Taking Stock: April 2016

Hello! 

How are you? I hope you’re feeling chipper, ace, cosy and appreciated. If not, please accept a virtual hug and a high five from me right now. I think you are awesome! 

It’s a gorgeous autumn Saturday here in Melbourne, the perfect afternoon for a taking stock post, a Pip Lincolne tradition that lots of people have embraced. 

What I like most about taking stock is that you never know where the list is going to take you, so here goes! 

Making: Art. I love being creative. 

Cooking: I think it will be saucy meatballs and penne tonight. Yum. 

Drinking: Last night, I enjoyed a piccolo of bubbly. This afternoon, I’m on the lemon cordial and soda water train. 

Reading: Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. She is one tuned-in, smart lady. 

Wanting: Confirmation on a job offer. Quietly confident. 

Looking: At the breeze ruffling my living room curtain. Curtain flutterings make me happy. 

Playing: Solitaire and WordFeud. 

Deciding: Whether to pre-emptively add some channels to my Foxtel package, before I hear about the job. 

Wishing: Only good things for you. May you know yourselves well, love courageously and find strength, and even beauty, in your scars. 

Enjoying: These strangely fine and sunny autumnal days, and the rainy days. I’ll take anything autumn’s offering.

 

Waiting: On that confirmation. 

Liking: My life. Myself. Creatively inspiring people. 

Wondering: How I will cope with going back to full time hours. It has been almost three years! 

Loving: AUTUMN, and my dad. Grateful for his help today. 

Pondering: Where things might lead me. What’s next? 

Considering: Buying ALL THE THINGS once I’m working again. Well, not ALL the things, but some of them. 

Buying: Yesterday, thanks to my pal Deanna’s generosity, I got to buy lots of groceries. Thanks Dee! 

Watching: Grand Designs House Of The Year 2015, and looking forward to more Scandal, KUWTK and MasterChef. 

Hoping: To stay positive, whatever comes this week. 

Marvelling: At my sister Lisa; she’s taken to motherhood so beautifully, it is a truly special thing to witness.

Cringing: At Malcolm Turnbull. His rhetoric around refugees turns my stomach. Is there a basement office at Parliament House where they teach Fearmongering 101? Misty-eyed, really? You sir, are DEPLORABLE. That’s not leadership, that is naked ambition and playing to the lowest possible common denominator out there, fear.

Needing: I don’t need anything really. I have so much, even as I wait for good news about employment. Need isn’t just about finances or things. I have amazingly special people in my life, I have creativity and the sky. I’m all good. 

Questioning: I will never understand political ambition. How (and why) would you deny your humanity, and deaden your heart to stay at the top of the heap? There’s a question. 

Smelling: The aromas of the beautiful essential oils my friend Louisa sent me this week. 

Wearing: Trackies and a fave 17Sundays stripey tee. 

Following: My instincts. 

Noticing: Birdsong. So many chirpy, tweety birds seem to be around at the moment. It’s lovely. 

Knowing: That things are seasonal, in life as in nature. That I am more than okay. 

Thinking: About how important gratitude is in my life. 

Admiring: My sisters. Clementine Ford. People who stand up for what they believe in. Dissenters. Artists. Rebels. 

Sorting: Nothing much. 

Getting: Addicted to new podcasts, the latest being The West Wing Weekly. It’s so great to revisit the greatest television show of all time via this podcast. 

Bookmarking: Lots of cookbooks, I’m looking forward to making braises, soups, stews, and warming fruit crumbles as the weather cools down. 

Coveting: A good internet connection. 

Disliking: The politics of fear. 

Opening: Country Style magazine.

Giggling: At the word package. 

Feeling: Positive. Good. Grateful. Curious. 

Snacking: Salt and vinegar chips, cheese and crackers, hummus on Turkish bread. Bring it on. 

Helping: Myself to more chips.  

Hearing: Birdsong, the afternoon sonata is in full swing. 

That’s life for me, in a list-y nutshell. 

How are you? What are you listening to, liking, cringing at, smelling and thinking? 

Tell me all about it. 

Don’t forget to look up today. We’re all under the same sky.

Autumnally yours, 

Annette x

15 thoughts on “Taking Stock: April 2016

  1. Awesome! Love this. I also cringe at our PM, he does not represent me. It’s been a lovely Autumn hasn’t it? Great weather, great warmth. Good luck on the job. Go for the foxtel upgrade I say!

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  2. Lovely to read…may I make a meal planning suggestion? I know you are an ace ‘cook ahead’ person and you will be appreciating coming home to something already cooked on those full-time working days in Winter. If you do not already have an awesome freezer as part of your fridge, consider a small freezer for all of your batch cooking. You will save not only money, in the long run, but will be grateful to have a meal to pull out of the freezer. I cook like this most of the time as I eat meals that are different to my hub’s. I love your job news…fingers and toes for all going well. From my sky to yours. Denyse x

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    • From my sky to yours. That might be the best salutation I’ve ever heard. Love your style Denyse.

      Good suggestion. I have freezer organisation on my to-do list, I want to snap up some containers that are just the right size for one serve, then I think the first few Sundays once I’m back at work will be cooking days and stocking up.

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  3. Well, you know what Billy Connolly said about politicians and ambition – ‘the very desire to be a politician should prohibit you from ever being one’! Excellent to hear that you are in a centent place, Annette, and I’m hoping that job offer comes through so that it can be just that little more financially content!

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  4. taking stock is a good thing it think Annette!
    being mindful is important to me!
    i’m in this moment listening to the blustery weather
    with intermittent blue skies and cloud formations
    but happy to be inside wrapped in my warm poncho … it’s a throw with a slit in the middle works a treat!
    i’m playing lazy today, but I did some drawing before and
    i’m going to cook fresh coorong mullet for late lunch early dinner … i’ll remove the poncho incase it goes up in smoke!;))
    with sweet potatoes and tossed salad
    I wish you every success with pending that/the new job
    if you did that painting on your easel I love it!
    go you! love m:)X

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    • Your day sounds delightful. I’m home now after gallivanting about this morning, I’m all about slippers, heater, trackies and coffee, with a side of sketch book.
      Yes, that’s my painting. 😉

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  5. I like this taking stock concept. It feels important. Not that I could manage to today. I didn’t really look at the sky when I was outside briefly today. Being stick in your own head will do that to you.

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  6. I hope you’ve received confirmation on the job offer. Good luck!!! I love listening to birdsong too, although we haven’t had much lately with a few rainy days. Love your artwork too. It looks awesome.

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  7. Wonderful Taking Stock, Annette. Have never heard of this podcast but am a massive West Wing fan so thanks for letting us know about it…exciting! I’ve been listening to Chat 10 Looks 3, liking the autumn weather in Melbourne, cringing at the fact I let my tea go cold, and thinking about a job interview I have on Wednesday and whether I’m ready to go from a life of leisure (read, unemployed) to full-time full-on work again. I really don’t think it’s always necessary, I’m with you! x

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    • Oh if you’re a West Wing fan I think you’ll love the podcast, let me know what you think.
      Good luck on Wednesday, and remember it’s a two way exchange!

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