Grateful for.......Family

TBone got asked this week if he would consider going for a long term stint to Port Hedland or Roxby Downs. My initial reaction was "hell yes, book the removal van" as I think it would be such a great opportunity for him work wise, it would mean I could fulfill my dream of being a Stay at Home Mum, and if we are going to do this, we have to do it now, as I would want to be back in Perth and settled by the time Master Z turns 7.


Then I thought more about what it would mean for us - I wont have problems with the remoteness or the heat, as we have lived in Kalgoorlie before, we wont have problems with the crime or social problems around us, as we lived in Leeds for 7 years, but the one thing that would be difficult would be removing Master Z from the relationship that he has with his grandparents, my Mum and Dad.


Master Z goes there 2 days a week while I work and loves every minute. They have built the Taj Mahal of sand pits in their back yard, there is a park directly across the road and with Mum being an ex-kindy teacher, she has so many cool activities for him to do. They take him shopping, on excursions to the zoo, on picnics and adventures to visit 'Nan-Nan' (my grandmother). He loves them to pieces and his eyes light up when he knows we are heading to Nanna and Granga's place. 


I rely on them so much as well and we are really fortunate they live only a 5 minute drive away. I would see them 5 days out of 7 and they are such a large part of our lives. If we do get the opportunity to go away, it won't just be the easy move like when we moved to the UK or Kalgoorlie. We are going to have to deal with Master Z's feelings and that of my parents.


Fortunately, even though my Mum has joked that she is horrified at the prospect, she also knows how awesome the opportunity would be, knows it is only a very short term thing and that now is the right time to do it. Explaining to Master Z is going to be a more difficult prospect though and it breaks my heart even thinking about having to tell him we wont see them for months on end. Luckily, we live in a world of Skype now, so if it happened we would be able to keep in regular contact so he can get his fix.


So today, I am so grateful for my parents, their support and their relationship with Master Z.

Chantel x

Linking up with Maxabella @ Kidspot for 52 weeks of Grateful

Grateful for..... A clean slate

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Many people see the rolling of the clocks from one year to the next as just another day. Nothing important, just time to start a new diary.


I, however,  love the beginning of the new year. I love the idea of a clean slate and find the potential a new year brings with it exciting. For me, New Years Eve, New Years Day and January are a time to reflect on the year gone past, what went right, what went wrong and what lessons can be learned. It is a time to review goals and life dreams and see if you are on track to achieve these. 


It is a time to plan the year ahead, the big events, the small milestones and the mundane but necessary tasks. I love to see a fresh new diary with blank pages just waiting to be written in. 


An even more exciting idea is that every day is a new beginning, a new chance, a 'do-over' and brings with it new hope.
And for that, I am grateful.

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Linking up today with Maxabella loves' Grateful for... link for one last time before it moves to its exciting new home at Kidspot

Chantel x

Imma gunna be all Kim Kardashian and get 'simple'

"i wanna be more simple in 2012" @KimKardashian on Twitter.
(This was after she had celebrated NYE at a fancy pantz party in Vegas that she was reportedly paid $600,000 USD to attend.......)

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I have only just finished catching up on all the blog posts in my reader from prior to Christmas - I haven't had a chance to comment on many sorry, but I am now up to date. Many of the posts have been about people's resolutions for 2012 or why they aren't making resolutions.

I am crap at resolutions, I have a difficult time sticking to anything (stay tuned for an upcoming post relating to the 12 wbt and my healthy living journey). My attention span is very short and this is probably one of my worst personality traits. It is the one I really try hard to counter, but then I lose interest and turn my attention elsewhere.

I know I need focus in my life, I know I need to be smarter with my goals and aims. I am on an endless quest to decide what I want to be when I grow up. My mind flits from one uni course to another trying to decide what to study, which direction to head - you would think by 35 that I would have some sense of direction. May be it is a first world problem that I have so many options available to me - that is also another post for another time.

The things I want to focus on this year, are my happiness and my family's happiness. This will mean looking at what we are doing on a day to day basis, how we are spending our money and how we are working towards our long term family goals. As part of this:

• I really want to try to improve my health. This will mean continuing the exercise regime I started as part of the 12 WBT and try to rein in my emotional eating once and for all. 

• I also want to focus on developing new and nourishing existing female friendships. I really miss having a 'best' friend close by - my best friend is unfortunately miles away and although technology brings us closer, it is not the same as having someone you can pop in for a chat and a tea or wine with and who you feel comfortable telling your deepest darkest secrets to.

• And finally, I want to work out where I want to be professionally. We know what our family goals are, what my 'mummy' goals are, I just need to determine which path I want my career to take and head on down that path.

While pondering what I wanted from 2012 and reading everyone's post from the last week, I have come across many of you being involved in Debra from Home Life Simplified's 52 Weeks to Simplify You Life Challenge and I have decided to join in. I am hopeless when it comes to meeting deadlines, so this will give me something to work on.

The first challenge Deb has set is to create a list of what went 'right' in 2011.
I know many people had a terrible 2011, filled with tragedy, grief, sickness and heartbreak. I certainly didn't have a bad 2011, but I would say it rated as a 'meh' on the awesomeness scale. There were some highs, some lows and many lessons learnt.

