Week in a wink.

I know I know I have been slackola with le blog.

My excuse (and I don't believe in excuses but here it is): the last 7 consecutive days (Sun to Sat) I have been at work/conferences.

So apart from eating and running and catching up with the fella I've not had time to do a great deal. I've not even gone to the pool.

This week is shaping up to be a bit less feral so I will get into it. Plus make some headway on the thesis.

Some things that have been happening:

• I have alluded to a slight positive change in my financial circumstances. Given that paperwork has been signed, and a start date has been posited, I can say that I have been offered a Scholarship that is a fair bit more generous than my previous one. Hence, I will have a bit more money. Which is good, because holiday planning is afoot. Plus it is a nice thing to gussy up the CV.

• I am getting better with my running. I love running group. I run with a fantastic group of girls and our new coach is fantastic. He pushes us hard but in a non-demeaning way. He makes us feel good about ourselves, which is important when you are puffing around a park in the dark. I find that the only way I reliably go for exercise if I make time for it and pay the not-insignificant fees for the training upfront. I am much less likely to slack off if it is scheduled and pre-paid.

• It is a good thing I am getting better with the running, as I have been eating quite well of late. When I say well I mean nice food in generous amounts. 

• A group of us went out for dinner at B'Stilla last night - great company, great food and great wine. I drank a mataro, which I picked for a group of us. Usually these grapes are blended with Grenache or Shiraz, but this vino sang on its own, and what a lovely melody it sang. Like a pinot, but with a bit more guts, and quite fragrant too. The food was lovely, we ate the eponymous B'Stilla (a pigeon and duck pie which is very tasty) plus lots more. The group that I went out with was a group called Melbourne Dining Out, organised on Meetup.com. It was eating out with this group that I met the fella.

• I went out with the family for Mother's day. We ate at Tramway hotel, which does a fantastic line in burgers (beef, chicken, lamb, quinoa and fish) and serves up probably the best chips in Melbourne. The family loved it. Dessert there was salted caramel cheesecake. Yes, I kid you not. After lunch I napped then caught up with a friend for dinner.

• I got a haircut! A bit shorter, a bit more red. Very sassy. The results are up on instagram (@cillajean79)

• I actioned a fantastic pumpkin soup - 1 butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut up and roasted with an onion and 3 cloves of garlic. Meanwhile, boil a peeled and diced potato in some chicken stock. Pop the roasted ingredients into the stock, Whizz up with a stick blender, add about 150 mL low fat cream and whizz up some more. Serve. I did not get photos because me and the fella nommed it before it got a chance to be photographed. 

• I think I need to be a bit more proactive with meal planning and shopping, so that I can bring lunch in more reliably. In other news I am thinking of investing in a thermomix. There is very little they can't do.

Anyway I have a few posts in the offing soon, including a post about one of my favourite tv series. Bear with me!

And have a lovely week.