Be your best self.

Do You Need To Take A ‘Me Time Day’? (plus WIN a $500 Myer voucher?)

Do You Need To Take A ‘Me Time Day’? (plus WIN a $500 Myer voucher?)
Carly Jacobs

Sponsored by Allen’s Cheekies Lollies.

Firstly, my agent is awesome. She’s Irish. We’re in love. A few weeks ago she was all, hey you like lollies right? And I was all. Yes. Yes I do. Seriously I’m like a freaking twelve-year-old. Ice cream and with topping and sprinkles? Yes. Jelly lollies with some kind of delicious soft centre? Yes. Strawberry milkshakes? Yes. Fancy french cake with gold foil and ju? Nuh uh.

Ice cream cake on my 27th birthday. I’m ecstatic because it had choc chips in it. I clearly have some kind of Peter Pan complex.

The lollies to which she was referring to are Allen’s Cheekies. Small bags of sweet  treats for you to have when you’re having a ‘cheeky’ moment. They have the perfect fruit flavoured soft centre which, as a massive lolly eater, I have to say is difficult to achieve but Allen’s have nailed the lolly to soft centre ratio. I got a giant box in the mail and took them to rehearsal where they were devoured in minutes.

The cast of my play slamming bag after bag of Cheekies. They made the most obscene yummy noises.

I’m a huge fan of both cheeky moments and things that are novelty sized, so I immediately said yes to this campaign and thought I’d let you in on a wee little secret that my mother taught me.

When I was a little kid, I adored sick days off from school. My brother would crankily trudge out the door while I was tucked up on the couch with a stack of Julia Roberts movies and a box of lemonade icy poles in the freezer. I didn’t even care that I felt like death warmed up. It was totally rad because everyone was doing something while I was doing nothing. Such a loser, wearing my little smug hat while I had snot all over my face. Classy.

When I got older, I’d sometimes try to lie to my mother and say that I was sick and couldn’t go to school. I tried this three or four times until she finally let me in on a secret of hers. There was a loophole in the whole sick day system and it was time that I knew about it. I was intrigued. She explained that it was a day that technically was a sick day but you’re not ‘sick’. It’s a day where you just need a day off for your brain. Where you go to see a movie, take yourself out for lunch or go for a swim. Whatever your heart desires. She said they’re really rare and you’re only allowed to have them once or twice a year so you had to really think about when you needed them the most. She called these days ‘Me Time Days’ and I’ve been a big advocate of them ever since. They’re totally necessary, totally guilt free and totally cheeky.

Me Time Day Rules

* You can’t have a me time day on a weekend. Unless you work weekends or 7 days a week. A Me Time Day needs to be instead of work, school, parenting or studying. The whole point is that it’s instead of responsibility.

* There’s no errands on Me Time Days. You can’t go to the bank, go to the post office or do the washing.

* You can have a Me Time Day by yourself or with others. It’s entirely up to you.

* It doesn’t have to be a whole day. Sometimes an afternoon is perfect.

* A Me Time Day shouldn’t be stressful. It needs to be on a day where it won’t really matter if you’re not there. If you take a me time day when you have a presentation due, a test at uni or a meeting at your kid’s school, it’s not going to be the enjoyable experience it should be.

* You should do something unusual on a me time day, to make it a bit spesh.

 Here’s a few favourite me time moments of mine…

Buy a magazine and a bag of Cheekies – try the Blackcurrant and Orange with soft citrus centres. Take off all your clothes and jump into bed naked. Spend a delicious hour snacking and reading all by yourself.

Take yourself to the movies. Treat yourself to a choc top.

Meet your mother for high tea. On a Wednesday afternoon. Eat cucumber sandwiches and drink champagne. Get a little too tipsy than would be considered appropriate for a weekday afternoon.

Leave work at lunch time and spend the afternoon at an art gallery. Wander slowly around in the silence. Have a takeaway coffee. Buy a stack of fancy postcards.

Blow off your afternoon of work. Grab a picnic blanket. Pack yourself a delicious sandwich and a bottle of iced tea. Spend the afternoon having a solo lunch date in the sun.

And guess what poppets? The lolly lovers at Allen’s are offering one Smaggle reader a cheeky moment of their own. They’re giving away a Myer gift voucher worth $500 so you can buy anything you want to have the perfect cheeky moment. Gorgeous pyjamas? A perfect new lipstick? Beautiful underwear? Go nuts!

All you have to do to win is tell me what your perfect cheeky Me Time Day would be like.

Make sure you enter with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. Competition T&Cs here. 

