Enjoy Today

May you enjoy your Christmas day, whichever way you observe it. May you have much to be grateful for. May your loved ones know how you feel about them...on this and every other day.

Enjoy today.

A gift for Mia

I have a beautiful neice (one of 5 that I am lucky to have) who was born 2 weeks before my little girl. They are thick as thieves when they're together.

My S is infatuated with handbags...any bag really. She carries plastic shopping bags (from those naughty times I've ducked in for 2 things and come out with 10...in a plastic bag) and fills them with little goodies she finds around the house.

So I am assuming that Mia would like a little hand bag of her own to enjoy. That is when she's not indulging her Wiggles obsession. I thought I'd cater for both...


Happy 2nd birthday Mia!

Wrap yourself in gratitude

With Christmas fast approaching, I've been trying to find gifts for friends and family that I haven't already given. I have been inspired by Soule Mama's gratitude wrap which she generously posted a free pattern download of recently. Not only did I love the concept of sharing gratitude which Amanda describes so beautifully, but I loved the idea of giving a gift that would inspire the recipient to share their own thoughts of gratitude.




As a beginner sewer I was stretched a bit by sewing on the binding neatly. Not only being a recovering people pleaser - but also a recovering perfectionist - I decided any imperfections were part of the creative process and the recipients would be less critical of my work than I.

Also, in typical me fashion, I paid little attention to the pattern in terms of measurements and pockets (for some reason I feel like falling asleep when reading a pattern as it tends to suck the joy out of creating...), but still managed to make a couple that basically represented the pattern which I was happy to give away as gifts.

The few I've made have been well received and it felt good to give something a bit different to people. I'll be doing a few more for upcoming birthday gifts. Perhaps you want to try one too? The free pattern can be found here.

Yoga of the Bikram kind

I've "started" Bikram yoga classes in the past week. When I say started - I mean I've gone to 10 classes and am wondering if it's for me.

I first heard about this extreme form of yoga about 5 years ago while living in London. A colleague dropped an incredible 40 kgs in about 6 months and we were all exclaiming at how good she looked. She just looked at us and beamed "It's Bikram yoga". When we looked blankly at her she went on to explain that it's a yoga class conducted in a room heated to 39°C with 40% humidity. Sounded like hell on earth to me, and it's quite an accurate description of my first class. Sweating profusely goes against every ladylike notion ever told to me - but resistence is useless.

On my third class the woman next to me flicked her sweat on me while trying to get into the standing bow pose. I would have thought it was disgusting if I could tell by looking at my body which sweat was mine and which was hers - I was nearly as soaked as she.

It's a challenging class mentally, physically and emotionally (yes I succumbed to the urge to cry that gripped me during my tenth class. They said it might happen. Damn them - it did). But the biggest challenge is the 1 hour return trip and the 1.5 hour class which means I'm away from home for the morning or afternoon...not that great when you have a 2 year old to care for.

Perhaps I can buy the class CD on eBay? Less sweating, less travel. More crying? May work.

Revamping the cork board

In my humble opinion, the cork board can be a necessary kitchen accessory...but rarely is it pretty. That was until it was covered in fabric and given a new lease on life. There, now that's much better!

MeMe

In the interest of getting to know me...and gently easing myself into the whole “sharing parts of myself on this blog” thing, I found this quick, easy one word Meme over on Potty Mouth Mama.

So here goes:
Where is your mobile phone? City

Where is your significant other? City

Your hair colour? Brown

Your mother? Loved

Your father? Missed

Your favourite thing? Family

Your dream last night? Weird

Your dream goal? Entrepreneur

The room you're in? Unfinished

Your hobby? Creating

Your fear? Loss

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Abundant

Where were you last night? Lounge

What you're not? Over-confident

One of your wish list items? KitchenAid

Where you grew up? Melbourne

The last thing you did? Loo...

What are you wearing? PJ's

Your TV? Off

Your pets? Feline

Your computer? Useful

Your mood? Hopeful

Missing someone? Always

Your car? Wagon

Something you're not wearing? Undies

Your favourite shop? Oxymoron

Your summer? Imminent

Love someone? Multiple

Favourite Colour? Greens

When was the last time you laughed? Yesterday

When was the last time you cried? Yesterday

Well that was less painful than I thought...although it is perhaps more difficult only using one word - can be interpreted so many different ways. As a recovering people pleaser, I'm going to choose to be ok with that.

Enjoy today.

A new beginning

Hello and welcome to my blog!

This is an exciting new beginning for me - a bit of an adventure in creativity and self exploration. I plan to enjoy the journey and hope that you'll enjoy the little bits of crafty goodness that will appear from time to time in between thoughts about my life and my loves. I'll also be endeavouring to find parts of myself somewhere in that mix. And some balance. Some balance would be a good thing.

So here's to a new beginning.

Enjoy today...