natural remedies.

Why, hello there.

So, I’ve been carrying a tissue box around as my latest accessory for the past nearly two weeks. I’m going to create a trend – just wait and see. In the meantime I have been nursing a mega cold/flu thing. Fun! Particularly when coupled with enormous, now-very-overdue essays. I’ve been oscillating between regular levels of procrastination to being motivated, but feeling too sick to do anything productive. Hence the overdue thing..

Anyway.

When I first came down with this cold my gorgeous neighbour brought over a recipe and ingredients for a home remedy of hers. She is so sweet. She is also super 100% organic, herbal, natural etc. Not only in the sense that she herself is made from organic matter, but also in that she only uses and eats products which are certified organic or grown in her veggie patch. It’s her thing.

And oh my goodness – her herbal remedy thing? Amazing!

Although it’s a little labour intensive (esp compared to just popping some pills), it’s been really effective – so much so that my cold relapsed when I stopped using it for a few days. It’s great for clearing and soothing the throat and sinuses and it tastes good (well, I think so, at least!)

My Neighbour’s Herbal Cold Remedy:

The stuff you’ll need:
Water
1 head of garlic
1 thumb of ginger
Cayenne pepper
1 lemon
Honey (Manuka preferably)

What to do with that stuff:
Peel and chop the garlic and ginger. Place in a pan with one litre of boiling water. Add a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper (I use between 1/8 and 1/4 but I have a high chilli threshold – you may want to start with less). Boil this lovely concoction for 20 minutes.
Take your magic potion(!) off the stove and set it aside for a bit. In the meantime, squeeze your lemon. When the concoction has cooled strain in (you don’t eat the chunks of ginger or garlic) and then pour the lemon juice in. Then pour yourself a mug-full and add honey to taste and now.. drink up! (preferably with the company of your favourite furry friend)

NB: The above is one batch and it makes about 1.5 mugs worth of the good stuff. I normally do a double batch and that normally makes about 4 mugs worth. Yes, I seem to get less out of a single batch, but in saying that the batches can vary in size and taste quite easily anyway. It keeps in the fridge or just covered on the kitchen bench for days and days.

Hope that helps anyone else’s winter cold!

Now to those essays..

Alex x

yesterday, I danced.

I’m not sure about you, but I’m not the kind of person who is the dancer within my circle of friends. Don’t get me wrong – I like to dance, but more often than not dancing in the company of others involves a non-sober Alex attempting to hold onto her bag (and make sure she doesn’t hit anyone else with it) whilst also trying to sip from a drink. So, basically it ends up being a somewhat discordant, somewhat self-conscious, hip-moving fandango in heels. Dancing in a bar is hard work, peeps.

Which is why yesterday was a little bit wonderful. Despite mega uni essays looming and a first date (which always guarantees a slightly stressed Alex in the lead up) I felt high on life. I woke up with the house to myself so I danced like a crazy woman in the kitchen after breakfast (thanks, Triple J). Then I busted out many, many moves whilst in the car (yes, I was driving. Yes, I probably shouldn’t have been multi-tasking whilst driving, but let’s not guilt-trip just yet, ok?). Then to top it all off, I danced whilst babysitting. Kids asleep = the house is my dance floor (with tunes courtesy of John Newman’s “Love Me Again” on repeat – epic goodness).

I would love to think that I looked something like this:

but the end result invariably bore a striking resemblance to this:

But you know what? It felt pretty awesome, anyway. (I think Mark Twain was onto something..)

How about you? Do you own the df and give Queen B a run for her money? Or do you only break out your moves when you’re a) in your room or b) very non-sober? Or do you not give a damn and just go for it?

Alex x

hola!

Well, hello, blogosphere. My name’s Alex and it’s lovely to meet you.

Realistically, this blog is probably going to be a mix-bag of pieces of life as I’m not someone who is reallly passionate about just one thing.

I’m envisaging that there will be a bit of beauty babble, Sydney small bar delights, thinking about marketing and PR, drinking espressos,  pop culture, words and tunes with a side of baking, plenty of randomness, a good dose of misadventure and a mild online shopping addiction. (judgement-free zone, ok?)

It’d be great to have your company along the way 🙂

Alex x