Happy Saturday

Yes it was a happy Saturday!

Some of our favourite people came into The Happy Abode today and we had some long and funny conversations as well as some deep and meaningful discussions.

We were only in the shop for four hours but those hours passed so damn quickly, and we had to hang around for an extra twenty minutes to finish some important 'stuff' that we'd started earlier.

It was voting day, so Adoring Husband came to the shop to help us close, then he and I walked to the hall to vote for our Mayoral candidate of choice.

From there, we walked to the beach, took our shoes off and spent almost thirty minutes walking through the shallows of the receding tide.

I like to stand knee deep in ocean water and take the 'Super Hero' pose (like the surgeons do in Grey's Anatomy) looking out to sea. I stand strong and announce to the Universe that I am strong and healthy and powerful and capable of succeeding at everything on which I focus.

It took me a while to convince Adoring Husband to do the same thing. He kept asking me WHY and laughing at me and telling me I was mad. I told him that we weren't going anywhere and I was prepared to stand there all afternoon if necessary! FINALLY he took the pose for all of twenty seconds!

I was happy with that.

It was a beautiful afternoon and it was after 2.30pm by the time we got home.

I'm considering opening the shop tomorrow - Sunday - because it's a long weekend and there are a lot of tourists in town. I think it might be worth it, especially with Mother's Day coming up next weekend and even if it's quiet, I still have some photo editing that I need to finish, so the time won't be wasted.

On that note, I am off to bed. Look at me doing the 'adultie' thing and going to bed early on a Saturday night!! After all, a superhero needs her sleep too!

Nite all.

Just Like Old Times

For the second morning in a row, I chose to get out and about on the trike with my camera.

It was, without a doubt, a glorious morning. The weather was close to perfect with the sun shining brightly and twinkling reflectively on the high tidal waters of the river.

There were a few scattered clouds to make the sky interesting.

The birds were all out in force:

• The current high population of lorikeets making a racket in the treetops.
• Whistling kites perched in pairs in the tall trees lining the river bank.
• Tawny frogmouths also in pairs snuggling each other on lower branches.
• Plovers strutting around on the grass piercing the soil with their beaks for bugs.
• Terns, seagulls and oyster catchers jostling for position on the sand banks near the beach.
• Blue faced honeyeaters chasing each other through the big fig trees.
• Kookaburras lining up on the street lamps.
• Cormorants diving in the river for fish.
• Galahs waddling through the long grasses feeding on the seeds.
• Corellas trying to out-screech the lorikeets. 
• A white bellied sea eagle soaring high over the boat ramp.
• Not a pelican to be seen!

There were a lot of people out and about riding bikes, boating, kayaking, fishing, walking, swimming, chasing their dogs on the beach, eating their breakfasts in the park, drinking coffee at the cafe, pushing prams. Lots of smiling and laughing and chatting.

As you can tell, I really enjoyed my morning and took a lot in.

It must have been about 11.30am when I rode home and went straight into the kitchen to cook a hearty early lunch.

Chicken, pumpkin/spinach/roasted capsicum/pine nut salad and a salsa of tomato, cucumber, shallot, avocado and grape.

For dessert I made an apple crumble.

I stewed green apples with water, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice.

The crumble was a combination of raw cashews, raw macadamia nuts, raw almonds, raw walnuts combined with coconut butter, a touch of maple syrup, a pinch of salt and a couple of tablespoons of banana flour all whizzed in the food processor.

I scattered the crumble on top and then sat them under a grill until they browned slightly.

I served it with soft serve ice cream fruit whip - frozen pineapple, frozen banana, coconut cream, maple syrup, a splash of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt all blended into a smooth icy mixture.

Needless to say we didn't need much for dinner tonight!

I had a losing night at the club tonight, although I do have a keno ticket to check. You never know your luck.

It's almost 10.30pm so I'd best get some sleep. Back to the shop tomorrow!

Nite all.

Changing Habit

I bet you're thinking that I spent my day off in bed.

My usual habit of staying in bed and studying and reading and playing in Facebook did not appeal to me today, so I was on the trike with my camera bag in the basket before 8am.

I visited the boys at the Seat of Knowledge.

I picked up a take away coffee.

I dropped in to see The Motivator at the shop.

I checked mail.

I walked bare foot along the beach.

I triked along the river and found these guys ...

