We had our first open home last weekend and as soon as the rest of my family wakes up (seriously, it’s 7.30am!) we’ll do a quick clean for todays. So far there’s been about 13 groups through – not bad for a week. The average time to sell here is around 3-4 weeks, so I’m actually pretty chill about the whole process – although that will change if we’re still having the same discussion in a month!
After a few very short weeks in the office (thanks to public holidays), this week was a bit of a shock to the system. Not only did I work each day (I usually have Fridays off), but they were longer days than usual. Such is life.
It was, however, punctuated quite happily by an unexpected visit on Tuesday evening from a girlfriend who was visiting from France. We’d last caught up in December 2015 when she caught the train over and met us in London. Don’t you just love those friendships where it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since you last saw each other?
Anyways, without further ado, under the watchful eye of the kookaburra who’s watching me through the window from where he’s been sitting on the clothesline for the last 20 minutes, let’s wrap this week up.
Where I lunched…
Echo On The Marina.
This is one of those hidden away sort of places that the friend I had lunch with somehow seems to find – Cottage Point Kiosk was another she’d introduced me to. I’ll pop something separately up so that you’ll know where to find it.
What made me happy…
My friend’s garden. You can’t look at these sunflowers (in the main pic) without your spirits lifting even a tiny bit – and as for the frangipani, I will be potting some by the pool in our new place in Queensland.
Not forgetting my own garden, the gardenias that hubby enthusiastically “pruned” have come back and are blooming just in time for open home.
What disappointed me…
The Imagine sculpture is gone from Barangaroo. In it’s place is this art wall. It’s sort of a combo of cool and trying to be cool but coming off a little contrived.
Who I followed…
My follow for the week was @thesaltypixel. He’s a Sunshine Coast based photographer who takes shots of, wait for it, the Sunshine Coast.
What I bookmarked…
Have I told you before just how much I love the new bookmarking function on instagram? This week I bookmarked some design inspo, some sunny coast exploring inspo, a cool beach shack from @beachshacksofaustralia, and a reminder to myself to visit Secrets on the Lake at Lake Baroon behind Montville, and Maleny Mountain Wines at Maleny.
What I blogged…
I spent a heap of time scheduling February posts for the astro site, so there was lots of stuff popping up there. Speaking of which, January was my best ever month for traffic on that site, with over 42,000 visits in the month. My hard work in producing the content was obviously worthwhile. Newsletter subscriptions for the astro site also increased, so I’m well and truly on target in that space.
On this site, I showed you around my home office, and took stock of January and across on the Joanne Tracey Author page, I wrote a little something about a question I’m often asked: why I’ve chosen to be an indie author.
What I marvelled at…
How time has flown. This little puppy came into our lives 8 years ago. She still puts her paws around our daughter’s neck – except for when she’s pushing her paw into her face. Just how cure were they both?
How was your week? Any highlights?
And Anyways... 
The mid-week catch up with the friend sounds nice! Not so much the long working week.
3-4 weeks is good for a sale. I keep reminding myself how fortunate I was as so many places on the market when I put mine on there are STILL on there (including 2 in my old complex!). I hope this weekend’s Open House also went well.
I must admit I’ve bookmarked a few things on Instagram but not yet gone back to look at them. I assume ‘how’ one days that is kinda obvious?!
It went well – another 12 groups through & some offers. Fingers all crossed.