110 Comments

  1. Nadine Armiger 11 years ago

    MHD = Mental Health Day
    Don’t lollies make you feel sick? I’m getting queasy just reading this . . 😉
    Not entering the comp because I’m Not An Aussie.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Ah poo! Soz about that love. I’m a lolly fiend. If you put a bowl in front I won’t be able to stop. I prefer them to almost any other sweet treat… except maybe ice cream.

  2. Michelle... 11 years ago

    Smagz! Do you get Goody goody gum drop ice cream in Australia? As in bubblegum flavoured ice cream with lollies in it? Om nom nom nom (yup, I’m eating some right now)

    • GoddessMel 11 years ago

      Michelle that sounds disgustingly, decadently delicious! And I’ve never seen it in Australia 🙁

      • Michelle... 11 years ago

        It’s the best!
        I think it might be an NZ thing. Y’all will just have to head over here sometime to try it!

        • Author
          Smaggle 11 years ago

          I’ve been to NZ and didn’t even know about it! Next time! My bestie is just about to move there…

      • Author
        Smaggle 11 years ago

        HOW DO WE GET THEM HERE???

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Um… no! But it sounds awesome! We have Cold Rock and I’ll often get gummy bears in my ice cream!

  3. Sue GP 11 years ago

    Perfect ‘Me time’ – a day with my Besties. I now live in another state and see them when I pass through my hoe town. I LOVE the way conversations start up where they left off, that we share so many memories, embarrasments and laughs! A day with the girls, bruch, pedicure, lazy lunch, window shopping and coffee would be HEAVEN!!!!

    • GoddessMel 11 years ago

      You have a ‘hoe town’? 😉 Sounds like a good day anyway LOl

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Oh me too! I totally miss all my girls from my ‘hoe’ town. 🙂

  4. GoddessMel 11 years ago

    An in-home hair appointment so I can stay in my jammies or fluffy robe and paint my toes while getting coiffed. Then off to see a movie my husband would loathe (probably something subtitled) where I quaff champagne and nibble lollies, before joining my ladies for a gossipy, decadent lunch (that may involve nothing but desserts).

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Whoa, I’ve even heard of an in-home hair appointment… how do you make those happen?

      • GoddessMel 11 years ago

        Look for mobile hairdressing services in your Yellow Pages Ms Smagz 🙂 There’s a few here in Canberra, but I also have a coupla friends who are hairdressers that I can usually bribe LOL

  5. Jasmine 11 years ago

    I used to take these when I was working full time and my son was in child care full time (he was about 3). I knew he was struggling with full time child care (and only realised much later it was because of his autism), so when I could see he was reaching breaking point, which would in turn make me reach my breaking point … I’d wait for a brilliantly sunny day, call in sick, then choose a really low key, low fuss option. Like walking down to a bakery, grabbing a few different baked treats, then going to a park for a mini picnic and a play on the playground. Or we’d go to the supermarket, buy an entirely indulgent amount of instant cake and cupcake mixes, a heap of different frosting/cake decorating options … then we’d spend all morning baking, have lunch, then spend the afternoon decorating everything together before watching a movie and mowing into cake.

    Sometimes I legitimately need ‘me’ days where I’m on my own, but other times I feel like I just want to catch up properly with my son – no school, no work, no chores or errands. Just him and me doing something indulgent.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      I love the cupcake decorating! I haven’t done that for ages… on the list!

  6. livbambola 11 years ago

    My cheeky Me Time Day would involve
    – a lie in past a respectable hour
    – a long hot shower
    – spending the rest of the morning at the beauty salon getting a full manicure & pedicure
    – getting all dolled up for a late lunch by the river with some girlfriends and letting that turn into drinks and dinner for the evening

    I might have to make some plans…

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Oh god yes, the lie in! In fact that’s sometimes all I need.

  7. Nessbow 11 years ago

    I do this every now and then, but I call it a “mental health” day. My perfect cheeky “me time” day would include a sleep in, poached eggs on toast, nicking my mum’s dog and taking him for a walk around the lake, a trip to the art gallery cafe for lemon tart and then reading under a woolly blanket on the couch. And a long, hot bath.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Oh I like the puppy part of your day! Mr Smaggle and I are fanging for a dog but we live in an apartment. We like to steal other people’s pooches as often as we can!

  8. Anonymous 11 years ago

    Props for that ridiculously awesome GIF.

    My perfect me time:

    Wake up and about 10, hang out in my pyjamas while I make myself a coffee and drool over things in magazines I can’t afford. Make myself an open sandwich for brunch. Smoked salmon. Avocado. A drizzle of white balsamic vinegar and some cracked pepper. Because I’m fancy like that. Then laze about in the sun with my kitty (not a euphemism) for a couple of hours. Then I wander down the road, I’m not going to lie, in my head it was a magic carpet ride. And arrive at a really fancy spa, where I’m taken to ‘Spa Nirvana’. And then, back at home (also via my magic carpet) Curtis Stone is in the kitchen making me dinner. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Thank you! I’m learning how to use ALL THE APPS!