I followed a Sea Eagle but he did all of his exciting stuff at a distance too far to photograph.

I did some grocery shopping.

I arrived home some time after 11am.

I watched the movie 'Girl on a Train'.

I cooked stuffed mushrooms, roast pumpkin spinach & pine nut salad and crispy skinned chicken for lunch.

I edited some photos from last week's photo shoot.

It's almost 11pm and I think my day is done.

I have a lot planned for tomorrow, so it's bed time for me.

Nite all.

All The People!

My belief that the town would be empty today, due to the big funeral, was unfounded.

There were a lot of holiday-makers through the shop today and I was kept pretty busy almost from the moment I opened the doors.

The people were very excited to find us and even more excited about the goodies that they found inside, so it was a pretty fun day for them AND for me!

Adoring Husband had some shopping to do in The Bay, but drove me to work first because it had been raining and was threatening to rain some more. This meant that he had to pick me up this afternoon, so he helped me bring everything in before I locked up and left the premises.

We had a bit of shopping to do at the Butcher's and Supermarket before heading home.

There was no time to sit down because I had to package up the dog food. I have decided to add a bit of extra goodness to the mince that we feed them.

I'm not going all out like I used to, with a recipe that was absolutely exhausting to put together once a fortnight. Instead, I simply add grated carrot, some finely chopped baby spinach, some diced cucumber, two raw eggs, some turmeric and some Himalayan salt.

I mix it all by hand and then weigh them into three equal portions per Chinese container.

I began doing this while AH was away last weekend. The psychotic dogs suddenly became very excited about dinner time and gobbled up their portions with lightning speed!

After I finished the dog food preparation, it was time to chop up the pineapples that we'd bought and then package it for the freezer too.

That took over an hour and it was almost 5pm, so I had to sit down for a while. I watched MKR from the previous night's recording and at 5.45pm we remembered that it was trivia night at the club!

It was a mad rush to make a quick dinner and freshen up to leave at 6.30pm.

I am happy to announce that we took third place and it was a fun night with a bit of snorting laughter and a few "I told you so" remarks when we got answers wrong.

It's now well after midnight, so I'm signing off ... even though I have two days off work ... things to do, people to see, places to go!

Nite all.

Catching Up

How good was it to catch up with Reality TV Queen today at morning coffee?!

It's been about ten weeks since we've seen her and she has been travelling through the Eastern states in a caravan with Mr Pedantic and doing some house sitting along the way.

There was a lot to talk about, which was lucky, because Tweedle Dee (new name yet to be discovered) was running late due to visitors.

Nobody else was available today.

Three ladies were at their husband's side in hospital for various surgeries, one has just returned a day ago from a long holiday, another was at a Drs appointment in The Bay and another two were missing in action.

It was 11.30am by the time we had finished our coffees and the girls walked out the door.

Another great morning.

The remainder of the day was quite slow and both The Motivator and I had things that needed doing, so it suited us not to be too busy.

We closed the shop and I left very soon after 3pm.

Adoring Husband spent the day on Fraser Island performing SES duties and didn't return home until around 7pm, so it was a late dinner for us.

I'll be on my own in the shop tomorrow and I imagine that the town will be very, very empty.

There is a funeral happening in the middle of the day to farewell a very much loved community member. The Motivator will be representing us both as she attends this farewell. A life to be celebrated and many hearts will be struggling to let go of this beautiful woman.

RIP Lee Dart x

Nite all.

The Procrastinator In Me

I am a champion procrastinator.

I even bought a book on overcoming procrastination, but I procrastinated over finishing the book, so I still don't know how to overcome procrastination!

I'm so good at procrastinating that most of the time, I don't even recognise my actions as procrastination. I believe that what I'm doing is legitimately necessary, but in actual fact, I'm doing it to avoid what really is legitimately necessary!

The truth of the matter is that there is so much that now NEEDS to be done in my home, that there are no procrastinating activities left to do! So I am a frustrated procrastinator!

This is funny because it's true!



Ok I've added enough exclamation marks in this blog to last for the next three blog posts!

It was a crazy start to this Monday morning. We received a text from The Gypsy to say that she was sick and unable to attend the shop, which included meditation. The trouble was that we didn't receive the text until 4.45am which was too late to contact our ladies to tell them not to come.

We winged it.

