Two days ago, I posted on Facebook my 2011 resolution - … more belly laughs, less sobbing, more savouring, less negativity, more dark chocolate, less fat and more cherishing. 2010 has been tumultuous, emotionally fraught year with wonderful highs and painful lows and along the road some wake up moments about seizing the day and also being less selfish (which I think don’t have to be mutually exclusive). This year, for once, I’d like to reach the end of the year feeling proud of myself so I’d like to add one more thing to my resolution list and it is the most important … in 2011 I want to be proud of myself. I’m a perpetual goal setter who so often never gets around to completing my goals and it would be nice to actually feel the sense of satisfaction from accomplishing something and hopefully along the way emerge a better person.
I stumbled across a blog recently written by a remarkable 41 year old man who has been recently been given the news that his cancer will be terminal with the high liklihood is that he won’t be around for next Christmas. The blog is beautifully written and reinforces how each day we have is precious. No putting off until tomorrow …
My little blog reflects one of my many goals, the desire to live a little lighter on the world via challenging myself to not buy anything new for 365days and living more sustainably. I’m half way through and the end of year sales are proving to be a massive temptation. I unfortunately did give in and bought a top and skirt from a local shop – it was too hard to resist – my daughter was playing with the shop owners daughter (they are in the same year at school) and I was too weak. But I’ll try and not let this be a set back and get back on the wagon.
What are your goals for 2011? Please share as I find by writing things down it makes us more accountable.
Two days of no kids and no partners up at Nelson Bay.
Just the girls! Yipee – hopefully I’ll come back all recharged and ready to start writing posts again. (Or hungover for a month!)
This week has severely tested the emotions and I”ve been feeling a little fragile so I definitely need a recharge. On top of a host of other dramas I’ve been dealing with …
Sunday saw the collapse of my 99 year old grandma-in-law as we were having lunch. Thankfully after a couple of days in hospital she’s now back at her home and stunning everyone with her resiliance.
And I also found out that my lovely 35 year old friend who had major open heart surgery 8 weeks ago had complications and had to return to hospital for two subsequent operations. She’s now been in hospital for 6 weeks but thankfully now seems to be on the long road to recovery. Finding out about the complications gave me a shock as last I heard from her she said that she was sore but recovering from the initial operation. As she lives on the other side of the country (3,000km away) it is a little far to go and visit but I’m going to put together a care package with lots of hospital distracting pressies.
So I’ve been trawling the internet in search of inspiration on what to send her (all of course with a sustainable ethos).
Life should not be measured by how many breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.
Today my 35 year old girlfriend goes into hospital for open heart surgery. She is having her pulmonary valve replaced by valve from a pig, another valve repaired and the components for a pacemaker if she requires one down the track inserted. The surgery is anticipated to be a minimum of 8 hours, then she has a weeks stay in hospital followed by 12 weeks of recovery.
When people close to you are ill the thought of your own mortality is brought crashing to the front of your consciousness. You think about whether you are happy with your life, the decisions you’ve made and the type of person you are. You look at whether you’ve embraced every day as your last and lived in the moment. And importantly you realise that it is not the possessions and “things” you have in your life that will make you happy.
It is obviously sometimes hard to keep joy close to our hearts when we’re stuck in the routine and structure of life. And when pain and sadness, like there has been in my life the last month, cling resolutely to our souls it is difficult to be positive but I guess it is like learning something new, you just keep practicing and eventually the positivity outweighs the negative.
So to not end this post on a dour note, in celebration of life here are some things that make me smile, my heart soar and my soul heal. Now I realise that this post is off the sustainability & green topic but will return to this theme shortly!
Baby's delectable feet
The promise of long days at the beach just around the corner
Meant to write a post today on minimalism but got distracted by these two little angels
Little E, who had a tooth come through last night, is on the move BIG TIME as she’s just graduated from commando crawling to a combination of commando, normal and downward dog crawling!
And my lovely 5 year old who got two stars today (although she can’t remember why) insisted on us going out for gelato (in the rain) as a treat.
Here is a great Corona Extra beer commercial that played a couple of years ago that captures my mood at the moment – a desire to escape reality and just stare out out the ocean with loved ones. The music accompanying the commercial is so evocative – Run River by the hugely talented Jon Swift who is a cross between an astrophysicist & chilled surfie/musician. Really inspirational that he has followed & excelled at his passions in life.
Made me fantasise about my dream life ….
I would own & run the eco-resort on the island of Bougainville (where I spent the first 7 years of my life) – the resort would follow sustainable practices and offer guests opportunities to go scuba diving, trekking through the jungle, exploring World War II Japanese relics, beach combing, island hopping, volcano gazing and surfing. The eclectic mix of guests would keep us company and stimulating conversations would be had by all.
I would be able to jet back to Australia frequently to get a dose of culture, good coffee and catch up with loved ones
I would be able to afford travel overseas to soak up different cultures and the diversity of life.
Sounds great doesn’t it! Might have to win the lottery though. What’s your dream?
This is me around 5 years old on a beach in Bougainville completely at peace. What a life
Winter is over! Hopefully I’m not too premature in saying this but two weeks shy of Spring today’s thermostat peaked at 25degrees celcius (77degress fahrenheit). What a glorious day and so uplifting. In celebration I share with you Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World. Pure joy. Sorry no green posts today as enjoying the outdoors too much
This little post has nothing to do with being green so apologies!
I believe wholeheartedly in the power of music to soothe the soul so today to shake off some blues I’ve been playing one of my favourite songs (Feeling Good) by the awesome singer Nina Simone. Turn it up loud, soak it up and enjoy …. and let me know your favourite feeling good song
I’m Lisa and a complete novice at being green. I hope you enjoy reading about my trials and mishaps as I attempt to reduce my giant environmental footprint.
