my priorities this summer

my family and friends

our health and happiness

drinking lots of filtered water

exercise

our home

spending lots of time in, on and beside the water

Last summer I spent a lot of time hand watering our vegetable garden. I would be out there watering while the boys were swimming at the beach. I felt annoyed that I was doing this, while they were having fun. It was my decision to do it, but I was still annoyed. 

NOT this summer. This summer I'm going to be in the water with them.

A few weeks ago I made a decision to leave the vege garden for now. My hubby has some things planted and he is watering those, plus the things I had already planted. The thing is, we can't do everything. We can try, but it will leave us exhausted. This was a huge decision for me, but I'm finding with the studying I'm doing, that it was all too much. It was hard to let go, but for the sake of my health and happiness, I needed to. Instead, I have a few veges and herbs planted in pots and I will extend this a little bit. I 'm also buying fresh, local, organic veges from some friends that have recently started their own business growing organic veges. It's the perfect solution, for me, now, at this point in time. 

What are your priorities at this time of the year?

Is there any thing you could let go of at the moment? Are you trying to do too much?

We only have one life, and we deserve to make it the best life, for us, that we can imagine. 

The photo above is of our little 20 foot trailer sailor. She has been in our garage over winter. The boys launched her into our local river this morning ready for some summer fun. I met them out there and had a paddle in the water and did some yoga  onboard our little girl. The perfect way to spend a Sunday morning. 

This afternoon it will be study, study, study as I have an exam this week for my course. 

Take care,

love Julie xxoo

Sunday

Calendula flower

Comfrey flowers

In amongst the vacuuming, floor washing, and studying today, I took some time to take a few photos around our home. 

The new little man in my life. He is here to remind me to take some time in my day to be still and quiet, to meditate, to give thanks, to be mindful.  The little book is to remind me to think positively. This makes such a difference in my day. I also like to look up a quote every now and again. 

I have little notes and signs up around our home of things I want to remember and concentrate on.

A beautiful candle that a lovely friend gave me. It sits on our kitchen window sill.

Another little note on the window sill. I think it is really important to be yourself, to listen to your heart, your soul, and to be the person you are meant to be. No one else can be that person, only you. I believe that every single person is here for a reason. No one else can fulfill that person's role except the person themself.

The candle and my rose quartz. This gem stone means love.

I love this pattern on the candle.

The beautiful rose quartz.

My mood board/inspiration board sits on the wall  beside the kitchen window. It reminds me of things I'm working towards and things I want to do more of.

Our coffee table that our boys made.

A great movie, even if you're not into surfing.

Gardening books

A magnet on our fridge

A photo on our fridge. A few years ago we climbed Mount Kosiosko. (I think my spelling is wrong)

Some positive reinforcement from Louise Hay.

Which is in this lovely book.

Another great book.

Sorry these are sideways. The cover of one of my journals.

Linda Woodrow's Book. Linda wrote a comment on my gardening post a couple of days ago. I was so excited. 

Some study time with a pot of dandelion tea.

Remembering to focus.

My new Mala beads. This photo doesn't show the colour properly. They are my early Christmas present from  this gorgeous shop.

I've nearly finished module 26, only 14 to go!!

I'm rereading the pray section of this book.

The only problem is the first time I read it I highlighted sections. They are a little distracting the second time around.

This was my Sunday. What did you do?

A HUGE thank you to the people that wrote lovely, positive comments on my previous blog post. Your comments mean so much to me. THANK YOU!!!

Wishing you a wonderful, happy and healthy week. 

xxoo much love,  

Julie 

I am ready for change

To some of you this is going to be really obvious, and to you I apologize, but I want to share this with you in case there are people out there like me. I am putting it out there in case it helps just one person, because if it helps just one person then it is worth it.

For a number of years I have been living in a home that has been cluttered. I have been leaving the beds unmade, I have been going to bed and leaving washing up in the sink, at times the washing piles up and there are piles of clean washing waiting to be put away. Each morning I have been getting up, looking around me and feeling a touch of sadness. Until now I couldn't quite put the finger on why I was feeling this sadness, because my life is so good in so many ways.

Over the past week or so I have been putting some effort into decluttering, tidying up, changing things around a bit and cleaning. It feels good. In the mornings I have been getting up and looking at these new tidy areas and it is making me happy. Instead of getting up and feeling that bit of sadness I am noticing feelings of happiness.