I thought we did a great job and I'm pretty sure everyone left feeling happy and uplifted, especially after that last dance around the room to the "Happy" song.

It was encouraging to have another lady sign up and pay for the photography course in June, so the class is looking very healthy.

The remainder of the day was steady and there were lots of sales made for Mother's Day gifts.

Adoring Husband arrived home safe n sound around lunch time and dropped into the shop to get his welcome home hug and kiss.

We left the shop very soon after 3pm today and I came home to cook an early dinner - because AH and I were both starving after missing lunch.

Now it's after 11pm (how did that happen so quickly?) so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Love and Friendship

I have had a divinely perfect Sunday.

I didn't do anything that NEEDED doing. I only did what I felt like doing in the moment.

I ate a lot. I drank (coffee and water). I made some fruit whip ice cream (pineapple/banana/blueberry). I watched youtube videos. I listened to music. I played with the psychotic dogs. I watched the football. I fed the chooks and the dogs (ok, THOSE two things needed to be done). I thought about all the things that NEEDED to be done and relished the fact that I wasn't doing them. I stayed in my pyjamas all day.

Having enjoyed a big weekend of birthday celebrations, Adoring Husband should be home fairly early in the day tomorrow. Back to reality for him.

So this was one of my favourite videos from youtube. I have another that I will share in tomorrow's post.



Two of my favourite famous people. Jane Fonda is 80 yrs old and Lily Tomlin is 79 yrs old. They are pretty amazing women and I have a lot of admiration and respect for them.

It's now almost 10.30pm and I need to be up early to do AH's work before heading to the shop early for meditation. It's going to be a tight squeeze!

Have a fabulous Monday.

Nite all.

Great Expectations

It was quite a busy Saturday morning at The Happy Abode.

The windsurfers have brought with them some happy shoppers, so while the surfers are out on the water, their partners and families are wandering the streets looking for things to do and luckily for us, they have found The Happy Abode in their wanderings.

It was a really good morning and in the middle of all that, we've had to order some more Ivys bags and wallets because we've almost sold out of the huge order that we received just over a week ago!

We also received our new Lemongrass order on Friday and we've already sold a few pieces from that.

This afternoon, when we closed, I had to run a session of my last photography workshop for the lady who missed the first week.

She gave me some wonderful feedback, telling me what a good teacher I am because I'm so patient, I allow my students to learn at their own pace without force feeding them facts and figures and because I'm happy to answer questions no matter how silly they seem.

I was pleasantly surprised by this and felt a bit chuffed!

I finished editing most of the Anzac Day photos and sent them through to the most important person, The Duchess of Burrum. The photos need to be distributed elsewhere, so I'll do that tomorrow.

It was after 4pm by the time I rode up my own driveway. The psychotic dogs were starving hungry, so they were very happy to see me, as were the chookies! When I finished my few necessary chores, changed into my pyjamas, parked myself on the recliner chair and that's where I will remain until I deem it time to sleep.

I still have to edit the family shoot that I did last week. Stupidly, I volunteered for that shoot, when I could have just stopped and used their point and shoot camera to take some happy snaps, which was their original request. Sometimes I just have to learn to shut my mouth!

Today was very profitable for me in the way of donations. I scored some queen fish fillets from The Motivator and some limes, cucumbers and pawpaw from Beauty. This means that I eat for the weekend!

My blogging duty is now fulfilled, so I am signing off and enjoying a lazy evening doing whatever the hell I feel like!

Have a FABULOIUS Sunday!

Nite all.

  

What we Missed

I've missed two posts this week! The 22nd and 26th April were blog post free - sometimes life just gets in the way!

With all the excitement of our sunset cruise on Tuesday evening, I forgot to mention in that blog post, our coffee morning and all the fun we had opening the gifts that BGWLBH sent in the mail and also the gifts that The Motivator gave me that morning.

Beauty had already left to pick up The Blonde Bombshell from hospital and The Whinging Pom hadn't yet arrived because she had slept in.

These are photos of 'some' of the gifts from both of my friends, but I didn't bring all of them home - there are a few still at the shop. You have to agree that I was very spoilt!

It was a really fun morning and I think the girls enjoyed watching me open the presents as much as I enjoyed opening them!

The Motivator went to a lot of trouble to make the morning special for me by baking a paleo lemon birthday cake (which was delicious!), hanging balloons around my egg chair and sticking little 'happy birthday' signs around the shop. She sang 'happy birthday' about a gazillion times during the day.

