I was going through some of my recent Instagrams and thought it would be fun to share what I’ve been up to when not chained to my keyboard…

Visiting the Turner from the Tate exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Out and about in the city.

The very cool cellar door of Alpha Box & Dice on a wine tour with friends.

My new business cards.

Product photo shoot with Jen Sando.

I got the bag I wanted for my birthday, yay!

My stall backdrop at Bowerbird Bazaar.

Floral arrangements at Bowerbird Bazaar.

Sweet little vignette at home.

Shopping at Freedom.

Making my first pumpkin pie.

You can follow me on Instagram for more!

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I’m a little bit bummed that I’m not attending the Kidspot Voices of 2013 Launch Party this weekend as it’s in another state. So I think I should do something fun to cheer myself up.

What are your fave activities for a fun weekend at home?

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, however January is a great time to consider your plans and goals for the year, don’t you think?

With that in mind, my first Scoutie Girl post for the year is all about defining your goals (business or otherwise) and some tricks to help you find the time to achieve them.

You can read the post here.

My goals for 2013 you ask? This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are a couple of things:

• Edit our overseas photos and create an album (February)
• Launch the Atypical Type A redesign and shop (March)
• Finally renovate the bathroom (Easter break)
• Do something special to celebrate The Man’s and my ten years (!) together (August)
• Do up the porch and front garden (September)

Plus many, many plans I have for the business!

How about you? What’s on your agenda for 2013?

When The Man and I were preparing to move in together almost five years ago, we set about discussing who would do what in the household.

Having been responsible for cleaning the bathroom at his parents’ home, he volunteered to keep doing that (SCORE!). On the other hand, I don’t mind doing the dusting because I can arrange things how I want. We agreed I’d take care of vacumming the upstairs floors while he’d mop downstairs and I’d wash the clothes while he’d do the sheets and towels.

Some things were based on skill/interest (I’m more interested in cooking so I plan the meals) and others based on logic (he takes care of the car since he’s the one who uses it every day).

Bigger and more frequent jobs such as shopping, cooking, dishes and finances have been shared responsibilities.

Overall it’s worked really well, but over the last year we’ve both had increased work commitments so our previously smooth process developed a few bumps. Mail would pile up and each of us would secretly hope the other one would deal with it. After a long day we’d forget to ask if the other one had paid that bill.

None of which is conducive to a properly functioning household (or marriage, for that matter).

So we sat down and had a chat one day recently and divvied up a few of the shared tasks. A word of caution: Do not attempt this when you have done the dishes for the twentieth night in a row and are resenting it.

Giving each person more individual responsibilities might seem like a strange thing to do to deal with being so busy. But in reality, it was a huge help and I noticed a difference in not just my actions but my outlook overnight. No matter how busy I am, I know that it’s now up to me to manage our receipts. On the flipside, I don’t have to worry about the cleanliness of the kitchen floor because it’s not my responsibility.

No more silent stand-offs or building resentment.

I definitely prefer having 100% responsibility over 50% of chores rather than 50% of responsibility for every chore. How about you? That’s not to say we don’t communicate with each other about the household (even if one person pays the bills we still regularly discuss finances) or that the system is not flexible (The Man will throw on a load of washing for me if I’m having a particularly hectic weekend).

The balance will vary between couples, of course, depending on your commitments and lifestyle, but I do think it’s helpful to have a clear set of expectations and responsibilities. Otherwise you risk falling into the trap of doing certain chores and end up getting stuck with that expectation and start getting resentful of your partner.

I know we don’t talk ‘relationship’ type stuff here very often, but I firmly believe that a well-oiled household routine is as much a part of a beautiful home as how you decorate it, so I thought it was worthwhile dipping our toes into these murky waters.

Now that I’ve shared how we handle chores chez Parsons, I’d love to know how things work (or perhaps don’t work!) at your place.

Happy Friday everyone! I’m currently in Melbourne for the weekend to celebrate my cousin’s wedding (three guesses as to who designed the invitations).

It’s actually the second time we’ve had the whole family together this year (my brother got married in March) so that’s a lovely treat.

I’ve been working really long hours lately so it’s going to be fantastic to take three whole days off, enjoying plenty of food, wine and celebrating with family and friends.

