It wasn’t the first time either that someone’s thought to mention it. I’ve had similar conversations at least three times in the past year.

This particular conversation went a lot like this:

Him:  “Do you realize what just happened to you when you started talking about your business?”

Me:  “I know. I light up!!”

Him:  “So you know it’s happening?”

Me:  “Yeah, I know. I can’t help it. I love it!!”

Last year, at the height of my pain and the anxiety that went with it, my doctor suggested that my business ideas should wait a few years, “until your children are older”. (My three beautiful kids are between eleven and fifteen – so we’re not talking about babies here either!!)

I already knew at that point that my biz for me is where there’s a gorgeous spark, and that it’s a spark that can either be fanned into a flame, or extinguished.

Depending on the choice I make in moments like these.

Fortunately, it was easy for me not to take the doctor’s comment on board. She doesn’t know me well. That was my first visit in a few years (as well as helping my productivity, my morning green smoothies are keeping me very healthy!), and she somehow neglected in that brief visit to see just how much working on - and talking about! – my business means to me.

Something else that this doctor didn’t know was that I’d already put my dreams on hold for close to five years, while I worked with my hubby in his publishing business, focusing my time and energy there.

And so, after holding so tightly to my dreams for so many years, now that I’m on the path, I have no intention of giving up or holding off again on pursuing my business dreams.

It’s not always easy, you probably know that already! And yes, it can get messy. Juggling so many ‘To-Do’s’ and the expectations we place on ourselves… to have it all done yesterday!

But I won’t give up, because when I’m talking about my biz, my smile gets big and my eyes light up. I’m totally excited and energised.

I love it, I really, really do!

It’s not just my own biz that I love either! Talking business – both online and offline – with other biz owners (and dreamers!) is something I love to do.

Sharing resources and ideas with others who are pursuing their passions… it’s like a little piece of Heaven to me!

These are the things I’m passionate about.

What about you?

What is it that makes you light up?

What is it that you dream of doing?

Is there something that you’re so passionate about, that you long to share – with your friends, your family, your community…?

Maybe yours is a big dream, huge… Do you long to share it in a bigger way… online? …with the world?

What is it that when you talk about it, and dream about it, makes your eyes light up, your smile grow bigger, and your heart fill with possibility?

Are you doing it yet?

If you’re not… why not?

Maybe you’re afraid? Or maybe you feel like you just don’t have the time… (you should know that’s a feeling that will probably never go away!!)

Maybe you wonder, as I have at times, if it’s not right to be dreaming so big when there’s washing to be done and dishes in the sink.

Maybe you wonder if right now, at this time in your life, you should just be working on being ‘Mum’, wife and domestic goddess (or even just a ‘good enough’ housewife!!)

I believe that you’ll know when the time is right to pursue your dreams.

When I wonder if this is the path I should be pursuing right now, I think of those people who’ve told me that my eyes light up when I speak about my blog, books and business.

I remember the day my 10 year old son said to me: “You’re really good at this Mum. You’re so good at the books, and what you do.”

I think of the day recently when I told my sister-in-law that I was going to put all my books on ebay because I don’t have time now to maintain my bookshop. And she told me how sad that was because she knows that the books are the thing I love and really enjoy doing.

I even imagine (briefly!) what my life, my days would be like if I spent more time doing ironing and dishes and put my dreams on hold “until the kids were a bit older”. I imagine how depressed I’d be.

And I think of all the friends I’ve made and people I’ve met on this journey, both in real life and online, who have dreams and long to share them.

I think of all the books, the ideas, the resources that are available to inspire, encourage and provide us with the information we need to move forward in our journeys. These are the things I want to share with you to help you be successful in living your dreams.

Because I believe that whatever it is that makes your eyes light up, and your heart fill with possibility… you should pursue it!

Yes, there may be times when you need to put your dream on hold. But those are times when you need to hold on to your dream and let it grow, believing that your time will come… and soon.

And then, there’s the time when it’s right to pursue your dream with your whole heart.

Trust yourself. Trust those around you. Trust that you’ll know when it’s your time.

Brigid

Hearing about your dreams… that makes me smile too! I’d love to read your comments about what it is that you’re passionate about. And where you are on the path to pursuing your own dreams.

All at once.

Or worse, yesterday!

And often running out of the energy and enthusiasm that you need to get it all done.

Your super-productive days are probably few and far between.

Most days are average as far as productivity goes.

And then, of course, you have a few definite shockers!

Does that just about sum it up for you? I know it does for me.

Whether we’re busy mums, aspiring entrepreneurs, working part-time or full-time, it seems all of us have lives that are a serious juggling act.

