It’s not my usual my sort of thing but for some reason I really like the harmonica in this song. I’m also loving a couple of their other pieces; Maybe Baby & War is Placebo.

5) Dark Parts
by Perfume Genius

I’ve saved the best for last. I just discovered this guy through a blogger I follow. This song gives me goosebumps. I also love Take me Home.

Friday 5 – things I’m working on

Stuff I’m working on at the moment:

1)      Worrying less
My tendency to take on everyone’s problems and fret about them is really not healthy.

2)      Being calmer about my walls
For some reason, I’ve become unnaturally obsessed with keeping our walls clean. My nephews stayed the other week and little Drewberry seemed incapable of walking through any part of the house without running his fingers across the walls. It took immense self control not to flinch every time he did it. It’s silly. But then I do think, well, if the Good Lord intended me to have dirty walls, he would have blessed me with children, right? I mean, it’s hardly fair.

But I’ll work on this. Begrudgingly.

3)      Being more organised
I’ve become a bit of a procrastinator. I leave things till the last minute. I don’t know when this started but I really need to give this new habit a swift uppercut.

4) Walking up 100 calorie hill with a heart rate of less than 180
We now live at the top of a step incline. According to our heart rate monitors, you burn 100 calories just walking up the hill. Which is great exercise! Up and down a few times and a training session is done. Except that I am a breathless, sweaty mess by the time I get to the top and I swear profusely the whole way back down. But I’m going to own that bitch, just you watch!

5) Being a better blog commenter
I read, I ponder, I rarely comment. It’s not very friendly. I’m going to make a concerted effort to click through and comment on my favourite blogs.

Have a good weekend friends. Try and do things in fives please.

Neen

xx

Friday 5 – things I love about the Mountains so far

I’ve lived in the lower Blue Mountains for a week now and I’m digging my new digs. Though I have to say that it does feel a tad surreal. I keep thinking that perhaps I’m just taking a holiday in someone else’s life!

Last week I wrote about the things I’ll miss about Pyrmont. This week, my Friday five are about the best bits of my new place. They are:  

1) The stars
I haven’t seen the stars for a decade! But when I walk outside my house in the evening, there they are, all delightful and twinkly and happiness creating.

2) The mist
It rained last weekend and our whole house was shrouded in mist. It was beautiful and refreshing and magical.  

3) The community vibe
Our neighbours have all been over to introduce themselves, welcome us to the Mountains and to deliver bottles of wine. It’s delightful! In the 11 years I lived in my flat, I think I had all of about 5 conversations with the transient community that lived there. It’s been so nice to have people make sure we know where to buy groceries, where to find a good butcher and to explain what the weird sirens are that we’ve been hearing in the dead of the night.

4) Mr Owl
There’s a little ‘hoot hoot’ going on outside our bedroom window. I’m yet to actually see Mr Owl but I like falling asleep hearing him out there. I picture him wearing glasses and checking us out through the blinds.

5) Rocco, the Labradoodle who lives next door
Just like all the other locals, he seems quite friendly.  He’s been over to say hello and lift his leg on all of our pot plants! I like seeing him sitting outside in a sunny spot!

I’m going to be really happy here. I can feel it in my bones.

Friday 5 – things I’ll miss about Pyrmont

It’s moving day, it’s moving day!

We slept here in our little flat for the very last time yesterday and I got myself nicely nostalgic. I’m literally just one week short of having lived in Pyrmont for 11 years. I moved down here on the June long weekend in 2001 and have been in the same flat for that whole time.

There’s five main things I’m really going to miss about Pyrmont.

1) Living close to the Williams
Even though we haven’t lived in each other’s pockets, I’ve loved being close to Jay and Mel. It’s meant that Ian has been able to spend lots of man time with Jay and that we’ve all been able to exercise together. I’ll miss the proximity, but as a friend of my word, I can promise that there’ll still be regular catch ups.

2) Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre
I’ve only ever been a member of three gyms so this is a bit of a sweeping statement but ITAC is the best gym in the world!! In the world I tells you! They have awesome trainers, a really good mix of classes and they’ve recently refurbished the place with brand spanking new machines. We joined the Centre the day it opened and I already know that I won’t find another gym like it. Boo.

3) Porters Liquor
This is going to make me sound like an alcho but I really, really love this bottle shop. The guys that own it/work there have incredible knowledge of all things vino and their service is second to none. They’ve had this shop in their family for years and years.

I can always rely on their recommendations and I’ll be sad to go back to a chain style store.

4) Urban Oasis
The suburb’s most beautiful gift shop where you can always find lovely treasures. I’ve bought many, many presents at this place and hope I’ll easily be able to find a new favourite.

5) The grocery store downstairs
Pyrmont has a fabulous IGA with a massive gourmet food section. I do most of my shopping there but when there’s just a few bits and pieces I need, I pop in to the shop downstairs. It’s owned by a lovely couple who instantly liked me because they came from a town in Lebanon called Janine. They know everyone in my family, and Ian’s too. I’m friendly with their children and grandchild.

They add cans of soup to my grocery bag if they know one of us is sick. They always round the price down for me. And when I told them how I miss my Grandmother’s cooking, they started to share their Lebanese food with me. They cried when I told them I was leaving Pyrmont and when I walked out of the shop, I cried too.

I’ve been lucky to live in this amazing suburb. But up the mountain I must now go.

See you on the flip side ;)