Place: train

Poison: water

Favourite things: magazines

What a seachange of a few days. I am in my new apartment and I wake at the crack of dawn ready for my coffee and walk on the beach and I am positively in love!

The lonely fishermen, the old grannies swimming in the morning freshness, the friends swapping tales as they walk in step with each other, the starfish as large as a plate just waiting to be thrown back in.

The beach is not my first stop inspiration factory, but I am unlearning the art of hibernation and reveling in the great outdoors.

My skin feels cleaner, my perspective more astute, my legs must be getting thinner, what more could a woman ask for.

Find a seachange this christmas season, if you usually find inspiration inside get out, if the woods inspire you run to the city, if a book captures your heart sit at a piano. There is nothing like a seachange to bring life, perspective and insight in abundance!!

A

Place: Office

Poison: Short Black with a side of Chai…been a long day

Favourite Things: Christmas decos going up in the office

My great friend Steve Fraser has just launched his photo site, with amazing landscape photos taken from all his travels.

www.fraserviewphotography.com

Steve is an amazing business man, whom I look up to greatly and this year he has really stepped up his passion of Photography this year and taken it to such a place of excellence.

Steve and Elaine your lives, creativity, honesty, integrity inspire me.

Huge love and support on this new adventure.

This photo was taken 5 mins from my new house.

http://www.fraserviewphotography.com/images/gallery/Penguin-IslandCF001110%20copy.jpg

Enjoy!

A

Place: photo cafe

Poison: long black

Favourite things: creative days…

I’m thinking of starting my own show…amandas home made Christmas

I’m attempting to make everything home made this Christmas. I started a few weeks ago with some presents (shhh, cheese boards and home made dish cloths and face washers and soap)

Then today I got serious. Limoncello for after dinner liquering! Yumnmm. dad distills his own alcohol and I got some lemons from next door and were on our way.

Tonight we are going to make the piñata, we normally buy one but this year I’m going to make it with the kids!

Here we go!

Amandas home made Christmas!!

A

Place: Hyde park

Poison: celebratory coke zero

Favourite things: my friends

Walk: yes

Coke zero: broken fast

Water: need to get on with it.

After thirty days of restricting somethings and encouraging others I find myself in a place of amusement.

I have learnt nothing new.

I have enhanced and reminded myself that nothing happens without effort and accountability. There are many things that I want to achieve in life, however these successes are worth nothing without people to share them with.

I found a teatowel that I’m going buy from website todryfor.com called heaven.

It’s says…

Im so determined to stretch out and believe more for that which is people enriched.

To find a life worth living is one that is shared with friends, lovers, aquaintences even randoms. Pure delight found in the sharing of truth.

Summer and a life of balance you are within my reach, but not at the cost of relationship.

It is so good to stretch yourself sometime setting random little goals to bring a sense of perspective, challenge and achievement but never at the cost of the bigger picture.

Toast to you and you and you.

What adventure shall we embark upon next?

A

Place: bed

Poison: remenants of lollies

Favourite things: resting

Coke zero: nope

water: close

Walk: hmmm

I am smiling.

The residue of a day that almost actually was a day of rest are lingering.

Smile

A

Place: aunty Eileens

Poison: cab sav

Favourite things: my neices popping by just cause they have to see aunty manda

Walk: yep

Water: yep

Coke zero: noooooo

It’s the weeeekkkklkleeeeennnnndddddd.

Yay

I had such a great picnic with my friend Annette, she forced me out of my office.

We went into the park and I realized in working ten years with a park behind my work I rarely go into the park and chill.

How often is the free golden opportunities that are right under our nose we ignore out of busyness?

Find
The delightful park near by that you have been ignoring find a friend and
Soak up the weekend vibes!

Chill while we can.

Annette so good to have you back from Africa. Stay in the pocket girlfriend.

A

Place: granmas

Poison: lemon squash

Favourite things: all of granmas teddys

Walk: briefly

Water: yes

Coke zero: nope

I love chilling at my grans. She has every quirky type of Teddy bear and doll known to man.

She has a penchant like me for all things Christmas.

She made me a roast for dinner and we ate dinner on fifty year old plates with ducks flying on them from the farm. Granma proudly told me that in the fifty plus years of using those plates she has only ever broken one.

Now that’s a good innings.

How quick are we to move with fashion, whims in pursuit of the new…

I hope I have some duck plates in 50 years time that I am telling my adult granddaughter that I have kept for years and broken only one.

Longevity is a very undervalued asset in our pursual of all things crisp and new.

Find an old set of plates from your granmas cupboard and revel in the nostelgia!

Ahhhh,

Living closer to Granma definately has benefits!

A

Place: aunty eileen

Poison: water

Favourite things: family night

Water: just

Coke zero: nope

Walk: nope

Family night tonight reminds me a hundredfold why I shifted down…I love my family.

There were kids and people and ransoms to boot. A party for Josh who turned two yesterday the atmosphere is so palable.

I love my family. They are full of life, full of life.

I am so glad I made them my priority.

A

Place: church

Poison: long black

Favourite things: singing tonight…

Coke zero: nope

Walk: not yet

Water: none yet

Yesterday was a strange day. The weather was moody and my attitude reflected it. No matter what I did I couldn’t shake it. I was awake all night trying desperately to sleep because I knew today would be a huge day and I needed the rest.

Sometimes days are just hmmmmm

sometimes you’ve just got to say well that didn’t go that well, wake up and choose life and rejoice in the new day that God has made.

So that’s what I’m doing. Rejoicing in the new day!

A

Place: sotos

Poison: long black

Favourite things: my new black bday dress

Coke zero: nope

Water: yes

Walk: yes

Writing a blog on an iPhone is the ultimate of stretching…after painfully typing every word on the little touch screen of this post I lost the whole lot when someone rung me out of the blue!

Take two…

In the last twenty four hours one of my closest friends got news that her dad has cancer and I also got a hard decision to make regarding my new property that I am bursting to shift into.

I can’t begin to explain how stretching this year has been with the financial melt down, close friends loosing their jobs, operations, rehab…definately a large stretch.

Today I’m so thankful for my 30 day challenge as it’s providing perspective in the midst of my madness.

I was reading Oswald Chambers today and he reminded me that the stretch brings intimacy and trust into our closest relationships if we let it!

Stretching times enabled Oswald to write like this…’i find faith as natural as breathing, And I am staggered when I think how foolish I have been not trusting Him earlier.’

When we are stretched it forces us to trust or freak out, there is no in between. When life is casara sara we live in the in between land of whatever will be.

As much as the stretch is uncomfortable, the more I trust, the more faith comes as natural as breathing, the more I am
Enabled to live a large life of risk.

Help me

I’m out of control…and trying to love it!

A