Hopman Cup 2013

In an attempt to lighten my misery about being in the office on New Year's Day and an early anniversary present I booked tickets for David and I to go to the Hopman Cup tie between USA and France last night. I  had already bought David tickets to the final as a Christmas present but considering tickets to the session weren't too expensive I thought we may as well head along for a little treat. 

The beautiful blue interior

Although it's received a bit of negative press re Novak Djokovic's unfortunate injury the other day, I was again blown away by Perth Arena. I went to the opening night back in November and just fell in love with the building. I love the lines inside, I love the little additions like cup holders in the seats in front and the comfort you're offered as a guest and I especially love the fact I don't have to wait in line in any of the loos because there are plenty and they are always spic-and-span.

 We were literally in the back row in the upper tier of the arena but we could still see and hear perfectly. The stairs were a bit daunting but if you don't need to go up and down them repeatedly it's not too bad. The only hiccup was the lines for food. Although it can't be helped that there are going to be lines for drinks and food at events like this, the setup of the cash registers so close to where you file through to pick up what you're after gets a little chaotic. 

Apologies for the awful pictures, I only had my phone and even a Galaxy can't zoom that well 

We're Jo Wilfred-Tsonga fans and it was a real treat to watch him play out a reasonably comfortable win over the American John Isner. The real surprise for me though was watching Venus Williams. I'd never been too fussed with the Williams sisters before, but watching the way she plays and the power she has really impressed me. I'd always thought they were a bit over-emotional in the way they play, but it just added to the excitement of the match. You go on a journey with them and you actually feel a part of the match, not just a spectator. 

I downloaded a new  camera app during the match, here's my kaleidoscopic court

France's Matilde Johannson serves during her match with Venus Williams 

The USA went onto take the tie, which surprised me because we actually left during Venus's fightback from losing the first set of her match in the singles (it was a school night). It just proves what a talent she is though. 

After the match we walked down a misty Wellington Street, enjoying the light sprinkling summer rain and I felt lucky to live in a city where you can pop to a fantastic world-class tennis tournament in a world-class arena on a Tuesday night. 

Night Markets

A few Fridays ago I went to the Twilight Hawkers Markets in Forrest Place with my half sister Maddi and David. I'd been looking for something fun to do with Maddi while she was visiting from Melbourne and I thought I'd hit the nail on the head. Unluckily for me Maddi is EXCEPTIONALLY picky, but she managed to find one or two things she was brave enough to try.
We all tried the crowd-favourite spiral potato, but I also went for my old favourite satay chicken skewers. David tried a spicy mango icy-pole and we tucked into some Colombian stew. We finished the night off with some de-lish Polish donuts.

  

 

What struck me about the markets was the fact that finally my beloved city-centre was being utilised for something fantastic. I love being in the city at night, but since growing up a bit I've found myself going less and less because I don't go out drinking or clubbing anymore.
Visiting the Perth Arena on its opening night was such a treat to walk around the city and watch the people enjoy the space. Now Forrest Place is being opened up for families to bring their kids along, enjoy some new food and just be a part of something bigger.

The mood was relaxed, even though the lines were long people didn't mind because there was so much to see around them. Having a live band makes you feel like you're going to an event, rather than just a meal. My only criticism would be there's not much space to actually eat the food because the lines are so long. Visiting a similar market in Melbourne last month there was plenty of room to tuck in at tables but I'm sure some clever planning person will figure that out soon enough.

I think what I was happiest about was the fact that there is some logic in creating something for people to actually come to town for, not just shopping. It was packed and people were enjoying being out in the warm night sharing some dinner together. I'm truly excited for what's going to happen over the next few years when the rail goes underground and we can all come in and enjoy our city together.

Big Help Mob: Cleaning Crusade

On Sunday I joined four very enthusiastic superheroes for a few hours hard yakka, cleaning up the entire house of a Warnbro gentleman who needed a bit of a hand. Greg's got paraplegia and he needs to move into a house which is more suitable for him to look after, but before he can he has to get his current property looking a bit more spick and span. That's where Big Help Mob superheroes stepped in to help out!

We spent from about 10 in the morning til just before 4 cleaning walls, roofs, the kitchen, bathroom, outside, inside, EVERYTHING!

Greg was a really likeable guy and I won't lie, the work wasn't easy but it was fun. I've been volunteering for the BHM communications team for a couple of months, but I haven't been on a mission since the launch of the app so it was great to break free of the shackles of Useful HQ and actually do a bit of manual labour. Having David there was a blast, but it was nice chatting to the other girls as well, learning bits and pieces about them (we even had a Rockingham local in the group!) and getting on with it.

The girls who were at Cleaning Crusade have all joined up to be Unterns this summer, a project I'm really excited to see take shape. They were all lovely girls as well so they will be fantastic ambassadors for all things BHM and hopefully I'll have a brand new project to share him which will introduce them a bit further.

 David hard at work

 Bedroom cleaning

 More bedroom cleaning

 Kitchen cleaning

Vacuum boy

Good things this week:
Seeing ma gurrrrrrrrrrl (and half sister) Maddi and learning all about her YouTube boyfriend
A visit from Phoebe and her beautiful little babby Harper
Going to the physio again

Bad things this week:
Tensions headaches=day off work=lack of stories=frustration=MORE TENSION :)
Running out of time/money to get Christmas presents
Too many treats last weekend

Instagram yarns

Kwinana's biggest fan

Before I started working in Rockingham I knew very little about the area. One of the best things about doing a cadetship down here is getting to know the area as well as the people. One of the area's I've come to enjoy spending a lot of time in is the Town of Kwinana, which I'm happy to report is soon to become the City of Kwinana.