      And what the hell is with open sandwiches? Why do they rock so much more than closed ones?

  9. Elizabeth 11 years ago

    I’m making the most of Me Time while I can – in three months it becomes Squalling Infant Time! At the moment, sleeping, drinking tea, sleeping, watching movies and sleeping top the list.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Oh wow! Congrats! Yes take as many Me Time moments as you can!

  10. Anonymous 11 years ago

    My perfect Me Time: have an entire day to myself. Love the husband but when I want my Me Time, it must just be Me. I’d go out to the city on my own, go shopping, have lunch and coffee at my favourite place, read, listen to music. Then I come home, take a hot shower, put on a face mask, watch my favourite TV shows on the iPad. When Me Time comes to an end, hide shopping from the husband 😛

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      I agree… I love Me Time with Mr Smags but Me Time with just me is totally necessary too.

  11. Donna O'Leary 11 years ago

    Sleeping in, eating porridge with brown sugar for breakfast, PJ’s and slippers on all day, watching Days of Our Lives and eating peanut butter and jam on toast for lunch.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Porridge is the bomb. Total Me Time food.

  12. Beck Douglas 11 years ago

    Me time always includes a hot bath with a book. ALWAYS! It may include going to a movie, op shopping or sitting at a café drinking coffee with a new magazine but there’s always that bath with a book. It’s my happy place. After my daughter falls asleep and I’ve finished my uni work, I think I shall go there!

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      I READ IN THE BATH TOO!!!! I LOVE IT! TWINSIES!

  13. Anonymous 11 years ago

    My ultimate ‘Me Time Day’ is pretty simple. I live remote so no coffee, art galleries or movies. I pick a day with perfect sunny weather, sleep in, buy a mag from the road house, throw a towel in the back yard lie in the sun and read. I also find time to sneak in watching some daytime TV. It’s my guiltiest pleasure, especially after red carpet night.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Magazines! I love them! I used to work in a newsagent and I’ve never quite kicked the trashy mag habit. x

  14. Linda 11 years ago

    In winter my perfect Me Time day is a rainy day when I have the apartment to myself. I curl up under my super thick doona wearing my favorite jammies and work through a stack of trashy magazines while listening to jazz.
    In summer my perfect Me Time day involves soaking up the sun (while being sun safe of course), breaking out my blender to make mango smoothies and dancing round my apartment.
    Regardless of it is summer or winter my mobile and laptop are turned off so work can’t disturb my serenity.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Oh I’ve heard of people calling Me Time Days Doona Days! Perhaps that’s what this is?

  15. Kally Whitehead 11 years ago

    My perfect cheeky Me Time day would start waking up naturally in my comfy bed – no screeching alarm. Sliding out of my sheets and into my satin dressing gown I wonder…have I? Yes, I think I have lots a kilo or three! What luck, I wasn’t even trying!

    Opening my bedroom door I find my wonderful boyfriend already awake and preparing the most scrumptious breakfast of gluten-free waffles, strawberries and cream alongside steaming, fresh espresso. What a gem! He insists on doing the washing up so I can leave for some serious pampering at the health spa with my bestie.

    Oh yes. Mani-Pedi. Seaweed wrap. Mud facial mask. 60 minute massage including Indian head massage. Divine darling, divine.

    Practically vibrating from the relaxation, we’re whisked off to our next indulgence – a cheesecake photography session that would raise the eyebrows of Rizzo and Sandy in jealousy! After a few hours of rollers, makeup and cocktails we’re all ready! Snap, snap! The camera loves you baby.

    Finally, we’re picked up by our lovely hubbies and taken out on a raucous night of swing dancing! Two hours and some ‘best dancer’ awards later, we crash through my front door exhausted but elated.

    Munching on a few Allen’s Cheekies to keep the engine revving, we head off for bed. I don’t think anyone’s getting any sleep tonight!

    <3

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Haa ha aha! I think the accidental weight loss was my favourite part of this!

      • Kally Whitehead 11 years ago

        If only it happened in real life! I mean I’m not asking for miracles or being greedy with the universe but would it be too much to ask that mmm once a month you found a kilo or even half a kilo gone without too much effort? 😉 Oh well, c’est la vie!

