I'm at the end of my first week in Sydney and major milestones have been achieved. 

 

Piece of vegemite toast? Check - I have had many!

 

Night on the couch with Mum binging some really good TV? Check - can you believe she hasn't seen Only Murders in the Building?

 

Gone out with girlfriends and drunk more red wine than was wise? *groans and rubs aching temples* yeah, that's a check! 

 

Also my dad has moved since the last time I visited, so I dropped by his apartment to see what was what. This is the view from his balcony 😍

 

 

This is the quirky teashop one of my friends dragged me. It was so cute and fussily old fashioned in the best possible way. And I really wish I'd taken photos of us in the place but I was so busy laughing and talking that...I forgot. Whoops!!! 
 

 

And of course there have been many visits to the Woolahra library, aka my Aussie office. I know I'm biased, but isn't this one of the most beautiful libraries you've ever seen? 

 

 

Dark, cozy libraries will always have a place in my heart, but I adore the way this place was built around sunlight and green growing things. Those are real vines, not plastic. There are dozens and dozens of pot plants tucked away in a recessed trenches that were custom built into all the railings. It gives the whole place this magical, enchanted elven fantasy feel, like you've somehow been transported into an outpost of Lothlorien. 

 

I love how peaceful I feel there.

 

...except, you know, when I arrive first thing in the morning. Then I join the crowd of die hard book nerds jostling each other as we wait for the doors to open. Once the doors are unlocked, it's a race up the stairs to score one of the big red desk-chairs by the window. 

 

I'm not saying that people have been known to swear and throw elbows... I'm just saying that there are only eight of those chairs and laying claim to the perfect study spot is a serious business!