I love new year, mostly because I get given a lot of calendars. I always feel a little bit ripped off if I have to flick straight to July. In previous years, I have made ambitious lists of goals but this year, my objective is merely to survive and not accidentally kill my newborn baby. […]

I’m 30 weeks pregnant today so expansion is front and centre for me right now. I can’t hug my husband without my camel hump of a belly getting in the way. Beyond this, I have been thinking a lot about life expansion. It’s so easy to stay comfortable – to keep doing what you’re good […]

People talk about ‘glowing’ and feeling invincible when they’re up the duff. This makes me laugh in a slightly bitter way because I do not feel this way. I feel vulnerable and smelly. I have body odour for the first time in my life, a development that leaves me sniffing my armpits and feeling quietly appalled. […]

This article is sponsored by Allianz Travel Insurance*.  So, I finally went to Europe. Notwithstanding the one hasty work trip I went on to Finland and Slovenia (which I loved), I had never been which made me feel like a poor excuse for an Australian. I have never lived in Shepherd’s Bush, I have never pulled beers in […]

Adults don’t get an end-of-year report card. This can mean we end the year wondering, ‘Was it a good year? Did I perform well? How can I do better?’ What’s great about reports is that you receive objective feedback on what you did well and where you need to improve. Back in the day, your parents […]

Planned romance is a fraught area, especially when life’s absurdities get in the way. That’s what happened with The Spark and I on our recent babymoon to Sydney’s five star Radisson Blu. I’m only six months pregnant but the next few months are crazy and before we know it, we won’t have had time to […]

Have you ever experienced that thing where you get home from overseas and Australia seems both excellent – the best country in the world – and worse, a shabby imitation of everything you’ve just seen elsewhere. Because of Australia’s colonial and early immigration history, a trip to Europe is basically a school excursion back to […]

Rail journeys retain some of the romance of yesteryear without the inconvenience of, say, a horse drawn cart or walking for miles in the snow. What’s surprising is just how good the trains are, especially if you’re willing to book a business or first class ticket. In the UK, Sir Richard Branson’s ubiquitous Virgin runs the […]

Many of us have experienced that sinking feeling in our stomach as we have watched an earring, or other small item of jewellery, disappear down the sink. The good news is that just because you lose something down the sink does not mean that it is lost forever. There is still a good chance that […]

My knowledge of Shanghai was previously restricted to Kung Fu films showing a bunch of dudes whooping ass wearing leather jackets. In fact, ‘Shanghai’ could’ve easily been any Chinatown in the world, according to my cinematically restricted fantasy. So what’s it really like? For starters, big. Shanghai is home to 24 million people. The city is […]