Lady Lynn made her signature cheeseball (so yummy) and brought GF crackers adding a little birthday balloon to the pot.

There were candles and the girls sang happy birthday. It was a great morning.

I love my girls and I love my life.

Today is Friday and I had the day away from the shop. I had to get up early to do Adoring Husband's work while he's away and I discovered that I had slept all night with the front door unlocked. I never check that door because we rarely use it and if I ever open it, my habit is to immediately lock it when I close it.

Ah well, I'm still alive to tell the tale.

I spent some time with the old boys at The Seat of Knowledge this morning and came home feeling motivated enough to do some housework, but the motivation left me fairly rapidly lol and not a lot got done. I unpacked the groceries, mopped the floor and did a load of washing and some ironing. I sat for the remainder of the day, watching a movie, checking some emails, doing some study.

The day passed surprisingly fast and the Bowls Club was not lucky for me tonight, although we had a good sized group and it was a fun evening.

It's now well after 10pm and I need to sleep. There is AH's work to do in the morning and then off to the shop. So much to do!

Nite all.

A Cracker

The Anzac Day service was a cracker ...

In the end, The Motivator and I decided not to open The Happy Abode today.

Instead, we went for a long walk along the beach discussing business, making some future plans and creating a mini roster for ourselves.

At 3.30pm I met The Blonde Bombshell at a specified beach spot so that we could do some 'grounding'. We were there for almost an hour and it was really nice to be 'just us' knee deep and bare foot in water as the tide came in.

She is doing so well, all things considered, and is a miracle on two legs. I look at her and shake my head in awe and admiration.

It is 8pm and I am sitting on the couch trying not to move too much because my body is protesting all the walking and grounding that I forced upon it today!!

Ugh.

I have to learn to do things in small steps when I have been so inactive for so long!

I believe that I will sleep well tonight.

Nite all.

It's All About Us!

Happy eighth anniversary to Adoring Husband and I.

We finally got to go on our sunset cruise this evening and it was positively beautiful until it wasn't.

... then the seasickness set in and the final 45 minutes seemed like two hours and all I wanted was to set foot on solid ground and find my equilibrium. I was horrifyingly close to throwing up over the side. Drinking water. Taking deep breaths. Focussing on the horizon. Wishing it was over.

Such relief when we finally made our way through the channel to the marina and stopped the boat.

Prior to the sickness, the captain and his offsider were so wonderful and attentive and interested in us and the other passengers. We talked cameras and discussed the options for his needs and he guided the boat at different angles so that we could get some great sunset shots through the iconic Urangan Pier.

Nature provided an amazing back drop with a massive rain cloud in the distance.

All the while Adoring Husband was in deep conversation with fellow passengers, a couple in their mid eighties, here from Melbourne. They had been out to our town the day before to look at a house, but have decided that they are too old to move. A nice couple.

As we headed back to shore, I could see some lightning behind a mass of cloud out to the west and by the time we were in the car heading home, that storm was moving quickly beside us and putting on a spectacular light show for our benefit.

Our dinner date didn't come to fruition because I was too ill after the cruise, so we cancelled our reservation and came directly home - in time to get the clothes off the line and bring the psychotic dogs onto the storm chair before the storm actually hit.

We were lucky enough to just catch the edge of the storm and it dumped some heavy rain on us for about thirty minutes and quickly disappeared north. Thank goodness because it was looking pretty violent from here.

Now, it's midnight. I'm feeling much better and I need to sleep so that I can be up early enough to act as photographer for the ANZAC march in the morning.

Nite all.

It's All About Me!

Happy Birthday to me!

Thank you Lady Lynn for my very special birthday balloon. I *LOVE* it!!

It's been a lovely day.

I was up bright and early to attend meditation at the shop, followed by a walk along the beach with my camera for about an hour, during which I received a birthday phone call from Vegan Chickie and Chicklet.

I had an appointment with The Gypsy at 10.30am and she gave me some extra time especially because it was my birthday. She worked hard on some of my issues and I felt fabulous at the end of it.

I did some grounding along the beach for about thirty minutes after my appointment and then I returned home so that Adoring Husband could cook me a delicious lunch.

It's been a lazy afternoon - my favourite kind!

