Australian Open 2017

Centre Court

I was almost 12 when we moved to Australia. Not long after arriving, my Mum took me to the local girls high school where they were coaching children to play tennis. I was adamant that I wanted to learn. My ever supportive Mum took me to the local K-mart and bought my very first tennis racquet. I started tennis lessons the following week.

At that age, we lived in a flat right across Hornsby shopping centre. The shops did not trade on Sundays so I would take myself to the empty indoor parking lot with my tennis racquet and balls and start hitting the wall. My Dad, who is an amazing sportsman always said that you will only get better if you practiced. So I did. I rallied against the wall.

Throughout high school, I loved watching and playing tennis. I started playing weekend competitions and would always look forward to the grand slams on tv. Navratrilova was still big then, Ivan Lendl was the cool cat, Stefi Graf was full of grace, Andre Agassi had very long hair, and Monica Seles grunted very loudly. I was absolutely in love with Stefan Edberg too. Tennis became an outlet as it allowed me to meet people from our area (I did not attend a local school). It also allowed me to play in some of the most beautiful houses around the district.

My brother started playing tennis too. For those who knew us when we were young, you would know how good a tennis player my brother was. Like my Dad, he is genetically gifted in sport. He had so much potential that my Dad took him to a tennis camp in Florida where Pete Sampras, then an up and coming player trained.

I stopped following tennis just as Federer/Nadal and the Williams sisters were starting to become great. Occasionally I would watch it on tv but I could no longer tell you who were the top players.

So you can imagine how excited I was when our client invited us to the 2017 Australian Open about a week and a half ago.

Just so that I can remember this, I will also include that I was not my CEO's first choice to attend the tennis with her. However, when she spoke with our client, they insisted that the 2nd ticket go to me, as I had been managing our partnership. You can imagine the excitement I felt as not only did my client insist that I go to Melbourne (they were paying for flights and accommodation too), I finally get to go to a Semi Finals match of a Grand Slam!

My CEO and I flew to Melbourne on Australia Day 2017. Our client had organised for a transfer from the airport to our hotel (did I tell you that we were staying at the Westin too?!), then to attend a 7 course degustation paired with wines at a Spanish restaurant for lunch prior to watching the tennis in the evening.

One indulgent lunch

 
We had about an hour between lunch and the tennis to "freshen up". I think for most of us, it was to take a nana-nap after that indulgent lunch. I took the opportunity to 'freshen up", ring Tim and the kids to hear about their day and to show them my digs for the night.

 

The obligatory selfie

 

So walking into the Australian Open was pretty much like the lunch we had earlier. It was indulgent! Sensory overload. The excitement, the pride, the once in a lifetime opportunity.

I was excited to finally be attending the Australian Open. I was so excited to be watching the Mens Semi Final. I was beside myself knowing that I will get to watch, and cheer for Stan Wawrinka, one of the players that I have a not so secret crush on (last one was Stefan Edberg!)

How big is my smile?

 

Well needless to say it was a terrific match. Stan lost to Roger Federer but it was a well earned win for Roger. The match was well over 3 hrs but it went pretty quick. All my tennis lingo came back to me! The love that I previously had for the sport came back!

It was an epic 5 set!

 

This weekend I have rekindled my love for tennis through the finals, watching the Williams' sisters play for the Women's title and watching Rafa and Roger battle it out once again for the Mens. Seriously, if it wasn't for Rafa losing his hair, and for my need to go to bed way before the end of the 2nd set, I would think I was back to where I was 20 years ago!

PS - I need to look for some photos from my tennis years as a teen.

Noah and Eliza - fast forward 3 big years

Noah was not even 4 years old the last time I blogged. Eliza less than 2.
We had just moved to Frenchs Forest and I had just started another full time job.
The children moved preschools/long daycare and we didn't realise how much work a house with a garden took!

No wonder I stopped blogging! I think I was barely staying afloat.

Lets talk about Frenchs Forest first. What a beautiful neighbourhood. We are so lucky to have been able to have moved here when we did. Had we left it another 6 months,  I doubt us being here.  We are so lucky that our neighbours are beautiful. We live on a battleaxe, sharing a driveway with a lovely lady and her beautiful sausage dog Jake. How the kids have become fond of Jake. Every opportunity to pat and play with him, they do. The kids have not had the opportunity to be surrounded by dogs so having Jake enables to build their confidence around these lovely animals.  Another next door neightbour has a pool - and oh do we have pool envy over the summer! Just as well the kids have their paddling pool which keeps them happy, but sadly not really made for adults, or is it?

Wonder if the neighbours have pool envy too?!