        • Author
          Smaggle 11 years ago

          That tends to only happen to me when my belly’s not right! :-/

  16. Karli 11 years ago

    I cannot wait for Sunday, my favourite me time day. It involves getting out of bed when I want, French toast at the restaurant up te road and after buying myself flowers, cheese and sweets, I lie in bed all day and eat and watch tv. Sigh.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Ah! The self bought flowers. The BEST me treat EVER!

  17. Rachel Pierce 11 years ago

    I am rather obsessive over television, so my Me Time day would probably be a day of finishing a TV series I’ve been marathon-ing. This is partly because every time I finish watching something I have a mini-existential crisis, so I would spend the remainder of the day wallowing in sorrow and baking cookies to heal my soul.
    A little over dramatic? Yes, Happens every time I finish a series? Yes, just ask my college roommate.

    • Rachel Pierce 11 years ago

      Also, I’m pretty sure I’m not qualified because I’m not Aussie, but I just wanted to share.

      • Author
        Smaggle 11 years ago

        Oh poo! But thank you for sharing! 🙂

  18. Marnie 11 years ago

    Anytime I don’t have a 21 month old toddler attached to me is a good start!!

  19. Erika 11 years ago

    Ah, those would be the days that we do “fence repairs”. Also known as FuckItAlls or Mental Health Days (for management).

    Curling up on the couch with one or both dogs, good book (dead wood or digital) and blankets (mm hmm, 6 degrees here). No chores, yummy leftovers in the fridge and a Best Beloved who brings dinner home (yes honey, Thai would be lovely) AND feeds the dogs. Take pupsters for a walk if it gets warmer.

    So that would be – no work, no time constraints, no having to go anywhere or do anything and uninterrupted time with lots of reading. Yep, pretty much heaven.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Hahhahahah! ‘Fence repairs’??? Do employers really fall for that?

  20. cilosophy.blogspot.com 11 years ago

    Me time day:
    Wake up with my sexy fella by my side. Nudge him till he makes me wake-up juice (or coffee as it is known to other people. And this is not a rest day for him, it’s for me). Have a lazy half-awake cuddle. Then slink out of bed to watch recordings of Bondi Vet, performing narratives in animal-voices (this is our weekend habit). Seriously Bondi Vet is the most happy-inducing show ever.

    Have some brekky in – porridge, slowly and lovingly made. More coffee to finish the wake-up.
    Get dressed – black with lots of accessories. This is Melbourne, people. Pop on Prada glasses and a slash of red lippy with minimal other makeup. I am thinking saucy librarian here.
    Catch the tram down to the NGV, take in the winter masterpieces exhibition. Being a weekday, it is not crowded with people.
    Finish. Whoops, it must be lunchtime. Head out for restorative coffee and cake. A fancy cake. Perhaps a mocha at Koko Black. That is a meal in itself, containing the major food groups (chocolate and coffee).
    Revived, head out on the hunt for bargasms. Retouch red lippy. Perhaps go into one of the little Chinese places for a quick massage, if the legs get tight.
    Then maybe take in an arthouse flick at the Kino cinema. Good thing I bought my glasses.
    Stagger for an early dinner. Aperitif? Champagne? Yes. The French stuff.
    Then have a nice dinner. Get the waiter to recommend a wine, and have that. Some grape I have never heard of.
    Taxi home.
    Sit and allow dinner to digest
    Have half-asleep cuddle with sexy fella (nice symmetry to the day.

    cilla

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Ah I love how your day ended where it started. 🙂

  21. Cassie Dionysius 11 years ago

    A perfectly cheeky day…

    Wake up at a leisurely pace under a gorgeously thick feather doona, engulfed in a
    puff of those really really expensive fluffy down pillows.

    Proceed to make a bedroom fort with said blankets and
    pillows.

    Read trashy mags in knickers
    while drinking extra tall long black in said fort.

    Stroll into town while singing the backstreet boys and
    destiny’s child respective catalogues out loud, in their entirety.

    Eat a ridiculously decadent and delicious lunch followed by a
    glass or three of pink champagne.

    Flirt outrageously with wait staff under the guise of being
    an over the top, eccentric, full time lady of leisure.

    Apologise to wait staff for making them slightly
    uncomfortable :/

    Blow wait staff kisses as I exit stage left.

    Skip down the street and buy family bag of allens pineapple lollies,
    ginormous slurpee and large popcorn and gorge while watching (insert latest Disney
    teen princess) film at the cinema.

    Dip in the ocean, some kind of
    spiced-rum-meets-pineapple-juice-and-mint cocktail, then pop on the bus home
    where boyfriend and I eat cheese for dinner and watch portlandia all night.

    YEP!

