day 48-60 (february photo-a-day day 16-29) or how did I get so far behind?!?

It doesn't take much for the house of cards to come tumbling down does it? Even when it is something you love doing it can still fall to pieces. A couple of school evening commitments, a busy week at work followed by a work trip away and next thing you know I am 13 days behind in sharing my Fat Mum Slim February photo-a-day pics with you. For some of these days I had planned a bit more of a story to go with them but as things have turned out I think that would be a little excessive, so I will save those stories and extra pics for a different day and for now I apologise for taking so long and giving you so many pics to look at in one go...

Day 60 (february day 29) - something I'm listening to

It's raining it's pouring, the old man is snoring. Well not really, but it is wet and windy and I am feeling annoyed about it. I have just gotten home from five fabulous days in Sydney, where we (Intrinsic) were exhibiting at the Home and Giving Trade Fair. I ate and drank way too much and am now feeling very podgy! I arrived home late last night and have the day off today. After sleeping a little too late this morning I optioned up on one of Andrea at Fox-in-flats' tips for the school run and threw on my gym gear. I did actually plan to go for a run, but I had a princess moment and the rain put me off. Instead I am sitting here on the computer listening to the rain and hoping it will ease off enough for me to actually run.

Day 59 (february day 28) - money

Money... or lack thereof (it's been a big weekend!)

Day 58 (february day 27) - something I ate

What and amazing Lebanese feast at El-Phoenician restaurant in Parramatta! The food was so good, the waiting staff were super friendly and the company was perfect. The only down side was the contribution this made to my current podgy feeling!! (But I still say totally worth it!)

Day 57 (february day 26) - night

Not sure that I nailed this one! It is the view from my lovely hotel room at the Pullman Hotel in Olympic Park with the room reflected in the window. Hmmm.

Day 56 (february day 25) - green

First day of the fair and when I sat down to have some lunch and flick through Instagram I realised that the theme was green and my spinach quiche and spinach and cous cous salad seemed like it would be my best option for the day. 

Day 55 (february day 24) - inside your bathroom cabinet

I left home for the airport at 5:30am so the last thing on my mind was taking photos. By the time I was thinking about the photo-a-day challenge my bathroom cabinet was inside my daggy old toilet bag that I have had for getting close to 20 years!

Day 54 (february day 23) - shoes

I do love shoes, but continuing my time poor theme of the last week, there was no time for staging some gorgeous shot. Instead these are one of my favourite pairs of shoes and are perfect for powering my ride to work.

Day 53 (february day 22) - where I work

My paid work is at the most gorgeous Intrinsic. We create beautiful greeting cards, gifts and stationery to inspire the world. The Intrinsic studios are located off the charming vine covered Chesser Street in Adelaide.

Day 52 (february day 21) - a fave photo of me

A photo of a photo, I want to say how very post-modern. But I know that just dates me as being old enough to remember a world where photos existed only in albums or in frames. And to get a copy meant taking the negative to the photo processing shop. Anyway this is one of my favourite photos of Miss M and me. It was taken by my lovely sister at Pt Vincent, my favourite place. I did have a couple of runners up for fave photo, but I asked Miss M to help me choose, so of course she chose the one of her looking super cute.

Day 51 (february day 20) - handwriting

My hand-writing on top and I think my Nanna's hand-writing on the bottom. I found the recipe tucked inside a very old edition of the Green & Gold Cookbook. I'm glad that I do have some handwritten recipes. I hope that my grandchildren enjoy reading them, like I enjoy reading old family recipes. I'm pretty sure they won't be pouring through my collection of pins on Pinterest, or looking through my bookmarks on my computer filled with nostalgia. There really is something about handwriting that evokes the presence of that person. 

Day 50 (february day 19) - something I hate to do

I hate tidying. This is the dumping ground that is my office. When we have people coming round I do an emergency surfaces tidy and everything lands in the office. I spent day 19 sucking it up and tidying this disaster zone. By the end it was looking pretty good. Not perfect, but a really good start.

Day 49 (february day 18) - drink

It looks like I spend a lot of time sitting around drinking coffee. And maybe I do! Day 18 saw me back in my favourite Saturday spot with a cafe latte and about to make a very late jump onto The Slap bandwagon.