So it helps to have a few tricks up our sleeves to help us make the most of our days and get through our ‘To-Do’ lists with a little more ease.

My own very favourite productivity trick is simple:

Start the day with a BIG, DELICIOUS

GREEN SMOOTHIE!!!!

When I start my day with a gorgeous green smoothie (also often affectionately known as a ‘Green Monster’!) - made by blending two or three of my favourite fruits with a big handful of baby spinach or kale and a little water - here’s just a glimpse of the green smoothie goodness I get:

• So much more energy & enthusiasm
• More mental clarity & alertness
• A much happier outlook
• So much more crossed of my ‘To-Do’ list for the day!!

That’s without even mentioning the health and weight loss benefits of a daily green smoothie habit, that you can read more about here.

Which is why - despite the craziness of that never-ending list of things to do! - I’ve started working on a gorgeous green smoothie ebook project.

I absolutely adore my green smoothies! And I’m always happy to share them with anyone who wants to know – and sometimes people who didn’t even know they wanted to know!!

So I’m putting together an ebook to share all the gorgeousness of green smoothies: the recipes, the benefits, the tips, and stories from a collection of inspiring & generous green smoothie enthusiasts.

It’s an ebook that will also raise funds for Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia (Australia), to assisit with the beautiful work they’re doing for women.

While I’m working on my ebook, I’m planning to do a 14-day green smoothie challenge – to start my day with a gorgeous blended green drink every day for  fourteen days. That should keep me productive!

Hopefully it will also get me back to making my green smoothies a daily habit.  I have to admit that I’ve slipped a bit since I wrote my first green smoothie post, to just a few times a week, not every day.

My 14-days of green smoothies will be a great opportunity to try out some new recipe combinations. If you follow me on Facebook, you can see the results as I go along.

And if you want to know where to start to find some great green smoothie recipes (while you’re waiting for a copy of my gorgeous ebook!!), here’s where I’ll be heading for some new combinations to try:

10 Great Green Smoothie Recipe Links!

• 30 Delicious Green Smoothie Recipes  from Oatmeal in my Bowl
• 28 Energizing Green Smoothies from The Frugalette
• 15 Quick and Easy Green Smoothie Recipes  from Green Thickies
• Green Smoothies Recipes  from Healthy Mama
• Join The Wellness Warrior’s email list for a copy of Green Mo Revolution!
• 10 Green Smoothie Recipes for St Patrick’s Day from Bethenny
• 5 Best Green Smoothie Recipes from BlendTec
• Green Smoothie Magic by Gabrielle Raiz (Available on Kindle for $4.99)
• Green Smoothie Recipes Facebook page
• My ‘Gorgeous Green Smoothies’ board on Pinterest!

I ’m looking forward to gathering a few local smoothie & juice loving friends (and kids) to taste test some new green smoothie combinations with me. I’ll make sure our own favourite combinations are included in my gorgeous green smoothie ebook!

What about you?

Already enjoying the many benefits of green smoothies?? Share your own favourite recipe, or any green smoothie tips, in the comments below. I”ll try it out and may even include your original recipe or tip in the ebook (of course I’ll ask you first!).

Not a green smoothie fan? (Yet!!!) Find a recipe to try this week. Leave a comment here to let me know how you go! (For some ingredient ideas and instructions on how to make your green smoothie, check out my earlier post.)

And make sure you sign up using the form below so I can let you know more about the ebook and when it’s available!

Sending a whole lot of green smoothie love your way,

Brigid  xx

The idea didn’t come out of the blue. It’s something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while now.

When my gorgeous and creative friend Jane shared her newly created vision board with me a few weeks back, I was inspired to start thinking again about mine.

But creating a vision board definitely wasn’t on my list of ‘Things to Do’ yesterday. (I think I’d been expecting to plan, imagine and procrastinate for at least a while longer!)

With the computer temporarily unavailable though, I thought I’d get a start on cutting words and images from the magazines I’ve collected… and didn’t stop until I was finished four hours later.

It was SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!!

I didn’t expect to enjoy the process as much as I did. But it was REALLY fun!

Now I want to make another one… and another…

So what’s a Vision Board?

A vision board,  or ‘Dream Board’, is a way of visually representing the dreams and goals that you want to bring into reality in your life.

Vision boards became popular when the book “The Secret” came out – though they’d already been around for a long time before that!

For anyone wanting the Law of Attraction to work in their  life, a vision board is the perfect place for that image of the car they one day intend to own, the holiday destination they’ll be travelling to, and their dream future home.

To be totally honest with you though, I still haven’t read The Secret, and haven’t given much more than a passing thought to the Law of Attraction. So there are no holiday destinations or dream homes on this vision board I’ve created!

