Hi there everyone – Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums out there today!
Here’s a little something that I collaborated with the very lovely Andrea from Fox in Flats on this week – her super-cool Style Manifesto for Mums. If you have ever found yourself bemoaning the loss of your pre-motherhood fabulousness, head on over to her site and download that baby. We all need a reminder sometimes that we still have that fabulousness – even if it is hiding under a pair of daggy tracky pants 
I think we have ALL seen the famous poster above and also rolled our eyes a little at the millions of different versions and permutations it has spawned, but did you know the real story behind “KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON”? Someone linked to the below video today on twitter and all I can say is, it’s a beautiful and surprising story 
{img http://weheartit.com/entry/16474499}
I have been watching admiringly as Nat from Easy Peasy Kids continues to share her happy place with her readers on a daily basis – especially as I have found it impossible to keep up the pace! Actually it was today that I realised I had reached the point of “overextend” once again. I am serial offender when it comes to overextending!
No matter, I am determined to catch up to Nat today! Here’s my last 8 days of happy places!
Today my happy place was writing. I have always loved writing and after discovering blogging late last year, quickly became enamoured with the fact that it allowed me to indulge that love on pretty much a daily basis. Even better, blogging is self directed writing – you can write about whatever you like. In fact, I have decided I liked blogging so much that I now have four blogs!
Erm … perhaps they are contributing to this little feeling of overwhelm I am suffering from at the moment, but on Tuesday last week (Day 9 of the My Happy Place challenge) I wrote more than 3000 words for my various blogs and one guest post for another. I was totally knackered by the end of the day, but also very satisfied and happy!
On this day, my happy place was my Smile Manifestos. I wrote and designed A Manifesto for Mums earlier this year and A Manifesto for Kids a couple of months ago. Anyone who sees the Manifestos gives me such lovely feedback and on this particular day Jodie from Muddled Up Mumma shared what she had done with the one I sent her. I am so pleased it has taken pride of place in her ‘lady room’ and when she shared it with her followers on facebook, it really made my day!
Ah flying – sucks doesn’t it? Well not today! Today I got the front row on my Jetstar flight to Melbourne AND had a free seat between myself and the person next to me. Utterly decadent – almost like flying first class right?!
Today my happy place was at the ProBlogger Conference in Melbourne. What a day it was – I learned so much and got the feeling that blogging is right on the cusp of something special here in Australia (if you’re into blogging and want to see my notes from the day, they are here!).
There were too many highlights to single out any on the day but one of them was actually getting to meet the lovely Nat who instigated this Happy Place challenge and seeing her 700 megawatt smile all throughout the day.
Is there anything that can top getting off a plane and having your 2 year old throw himself at your legs screaming “Mummy!” joyously at the top of his lungs?
No. There is not
Today my happy place was the Perth equivalent of Romeo and Juliet. We were at the back of our house playing in the spa (which Jaden calls the pool) when he heard his friend next door playing in his backyard. This started a hilarious back and forth of “Zaaaaaaaaaaach” followed by “Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaden” from over the fence – all at the top of their respective lungs. After five minutes of this we had to drag ourselves reluctantly from the spa and unite the two star crossed lovers lest our other neighbours start getting cranky!
This evening we got to catch up with some friends we hadn’t seen for AGES (which could probably describe all our friends actually) … but anyway. We got to see their new place and Jaden got to play with what he thought was a new friend (but was actually someone he has played with a few times before!) And it was really nice.
Happy place, happy place, wherefor art though happy place? I am sitting here writing this now and feeling quite flat. So I am thinking my happy place for today is going to be when I sink into bed. It’s been quite a tiring day emotionally
I’ve gotta say, I really struggled to find my happy place today. It was one of those super full on days and by the time I got home in the afternoon, I was in a super full on bad mood. So where did I find my happy place in the end? It was on the toilet.
Yes, in the toilet.
I read magazines in the toilet. I feel like I am making some major confession here because some of my friends find this really gross but hopefully this is not a universal view?!
