Jacarandas. Westfield Angst. The Tight Stuff.


The jacaranda trees in my neighbourhood were vibrant in their defiance of the bleak weather we had over the weekend.  Nothing, not even the kind of rain that finds every possible leak in the roof was going to stop them putting on their annual show of purple blossoms.

I took this photo on the way into work on Sunday.  I was on the home stretch work wise and seeing ‘my’ jacaranda tree in bloom was so uplifting I had to pull over and take a photo through my windscreen.  It was my last weekend on call for the year and seeing those flowers was even better than getting a celebratory bunch of flowers.

I don’t do purple as well as jacaranda trees do but I did embrace colour (and fruit) via an apple green plaid shirt under lemon yellow sweater.  

I read about the big issues over coffee.  Do you ever wonder how we managed to turn out all right without things like being tutored in preschool?  I also don’t think I’m in a strong position to express shock and outrage.  Ironically, it’s actually my generation who’s behind the surge in demand for all kinds of intensive parenting practices and it’s also going to be our generation who will often be teaching, supervising or managing these children in the decades to come.

I wonder if we will have the energy to maintain the intensively programmed lives we’ve created for our children and to be able to manage their expectations and attitude as they enter ‘our’ workforce.  A place which I doubt will have evolved as rapidly as parenting styles and expectations have.

I wonder even more about the children and how we already know this world is so fast-paced, complicated and changing so rapidly all the time.  They will need their own coping mechanisms and life skills to navigate a path through it all.  Things that are learned at one’s own pace and during those times when you are left to your devices for a bit to figure stuff out (with your parents in the distance being there if you needed them).

I also had a big issue of my own.  A crisis, even.  In my sleep-deprived state, I forgot to pack my gym clothes for my traditional end of the on-call weekend run.  Fortunately, I did have my trainers, socks and a towel but I had to do something about the activewear situation.  So I did some research on the Lulu site and wrote myself a shopping list/outfit plan.

 The only hitch was that the activewear procurement involved first finding a park at my local Westfield.  Hard at the best of times and almost a futile mission on a wet Sunday afternoon.  But the parking gods were kind and I managed to find a spot and reverse into it without hitting any of the trolleys parked next to it.

Here I am in the changeroom about to try on my shopping list.  I actually quite like the button down shirt under a V neck sweater and J Brands look.  I might revisit it during the week given how bad the weather’s going to be. Come on spring, where are you?

Anyway.  The bra, tank and tights were a success but I find Lulu’s long sleeved tops and sweaters to generally be too sheer and fitted for me so I had to look somewhere else for that.

Somewhere else turned out to be H&M Bondi Junction which sadly does not have the Erdem + H&M collection.  Actually, it’s not sad for my credit cards.  Long story short, I found a loose fitting, longish knit sweater in khaki that looked good for the discounted price of $20.  And it looked even better when I went to pay and found that it was reduced to $7.  See, I did shop smart at least once over the weekend.

FYI, if you don’t already own a pair of Lulu’s Tight Stuff tights ($149 AUD…. but worth every dollar) you need to rectify the situation.  They’re made of something called Luxtreme and manage to be both lightweight and workout friendly while also providing ‘moderate compression’.  It’s either the compression or the ultra flattering gym mirror that’s given me transiently longer, leaner legs in this photo.
The last time I worried about compression was when I was shopping for pregnancy recovery shorts … a lifetime away.  These tights are worlds away from recovery wear.  I’d wear them all day if I could get away with it.  Why can’t those Spanx things be as comfortable?  Research and development team at Lulu HQ, are you reading this?
Drifting back to topic, it was a joy wearing these tights as I ran.  I don’t know if it was the Luxtreme or the fact that I was off call but my sprints were the most painless they’ve been in a very long time.  At this rate I might just be signing myself up for the City to Surf next year.  Did I really just write that?  Oops.
Then I had to return to the real world and do the week’s groceries.  In a supermarket that wasn’t my regular one.  Does this unsettle you as much as it did me?  Everything’s in different spots and if you’re visiting a different chain, the brands and their packaging aren’t as instantly recongnizable which makes you slow down to read and check labels.  There was a handy store directory on my trolley but did I use it? Of course not. I was too busy mainlining … Coke No Sugar (!!) for that kind of sensible behaviour.
All’s well that ends well, though.  I got everything on my list, including a couple of precious bottles of Sriracha.

And then it was back home via the carpark which was littered with abandoned trolleys looking a little sinister being positioned almost perfectly at the boots of neighbouring cars.  As if they’d been unloaded and their unloaders had suddenly got whisked off somewhere after unpacking.  To tackle the laundry or family bathime perhaps.  I think it was one of days for more than one of us.

I overthink these things, I’m afraid.

Have you scored a surprise markdown on a markdown at the checkout?

Do you ever think laterally about the state of parenting in the twenty tens?  Do you always conclude these sessions with silent awe of your parents and amazement that you actually turned out okay without all the stuff kids need these days?

Westfields on wet Sunday afternoons?  Have you ever?


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