That time I was too worried to bring my phone

J and I went to the beach yesterday.  I’ve been wanting to go for a swim while pregnant to see if it felt different, and yesterday we finally got around to going.  But I was worried about leaving our things on the beach while we were in the water.  How do we keep our things safe?  How does anyone keep their things safe on the beach?  My mind ran through scenarios of losing our phones, car keys, bank card, transport card. 

So we didn’t bring a lot of those things.  I think J thought I was being paranoid, but he went along with my fears, what a lovely husband.  We brought cash, transport cards and one set of keys.  On one hand, it makes me really sad that I didn’t feel safe enough to leave things on the beach, afraid that someone would steal them.  But on the other hand, I didn’t want to take the risk.

Once we got to the beach and saw the number of people around, how close people were packed (beaches in Sydney are packed!), I relaxed a bit.  I didn’t even use my back-up plan of further hiding/disguising my valuables.  Surely all these people also had valuables and weren’t worried about them being stolen.  Maybe there’s some sort of beach etiquette of not stealing (J called it general etiquette, he’s right). 

We had a lovely time and I was able to relax in the water without worrying too much about our bags.  We could see them from where we were in the water (well J could and he gave me occasional updates, I wasn’t wearing my glasses in the water).  I found swimming while pregnant wasn’t hugely different than swimming not-pregnant.  Mind you, I haven’t been swimming in a while.  Doing a star float on my back was lovely since I haven’t been able to lie on my back in months.  But I had to commit to it, ears in the water and all.  If I tried to keep my head up that engaged my abdominals, which weren’t too happy about being used. 

We’re not very good at taking photos of what we’re doing anyway, but we’re a bit better when there’s an actual occasion to photograph.  I’m a bit sad that since we didn’t bring our phones we have no photos to show you of our time at the beach.  So here’s us at a different beach:

 

Thankful Thursday

Oops.  It’s Thursday again.  I had at least two posts that I wanted to write before we got here.  One was about the space thing I mentioned last time.  I guess that will have to wait, sorry. 

Here are some of the things I am thankful for this week:

Breakfast date and good advice
J and I went out for a breakfast date on Saturday.  We were already up early because our community had its annual photo that morning.  We had heard about a nice cafe just down the road and decided this was a great opportunity to check it out.  When we got there I saw that the menu had Nutella bombs! 

Now I understand if you don’t know what a Nutella bomb is; I myself only learnt about them a couple of months ago.  It is basically a Nutella milkshake, usually with a jam (or Nutella?) filled doughnut sitting on top of the glass with the straw pushed through it.  I’ve never had one before, so all this is just what I’ve heard from others.  The Nutella bomb at this cafe had a chocolate brownie on the top. 

I really wanted to get one, I’ve never tried it before and I LOVE Nutella.  But J convinced me that I wouldn’t be able to fit it in with breakfast as well.  So I made him promise that we’d come back some other time for a Nutella bomb.  Actually, I don’t think I made him promise, I just told him that we had to come back another time. 

This is what they look like.  When I tried to search online for Nutella bomb I couldn’t find it but it turns out the rest of the world (or just Sydney?) calls them Tella Ball Shakes.  If you click on the picture you can get the story about how they were created/invented. 

At the end of breakfast I realised J was right.  I’d only had a bowl of toasted museli with berries and yoghurt, with a glass of fresh juice, but I knew I definitely couldn’t have fit a Nutella bomb in as well.  Sorry I don’t have a picture of the food (it was delicious), but I’ve never been in the habit of taking photos of my food.  But when I have a Nutella bomb or Tella Ball Shake I’ll try to remember to take a photo!

A driver swap
As you know, our community organises a car pool to get to and from college each day.  This week I’m thankful for the driver who was willing to swap times with J and I so that we could get home a little bit earlier for an appointment we had to get to. 

Final assignment done!
Last night I submitted my final assignment (ever! J said, but I told him to never say never, or ever).  As far as final assignments go it was a pretty easy one to finish on.  It was the second of a two part research assignment where we had to reflect upon an application of our research and what we have learnt through the process.  And as maybe you can tell by the name of this blog, I don’t mind reflecting much at all. 

What are you thankful for this week?

A Crowd and a Flashback

I hate crowds.  They make me anxious and grouchy.

Yesterday J and I went into the city to see an amazing light display.  But I’d forgotten that it wasn’t Sunday–night–before–a–work–day, but Sunday–night–before–a–public–holiday.  So there were people everywhere doing the same thing we were.  It was madness.  There were so many people in the city for this event that we weren’t allowed to get off the train at the closest stop but had to get off earlier and walk.  They even closed down a major road in the city for the pedestrians to use.

At one point I was bumped (and this is when I get grouchy), and it reminded me of a similar reaction I’d had before.  I was reminded because I’ve been thinking of doing a flashback series on reflections I’ve written in the past.  I recently went back to a journal that I used to keep and I read an entry about this exact thing.

So here it is, written by my 17 year old self (and edited for length by my current self):

Someone was mucking around in the clustered, confined spaces of the Year Twelve corridor and they caused a small domino effect; only bumping, no one fell over.  I heard my friend behind me offer an apology to someone but I didn’t say anything.  I was in a bad mood and it wasn’t my fault if I had bumped into someone because a few people were acting stupidly.  They were the ones who should apologise.

But does that really justify my thoughts and response? Most people have bad moods sometimes but I don’t think that means we’re entitled to act grumpy and rude.  So how should we express to others that we are upset without becoming completely self-centred or upsetting others in the process?

When I’m grumpy I often want other people to know it, I do become self-absorbed.  But what would be the right way to act when I’m grumpy?  Perhaps being grumpy at all is completely un-godly.  To not act in a grumpy way practically defeats the purpose of being grumpy.  Perhaps by consciously deciding not to act on your grumpy feelings helps you to stop feeling grumpy. Indulging in a bad mood may just serve to make us feel worse, even if we think we’ll feel better by expressing it.  Instead, we should cultivate the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

There it is.  What do you think of my 17-year-old wisdom?  I think that’s something I needed to hear yesterday when I got grumpy from being bumped in a crowd. 

And just for fun, here are some pictures of my favourite building in the light show.

Out to the Zoo

Last weekend we went to the Zoo.  Our community of college students has organised Zoo membership cards to share among the families who wanted to participate.  We signed ourselves up and finally went last weekend.  Sharing the membership passes means that we're sharing the cost, we can go any time that we want provided no one else is using the passes, and we get cheap members parking at the zoo!

We made a day of it and spent most of the day there from when they opened to when they closed.  Okay, we slept in a bit and didn't get there until 11am, but hey, it was Saturday and it's a long drive to get there!

Here are some of the things we saw:

The giraffes are my favourite

Blue steel

Spoonbills are just so odd.  This one tried to bite people's fingers...

Look Eliza! a pelican and another pelican...