For my loves of 2011 and beyond xxx

I couldn't sleep so I've decided to reflect.

2011 has been an amazing year.

I have moved countries, explored Europe, met some fantastic people I know will now always be in my life, found out life is difficult, but on the flipside, that it can be beautiful.

I am so lucky to be where I am, and be happy. I haven't felt this kind of contentment in, I don't know how long.

My old home, albeit loved and full of fond memories and people I love, just wasn't the place for me right now. I felt flattened and exhausted. Surprisingly, moving to a bigger and busier city has given me with a new lease on life. I've waited for this feeling and was unsure it existed for me again. That's a bit of a dramatic ending to a sentence but I can't tell you just how true it felt.

London has been a godsend for me. It was hard for the first couple of months but I'm lucky to have so many amazing people in my life, near and far (only geographically of course) that helped me and supported me and kept me motivated. For those people are the people that get me out of bed every day. Knowing they are in my lives, now and forever, is THE BEST feeling.

I love you all, you have no idea how much.

I'm excited for what 2012 has in hold for me, for us all. I've made a small list of what I'd like to achieve in this year. I hope you've made a list too. I rarely make life-binding ones (I think I'm lazing) so this is a bit commited for me. Here goes nothing...!

- I WILL NOT be so connected to my phone/facebook

- I will love who loves me, fully

- I will be grateful for something, every day

- I will travel to Portugal, Paris & Croatia (at the very least)

- I will email my family at least once a week

- I will exercise

- I will stop making excuses

- I will be okay with my body and not beat myself up about it

- I will accept that London will sometimes be hard but know I'll get through it

- I will be the best person I can be, every day, and make the best decisions for me and my loved ones, every day

- I will do something in my career this year I am proud of

- I WILL NOT let negativity get in the way

Now share yours xxx

Sometimes, if you're really, really lucky...

...everything aligns in your life at the right place and the right time.

Sometimes I feel really close and it's a good feeling.

I feel like making the move is the right thing to do but it's been bittersweet as I've started to say goodbye to some of my beloveds. I have some seriously special people in my life and I can't say enough how much I love them and how grateful I am that they know me so well to pull me out of those grey-sky moments.

It's hard to balance strength and vulnerability at the same time. All I think you can do is be honest and hope that even if right now things aren't going the way you planned, they'll work out down the track because you've been honest and true to yourself and those around you.

It's late and my train of thought is all over the place but I know this: love and happiness is all around.

Let's all love each other in Paris. xo

Burgers and cider

I had a lovely day today with my beautiful friend Miss P. She is truly a special lady.

I had every intention of pampering us both with a couple of pedi's but alas all the shops were shut the three locations we tried so we decided to head to West End watering hole Archive. We both had $10 burgers and a pear cider each. YUM.

This is me and Miss P - isn't she adorbs?!

On another note...I made pumpkin soup tonight. It was very gingery (an hommage to moi peut-etre?) and a tad bitey but I liked it, it was no passive soup that's for sure. It basically consisted of half a jap pumpkin, 1 1/2 onions, 3 crushed garlic cloves, a large knob of ginger, 500ml of chicken (or vege) stock and a handful of coriander. Seconds were had.

Oh and I also finished this book last night. I actually rather enjoyed it. It's a sort of documentative/narrative recount of observations of the city Sarah Turnbull learns to call home; gay paree. Trudes didn't like it so much and was put off by the sternness of the French husband but that didn't grate on me too much. I would actually recommend it to anyone thinking of taking up residence in this city flowing with life and love but stifled by rules and generations of pride.

I just received an email from Nan telling me to enjoy my Mac but not wear my fingers out.

Good night. I'm off to do some more 'surfin' of the net' as Nanny calls it. xx

Happy MacEaster

I had no idea when I woke up this morning that I would toddle off to the local "mall" and buy a brand spanking new MacBook Pro today.

It's given me a new lease on life in the immediate future (sad I know, but true). Already I'm super excited about the possibilities and connections my laptop gives me, it feels like Christmas!!! No wait, it's Easter??!?

Let me explain my hyperactivity. I haven't had a working personal computer for about two years, it kinda blew. So I splurged (not the smartest thing to do when you're heading OS, but isn't that the reason I bought it?!?) and am the happiest girl in the world tonight.

It has actually been a very happy day.

I woke up to this.

And then the Easter Bunny visited. (Isn't she the cutest?!?)

Had cake and coffe with some wonderful people. This was the view on the way down in the lift. I seriously love my hometown, it has so much blissful serenity to offer with that big blue sky and vast ocean.

and now I'm playing with this baby. I scored a good deal which makes her all the more sweeter.

I should also mention that many Hot Cross Buns (HCB's for the uninitiated) have been consumed today.

Tehehehe

This made me laugh very hard. Tres cheeky (pun intended).

It's from one of my favourite bloggers, Jess. She's completely inspiring, insanely intelligent and living a life I'm intensely jealous of.

A Straddie weekender

I was lucky enough to be invited to a friend's birthday for a weekend away at North Stradbroke. The lovely Jen has a family holiday home there that around 18 of us got to share. We laughed heartily, drank copiously, basked indulgently, relaxed lazily, bonded naturally, enjoyed blissfully, contemplated thoughtfully and celebrated happily. There was adult diapers made from toilet paper, nude bed jumping, no sleeping, surfing, puppy hugs, beautiful weather, stormy weather, neighbour harassing, connect four tournaments. Thanks for the invite C + L. Hope you had a wonderful 30th C! Remember age is just a state of mind. Thanks for letting me steal half your bed J! xx

A wise woman once said

"Break ups are like poker games, you never show your hand. If you do have to meet up with the person who dumped you, you should act like you got laid that morning."