Linda’s Notes

3/4/2010

Nostalgia

Filed under: Athena, Toddler — Linda @ 3:14 am

I remember that when I was a little kid I had three specific stuff animal toys. The first was Mousy, and she was a gift from my Grandma on my third birthday. The second was Fluffy, a stuffed bear I received as a birthday present from my best friend, Shawna, when I was 6 or 7. The third was a little koala bear that my parents bought for me on our first visit to a gift shop our neighbor opened somewhere in a strip mall. I’m sure there were many other stuffed toys, but these three stayed with me through thick and thin, and these are the ones I remember.

I started thinking of this today when a good friend of mine brought Athena very lovely stuffed blue bear. Athena was recently very very sick but now she is much better and this was what I will call a ‘happy’ gift (as opposed to a ‘get well’ gift since she is already well; and I suppose it could just as easily be called a ‘thank goodness’ gift). I wonder which of Athena’s many toys will be the ones she singles out decades from now as her favorites. Which are the ones she will think back fondly on and wonder where they’ve gone to. I wonder if she’ll retain this attachment she has formed to a cute little hand-me-down dolly that belonged to another friend’s little girl. Athena had that dolly in the hospital and hasn’t lost sight of it for long since she’s been home; which caused a tiny second of panic yesterday when the dolly was almost lost at the local park because Athena insisted on bringing it with her and then dropped it on the playground in favor of the slide. I guess Athena assumed that, of course, the dolly would never be lost. She would just make her way back to the pram on her own, or by the power of Mommy.

We have insurance (e.g. backups) for some of the other toys Athena has or had a special attachment to. She has two Grettas, two Bunnies, well, three if you count Red Bunny, but Red Bunny has been on the outs for a while now. She also has a twin for Melba the Bear. When we went to Melbourne just before Christmas, we stayed in a very lovely hotel. When they came to set up her cot in the room, they brought her a very nice teddy bear. She instantly fell in love with it, so when I realized they also had a couple of them left for sale in their gift shop, I arranged for a twin to come home with us. That twin now resides in Texas with her Grandma there and is looked after by Grandma and one of Athena’s cousins. I am certain this was a good decision because in the few months since our trip to Melbourne, Athena has grown more and more attached to Melba. I suspect that Melba will hold a special place in Athena’s heart for a very long time.

2/13/2010

Sarah Jessica Parker named President of Halston, really?

Filed under: Fashion — Linda @ 1:04 pm

I am really shocked at that Sarah Jessica Parker was named the President and Creative Director for Halston. She doesn’t have any serious business background, nor does she have any real creative training. Well, unless you count (as she does) working on Sex & the City as creative training (another highly regarded designer and stylist, Patricia Field, actually created those looks for her). Also, what is Halston going to do next time she is offered a role in a movie? Creative directors / presidents work like 80 hours a week, all year long.

Wow.

http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2010/01/19/sarah-jessica-parker-dishes-on-her-new-gig-as-fashion-exec-at-halston/

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/w0000509.html

2/12/2010

Sydney Aquarium

Filed under: Athena, Sydney — Linda @ 11:43 pm

At the Sydney Aquarium with Maya & Anna.

Aquarium

Maya & Athena

Backlog

Filed under: Australia, Photography, Tasmania — Linda @ 11:38 pm

I’ve been working through a major backlog of photos for the past couple of days. I am sort-of up to our Tasmania trip. By “sort-of” I mean I am on my first pass sorting the decent photos from the not so great ones. Then I have to get them into a photobook or up on my blog or flickr or my travel blog. We’ll see if I get this done anytime soon. Kinda depends on whether or not we find a nanny for a day or two a week. So many projects, so little time!

Wineglass Bay Beach, Tasmania

Freycinet Lodge, Tasmania

1/21/2010

Athena’s New Eurotrike Ultima!

Filed under: Athena, Balmain, Sydney — Linda @ 12:42 pm

She’s been lobbying for this for a while. Every time we were at the park and she’d see one, she’d walk over and check it out, climb on it, look at me and smile. We’d pass one on the street and she would point and babble, which I took to mean something along the lines of “Mom/Dad, can I please have one of those cool trikes? I really really want one!”. The toy shop in Balmain is closing this location, and were having 30% off their trikes. So I showed up before they opened on the first day of the sale. Turns out it was the last trike and was the floor model, so they gave me 50% off. She LOVES her trike and could spend all day riding it.

