No. 14 - Having my hair dressed...

Similar to No. 4, I'm grateful that I have the means to be able to pay someone to dress my hair - a hairdresser! 

If you live in Melbourne then you'll know that over the last couple of days there have been strong winds wiping through the city at extraordinarily high speeds. If you're female you know this means that your hair gets whipped around your face. And if you are in need of a hair cut then you'll know that this kind of wind just makes that desire for a hair cut stronger! 

I'm not a vain person but sometimes little things like getting my hair cut can slowly build up until I start looking at every hairdressers I past wondering 'could they squeeze me in for an appointment now...?' 

Quickly on my lunch break today I zipped into the city for a quick hair cut. It was driving my crazy. Thankfully a place could squeeze me in for an appointment, I was super grateful!

No. 13 - Lunch

There are days (like today) that by the time lunch arrives I'm ready to hug and kiss it before consuming it!
Yes, I am grateful for lunch. I'm ultimately grateful for food because I'm constantly eating but its usually lunch that brings that sigh meaning (finally, food, this body will survive till dinner whatever time that might arrive).

At work lunch is even more important. Its the small gap where I can switch of my mind and read a book or cruise the internet looking at the things I'm passionate about. Some days a girl just isn't that interested in electric cars or the manufacturing of metal components for the automotive industry.

The best lunches are the ones the are followed by a short stint of working flat out followed by a stroll to the bakery for delicious afternoon tea treats.
I'm tell you all now, that when I work for myself full time all my staff will stop for morning and afternoon tea. It makes it a much more enjoyable work place, like a place where (shock horror) staff are actually cared about and encouraged not to burn out.

So, what did you have for lunch today?

No. 12 - Anxiety and Stress are taken

I'm grateful for that The Lord takes all my anxiety and stress from the week and gives me a day of rest.

The last week was... hard. Getting out of bed to go to church wasn't easy but I got there and I worshiped and learned more about prayer. 

Today, I also started sewing a new summer dress. It's a project that is just for me. Making a dress is only a  little project that I enjoy doing every now and then. It's always rewarding; a new dress for summer is always nice. 

Sewing is very similar to cooking - if you can read you can do it! 

Like cooking, once you understand the basics you can make changes and alter the pattern in whatever way you desire - that's the fun part which is what I enjoy most about sewing. 

To me creating my own pattern or altering another pattern to make it my own is where the fun really lies. After that, the cutting and sewing are a little mind numbing but that just means its easy to watch a movie at the same time. Tonight I watched Cop Out and an episode of Fire Fly while altering a pattern I'd bought and cutting out the fabric. 

Through the mercy of Jesus all the stress and anxiety I had been feeling had left my mind. Relaxing and reading in the sun with tea and a cupcake after lunch in a cute cafe, after a wonderful church service. I was so relaxed that making a dress was what I was inspired to do.

Their was one small flash of anxiety; as I cut into some fabric that belonged to Gran. Gran was a dressmaker and she loved it! 

I'm looking forward to finishing the dress but moving at my own pass to make it is part of being able to take the time to stop and breath. 

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear... Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?   "... So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." 
Matthew 6:25-35 (NIV)

No. 11 - Poscus

I'm grateful for Poscus; our cat. We've had him for around 19 (human) years. And he is the BEST!


For some reason now that he is a lot older he likes sleeping on my head, instead of sleeping under the blanket. There have been times when I've woken in the middle of the night to find the thing that woke me up was Poscus curling up and going to sleep on my head!

I have a possibly abnormal amount of photo's on my phone of Poscus sleeping curled up on my head, lap, the couch and a couple on the odd occasion when he's been playing with my one year old little nephew.

Yes, I'm very grateful for Poscus. He might only be a cat but he's always been there and like all animals knows when to comfort me. I think animals have a sixth sense for that kind of thing - they are amazing.

Speak of he, here he comes just in time for a 1:20am bed time.

No. 10 - Nectar of the gods..... coffee

Yesterday was a day filled with pleasing things. From helping people carry bike wheels down the street and discussing children's book publication strategies; it was a very pleasurable day.
But by 2:30pm I could feel the sickness coming on - feeling weak, body starting to ache and brain slowly starting to fuzz over, it was coming some kind of cold/flu thing.

Today, my whole body is aching and I feel so very lethargic. But with mountain loads of sleep, a few vegetarian meals and a heavy dosing up of vitamins I'm hoping I feel fine tomorrow.

As you've probably guessing it because of my current state I am intensely grateful for coffee! 
Mmmm the smell, the kick and delicious flavour, oh how grateful I am for this gloriously wonderful beverage.

No. 9 - Girls Group

I'm grateful for Girls Group.

Girls Group is a collection of girls from Newport church.
We meet together once a week to:

• change the world through our prayers(!!)
• catchup with each other and what has been happening in our lives
• eat dinner together
• listen to the wisdom of older woman every few weeks (hear the stories of their lives and how the Lord has impacted them and their families)

Really we all meet together and love each other through the tough times and the not so tough times. 

In many ways this falls under being grateful for friends but at the same time it's different. 

I'm grateful that all of us are committed to praying together, to each other and the group. Coming every week, sharing and being vulnerable about what is happening in our hearts and lives allows us to all grow closer to each other, encouraging and allowing us love each other like Jesus loves us. 

Having this specific time separated out from the rest of life's busyness I treasure. 

