Baby Shower....

Yesterday I attended my cousins Baby Shower. The newest arrival to our family is expected around Christmas. I just had to post some pictures from the afternoon because, as I expected, the event was beautifully styled and decorated. Such a gorgeous setting for a gorgeous cousin. Enjoy every minute of this time Em.......

Empowering Evening....

On Saturday night I was fortunate enough to spend a few hours with an amazing woman named Krista Jane. She is an intuitive and natural healer who helps people identify their limiting beliefs and create a life they love. In my session with her she established with me what she could see as some of my issues and limiting beliefs and that is something i will definitely go back and see her again to work through. What we did do was look at ways to discover what you want from life, what your passions really are and how to bring those things into your life. I was with Krista for a few hours but could have spent a whole day with her she is that insightful, easy to be with and energising. I couldn't recommend her more and my sister and I have already decided to give each other a session with Krista each for Christmas. Her website is Empowering You - head over to get a further explanation of all the wonderful services she offers.

After the session I had burgers, fries and a beer on Manly beach with one of my very best lululemon buddies. A great, great Saturday night.......

Beautiful Day....

What a day.....

Morning coffee and breakfast at the beach with my little man

Fun and more importantly quick grocery shopping

A 2 hour nap in the middle of the day

A run in Centennial Park

Playing at the playground with my little man

Yummy BBQ chicken dinner with a glass of rose`

Huggles from my little man

And.... MY FAVOURITE, ALTIYAN, WINNING X-FACTOR!!!!!

Letting Go.....

So clearly 2010 has been a huge year of letting go for me. The biggest one being letting go of a marriage and a relationship that has spanned my entire adult life. A separation or divorce involving a child blurs the lines of letting go. You are letting go of a relationship in a certain form but there will never really be a letting go of that person in your life because your child still binds you together. I've really struggled with this because the early parts of separation are HARD. All that emotion and anger and bad places that can lead you to separation in the first place are still so in your face and all you want to do is cut the ties completely. So it takes a while to work through that and let those things go. Even when you make the decision amicably it doesn't mean you by-pass the hurt, the fear, the heartache, the confusion, the sadness and everything else that goes along with it (I think initially I had it in my head that because I chose this, I somehow wasn't entitled to feel these emotions. Crazy in hindsight......). Its been a tough 6 months up until now and the letting go process is still only in its early stages. But I am definitely feeling like I am stepping into a new place and moving into a phase where I can more clearly see how I can be the kind of person I want to be through this - both for myself and my son. Today marked one of the first steps in this process. Lachlan and I took Bailey to a birthday party together. We wanted to do this for Bailey so that he could have both of us take him to something that was for him and so we could both be a part of this and join the other Mum's and Dad's. I'm really grateful that we could do that for him and hope that it will lead to a lifetime of Bailey being able to have his Mum and Dad supporting him at all the special events in his life.

On the topic of letting go, the ever amazing Danielle Laporte has some very wise words which really resonated with me after today:

7 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT ACTIVE LETTING GO:

1. There's always more to let go of. It's endless and it's beautiful because it's endless. Just surrender to the endlessness of it.

2. Typically, letting go is painful – in varying degrees, from wince to damn near crippling, it's gonna hurt. Fact.

3. Hard leads to soft. Imagine ripping off a bandage; dropping an heirloom off at the thrift store and resolving to not go back to get it; kissing him or her that way for the last time and tearing yourself away because you need to grow in the other direction; boarding the plane with a heavy heart… When you steel the nerve to be tough enough to let go, you crossover over a sacred line. And on the other side, Tenderness is waiting for you, and She's very proud and she's very encouraging.

4. Baby steps are okay, but you can't avoid the pain that surfaces when you commit to the letting go. (See, you just can't get around the pain part.)

5. From the mundane to the monumental, letting go hurts. Always has, always will. (Yes, a repeat of #2. It bears repeating.)

6. Acceptance is medicine. When you just accept that the pain of letting go is part of the deal, your let-go wound will heal faster.

7. Out of, say, 123 people I've talked to about letting go of all sorts of stuff - material and emotional - 88% of them wished they'd done it sooner, and 97% of them have no regrets whatsoever. Only 3% are still confused. When you let go, the odds are in your favour.

Thought Of The Day....

"I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance, to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit". Dawna Markova

(via Enjoying The Small Things)

A Tear Jerker.....

I just came across an amazingly heartfelt blog called "Enjoying The Small Things". I can't even begin to describe the impact of reading the post Nella Cordelia: The birth story. I wouldn't be able to do it justice so all I will say is that it truly makes you feel the power of love and you MUST head over and read it for yourself. (While you're at it, you should also check out Gwen Bell's blog which is where I discovered the link).

lululemon athletica greatness......