Over the last couple of days I feel like something has changed. I have had one of those light bulb moments. I have finally worked out the relationship between my getting up in the morning and feeling 'yuck' and the clutter and unfinished jobs around me, compared to my getting up in the morning and feeling happy and some new clean, tidy, uncluttered areas. It now seems obvious, but it didn't before.

I have known for a long time that when I eat healthily I feel good. I have known that when I exercise I feel better. I have known that I feel better when the relationships I have in my life are healthy ones. For some reason though I did not link the state of the house to how I felt in the morning and through the day. Maybe it was there in the back of my mind somewhere, but I didn't want to hear it. Maybe I was rebelling against the people that told me that 'a tidy house means a tidy mind.' Maybe I was rebelling against my parents who always have a very neat and tidy home and yard. I don't know, but I am happy that I have now worked this out for myself. I am a bit like that, I don't like people to tell me how to do things. I need to work it out myself, in my own time.

So, what am I doing about it? I am changing things in 'baby steps'. Each day I am setting a timer and spending 10 minutes decluttering an area. I am then making an effort to ensure that area stays tidy.  I am making the beds in the morning, or getting the person that slept in the bed to make it or to help me make it.  I am making an effort each night to have all the washing up done. I haven't quite mastered this yet, but I'm working on it. Step by step I'm making my way through the house, room by room, shelf by shelf, baby steps.  It didn't get this way overnight and I'm not going to get it how I want it overnight, but each 'baby step' is making me so happy.

I am ready for change. I am ready to live in a tidy, clean, uncluttered home. I deserve it. I am worth it. I am ready to do the work.

xxoo Julie

decluttering, cleaning, rearranging

After a beautiful morning having breakfast on the beach and watching my boys surf it was time for a bit of decluttering, cleaning and rearranging. 

While doing this my mum and dad arrived with a beautiful bunch of Warratah flowers. They bought them at the markets. Thanks mum and dad. Feel free to do this anytime. I love them. xxoo

Josh, Brad and I surprised Nige with this new surf board during the week. He had been eyeing it off for a while and it was on sale. We had given him some money to buy one for his birthday in February and he hadn't done it. He was very, very happy. It sits in the main part of our home, of course. 

So does Josh's board. Brad keeps his in his bedroom.

Some surfing mags.

Some sailing mags.

A bit of prettiness and rusticness for me.

Some books on display to help keep me on track.

Our beach basket. This gets filled with beach towels, flippers, snorkel and goggles ready for the warm weather.

Country Style mags. I love them.

This is how it all fits together....the front section of our home.

 After all that cleaning up and redecorating  it was time for a little bit of relaxation. Some afternoons, when it isn't too hot, I spread this blanket out near the front door and do some yoga, some study or some journal writing, or all three if I'm lucky. This spot gets the afternoon sun and it's very cosy on a not too hot day.

This is my new journal. Sorry about the sideways photo. It had a blank area at the top so that you can could create your own cover. I glued a picture on there from my Country Style Diary and put contact on it. I can picture myself on this veranda. It is the veranda of my dream house. A timber cottage with a timber veranda and timber floorboards.

Hope you are having a happy weekend. 

Much love,

xxoo Julie

decluttering the back veranda

Our back veranda area was getting to me, it was too cluttered. It is the place I go to to have some quiet time, to eat some of my meals and to read or study. I couldn't relax there with all that clutter, so I've had a blitz there today. I didn't mind doing it because I like being outside and it was nice and cool today, but now that it's done it feels awesome. It feels so good when you have a good tidy up doesn't it?

This is the back of our home. I wanted to have a window on the left hand side to create balance but the room on the left would have been too hot. I would like to put one of those metal pictures on the wall there where there should be a window, in my opinion. I'm thinking that that might balance things out a bit.

Behind the table here, are my boxes of seedlings. They don't look wonderful here, but it is the best place for them for now.

The wine barrels, I often talk about, sitting each side of our back door.

Some herbs and flowers are in these pots. I had a lot more pots sitting in various places on the veranda but I moved some away. Some of them I didn't even like. I don't know why I kept them there for so long. The BBQ is under the black cover.

My seedlings. I love growing things from seed.

The new seedlings in the new wine barrel growing really well.

I love having these plants outside this window. I love looking at them. Our computer desk sits near this window so it's something nice to look at.

I love looking at other people's homes and what they have been doing, so I thought I'd share this with you. Hope you enjoyed it. xxoo