My front page about Kwinana becoming a city

Made up of suburbs like Bertram, Medina, Calista, Parmelia, Leda and Wellard, as well as the well known industrial strip, Kwinana is growing like you wouldn't believe and before this job I basically hadn't even been to Kwinana before.

I'd driven though on the way to Mandurah but never actually made the turn off down Thomas Road and into the suburbs.

But what I've found while I've been visiting Kwinana is really surprising and really enlightening.

A beautiful tree in Parmelia

The bushland around Kwinana is absolutely beautiful. I love driving the long winding roads through the once-rural areas like Wellard and Bertram. If you get high enough up in the hills in Parmelia you can see right out to the Darling scarp and when weather rolls in it's spectacular.

Storm clouds over Bertram

I've had a fair bit to do with Kwinana council now having covered their meetings since I began here and although I'm the first to admit I don't have much to compare them to I've so far been impressed.

Mayor Carol Adams is deeply passionate about the area and her enthusiasm is palpable. The councillors are all equally as enthusiastic and are all keen to see Kwinana succeed and move forward.

What I'm longwindedly trying to say is that it's not often you go to an area that you've never lived in or don't currently live in and feel such a connection with it.

Filled with people who generally want to see the area succeed, I'm excited to see what Kwinana achieves in the coming years and look forward to covering it.

Terça-feira

My first job today was with the Rockingham/Kwinana Men of the Trees.

 Their base is down a tight bush track through the Rockingham Golf Course and if I hadn't been running late I would have enjoyed the drive much more.

They're having a sale in a few weeks to try and get rid of excess stock. All native plants which are conducive to the area, like this little beauty. 

It absolutely bucketed down again today, with beautiful breaks of coastal sunshine. I got drenched in a downpour when I was leaving the Rockingham Council Chambers this afternoon after a job, but since I only had the drive back up the Kwinana Fwy ahead of me I didn't mind.

Calm before.....

 ....the downpour

Rainbow over Rockingham

This is a snap I took last week of the principal of the new Baldivis Secondary College. 

I really like it because the colours are great, the lines are interesting thanks to the building and he was a really nice fellow with a lovely smile. 

Today was a typical cruisey Tuesday. A few jobs, but no deadline meaning things are a little less insane. Tomorrow brings a Kwinana Council Meeting so it's a late start but I've started to looking forward to my fortnightly visits to Kwinana. 

Catcha. 

FARRAGO

I bet you're probably sick of the changes of 'theme' through this blog? Well I was going to write an apology post as I sat at my desk today thinking about what to write for an almighty comeback. But then I thought..........Nah I can't apologise for the mangled themes, the all-over-the-shop nature of this ongoing piece of word-vomit I heave up onto the internet. I can't apologise because it's me.
Flaky, lackadaisical, jumbled and inconsistent, but only in the sense you can't catch me every week. My friends will tell you I'm a terror to catch-up with. Only the things which I consider daily or weekly necessities become as such, and everything else....well you're lucky if you catch me. But it doesn't mean I don't care. It doesn't mean I'm not thinking about the other things/people/tasks I should be thinking about/seeing/doing. I can't apologise for the way I am because the things that are important come back around to me and the people who are important stick by me. The preamble is now finished and with that I welcome you to Pretty Set All Set Mach II, blog 2.0, the next phase.

---

In the last period of creative and productive outpourings here I was lamenting my state of affairs. Having graduated I was without gainful employment (in the field I desired at least) and I was going to use this platform to track my journey.

Well that was a giant failure because here I am four months into a cadetship at a newspaper and I haven't written one single post. Not one post telling anyone how life on the other side of uni/getting a read job is.

Excuse #1 I'm really busy: Seriously though, I am.
Excuse #2 I have a boyfriend who I give pretty much all of my spare time to.
Excuse #3 Writing all day at work makes it very difficult to come home inspired.

OK EXCUSES DONE!! Here's the plan now. I'm going to take you with me in my new life as a baby journalist.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
I work for a newspaper in Rockingham.
The two publications we produce cover Rockingham, Kwinana, Mandurah and the surrounding suburbs.
I have days where I love my job and I'm grateful I took that chance and swapped unis.
I also have days where I question every decision I ever made and think I should throw in the towel, to back to uni to study teaching, law, ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES THIS. But luckily those days aren't every day.
This will not just be about work and I'm sorry to never be able to pick a theme but I can't.
The theme is Sophie. Sophie and what she does. Starting today.


August 6 2012. 
Today was deadline day. It was fairly calm considering our editor is on holidays (although the news half way through the day that he'd broken his foot and might not be back for a while was more than a little concerning. It rained basically all day, but not before I got to head out to take a snap of the Mayor of Kwinana, the GM of the Global Good Foundation and The Liberal Candidate for Brand.

Big kid

Two can't live withouts

 

A little thank you from a contact

Welcome to sunny Rockingham

The ladies.

I'll see you tomorrow x