My green shorts have become A Thing. I didn’t intend it this way. It kind of evolved.
My green shorts and I climbed Icelandic volcanoes together in 2012…
I bought my first pair of green shorts eight years ago from American Apparel during a trip to the US. They were on sale. I wore them for four years, every day, until the holes in the groin (from inner-thigh rub) became obscene. They become a grease rag for my bike. I then bought a replacement pair. Actually, my assistant Jo remembers buying them when she started working for me. Ergo, this pair is at least four years old. Same size, same colour, no need to try them on. I’ve worn these ones virtually every day since – hiking, at yoga, at the gym, to the pool.
The other day, on a bush walk with friends, my mate and business partner Zoe (walking behind me as we climbed up the rocky face of a gorge) commented that there was probably only three hours of wear left in the shorts before they hurt her eyes.
My family doesn’t do Christmas gifts. Each year we pitch in for a crappy, wood-veneered, chenille-bedspreaded holiday house down the coast. We wrestle, eat, attempt to play board games (none of us are good at sitting very still), go for bike rides and try not to step on each other’s toes (especially those of the crew sleeping on the floor in the lounge). I accept my family is in the minority, but will never accept that this time of year should be a time of rampant, crass consumerism. And to this end will continue to offer up some sustainable gift options, as I do each year. You can find my previous posts here, here, here and here. But to my latest round of ideas, collated from the wares of wonderful folk who’ve spun into my orbit throughout 2014…
Planter boxes by Fresh Prince made festive.
1. Fresh Prince Desk-top Planter boxes
Bondi boy Richie, aka Fresh Prince, is the delightful dude who created our rooftop garden at IQS HQ, and recently snuck in to the office to deliver a stack of his pen holder planter boxes for the team. The little pen holder bits are lined with fake grass. Sweet. You can buy them here.
2. A six-pack of Blind Corner Field Blend wine
Buy a six pack of their Blind Corner Field Blend and save yourself and your family from certain toxic hangover this Christmas lunch. I love these guys. Ben and his wife produce stunning, hand (and foot)-crafted wines with minimal, if any additives. The vineyard is organic, dry grown and utilises biodynamic
Country Road catalogues depict them on beaches in varying shades of chambray blue. Kinfolk magazine captures them as a bunch of hands reaching across a picnic table dressed with native flowers. Weekends away with a crew of best pals is definitely an aspirational thing. The reality can be a little less sepia-toned. Trust me. Among my crew, I’m the organiser of such things. The task generally befalls to female, eldest siblings with no kids of their own. Would you agree? So here’s how I do it, as illustrated by my recent weekend away to the Calabash Bay Lodge on the Hawkesbury River.
This. Calabash Bay Lodge. With three mates.
Please note: I was a guest of Calabash Bay Lodge, however, as always, views are all my own and I communicate this clearly to anyone wishing to host me. You’ll find my position on sponsored posts and advertising here.
1. Commit to a concrete date and plan. I’ve written about how the world responds to committed action before. Send a proper invite with set dates and details. If you keep it vague(“Hey, was thinking I might go camping in March, who wants to come?) the response will be vague.
2. Find a rippa house. Make sure there’s a decent kitchen and a deck or sunny slouch area that’s not awkward to get to. Flow
This competition has now ended.
Congratulations to prize winners Mel, Kate, Chantel, Kirsten, Nicole and Rachel.
So, I knit. If you follow my blog, you’ll have read this post about my new thing for taking up Real Life Hobbies. I believe it’s making me a more interesting human. Keen to give it a go, too? You’re in fabulous luck, because today I’m giving away…
6 x Wool and the Gang knitting kits, total value $410
The Cocoon jumper…which you can win ‘n’ knit, below
As a novice, I figured a “everything included” kit was the way to go. I scoured for a good one and found Wool and the Gang, a sustainable and ethical company with cool designs. No twin sets. No matinee jackets. This is the bit I like: the company supports small Peruvian villages (you can opt to have someone in Peru make it for you at a very reasonable rate if you don’t want to knit the thing yourself), plus the company is committed to reducing and recycling in a very innovative way – they re-purpose old T-shirt
I was recently listed in a top ten dinner party wish list with quite the bevy of top women, including Quentin Bryce, Julia Gillard and Cate Blanchett. Yep, flattered. A lot. And kind of boasting a little right here and now.
Image via The Entertaining Business
That said, it saw a number of people ask me who I’d invite if I could share a meal with anyone, from any era. Here’s my dinner party list, in no particular order (not to be invited at the same time; note #3 and #5):
1. My great grandmother who died in the same hospital in which I was born just an hour beforehand.
2. Russell Brand. But only if he’d meditated beforehand.
3. David Walsh, owner of Mona in Hobart. His mind is dead quirky. He ventures out to the farthest branches.
4. A nun under 30.
A few weeks ago I wrote about mindful coffee consumption. I bleated on about the massive issue of waste from plastic coffee pods – the chemical-leeching, the landfill issues and so on.
