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.

Image via real.estate.com.au

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.

Image via Estelle

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.

Image via Maha

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.

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Smelling the roses

The La Trobe University Distinguished Alumni Awards were held on Monday evening and it was a long day and night for me. They are an annual event which were held in the city at Metropolis Events at Southgate which offered glittering night-time views of Melbourne and it was spectacular to get there late afternoon where we could see Arbory Afloat on the Yarra opposite us.

I got to mingle at the start of the evening talking to a number of high profile people I’d previously worked with when I managed the Bold Thinking Series including Virginia Trioli (who was one of the winners) and her partner Russell Skelton, Tony Walker, Geoff Walsh and Professor Jenny Graves AO plus a number of other leading academics and industry professionals with ties to La Trobe. Prior to the Awards, guests were also treated to a surprise performance by the Australian Ballet School – one of the University’s partners.

Writer and academic Dr (now Professor) Clare Wright was MC with Chancellor John Brumby AO making presentations along with Vice-Chancellor John Dewar to the stellar lineup of winners, which included Young Achiever Awards to Melbourne AFLW player Daisy Pearce and surgical resident Dr Batool Albatat; rural women’s pioneer Alana Johnson, epidemiologist Dr John Hopper AM, SecondBite co-founder Simone Carson AM and ABC Melbourne Mornings host Virginia Trioli completing the field.

 

My wider team and La Trobe staff were given the beautiful floral table decorations at the end of the night and so I have stopped to smell the roses and enjoy the beauty of life this week, knowing that lift itself is a gift.

Speaking of flowers, the Bee Shed Launch Party is being held on Sunday at the Alphington Farmers Market and my friend and Bundoora Homestead Art Centre Director Ella Hinkley is involved with the Pollinator Alliance while tomorrow the Rosanna Primary Old School Fair, the Paella Sangria Churros night (fun!) at The Pioneer Cafe, the annual Watsonia craft fair and the Melbourne Ceramics Market in Collingwood (which local ceramic artist Lene Kuhl Jakobsen is part of) are all on – it’s a big day.

If the weather holds, the Malahang Festival is also on this Sunday in Heidelberg West as well as the Public Run Day at the Box Hill Miniature Railway. Strange to think our Spring weather has been so mild this year and my thoughts have been with our NSW neighbours up north battling those horrific bushfires this week. Stay cool…