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      BEDROOM FORT! PORTLANDIA!!!! YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

  22. Maddi 11 years ago

    Me time day.
    Wake up. About 7am, don’t ask why, it just works.
    Have
    pop on a lovely outfit (from Myer perhaps 😉 ) and go out to the markets.
    Find everything I want there, and have a limitless cash supply to allow for sneaky snacks while there.
    Come home, cook a delicious dinner, with all the time I want on my hands.
    Pull off a dinner which seems to have appeared from a Donna Hay photoshoot.
    Read a book before bed, and have it be a really good book.
    And for the record, I call them mental health days

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Lots of people do! That day sounds AMAZING btw.

  23. Al 11 years ago

    A total me day consists of doing my top 6 favourite things
    in no particular order:

    1.
    Sleep in

    2.
    Skiing

    3.
    Sipping skim Latte’s

    4.
    Slothing in front of any Disney DVD singing my
    heart out (most likely Little Mermaid)

    5.
    Socialising with my besties over jugs of Sangria

    6.
    a Shag!

  24. Harlow 11 years ago

    I am a major lolly fiend and have a really hard time staying away from sweets, steering past the lolly isle requires serious will power for me! That gif you made has me salivating…I MUST try them.

    A perfect ME day for me would be: Waking up to a clean house, no laundry to do, the animals all clean and not trying to kill each other, and no uni work! And ALL OF MY HOUSEMATES GONE! Just vaporized or something.

    Then I’d have an hour long shower.

    And make myself eggs benedict with lashings of avocado and lots of smoked salmon.

    Then I’d re-watch all of the seasons of Walking Dead in my pjs. While eating those yummy gooey center lollies. Mmmmhmmmm!

    And then for dinner I’d make myself a hot breakfast with LOTS of bacon, 4 eggs, baked beans, tomatoes…because I just LOVE breakfast food haha!

    And on ME days, calories don’t exist 😀

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      WALKING DEAD!!!! I love. And totally, calories never exist on Me Days.

  25. Kim 11 years ago

    My time would be an afternoon at the cinema, all of a sudden I wouldn’t have to buying a tonne of tickets, so I would go Gold Class (I can’t quite picture what that would be like yet!), I would go to the snack bar and buy food! (I know it doesn’t seem special, but I have spent years and years smuggling food illegally into cinemas, have you ever had to buy 5 popcorns, drinks and lollies, I haven’t, I’d rather spend the mney paying off my mortgage!), and lastly, I would see a movie that wasn’t G or PG rated, enough said!!!

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      I’m a HUGE movie food smuggler! Bottles of Diet Coke and air popped pop corn all the way!

  26. Cal 11 years ago

    I love mental health days. Once I couldn’t face going back to work after lunch, so I told my manager I was feeling off and went home and sat in the bath with a box of choccies and a glass (ok, a bottle) of red. It was heavenly. I got twice as much work done the next day, too.

    Nowadays I tend to have Me Afternoons or even Me Hours rather than entire Me Days (the perils of living on a farm 30 minutes from the nearest shops), but that just means I get to have more of them!

    Here are a few things I do to keep myself sane:

    Put on my best undies and some comfortable shoes and spend the day trying on clothes – the more outrageous the better! (I have to give myself a budget so I don’t take them all home. My wardrobe is ridiculously tiny and I’m unemployed.)

    Spend an hour or so walking around town and take a photo every five minutes. Go to a photo kiosk and print them all out, sit down with a coffee and a gooey slice, and pick out my favourites.

    Go back to bed after lunch with a bag of lollies and a magazine or a library book. Put them down after five minutes and have a lovely long nap. Wake up very very slowly. Try not to get lollies all through the bed.

    Pick my top ten nailpolishes and paint each nail a different colour. (Then see which one lasts the longest before getting chipped! It’s never the index fingers.)

    Get glammed up just to take the dog for a walk around the farm. If the dog is feeling lazy (he’s 13), take the goats for a walk. (We have two goats and they are total sweeties. They think they’re pets but they’re really lawnmowers.)

    I’m about to cook myself a Me Dinner. Gnocchi carbonara, yum.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Honestly, there is NOTHING better than fresh and beautiful undies.

  27. Steph 11 years ago

    I must admit that my perfect ‘Me Time’ day would ordinary involve quite a lot of red wine. At the moment however I am heavily pregnant so that would probably be bad… So, at the moment my perfect me time day would start with pancakes followed by a hot air balloon ride. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to go on one and never have. Ideally it would be aboad the majestic, fabulously booby Skywhale (do a google image search if you haven’t seen her – amazing!). I would then go to the zoo for a ‘Meet a Cheetah’ tour. After patting a real live cheetah I would probably need to have a lie down to recover from the cuteness overload. After a sleep I would get a massage and go to the movies. I’d want to go to the Premium Lounge so I could put my feet up and eat cake as I watched the film. And, if the laws of space and time could be altered slightly, I’d be seeing one of the Harry Potter films for the first time. Perfect!

