Santa says ‘Shop’

I should probably save his post until tomorrow but I am too excited to wait.

Yesterday I made my annual pilgrimage to the city for Christmas. Every year towards the end of November, or in early December my family goes to the city to look at the David Jones windows and finish our Christmas shopping. Yes, finish.

We find that in the lead up to Christmas there are almost as many good sales as there are post Christmas. Though that doesn’t stop us from getting the 4:30am train on December 26th to join the throng at the Boxing Day sales.

This year there was a completely new theme for the windows. In the few years past there has been a heavy focus on carols and classic Christmas stories. This year a new children’s book by Ursula Dubosarsky inspired the animated windows.
My favourite part was the cat.

In my house this year Christmas will be a little sadder because there will be no cat. All the branches will be able to go on the tree, as well as all the decorations. No fear of the tree being pushed or pulled over. And no little place peering out from under its cover.

In the city there is also a tree made with lego.

It is much more impressive than the one in Martin Place, which seems about as half as tall as usual.
It also lights up, though you can’t really tell that in the day time.

So we spent hours getting about all the shops, making one trip back to the car about mid morning to free up some arm space for more shopping. I got to go into the newly opened Uniqlo which was excellent and we had the best Yum Cha ever the the Sky Phoenix in Westfield. You know a Yum Cha is good when they wheel around plates of BBQ pork and duck and you don’t have to order them off a menu.

Upon completing this I have just realised I have no chocolate to fill my advent calendar! How will I know it’s Christmas if I haven’t eaten a chocolate for breakfast 24 days in a row?

Coming up on my next blog: Maybe I should blog the lead up to Christmas?

99 bottles of beer on the wall

I was going to call this post

84 books on the shelf

But it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, and while the tune might be playing in my head it certainly wouldn’t be playing in yours.

84/100 is a very bad stat for me at this time of year. We are only four days off the end of November and therefore 35 days off the end of the year and I should be much further towards reaching my goal by now. Fifteen books in thirty five days is a big ask.

To compensate I am currently reading two at the same time. It works, because one of them, Break Down, I can’t read at night because it is too unsettling. That is one gripe I have about the dystopian genre. Why does so much bad stuff have to happen? Why can’t the characters just catch a break and perhaps survive despite the mess the world is in?

So before bed I am rereading Sabriel. I find that the rereading helps too because I am not so stressed about what will happen because I know I like it and I was happy when I read it the first time. I’m reading it because I recently finished Garth Nix’s new book Clariel which is in the same series but set a long time before. I had forgotten just how much I love his writing and am hoping he will continue to write others based in the same world and fill in the gaps between Clariel and Sabriel.

I’ve also just been given both Jurassic Park novels to read in anticipation of the next film coming out mid next year. I figure I will probably be able to knock them over quickly because the are written by Michael Crichton. There seems to be this rule with Crichton’s novels that you’re not allowed to run a second hand book stall at a fete without having a copy of Prey for sale. Which means his novels are either very quick and easy to read, or that nobody likes them.

If you love Jurassic Park as much as I do you may want to watch the new trailer here. It won’t be the same without Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill, and it’s kind of sad Sir Richard Attenborough isn’t alive to see his park open to the public, but I’m definitely going to see it anyway.

SOS – Summer Of Swimmers

We have come to that dreaded time of year again when I need to buy a new swimming costume. Normally I take delight in such a challenge. Normally I wait until much later in the season.
But this year I cannot.
In less than a month I am being whisked away on a surprise long weekend. You may wonder at how it is a surprise if I know I am going, but the surprise is where. All I’ve been told is that I needed to get a certain day off work, to keep a certain weekend free and that I will need a swimming costume.

(Unfortunately this is probably only one of any rants you will hear about clothing related to this holiday, as I am a very fussy packer and don’t know what I should be taking with me)

Well, you might say

why don’t you wear a cosi you already own

And I would say

well, yes why don’t I? I have a really excellent one I bought last year that I just love to pieces. Problem solved.

Problem not solved!

This year by the time I go on the holiday I will be about 34 weeks pregnant and so will not fit into my much loved cosi unless I want to stretch it out of all recognisable shape.
Then you might say

well, why don’t you wear a bikini or surely there are maternity swimming costumes out there to purchase?

And then I would laugh in your face because you obviously don’t know me or maternity fashion all that well.

I don’t really do bikinis anymore. I prefer a one piece swimming costume. I think it’s classier. Problem is there is not a lot of room on a one piece for my ever expanding girth. I especially do not want to wear a bikini with my giant protruding stomach, I see it as more skin to get sunburnt on, so that leaves me with the tankini. I do so hate that work. It’s a singlet people. But the problem is that it seems takin is are the domain of old or rather large women and so the patterns are just hideous. Giant flowers. Or too bright colours that clash. I want something simple and classy. And flattering. And I don’t want to pay one hundred dollars for it.

There is no such thing as maternity wear. Unless you want to buy online without trying anything on. And I hate doing that. Everything for pregnant women looks like a misshapen sack. Nothing is flattering. And everything has about five layers and is therefore totally unsuitable for summer.
I did find one maternity costume in Target which is ok, but the padding in the brassiere area is not sewn in and so ends up folded over and at the base of my neck rather than where it is supposed to be.

The perfect swimmers are my holy grail.
And I only have three weeks to find them.

Coming up on my next blog: more venting of frustrations probably.