What’s on your agenda this weekend?

My latest guest post is up over on Scoutie Girl!

Today I’m revealing my ten daily business tech essentials for keeping me sane. It’s not just for biz owners though, the majority of the tools would be useful for anyone juggling everyday demands of work and life.

Head over and check it out and don’t forget to add your own faves and ask any questions.

Okay! So this post has been a long time coming. As you know I went to Sydney a few weeks ago. I hit the ground running with work when I got back and it took me a while to edit the HUNDREDS of photos we took in just a few days. Add to that some serious internet issues over the last month (try running a blog and online business on dial-up equivalent speed – yeah, fun) and you can see why it’s taken me so long.

In an act of desperation I hooked my internet up through my phone so I could finally upload these photos, which were *ahem* just slightly outside my plan’s allowed data. So I hope you enjoy the post – it’s probably going to cost me over $100!

Finally took (and used) the telephoto lens – LOVE it.

On the first day we had a lovely brunch overlooking the Harbour, then wandered around in the glorious weather checking out the Opera House and The Rocks. All very touristy I know. But The Man has only spent a quick whirlwind trip in Sydney and I had a girls’ weekend there many years ago (when ‘ the sights’ were located inside a cocktail bar) and before that some family trips as a kid so neither of us has really seen the city properly.

We happened to stumble into the markets at The Rocks which was a nice surprise. I really loved the colonial history of that district, and seeing some of Australia’s oldest buildings…

…Including the oldest pub, which was a fine place to stop in for a cold beer (cider for me) on a warm day.

The next day we headed out to Taronga Zoo via the ferry.

Views from the cable car…

We managed to catch feeding time for the giraffes, which was a great opportunity to see them up close (okay, so the telephoto helped).

The seal show was pretty impressive.

Day 3 we headed out to Cockatoo Island for some more sun and colonial history.

(Despite appearances, we did actually take more than one outfit each – we just didn’t seem to take any photos of ourselves in anything else!)

The trip was for our anniversary (a surprise by yours truly). As I’ve mentioned, just as we were getting ready for our special dinner out I got really sick. Boo. Thankfully it was short-lived and I was fine to enjoy the rest of the trip.

I’ll be back tomorrow sharing some photos of window shopping in Sydney.

Hello friends.

Daily readers may have noticed that I’ve skipped a few days lately, instead of my regular five-posts-a-week-like-clockwork. I don’t take my lovely readers for granted and I feel I owe a bit of an explanation.

I have been trying my hardest to keep up, but with most of my time taken up by my business Akimbo (including a huge website redesign and rebrand coming very soon!), there has been very little time left for writing posts, let alone doing the blog-worthy projects in the first place! I love love love writing Atypical Type A for you and it pains me greatly that I’ve not been able to give it the attention it needs. I would rather skip a day than just slap up a quick post just for the sake of ticking it off. You deserve better than that.

While my workload has increased I’m actually trying to cut down on my working hours because it was getting a bit out of control and unhealthy. I’m a bit of a workaholic so it’s hard for me to say ‘enough’ at the end of the day and be happy (or at least okay) with leaving things un-done. I know I need to do it though – finding that elusive work/life balance – because my projects, passions, relationships and experiences fuel not only my personal happiness and sanity but also my work.

It’s not all doom and gloom though! I am working on some sweet-as developments that will bring Atypical Type A into its next phase and I could not be more excited. It’s going to be a lot of work so I am looking at bringing in some writing help and having plenty of reader submissions and guest posts. Yahoo! That way I’ll be able to keep the regular quality content up and I can focus my attention more on tutorials and other projects. The content topics will remain the same, but there’ll be some shiny new columns and awesome features to take Atypical Type A from just a blog to a full resource. Oh and did I mention a full site redesign?!

I am so pumped about this next stage of Atypical Type A and cannot wait to reveal what I have in store for you guys! Til then, please bear with me while I’m busy working on everything behind the scenes.

Speaking of ‘what’s next’ for Atypical Type A, I have a ton of ideas but none of it is set in stone so if there’s anything you’d like to see more of, please leave your suggestions in the comments!

I’m going to be honest: I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with housekeeping.

