I have a confession to make, I probably spend too much money on making the house smell nice, whether it’s fragrant candles or incense. There’s something about the smell they provide that transports me away from the house momentarily or something. I don’t know exactly what it is but it’s something I do for me.

I’ve bought the candles in the small and large glass jars, and I’ve bought the little soy melt cakes you put in a holder use the little tea light candles to melt them. And I burn them pretty regularly

Unfortunately some soy candles don’t live up to their hype. That is their fragrance is either pretty much non-existent or it goes to the other extreme and is too sweet and overpowering. So it can turn into an expensive exercise but as it’s one of the luxuries I allow myself in addition to my op-shop habit, I persist.

I was recently approached by Sydney Fragrance and given one of their candles to try – Heartland (inspired by Outback Australia, with finger lime, flannel flower and eucalyptus).

After having burned it for a few hours over 3 nights or so it passes my test of just enough smell where you want to breath more in and it just smells good.

Even the next morning and the evening after when I’ve come home from work I can still smell it a bit.

So, it passes my test of smelling pretty damn good and having that bit of extra staying power.

Would I buy from them? Yes, I would.

The large candle I received as shown above is $39 and burns for around 80 hours.

Sydney Fragrance – shop online or check out their stockists.

Note: Sydney Fragrance gifted me the candle pictured above.

My neighbourhood was built up in around the 1960s and 1970s so it’s relatively new. Luckily, so far, it’s escaped the knockdown the old house on the big block and sub-divide into two or more houses like many other suburbs around the place are undergoing.

When I was house-hunting I’d look at those cookie cutter houses on the small block with virtually no greenery around them and didn’t even look at one. Maybe one day I’ll be ready to move into a house like that where I don’t have to do much maintenance but when that’s becoming the norm in suburbs nearby I’m not super keen.

I remember driving past housing developments when I was a kid and mum would say the same thing. Although those places are probably very established now with various plants to attract some wildlife.

The tree in the photo above was probably here before the houses were. It’s near an oval and not near any houses so it didn’t need to be cut down I guess. When I drive past it I have to slow down because one of its roots grows underneath the asphalt making a big bump giving me a chance to check it out its majesty. I’m sure it’s seen lots of changes over the years and will probably see more over years to come. It will hopefully be here as this suburb moves onto its next phase.

The other night I met some friends at Plant 4 at Bowden for a catchup and some dinner.

It was pretty busy when we arrived around 6.30pm with everyone buying food so I’d recommend ordering your food, go the wine stall and grab a glass of wine to sip on while you wait for your food to get ready. That’s what I did anyway.

I had a Japanese cabbage pancake with squid, okonomiyaki, which I’ve never tried before and it was delicious.

We found a table outside and ate and chatted – a lovely Wednesday evening.

I drove home just before sunset and Adelaide being Adelaide I got stuck in a roadworks slowdown. I couldn’t stop looking at the gorgeous sky so snuck a photo while stopped in traffic. Seeing the sky like this almost made it worthwhile being stuck in traffic and for a change I didn’t get annoyed at the snail pace movement. I enjoyed being able to lose myself in the gorgeous clouds and colours of the spectacular sunset.

All too soon I crawled through the 25km/hr section of the road and was home in no time. The sunset was pretty much over by then but I got to relive it by posting my image to social media and enjoy other photos too.

Lost my mojo with this writing every day thing. I was all right with the first 10 days where it was more about feelings. The next 10 days of places doesn’t really suit me. Perhaps it’s the type of places? After all, I did some of them but got stuck at the ‘your bedroom’ one. My bedroom is my sanctuary and it’s with great pleasure I get into bed every night and usually with great reluctance I get up every morning. I treated myself to a new bed when I moved nearly a year ago and thank goodness I chose well. My favourite time is when I’ve got clean sheets on the bed. If I had a daily housekeeper I would get them to do clean sheets every day or at least every second day.

But because that bit felt a bit short I’m going to tell you a bit about today. This morning I dropped my son off at his job, came home and did some housework and pottered around for a while. I thought I’d go a bit early to pick him up and have a look around at the shops as he’s working at Glenelg. As I don’t go there that often there’s always something new to check out.

I walked into shops that cater to people with way more money to spend than me. I wouldn’t spend $70 on a cotton scarf. Didn’t stay long in that shop.

I always gravitate towards the back of shops where the clearance items are because sometimes you can find a bargain. I ended up buying a pair of sandals that were less than half price. I don’t know about you but every time I buy something that’s heavily marked down the sales assistant tells me what a bargain it is. I know! That’s why I’m buying it. It’s like they’re pointing something out you didn’t know. Truth is I usually wouldn’t be buying it if it were still full price. So now I have a pair of sandals I wouldn’t have bought if they weren’t on sale, but they’re cute and comfortable.

Oh, and then I went to 3 supermarkets on the way home trying to find pizza dough! Third time lucky otherwise no pizza for dinner.

Our Nana used to live in Victor Harbor but when I was about 12 she moved to the city to be closer to her youngest daughter and that bit closer to my mum, her oldest daughter.

She moved into an apartment that had a pool. It was heaven for my sisters and I. During the summer holidays we’d stay on after Christmas for a week or so and it was a real holiday for us.

Nana would buy soft drink and keep it stocked up. This was a special treat as it was something that mum rarely allowed.

Her unit was only a 2 bedroom and she’d give up her room with the twin beds so 2 of us could sleep in there and the other 1 in the other little spare room. This allowed her to stay up that bit later I guess and smoke some more Benson and Hedges cigarettes and sip away at a bit more Stout.

I’m pretty sure Nana enjoyed having us stay. We certainly enjoyed staying there. And at that time it was very social around the pool. There were other kids living or staying so they’d invariably be hanging around or come out if we went to the pool. While we were younger Nana would come out and supervise us – she never joined us in the pool though.

We continued visiting her during the holidays and then when I finished high school I moved in with her. It wasn’t quite the same thing and those summer holidays then became a thing of the past for me as I joined the workforce and after a couple of years moved into a share house.

Only a few years after that Nana got taken to hospital and then put into a nursing home where she only lasted 3 weeks. She’d had enough and gave up on life.

Mum and her sister inherited the unit and eventually mum and dad bought out her sister’s half. I moved back in just before I went overseas and then again after I came back a couple of years later. It was perfect. Cheap rent and close to everything.

My sister now lives there after buying it from mum and dad so it’s still in our family after all these years. The pool is now fenced and rarely gets used.

I’ve always loved the beach. There’s something about the sound the waves make that make walking along the beach really relaxing.

I find I can really zone out when I’m walking by myself and it ultimately relaxes me and makes things feel better if I’m feeling a bit stressed or worried about something.

It’s that time of year when the water starts to warm up so a swim is a good add-on to a beach visit.

In my youth I lived in a share house with about 4 other people. I had a day job and they mostly worked night jobs in bars and after getting home from work one day they’d been to the beach and planned to go again the next day. Lo and behold the next day I was, ahem, too ‘sick’ to go work so I joined them on their beach excursion for much of the afternoon. I’m not sure how I hid my sunburn the next day at work – probably not very well.

These days I’m much more sun smart and usually only go for a swim first or last thing during the day.

Damnit, I just want to go to the beach right now. It’s a perfect day for it.