44.


This is 44.

A homemade birthday cake, sprinkled with care in colours that match a birthday gift painting of life under the sea…

The cake was a labour of love and one of joy.  I don’t get to bake much these days so I pulled out all the stops.

Vanilla paste and beans freshly scraped from a pod went into the batter while I sandwiched those lopsided cakes together with homemade strawberry puree.

The frosting was vanilla and mascarpone.  
The end result.  Very homely looking but oh so delicious as homemade cakes are wont to be.
Forty-four is being able to share more of your childhood memories with your child as he grows older and more interested in these things and your growing older gets you all whimsical about your own life at his age.

Four years into forty is thinking ‘if I’m going to a black-tie work function, I’m going to go dressed for both comfort and the occasion’…. hence the splashing of cash on this Camilla.  It’s got that high waist and dramatic long sleeve look that always makes me think Duchess of Cambridge.  Possibly not a print Kate would go for but despite this, I love it to bits and intend to wear it for every function I might find myself at throughout this coming party season….

I intend to wear my Frock with these heels from the archives.  They’re much more comfortable than they might appear thanks to the genius of platform soles….

Arm parties at forty-four are all about hair elastics.  Very handy for tying back that flattering layered look hairdressers tend to go for when you’re heading toward a certain age…
My days of manis at the local nail spa are way, way behind me now.  Using this ice pack at my desk at work after I managed to burn my hand using the hot water dispenser in the kitchen is as close to the spa experience as I get these days.
These are also times for loving skincare harder than makeup.  Say hello to my latest ‘I loved the Beauty Loop sample from Mecca so much I had to purchase the full size’ find.  Drunk Elephant’s B-Hydra ($80 AUD for 50ml)is amazing.  The Ordinary’s Hyaluronic Acid 2% ($12.90AUD for 30ml) is a good dupe but I find it stays a bit sticky on top of my skin while the DE gets absorbed very quickly.
‘High maintenance’ are not words to fear when you’re a forty-four-year-old attempting to recover post a fun run.  After the stretching and yoga one also needs to whip out a few skincare sachets on the train towards real coffee in order to begin to feel (and look) even vaguely human again.
Image result for sydney running festival 2019
via Google images

There’s a stubbornness to forty-four as well.  Despite a few niggling aches here and there, I’ve just signed up for the 10K at this year’s Sydney Running Festival.

So looking forward to running past these icons.
Speaking of icons.  Guess where this forty-four-year-old is heading to in around 50 days?
PARIS!!!!!!!  My tickets came through on my birthday and I am so looking forward to it.  The new memories I’ll be making, the flights (oh how I love those flights), the breathless posts for the blog covering every possible detail you could ever hope to learn from one woman’s work-related trip to a city so many others have immortalized in song, film and literature….



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