I've just come home from spending a week in Melbourne where I have been helping to prepare and then participate in the lululemon athletica managers conference. This is the second one we have had in Australia and it was such an amazing thing to be a part of. We had 3 nights and 2 days of inspiration, sharing, laughter, tears and fun. I learnt some great things in terms of what I can take back to my team and from a management perspective - but more importantly, I took away learnings that go way beyond that. I learned that I have a voice that is heard and that people want to hear (I already knew this but receiving this feedback from so many people gives me the courage to keep being vulnerable and to keep sharing my story in the hope that it may bring some kind of comfort, support and/or inspiration to others). I also learned that I'm ready to start playing big again. I've been through a phase where I needed to lie low for a while and go day by day. I will still endeavour to take time to be with myself and to be present each moment, but its also time to set some new goals and get excited about the life that lies before me. What I actually enjoyed the most about the conference was being able to interact, connect and re-connect with all the beautiful and insanely fun people who are a part of our company. Being in stores and not all working out of the same place, let alone state, means that we don't all get to be face to face very often. So that aspect was brilliant - the feeling that you could walk into a seminar room and be excited to sit next to any of the 65 people there because they are all so great, is very special and is something that I'm sure is quite rare in most work environments.

Us 'out of towners' were also lucky enough to stay at the Blackman Hotel which is one of 3 hotels in the art series hotels (These boutique hotels feature the artwork of prominent Australian artists and are beautifully designed). The rooms were amazing, as you can see in the photos, and I was so lucky to be able to stay in one for a whole week.

What I am looking forward to now is seeing my Little Man again (a week is sooo long to go without seeing him), getting a new and improved weekly routine going where I make my physical and mental health a priority, and setting some new, inspiring goals that will help me to create my amazing life........

Thought for the day......

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realise there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. Lao Tzu

The sweet isn't as sweet without the bitter.....

So I'm coming to the end of my 4 days of self-induced 'me' time. There are so many things that I've learned and have going on in my head after the past few weeks. Its amazing what some time and space can do. A week ago I hit one of the lowest lows I've had in a long, long time. Now I can say that I am out of that space (thank God). Taking time out has been the thing that saved me. I gave myself the space to be able to get clear on what was going on in my head and to be able to see where I need to make changes. Its time to treat myself as I would suggest anyone else treat themselves ie with care, compassion, love and forgiveness. I was expecting myself to be the greatest me I can be, but that was never going to happen because I wasn't giving myself what I needed. It was like expecting a car to run without putting in any fuel. I didn't give myself the space, time or permission to feel all the emotions that I need to feel as I go through a separation from my husband, as I figure out how to be a single mother, as I go through massive changes in every area of my life. I confused being 'by myself' and being 'with myself', and those two things are very, very different. Being with yourself involves letting everything else drop away, all the distractions and the doings that fill our lives, so that all thats left is you and your thoughts and feelings. It is an extremely confronting thing, particularly when you are coming up against strong and sometimes painful emotions. But it is an essential part of being able to work through things, learn what you need to learn about yourself and life and to ultimately move on to the next part of life's journey.

What I am also giving myself is clarity in regards to assessing and identifying exactly what I need to do for myself to fill my own tank - from ensuring I am eating well, exercising, meditating to stay in touch with myself, seeking help from health professionals when I need it and the list goes on. I had gotten myself to a point where my head was so full and the pressure I was placing on myself was so great that I didn't even have a clue what would really fill my tank-which ensured that I was never going to be able to fill it. Being able to fill my own tank is one of the most important things to me. I don't say that in the sense that you shouldn't ask others for help or draw strength from others when you need it - because you definitely should and I would never be where I am now in life if I hadn't. But I believe that ultimately true fulfillment and happiness stem from your ability to fill your own tank; to truly feel as though you are enough; to truly know yourself, love yourself and to be able to give yourself what you need. Then you really do know that you can face anything life throws at you and live to your full potential.

I am getting better and better at not making myself wrong for experiencing any of the things that I experience. I am human, just as everyone else is. We all have our days, weeks or months where we fall down and are not operating at our best. What I can do now is acknowledge it, own it, share it with others and learn from it. I dust myself off, pick myself up and keep on going. My experiences over the past few years have taught me that these breakdowns truly are a gift. When you are in the middle of the breakdown it can be very difficult and sometimes even impossible to see that any good could come from it and all you want to do is escape from the terrible feelings or situation. But the gift comes in the form of the breakthrough that you experience when you get to the other side. When the darkness clears and you are able to see things and feel things in a new way, when you discover you have a greater respect for yourself and what you are capable of doing, when you have greater empathy and compassion for those around you and a renewed commitment to living the most amazing life possible. That is the gift - the gift that can only be achieved by going through the breakdown in the first place.