Anyway, my current toilet reading material is Latte, the Business Chicks magazine and in there today, I found a quote that really hit home – especially given my mood at the time. So here it is … I even made a free printable out of it for you (just click on the image to download the pdf)!
Happiness is ... (click to download)
On another note, I have to say that (present day excepted!) this “My Happy Place” challenge is really making me stop and really appreciate the ‘moments’ in each day that make me smile. I think it definitely proves Nat’s theory that:
“when you take the time for a few minutes everyday to notice the positive,
it does make a difference in your whole attitude.”
Oops I have gotten a bit behind with my “My Happy Place” daily posts – the end of last week was a little busy! Better late than never is what I always say though so here they are!
..
This is Jaden’s train collection, two of which he is allowed to take with him to daycare each day. There are a few boys at daycare who are taking their trains in so to help reduce confusion I thought I would put Jaden’s initials on his. What I didn’t anticipate is how wholeheartedly he would embrace the concept! Once I had done a couple, he started going in search of those individuals that weren’t in the drawer to make sure they got the naming treatment too. Then he opened the drawer that contained all the tracks and started bringing those to me too. I did have to draw the line at naming all 70 million of his track pieces, but gee his enthusiasm made me laugh!
I have a very large group of friends. Back in the day, we were all triathletes, seeing each other daily – often spending more time with each other than with our partners/spouses. Nowadays though, we’ve pretty much all got kids and as we’re not training and competing, don’t have the luxury of that daily catch up any more. In fact, I can go months or even years between catch ups with some of my friends – but am able to keep tabs on what they are up to via the people I DO get to see! When I do get the chance to catch up with several of my buddies in one hit, as I did on Friday, I just love the fact that we are able to pick up from wherever we last left off. My friends energise me and make me happy beyond belief!
I went out for a run on Saturday morning and ran past no less than three guys pushing prams. It was pretty early in the morning so clearly these guys were giving their tired wives a little sleep-in by taking the baby out for a walk. I just thought that was so sweet.
..
It’s no secret that sunshine makes us all that little bit happier and I often wonder why we’re not programmed to respond similarly to dark, cold and gloomy days! Maybe because we are warm-blooded creatures? Whatever the reason, sunshine and warmth makes me disproportionately happy and I got both in spades this weekend. So the whole weekend was a happy place for me … and I think for this little guy above as well!
Today my happy place was my bedroom. Yes the bedroom!
And here’s why.
This is what my husband's part of our wardrobe looks like now
And here's what didn't make the cut ...
The picture above does not even begin to convey what made it into six (yes 6!) garbage bags that will be on their way to Good Sammys tomorrow. And no, we’re not giving Good Sammys a pile of crap – we are giving them a huge bunch of clothes in perfect condition, none of which actually fits my husband.
After much kicking and screaming by said husband, I had a stylist come to our house today to go through his wardrobe (because of course, husbands don’t listen to wives). For years I have had to do little culls behind his back but today he put things on the ‘give away’ pile with gay abandon. This would have annoyed me, if it didn’t make me so darn happy!
Short one today! Today my happy place was sitting at my desk, in my study that I love so much. I got to do a lot of writing today and that made me happy
Love my study
This post is for Day 2 of the My Happy Place 30-Day Challenge… being run by the awesome Nathalie from Easy Peasy Kids. Help us spread a little more happiness by posting about the special little things in life that bring us joy.
{img http://weheartit.com/entry/10428077}
Today I am linking up with the 30 day “My Happy Place” challenge thrown down by Nathalie from Easy Peasy Kids. Nat is going through a hard time at the moment {you can read more here} but as she so rightly says:
“I know that when you take the time for a few minutes every day
to notice the positive, it does make a difference in your whole attitude.
It does not make the problems go away but it can give you the
confidence to be able to handle them a little better.”
So for the next 30 days I am going to share one thing that has made me happy on that given day. And today, what made me happy was going for a walk (as part of the 30 day MOVEtober challenge).
