New Years Resolutions

This year there are just 2 resolutions - and neither of them involves getting fit or any variation on that theme ;-)
1. Live simply
2. Be organised

Thoreau said that he had 3 chairs in his hut on Walden Pond - 1 for solitude, 2 for company, 3 for society. Since all our possessions are in a storage shed in Perth now, and we are likely to buy a tiny dump of a house this year, I plan to vet every item that crosses the threshold for usefulness or beauty. Having spent so much time in other people's houses and apartments as we travelled this last 6 months, I am pretty keen on having just the essentials for my kind of living and entertaining in my kitchen. Kind of like what we had the first time we moved to Perth (and didn't have the benefit of a corporate relocation company packing up our entire house for us).
I also plan to try to rid my life of unnecessary plastic and paper. Harrison's school lunches will be an opportunity to try to provide simple good food without plastic wrap, additives and processing as far as possible. The Bento laptop lunch box is my inspiration. I'm going to make 2 dozen cloth napkins to use instead of hundreds of paper serviettes this year (a la Crate and Barrel's).
And I plan to make sure my work and home spaces are organised (a place for everything), uncluttered, and peaceful. The label maker is going to go into overdrive!

Our house

Here are a few views from our house... They're taken from our balcony (sunset and Rottnest) and from our front door. We regularly see the colourful tops of kite surfers from our front door, and at night we can count the flashes of the Rottnest lighthouse from our dining room. On Australia Day we watched the City Beach fireworks from our balcony - close enough to smell and see the smoke.

Christmas party

I hosted my team's Christmas party at home last night. Most of them are in the photo to the left. It was a lovely night - I decided to just have cold platters (shamelessly ripped off from Jane Brook Winery), so that no one had to be in the kitchen, and there were no issues with timing etc. We had three types of platter, one with smoked salmon, one with scotch eggs, and one with cold meats. Each was accompanied with various cheeses, dips, chutneys, antipasto or salads, fresh and dried fruits, and a couple of different breads. For dessert we had simply delicious Amono gelato and sorbet in waffle cones. Again, very easy, and everyone helped themselves.

It was undoubtedly the easiest party to cater for, and very relaxed. I'm really enjoying entertaining in this City Beach house. I had a great time - they are such a lovely bunch. Everyone pitched in to help put food out and to stack the dishwasher and clear away. Today we've all had leftovers for lunch in the library. I suspect there may still be leftovers on Monday for our Christmas eve morning tea.

Election wrap up

The sky is looking a bit bluer the past couple of days... There's serious talk of an apology to indigenous people, and a general sense of hope and purpose.

We hosted an election party on Saturday, banking on a good result for our lefty crowd. We started with election cocktails - the "tree hugger" (with lime and mint), and the "swinging voter" (a strawberry daiquiri). We played election bingo - marking off phrases such as "bogus pamphlets" or "the Latham handshake" as we heard them on the telecast. It was a lovely evening, with lots of food, and lots of conviviality as the result became clear. Even Kevin's ultra long victory speech couldn't dampen our spirits. Our house is great for a party, with fabulous views, a huge lounge room, and plenty of room for kids to run around. It's only a stroll to the beach, so a few of the adults took the kids down to the beach at sunset. All in all a great night.

Kevin was looking impressive on the 7:30 Report tonight, too - you can read the transcript and watch the video online.

Moving again...

Yep, it's only a year since we last moved, but we're on the move again. This time to a house with a backyard for Harrison to run around in. That was really our only criteria for a house, and it was surprising how difficult it is to find rental accomodation that includes grass. Actually, this one includes weeds, but with some TLC we're hoping they turn into lawn!

It's a fabulous location at City Beach - walking distance to the lovely Boulevard shops, and with a bitumen walking/cycling track from literally across the street through bush to Floreat Beach with its cafe, playground and barbeques. I can see us strolling down to the beach for a coffee and a walk on Sunday mornings. The house itself is an older style house, with very old kitchen and bathrooms, but there are 4 big bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a big rumpus and store room under the house, and most importantly, the kitchen and living areas over look a sizeable backyard. The bonus is that two bedrooms and the living areas all have magnificent ocean views.

We move around the 25th of August.