The new to me blush is, of course, NARS’ Orgasm blush.  The super sized, special edition was on sale for $33 AUD during the online Black Friday sale.  With the regular size retailing for $39, I was pretty happy with the price and hope that Big O will be as amazing on my face as it is on practically every other blush lover in the world.  How can you not go forth with a glint in your eye and a cheeky grin on your lips ready to conquer the world after starting your morning routine with a compact that has the word ‘orgasm’ emblazoned across it?

I’m a huge fan of Mecca’s house brand of sunscreen.  This is my second tube of their To Save Face SPF 50 ($40AUD for 75ml).  I like that it’s a high SPF face product with a bit of tint to prevent it going chalky on my face.  It is a bit thick but blends out evenly.  I don’t tend to wear much make up over it, just tinted moisturizer because I wear this on the days I’m planning to be outdoors for most of the day.  It wears well and hasn’t broken me out ever.

Do you save up your Mecca purchases for Christmas just for the packaging?

Did NARS’ Big O blush work for you?

I will forever have a tourist’s awe of Bondi Beach

ditto the Blue Mountains.

I’ve seen spring at Blackheath

Could we also take a moment to also appreciate the magnificence that is a jacaranda tree in bloom?

Have you been touched by the natural beauty of where you live this week?  Are you staycationing this Christmas?

It was all good in the end, though.  My car GPS and my hazy recognition of the side streets and surrounding suburbs of my workplace got me to the work car park with a minimum of panic and no wrong turns.  I must be a fully fledged Sydney driver now based on that achievement.  That free coffee tasted especially good when I finally rolled into work.  A bit wet around the edges but otherwise in good working order.

Here I am at the end of the day bracing myself for the drive home.  I made sure that I’d been to the bathroom, had a solid drink of water, done my DVT leg exercises and applied a decent slick of lipgloss before I hit the road.

It was overkill, as things often are in Sydney.  I made it home during a break in the rain and there were hardly any cars on the road for the peak hour commute.  That being said, I’m preparing myself for Supercell Day 2 tomorrow.

How did you fare today?  Are you home yet?

Today I’m enjoying things that never get old.  To me, at least.  Take these rose gold clouds of the sunrises at the moment as Exhibit A.  They have been my reward for keeping at those longer runs this week.  I like that the frustrations and annoyances that sometimes build up from life in general seem to fade a bit with each kilometre I rack up.

Those Christmas feels have hit me with feeling this week.  I’ve just booked the last set of flights to get everyone where they need to be for the holiday break.  Adding the dates to my phone calendar helped it sink in too.  Christmas is nearly here and so too will my parents!!!!!!!

Other than that, there’s not much else to report.  I saw a little too much of the work car park over the weekend.

But at least I only had to climb the stairs to Level 2A rather than Level 5B to find my car at the end of each day.

In amongst the chaos and sleep deprivation, there were words of wisdom to be found on the walls of work.

I wore aeroplane pyjamas on the ground to see if I could trick my body into thinking that I had flight related sleep deprivation rather than the work-related kind but it didn’t work.  Oh well.

My basil plant was as looking as healthy and vital as I was looking the decided opposite.  I’m looking forward to plucking its leaves over the summer to garnish the pizzas I intend to have for dinner on those languid January evenings we get while the city is still chilling out from Christmas and New Years.

I was saved from myself during the infamous Black Friday sales.  My Amazon order for Master SSG’s big ticket Christmas and birthday gifts went through but craziness on the J Crew site saw my payment declined on repeated attempts. 

via Google images

It’s going to be December by the end of this week!!  And Coles have launched their Christmas Edition of Little Shop.  And I’m done with all my weekends at work for the year!

Watch this space, I’m going to be progressively Christmas giddy as the days and posts progress.

Be well.

Vivid colour and bold prints.  Even better if it’s all happening on your beach towel.  At the beach.

It’s rose gold sunrises that you catch on your morning run.

It’s kicking back after laps at your local pool.  Because while you like the look of the beach, it’s really not a place you’d actually swim at.  If you’re me at least.  I find chlorine, lane ropes and black tiles at the bottom of a swimming pool all very soothing.

It’s just the excuse you need for special bubbles to be shared with special people.

It’s coming and going via aeroplanes and airports.  Some family flying in and my flying out to catch up with others of them.

It’s watermelon.

It’s even more time spent at the pool on long weekends and during school holidays.

It’s Messina’s gelato.  Just as well there are so many branches across Sydney now.  Makes it that much easier to get my fix.

It’s the extra down time that allows me to do such frivolous things as wander physical stores in search of bargains.

It’s fun, it’s flamingoes, it’s rainbows.

It’s a loosening up of your wardrobe.  Wearing Birkis and short dresses or shorts.  It’s that feeling of bare skin meeting the sun or the air-conditioned air of your local library when the heat gets too much.

I love the way summer means so many things.  And I love all the things it means to me.

via Google Images

This week I’m loving my two tea bagged mugs of tea first thing in the morning.

The end of the year is fast approaching and with it comes both the party season but also the tying up of loose ends season.  One or the other is exhausting but simultaneously?  With the added complexity of the school year finishing way earlier than the working world does before Christmas thrown in for free?  It’s the kind of ‘but wait there’s more…’ you don’t really want to be receiving.

Which is why I love, nay need. my two tea bagged mug of tea first thing in the morning. 

I love the soothing richness of those first few sips (with just over a dash of milk) which I sip at the kitchen bench as I mentally run through all (dramatic eye roll) I need to get through over the rest of the day.  The sun eventually rises, the birds begin to chirp and the first of the cars hit the streets.

I get to the bottom of the mug.  It always feels far too soon.

The mug gets rinsed and popped into the dishwasher.  I turn back to the real world, ready as I’ll ever be for whatever it’s going to throw at me.