Despite falling asleep really late last night, I still forced myself to get up at 5.30am for an early run (maybe that was my first mistake!) It never happened though because I was feeling so sore and tired from yesterday’s run that I decided to wait till later in the afternoon to go for a walk instead.
Sure enough, ‘later in the afternoon’ rocked around and after a stressful, frustrating day, the last thing I felt like doing was changing my clothes and heading outside, but that’s exactly what I did. And by the time I got home an hour later I felt oh, a million times better than when I left. Fresh air, a warm breeze and the feel of sun on my skin makes for a very happy place
Did you have a happy place today? I’d love you to share it in the comments!
..
Well hullo everyone – just checking in after the first week and a bit of MOVEtober to see how you are all going. If you’ve managed to do it but it’s been a bit of a mission, well then you’re in the same boat as me! My week and a bit looked a little like this:
Saturday 1 October: First day of the challenge and I enjoyed an early morning run along the Yarra with my husband. We had run for nearly an hour on Friday so on Saturday morning, I was feeling a bit sore and sorry for myself. He on the other hand was feeling awesome after feeling ordinary on Friday and he made me pay!
Sunday 2 October: The day after AFL Grand Final day and everyone else in our apartment was enjoying a sleep in. To compound my misery I had taken forever to fall asleep, THEN slept badly AND then we lost an hour to the daylight saving changeover. Since we had a 10am checkout I dragged myself out of bed at 8am and went for a half hour walk along the river. We then proceeded to do a crapload of walking over the course of the day so in the end, I could have stayed in bed!!
Monday 3 October: I always knew today was going to be a challenge and I wondered why I set my personal bar at 30 minutes of moving! We had two flights to get home to Perth so I knocked off 15 minutes by walking here, there and everywhere in two terminals. Then in afternoon, once we got home, I parked the car in the furthest corner of the shopping centre carpark and got my second lot of 15 minutes that way!
Tuesday 4 October: Ah sweet, back at home and back into normal routine. The sun was shining in Perth on this day and I enjoyed my 8km run immensely!
Wednesday 5 October: I left my moving till the afternoon which is never a good thing for me and many thoughts of “no one will know I didn’t do anything today, I will just skip it” entered my mind. In the end my conscience prevailed and I had a lovely ride in the sun around a nearby lake on my mountain bike which hasn’t seen any action in oh, at least a year!
Thursday 6 October: Another beautiful day in Perth and I went for a 30 minute run. My legs were not impressed with me – it’s been a LONG time since I have exercised for this many days in a row!
Friday 7 October: Shockingly busy day today and I had a hair appointment at 1.45pm that would preclude any sweat inducing MOVEment after! After running around all morning like a chook with its head cut off I forced myself out the door for a 30 minute walk at lunch time. Well … what a surprise that was. I walked a lot when I was pregnant with my now 2yo and have forgotten that it is quite pleasant. A lot more pleasant than running actually!
Saturday 8 October: After a late night on Friday, getting up early was not an option and I had to get a bit creative today in order to fit my half hour of moving in. In the afternoon we decided to go down to the beach and have dinner there so I set off on foot in the direction of the beach 20 minutes ahead of my husband and child and by the time they got to me in the car, I had achieved my half hour target.
Sunday 9 October: Got up early and did what I call “Ant’s run” – this hilly 10km run that is my husband’s favourite. Well, I was completely knackered afterwards … but it was a great way to start the day and finish the moving week!
I hope you all found it a bit easier than I did! If you managed to tick “YES” for all nine days up till now, let me know in the comments. I am going to do a random draw prize from everyone who has managed to MOVE for the last nine days
It took longer than I thought (as I remember other friends’ kids wanting babycinos when they were much younger) but Mr 2 has gotten on the ‘frothy milk + marshmallow’ bandwagon. And thankfully he progressed quite quickly from asking for a ‘coffee’ to asking for a ‘babycino’. A two year old asking for coffee draws an awful lot of disapproving stares!
Watching him enjoy his babycino brings to mind the term ‘simple pleasures’. Does your child have a simple pleasure
FOLLOW US!