It means that when the rest of life does go crazy, and even finding the time to send a text seems like a mammoth task (to be tick off the list) that's when Girls Group really comes alive. It is in these times that Girls Group becomes part of the life giving water that Jesus offered the lady at the well. 

I almost feel that being grateful isn't enough - the dictionary would know a stronger word to describe how much of a blessing Girls Group and all the girls in it really are to me. But sadly I'm not a dictionary. 

No. 8 - Friends doonas

The emotional drain that I've been feeling because of changes at You Love Random recently has meant I haven't had a change to jump over here and write what I've been grateful for since last Wednesday. But that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it over the last four days, I have.

And today, as a sum up to the last four days, I'm grateful for the warmth of friend's doonas.

I have a Spiderman blanket on my bed but curling up under a friends doona is always comforting.
I'm not sure if its because their doona smells different to mine. Perhaps, it's the sense that their doona is somehow a symbolic reflection of they're love and protection of me by allowing me to be curl up under their doona. Either way it's... heart warming.
I'm grateful for friends that let me crash on their couches when all I need is to know I'm loved for being me, not matter what hard decisions I've had to make.
And friends that let me steal their doonas while watching movies.

Image source

No. 7 - Computers and the Internet

Today is freezing cold. And although their is a little sun shinny ever so weakly it isn't even warm in the sun shine which is sad.
I'm currently sitting in my office at the uni, looking out the window at students slowly maundering past. Most are talking to friends, talking on the phone, reading study notes or simply just staring at the road as they walk on by. But today I need a No. 7 and the students are more of a distraction and than an assistance (sometimes having them walk past is calming and helps to focus my thoughts).

No. 7 what will you be? What have I enjoyed today? What am I grateful for today?

Computers & the internet. It's too hard to separate them so I'm claiming both as they go hand-in-hand.

I haven't said that yet. And I do love the internet. It's hard to deny how much the internet has shaped my life - it must come straight after Jesus, family and friends dare I even say before family.

I remember my first computer when I lived in a little bungalow out the back of my parents house. I had it wedged behind the wardrobe so that I could stay up all night on the computer while lying in bed.
These days not much has changed, I still stay up all night on the computer though my computer is a laptop and I've discipline myself (after too many years) to not take my computer to bed with me.
My life is so integrated with computers and the internet that I now even have an online business, You Love Random.

Yes, I'm grateful for computers and the internet.

Little Games - still my favourite saying 11 years on (man that's a LONG time!).

No. 6 - Sunshine

What to be grateful for today... sunshine and light!

Living in darkness is drab. It is wonderful to spend time sitting in the sun. Absorbing the light and warmth! How do you even start to explain how wonderful light is? How do you explain how much happier you feel when you get lots of sunlight? Not sure, but it's true. Spending time in the sun makes me feel happier. 

Apollo Bay

Fathers Day & Lego

Fathers Day was yesterday for all of us here in Melbourne, Australia.

It was a good day. Lots of friends and family. And mounds of lego!

You see, not only was it Fathers Day but it was also my nephew's birthday party - he turns 10 on Tuesday. He has a crazy lego addiction at the moment so there were only two gifts that weren't lego - a analog wall clock and a book. Every other present was lego.

The great part was that once the olds left we all got to help him make his lego treasures! There were heros and villains, houses, and aliens too.

I made that lego cop boat!

What did you do fathers day?

No. 5 - Friends

Friends!

I could have put this as No. 2 or No. 3 but as I'm not writing these in too much of an order it doesn't really matter.


I am very grateful for my friends! My true friends. The ones I see on a weekly basis and the ones I see a couple of times a year. The relationships with those friends that truly enrich my life and are what make life so enjoyable.

In many respects life is all about relationships, loving and supporting our friends through everything. The friends that even if facebook, twitter, google + and foursquare where never invented I would still call friends.

Every now and then I do wonder 'why are they my friends?' but that just makes me more grateful that they have chosen to be my friend.

Laughter, food and the ability to speak into each others lives with love and compassion is incredible and its with friends that this happens to most.

Yep, defiantly grateful for friends. Defiantly love all my friends.

 I could easily keep adding more pictures of friends but these are the first I found. The picture of TEH J holding his ladies handbag makes me laugh every time, too funny.

  

No.4 - Massages

I'm grateful for the relaxation pampering industry.

I'm sure the industry has a real title I'm just not sure what it is but you know the people I mean, right? I'm talking massages, manicures, pedicures, haircuts and colours, eyelash tinting all those things (some more girly than others). 

I try and have one once a week. 

I'm not talking a full blown full body massage, as fantastic as that would be. A full body massage every week would make the bank happier than me via the interest I would start paying on the debt hole that would swallow me into!  

No, once a week I get a simple 20 minute neck and shoulders massage. Every now and then I'll throw in a back massage too but that's perhaps once a month. 

If you don't have massages I implore you - go to one of the many massage places that have popped up in most shopping centres and get a just a 20 minute massage it should only cost about $20 and the benefits you'll feel are worth it! 

After massages I'd have to say I really enjoy getting pedicures - probably because I wear heels for the majority of the week. The trick with pedicures is to make sure you go to a place that sits you in a massage chair (it's almost a two for one deal!).

So today, I'm grateful for this industry. They take care of my body in a way that stress, heels and a handbag most certainly do not. 

Image from ACNT

This picture is proof that men need massages too - stop ignoring the tension go get a massage now!

No. 3 - Free

Freedom.