On the weekend we drove down south for the most gorgeous wedding in a garden right by the ocean in Bunker Bay and now I’ve been trying to work through my to-do list and all my work.
I often get asked how I get paid as a freelance journalist. I work on a contract basis, so I get paid per story or per assignment. I don’t have benefits such as sick leave or holiday leave, but the good bit is that the more I work, the more money I can earn. I can tell from my bank account when I’ve been a bit slack! The downside is that often I bite off a bit more than I can chew, optimistically taking on a lot of assignments and then having to work frantically to get them all in before deadline. Hello late nights.
I’ve been working in the garden trying to get it ready for Christmas lunch (American house nerds, Aussie Christmases fall in the heat of our summer so outdoor festivities are a must!) and for the first time ever we have put up our hands for New Year’s Eve at our house – a Survivor-themed party.
With the exception of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, I am characteristically unfashionably late to love TV shows. I’ve only just cottoned onto how awesome Survivor is, only about 12 years later than everyone else. One night Mr House Nerd and I were watching the latest season and I cried, “Let’s have a Survivor party.”
“No.” (Okay, that wasn’t entirely what he said, there was an expletive in front of it, because he works up north, but you get the gist).
“Ok.”
But I’d planted the seed, my nerds. I’ve learned that this is how you get your partner to do something you know is a really good idea but he’s not convinced yet. You just put the idea out there and then you just wait. So I wasn’t entirely surprised when a week later he said to me, “Why don’t we have a Survivor New Year’s Eve party?”
“Ok.”
Snuffing out flares is a must at a Survivor party.
I’ve filled my party book (yes I have a party idea book. I keep telling you this blog is about a nerd) with things we can do like stick tiki flares along the front garden path to the backyard, drink fruity cocktails, have a 3L bottle of whisky as the grand prize for the winning survivor, stick rubber snakes in the trees, shout THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN and eat rice and stew out of coconut bowls. At first I thought we could all eat fish grilled in banana leaves. But someone pointed out a lot of seafood is expensive. So maybe just the winner can have fish.
I am also trying to think of challenges that a guest list of people who range from petite 23-year-old nurses to burly FIFO miners will all want to do (the balloon stomp?) If you have any ideas people, I’d love to hear them.
Finally I just wanted to wrap up with a few sneak peek pics of some gorgeous places and people I will be featuring on House Nerd as soon as I have time to do their stories justice – promise!
ABOVE: The gorgeous Beetle Shack family of the absolutely lovely blog www.thebeetleshack.com and their beautiful Eastern coast cottage. Photo by Tim Coulson of www.timcoulson.com.
ABOVE: Two evenings ago I visited this tiny stone stablehand's cottage in Freo. It recently got a new lease of life with a beautiful contemporary extension designed by Fratelle Group. And its lovely family did the work owner-builder! I was so impressed. Photo by Squint Photography. Visit www.squint.com.
ABOVE: A bedroom in a grand old 1800s Fremantle home was turned into this glorious bathroom by Ashley Peverett of Belle Maison Renovations.
ABOVE: Interviewing the lovely Yvonne Larsen of amazing mail order Scandinavian Exposure at her cute home. You can check out their stuff on Facebook. Photo by Simone Anderson.
Hope you are having a great December. Maya