(Which doesn’t mean I don’t believe it can work! It’s just not the way I’ve personally approached creating my vision board).

I definitely do believe that visualization is a powerful tool that – along with a good dose of  action – can help you to reach your goals.

And as a highly visual person (too scared to put my piles of paper away because I need them to jolt my memory of all I’m meant to be doing!!), I have a fear that my ideas and dreams too may be ‘Out of sight, out of mind’.

For me, my vision board is where I’ve gathered my goals, dreams and plans in a colourful, attractive way that will be a constant reminder of all that I want to achieve and work on this year.

So what’s on my Vision Board?

A few days back I bought my ticket to this year’s Problogger Training Event. I was so disappointed when I missed out on most of last year’s event, and determined that this year I’ll be there.

This year, though, the event is in QLD!

And I have a thing (a not so positive thing!) about flying.

But it’s something that, despite my apprehension, I really want to do.

So it’s on my vision board. And so I’ll be there!!

I’ve also got my financial goal for this year on my vision board, along with some ideas on how I’m going to make it happen.

Although my goal of giving $10000 to charity (to the Hamlin Fistula Fund) didn’t make it onto my board, the $30000 figure is a reminder of that for me.

And this quote:

…is a reminder to me that in all the craziness, amidst the long to-do lists and never-ending housework… it’s OK to stop and slow down. It’s OK to take time for me!

What about you?

What are the dreams, goals and plans that you’d put on yours?

Would you like to know how to make your own Vision Board?

If you’d love to make a vision board yourself, it’s really easy to do.

Here’s the step-by-step instructions that you can follow to make yours:

(Just a tip, from my own experience: It’s a great idea to do this when you’re not distracted by other things. If you want to really enjoy the process, find a time when you can give it your full attention!)

1.  First, gather the supplies you’ll need:

• Old magazines  (if you don’t have any around the house, you should be able to buy them very cheaply in your local op shop or thrift shop). My favourites: Oprah’s ‘O’ Magazine, old issues of Notebook, Success Magazine, Woman’s Weekly and Wellbeing. I know Jane also used old scrapbooking magazines, which are a great idea too!
• Posterboard, cut to the size you prefer  (mine is just a bit bigger than A4 size)
• Paints & brushes if you want to add a bit of colour and texture
• Glue or glu-stick
• Scissors

2.  Think of what you want your Vision Board to represent.  Will it cover all aspects of your life: health, business, relationships, finance? Or is there one particular aspect that you want to focus on at the moment? What are the goals and dreams you have that you’d like to include on your board? My board is about what I want to achieve in 2013 personally and in business. As I was creating this board though, I was thinking about (and setting aside words for!) a future board solely for my blog and books goals.

3.  Spend time going through your magazines, cutting or tearing out images, words and phrases that mean something to you. Focus on the positive and be aware of how the words and images make you feel. (See the girl on my board? I just love the surprised and happy expression on her face!)

4. Splash some paint on your poster board if you want to!  I used some turquoise paint that I had lying around, and painted pink and white ‘flowers’ onto the background. When my son said to me this morning, “You’re a great painter, Mum”, I knew for certain that he needs his eyes checked!! But it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. I still love the texture and colour that a bit of paint has given to my vision board.

5. Start gluing those words and images on, any way you like.  This is the fun part!! (Actually, it’s ALL the fun part!) You’ll probably find that you only use some of the cuttings you’ve gathered. You may find, like I did, that you’re all set to glue something on then realize it just doesn’t feel right. Put aside the pieces you don’t use. Maybe you can use them on another board later!

6. If possible, keep going until your vision board is completely finished.  If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to get excited and start on something, then put it aside… and not get back to finish it! Last night, I looked at the clock just after 11pm, and considered heading to bed. But with just a small amount of blank space left to fill on my board, I decided to keep going. I know that if I left my board incomplete, there’s a chance it would stay that way. Forever!

7. Admire, enjoy, appreciate… your gorgeous vision board!!  Well done for doing the work, for creating a place for your dreams, goals and plans. That’s awesome!

8. Put your vision board in a place where you’ll see it often.  I was a bit apprehensive about creating a vision board, because I thought it would be too personal and I wouldn’t want anyone to see it. Having now finished my own board, I love it so much and am excited to share it, so that’s not an issue at all. If it is for you though, find somewhere that you’ll see it often – even if no-one else will!

In case you need some more inspiration, I’ll add a few resources and links below that you can check out too.

Happy vision board making!! I hope you have as much fun making yours as I did!

Brigid  xx

I look forward to hearing in the comments about your own vision board experience, if you’ve had a go at making one. Or maybe you have another special place,  or special way,  to remind yourself of your dreams and goals and plans that you’d love to share?

More resources and Vision Board inspiration:

How to Make a Vision Board  (Christine Kane)

What the Heck’s a Vision Board – and How Can it Change Your Life  (Martha Beck at Oprah.com)

Creating a Vision Board  (The Artful Parent)

My ‘Vision Boards’ collection on Pinterest

Just one more sleep now until Valentine’s Day. The perfect time to share some sweet and romantic inspiration!

For hubby and I, Valentine’s Day is special. Our relationship started, sixteen years ago now, following a cryptic and anonymous Valentine’s Day card that he sent me, and some serious detective work on my part!!

To celebrate, I’ve collected some of gorgeous ideas on Pinterest to inspire you.

In fact, I’ve had so much fun collecting images, craft ideas, recipes and other Valentine’s Day inspiration on Pinterest that I may not even mind if I don’t get flowers! (But I won’t tempt fate by saying that too loudly around here!!)

I hope you get some time to do some Valentine’s Day craft or baking… or even just to make a handmade card (which  – aside from finishing my ribbon heart and this blog post! – is about all I have time for this year).

But if not, here’s some Valentine’s Day inspiration to at least enjoy and admire. Crafts, baking, decorating ideas… Maybe you can add some of these your own Pinterest boards. For next year!!

a selection of my favourite ‘pins’!

Paper heart garland  from On To Baby

‘My Funky Valentines’ fabric heart pattern  from Lella Boutique

Valentine’s Day Banner  from Pieces of Me

Valentine Dipped Wafer Cookies  from Craft-O-Maniac

Candy Cane Hearts  from Nest of Posies

& my favourite Valentine‘s Day round-up posts

25 Valentine Gift Ideas and Crafts  from The 36th Avenue

6 Delicious Treats for Valentine’s Day  from Tina Gray {dot} me

Valentine’s Day DIY Links Roundup from Creativity Unmasked on Plushka’s blog

If you’d like to see more, you can check out my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board here.

Wishing you a very happy Valentine’s Day!!

xx Brigid

]]> http://theinspirednotebook.com/2013/02/13/pin-spiration-valentines-day-crafts-decorations-and-treats/feed/ 3 http://theinspirednotebook.com/2013/01/29/poetry-free-as-a-bird/ http://theinspirednotebook.com/2013/01/29/poetry-free-as-a-bird/#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:00:19 +0000 Brigid http://theinspirednotebook.com/?p=5886  

Of all the many things you’ve done and long to do, have you ever written – or dreamed of writing – poetry?!

In my teen years and early twenties, I loved writing poems. I loved being able to express so many emotions in words that (sort of. mostly!) flowed.

And to begin with one emotion or idea and let it become whatever it was destined to be, a poem that expressed so much more than what it started as.

My love of writing poetry was mostly inspired by my classroom days of reading Dolly magazine’s “Poet’s Corner” with a school friend the minute we got hold of the latest issue!

Like my taste in music, I have to be honest and admit there’s nothing classy or classical about my poetic inspiration. I’d never win any literary awards, let’s put it that way!!

But I loved it. Loved the whole process of creating a new poem. And the way it allowed me to express my thoughts and feelings.

I stopped writing poetry – stopped writing at all - in my late twenties. But lately the longing to express myself with poetry is resurfacing.

Who knows? Maybe one day soon I can share a recent poem with you!

But for now, this poem is one I wrote a long time back, one that’s been on my mind for the past few weeks.

As 2013 begins and I’m starting to think about all I want to achieve, and how I might do that, I have a little (possibly big!) fear that another year will pass with me being too busy to really pursue my dreams.

I worry that I might be trapped doing work that doesn’t bring me joy. And that I won’t have time for the work that brings me huge amounts of joy and happiness.

For me, this poem expresses all that and more.

FREE AS A BIRD

Would you call me a butterfly?

Beautiful and free

Restless but in motion

What a sight to see!

Or would you say I’m a bird?

Born with wings to fly

But trapped in a cage

Where I can’t see the sky.

Would you hold me each night

And believe in my dreams?

Would you unlock the cage

So I know what freedom means?

The beautiful thing about poetry is:  it can mean whatever you want it to!

Brigid

Image source:  flickr user AisforAmy91

Is it too late, now more than halfway through January, to get on track for an awesome year in 2013?

I don’t think so! And I know Leonie doesn’t either.

2013 got off to a shaky start for me. Not even a week into January, I heard myself telling a friend on the phone, “Bring on 2014!”

I didn’t really mean it. I love the new year and all that it brings. The hopes and dreams, the promise, the potential.

But I’ve had a couple of years that haven’t quite lived up to my big expectations.

This year began with some serious lack of sleep (a long story, involving a 5am start on New Year’s Day, and an unsuccessful attempt to sleep through the noise and fireworks on New Year’s Eve!). And I had no time to do my usual yearly reflection between Christmas and New Year.

I found it hard – in my shattered, unreflective state – to hold much hope for 2013.

Fast forward ten days. I stayed up way too late one night working through Leonie’s ‘Create Your Incredible Year Workbook’ (the biz edition). (I really didn’t mean to be up so late, but once I got started it was too hard to stop!) I now have ten new pages of notes for my biz, and a whole lot of excitement and energy for the work I want to do in 2013.

I finally took some time out earlier this month, after the craziness of December and Christmas, and spent a few days of creativity, reflection and relaxation down at the beach.

I’m still not sure how I feel about making goals. I look back over my 2012 goals (you can check those out in this post) and have to admit that I didn’t hit the mark there at all. Most of last year ended up being focused on trying to resolve my feet and hip pain – and sadly I haven’t even managed to do that yet.

I don’t have a great track record with achieving ‘goals’ that I set for myself, but I do have a few great habits that I intend to continue in 2013, as well as a few more that I hope to create.

My two favourite daily habits that I’ll take into 2013 with me:

Morning Pages – Almost five years after I first started and I’m still writing ‘morning pages’ as often as possible. Maybe not daily, but usually four or five days at least each week. I LOVE my morning pages habit!! You can read more about why I started, what my writing habit involves and why I love it here.

Breakfast Green Smoothie – If you’ve never tried a ‘Green Smoothie’ you’re seriously missing out! There’s something pretty special about this daily habit – starting the day with a green smoothie for breakfast just makes me smile! If you want to know more, and learn how to make your own green smoothies, check out this post.

New habits I hope to create in 2013:

Daily blog writing – If you’re on my email list, you’ll know that weeks can go by without me publishing a blog post.

I’m hoping that a daily habit of writing for an hour for my blog will help to get me closer to my ideal of four to six posts per month. That’s the plan anyway. But you should probably know that my life doesn’t always go to plan!!

(PS. So far in 2013, I’ve managed to do my ‘daily’ blog writing twice. With great results, but clearly it’s a habit that will need some work!)

‘Me’-time! – How badly do we women and mothers need ‘me’-time?! I didn’t realize until my recent escape to the beach just how little of this I’ve had the last couple of years.

Again, I’m trying to get back to those things that make me smile. Getting back to reading novels, to craft projects and a whole lot more creativity in my life.

And reminding myself that no, time spent on my blog and biz is definitely not the same thing as taking time out for me!

15 minutes daily decluttering – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked around our home and wonder just how much more ‘in control’ I would look (and feel) if I’d made a habit of Flylady’s 15 mins a day decluttering when I first learned of the idea.

Sadly, the longest I’ve managed is three days in a row, so I’ll have to work a bit to make this habit stick too!

I just need to remember just how much difference even 15 minutes of decluttering can make. It really does! Those 3 days in a row made a considerable improvement to our messy dining area. I can only imagine what a difference 15 minutes every day would make!

Awesome planners and organizers that I’ll be using in 2013!

I’m a list person! Every day I write my list of what I plan to do during the day. But I’m sure you know, as I do, that just writing a list is not enough to get things done.

So I’m constantly looking for ways to be more productive, and to make time – and use the time I can find – to take action on my ideas.

Those green smoothies help. There’s nothing like a healthy boost to your energy levels to keep you motivated and focused.

Reviewing and tracking my progress is a great help too. (Brilliant when I do it – not so helpful when I forget or neglect to. Funny that!)

Here’s a selection of my favourite yearly reviews and planners from some awesome bloggers:

Create Your Incredible Year Workbook, Planner & Calendar 2013  from Leonie Dawson

2013 Goal Setting & Action Workbook  from Live Your Legend

2013 Planner from Mindset Destination

Free Planners from Productive Flourishing

If you’re not sure where to start with getting  – and staying! – on track for a great year, you should find some inspiration and guidance there.

Even now, it’s not too late!

Wishing you a happy, successful, productive, creative and truly awesome 2013!!

Brigid

What habits are you keeping or creating for 2013? What are your tips for staying on track with your habits and yearly goals?

It’s no secret that I love books.

I definitely think that giving books as gifts for birthdays and  Christmas –  and every celebration in between – is an awesome idea!!

If you’re giving books as gifts this Christmas, and especially if you’re buying books online, you want to know that the books you buy will be a much-loved addition to the recipient’s book collection. (And not that you’re just adding clutter to an already overflowing bookshelf.)

Here is a collection of my favourite books, and I can almost guarantee that these will be opened to the sound of oohs and aahs and squeals of delight!!

In fact, these books are all so gorgeous, that you might be in no hurry to wrap them up and give them away. (And you may even want to wrap one or two up for yourself and pop them under the Christmas tree – from Santa!!!)

Each of these beautiful books is currently in stock in my online bookshop, The Not So Shabby Bookshelf, where Australian online orders will be posted out within 48 hours. There’s a flat rate postage fee of $6.95, with free postage for all orders over $80.

THE BIG BOOK OF CUPCAKES

Of all the cupcake books I’ve seen, this is my very favourite!

The Big Book of Cupcakes, from Betty Crocker, contains an amazing collection of over 175 cupcake recipes and designs, each with its own inspiring photo and step-by-step instructions.

There’s a great selection here of both simple and more creative cupcakes, from Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes or Banana-Toffee Cupcakes to the Dreamy Sleepover Cupcakes and Puffer Fish Cupcakes that will totally impress the kids and their friends at children’s birthday parties!!

The perfect gift book for:  Cupcake lovers and bakers of all ages will love the amazing variety of gorgeous, creative and scrumptious cupcakes in The Big Book of Cupcakes!

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf.

Also available from Book Depository, Amazon and Fishpond.

CAKE POPS CHRISTMAS

Who doesn’t love Cake Pops?? They’re so very cute! (Not to mention delicious!!)

Cake Pops Christmas (also published as Cake Pops Holidays) is filled with exciting Christmas cake pop ideas from the oh-so-talented Bakerella: Gingerbread House Cake Pops, Red-Nosed Reindeer Pops, Santas, Freckled Elves, Stuffed Stockings…and many more!

You can read my review and have a sneak peek inside Cake Pops Christmas here.

The perfect gift book for: Cake pop lovers of all ages. And anyone who loves getting creative in the kitchen!

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf

Also available from Book Depository, Amazon and Fishpond

MADE BY ME

Made By Me, by Jane Bull, is filled with craft activities that are so adorable, colorful and beautifully presented that any girl couldn’t help but love it!

The many embroidery, sewing and knitting projects in Made by Me include decorating a T-shirt, making a “Hello/Goodnight Dolly”, creating felt Cupcakes, and even making your own knitting doll (just as effective as “Knitting Nancy”).

Stitching and knitting techniques, and the equipment needed for each activity, are clearly and beautifully illustrated throughout the book.

A perfect gift book for: Girls aged 7-11 with an interest in craft and pretty things. And girls with crafty mums or grandmas!!

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf

Also available from Book Depository, Amazon and Fishpond

COOKBOOK FOR GIRLS

The pages of Cookbook for Girls are filled with beautiful photos and easy to follow step-by-step instructions.

From snacks like Nachos or Spicy Potato Wedges, to something more substantial like Sweet Potato Lasagne, and desserts like Raspberry Cheesecake, Mango Pops or Chocolate Brownies, the most difficult thing about the recipes here will be deciding what to make first!

The many recipes for drinks and snacks include Pink Lemonade and Toffee Popcorn. And… perfect for this Christmas season… Coconut Ice and Chocolate Truffles. There’s even a recipe for a Gingerbread House!

A beautiful gift book for:  Girls aged anywhere from 6-11 who love to cook – and love beautiful books. Or Mum’s little kitchen helper!

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf

Also available from Book Depository, Amazon and Fishpond

AWW COOKING SCHOOL FOR KIDS

 This 352pg book from The Australian Women’s Weekly contains everything kids will need to know to cook delicious meals, snacks, desserts, and so much more.

Filled with mouth-watering photos, a wealth of information such as cooking terms, a glossary of ingredients, a glossary of equipment, and information specific to each chapter (melting chocolate, cutting slices, storying & freezing biscuits and slices…), this book is the perfect addition to any young would-be chef’s collection.

An excellent gift for:  Aspiring junior masterchefs, or any kid who’d love to do more in the kitchen! Suitable for ages 12+, and a sweet design that – although written for ‘kids’ – will probably appeal more to teen girls than boys.

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf

Also available from Fishpond

CRAFTY CHLOE

This very cute children’s picture book tells the story of Chloe, who’s great at making stuff and can usually find a crafty solution to every problem.

When Chloe has to find a present before her friend Emma’s birthday party, and the ‘perfect’ gift is already taken, Chloe decides to make something. She’s just not sure if Emma will like her handmade gift…

A gorgeous gift for: Craft-loving and creative girls, ages 4 and up

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf.

Also available from Book Depository, Amazon and Fishpond.

JENI’S SPLENDID ICECREAMS AT HOME

From Jeni Britton Bauer, owner of eight Jeni’s Splendid Icecream stores in Ohio, US, comes this beautiful book filled with recipes for icecream flavours that you won’t find in your corner icecream shop!

There are over 100 fascinating flavours here, including Salty Caramel icecream, Wildberry Lavender icecream, Sweet Corn & Black Raspberry icecream, and Roasted Pumpkin 5-Spice icecream.

You’ll also find recipes for sorbets and frozen yoghurts, sauces and brittle… even icecream cones!

The perfect gift book: To wrap up with the Icecream Maker… for the artisan or icecream connoisseur.

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf

Also available from Book Depository, Amazon and Fishpond

WITH FABRIC & THREAD

This gorgeous book from Joanna Figueroa, fabric designer and owner of Fig Tree & Co, contains over 20 adorable quilting and sewing projects.

Along with these beautifully illustrated projects, and the step-by-step instructions and patterns to accompany them, there are chapters filled with information about that basics (and differences) of sewing and quilting, the equipment you’ll need, and working with colour, patterns and fabrics.

The projects in With Fabric & Thread inclue the adorable Dear Betty Apron (in both adults and childrens size), a Boardwalk Beach Tote, quilted Slipper Booties, and Pin Cushion Buttercups.

A beautiful gift for: Anyone you know who loves to sew, dreams of quilting, and is inspired by beautiful fabrics and designs.

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf

Also available from Book Depository, Amazon and Fishpond

HAPPY HOME

This gorgeous book from Sis Boom Fabrics creator, Jennifer Paganelli, contains over 21 great sewing and craft projects to add colour and creative flair to your home.

There’s an “Express Yourself” Applique Pillow, adorable Laundry Bags, Vintage Banner, and even a beautiful Christmas stocking pattern.

All patterns are included, along with step-by-step instructions, and loads of inspiring photography.

The perfect gift book for: Sewers and craft lovers from teens up, and crafty home decorators.

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf

Also available from Book Depository, Amazon and Fishpond

DECORATE WORKSHOP

If you’ve seen Holly Becker’s blog Decor8, you’ll know just what an amazing and inspiring sense of style the author of Decorate Workshop has.

Here, Holly shares the 8 creative steps that she uses, and that anyone can use, to design and style their space.

From finding your personal style to identifying your project, preparing your space, and translating your ideas, this book is filled with immensely practical instruction and inspiration for anyone wanting to create a beautiful home that reflects their own style and creativity.

The perfect gift: To wrap up and put under the tree for yourself. Seriously!! But buy another copy for your sister, or a friend, or anyone you know whose home is a blank canvas and can’t wait to create a masterpiece!

In stock now at The Not So Shabby Bookshelf

Also available from Book Depository, Amazon and Fishpond

Hope that gives you a few great ideas for your Christmas book shopping!

If you have any other great book suggestions for Christmas gift giving, I’d love for you to share those in the comments below.

Brigid

This week’s delivery was super-awesome. It included several copies of this gorgeous new book, “Cake Pops Christmas”, from one of my favourite online inspirations, the very clever and creative Bakerella.

If you’ve seen cake pops before, you’ll know how cute and colourful they can be.

If you’ve tasted them, you’ll also know how delicious they can be!

These adorable treats are easy to make by rolling balls of cake mixed with buttercream or cream cheese frosting (icing for us Aussies!) and covering the cake balls or shapes in melted chocolate or candy coating.

Then comes the decorating part.

Which is where I’m always a little bit in awe of Bakerella’s amazing cleverness!

Just like her first book, “Cake Pops Christmas” is filled with cute and clever cake pops – and all the instructions you need to make these gorgeous Christmas treats yourself.

There are 22 gorgeous Christmas cake pop ideas in “Cake Pops Christmas”. Some are more simple, like the Simple Snowflakes, Ornaments, Red-Nosed Reindeer pops…

and Gingerheads…


Others, like the Santas, Cheery Christmas Trees, Stuffed Stockings, Snow Globes and Gingerbread Houses will take a bit more time and patience…

…but just imagine having these on the table at your Christmas party or on Christmas Day:

Snow Globe Cake Pops

:


Gingerbread House Cake Pops

:


Frosty Friends

:


Stuffed Stockings


If you’ve never made cake pops before, you’ll appreciate the clear, detailed instructions on how to make ‘Basic Cake Pops’, along with recipes for three different types of cake and both buttercream and cream cheese frosting.

There’s lots of great information about tips and techniques, including all you need to know about candy coating and the different types of decorations you can use for your cake pops.

There’s even a section on displaying and gifting, which covers how to package and ship your cake pop creations.

