what I truly wish for.

Today's #reverb12 prompt asks what I truly wish for. It was inspired by Cam from Curlypops.. The prompt asks that I

"Imagine a scenario where you only had one year left to live. What is one thing that you really wish to do that you just haven't had the chance to accomplish yet?

 What steps could you take (however small) to ensure that you accomplish this thing in 2013?"

A while ago I sat and reflected upon the things in my life that are important to me. The things that I love. The things I would truly regret not completing if I died tomorrow. For me this is not a very difficult question because I am often reflecting upon my life and how to make it better, this is something I learned to do in my late teens. But acting upon those things are generally another story. I can be incredibly nervous around people when I first meet them which tends to make the things that I want to complete very difficult.

There were a number of things that I wanted to complete when I wrote that list a while ago (actually it was around this time last year). I wanted to be happier in my own skin, to be more confident of who I am and to treat each day as a gift that is to be treasured. I also wanted to go back to university and complete my teaching degree so that I could have a rewarding career.  These are things that I have worked on this year, things that I have taken steps towards completing. 

The one thing that was on my list that I have not taken steps towards, the one thing that I TRULY wish for, is to play music again. 

For those who don't know, I love music. Singing and playing my guitar is my true happy place and although I play in my lounge room, I desperately yearn to sing in a band again. But I simply do not know where to start. When I sing, when I make music, it is the only time in my life that I am not nervous. 

I don't know what steps I would take to make my music dreams happen. I dream of recording a demo here at home (we have all the equipment) and attempting to get some gigs. I dream of writing more and putting my heart into song. 

I will start by embedding a video of me singing a song I wrote 5 1/2 years ago. Something that terrifies me, I am not sure why. The sound and video are slightly out of sync and I think (maybe) my guitar might be a little out of tune. I play this song slightly differently now (maybe because I play guitar better now), I really should re-record it, but you get the idea.

What is it that YOU truly wish for?

Sunday Snippets

 

A few snippets from this week. 

What have you been up to?

Playing along with tinniegirl

how are you starting?

I am starting this month playing along with #reverb12 over on I Saw You Dancing. Kat sent me a message here on Sunday last week asking if I would like to play along and I really think it might get me out of a non-blogging rut that I have been in the last month or so.

So today's prompt is "how are you starting this month?"

The first thing that I did this morning, to start this month, was send my gorgeous sister Carmel a birthday message. It's her birthday today and we wont be around to help her celebrate as she lives in Brisbane and we live in Melbourne. But we are excited to give her real hugs at Christmas time when we will see her.

I am starting this month busy. December is always a busy month here at our place with Christmas just around the corner and all of the organising that goes along with it I am looking forward to Christmas day to actually just sit down and relax.

I am starting this month in a festive mood. I've set up the Christmas tree, the kids have decorated it, and it is beautiful! I love when my kids decorate the tree, and this year the decorations are much more spread out than last year when they just put the decorations right in front of their faces and we had very well decorated sections of the tree.

 

How are you starting December?

Have you set up your Christmas tree yet?

Sunday Snippets

Joining in with Sunday Snippets. Reflecting on my week in photos.

a bit of cooking..

I started writing this blog post on Tuesday, but one thing leads to another and now, on Saturday I am finally posting it. Life is busy busy here at the moment. I am looking forward to Christmas time to sit down and relax on a beach with a beer or something.

I've been doing some pretty amazing healthy cooking here lately. I have been eating and sweating my way down to my goal weight and came to the realisation on Saturday that I have only got 5kg to go before I have reached my goal.

I am absolutely loving the delicious food that I have been creating with my clean eating regime.

Green with envy Pancakes

My own version of this Pumpkin Hummus recipe.

Clean eating for me has meant eating no preservatives, lots of veggies, no bread and limited dairy. I eat around 5-6 times a day depending on hunger and I am finding that eating this way makes me feel so healthy and full of energy. I very rarely eat store-bought or packaged foods unless the ingredients indicate that I could make it myself. I have read so many different websites and blogs that talk about clean eating and a simple google search will give you more information. I follow all of the rules aside from the no alcohol one.

Part of eating "clean" has meant that I have stopped having cow's milk. This has meant no milk in my tea, and no more lattes. It has also meant that I've had to find an alternative to have in my porridge, smoothies and other goodies. So I started having almond milk which I was afraid of to start with but it wasn't really that scary after all. But the price is pretty scary. Coles sells the stuff for around $6 per litre... EEK!!!

The other day I was talking to a man at work who told me to try making almond milk, its not very difficult... and so I have, and its really not. I thought I would share.

You'll need some raw almonds... About 10-18 per person and about a cup of water per person as well.

All you have to do is soak the almonds overnight in the water.

When you want to use them, put them in the blender, and go for it.

 

And that's it! 

Much cheaper, and tastes MUCH better than the store bought stuff! I used this almond milk in some yummy oats with berries. 

How's your weekend going?

Are you waiting on Christmas for a day off too?

What is your favourite healthy meal?

whoops!

I've let the last 12 days go past without any posting which I am kicking myself about. I have been very busy finalising the end of this semester at uni and ensuring I put in as much effort as I could to get the marks that I really want. I like to work hard as I think it pays off later in that I have learned as much as I can and do not need to really re-learn, just refresh.

A few things I have been up to...

 Sewing.

Celebrating another successful year for Miss-R at Calisthenics. Also celebrating the fact that we don't have to go to calisthenics practice for a couple of months.

Giving magical mummy cuddles.

Taking far too many "selfies".

I've also been doing lots of yummy clean-eating cooking, attempting to sell my car (without much luck so far), going to watch the MR play inline hockey, writing assignments, getting marks back for assignments, procrastinating, and working. I love my life, so busy and so many things that I get to do every week.

What kind of busy person tasks have you been up to or are you enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle?

Sunday Snippets

I forgot to publish this last night!

Blogtober 26th: Cancer

This morning I was informed that my G.P. of 5 years lost her battle with cancer two weeks ago.

She was so helpful to me after I had Mr-O and struggled terribly with Post Natal Depression and she helped so many more people also. It is difficult to digest that someone who helped so many sick people was sick herself. My heart and thoughts and prayers go out to her family during this time of loss.

Cancer is an awful disease that affects so many people. Most of us have been affected by it at some point in our lives.

It's effect on me today is to hold those that I love tighter, to kiss them a few more hundred times each morning when they wake up, and to make the most of every moment that I have on this earth. To use my life as a proclamation of joy, and happiness, and love. To not worry about tomorrow, but to have the very BEST TODAY possible.

Today it is National Bandanna Day in Australia.

National Bandanna Day is a fundraising initiative run by Canteen, an organisation that supports people aged 12 - 24 who have been diagnosed with cancer. People buy and wear bandannas all over Australia with the money going back into supporting these young people.

My G.P. wasn't a teenager, but there are so many young people who struggle with cancer in our country and National Bandanna Day is a great way to give them our support. So I encourage you to head over to their website and see how you can support these people today. There's a list of places you can buy bandannas too.