Day 48 (february day 17) - time

It was time to clear this c**p out of my life. I was inspired by Sarah at A Beach Cottage to just get stuck in and do it. She issued a de-clutter challenge and I put up my virtual hand and said I'm in. Unfortunately, my good intentions were also derailed by my busy week. And I am a beach cottage de-clutter fail whale. But that's okay. I did make a good start and got rid of some stuff that had been hanging around for ages. And I even got $16 for the bottles! What I did do on day 17 that was awesome and I am going to continue was to set the timer for one hour and put as much as I could fit in the car boot and then took it straight to the Salvos. And that felt fantastic.

Phew! That was long. Well done and thank you if you're still reading! How has your February? Did you have good intentions de-railed by other commitments?   

day 38 - button (or feb day 7)

I have been feeling a little podgy since the Christmas holidays. (And the scales are backing me up on that!) Even though I have stopped eating sugar, I still put on 4kg over the holidays. I suspect the fabulous support I give to the Australian wine industry that is the cause of my problems!

I had thought that I would try Feb Fast, good thing I didn't get sponsorship, because I only lasted 3 days. I caught up with my sister after school on Friday and, well, she thought that a cheeky glass of bubbles might be good to settle our nerves. And let's be serious, that can only be a good thing! I thought maybe the rule could be that Friday's don't count. But then on Saturday night I was babysitting my nephews and had got the kids all set up to watch a movie after dinner and really started to feel a bit wine o'clock. I fessed up to my hubby about my Friday afternoon bubbles, and he fessed up to beers at the soccer! And we both agreed that if we felt like a glass of red on a Saturday night we absolutely deserved to have one!

Anyway, the point of that long rambley story is that I like a weekend tipple and my new thing is to cut out bread and pasta to try and ditch my xmas pudding. I made hummus on the weekend and have been having that with salad for lunch at work. When I started eating my lunch I remembered that the challenge for today was buttons. And I had button mushrooms in my salad. How good was that!?

Did you put on weight over the holidays? Have you managed to lose it yet? What works for you?

day 37 - dinner (or feb day 6)

Today's challenge was dinner. And it was a big "oops" for me! Miss M and I arrived home from swimming lessons, she was starving and I was in a hurry. I wanted her to do her homework and eat dinner before we had to be back at school at 6:00! I scoffed my leftover quiche with some salad (actually just some lonely lettuce), feeling very proud of myself for having the forethought to have made extra last night. 

Then I remembered that I was supposed to have taken a photo first! Oh well, too late, an empty plate it is. When we got back home my girl was of course still hungry, so we made banana custard for dessert. I think this makes up for the dodgy dinner performance. And I promise to try harder next time.

What do you do to make up for a poor performance, do you make dessert to make amends? Do you give yourself a mental beating or are you forgiving of your flaws?

day 29 - inside my fridge (plus day 2 - breakfast catch up)

It's home-time today. It's been a beautiful mini-break and I'm not looking forward to returning home to reality. Mum and Dad are staying a little longer, so I guess they are going to be enjoying the blue swimmer crabs for dinner tonight.

inside the holiday house fridge

Dad made us all porridge for breakfast this morning. I thought it was a great chance to make up one of the photos that I am still missing from starting the January photo-a-day challenge late. So here is day 2 - breakfast...

I pimped my porridge with greek yoghurt and figs

day 27 - lunch

Lunch today was at Chill Out Coffee Shop, I had the yummiest lamb burger on damper. I'm sure no good can come from eating so much meat, but it was so deliciously worth it.

Thinking about lunch got me thinking about making lunches, and that the school holidays are coming to an end. I'm starting to panic. I'm not ready. I know that other people get over it by the end of the summer holidays, but I really just want one more week. Don't get me wrong, the juggle of working and organising childcare is a hassle, but it is so worth it on the days that I don't work, and don't have to make lunch, and don't have to be on repeat yelling 'hurry up'. I struggle with time management and seem to have passed that trait onto my daughter!

Our aim for this term is to be on time every day. Planning With Kids has a great round up of ways to be organised for school. I have poured through her tips and am feeling slightly more hopeful that we can get our act together this year.

What are your tricks for being organised in the morning?