Growing my business and writing this blog take up an insane amount of time. And of course I have a marriage and frienships to enjoy and maintain. After all that, there is only so much else I can squeeze in to what remains of my 24 hours each day.

So this week instead of getting worked up over the fact that the house was chaos and I didn’t have time to do everything, I just picked one thing – making the bed – and make sure I did it.

Sure, there were still clothes on the floor and you certainly didn’t need to do a white glove test to notice the dust everywhere, but with just that one change I feel more in control and on top of things. The added bonus is that you might even find you’re motivated to do another few quick jobs while you’re about it.

I picked making the bed as it takes up such a large amount of real estate in the room so it instantly makes the entire room feel neater. It doesn’t have to be the bed, though. You could try:

• Keeping the kitchen table clear
• Doing the dishes before you go to bed
• Keeping the bathroom clean (actually this is my ‘one thing’ when guests are coming)

What about you? Do you have a ‘one thing’ that you try to do every day if nothing else?

Luke Simon Photography

Our recent trip to Sydney was to celebrate our second anniversary. Sadly the special dinner we had planned didn’t eventuate as just as we were about to leave I became violently ill. I will spare you the gory details but let’s just say that the night was declared over.

I’m hoping a nice homecooked meal and a bottle of red tonight will redeem me.

Happy two year anniversary to my man! I know I work too much sometimes but you’re still always my #1.

In sickness and in health.

Last Sunday was Father’s Day here in Australia.

The Man and I reckon our dads are pretty tops. They are always so generous with their time and hospitality, so it was definitely time to do something for them.

My dad, in particular, loves Spain and its food (in fact he even RSVPd to our invitation in Spanish!) so a tapas banquet seemed appropiate. With both sets of parents, The Man’s brother and his partner joining us, there were eight of us all up (my brother and sister-in-law live overseas).

Apart from my killer paella (if I do say so myself) I haven’t really cooked any Spanish food before. But I’m always up for a good challenge in the kitchen.

Quite a spread, you say? Well that’s not even including the hot food and dessert! There may or may not have also been copious amounts of wine.

Here’s the full menu:

Cold tapas

Marinated olives

Pickled calamari

Tapenades (eggplant and capsicum)

Anchovies

Tuna-stuffed peppers*

Manchego cheese

Herbed goat’s milk cheese

Jamon

Vienna loaf

Olive sourdough loaf

Hot tapas

Potato and chorizo tortilla*

Lamb meatballs with romesco sauce*

Croquettes with bechamel sauce*

Chorizo and mushrooms*

Dessert

Crema Catalana

Drinks

Sangria*

Tempranillo

Sauvignon Blanc

The dishes that I made are the ones marked with an asterisk. My brother-in-law and his partner made the delish crema catalana – with a blowtorch no less! The croquettes and meatballs seemed to be crowd favourites.

This type of menu is a lot of work because instead of having one dish for each of three courses, you have to prepare a dozen smaller dishes. You also have to keep jumping up and into the kitchen to cook and serve the hot food.

I don’t want to put you off, though, it’s definitely do-able. You can keep it manageable by buying items that don’t need any preparation (like the cheese, jamon, bread, olives etc), starting with all the cold food laid out and limiting the amount of hot food. I also prepared as much as possible ahead of time, going so far as cooking the meatballs and sauces so I just had to heat them up.

I don’t normally buy new servingware for a particular occasion but it was time to freshen up my collection with a few new versatile pieces that were not more white platters. I picked up the stoneware for as little as $1 each from Ikea after realising it perfectly matched another you-wouldn’t-guess-how-cheap-it-was recent purchase: the itty bitty black bottle you can see also on the table. The rustic timber chopping boards (a set of 3 from Target) were another steal – $14 down from $35 thank-you-very-much.

Oh, and the branches with the berry-looking things? Totally picked them up off the side of the road the day before.

Because I’ve been so busy with the business, we haven’t entertained much this year. Actually, I haven’t even cooked much decent food at all this year! I’ve really missed cooking, especially for family and friends, so I enjoyed this a lot. Most importantly, the Dads and everyone seemed to have a great day.

Local readers, how did you spoil your dad? And US friends, tell us how did you celebrate your Labor Day?