HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS

Welcome to 2016!

This photo is a snippet from my Saturday afternoon.  One week and three days in to a brand new year.  I know a lot of people aren't so keen, but I quite like a brand new year. To me, it's like a do-over, a second-chance if you will (if the previous year wasn't so fab), or a fresh start (when tackling something major in your life), A new year to me, offers new hope and opportunity, and I love that for my brain it's effectively the blackboard equivalent of wiping the slate clean.

I have to confess, 2015 was not too shabby for little ol' me. Which we will all agree is a welcome improvement on some of my past few years (documented in all its ugly glory on the blog).  I am humbled to say since we last conversed

• My beautiful parents celebrated their 50 year wedding anniversary
• We sang happy birthday to my mother for her 70th youthful years
• Celebrated my son's 21st birthday and watch him bloom into the most beautiful man I know
• I purchased my first investment property in Queensland
• Renovated 1/2 my house (there's still a 1/2 to go...it's a work in progress)
• Purchased a super cute new SUV
• Spent many quality moments with family;
• Gained a permanent position at my workplace
• Had an ex-boyfriend-Free-Year; and
• Was gifted the Renovating for Profit course - by the divine Cherie Barber herself

 Big, people.  All big moments in isolation. Monumentally huge as a 14-month period.

'Extraordinarily grateful' doesn't quite seem adequate. Blessed and inspired, yearning to share the bounty, and humbled by such good fortune.  Whilst there have been some downs, quite heavy ones, the ebbs and flows of life continue to provide the roller coaster ride that provides a healthy stable balance in life.  The ying and the yang. The good with the bad.  The ups with the downs.  But honestly, slightly grateful that the ups have had a stronger foray, and played a larger role in the story of my life recently, So there you have it! A quick 350 word summary of life for boomerangjane on the starting line of 2016.  Let the games begin! :-)

The past 14 months in pixels

  

  

   

OH HEYYYY!!!!
[waving like a lunatic]

How's it going? After 3 whole years since my last blog post, I don't actually expect any of you to be sitting there waiting in anticipation for me to post.   THREE! How the heck did that happen?  Quite easily, it turns out, ha. Life can certainly get in the way of best laid plans.  But I think I needed a bit of a break from writing.  All those posts about my feelings, blah blah, bleh bleh. Enough to make me sick of myself.

I have been having the itch/the urge to want to write again.  I figured I would make it one of my goals for 2016.  And what better way to get a head start, than to get in a cheeky little post in 2015. And yeah, within the last 5 hours of the calendar year no less.  #procrastinator goals

I am not going to actively advertise my re-entry into the blogosphere as yet.  Feel like I need to shake off a few cobwebs and give this old brain of mine a grease and oil change. (Note to self, book car in for service next month)

I have no real direction at this stage as to where the blog may go. I might like it to sit here, all humble and shy, and just remain a semi-public diary of my rather ordinary life.  Or, I may steer the direction more toward some of my wonderful new interests and adventures into interior design and real estate. I am not shy about saying I am a Cherie Barber wanna be.  She is a beautiful person (inside and out) and one of my role models. She inspires me to 'just do it' like a good Nike ad. She is crazy generous with her knowledge, time and wealth.  And I feel blessed to be her main tulip provider.*

I have others who inspire me, and have actually had a large hand in helping me achieve some pretty massive air-punching goals in 2015.  Would be nice to show a bit of love to those folks on here.  Or...I may just use this as my own personal space once again to share my feelings. I know, feelings are so 2013. Snore. But I gots lots of them! Aaaaand they need an outlet.  It seems my genetic make up as well as my creative nature lends itself to making me one of THOSE people...emotional. :-)

Wishing anyone out there a very happy New Year and a fabulous 2016.  If there is anyone still out there, I give you permission to get up and go do something more fun now. 3 years is a long time to wait. I thank you. But by golly you must be thirsty, or in need of the bathroom. Please, go. I have faith you'll return.  Till next year. Cheerio Kylee oxo


* Tulips happen to be one of Cherie's favourite flowers.

UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

I've had a bit of writer's block this month.    

I feel like I have lots to say, but every time I sit down to speak through my keyboard....crickets.  Not cicadas (they're noisy buggers). Just crickets.  Not sure why the term 'crickets' equates to silence though. I had one in my bedroom a few weeks ago, and let me tell you, Jiminy was not quiet.  Except when ever I got out of bed to actually look for it. The cheeky bug, only started chirping again every single time I got back into bed.  That went on until stupid o'clock. Until victory was finally mine.

TRIP THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

“Light is more important than the lantern,

The poem more important than the notebook” 

― Nizar Qabbani

So, what does one do when they are having trouble finding an appropriate full time job, and worrying about having enough money to register the car next week...spend every last penny on tissue paper and paper lanterns, duh!

Not one to sit idle (well, except at the pond with a good book, or the paper in bed on a weekend morning, or doing the Sudoku super puzzle from the Sunday Telegraph, hmm, there is a pattern of idleness here. Disregard) I figured I may as well put my creative urges to good uses.  What does this look like?

DID THE EARTH MOVE FOR YOU?

"You don't have to undergo some earth-shattering spectacle to make a positive transformation.
The real shift lies in perception.
When you stop looking at the world with such a critical view,
believing that this is all there is,
and recognize and appreciate the wonder of every aspect of life,
then the tranformation is well under way. "

- Sonia Choquette

I found this quote a couple of days ago and it really spoke to me. No, not with a voice in a conversational "hello, how are you today, Kylee?" kind of way (that would make me a sandwich short of a picnic). More in the philosophical way you see one of those someecard memes on Facebook and think it was directed squarely at you!

DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

Hi!!!!!!

Hello. oooo. oooo. (echo echo echo)

Testing, testing, one, two, three.

Hmm, I think I hear crickets.  

Welcome back me. Welcome back you. If you are indeed still there.

I don't doubt every single wonderful one of you is waiting with baited breath by your computer/iPad/iPhone/Notebook/Tablet/Laptop/or whatever freakin' devise one might read a blog from these days, for my next post.

Did I keep you on your toes? Sorry.  I hope you'll feel the wait was worth it.

Habitude of Gratitude (Four)

source

 Habitude* Four

Gratitudes and Successes

*Habitude.

French for habit.

I like to think of it more as a hybrid of the words Habit and Attitude...
or the not-so-secret formula for my future success!

 

I don't think

nearly enough people believe in or are even aware of the power of gratitude.  We are raised in a society where little focus is given to teaching our children about the power of positive thinking, the power of following your passion, the power of helping one another, and the power of forgiveness and gratitude. It takes no more energy to say a nice word, than it does to say a nasty one. And if you've ever been on the receiving end of either of these, I'm pretty sure I know which one you'd be happier to receive.  Apparently it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. So save a few wrinkles and give that upside down frown a workout :-)