From the mouths of babes

On the weekend, I spoke to our nearly 5 year old niece Stella, who lives all the way over in London. Stella and I (or Little Monkey and Big Monkey respectively) love to have chats about what is going on in the world - what songs we like to sing (Anything on Singstar), why Australia is so sunny (Baba is smiling down from heaven) and who gets to sleep in which bedroom on the family trip to London for Christmas 2011 (Lucky Eady, if Stella gets her way he will be bunking down with Grandma!!). But our chat this weekend took a decidedly serious turn and in the interests of highlighting the brevity of it, here is a direct transcript:

Stella (whispering): Cole-Cole, Can I tell you a secret?
Cole K: Sorry, what was that?
Stella (whispering slightly louder): Can I tell you a secret?
Cole K: Oh, okay, go on then
Stella: My parents are donkeys
Cole K: What?
Stella: My parents are donkeys
Cole K: Donkeys? Your parents are donkeys? What does that mean?
Stella (slightly exasperated): Yes, donkeys. That's what we call people that we think are pretty silly
Cole K: Oh...okay.

So, so harsh. And the worst bit, Stella isn't even a teenager for another 8 years!!

Sit and Polish

A prediction of a top temperature of 32C was reason enough for me to want to forgo shoes and drag out the strappy sandals today. But after a winter of haphazard and not always timely pedicures, a bit of work was needed to get my twinkle toes up to public viewing standards so a visit to one of the many nail salons that are within a 5 minute walk of my house was the order of the day. Now whilst my beauty routine may have been in hibernation over the last few months, those glamorous scientists of the cosmetics world were inventing all sorts of glamorous beauty products for lazy people like me and the one item I am excited about trying is Shellac, a hybrid between nail polish and gel. The claims of this product are that it is dries almost instantly, is chip resistant for 14 days and doesn't damage the nail surface. For someone like me who refuses all colored nail polishes on my fingernails because of a high chip factor (within 24 hours people, every single time) and has had one disasterous experience with gel and will never try it again, this could well be the answer to colour co-ordinating hands and feet for me.

So here I am several hours after choosing a neutral pink colour that makes me feel all graceful and ballerina like (as opposed to the baby fairy elephant I am more often associated with). Even after lots of scrounging around in my handbag, the usual chipping culprit, all is perfect with my polish! Let's see how long this nail perfection lasts in the World of Cole but so far, so good.

It's bloomin' lovely in Sydney

Today was a day that just screamed out for flowers. I'm sure it had plenty to do with the warm sea breeze and the beautiful blue sky that greeted me when I awoke this morning, after all there is no doubt that spring is definitely here in Sydney (finally!). So after some inspiration and a timely recommendation on where to get fresh flowers that bloom for ever and a day, I got myself off to the green grocer two suburbs away and bought a couple of bunches of flowers. Apart from looking quaint and pretty and reminding me of my lovely Baba, the house is filled with the most divine spring scent too.