Monday morning coffee catch up: How was your weekend?

By NICKY CHAMP

Is it just me or are weekends the new weekdays?

By the time Monday morning rolls around I’m often just as exhausted as I was on Friday night.

But not today.

Over the weekend I got some much needed ‘me’ time, where for a glorious afternoon and night I didn’t have any responsibilities apart from having a good time.

Just as an FYI, you should know that the Monday Morning Coffee Catch Up is brought to you by Moccona. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.

For readers who don’t know, I have a two-year-old and a husband I see roughly 12 times a year (FIFO). It’s like being a single mother (wiv a daughter) sharing custody with a semi-invisible person.

For three weeks out of a month it’s me that does all the feeding, bathing, changing, drop-offs, pickups, disciplining, comforting and dummy finding in the middle of the night. It’s exhausting.

As you can imagine, I don’t get out much. Sometimes a trip to the supermarket on my own feels like no queues at Disneyland – and I often leave with junk food and soft toys in tow.

On Friday night I was lucky enough to attend the Gatsby-themed Dream Ball 2013, which is the Look Good Feel Better (LGFB) initiative’s annual fundraising event. Breast cancer survivor Kerri-Anne Kennerly co-hosted the night (she’s a patron) and David Campbell was there to get the dance floor rocking after all the formalities.

If you haven’t heard of LGFB they are a charity that run workshops for women who are enduring gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for the treatment for cancer.

Workshop attendees are taught make-up techniques and try on wigs to help manage the appearance-related side-effects of cancer. Far from being superficial, the women who attend the workshops leave with a new and more confident sense of self. I’m speaking from experience, I’ve witnessed it first hand.

As a guest of one of the companies that provide make-up and skincare for the workshops, I had the pleasure of being the one getting a (1920s Gatsby-style) makeover.

I was dropped off at Barney Martin hairdressing for a 90min pamper session. I walked in a tired, running-on-four-hours-of-sleep, drained shell of a person and walked out feeling as dazzling as Daisy Buchanan.

Fast forward to the end of the night and as exciting and wonderful as it was, as many parents can relate to, I was really excited about hitting the pillow and get a much needed sleep in. So much so I couldn’t sleep. The novelty of watching rage and eating toast at 1am just because I could was yet to wear off and no, it had nothing to do with seven glasses of champagne.

So however your weekend was, I hope you found some time for yourself, whether that meant dancing in your living room at 1am, a solo trip to the supermarket or some much needed pampering.

Over to you, what did you get up to over the weekend?

Modern life is super-busy. It’s a juggling act. A thousand jobs rolled into one. We know you wouldn’t change it for the world, but wouldn’t it be nice to pause for a little bit of me-time every once in a while.

Moccona is that time out; a little bit of indulgence in an otherwise hectic day. From its smooth, rich taste to its iconic glass jar, Moccona has been a favourite with coffee lovers in Australia for over 50 years. Every jar of Moccona is made from 100% coffee beans and carefully produced to create a premium quality coffee that you’ll love, every time.

Moccona lets coffee lovers enjoy a little more me-time, anytime.