February 2020 – Miss Rosanna

Park life

Parkrun in the Warringal Parklands in Heidelberg launched last Saturday. The free weekly 5km timed run is held at 8am in various locations across the country and a number of people I know regularly volunteer and run at parkrun events including a kinder mum who has now run a couple of marathons.

54 Lucerne Cres Alphington image via Jellis Craig

Speaking of volunteers, nominations are now open for Banyule’s Volunteer Awards and as someone who works in the giving space; it’s hard to put a value on the time and talent given back to the community through the work of volunteers. I’ve been caught up the past couple of weeks helping my colleagues in Marketing recruit a number of people for the third iteration of La Trobe University’s branding campaign and a lot of the work comes down to building relationships and goodwill.

IMG_0732-1 — 54 Lucerne Cres Alphinton interior image via Jellis Craig

It’s been lovely with daylight savings doing more in the evenings and Mr Rosanna and I had dinner last week with the friends we holidayed in Greece with at Spanish restaurant Chato in Thornbury. It was buzzing in that particular section of High Street and we got dessert later from Icecream Social further down the street near the very cool looking and sounding pizza and bar Wolf and Swill, which was pumping out the music and feel good vibes.

Locally, The Pioneer Cafe in Rosanna is holding a Latin Asian fusion dinner (BYO drinks) on Saturday 29 March and the Alphington Farmers Market is launching its food and booze twilight events on three Thursday nights in March. As a non-drinker, I think you can definitely have a good time without alcohol and it’s interesting to see more venues and retailers now catering to customers who don’t drink and those who want more vegetarian and vegan options food-wise.

It’s been glorious today weather-wise and Mr R and I had a quick sticky at 54 Lucerne Crescent in Alphington (pictures further above) – the heritage-listed former home of Archibald Prize-winning artist W.B. McInnes located in a beautiful spot down near the river. The Desbrowe-Annear designed Arts and Crafts house itself is a renovator’s dream if you have a builder in your family as well as an artistic eye – without being updated, the house is full of character and charm – but in the right hands, it could be even more amazing. The mind boggles…

Victory Lap

The Brunswick Music Festival starts on 9th March and while Mr Rosanna and I don’t get to many gigs these days, both of us have a number of multi-talented muso mates including my friend Sez (below) who played keys and sang at the Victory Lap album launch we went to at The Old Bar on Johnston Street Fitzroy last Thursday. It’s always a fun night when you end your evening dancing on sticky carpet…

Both Mr R and I are fully back in work mode and trying to keep up with exercise, our children and seeing our friends and family outside of that. I think we’re still yet to feel the full effects of the bushfire, coronavirus and an already sluggish economy in Australia, let alone the rest of the world, which has given everyone pause for thought.

I’ve been so busy back in the thick of things that I missed buying a ticket to the now sold out Banyule Women in Business 2020 event at the Rosanna Golf Club featuring guest speaker Nicole Eckels from Glasshouse Candles (now Glasshouse Fragrances). Hers is an inspiring story as an ex-pat single mother originally from the US who took a big punt and backed herself with her business idea in Australia.

Candles and flowers are always a big hit for Valentine’s Day and while I wasn’t expecting anything this year given how long Mr R and I have been together, he surprised me with a beautiful bouquet (above) that he’d handpicked from French Blue Flowers on Burgundy Street in Heidelberg.

If you live or work in Heidelberg, a liveability survey is now open regarding the Heidelberg Activity Centre and is a chance to have your say and contribute to a new structure plan.

Strike a pose

February’s been busy with everyone back at school and work. University students are yet to start back and the coronavirus is having an impact on any tertiary college or institution that has an international student cohort. Businesses too are having to pivot and it’s interesting to see what they’re doing and how – it’s definitely changing things up and setting some new precedents.

I’ve been trying to get back in to some regular exercise with returning to Iyengar classes at Action Yoga in Ivanhoe. Late last year, I started regular lunchtime reformer pilates classes in the new core cave at the La Trobe Sports Centre with my work colleagues and it’s been a great way of connecting – the team who plays together stays together.

Great to see La Trobe alumna and AFLW player Daisy Pearce front and centre in the media (as well as more sportswomen in general) – she is a real inspiration as an elite athlete, midwife and mother of twins.

This beautiful Art Deco house at 318 The Boulevard in East Ivanhoe has caught my eye and is on the market again – built by Australian architect Arthur Edgar Pretty in 1940 it has definitely captured my imagination with its glamorous curves and beautiful features. I’ll always be a sucker for that era and mid-century modern – there’s a lot to be said for simple and bold at the same time. If you’re a fellow Art Deco lover you might want to go and see Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears which opens later this month at the movies.

Speaking of glamorous, Artea at the Westin Hotel – a high tea and fashion illustration workshop with Estelle Michaelides (pictured above) is being held every Sunday in March. As someone who has previously done a similar workshop with a group of girlfriends – I can vouch for how fun they are to do as an individual and with friends.

Also opening soon northside is Maha Bar in Collingwood. Mr Rosanna and I loved our dinner at Maha last year so it’s great there’ll be an outpost on this side of town.

It’s been an interesting start to the year with people I know coming and going – I guess change is inevitable and there’s always a lot of movement with the start of a new year, and a new decade at that. Here’s to being agile, nimble and flexible in this new age.

Get up, dress up and show up

It’s been a weird time in the aftermath of the bushfires and now with the world grappling with coronavirus, which has thrown governments, education providers, travellers, airline companies and the business world into chaos. As a Chinese Australian, I haven’t personally experienced any discrimination but am uncomfortable with the fact that some people have made this an issue about race not health. Whatever the case, we now live in a globalised society where we are all connected in more ways than one. As an economic powerhouse, when China sneezes, the world catches a cold and I think there will be economic ramifications in addition to the more pressing issue of finding a vaccine as soon as possible.

I’ve found watching the Australian Open here in Melbourne a good distraction and there are some nice outdoor events coming up including the dog-friendly (but do watch out for snakes) Heide Makers Market in Bulleen this Saturday 8 February, a Summers End outdoor movie screening of the Buena Vista Social Club at Montsalvat in Eltham on Sunday 29 February and the Banyule Festival Twilight Sounds live music at Sills Bend on Saturday 14 March.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is also holding a number of free concerts this month at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl while my pick for our family would be Music from the Studio Ghibli Films of Hayao Miyazaki.

I finished reading the companion book to The courage to be liked called The courage to be happy over the summer break and its main messages are to love (other people rather than waiting to be loved by someone), be self-reliant (self-worth comes from within so ignore both external praise and criticism) and to choose life (self-explanatory but what other choice do we have?). Instead of blaming the past, other people and our circumstances, we need to change our focus to ‘what can I do from now on?’. The book also talks about consistency and the challenge of working through the ‘nothing days’ when nothing particularly exciting happens but it all amounts to something in the end simply by staying the course.

It’s not a sexy word but consistency is under-rated – it’s what is needed to succeed in life with exercise, work and many other pursuits – getting up, dressing up and showing up whether we feel like it or not, day after day, month after month, year after year. It may become my mantra for this year! I did also read Why Buddhism is true – a much denser book looking at the intersection of Buddhist theory with evolutionary psychology. I may leave explaining that one for another time! I hope you have a great week – stay safe and be well.