Superior coffee two doors down from Lulu and its impossibly clear skinned and radiant sales staff?  Only in Balmain.  Where I suspect it’s not the yogis who do the hard core coffee drinking.

And the next you’re a quivering mess after surviving a 90 minute commute which usually takes 30 minutes in the peak hour.  A shell of your normal self, you are in no fit state to approach the coal face without a coffee and a few minutes deep breathing at the local Lulu Lemon store front.

Unfortunately, the cause of yesterday’s cross city road block was a six vehicle collision on the Harbour Bridge that saw buses diverted and all sorts of other chaos.  From what I have read, no one died in yesterday’s accident and we are very, very fortunate to live in a city with excellent contingency plans and support services for when things like this happen but I am ashamed to say that none of this crossed my mind during any of the 20 minute waits I had at the lights on Victoria Road yesterday.  It was all ‘woe is me *insert f bomb*/ why me *insert f bomb*/ I’m not even going anywhere fun, I just need to get to work without losing my mind *insert f bomb*.  I’m surprised my car let me drive it after all the swearing it had to endure.

It wasn’t just me but I got so worked up it might as well have been.  Everyone at work was so late we decided to just cut our losses and just officially start the day with morning tea at 10.  Just as well there were superior carbs on offer.  Courtesy of the SSG Manor kitchen.

There was more drama on the roads today around the cross city tunnel entrance and this time I drove straight past the overturned wreckage of a car and the police manually diverting traffic.  But this time I had the self restraint to not swear but rather to just keep on driving as safely as I could around the accident.

But back to the shops.  Don’t you love how random but also essential Daiso purchases often are?  I’ve finally been able to stock up on spectacle lens cleaning solution which supermarkets and chemists don’t seem to sell anymore.  Other things that needed repurchasing included a stitch unpicker because I broke my last one and mini patty pan cases for my next muffin bakeathon.

The Manor kitchen is already feeling the Daiso effect with my new strawberry bag clamps holding together the bags of grains and dried fruits I opened for the muesli this morning.

The colours of autumn are with us already.

And soon, the only bursts of colour in the day will be via a serve or two of fresh fruit.  That does sound a bit bleak.  Sorry about that.

There’s been a bit of change in the world of Kiehl’s cleansers.

My go to foaming facial cleanser  with the blue writing on the label ($30 a bottle) is no more.  So I’ve had to go a bit upmarket with this $60 Centella Skin-Calming Facial Cleanser.  Have you tried it?  Along with the Centella it seems to contain Aloe and Chamomile.  That’s a triple whammy of calming right there.  So I guess that means it’s the goods.

I’ve started using Aldi’s Moroccan Argan Oil shampoo and condition from a special buy a few weeks back.  You were right, Instagram, this stuff is the business.  It does have a suprisingly fresh and pine-y scent that takes a bit of getting used to but the shampoo rinses out beautifully and the conditioner leaves my hair soft and smooth.  Way to go, Aldi!  Can’t wait until your new store opens down the road from me.

We were speaking of hair but not of the gym but no matter, I’m going to talk about them both now.  I survived my first PT session in about a month.  And it wasn’t too traumatic.  My strength hasn’t gone backwards and all that Neila Rey work at home made the push up circuits not as embarrassing as they otherwise might have been.  The break was a good way of boosting my previously flagging enthusiasm for the gym with its weights and machines.  While I did enjoy the body weight circuit training at home, I did find them a bit repetitive by the end of my break and with that, my motivation seemed to flag as well.  I suppose the start of autumn, Easter and the return of comfort foods to the menu is as good a time as any to have found my training mojo again.

Hair wise?  It got done today and gee I was this close to falling asleep as my colour processed.  I lost a few inches and gained some layers which is just what I wanted.

I will leave you on this last Thursday of summer with a mash up that made me smile when my friend shared it with me on Facebook.  The G’s of my youth united for the very first time on Jimmy Kimmel.  Kenny G and Warren G doing a version of ‘Regulate’.

Enjoy!