On the couch...with a cappuccino

Sometimes you read something, and you just know......................that if you ever met the person who wrote it, if you knew them, they would *know* you back....you would be HEART friends, because it's almost as if they can see into your soul....that's how I felt when I read this......

I want a life with less stuff in it - fewer clothes I don't wear, less mail and less paper; fewer to-do list items that don't make my heart sing. I want everything in my home to either do something or mean something.


I intend to travel less - only for real fun or real money.

I want less email and the nerve to not answer it if I don't feel like it, and maybe not even open it if I don't feel like that. I want a clearer calendar and a shorter tax return.

I look forward to divesting from my wardrobe any garment that has "sweat" as its first syllable.

I relish the thought of knowing less about Brad and Angelina and more about me. I crave the chance to do more work that matters and less that spins my wheels.

I want days to be longer so I don't have to choose between mediation and writing in my journal, or between yoga and Pilates, my husband and my daughter. Long days would mean making dinner from scratch and writing with a pen. Days like that would put empty spaces in my life so if something wonderful showed up, there would be room for her to sit. I want more time to spend with my dog. (If I had the time, I'd get the dog.)

I want to live in the day I'm given and stop defusing miracles by needing them so much.

I want to spend more time with the people I love and the ones I find interesting.


I yearn to immerse myself in the sacred and be choosy about the profane.

I choose to live my life now and never again strive to reach a goal unless I should happen to take up hockey....
 
When I read this I was overcome by emotion....how can someone so far, be so on the mark about my life....I guess because whilst we do sometimes feel like lost souls out at sea, we are more alike, and less alone than we think.....
This piece was writen by one of my favourite authours: Victoria Moran

On my couch...yep...I have a couch...I've decided!

Just a quick one this morning, just to share my quiet time thoughts......

Sitting here just enjoying my garden and the sunshine so so much, listening to the birds tweet away...i LOVE this time of the morning, especially on a Thursday.

Sometimes no matter how hard you try, it's really hard to imagine that you're HERE.....(imagine beautiful scrapbooking arrow pointing to pic below)


When ACTUALLY...you're .....here.....(trumpet plays down trodden music here)

From my little CHARMED LIFE bible, I've chosen to reflect on this today...words and thoughts I just LOVE:- BUILD SOUL EQUITY

"No matter what an experience looks like on the outside, there's soul gold in there somewhere. Find it."

Once you're convinced that you're here to learn and grown and expand your capacity to love, know, and experience life, you'll start to value everything you do and everything that happens to you in terms of soul equity. Then you'll feel less pressure to radically alter your life or yourself. Uncovering the intangible treasures within the obligations you already have, and within the woman you already are, becomes much more appealing.

It is tempting for the ego to let the boring, difficult and unpleasant aspects of our lives convince us that life is largely boring, difficult and unpleasant. Living through these, and learning through them, builds soul equity that's worth more than money in the bank.....

WOW...i love this....my example of building soul equity comes from searching for the gold, and the soul equity in the tasks that I find make my already hectic schedule that much more crazy, and sometimes makes me feel less capable of being the "unhurried woman" I so desperately want to be, but the last two weeks, for example, instead of a rushed time spent in the car in the afternoons, wishing it away, we play awesome music (ok we always do that:-)) but I've taken my travel mug with a cappuccino with me (NOW we're talking!!), and a little bit of crochet for the waits, and even spent some time sitting with a friend in my car, having an awesome catch-up session!....Today I'll find another area to improve on....."HOMEWORK TIME"...that's it!....hmmm...wonder how I'll be able to make that enjoyable...NOW THERE'S A CHALLENGE for finding soul gold if ever!!! LOL!

So girls THIS is where I'll be today....(in my mind's eye).....and don't laugh.....it wasn't an easy choice...I CHOSE THIS BEACH CAREFULLY...*sigh*...there were just sooo many YU-MMY one's to choose from....so go find your beach, and build some soul equity today:-)...just because YOU CAN....

YOUR HIGHNESS - (not for sensitive viewers)

On a recent visit to Pixie's little piece of heaven, one thing led to another, and whilst catching up on her news, I got caught up in something else too....it was blog candy and eye candy and girl candy and pink candy - so much candy I just didn't know where to look, or what to choose! I was like a kid in a candy store, or cupcake heaven, and as you can see from my "touch ups" here and there, to a blogger, it was...how can I put this......sigh....it was the QUEEN FOR A DAY version of a visit to a beauty spa! LOL! So i hope you all like what I've "done with the place..."