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Ha! I love that your Me Time Day includes erasing your memory so you could re-watch a film for the first time. Love it.

  28. Tara 11 years ago

    My perfect me time day involves staying in my house all day – seriously no trip further than than the letterbox! I would have lots of cups of tea and coffee and work on a quilt or knitting project in front of some good/bad movies (depending on your perspective – I’m thinking reality bites, empire records and dirty dancing). I’d make lunch from things in the fridge and it would invoke chorizo (my best sausage) and haloumi (best cheese). I’d get a parcel in the mail (I love getting mail!). Then my hubby would get home from work and me time day would end and us time evening could start (red wine and HBO tv marathon, most likely!)

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      As much as I love Mr Smaggle, a perfect me day can happen quite easily when he’s not here! A day alone in my own house! Amazing!

  29. mandy 11 years ago

    My ‘Me time’ day.

    Catch a tram without a pram,

    read the newspaper at a fave café

    from end to end.

    Meander into the Kino or Nova to see a movie.

    Try on shoes. Have another coffee.

    Have a long bath listening to a talking book before my gorgeous kids come home. ahhhhh sigh, bliss.
    mandy fish.ladder@bigpond.com

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      I LOVE Kino. Especially on their cheap days!

  30. JicyJac 11 years ago

    There was an article about the importance of “Mental Health” days in The Age earlier this week – experts suggest we should have two or three a year. Unfortunately “me time” is hard to find when you are a parent.

    My ultimate me-time day would have a little sleep in, a hot breakfast with several cups of coffee and the weekend paper, the “Good Weekend” would be read from cover to cover. Then a yoga class would be nice, a quick shop an a fancy deli or market for dinner ingredients – something hearty to be slow cooked. Go home and put the slow cooked dinner in the oven so the house is nice and warm for the afternoon, while I read my book. Then my husband can come back home with the kids to make mashed potato for dinner and pour me a glass of red, and we can have a lovely family dinner. Then he and the kids can clean up and the kids can pop off to bed without arguing. I’ll kiss them goodnight, pour another glass of red and watch a movie with my husband. Ahh – the chances of this entire fantasy day occurring are slim, but most Saturdays I do usually manage to squeeze in an article or two from the Good Weekend, family dinner and a glass or two of red so I can’t complain.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Ha! I saw that! It came out three days after I published my post… Interesting! 🙂

  31. Laura 11 years ago

    I spend a lot of time thinking about the perfect ‘mental health’ day.
    I’d get up early and do a little hike in a national park. Nothing like the smell of gum trees (and billy tea!) to get the day going.
    I’d head home and have a delicious warm shower, then get dressed up and head out to a local winery for some sneaky tastings! Canberra region wines are the best.
    A late lunch at the excellent pub in Gundaroo (probably a huge burger, I’m a sucker for a pub burger), and then home to a relaxing bath, a glass of recently purchased red, and a book.
    Unfortunately this whole affair requires some poor sucker to agree to be designated driver… and if there’s anything I know about my lovely boy, it’s that he’s fond of a glass of wine and a beer himself. But I guess that’s just an excuse to do it more than once.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Ohhhh! Canberra gal? Love it! 🙂

  32. Rose 11 years ago

    My favourite Me Day happens when my university classes get cancelled, and all the other study I had planned spontaneously combusts, leaving me blissfully free to do the following;

    1) Wake up at 6 am as usual, wiggle and stretch my toes and then roll over and doze for another hour or so.

    2) Eventually mosey out of bed and stand under a hot shower, finish up and pick a wonderful outfit. Clashing colours, mixed print, so long as I look like I’ve either escaped from the gypsy circus or a production of La Boheme I am happy.

    3) Eat my favourite breakfast ever. Fresh avocado and goats cheese on toast with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Brew a pot of tea and drink it out of my favourite tea cup while reading the paper from front to back.

    4) Go to my favourite op shopping street. Mooch from top to bottom slowly, visiting all the charity stores and digging for treasures, set myself a $50 limit and get creative.

    5) Retire home for a session of tandem afternoon napping with my cat.

    6) Have delicious dinner and drinks with my friends at the local jazz joint.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Ah! Of course! Prior commitments getting cancelled is the perfect way to start a Me Time Day.