I received some beautiful birthday cards from Adoring Husband, The Motivator and The Whinging Pom.

Tomorrow, a parcel from BGWLBH should arrive in the mail - THAT should be fun!

Every phone call I received today began with the caller singing 'Happy Birthday', except for the call from Number One Son who refused to sing even after I told him he was the only one who didn't sing. I called him names. He didn't care. Grrrrrr.

My last call for the day was from Bubbles and both her and Knight in Shining Armour sang the song (take note Number One Son).

I have very much enjoyed my day and The Motivator tells me that she will have a special cake for me at the coffee morning tomorrow. I'm a bit excited about that.

Now it's 10.30pm and I need to get some rest.

Nite all.

Welcome to the Weekend

It was a fun Saturday morning at the shop with both of us on deck.

Lots of customers, not all in a buying mood, but definitely in cheeky, funny and talkative moods. A few from out of town ie Howard, Toogoom, Toowoomba and Childers. It's nice to know that the word about our lovely shop is spreading - even if the locals still don't know we're here!

As I left our house this morning, our neighbour across the road asked if I was 'off for a morning ride'. When I told him I was going to work, he said "Work?"

So I told him about The Happy Abode, and he was totally unaware of it's existence! My neighbour!

He knows about it now and tells me that he will come for a sticky beak some time soon.

The Motivator and I got a lot done today between customers and we both left right on closing time.

My first stop was at Pelican Manor for a family photo shoot. It was a spur of the moment, short notice gathering of many family members and I have to say they were the funniest, happiest group of people  to photograph.

I told them that we had a 30 minute window of opportunity so they were very compliant and moved quickly into each separate group. They were constantly laughing and smiling so the photos were quick and easy.

It took exactly 30 minutes!

I've had a relaxing afternoon and evening with Adoring Husband and I fried up some whiting fillets to have with salad for dinner.

It's now 7.45pm and I'm considering an early bed time. I've had no coffee today, so my body is running on natural energy alone. I must remember to drink LOTS of water while I'm detoxing from caffeine!

Have a fabulous Sunday!

Nite all.

Friendly Friday

It was a nice day at the shop today.

Very quiet in the morning, which meant that I could price and display the stock that arrived on Thursday. The Motivator did a lot of it yesterday and I still haven't finished, so we'll have to clean up the loose ends on Saturday morning.

The afternoon saw quite a few friendly customers, mostly people at the end of their holiday and almost all of them were in for a chat.

I didn't get to close the shop until about 3.15pm but it was worth staying open that little bit longer.

Adoring Husband appeared in his SES uniform just as I was leaving. He had been at a meeting all day in The Bay and came to see if I needed help to close.

Before I rode home, I had to go to the Post Office.

Our group was very light on at the club tonight. Beauty and The Beast were there, as was Grumpy Old Fart and Trivia King. That was it.

I was feeling quite unwell and almost called AH to come pick me up early. I started to feel a little better just before the raffle was drawn, so I stayed for that ... though none of us won a prize.

I had a bit of luck on the pokies.

It was wet and stormy as we left the club and we drove home in the rain. There were also a LOT of mosquitoes and I got eaten alive in the bus.

Of course I had to cook dinner when I got home, which was San Choy Bow made with pork mince. I haven't cooked this dish for about ten years and now that we've had it again, I think it will be a regular weekly meal.

Now I need some sleep. I have to work in the morning which will be followed by a quick family photo shoot on the way home.

It's going to be a big weekend!

Nite all.

 

Big Boost

I had the day off today.

My hair appointment was for 10.30am and I was trying a new hairdresser at my old salon. I'll call her Sely Scissorhands.

After three hours, this was my result ...

... Please excuse the 'selfie' (and I'm in my pyjamas!) but I'm very happy with the outcome and I will definitely return to Sely Scissorhands. She used three different colours for my foils, gave me a trim, blow dried and straightened my hair.

She was easy to chat with and the three hours passed surprisingly fast.

I felt totally boosted!

I left the salon and pedalled to the shop to see The Motivator to show her my hair, have a quick catch-up, check out the new stock that had just arrived - she will be having her day off tomorrow, so we won't catch up again until Saturday.

I did a quick grocery shop and returned home to spend time with Adoring Husband before he left for his SES training night.

It's only 8pm but I feel ready for bed already. I haven't done anything all day, but I feel like I've put in a full day's work! Bizarre.

