Time flies...

Hi Everyone (anyone?!),
Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. I thought having my kids at home for Summer holidays would mean I had more time to blog, silly me! We have had a wonderful time together though and I can't believe they're back to school on Monday.

I have mixed emotions about this, as this year will be the first time in 10 years I haven't had a child with me the majority of the time. My youngest starts Pre-Primary and in 3 weeks will be at school 5 days a week like his big brother & sister (they ease them into it so he'll be at school 3 days next week).

Although I'm looking forward to the time to do other things, I'm going to miss them! I'm starting to get teary now!!! BUT I know I have plenty of things to occupy my time, my kids go to a fantastic school and I'm looking forward to a year to get myself together. Actually that's what my husband and I have "themed" this year, "Let's get it together, together". I don't know about anyone else but I have frequently come up with these grand plans to get it together (declutter, organise, plan etc...) but when I'm the only one doing it in a family of 5, it soon goes by the wayside as it's just too hard. Circumstances got us talking about getting it together and about growing up. That we have to get some of these issues sorted now, we're not getting any younger and we have 3 kids depending on us. And the upshot of that was we are now determined to get it together, together. We're working together to affect change in several areas of our lives.

Part of my plan is to blog more frequently and stretch my boundaries more. I have lots of great plans, now I just have to put them into action.

I have been thinking about clothes a lot lately, as I've been trying to compact my wardrobe. So I'm going to talk about going through your wardrobe and having a clothing cull. Also I'm going to talk about colours. Colours are one of my favourite topics (as my friends know!), I'm nuts about colours. So I'm going to talk about Colour Theory, how colours work and how you can push yourself into trying new colour combinations. It should be fun!

Have a great weekend.
xx Vanessa.

Happy New Year!

So 2010 already!!! Do you remember being a kid and thinking that the year 2000 seemed such a looong way away. Do you remember what you were doing New Year's Eve 1999? It seemed such a big deal didn't it, people were worrying about Y2K, stockpiling water & food. Others were planning the New Year's party to end all parties! And now in the blink of an eye (so it seems), ten years has passed.

For a lot of people 2009 was not a good year. People have been happy to see it go and start a fresh with 2010. I can't say 2009 was particularly bad for me, we had tough times sure, but there were good too. I think 2009 was a good year for sorting out priorities. My husband lost his job but he didn't like it anyway. He handed the situation to God and he was blessed with a new job that he really enjoys. I had two days to myself a week for the first time since 2000 as my youngest son started Kindy. After years of wanting more time for myself, I had to learn to have some "me time" in that time and not catch up on housework. In my opinion, the western world got asked it's priorities this year as Financial Crisis meant people lost jobs, homes, savings. We all had to ask ourselves do we need all this stuff to be happy, to be fulfilled? I think it's been a great opportunity to reevaluate what we want as the centre of our lives.

So on to 2010! Have you made your New Year resolutions? I can't say I'm much for New Year resolutions only because I know most people (me included) don't keep them. When we don't we start to feel a failure. I think we should have any day resolutions and that we should give ourselves permission to start again any day or every day. What do I mean? For example, last year in January I started feeling like I wanted to lose some weight. I knew I'd had a BIG Christmas and really over done it. My clothes didn't fit and I felt lethargic and down. I dieted a bit, lost a bit, but deep down I knew exercise was the answer. I've never really exercised except for occasional walks. I spent a couple of months researching and thinking (& praying) about what to do. I'd had enough of doing something for a short period of time then quitting because I didn't enjoy it or because it didn't fit my schedule. I wanted to find the perfect thing for me and I did. It was going to a gym and having a personal trainer. I started mid week in the middle of the year. I have lost 10 kilos (I'm still considered overweight but I feel good so who cares!) but the change in my fitness, health and confidence have been amazing. There have been weeks I've only gone once or twice but I but never hammered myself for this. I just thought of everyday as a new start and resolved to do my best. I have not been to the gym for 5 weeks now, due to injury and illness (and holidays). I could beat myself and feel guilty, feel a failure but I'm choosing not to. I know I needed the break to recover and now I've got to the point again where I'm hanging out to go again. I'm just starting over.

Something else that has been life changing for me this year was a book I read in October by Mike Gayle called "The To- Do List". When I saw it at the library I thought it was a Self Help book and grabbed it running out the door. But it's autobiographical and hilarious (it does have Language in it too, just to warn you). "Gripped by a determination to sort out his life once and for all, Mike writes a To-do list of all the things he has meant to do but never quite got round to." I related to so much of it, I laughed, I cried and when I'd finished I sat and wrote my own to-do list. I focused on the things that were always in the back of my mind that I should do, not the stuff that you do all the time anyway (like washing & ironing). The important but not necessarily urgent. I decided it was time to grow up, work out my priorities and get myself together. Writing this blog stemmed from that, to keep myself accountable and to also help anyone else out there feeling the same. In a day I'd written a list of 183 things and over time it got up to 200. Afterwards I felt free, I didn't have to have those things cluttering my thoughts anymore as they were on paper. So far I've crossed off 71 things from the list and it's amazing how I feel so much more peaceful.

So I hope 2010 is a great year for all of you. It would be wonderful to look back this time next year and think how amazing 2010 was! Let's blossom together.

xx Vanessa.

P.S. The photo above was taken by my talented husband, early in the morning at Denmark, Western Australia.