I took my sister to the The Charles Bar last night for its deliciously upmarket happy hour, which includes $15 cocktails and $25 lobster butter linguine. We had a fabulous time sipping and sampling and afterwards I found myself Googling why we call it Happy Hour … other than the obvious effects of discounted drinks.... Continue Reading →

The 2024-25 NSW Budget was handed down yesterday and cakes, biscuits and lollies filled the office. It's traditional during Budget time that sugar fuels the long day of reporting. My boss remembered that Madeira cake was my favourite because it doesn’t have icing (I’m not an icing fan) so she bought me one. Madeira cake... Continue Reading →

Do you know your limits? I don't know mine. I ignore the signs that I am reaching them and power on. For example, I asked the youngest to come to IKEA with me because I'd had an IDEA. I wanted to give DD a gift. A gift that was bulky and heavy. So I needed... Continue Reading →

Before swanning around with my sister in law for four nights, I did some very cool side hustle stuff last week. My adventures kicked off with meeting the inventors of peanut butter whiskey. Steve and Brittany Yeng established Skrewball in 2018 and sold the company to Pernod Ricard in 2023, but still play a major... Continue Reading →

It feels like an eternity since I last blogged and far too much has happened to squeeze into one blog post, so I am going to split it into two. Part one is my sister in law's visit from Melbourne. Deb and I have known each other for more than 30 years - we were... Continue Reading →

Thank you for all your kind messages about my book. It has been lovely to read them all.. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had the chance to turn all the pages yet. And things are about to get even more hectic. So I am waving a white flag and pausing the blog for... Continue Reading →

I was startled to hear the doorbell ring on Sunday afternoon and even more surprised to see a delivery driver at my door. That's a first for me, a Sunday delivery! The box he handed me was quite heavy and I thought it must have been samples of a new wine I was expecting. The... Continue Reading →

The weather was pretty gnarly around my way over the weekend, so I spent a lot of time staring anxiously at my mouldy ceiling. The head of the body corporate got narky when I sent a message on Saturday morning to the committee saying: Hi everyone, I hope you've had a good week. I reported... Continue Reading →

DD flew to the UK this week and is staying with his brother, who lives about 75km out of London. He had a few business meetings in town so he caught the train ... and was shocked to be charged $100 Australian for his ticket. Even more outrageous was that the train was so full... Continue Reading →

In theory it was the dream invitation: a nine-course dinner at a fancy Sydney restaurant matched with nine different American whiskies. These events are often single invites, but I was allowed to bring a plus one. Normally DD would have jumped at it, but he’s swanning around Europe, so I asked an old friend I’ve... Continue Reading →