Sneaky Peek – Page 5 – The Poppy Files

Category: Sneaky Peek

Sneaky Peek : Melbourne

Larni in Hunt Leather

I am in Melbourne … on a very quick trip with my dear girlfriends Jen & Cherida (oh and my little man, James). Every year we meet in Melbourne for a cultural sojourn, where we eat, shop, laugh and just enjoy each other, away from our everyday responsibilities!

Yesterday was no exception! We had lunch at Cumulus Inc., a wee shopping spree in the afternoon (although stopping to feed your eight week old baby curbs any over-spending) and a delicious dinner at the Chocolate Buddha in Federation Square.

Whilst we all enjoy the break from our children, ironically we ended up in the David Jones Children’s section purchasing little outfits for our cherubs at home. Our purchases used to include high heels and evening wear!

True to form (and tradition) we are off to The European this morning to savour some delightful breakfast fare, and then oh – more shopping before our 6 pm flight back to Hobart! Delightful.

Have 8 week old – can travel! Xx

Hitting the shops

Jen & Larni

Wednesday, 18 September 2013 1 Comment Short URLMelbourne Shopping TripSneaky Peek

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Sneaky Peek : Mountains

As I am currently cocooned in newborn baby mania, I have been yearning a meander through the mountains.

For life to be stripped back to utter simplicity – eating, walking, sleeping. To feel connected to a world that has been left ‘untouched’ and in its natural form. To feel rough dolerite on your hands as you scramble across the scree. To feel the wind and rain whip against your face. To feel the ache in your legs as you get summit fever and to reflect on your life from a vastly different perspective.

Ice Detail - Mt Hugel, Tasmania

Mt Hugel - Tasmania

The Franklin River

Mt Owen - New Zealand

Routeburn Track - New Zealand

Rossland - Canada

Rossland Backcountry - Canada

Wednesday, 11 September 2013 4 Comments Short URLMountainsSneaky Peek

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Sneaky Peek : Canada

Ok, are you ready for more nostalgia … and questionable fashion, chubbiness and bad hair?

In 1993 I ventured out into the big wide world and moved to Canada for a year. It was an amazing experience and one that I will always remember. My trip was the perfect combination of new experiences, new travel destinations, a new career direction and most importantly, new friends.

I landed a job in Vancouver as a Tour Guide on the Grouse Mountain Sky Ride. An engineering feat, the cable car carries 100 people and ferries the skiing/touring public from the base of the mountain to the summit. My role included operating this beast, plus giving a commentary of the views over Vancouver and in winter, the current ski report. I absolutely loved this job and felt so blessed to be working in such beautiful surrounds.

Grouse Mountain

The other perks of the job included a free ski pass for the season where I learnt to snowboard, and of course meeting an amazing bunch of young Canadians and other travellers. We worked hard, skied hard and partied hard!

One day at work I was introduced to a fellow Australian lass called Jana Bayliss (who was Troy Bayliss‘ sister) and with her bubbly persona and infectious smile, I just knew we would be fine friends … and we still are, twenty years on.

Jana and I had many adventures whilst in Canada which included road trips away in my old VW Golf. On one trip we drove north to Whistler and Pemberton and naively decided to sleep in the car as we didn’t have any money to pay for a youth hostel. Unfortunately we neglected to take into consideration the plummeting temperature gauge to a chilly -15C. I have never been so cold and so uncomfortable. I distinctly remember a thick layer of ice inside the car. We even lit our gas lantern in the hope of procuring some heat. To top it off, the Golf didn’t start the next morning and we relied on some friendly locals to help two ‘Australian damsels in distress’. The locals did help us, but only after they gave us a dressing down for being so foolish and sleeping in a car in those conditions!

Pemberton

Crazy Girls

Our adventures continued to South East Asia, where we travelled through Malaysia and Thailand on our way home to Australia. We warded off curious local gangs in rat infested alleyways, ventured to idyllic islands and soaked up the South-East Asian sun, culture and food.

Thailand

Koh Samui - Thailand

On return to Australia, I moved to Sydney to work for a couple of years where Jana was also living, and our adventures continued. She now lives in Noosa and has two beautiful boys. We haven’t seen each other for quite a few years but when we do, I know that we will pick up from where we left off. We will relive our travels and hopefully make new memories with more adventures … as Mums!

Sydney

Jana and her boys

Wednesday, 4 September 2013 1 Comment Short URLFriends, Grouse Mountain Sky RideSneaky Peek

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Sneaky Peek : Lifehouse Design

My sister’s home is featured on the front cover of the current Sanctuary Magazine after their business – Lifehouse Design recently won two awards in the BDAV (Building Designers Association of Vic) annual design awards for their LiFEHOUSE 2.2 house in Castlemaine for:

Best Energy Efficient Design
Residential Design, up to $300K construction cost

I had also featured their home here when I stayed with them in December. It is so wonderful to see loved ones recognised for many years of hard work!

Wednesday, 28 August 2013 1 Comment Short URLLifehouse DesignSneaky Peek

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Sneaky Peek : Parents Retreat

As I have mentioned before, Poppy has now moved into our old bedroom (and her big bed) and Nick and I have moved into our newly renovated ‘parents retreat’.

We have only just completed the final touches, as ‘early bird’ James had other ideas and threw a spanner in the works being born three weeks early. I had hoped to have been fully moved into our room before he arrived, but it wasn’t to be.

The window seat is installed, the carpet has been laid, the wardrobe is full of our clothes and we are loving this glorious, new sunny space.