Image via Favim.com
But I understand plenty of you have these pod-reliant coffee machines, including some of my best mates who promptly called to ask what they should to remedy their freshly discovered dirty footprint (for those close to me, I’m annoying like that!). I certainly don’t suggest tossing the hardware. That’s not the solution.
So I looked into things a little more and came upon a crew that make environmentally sound coffee pods. Eco Caffe capsules are made from vegetable fibre and starch, which means the entire capsule (and all the wrapping!) biodegrades within six months. Eco Caffe decided they’d like to advertise their product on I Quit Sugar, where you can get more details. But I figured
Things have always made me unhappy. They bog me down. I prefer the lightness of experiences. They breeze in and out and through me. I don’t have to store them in a wardrobe. They don’t tumble down on my head when they’re stuffed into the top cupboard. They can just come for the ride and become part of me.
image via tumblr
I have many theories on why material things shit me and why I shed them as soon as they’re thrust upon me (I’m constantly giving my things away to friends and staff). I’ve had to develop such theories because my aversion fascinates others and I’m constantly asked to explain myself. Others seem to find it hard to believe I have never owned a handbag. And that I’ve worn the
I don’t normally run guest posts on this blog. But this topic is very close to my heart and my mate Kate Callaghan and I have been talking about this issue together for a while. She recently emailed to share she’d become pregnant only 15 months after being told she was infertile and kids were a pipe dream. I’ve watched her systematically shift her reproductive health one change at a time, and have implemented many myself, too. I always promised that whoever proved the doctors wrong first would have to share their tale of victory on my blog, since I know many of you here reading this are in the same “barren” boat.
Kate, bravo to you and congratulations…over to you…
Kate: “15 week bump. I swear it’s not just a food baby!”
A few years ago, I lost my period. I was diagnosed with a condition called hypothalamic amenorrhea, which basically meant that my brain had stopped communicating with my ovaries, thus halting my menstrual cycle and ovulation. Why? Because I was a stressed-out, over-exerciser and under-eater. You can read more about that here and here.
I was infertile, and I was told by many doctors that I would be unable to conceive naturally and should commence assisted reproductive technology.
The thing is, I’m pretty stubborn, and when someone tells me I can’t do something, I will go out of my way to prove them wrong. Plus, I intuitively knew that my body was capable of healing itself – it just needed a little time and TLC. Fifteen months after implementing some pretty significant changes, my husband and I conceived naturally. Here’s how I reversed my infertility:
1. I quit cardio
As a group fitness instructor who taught Body Attack, Body Step and Body Pump for a living, this was a tough one. I was doing at least one hour of cardio every day, sometimes up to three hours. I loved the endorphin hit these classes would give me,
I’m not sure why it’s taken me a while to do a post on coconut milk. It’s simple stuff, a few bucks a pop and a super nutritious meal base.
But I know you’ll have questions. Like…
The best coconut soup ever, via My New Roots. Recipe below
How much fructose is in coconut milk?
Not much; approximately 2-5 per cent. (Just make sure you buy unsweetened versions.) Both the milk and the cream contain fructans, made of a small chain of fructose. So if you’re on a FODMAP diet, you’d want to steer clear of more than 1/2 cup of coconut milk or cream. You can read about fructose in coconut water as well.
Is coconut milk or coconut cream best?
Both are good. It’s essentially the same thing, with more or less water. Both are made when the coconut flesh (the white part) is grated and soaked in hot water.
I have written about autoimmune disease – as well as my anxiety – regularly for four years. I write such posts with a lot of care, and mindfulness, and from a place of vulnerability. I’m aware of the vulnerable position others with the same disease are in, because I’m usually in that exact position when I write the posts.
But I do feel an obligation to make things clear to readers here on this blog who’ve become confused – or are hurt and defensive – from online blowouts that implicate me.
There was one such blowout over the weekend, which I will now respond to with care and vulnerability.
1. I do not claim to know why (all) women get sick. I was accused of this over the weekend by one blogger writing on Mamamia.com. I posed the question (in my headline): Could female self-hatred be the real cause of autoimmune disease? I then wrote about my personal experience with this phenomenon.
2.I did not speak out on all illness. My post was about autoimmune disease very specifically. I refer to my take on the theory espoused in the very clear context of Hashimotos, the disease I suffer from.
3. It’s always good to read the original post. I invite anyone inclined to opine on this subject to please read what I