Athena's new trike!

1/20/2010

I swear, Officer…

Filed under: Australia, Sydney — Linda @ 6:00 pm

This morning Athena and I went out to run errands. As we were driving back through the Crescent, there was a big line of police officers with a roadblock set up. They were diverging all traffic over to the side of the road. I figured it was a license and/or registration check. Nope, it was a random alcohol breath test. The officer asked me if I’d been drinking. I, of course, said ‘no’, but what I was really thinking was “are you crazy?!? I have my baby in the car and it’s 11:30am, of course I haven’t been drinking, you idiot!”. Then he held a device up near my face and my initial reaction was to ask “is that thing clean?”. Turns out you don’t have to actually blow into the machine, they just hold it in front of your mouth while you count to 10. Before I got to 8, he waved me on. I guess the machine can tell pretty quickly when the only thing you’ve had to drink in a week is water, gatorade and tea. Now, if it had been a caffeine measuring device, that would be a different story. I’m not sure why but the car in front of me was taking a long time to clear out. Eventually they did let her go and I was able to move along as well.

1/7/2010

unhappy camper

Filed under: Athena, Teething trouble — Linda @ 8:26 pm

Athena is not a happy camper this afternoon. She woke up from her nap in such a state of fuss and unhappiness. The pink spot on her left cheek is telling me it’s that darned lower incisor that just won’t come in. Took almost an hour of cuddling to get her calmed down. Now she seems well enough to go to play-time with her buddy Mitch.

1/5/2010

Taxes, taxes, taxes

Filed under: California is awesome, Taxes suck — Linda @ 5:41 pm

I’ve lived in Sydney for so long that I forgot that when I order stuff in the US for delivery in California, they add sales tax.

1/4/2010

Countdown to move to California

Filed under: Australia, California is awesome, Sydney — Linda @ 3:56 pm

1/2/2010

New Year’s Eve in Sydney

Filed under: Australia, Sydney — Linda @ 10:01 am

Blue Moon over Sydney 12-31-09 Fireworks over Sydney Harbour 12-31-09

12/6/2009

Athena learning to walk in Tasmania

Filed under: Athena, Tasmania, Traveling with Athena — Linda @ 9:23 pm

More videos only a Grandparent would love

12/1/2009

Videos only a Grandparent would love

Filed under: Athena, Australia, Tasmania, Traveling with Athena — Linda @ 6:39 pm

Videos only a Grandparent would love

11/17/2009

Doorstep Organics

Food here has become increasingly expensive. I’m not sure if it’s just becoming more expensive overall, or if it’s becoming more expensive for us because the US$ has been steadily losing value against the AUD$. It’s more than 50% more expensive for us to live here now than it was when we moved here in January. The grocery store within walking distance is OK but not great. It’s small compared to the other stores I prefer but those are further away and require either a bus ride or putting Athena in the car and driving to them. The fruits and vegetables at the local grocery store are not great. Actually, they have a really poor selection and very few organic options. There are two fruit and veggie shops on Darling Street in the main part of Balmain, another one or two in Balmain East and at least two in Rozelle. All of those have much nicer selections of fruit and veggies but they are really expensive. I once paid $8 for about four bananas. FOUR! There was no price listed on the shelf, and Athena and I both wanted bananas, so I figured ‘how expensive can they be?’. Well, the answer was $8! Back at the fancy grocery store we went to at home in San Mateo, those same bananas would have been about $2.

Then there is About Life (the equivalent of Whole Foods) in Rozelle. I really like this place and I can get Amy’s Organic Salsa there which makes it one of my favorite places in Sydney. They also have a decent selection of organic fruits and vegetables. You know how most people call Whole Foods “whole paycheck”? Well, you could certainly call About Life “whole paycheck” as well. Yesterday I stopped by for some coffee for Adam (fair-trade and organic certified, of course – he could not care less, but I do) and a selection of fruits, veggies, and a few miscellaneous things and spent about $100. These groceries easily fit into my two little reusable grocery bags, and there was some room left in them.

I was also disappointed that they were out of Athena’s favorite crackers, so I’ll probably have to go back later this week. They are regularly out of stuff, which does not happen back in California. Back home, you don’t go to the store and find they are out of tea, all teas, not just the one you wanted; or out of black beans; or only have two kinds of coffee left when last time they have fifteen. That just does not regularly happen back home but this happens regularly here.