And it just so happened that the best part of my little *excursion* was realising that the background I chose and fell in love with, is called ....*your highness*....it was at that moment that I died and went to girlfriend heaven.......!

For me, your highness just sums up in a word, what I think all women should strive to feel about themselves. I have been surrounded by remarkable women all my life, and maybe that's why I have so much respect for our gender. I really wish more of us allowed ourselves to think the best about ourselves, and believe that we deserve nothing less than that. We don't make time for ourselves, we don't choose things that serve us, we beat ourselves up everyday as opposed to building ourselves up and focusing on our strengths, and we wait for permission from others to feel entitled to be happy or live our best lives.

We are guilt ridden about everything, from our weight, to our looks, to our kids, and our husbands, and what we have done, and should be doing....oh and one of my pet hates - we are reluctant to celebrate our birthdays!!! I am horrified at how many women dread their birthdays or see it as "just another day". Uh-uh girls - get with the program! Birthday bliss is what it's all about!

A few years ago I decided that my birthday would be celebrated for the ENTIRE week! My wonderful DH reluctantly humoured me, but i could tell he was secretly thinking, "will the madness EVER end?". But the twist in the tale is this... - guess who announced this year that they have decided to spend an entire week celebrating their birthday??...yep none other than HIS HIGHNESS himself! So we now have a rule in our family that birthday's are BIG, and that a full week is required - bare minumum - to fully enjoy and celebrate the person's life, which is actually the GIFT.

My theory is that girlfriends and women the world over are simply incredible - if we let ourselves be...and that's why the men in our lives (as in husbands, brothers, fathers and sons) love us so much, and why God entrusted us with motherhood and MULTITASKING! We need to give ourselves a break, and try and find the HIGHNESS in ourselves, that we've all been blessed with. So cut yourself some slack.....even if you're just "Queen for a day".....

Okay this is the part that is not for sensitive viewers, and you know who you are!....sniff...

Below are some pics from one of the best birthdays I have ever had...a day filled with pink roses, pink fluff, butterflies and bubbles, candles and pretty tea cups, and friends that represented many of the "HIGHNESSES" in my life.

Life and lemonade

I love these guys - I was smitten - love at first sight when I saw them at "Old Navy" clothing store for kids on Thesen Island, in Knysna. Clowns may be creepy for some, but for me, they represent fun, mischief, and the wonderful quality of not taking life and oneself so seriously!

OOOOOkayyy - so our family went on an 11 day campervan trip, had the time of our lives, and according to my blog, history will show when we one day look back and read this, that we evidently and somewhat mysteriously, disappeared on day 5!! LOL! We all know this is not entirely impossible when you live in South Africa (giggle), so to my friends who have been "NOT SO SUBTLE" with their hints about a blog update, I am alive!! If the truth be told, my absence has been in part due to the fact that task completion is not one of my strong points (blush), but rather focusing on what's important and priorities, is (shew)!

So I know I've skipped the rest of the holiday, but life goes on, and it's so hard not to get caught up in the whirlwind of it all. This past week has been FRENETIC to say the least from a work perspective, but I am forever grateful for the fact that I can always steal a few moments to stop and smell the roses...even if just for a short while. September's around the corner, and since the last quarter of the year always seems like a blur to me, I found myself reflecting on where we're at, well into the 2nd half of the year - a year which I went into with much trepidation. Despite all the trials an tribulations 2009 has presented us all with, for me it is still turning into a wonderful year, which has had it's moments, particularly over the last few weeks, but those knocks are the things that help us grow, and build resistance and character. To balance that out though, our family was blessed with a MIRACLE, and for that I am so eternally grateful.

Being a country girl at heart (even though I do so love to dress up in BLING!), smelling the roses is as simple as appreciating and enjoying the fact that at the moment our home and garden are filled with the smell of jasmine, along with homemade lemonade (to die for!!), as it simmers on the stove - for some it may be a box of chocolates. We've all just come back from the vegetable garden, munching on sugar snap peas, and as Jane says, there's something truly wonderful about growing something from scratch, and then picking it and popping it straight into your mouth - fresh. We're blessed to have the comforts and convenience of city life (like PAV down the road! and 4 wheel drive instead of horse and cart!! EISH), whilst along side of that, able to savour and embrace some of the good old fashioned things that I value, and that we seldom find anywhere else, other than in the country. And as I'm thinking this, I hear Dom's friend from across the road, call his name. From our kitchen window I can see him anxiously waiting in anticipation in his driveway for Dom to join him....just like we used to in the good old days. Right here, right now, I feel so lucky to have the best of both worlds...