Over the last 2 years our street has hosted two Christmas in July street parties. These parties have allowed us to meet our neighbours and somewhat get to know them. The last party, a neigbour opened their home and spoiled us, including providing sparklers and loot bags for the children. How lucky are we to live in such a wonderful community.

Some of the older street kids 2015

Some of the younger street kids 2016

I am interested to see what is ahead for Frenchs Forest but that is another story to tell.

Work! I work for Landcare Australia, which is a not-for-profit land and water focused organisation. I am with their partnerships team, responsible for bringing corporate revenue in. NOT THE EASIEST ROLE!

There are many things I love about my job, but sometimes I wonder how I ended up there. I still laugh remembering when I first told my brother that I was working for an environmental organisation. He distinctly said "You, environment, are you serious". Ha!

Getting my hands dirty!

Well Landcare has definitely taught me so much more than I ever expected. Today, I know what biodiversity means. I know what corridor links mean. I know what citizen science is. I know why it is important for each of us to support our local farmers. I know why it is important for our children to learn about where our food comes from. I know why our kids need to get their hands dirty. I know the value of volunteering your time and your energy, and of community education and engagement.

Noah and Eliza learning about soil health from Costa G.

Yes, me and the environment! Who would have thought?!

In the 3 years that have passed, Noah attended an amazing preschool for a year and has been at OLGC, our local Catholic primary school for 2. I am so grateful that we found Little Bloomers, the preschool that Noah attended. I came across them through asking a Mums facebook forum. Thank goodness one of the mums told me to Go fot it, as we did and haven't looked back. Eliza ended up attending Little Bloomers herself for almost 2 years! Thank you Caroline xo

Noah and Eliza at the Little Bloomers disco

OLGC, I will dedicate a separate post to!

I have to mention the first long daycare Eliza attended after our move. Since you needed to be 3 years old to attend Little Bloomers, we had to find another place for Eliza. We found a lovely place in Frenchs Forest bordering Allambie. While the place was lovely and caring, it was the worse year EVER. I would say that the place is no more than 3 kms from our home. 3km, on weekends, take no more than 5 minutes. On weekdays, it takes up to 45 minutes one way! 45 very painful minutes especially when I know that I still needed to park the car and get the bus to work. The day Eliza moved to Little Bloomers, the weight of being stuck in traffic was lifted off my shoulder. I seriously have not experienced wasting my time sitting in the car, on a daily basis, until we needed to do that routine. No wonder I kept away from blogging. I would have just been a miserable dried prune.

Homeownership and homekeeping! Oh my goodness.


So we bidded for our house the first time we saw it. We had been looking for a house for about 4 months, taking the children with us every Saturday to open houses. Tim and I fell in love with our house immediately. While we had to compromise on some aspects, we knew that we had found our home, possibly our forever home. Little did we realise that owning our own home equated to a whole new level of responsibility. While Tim and I have both owned our own homes, we have owned units - where we were only responsible for our 4 walls. This time, we were not only responsible for our 4 walls, but we were also responsible for the garden, the trees, the fences, the roof, the gutters, the drains....EVERYTHING!

I remember distinctly that within the first 6 months of home ownership, Tim and I decided to have our trees trimmed. We live in Frenchs Forest, and we literally have a forest in our garden. That initial work cost us almost $2K, and I remember asking the tree lopper how often we would need to get the trees trimmed. Every 18-24months at least he said! Who would have thought we needed to budget for that?!

Early last year, we decided to have 1 of our 4 big trees cut. A $4K exercise! Sigh!

1 out of our 4 big trees

Just as well Tim (and his helpers) enjoy gardening so there is no need to engage a gardener to help us keep on top of our garden.

Thank goodness that even princesses help in the garden

 We are giving our local plumber plenty of business though!

Let's try again!

This morning I woke up and had a wild thought.
Maybe I can blog again.

Maybe I can start capturing, once again, memories that are being created around me. I know that one day and I have said this before, I am going to need something and someone to remind me of my journey - the things that have made me laugh and the things that have made me cry. The things that have bothered me and the things I wonder about. I also want my children to be reminded of the experiences they have had, their family and friends, the people around them, their DNA, each ingredient that little by little contribute to who they will become. Noah and Eliza's own journey!

Thank goodness for email as it was the only way I could find my own blog. Ha! I told you that one day I am going to need all the help remembering things!

So here I am, three years on from the very last blog I wrote.

Funny that my last blog was also written in January. Maybe it has something to do with starting the year fresh. Maybe it is my own psychological new years resolution. Maybe every January I say to myself, I am going to do a better job of diarising our memories. I will do a better job of keeping in touch with the my own family and friends, and the people who have been part of me - the people who have been part of my own journey.

I will finish this post here. Let me now gather my thoughts and think about the last three years.
How I wish I have already captured the memories!!!

Welcoming 2017 from the top of our road.