So this morning I placed our first order with Doorstep Organics. A friend told me about this place yesterday and we are excited to try it out. The organic fruits and veggies are a lot cheaper than at Whole Paycheck and the organic eggs and milk were more than 20% cheaper than at Woolies, AND they deliver! They deliver! I’ll write that again: they deliver! I don’t have to push Athena and her stroller up a steep hill, shop with her fussing that she thought we were headed to the park, and then balance bags of heavy groceries while pushing the pram back downhill. I will note that we have previously ordered home delivery groceries from Woolies, but their fruits and veggies are not so good, so we haven’t really done that much home delivery from them.

Interested in what we ordered? Well, we ordered the Basics Box, which will be some mix of fruits and veggies that they will pick for us, some rindless bacon rashers, organic chicken sausages (this is the only place I’ve ever seen these for sale in Australia), and some organic full cream milk (that would be for Athena). Expect a report back in a few days on what we actually got in the box and what we think of our order.

Baby talks!

Filed under: Athena — Linda @ 1:26 pm

This morning as Adam was leaving for work, Athena said to him “bye bye Dada”.
Yesterday while we were having some chill time watching Dora, Dora’s character asked “do you see a sign?” and Athena pointed at the correct side of the TV and said “there it is”.
This morning as we were leaving the gym’s child-minding area, she turned to her little friend, Maya, waved and said “bye bye”.
She amazes me every day.

Note: I wasn’t prompting her, she’s just talking :)

11/16/2009

Spin class, child-minding, and meatballs

Filed under: Athena, Balmain, California is awesome, Cooking — Linda @ 3:29 am

I found a gym that is walking distance from our house that has cycling, yoga, and strength training classes. All classes I want to take. The best part? These classes are M,W,F during the hours they have child-minding. Now, this is not child-care because child-care requires a license. This is child-minding, like babysitting by someone who has a clear police-check and is first aid certified, with playtime occurring in a clean, well-lit room that has a cushy padded floor and toys, all upstairs from the gym classes.

Today I took the spin (I mean cycle) class. It was awesome. In my head, I was just enjoying a fairly fast-paced, hill-inclusive ride around the hills of the mid-Peninsula. Canada road, Woodside, Alpine, Portola Valley, Los Altos – all the places I will be sooo happy to get my bike back to next summer. Oh, and my best riding buddy was on the ride with me, at least in my head she was. The bikes in the gym are set up so six of the bikes face the other six bikes with the instructor in between. I think the woman across from me spent most of the class wondering why I had a huge smile on my face every time we went up a hill or did a sprint. In my defense, I was riding in California at the time, at least in my head I was, but how was she to know that?

I didn’t take Athena to the gym this morning for her child-minding because Adam was working from home today. Since Athena was well into her nap when it was time for me to leave, he just minded the child while I went to the gym and ran a few errands. Nothing says “free time” like a trip to the gym followed by a trip to the bank, the baker, and the local Italian cafe to get the family lunch. Since Adam is used to his work giving him free lunches on demand, I figured the least I could do was pick him up a panini on the way home. Athena got a chicken-veg pie, because she needs the calories and because she loves them.

A bit later in the afternoon, Athena started fussing because she wanted to go outside. Did I mention that it’s spring here in Sydney. Now, spring in the Bay Area varies between crisp and warm. Here in Sydney it varies between hot-and-humid and hotter-and-more-humid. I tried to distract her but by about 2pm she really wanted to go outside, so I agreed and told Adam we were going out in a bit. Not quite 30 min later, Adam heard Athena fussing and called down from the office:
A: You haven’t left yet? I thought you guys were going to the park!
L: We’re just about to leave.
A: What’s the hold-up?
L: Well, I had to change the laundry over, make a grocery list so I can make dinner later, look up a recipe for that grocery list to be sure I don’t forget anything, put sunscreen on me, put sunscreen on Athena, get water bottles ready for both of us, get Athena some snacks for the park, and make sure I’m not forgetting anything she’ll need while we are out.

All this because if I hadn’t spent that extra 30 minutes before we went out getting those things done, my carefully coordinated list of stuff to get done today would have fallen apart and we would have ended up having to order dinner in while listening to the washer and dryer go all night long.

