It has been nearly 2 months since my last blog post. I really did not plan on having a hiatus but blogging ended up being my lowest priority over the summer. Since my last post I have been working on 2 journal articles that I need to submit, I presented my oral doctoral assessment (my written DA is due in a month), I baptised a gorgeous little girl – my first godchild who fortuitously also has my great-grandmother’s name, I went away to Manly for 2 short stays, we hosted Christmas for my husband’s family (my wonderful niece Amilia made me the cake in these photos for Christmas) and when I wasn’t frantically studying and preparing for my DA (my sons ate lots of junk this past 6 weeks) I hung out with my family for much of the summer. We have spent many nights playing Articulate and watching our latest fave TV series New Girl as well as old favourite episodes of Scrubs, Community and Coupling. I fell in love with Pitch Perfect and I have rewatched it numerous times (late at night, too-tired-study-too-tired-to-read viewing).

Cake by Amilia my niece

I even got to see 3 movies at the cinema. THREE! That is more than I had watched in the past 3 years! I loved The Secret Life of Walter Mitty which was a gentle, quirky dreamlike movie. I cried at the end and felt so happy that it was not a direct remake of the Danny Kaye version. I also saw The Anchorman 2 which I deeply disliked. The sexist humour grated on my nerves and I found myself grinding my teeth in frustration. It even coloured my love for watching Paul Rudd. I think my girl crush on him is waning as I truly hated This is 40. I also saw Frozen. What a visually splendid film. I loved the songs, I loved the animation and most of all I loved the story. So, in the words of Meatloaf, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

Unlike the last five years, I am not giving myself any reading challenge this year. I will continue to loosely keep track of what I read as I always need to refer back to books that become gossamer memories. However, my reading had become a race in 2012 and it has taken a whole year to recover.

My plans for this year are big. I will be going to Greece and England. I will be in Greece for the International Association Study of Popular Romance conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. I am looking forward to the conference yet ambivalent about visiting Greece. I deeply dislike flying (read terrified) and for the first time in 20 years I will be flying without my husband. My son is flying with me, and I both dread and welcome his presence. In my head I know that I am the parent, I should be reassuring him and being an example of how to overcome your fears. In reality, he has been primed as to his responsibility for an anxious, blubbering mother. Is this something a 15 (by then nearly 16) year old needs to shoulder? Can I ply myself with brandy until I am “How’s it going!” relaxed when he is underage and does not see me doing this in any other environment? According to him, a trip overseas makes it well worth his while. We will also be going to England so I can access the Mills & Boon archive for my research gathering. My reckoning is that 27 hours of flying in abject fear from Sydney to Europe merits exploring possibilities for my research beyond the conference.

I have been approached by ABC702 to present for Linda Mottram’s The Blurb once a month and I am looking forward to bringing some great reading suggestions to the radio crowd. But more on that in my next blog post (yep – you get 2 in one day!!!!!!)

Hopefully my blogging and writing will increase this year. I had a particularly slow year with only 20 posts in 2013 but just like my reading, I will not be setting myself a challenge. I already write a lot that I choose not to publish and I quantifying my published posts would disservice the importance of my private (not available online) writing.

Here’s to a good 2014! And have a piece of keki. Mnom!