  33. Melissa Frisbie 11 years ago

    A me day is waking up around 8am and opening all the windows in the house and sipping tea and eating pastries (sans guilt) in bed while Pintresting until 10am. Then getting out and window shopping with girlfriends and having a long and lovely lunch at a cafe. Coming home and doing self maintenance. Exfoliating, deep conditioning, pedicuring, and trying a new makeup technique. Getting gussied in a new dress and going out to dinner with my beautiful boyfriend and having a nice evening stroll. The night will finish with no clothing and probably ice cream.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      PINTERESTING! YES! Your Me Day sounds amazing BTW.

  34. Hannah 11 years ago

    Thank you so much for writing about “me days”! I grew up a single child with my single parent mum. We didn’t have a lot of money, but once or twice a year my mum would let me have a “Hannah day”. It’d be super cheeky and involve me missing a day of school (but I was a dedicated super-nerd lover of school so it wasn’t a huge drama). On Hannah days I would get to pick a movie of my choice, and afterward we’d go to a bookstore and I’d buy a bookmark! It was a really funny tradition. It made me appreciate the need to take time off and just have fun when you need it, so I still have an odd Hannah day once or so a year…and I still buy a bookmark! 🙂

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Oh I loved bookmarks! We sound like similar kiddies! 🙂

  35. musicoholic 11 years ago

    My perfect “Me Time Day”/MHD?

    I am a simple gal, with simple needs… My perfect day would involve:

    1. waking up at whatever time my body decided, instead of being dictated to by my alarm
    2. feeling absolutely 1000% guilt free about staying in bed. All. Day. No interruptions.
    (I have major guilt issues. Major. I have taken ONE sick day in the past 4 years – because my SON was hospitalised. ONE. AND felt guilty about it for weeks!)

    That’s it. My perfect Me Time Day. Any thing else is icing.

    Oh, to dream. Le sigh. 🙂

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      I don’t think I will EVER not feel guilty about staying in bed all day. 🙁

      • musicoholic 11 years ago

        Yeah, this whole “grown-up” thing needs to be easier. :-S
        You know, I just realise I have like a month and a half of sick days accumulated… probs about time I used one? 😉
        Now just to pick a day where I won’t feel AS guilty… ha!! =D

  36. Bek 11 years ago

    A total me day includes morning sex, a wander in the sunshine with my puppies, buying flowers, eating a delicious lunch full of things I can eat with my hands (like dip and olives), swimming at the beach, cold beer in a hot shower, getting ready to go out with loud music playing, then going to a restaurant or bar with my best people. Bliss.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Cold beer in a hot shower… seriously? Wouldn’t you pass out?

      • Bek 11 years ago

        Are you telling me you’ve never tried it? I insist you do it at your earliest convenience. If it rocks your pants off, I win the voucher. Deal?

  37. Helen Perris 11 years ago

    The ideal me day? I’d sleep in, go for a full body massage, come home and soak in a bubble bath with a glass of wine, a book I’d not had time to read, and the music I wanted to listen to playing. Then I’d rug up in a big fluffy robe and slippers and have a Mad Men marathon.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Fluffy robe and slippers! YEEEEESSSS!

      • Helen Perris 11 years ago

        It’s a pity I can’t live the dream for another six months yet. Me days don’t work when you have a baby that needs his mama.

  38. Jenny Swift 11 years ago

    Aww, your post brought back some lovely memories of when my own mum occasionally let me have a day off school ‘just because’. I like to think of them as ‘Oprah’ days. Because even though I had no idea what this fabulously over-the-top and exuberant woman on the TV was talking about half the time, sitting there watching it with my mum felt so special and like I was being let in on some sort of secret adult business. 🙂

    Oooh! The thought of a ‘Me Time Day’ has sent my mind racing! So many things that I haven’t really thought about much until now but have been secretly missing doing them for years, since going into full-time mummy-mode. Those simple joys of life!

    Like strolling on a quiet beach and marvelling at the pure power of the ocean, collecting pretty seashells and sea glass along the way…

    Indulging in gummy lollies and chocolate while flipping through a fashion mag, wondering what it’d really be like to feature on the glossy pages, own a wardrobe just for shoes or a dress worth more than the average monthly wage!

    Visiting the local markets to dig through piles of ‘treasure’, admiring clever handmade creations and tasting delicious homemade foods…

    Spending a few hours going op-shopping or window-shopping…

    These things just aren’t the same when attempted with three children aged 5yrs and under! I do love being a mum and couldn’t imagine my life without them. But every now and then a ‘Me Time Day’ or even just a ‘Me Time Afternoon’ would be simply dreamy… 🙂

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      I tell you what, I could use one right now! Sounds like you could too. x

  39. _AHarrington 11 years ago

    I’d be down the beach with friends and the weather would be beautiful. We’d go out for breakfast then head to the beach, where I would devour a stack of magazines, sleep, swim and relax. Someone would bring us lunch – someone wonderful enough to think that we just might be hungry. Then we’d head home in the evening to lazily get ready for dinner, drinks and dancing. Bliss.