In 2011 the things that went 'right' were:

• We celebrated Master Z's 1st birthday with a totally over the top, not needed party, but we had fun with our friends, so it was worth it.
• Master Z started walking and talking and hasn't stopped for breath since
• Master Z started day care one day a week, and although he has had a 'bug a week', at least his immunity will be well developed by school time
• TBone had an amazing year at work, completed a major project in a leading role and I am so proud of what he achieved
• I came to the realisation that whilst I am working part time, there is no way I am going to have any progression in my role, so I may as well be doing something that I really enjoy
• I realised that I have 10 years of part time work ahead of me, so I may as well use that time to skill up and study further so that when I return to work full time I will have lots of little letters behind my name, and a huge HECS debt, but maybe not much more.....
• I completed 3 more Masters units in my MBA, so only have 2 left before I finish - then commence another one (I think -as part of my quest for many letters behind my name, see above)
• We saw the way Master Z's relationship with his grandparents has flourished and developed a further appreciation of all that they do for him and us
• We got a new car - red - as red goes faster
• We spent several weekends 'down south' enjoying family and quiet times
• We spent a week in Pemberton - and although Master Z was terribly sick most of the time, we slowed down and spent quality time together
• I started this little blog and although I don't really know what I want it to be, I am loving having a place to write, develop some skills, meet new people and recording our lives for our kids to read later
• I spent many fun filled nights with my mother's group girls and realised how lucky I am to have them drop into my life
• We had many wonderful nights with our close group of friends as we try to make time to catch up in our busy lives
• We welcomed a new nephew in June, who is growing into a beautiful little boy
• We watched with awe at every new thing Master Z mastered as he explored his environment and we wondered if we could ever love another child this much - or if there is a cuter little boy in the whole world?

I mean really??? Not in my eyes :o) I perhaps need to work on the whole watermark thing though.....

16 points, not too bad a year, hey? I am grateful for the lessons that 2011 brought with it, but have a feeling in my waters that 2012 is going to be filled with awesomeness, candy, rainbows and dream fulfillment.

BRING. IT. ON!

Linking up with 52 weeks to simplify your life. Head on over to see what the buzz is about.

Chantel x

Welcome 2012!

Things have been very quiet around here, as we have been 'down south' for a few days, taking some time to enjoy family, holidays and beautiful weather.


I have had such a relaxing time.


I have smiled over and over at this:

I have eaten a lot of these:

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I have drunk a few of these:

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I have learnt to do this:

I have fallen in love with my Christmas present to myself. I ordered this after seeing it here and here and couldn't be happier with it. You can find some more beautiful items here:

I have swum here everyday:

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I have read these:

I love lazy holiday time. I enjoyed 2011 and am so grateful for all that it brought with it, both the good times and the life lessons. 


I am loving 2012 so far and know it is going to be an amazing year and can't wait to experience all it has to offer.


Happy New Year, best wishes for an amazing 2012! Linking up today with Jess for IBOT

Chantel x

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and safe and happy holiday period!

Chantel x

Christmas Tree of Memories

This last week, I have been in a real 'funk'. Not impressed with life at all, and I think at the heart of it, was my angst over not having our Christmas tree up yet (I know, first world problems!) We had chosen our tree last weekend, but as we didn't have a towbar, or access to a ute, we were unable to get the tree to our house - and I didn't really want to part with the $75 it would have cost to have it delivered (only $5 less than the tree........)


Thankfully, this was all rectified on Friday and our tree was delivered and positioned in its rightful place in our living room.


As I have mentioned many times, I am not an organised person. Nothing I do would be classed as 'put together'. I dream of having a house with decor that matches, but this is unlikely to happen. Our Christmas tree decorations reflect this. But when I was putting them up today and telling Master Z about what I was doing, I realised that they are a reflection of our lives so far.


Each of the decorations is embedded with a memory-


Our first trip to Prague:

Apologies for overuse of filters - could not get the light right on any of these photos

From my sister-in-law when we went to Edinburgh with her and my brother:

A present from Disneyland from a special friend:

My favourite Van Gogh painting:

From a cute little shop down a cobbled street in London:

From our Bratislava trip with 3 wonderful friends:

From Lhasa, in Tibet - our 3 week trek to Everest Base Camp, where TBone proposed:

To celebrate Master Z's first Christmas:

A representation of our little family from a dear friend:

The one time I asked TBone to choose something and this is what he came back with - it looks nicotine stained and pretty creepy - I try to put it at the back of the tree.....

And they all go together to form this higgledy, piggledy tree, that we love. They don't need to match, they don't need to follow a theme. They represent our life so far and tell a story of our journey to where we are now.

What does your tree look like? Do you go for a colour theme? 


Just found this to link up to - check out other trees.

Chantel x

Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas. We are not particularly religious, but Christmas has always been a time for family and friends. A time to all get together and eat so much food.

Now that Master Z is in our life, I want to make sure we keep our extended family at the heart of our Christmas celebrations, but I also want to start some new traditions for our little family of 3. Things that we can do together, to bond us and become part of our family story.

Living in England for seven years, we got used to our friends all having 'real' Christmas trees each year and that is something I wanted to keep up here. It is a bit of a different experience chopping down a tree in 40 degree heat, swatting millions of flies away, compared to trudging through snow in zero degrees to find that one tree. Regardless of the temperature, nothing beats that beautiful pine smell that seeps slowly through the house once the tree is up and for the past few years, that smell has meant 'Christmas' to me.

Last weekend, we took Master Z one of the Christmas tree farms that have popped up over the last few years in our Northern suburbs. 

Oh so cute in mini Blundstones!

They have such a great, customer friendly set up, where you are able to walk through the plantation looking for the 'one'. 

Unfortunately it wasn't marked by a light shining from the sky like the Griswold's tree was in 'Christmas Vacation', but we found one that suited our purposes. A nice, 7ft tree that was a great shape and had the right 'look'. You wouldn't believe how picky you get going along the rows - I mean really, surely they all look the same......

This year, I probably was a bit (OK, a lot) more excited than Master Z about the whole experience, but it is the beginning of what I hope will be one of the lasting traditions of our family.

What Christmas traditions do you have in your family?

Chantel x