It’s been a slow and cool Saturday so far. Since I returned from my month-long holiday, I did nothing but adjust to new things. We shifted offices when I was away so from my first work day back, I had to get used to a new place, a new routine.
From my easy 20 minute door-to-door commute, I now have to leave by 7:30 AM at the latest if I want it to be a 25 minute door-to-door car ride. If you are late by 10 minutes, the freeway traffic will punish you for it–and trust me, I know. In the afternoon, I find it’s best to leave closer to 6 PM so I miss most of the rush hour traffic going north.
I have to admit that it has made me more efficient. I don’t laze around in the morning anymore. I get out of bed at 6:30 AM at the latest and speed through preparing and eating a proper breakfast, getting dressed and ready to my car in an hour. In the afternoon, that extra hour to kill gives me the incentive to walk/jog around the river, do errands at the nearby shopping centre or do extra work to build up my flex time hours. I come home just thinking of what to have for a nice dinner and relax.
What I find most difficult at the moment is getting enough sleep to power me through each day. I know I should be in bed by 10 but I turn in 11ish at night. My weekend schedule’s been pretty relaxed the last few months but since I got back I’ m just so exhausted come Friday afternoon that I’m in bed before 10 PM! I have to find a balance somehow, I really hate the feeling of needing to catch up on rest during the weekends, makes me lazy to meet up with friends and plan activities (I miss my social life 
and my hobbies!). I always view weekends as time for me to indulge in being non-productive, but I need to work on flushing the stress out of my system and not just recharging to survive another work week.
Apart from this, things are pretty good, I think. The winter’s been kind to Perth, not very cold at all. And thank goodness there’s rain. The trip to Europe and Singapore just gave me that hit of escapism that I needed. (this deserves another blog entry!)
I’ve discovered two new things since I got back–scenting and small batch baking.
My friend Geraldine has told me about her interest in scenting spaces and I decided to check out Dusk, which is a chain of stores in Australia selling all about ambiance and scenting. I tried their Active Air automatic infuser in Pure and so far, I like it. It kills kitchen odors rather quickly and my place does not smell like a toilet, it smells pleasant. Coincidentally, I discovered Diptyque in Paris during our trip and just had to get a bottle of the Baies room spray for my bedroom. Living in a small apartment, it’s great to be able to keep it smelling fresh, considering how fast kitchen smells can spread and how long they can linger.
Small batch baking…this came up because of a chocolate cake craving. I know all about the 5 minute cake in a mug using a microwave and I tried two recipes but ended up dissatisfied. I’ve been trying to cut down on my microwave use as well so I just had to find a chocolate recipe that is either good for a small cake or can be pre-made in advance. I discovered this blog which led me to this book all about small batch baking. I think it’s a great idea. 
