What! It’s Autumn!?

August & September are busy months now in our family & world… it’s taken me a little while to find a rhythm to our days and weeks! Birthdays and parties and then visiting friends and relatives have made me soooooooo happy! I’ve pretty much eaten and drunk all the dumplings and wine and as I catch a moment to myself this morning, I’m like: IT’S now autumn/fall. It’s almost OCTOBER!

We’ve been in Shanghai for one whole year so I know how to handle the season changes… but it still feels like it should be gearing up to summer holidays as Australia tends to have a season change around now and then it’s all GO til Christmas. But in China, we’re all busy with school days for Felix and crazy work hours for my husband, and then it’s the Chinese Golden Week holidays and we’ll be travelling back to Australia for a short time. The year’s broken up so different in China to Australia, not to mention the northern/southern hemisphere thing!

This week, I’ve also been workshopping a workshop (!) for the Shanghai Literary Festival… which will be in November! My fellow Shanghai Blogger & good friend Olivia and I hope to run through some ideas for new & potential writers and how they can use blogs and social media to help them develop their voice and content. While I write this blog, I also sometimes update my own personal journal… and tend to write & journalise my day and life in Evernote… not for anything but to document my thoughts. Over the years with my job in Australia, I’ve gained so many storytelling skills across so many different platforms and mediums, it feels like I have the experience to share this now… At the time with daily deadlines on a radio show you just plough through and be the best you can be… and having the space and time here in Shanghai to reflect on that now has been really weird. I have a career full of radio, writing & storytelling experience… so when we were asked to get together a workshop for the festival, at first I thought… "Oh No What Do I Know"? But storytelling and leading teams and helping people be the best they can be as storytellers is kinda what I do. And people tell me I do this well. Gah! I’ve spun around this idea that I’m a creative strategist… and I actually feel creative for the first time this year. Gah x 2! So weird to get self aware but being away from usual, everyday Australian life, has really spun the questions for me, Who Am I and What’s My Identity!?

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So, I wanted to show you my finished Kim Dress this week, but now it’s Friday and it’s still not hemmed! So here’s my birthday party photo from the start of the month wearing my other By Hand London dress! I love my hair style! Melinda my Chinese hairdresser nailed it! Vintage style in Shanghai!

Over the next month, I have some ‘Made in China’ type posts to show you, some ‘What Have I Been Up To in the Blogging World of Shanghai’ type posts and a few ‘Scenes from Shanghai’ posts… and I’ll hem that Kim Dress now before picking up Felix from school so we can take some photos this afternoon to show you next week instead!

Hope you’re well! Thank you SO much for all your lovely birthday wishes to Felix! He's had a great time turning three! We're off to the park now! And Happy Friday to you xoxo!