May 30, 2013

INTERNET ROUND UP

Time for another internet round up of interesting links from the past few weeks!  It's been a while since the last round-up, but most of these articles continue to ring true past their publication dates.

Oh, and in case you haven't picked up on it, my reading follows a strong trend of food and feminist subject matter.  What can I say?  I'm a liberal girl who likes to eat.



A beautifully written piece on the value of remote places of natural splendour.  Words to live by: "These trips are guided by an unstated hypothesis: a trip is memorable in inverse proportion to the number of bars of coverage on your cellphone.

Apparently first world do-gooders don't necessarily have to sacrifice life's little luxuries to live by their morals.  Who knew?

The admirable author of the site nwedible.com shares her take on the pitfalls of the backyard farming trend.

Terrifying update on the FrankenFish discussion.  I hope salmon labelling in North America reflects these developments or else I'll be forced to abandon one of my favourite foods!

Simply brilliant! 

Mojito Jello Shots
Just sayin'... these will be making an appearance at my 24th birthday next month.  

An important look at why focusing on food security isn't enough to ensure a sustainable and equitable international food system.

How I would love to get this book... *hint* hint* 

Japanese Vegetable Pancakes
I was amazing to see that just two days after my leftover "invention" of a lifetime - scallion, ricotta, egg and sesame Japanese pancakes - it was posted on one of the internet's most popular food blogs.  Collective consciousness much?




May 08, 2013

A LIFE UPDATE, or, A LIST OF EXCUSES


There are no excuses as to why I haven't written anything for the entire month of April.

That said... here are a few.


We did heaps of travelling in early April. First there was a lovely long weekend camping trip to coastal Albany and tree-laden Denmark. We swam, fished, hiked, ate lots of cheese, 4WDrove in an AWDrive [go Forrester!] and generally had a magnificent time. Only a few working days later and we were off for an indulgent week of annual leave down in Margaret River wine country.  Rock climbing and surfing lessons? yes please! Gourmet naked cheffing in a forest bungalow? mmhmmm. Beaches next to vineyards? you've got to be kidding me! Getting paid the whole time? next level.

Work has gotten incredibly busy, leaving no time to fiddle with my blog in the office, and also resulting in a hard-earned promotion this very morning! With the acquisition of my company this January, integrating all our policies, branding, and payroll has been quite the administrative challenge.  That challenge became even more hectic when staff started dropping like flies, leaving myself [with a whopping six months of experience] as the last admin employee standing. I've taken on a scattered collection of new roles including accounting and building supervisor duties, and I've definitely been enjoying the new challenges that pop up each day.  As it was time to resign my contract anyways I haggled with the big boss a bit and got a nice little raise to accompany my shift into head office administrator duties.  Pretty good for a working holiday stint!

In my spare time I've been training for an 8k run that's coming up this Sunday [that's 5 miles for all you Americans]!  The run is for the Perth Mother's Day Classic event held each year to raise funds for breast cancer research.  As Tom's mum has been subjected to the hardships of breast cancer more than any woman should have to be, the cause has become really close to my heart.  I know 8ks isn't that far for all you avid runners, but I'm still shaking in my sneakers just thinking about race day.  All I can do is my best, and if training 6 x per week for the past month hasn't helped me then nothing will. Feel free to donate what you can to the cause through my fundraising page!

A few weeks back I took advantage of Tom being away to revamp our bedroom. Our apartment was such a blank slate when we moved in that immediate needs [couch, fridge.. liquor] needed to be addressed before we could devote any time or ca$h into our bedroom. Now that our pad is looking pretty sweet and feeling super cosy, we decided to devote $300 to room improvements.  This has included duvet dying, frame pinching, and gumtree hunts and so far progress is looking great!  Not too long until our bedroom will be a relaxing oasis.  A post is on the way!

And of course, me being the perfectionist I am, I'm still hesitant to send people the link to this bad boy until its completely perfect.  But the fewer people that know about my little blog, the less pressure I feel to write frequently... and I need that pressure to motivate me!  Moreover, we all know I'm not super tech savvy.  Why are my post fonts different colours? I don't know! Where is the comments section? Beats me!  But I'm trying, and I need to start embracing imperfection for the sake of progress.

On top of all this hecticness is a plain, simple and distracting truth... I'm crazy in love. I truly thought all those stupidly romantic emotions would go away after a year and a half, especially after the move in together.  But still I can't help but smile every time I see his face, and moreover, I want to bring that same smile to his face in any way I can.  There are very few people who help me transform into a better person, and I'm lucky enough to say he is one of them.  However, I definitely still need to work on maintaining my Independence, my hobbies and my creative outlets now that we're so close.  It can be hard to pull myself away, but I've learned from experience that it's sooo necessary for the health of a relationship.  Each half has to be able to stand on its own, you know?

So in summary, the nesting nomad has indeed been doing a lot of nesting, living, learning and loving... but not much blogging.  Good thing my life isn't time stamped so I can fill you in over the course of this May!