I’ve been in hibernation the last couple of months on the blog front. After a lovely time off with my darling children, reality hit and I had to return to the rat race. Life has been consumed with treading water in stormy seas, the perfect analogy for a working mum, but things are starting to settle down now. My challenge read more
Time for a “favourite things” post … Just one more – Whilst not an organic wine, Organic Planet Wine is in environmental packaging and the Sauvignon Blanc is delicious. Take me to Mexico pronto! Vintage dress from Purple Deer Vintage just dreamily divine for throwing over a bikini and heading off to the beach Love love but need a new read more
When pregnant, I bemoaned my increasing girth apart from one DD aspect. Yes my breasts went from an average B/C measurement to a jaw dropping DD! Of course, this necessitated the purchase of new bras (HotMilk & Cake make gorgeously sexy pregnancy/nursing ones for those interested ) to celebrate them in all their glory. But now I have wrapped up read more
I swear it was only yesterday that my little one was wearing 00 clothing but today she’s graduated to size 1. From the generosity of friends & relatives with their “gently worn” donations, her sibling’s hand me downs and a wonderful array of new outfits gifted, Ellie has not been wanting in the clothing department. But now have an overflowing read more
It is Summer in Australia. The mercury is soaring, cicadas are singing, BBQs are cranking and icecream stands are making a brisk trade. Summer is also the season of festivals with promoters capitalising on clear skys to host large scale outdoor events. Next week, it is the massive Big Day Out touring festival’s turn as it makes a 2 day read more
A couple of days ago I received a comment that was critical of a couple of my “slip ups” . When I created this blog and essentially opened up some aspects of my life for public viewing I was cognisant of the potential for negativity or non-constructive comments. After all, everyone has their view from sitting on a different read more
Have you ever seen an obese eco-warrier? A gargantuan person living off the grid, who grows their own vegetables, rides their bike for commuting and makes decisions on food to eat based on carbon miles or organic principles? Thought not. Obesity tends to be associated with excess consumption, a sedentary lifestyle and lots of meat. Not many vegetarians I would read more
As the year staggered to an end, the media flooded their outlets with stories and advertisements regarding weight loss and quitting smoking Either weight loss or quitting smoking invariably end up on most people’s New Year’s resolution list as a new year is such a great catalyst to think about transformation. And yes I’m one of the many in hoping read more
Two days ago, I posted on Facebook my 2011 resolution - … more belly laughs, less sobbing, more savouring, less negativity, more dark chocolate, less fat and more cherishing. 2010 has been tumultuous, emotionally fraught year with wonderful highs and painful lows and along the road some wake up moments about seizing the day and also being less selfish (which read more
It’s New Year’s Eve! And along with a few million or so of my fellow Sydneysiders I will be watching the Sydney Harbour fireworks spectacular from one of the many vantage points dotted along the foreshore. Currently the sky is a perfect blue, the temperature is sitting at 27degrees and the wine is chilling. Earlier, up the street for my read more
Yesterday we had a family excursion to Gould’s Book Arcade on King Street in Newtown. This book store,run by Bob Gould by 35 years, is a Sydney 2nd hand bookstore institution. It’s cavernous interior has nearly 1 million books piled precariously high seemingly defying any laws of physics. Apparently there is some structure and order with books somewhat segmented by read more
Yesterday with the help of my parents, we re-covered the dining chair cushion with some vintage (ie. been in mum’s cupboard for YEARS!) fabric. The chairs previous cream seat had accumulated permanent stains of Milo and other children associated mess and no amount of cleaning could shift the grime. Their sorry state has long bothered me and I have been read more
Tick tock tick tock … I have only 3 days remaining to procure Christmas presents. Once again I fear I’ve left it too late for stress free shopping. And of course, I’ve procrastinated on buying my 5 year old’s Santa gifts which now means, given that she’s on holidays, I’m going to have to find a time to sneak out read more
The hugely popular Twilight Saga series has sold to date over 110 million copies. Staggering. On average, over 30 million trees are cut down every year to feed our appetite for books. I’m sure the above statistic would have blown this average out of the water. Whilst the industry is forging ahead with using recycled paper to reduce some of read more
Christmas Day is hurtling like a freight train towards me and I need to start planning the menu for the day post-haste. This year I will be the hostess attempting to bring Christmas cheer to my parents-in-law, grandmother-in-law, my parents, hubby and my children. Unfortunately there is no common ground on tastes and traditions for the Christmas meal and in read more
Tonight I’m going to a GreenUp event, by myself, to listen to a few speakers talk about how to enjoy the festive season with sustainable food. I’m feeling a little nervous as I won’t know a soul and I will be coming across people who have the credentials to claim a “green” mantle. For those not aware, GreenUp events are read more
I wrote a post a couple of days ago about my ambitious plan to cycle to & from work each day when I return to work end of January. I’m not a very confident rider so it was with trepidation but determination as well that I looked at the challenge. My earlier post solicited advice on the best way to read more
I am beginning to think that my local Salvation Army store has taken leave of their senses. Gone cuckoo, gagga or just incredibly greedy. Salvo stores aim “To provide our services in harmony with Christian principles, professionally, efficiently and in an environmentally responsible manner, thereby aiming to maximize funding for Salvation Army programs.” Simply … they take your 2nd hand read more
Super excited. Literally three days ago I was commenting to my mum that perhaps at the age of 36 I should finally learn how to sew. Given my last sewing attempt was in school at 13 when I managed to sew the legs of a pair of shorts together my record is not so stellar. Then the “powers that be” read more