  40. Erin 11 years ago

    Sleep in, a long run in the sun, an afternoon being pampered at a spa, followed by an early night. Bliss.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      I love that… but I’d skip the run. Even though I’m a runner, on a Me Time day I’m not sweating for shit!

  41. Anonymous 11 years ago

    A total me day would be a slow and simple day starting with a sleep in. Then a full body relaxing massage before wandering home to a glass of wine, fabulous book and the open fire. Plus dinner cooked by my fabulous husband.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      I like this day. I like it a lot.

  42. Sunny 11 years ago

    i love a bit of me time in which i banish people from the kitchen to make a totally decadent cake (and make a mess) while listening to music on rdio.

    said people are then invited back to enjoy the cake! aren’t i nice 😉

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Oh my love! You should actually just do this! It’s lovely.

  43. Anonymous 11 years ago

    My cheeky day is pretending I am asleep when the alarm goes off. That means hubby has to turn it off. Never one to go back to sleep, that means he gets up and I get my first coffee of the day in bed. Sometimes, I have been known to say that I am not feeling well, so I can indulge in a PJ day catching up on all my reading, which totally takes my mind on holiday. It also means its a washing free day, a meal making free day and for a part of the day, a butler on call day

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Ha! I love this. Being so lazy you won’t even turn your own phone alarm off.

      • Anonymous 11 years ago

        sometimes a girl just has to do what a girl has to do 😉 LOL

  44. Anonymous 11 years ago

    My Me Time Day is sleeping in then staying in my PJ’s, ignoring knocking on my door, raiding the freezer for chocolate cheesecake and an omelette dinner.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Your most favourite meal is an omelette? Could you get cuter? I’m thinking not. x

  45. laura elizabeth 11 years ago

    My perfect cheeky day would definitely include a good book, a fire and one of those massive single lounge chairs that are big enough to curl up on.

    oh and probably listening to some Spice Girls or Hanson (Never do that enough these days)

  46. laura elizabeth 11 years ago

    My perfect cheeky day would definitely include a good book, a fire and one of those massive single lounge chairs that are big enough to curl up on.

    • Author
      Smaggle 11 years ago

      Oh yes! A fire! I miss all the perks of house living when I live in a flat.

  47. Linda C 11 years ago

    My favourite me time of day is late at night when everyone else has gone to bed, it’s quiet except for the low volume on the tv and the hum of my laptop. Several coffees and a family block of peppermint chocolate all to myself makes me feel totally satisfied.

  48. Lifeandlentils 11 years ago

    I try to sneak in some me time once everyone is out of the house in the morning. It could involve any number of self indulgences…. napping, eating, reading, shopping, watching a movie. Me time makes you time much easier 🙂

  49. Nell Jeandet 11 years ago

    Me time day – eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat sleeping, sleep eating. Be sure to eat a serve of fruit in there probably blackcurrants & oranges. Perfect. Cheeky. Me. Time.

  50. Wendy 11 years ago

    Ooh a Me time day – sans 1 yr old anything is possible…. but would definitely involve Allens lollies and a trip to the movies alone! how decadent.

  51. Aprilahh 11 years ago

    Well Carly it looks like I was too busy having a ‘me time day’ today to get in on the last day of your competition! 🙁 Damn!

    But I can definitely say a “Me Time Day” will be a staple of my household from now on.

    I would say a “Me Time Day” should really start the night before; an early night, so I can get the most out of my day and feel well-rested without out wasting brunching time.

    Long session of self-beautifying – the entire 21 album from Adele while I put on my face, and a good hair day which requires no effort from me to top it. A clean pair of jeans (which don’t squeeze me too much even though they’re fresh) and a favourite jumper/scarf/pair of shoes laid out the night before.
    Brunch with my bestie who never gets Me Time Days either, a walk around a leafy park and then chilling on the couch in a deserted cocktail lounge, talking over our latest news and happenings. A few cocktails and some tapas later, our manly men join us after a stress-free work day, freshly prepared in the outfits we left them (because men who can’t dress themselves deserve to still look good! Colour-blindness shouldn’t be inflicted on me – badly matched outfits begone!)
    A bite of dinner, none of which is breaking my diet (by ways of magic, because I’m having the crème brûlée!) and then wrapping up with a quick dance in a club on the way home.

    Fall into a bed that has been made up with clean sheets while I was gone, and fall asleep easily after a glass of water to cure any hangover I might get – which of course, I DON’T because Me Time Days are perfection and make life better not worse!

    Wish I could have told you about it earlier but still glad I shared 🙂 x

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