On the way home from the park, we stopped at the butcher and ordered a turkey for Thanksgiving and picked up some ground lamb for dinner. Then off to the grocer, then home. I should mention here for anyone who does not live in a compact city, that all of these errands and running around today were done on two feet, not in a car. It’s really hilly here, so two feet and lots of leg power to get up and down these hills. For anyone who is curious, dinner was spaghetti and meatballs.

Meatballs:
-generally follow the Bette Crocker cookbook recipe for meatballs
-when you can’t find breadcrumbs in the grocery store, use Weet-Bix instead
-throw in some extra spices
-serve over spaghetti and homemade sauce with a good bottle of wine.

11/12/2009

Is she colour-blind?

Filed under: Fashion — Linda @ 11:43 pm

I’m with Kathy on this one. This outfit is horrendous.

Heidi Klum terrible outfit

11/8/2009

Flying Fajita Sistas

Filed under: Food, Sydney — Linda @ 1:45 am

I really wanted Mexican food. Putting salsa on my eggs every morning can only pacify me for so long. So tonight we tried a new (to us) Mexican Restaurant in Glebe called the Flying Fajita Sistas. This one is down the street from Baja Cantina, which bills itself as being true Californian Mexican food. We’ve eaten there a few times. BC is passable, not good, just passable. The black beans I had at BC were undercooked, and in my book that is really inexcusable. Flying Fajita Sistas on the other hand, is excellent. I’m not saying it’s the best Mexican food I’ve ever had, but you could put that restaurant in most parts of California and it would do just fine – with a few tweeks. The only thing that really needed work was their margaritas.

I was dismayed to find that we had to pay $11 for chips and salsa. Yes, you read that correctly and it is not a typo. It was good chips and salsa, but $11, really? Apparently in Australia, the chips and salsa are not gratis. Adam ordered Sangria and I got a margarita. His was good, mine really needed some work. It was way too sweet and there was not enough tequila in it (and this is coming from a woman who does not like her drinks very strong). We ordered chipotle chicken quesadillas for Athena, which she refused to even try, so Adam ate them. I tried them and they were very good. Adam ordered pulled pork enchiladas, which were very good and he says he’d order them again. I ordered chicken tamales with a mole rojo sauce on them. I was a bit dubious, and was very pleasantly surprised. Someone in their kitchen has actually been to Mexico and knows how to make a proper mole sauce. My tamales were wrapped in banana leaves in the Mayan style, rather than corn husks, which is what I am used to from California and Texas. I’d only ever had them served that way in the Yucatan. Adam and my dishes were served with black beans and rice and salad. Mine also came with a very good corn and tomato side. I would absolutely go back and order any of those dishes again. Next time I’ll try the fajitas, though.

Adam says he’s entirely too full. Well, he did eat his meal, Athena’s meal, and a bit of mine as well. I will note that he did skip lunch.

Something to note: I was raised in San Antonio. Occasionally we would drive to Mexico for lunch. I also lived in California for over 10 years and will be living there again within the next year or so. I know my Mexican food.

11/7/2009

Brown Sugar Bondi

Filed under: Athena, Food, Sydney — Linda @ 6:02 pm

This morning we drove over to Bondi to find a cafe we’d heard good things about called Brown Sugar. The place was packed, but they managed to find us a table within about 10 minutes where we could have Athena’s stroller. I’m always happy when places are accommodating of Athena. We were thankful, yet again, for her easily collapseable stroller when we decided to put her in a high chair, and put her stroller under her chair.

Brunch was really yummy. I had pancakes with fruit and yoghurt and while that might sound pedestrian, it was really very good. They stacked two pancakes with loads of fresh fruit in between them, then topped them with unsweetened yoghurt and rhubarb and drizzled it all in maple syrup. I just wish I had stopped to take a photo. It was as pretty as it was yummy. Adam had a dish called the Five Sides. It was toast, avocado, tomato, feta cheese, prosciutto, and rocket. He doesn’t like rocket, but the rest of the dish was devoured, so I can only assume he liked it.

11/2/2009

Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania

Filed under: Athena, Tasmania, Traveling with Athena — Linda @ 8:52 pm

This was how we spent a week of October:

Freycinet Lodge Adam, Linda & Athena at Freycinet Lodge Adam and Athena on the hike to Wineglass Bay

11/1/2009

Protection from the Aussie Sun

Filed under: Athena, Super stong sun, Sydney — Linda @ 4:27 pm

Athena at the park

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress