Peaceful day

Cool breeze off the lake
Hot summer's day
Large shady trees
Children's bubbling laughter
Renewing friendships
Quiet murmur of inspirational conversation
Nourishing living food to nibble on
Hot and sweaty riding home
Challenging
Relaxing
Peaceful
Fulfilled
Blissful life

Front Garden

I have managed to pretty much tick off one of my goals for this year - to complete the front gardens. We have been here over three years and they have been in various stages of mud, dirt, weeds waist high and grass. A lot of digging,planting and love later and we have some pretty cool gardens to get established over the next couple of years.

We only want to add a bird bath in the larger garden, some mondo grass along the front to stop run off onto the path as it's quite steep there and a couple more ground covers where there are spaces once the larger plants have spread a bit. We also want to add some sort of pine bark to finish it off but that's just a quick job which we can do anytime. The sugar cane mulch is fine at the moment.

We have used a lot of natives to reduce watering - grevilleas, kangaroo paw, seaside daisy and the vine out the front (can't remember it's name)- but I couldn't resist the cottage-y garden feel with the lavender, thyme and rosemary and colour with the rhoeo. Those ones have lasted really well in the heat we've had lately so once it's established, it should need minimal care. I love watching it grow and have really grown to love gardening over the last six months or so - very soothing and artistic.

Love Karen

Baby Steps

I am sitting here watching the Australian Open tennis marvelling how at such a high level each point is vitally important. Every point represents a baby step to the ultimate goal, winning the match. This can be translated to any area of your life - step by step, any goal can be reached.

When I was 30, I decided I was going to fulfill my fifteen year dream of visiting Europe, mainly France, for my 40th birthday. I loved French classes at school and had a funny, caring, inspirational French teacher and I never stopped questioning him about his experiences to do with France. It was like I had a connection to that country. At 30 I was a single mum with two young boys, 5 and 3 years old and I was a stay at home mum at the time, my values being I wanted to be there for them at such a young age. There was no way, on a pension, I could imagine how to save for a European holiday but I was absolutely determined. Step by step, I methodically put away whatever I could towards my dream.

As it turned out, my husband and four children ended up coming with me - the three boys on the proviso that they save their airfare and spending money. It took them three and a half years to do it by saving pocket money, Christmas and birthday money, washing cars, taking people's garbage bins in and out and baking and selling cookies but I'm so glad (and so are they) that I set the bar that high. I can see in their ideals now how much of an effect it has had on their goal setting and savings capacity. Also, I didn't require my little dream fund after all. We were able to take the money out of our business as dividends to pay for it. At 30, I could have never imagined where the money was going to come from to provide the fabulous experience we had but I strongly believe that setting the intention with complete conviction and taking baby steps to achieve that manifested the experience beyond my expectations.

Spanish Steps Rome

The Italians were lovingly fussing over D climbing the steps on his crutches, directing him to the nearby lift. D just said, "But then I would have missed out on the experience of climbing them."

Another area of my life I take baby steps in is my health and fitness. Daily habits of diet and exercise are really important to me and I notice that when I let these habits slip, other areas of my life are affected in a negative way. That doesn't mean complete discipline. If I miss a couple of days of exercise, there is no guilt or beating myself up. Just move on and start again tomorrow. Transitioning to a higher raw lifestyle at the moment, I have set myself a goal of one new recipe a day so that I can increase my repertoire of quick, easy and delicious healthy meals and is another step by step process. A little bit each day adds up to a massive difference by the end of the year.

There are many other areas this can also be applied to - starting a business, parenting, home educating your children, walking the Great North Walk one leg at a time - one baby step at a time can lead to massive results.

Love Karen

Raw Choc Avocado Pie

We got home quite late last night after going on a wonderful walk organised by Lake Macquarie City Council at Catherine Hill Bay. It was run by an extremely enthusiastic ecologist who talked until the sun went down but it was worth it. It was such a hot day and we were in the best spot for it, right down near the beach and then swimming in these amazing rock lagoons. Very refreshing!

Anyway, T was feeling like a dessert after a long hard week so I whipped up this raw dessert in about 20 minutes. One of my goals is to try a new raw recipe every day and I am really enjoying it. I am no cook and I have never had a passion for cooking, it is a real chore for me but the raw recipes are so easy, as long as you have the cupboard stocked with the ingredients. It is absolutely delicious and as it sets in the fridge, always tastes better the next day!

Love Karen

Purple Pear Organic Farm Visit

Today we were blessed to visit an organic/biodynamic farm near Maitland. We went with the group called Playdates for the Planet, which was started by a mum who was a bit more inspired to catch up with a bunch of like-minded mums rather than catching up at Hungry Jacks or McDonald's (see blog for a bit more info about the group).

K also got to play with a puppy, her favourite thing to do. Everywhere we go she has to stop every dog and ask if she can pat the puppy.

Other animals included this very fussy cow, a horse, some guinea pigs and plenty of chooks.

Afterwards we were lucky enough to enjoy a delicious organic home made meal by the lovely hosts with the majority of the food picked from the garden which we ate under the shade of some beautiful trees. A lovely relaxing way to spend a 40 degree summer's day!

My Parents Rock!

Mum and Dad have often inspired me but it really hit home what great role models they are after a phone call the other day. Backing up a little, they have spent the last seven years travelling around Australia in their motorhome, being away for up to sixteen months at a time down to shorter trips of three months or so. They have had such an awesome time and, I suppose because travelling is one of my highest values, I have really admired their openness, willingness to explore and their ability to enjoy life and laugh a lot, especially at themselves. Anyone who is a traveller knows that there are often things that are not faced in your ordinary life that need quick answers and a great degree of flexibility and patience and my parents have ample.

They are not made of money, just average retirees but have made some smart decisions. They downsized their family home before travelling to reduce costs and maintenance and create cash to have a great lifestyle rather than "saving it for their kids". They have created a fantastic life with the resources they have and have a wonderful positive attitude and mindset which I think adds to their rich life.

They sold their motorhome last year and are now more settled in their lovely little house. Dad has always had passions and immerses himself in them 110% - at the moment it is orchids - growing, breeding, constantly learning everything there is to know. Mum is doing computer classes and often rings me excitedly with little tips on how to do a shortcut for something.

To get back to the phone call. They have decided to do something special every month this year. Early February they are going on a river cruise on the Hawkesbury River, late February they are off to Tasmania, March they are going to the Mornington Peninsula to do some bushwalking and April they are going hot air ballooning and climbing the bread knife at The Warrumbungles (see pictures here). Dad's had two knee replacements but they bike ride regularly and Mum does yoga as well plus lots of walking. That's all that is organised so far but I have no doubt that the rest of the year will be filled with more exciting adventures. Last year we bought tickets for the three boys to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge and as T and I had already done it, Mum and Dad were very quick to put up their hand to escort them. They also didn't hesitate to come to Adelaide in September to see M (14) in the National Trampolining Championships and when M was violently ill the day before it started and we were doubtful that he would even compete, Mum and Dad said, "Oh, well, at least we'll have a nice week down there with you."

They are both coming up to 70 and I am proud to say that they inspire me regularly.

Love Karen

Unschooling Our Baby

We are just embarking on unschooling our little girl K who is 5. While this may sound strange to those already on the unschooling path (yes, of course she has been unschooling since birth!), I have been home educating my older three boys for seven years and have LOVED the idea of unschooling but have often felt obligated to their other parents to "produce" school work-type stuff as proof that my experiment, as it has been called, has been effective in giving them a good enough education. As it turns out, this was not necessary as I have yet to be questioned about anything educational by either of the other two parents.

Needless to say, it is all rather exciting. I am very inspired, mostly by K herself as she has had a massive leap in mental/intellectual growth in the last couple of months. The questions coming up are amazing. My favourites are "What does encourage mean?", "What does the word attitude mean?" and "What does wouldn't mean?" These are just ordinary words but it shows how she is thinking and incorporating those words into her vocabulary.

I have been sourcing things, events and ideas to strew in front of her to see where they will lead. It is a lot easier at this age to start the strewing process because they are pretty much interested in everything. As I only came onto the concept of full unschooling when the boys were probably 13, 11 and 9 they would often look at me weirdly when I suggested things, wondering what the educational value was behind the idea - ha ha. I am a LOT more subtle than I used to be although it is also becoming much easier because I am presenting it from a place of interest and passion on my behalf rather than I need to share this with the boys as it's educational.

So K, my husband and I have been to a dip, dip, dip day at Mt Penang Gardens where we made grass heads, sailed seed pod boats, had water bomb fights and dip netted. We have ridden bikes from The Entrance to Chittaway Bay and played in a sensory park at Long Jetty, surfed at Shelly Beach and collected a great array of rocks, shells and sticks from along the beach. Today we visited the Hunter Wetlands Centre where we met up with a lovely group of ladies from Playdates for the Planet, a group of preschool aged kids with excursions that are ecofriendly. Upcoming events include a visit to an organic farm on Saturday with lunch as well - yum!, a train ride with lunch at the other end (public transport), Fig Tree Gardens and a visit to a Nursery among other things. How can a child fail to learn?

We have also made up a big poster with about 60 things on it to do this summer inspired by this blog. This has been a real winner and we already have about half of them with stars on them. It's just a great reminder to add lots of fun to our life.

With K growing up so rapidly, I have had a mini epiphany. As the older boys went to school around this age I remember vividly the separation between our minds, like we had lost a connection or something and I put this down to them being at school all day. Before they went to school I was so in tune with them, seeming almost to meet their needs before they became obvious even to them. With K, we are even closer as she has never been to preschool and has only been away from me for a dozen days in her life. I tend to be very finely tuned in. But today, as we drove away from the Wetlands, she was sitting in the back and I was covertly watching her in the rear view mirror. She was so far away in thought and I was fascinated watching her face process all of these thoughts. Suddenly she came out with something so far from anything I was thinking that it hit me. It is a developmental thing that they start processing their own thoughts, it's not that they have a larger influence elsewhere. I am very excited to see this happening as she is turning into her own person, if that makes sense. I love to see the connections she is making between all of the experiences she is having.

Looking forward to more of the same this year.

Love Karen

Being Inspired

I have been immersing myself in motivational and inspiring reading/MP3s and work since about September last year. It started with my bestie Global Jewels asking me to transcribe all of Dr Joe Dispenza's work from a Video Q & A show he has as one of his products. There were 25 hours in total of talk time which equates to over 100 hours of typing time. Dr Joe made the movie What the Bleep, has written a book called Evolve Your Brain and is about to release another book called Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. He writes from a very scientific perspective which suits me because I like to know how things work in the body, as well as describing the quantum field and how it affects us, an amazing phenomenon.

So I have been re-inspired for life - to live the most ecstatic, blissful, purposeful life I can. I have always been a goal setter and a list maker and have achieved a lot of things this way but still feel I am falling way short of the mark. I think this has to do with having my baby girl five years ago. When I have babies, I tend to let it take over until I can manage adding a few things at a time. I have always read and kept educating myself informally but it's like my life is on hold until I have the energy/time/space to move into another direction. I find I can't have a career and children, it's one or the other. When I have tried to do both, because of my all or nothing personality, I have fallen in a heap. This time, I have been very careful to look after myself and have most of my needs met so as to manage for my sake and my family's.

As you can see, I have listed things that are inspiring me at the moment plus goals I would like to achieve in the short term. As I complete them, I will post a little update on how I went about it, they are really just reminders for me to follow through instead of just writing them on a list :) One of the goals is to write a list - I got that out of Philip Humbert's newsletter http://www.philiphumbert.com/Free/ and it's quite comprehensive. The reason I haven't done it (no, I'm not procrastinating) is that I am away next week and I have been thinking and brainstorming how I would like my life to be so when it comes to filling in those little boxes, I will be well prepared - that's a Virgo for you!!

One of the goals running around in my head is to inspire people this year. I have been blessed to have many people in my life who constantly inspire me - friends and family and also books, blogs, websites and MP3 recordings. I replied to a question on teens on one of my yahoo groups and, not only did quite a few people respond saying that my answer inspired them, but the moderator asked if she could publish it in an Australia wide magazine. Wow, the power of affirmations. I am constantly amazed at how easily things can manifest if they are put into the field of quantum phemomena, surrendering and not controlling the outcome. I had no idea how this inspiring other people would come about but had a good belly laugh full of joy when I received those emails in my inbox thanking me for my words. Very encouraging.

Looking forward to whatever else is going to unfold in this blissful, free, ecstatic journey.

Love Karen