hello August!

FIVE homes. FOUR departments. THREE (and a half) years. TWO exes. ONE city.

A friend described me as 'nomadic'. More romantic than 'restless'...

I don't want to own anything until I know I've found the place where me and things belong together. I'm not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it's like... It's like Tiffany's.

- Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote -

I am a chameleon. A sociable wallflower. An impulsive over-thinker (and recovering perfectionist). An imperfect feminist. A dreamer and a realist, still making sense of the world.

.....

I spent last Saturday afternoon bed-shopping at IKEA.

IKEA Canberra opened at the end of last year but this was my first visit. (It feels odd to have outlived Soju Girl and to remember pre-IKEA days. Gosh, I'm really a local now...)

Still packing. My favourite thing about this home: in-built shelves.

Assuming all goes to plan, I will have the keys to my new home on Thursday. Hooray!

Having lived in the inner-south since arriving in Canberra, it feels like a betrayal to cross the lake. (The '2013 War of Indiependence' still cracks me up.) But it looks like I'll be commuting to the Parliamentary Triangle for work, across from the department I started at. Full circle.

(Can't escape the south...)

Speaking of which, my Writers' Other Job piece on working in the public service was published last week by The Writers Bloc. I was described as 'the ever-brilliant' – highlight of my day.

Processes for board appointments, Cabinet and Budget seem tedious to an outsider but keep the grand machine of Government accountable and carefully ticking. There is a way of doing things, a rhythm and order to the Budget cycle, MYEFO (Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, pronounced my-ee-foe) and MoG (Machinery of Government, rhymes with slog) changes. My Melbourne friends expect tales of political drama when the role of the APS is to hold steady in the eye of the storm.

Well, the first highlight... because later that day, I was invited to read at An evening of awesome with award-winning Canberra authors on Wednesday 24 August at Gorman Arts Centre.

My first ever reading, squee! I'm over the moon but also really, really nervous. Many thanks to ACT Writers Centre for the invitation and to my friend Duncan for putting my name forward.

August, you're looking alright xo