Objectively, how bad can a Monday be when the first thing on your to do list is organizing Christmas gifts?
I’ve been put in charge of gifts for our department at work this year and it’s been a job I’ve approached with military precision. I’ve been listing and cross checking lists for weeks now and there isn’t a spare inch of floor space in the office which has now been code named Santa’s grotto.
I know we’re living in the age of Excel spread sheets but they drive me mad. I’ve not been able to make sense of Excel despite the best intentions of my colleagues. I don’t mind the table function in Word but Excel is mind field of weird functions, words that turn into meaningless strings of hash tags and symbols and boxes of text that are too small to fit anything meaningful inside.
Instead, I’ve got my well thumbed hard copies which are a mish mash of handwritten and typewritten notes, red pen, pencil and highlighter. With a series of crumpled dockets stapled in for good measure. They’re all currently housed in a non descript manila folder, just in case anyone else in the office stumbles upon the master copy of the gift list and then manages to decipher my scrawl.
| Thank you, Ikea for making gift wrapping such a breeze this year. |
Anyway, we’re all good now. Thanks to a combination of great, complimentary gift wrapping (Crabtree & Evelyn as well as T2) and some easy but very effective, DIY options (Ikea’s Snomys collection, I was done in just over an hour. Which then gave me time to make a start on looking for Toddler SSG’s Christmas gifts. Must. Not. Go. Overboard. Must. Be. Age. Appropriate. Those wooden train sets and airports look like so much fun though….
Fed up with my endless whinging about supermarket teabags? I am. So I’ve decided to make the switch to loose leaf teas. My latest find it T2’s Good Morning. It’s a strong brew that really puts you in a good frame of mind for the coming day.
| My Mix order – a T shirt dress, a maxi dress and the famous ikat pants. |
Of course there’s been Christmas shopping for me. I’ve got my Christmas wardrobe sorted thanks to Mix Apparel and their super speedy shipping (ordered crack of dawn Friday, arrived Saturday morning). The theme is blue and white, in case you didn’t get the hint from the photo.
| Dress – Mix Apparel, necklace – Red Phoenix Emporium. |
This is the striped T shirt dress which I wore on Saturday. It retails for $19 but I got it and my entire order at 20% off with free shipping.
I survived Westfield Chastwood yesterday to bring you good news. Yes, we in the North Shore catchment area are to be Zara-ed. I was so excited I’m sure it’s the reason I had to ask the concierge for a map of the shopping centre. That’s right, me, the girl who used to be fluent in the international language of shopping centres. The one who could find the coffee outlets, food courts and stores of interest even in malls whose signage was not predominantly in English. I don’t know who I am anymore. I obviously need to train up again for 2014’s travels.
Anyway, take care and hope your Christmas preparations are getting along nicely.