What I did in my holidays, by Nicola Duncan

Happy 2012, everyone!  I can't believe it's the end of January and this is my first post of the year (thanks for the nudge, AJ!).  I wondered where the time had gone, what had I been doing with myself all this time - as it turns out, quite a lot!

Eating, drinking and being merry was really easy these holidays, thanks to a house guest who really should have made it onto Master Chef.  The only downside was having to get used to doing all the cooking again after she left! 

I went lantern crazy decorating the garden and the deck for my New Year's party, thanks to the Lantern Shop.  Don't you love it when you leave a purchase to the last minute, then panic because your online order probably won't arrive in time, only to realise the shop is in your own city - yay!

Apart from that, I read like my life depended on it, devouring the autobiography Open by Andre Agassi in just 3 days.  I admired him so much as a player, and now even more so as a man. 

Love the fact that I bought this for iPad for a fraction of the price of a hard copy

While reading Open, I watched hour upon hour of the Australian Open.  I watched every hit of every ball of the Murray/Djokovic semi-final and could watch it all over again - if only the outcome was different!

Buy this print on Etsy

Check this out for a hilarious Andy Murray poster - couldn't bring myself to post it!

Thank goodness I finished reading Tim Ferriss' The 4 Hour Work Week before the tennis started - the 5 day media 'fast' he puts you on (well worth doing) would never have worked otherwise!  You gotta admire the guy for coming up with one of the simplest, yet most enticing titles I've ever come across and overall this book is very, very interesting ..... and it might just work, so watch this space!

It's Keep Calm and Carry On all over again - the 4 Hour Work Week mug, courtesy of Zazzle

Then I jumped with joy to discover this, something I've been looking for for a very long time (i.e. show me the quick way to do what I want to do, so I can get cracking before I lose interest and move onto something else!)

Laurie's book is a real find - I'll dig into this in more detail in a later post. 

It wasn't all relaxation - the decision is made, the bathroom is going!  I can style it all I like but damp asbestos and rotten timbers are a whole other story.  So the floor plan is drawn and the inspiration is building ....

A colour scheme emerging perhaps?  It will be the budget buster of 2012, so it's just as well I also built DIY flyscreens for the whole house during the holidays - I saved $1100!

It's amazing what you find when you search DIY on Google images!  This 1979 album cover was designed by Barney Bubbles and was printed in 12 different versions onto real sheets of wallpaper - courtesy of John Coulthart at feuilleton

Finally, I played Words with Friends (the app version of Scrabble) until I could hardly focus ....

Photo by sharisse florendo

And ate large quantities of popcorn at the movies watching TinTin, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Muppets - no one can accuse me of not having varied tastes!  

So welcome to 2012 everyone.  I hope you're settling in nicely. 

I hope you had a chance to do some things in the holidays that made you happy and that you can see some good things coming your way this year.

I've got loads to share over the coming weeks, starting with a visit to the Design & Decoration Fair in Sydney later this week, so keep reading and maybe even pass make space on to a friend! 


Til next time, Nx