Study Make Over

Happy Sunday!

Today I have a lot of the cards and I thought I might get my blog up to speed. First of all, I'm going to redecorate one of the rooms of our house to make a study. Here is some inspiration of cool study spaces...

One day I would like to pull back the carpet and have exposed wood. I love wallpaper and combination retro/modern furnishings. I like weaving in the earthiness of wood and real plants too (fake ones are worse than nothing). And I love a pretty view out the window - surprisingly I can see the Dandenong Ranges from this window too - it's really pretty.


I went to hang out with with the fam for my sister-in-law's birthday. I love being around three generations - it's so interesting to see how things get passed down from generation to generation. I think both my brother and I have developed a very practical sense of the present moment, and continue to monitor that it fits with the future - a technique that definitely fits with our upbringing. On another family note, it's nice to see the love for coffee in our family, particularly Dad, Glenn and I. And Glenn makes a fantastic coffee. I wish I took a pic...but here is a lovely pic of some beans...they look so moist and fresh...can you smell them?

I found a good website today...it's called Real Simple. It has a great assortment of short articles on all aspects that 'grown up's' care about.
All sorts of articles caught my attention, such as tips for decluttering (see the pics), ways to indulge, the best swimsuit for your body type, what food is fresh at the moment (pity it's not a .au site).













Anyway, I think that's enough for today.

Love A

The Next Hurdle

I haven't blogged for a good year. I think it's about time to get back into it.

Since then, I have achieved many life goals; I now live in my own little home in Ferntree Gully with my beautiful boy Jesse, my career is going well - I've registered as a Psychologist and am well on the way to completing my PhD.

I have always found that keeping a track of what is going on in my life is rewarding. It's nice to share some of the inner thinking with the people who are close to me.

One thing that has been coloring my life in the last little while has been baking...(the picture to the left is a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing).

I noticed that I am less preoccupied with weight than I have been in the past few years. I'm now paying more attention to my diet and making sure that I am mindful about what I eat and what my body needs (no, not always cupcakes). I had a recent back injury so I'm no longer doing the intensity of exercise I once was. It's nice having a break but I am looking forward to getting back into exercise with a goal of building core strength and looking after my body - rather than getting to an ideal weight. I'm not saying it's a better place, just where I am right now.

I'm about to go make myself a coffee and then get started editing Chapter 3 of my thesis. That's the one I'm assessing mindfulness measures. I have a paper edit from my supervisor, Ken, so I'll sit down with that and make the easy edits before lunch, and then get into the more thought requiring writing later on in the afternoon. After that, I plan on doing a bit of reading of some books that the American Psychological Association published recently on presenting results, writing etc. Then I'll catch up on the notes from my busy at Fernhills Clinic on Monday, plan for some PhD work to do in the gaps I usually have on Thursday and Friday, and watch some examples of therapy work that they have just uploaded on RMIT Library website. (That was boring - I know - but I think that was my 'to do' list in a blog form.

There's much more that I want to say...but I'll keep it for some later blogs. Thanks for reading.
A