Parents Retreat

Before …

Before...

After …

Ikea Wardrobe

Wednesday, 21 August 2013 0 Comments Short URLParents RetreatSneaky Peek

Sneaky Peek : Happy Birthday Dad

Today is Nick’s birthday and Poppy has been very excited about it (although she keeps thinking it is her birthday!). We went out to Nick’s work this morning and she sang him ‘Happy Birthday’ and adorned him with presents. Poppy then enjoyed a “Gee Whizzer” on the office chair!

Wednesday, 10 July 2013 0 Comments Short URLSneaky Peek

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Sneaky Peek : Spiritual Midwifery

During my nesting phase of cleaning out our cupboards on Monday I came across this classic “Spiritual Midwifery” that my friend Lil gave me when I was pregnant with Poppy.

I had an insatiable appetite for reading anything to do with pregnancy and birth. You name it I read – Kaz Cooke’s ‘Up the Duff“; ‘What to Expect When You are Expecting‘ and this one ‘Spiritual Midwifery’. The funny thing was I read so much about the various stages of pregnancy, I always knew what size fruit the baby was in utero (it is so funny that your baby is compared to the size of a peach)!

However when Poppy was born I felt out of my depth! I personally feel there is so much emphasis on pregnancy, labour and birth but little on the emotional impact that a baby has on your life.

I distinctly remember when Poppy was two days old, Nick was out celebrating with his friends and my sister Cath and her daughters came in to meet Poppy. They left my hospital room around 6:30 pm and on the click of the door I felt very alone and scared. But I wasn’t alone – next to me sleeping soundly in her little crib was Poppy – and I had no idea what to do.

I kept thinking to myself how did Miranda Kerr feel in this instance, or Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark or Posh? Did they have any panic attacks about what to do? They probably had 24 hour nannies and wet nurses!

I remember thinking my life will never be the same again and of course it hasn’t, but for all the right reasons.

I haven’t read any pregnancy/birthing books this time around but I will revisit the words of author Ina May Gaskin who is:

founder and director of the Farm Midwifery Center, located near Summertown, Tennessee. Founded in 1971, by 2011, the Farm Midwifery Center had handled approximately 3000 births, with remarkably good outcomes. Ms. Gaskin herself has attended more than 1200 births. She is the author of Spiritual Midwifery, now in its fourth edition…

The classic book on home birth that introduced a whole generation of women to the concept of natural childbirth. Back again are even more amazing birthing tales, including those from women who were babies in earlier editions and stories about Old Order Amish women attended by the Farm midwives.

Poppy was born in a hospital in a very conventional way, but I still enjoyed reading this book which gave me the strategies to tap into the ‘rushes’ (contractions) and to keep your hands, shoulders and mouth very relaxed during labour. Let’s hope I can hone in on those skills again for this birth??

It’s not just the making of babies, but the making of mothers that midwives see as the miracle of birth.

Wednesday, 3 July 2013 2 Comments Short URLSpiritual MidwiferySneaky Peek

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Sneaky Peek : 9 – 5

This is a pretty boring photo to share with you, but this has been my desk for many years and today is my last day before I finish up for a year’s Maternity Leave.

I have mixed feelings about signing off this afternoon – I am physically ready to finish work as I have been finding it to be quite demanding in the later stages of my pregnancy. I will however, really miss my amazing colleagues and students. I will also miss actually going to work and feeling like I am contributing in other ways than being a full-time Mum.

When I had my Maternity Leave with Poppy, I didn’t appreciate just how many people come across your path in your normal work day until I didn’t have that exposure anymore.

I have really loved my job for the past ten years and am ready for the new addition of our family – sometimes I just find being a full-time Mum a little isolating. I’m sure I will man-up!

Wednesday, 26 June 2013 0 Comments Short URLMaternity LeaveSneaky Peek

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Sneaky Peek : The Red Queen

My friend Annabelle and I always joke about having FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and this week we have both suffered from a little FOMO from MOFO (not being able to go to all the winter festivities due to work/child responsibilities)!

However, Cath and I did go to the opening night of The Red Queen at MONA last night (sorry Belle):

Mona‘s major exhibition opens tonight, with free entry for all. We are doing away with the hoity-toity tomfoolery and throwing our doors open till midnight instead. There will be food and music, as always; when you’ve eaten and drunk and danced there’s always the art… The Red Queen is an assemblage of major commissions, exciting loans, and yet-unseen works from our own collection.

I was very proud of myself – there I was on a school night at 33 weeks pregnant grooving away to the DJ in the museum. I felt like we were in a funky nightclub in New York!

NB: Apologies for the late post today. This dirty stop out got home at 11.45 pm last night – far too late for any blog posting!!

Wednesday, 19 June 2013 0 Comments Short URLThe Red Queen Exhibition OpeningSneaky Peek

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Sneaky Peek : A Long Weekend

Fortescue Bay

Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park

For the recent Long Weekend we went on a little holiday to the Tasman Peninsula for our annual Davies’ get together. In 2012 we all went to Philip Island in Victoria, but this year we spent three nights at the Stewarts Bay Lodge.

Stewarts Bay - Tasmania

Poppy was very excited to be going on a ‘holiday’ with her cousins from Melbourne – Ruby, Max and Maggie. We visited Fortescue Bay, The Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, Remarkable Cave and Safety Cove Beach.

I will let the photos speak for themselves – however we enjoyed quality family time in beautiful surroundings.