Ok, I'm done.

Nite all.

Busy and Important

It's been a day and a half!

It all started at 5am when my alarm went off and I had to get up and get myself ready to be picked up at 6.10am for the Chamber of Commerce meeting at Arkarra Gardens.

I was expecting a small crowd and a boring event, but instead I found a HUGE crowd of people and an interesting morning packed to the brim with information and some Mayoral candidates actually worth listening to.

I followed The Motivator around while she networked and made valuable connections with different business owners and other important industry professionals, until we sat down for breakfast, which was enjoyable, followed by Q&A with the candidates.

They were five very different people, each with their own field of expertise and each with their own solid ideas about what they could bring to the table if they were voted into the position. They weren't given very long to answer each question so they had to provide a lot of information in their three minute response, which made for an informative meeting.

At the end, we had the opportunity to mark a ballot paper with our unofficial vote, to give them an indication of how they performed.

I'm really glad that we made the effort to attend because we got our name out there and even received some helpful advice which we will follow through on.

We arrived back at the shop before opening time and had the chance to debrief and discuss how we see our future as far as our involvement with TCOC is concerned.

The remainder of the day was quite slow because it's the usual quiet pension Wednesday where everybody travels into The Bay to do their shopping.

We did take delivery of a box of hemp hats which we'll price and display tomorrow. We should also receive one more delivery of La Vida stock tomorrow, which will be exciting!

After we closed the shop, we had just four hours to kill until we left the house again to attend the Progress Association monthly meeting at the hall.

It was our first meeting of it's kind and it was interesting to watch the dynamics of the members and see the 'power play' at work.

I don't see how they support the current businesses in town, and I know that they have encouraged 'out of area' businesses to compete at our local markets and other events, so they don't really have our best interests at heart.

It would take a lot of convincing for me to become a member or return for another meeting.

It's almost 11.30pm and I'm exhausted!

Tomorrow morning I have a hair appointment, so The Motivator is doing the early shift. I can't believe how quickly this week has flown!

For now, it's bed time.

Nite all.

All Alone

This was my Tuesday morning with the girls ...

... but gosh I got productive in that time!

At 11am, the Whinging Pom arrived with Whispering Jack and a tray of coffee because she knew that nobody had come for our usual coffee get together. I thought that was a lovely gesture!

Of course, everybody had a legitimate reason for not being at The Happy Abode ... not they even need one, because our gatherings are supposed to be fun and frivolity and nobody should ever feel obligated to attend.

It was a nice day at the shop, but it was a hot day outside of the shop! That was the general comment as people came through our doors.

The Motivator had the late shift today, so I got to leave at 1pm, which was nice.

We've decided to share paleo meals with each other. I cooked a spaghetti bolognese sauce to share with her and she cooked butter chicken for us!

I had already planned crumbed fish for dinner tonight, so it will be butter chicken for dinner tomorrow night for us, and I have some broccoli and cauliflower to make brocoflower rice to go with it.

Tonight I coated our snapper fillets with tapioca flour, then dipped them in egg and lemon juice, then coated them in almond meal/salt/lemon zest. I shallow fried them in coconut oil and served them with a garden salad and a wedge of fresh lemon.

Bloody nice!

On Wednesday morning, The Motivator and I have to attend a 'Meet the Mayoral candidates' breakfast at Arkarra Gardens. Under normal circumstance, this might be a pleasant experience, but in this instance, having to get out of bed at 5am to be ready to leave the house at 6am is not a prospect that I'm excited about!

I struggle to be 'nice' to people in the early hours of the morning, so it's going to be a hell of a stretch for me!

This being our first official event in our capacity as local business operators, means that we have to be on our best behaviour - not that it's a problem for The Motivator - but it's going to be a challenge for me! My advice to myself is "Smile and nod. Smile and nod." Ha ha.

It's now 9.30pm and I am already in bed, so it's time to sleep. Must be fresh for my early start in the morning!

Nite all.

The Beginning

It's been a great beginning to the week.

It all started with meditation this morning. More 'aha' moments for me. I learn something new about myself every week. I'm learning how to build on my strengths and work on weaker areas of myself to help bring more love and clarity to my life.

I think we all had some aha moments this morning which made the whole process more enjoyable.

There was a steady flow of customers in the morning and enough quiet time in the afternoon that we got a lot done.

I actually cleared another 3000 emails and only have 700 remaining! That's almost 8000 emails cleared in two days! I will work hard at keeping them under control from here on in.

We got to talk with a special customer who has the most amazing spiritual energy and she always makes us feel good while she's in the shop and even after she leaves.

The day was even better because we got to leave the shop at 3pm. In a business sense, the long days over the holidays were worth it, but they took a lot out of us and we are really happy to be doing the shorter hours again. It feels like we have control of our lives again.

Working from 9am - 5pm every day of the week is crazy. We love the work we do and we love being in our shop, yet working those hours was incredibly draining because there was not enough time in the day to do all the other things that we're responsible for, and no time for self care either.

Luckily for us, travel time is minimal, but people in the city have to travel about an hour each way (I remember it well) and that takes a big chunk out of your day. It takes away from your family, your partner, your social life, the housework, self-care and everything else in your life.

In this situation, we are lucky to have each other.

We take care of ourselves and we take care of each other and make sure we don't get bogged down with unnecessary stuff. We make sure we get extra time off when we need it. We've got each other's backs.

Now I'm going to bed because it's approaching 11pm and that's past my 'go to bed alarm time'! I had a late night last night and an early start, so I need to catch up on that.

I wonder how many will turn up for morning coffee tomorrow?

Nite all.

The Perfect Sunday

I can't imagine a better day off than the one I had today.

I woke at 7am, just because I was ready to wake up. No alarm, no startling sounds, no outside influence, just an easy, slow entry into the day. I lay in bed just thinking and breathing and looking and feeling for about twenty minutes.

Then I read for a while. I played Words With Friends.

Adoring Husband surprised me with breakfast in bed and a takeaway coffee. *LOVE*

I mucked around in Facebook for a long time (still in my pyjamas in bed!).

Study came to the fore at one stage and I did some work on stuff I've been avoiding for a while and using 'not enough time' as an excuse, so I'm very happy to achieved that today.

I listened to some music (still in my pyjamas in bed!) and I watched some long training videos. I created some extra content for my next photography course. I ate potato chips and I drank lots of water.

I got out of bed once to walk into the back yard and collect some chillies from The Leggy Blonde, my back neighbour and the second time, at 5.30pm, was to cook dinner.

We had pork sausages in onion gravy with potato and sweet potato mash and a big buttery fry up of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, bacon, garlic and cayenne pepper. Dessert was the usual fruit whip ice-cream.

I returned to bed at 7pm for a special reason.

There are three shows on TV at the same time. Bachelor in Paradise. My Kitchen Rules. The Voice.

So Adoring Husband watched My Kitchen Rules and recorded it at the same time as recording The Voice, while I watched Bachelor in Paradise in the bedroom.

Now I'm in the lounge room thinking back on my Sunday. So lazy and delicious and perfect.

I'm off to bed now - to sleep!

Meditation tomorrow morning!

Nite all.

Super Saturday

I'm not referring to the football.

It was a super Saturday at the shop today.

The first two and a half hours had somebody in the shop at all times. As one person left, another entered, so there was a steady flow of customers, but from about midday onwards, it was completely dead.

Nobody entered the shop for more than three hours, so I got a LOT done.

If I can remember my 'done' list correctly ...

• Dusted
• Cleared the old food out of the fridge 
• Did the dishes
• Cleared 3,800 emails
• Emptied the four bins in the shop
• Filled the gaps in the shop where sales had been made
• Took photos of new stock and posted them on our Facebook page

I think that's it.

I took my lunch of leftover chicken wings with salsa salad to work with me today - keeping our budget in mind, I'm attempting to save money by taking my lunch instead of buying it because I worked out that I'm spending over $60 week on lunches and coffee so I reckon I can reduce that and put the money towards my next road trip!

Who knows when that will be!

So the afternoon went quite quickly and around 4.15pm two more customers came through the door to boost our sales for the day.

Even so, by the time 5pm arrived, I was feeling absolutely exhausted and it's now 8pm and I feel like I need to go to bed.

Here are some photos that I took today ...

... we have two more shipments of stock arriving next week and we're not exactly certain where we are going to put it all!

I've got the day at home tomorrow, so I'm off to bed where I will probably stay for the next sixteen or more hours. Pampering myself by not having to move unless I want to!

I hope you all have a happy Sunday.

Nite all.