You don’t need to own a copy of Bakerella’s first book to be able to make amazing Christmas cake pops. Everything you need to know is covered here too.

But with so many adorable Christmas cake pop ideas here, even if you do own the original “Cake Pops”, this book is definitely worth adding to your baking book collection!

Where to buy Cake Pops Christmas online

(Note that this book is also sold as “Cake Pops Holidays”  and in some cases the Christmas version has a different cover. Other than the title and cover, all contents appear to be the same!)

In Australia

The Not So Shabby Bookshelf

Fishpond

Worldwide

Amazon (US)

Book Depository (UK)

Happy Cake Pop making!!!

Brigid

PS. I’d love to hear about your own cake pops making experiences and which of Bakerella’s Christmas Cake pops you’d most love to make. Share your thoughts in the comments!

Joining in this week’s Christmas Blog Hop with Tina Gray. Thanks Tina!

It’s a sure sign that things are bad when the prospect of two days with hubby’s iPad all to myself can’t keep me away from home!

My life is currently being interrupted, by pain. Lots of pain.

I didn’t really realize to what extent that is until I left the Problogger Training Event partway into the second session on Day 1 – after less than two hours of being there, and having spoken, so briefly, to only two other bloggers – and returned home to deal with my pain and anxiety (and yes, a few tears) quietly on my own.

For so many reasons I was looking forward to this year’s Problogger conference.

I was so excited back in May this year when I bought my ticket to attend the PB Event for the second year running.

I’ve been looking forward to this for months now. Looking forward to the opportunity to meet other bloggers that I’ve connected with on Twitter or on their blogs, and to getting two day’s full of new ideas and inspiration for The Inspired Notebook…

Really, just excited at the prospect of being in a room filled with bloggers. And with people who ‘get’ blogging. It was said to me only a couple of days ago that blogging is ‘another world’, a ‘bubble’. But today’s Problogger Event was filled with over 300 people who know that if blogging is a bubble, then it’s a VERY BIG one. And that it’s only likely to get bigger. And no, it’s not going to pop!!

So I’d marked all the sessions that I hoped to attend. And was eagerly anticipating seeing keynote speaker, Chris Guillebeau (creator of The Art of Nonconformity, the World Domination Summit and author of The $100 Startup). Not to mention, Darren Rowse going through with his challenge to ‘Do It in a Dress’!!

As excited as I’ve been, I was anxious too.

Which is nothing unusual. I think we all get anxious when it comes to huge conferences filled with people we don’t know.

Of the 300 bloggers attending this PB Event, many will have had some degree of anxiety – particularly as it seems the blogosphere is made up of plenty of introverts!!

But as well as the usual pre-conference nerves, I’ve been anxious about my current level of feet, back and hip pain, and how I’d manage two days of sitting, standing and commuting… Things I used to take for granted. Before my pain started. Before my pain got way out of control.

The health professionals who’ve been fortunate to get my time, energy… and money!

I’ve had chronic pain before. After the birth of our ‘baby’, who’s now 10, I experienced hip and back pain for at least five years as a result of pelvic instability. For all of those years, I did the rounds of health professionals, including physios, osteopaths, chiropractors, with little or no relief. I even saw a hip specialist who charged me $125 for the three minutes it took to tell me that I didn’t need to see him, he couldn’t help me.

Eventually, after so many health professionals – and so much money! – I found a local sports injury physio who was able to help me when no-one else had. And gradually my pain improved, and my visits became further and further apart.

When my feet started to ache at the end of 2008, and along with them my hips and back again, I was back at the physio. But also, at the podiatrist, getting a pair of orthotics that (after a few adjustments) completely sorted out my pain. After months of not being able to get out walking each day, it was an awesome feeling to be able to enjoy walking again!

Three years, according to my physio records, without needing hip and back adjustments. Without pain.

Until my feet started to ache again earlier this year.

For the past three or four months, I’ve been back and forth to the podiatrist, physio, doctor’s, and to clinical pilates sessions, trying to resolve my pain before our recent trip to Queensland. The number of trips alone was exhausting!

Several months after my pain began to flare up again, I’m now on my third pair of orthotics. Every adjustment makes a difference to my muscle pain, but so far the orthotics are still not ‘right’.

My life, interrupted!

As much as I don’t like to talk about my pain, and hate hearing myself whinge, lately it’s been hard not to. It’s started to affect everything.

I’ve had to cancel trips to my bestest friend’s, and to my parents’, because driving and sitting in the car is too painful. I’ve had to continually tell my MIL that I can’t get down to have lunch with her – because of the driving, but also because I’m too busy with all these health appointments.

I missed the opportunity to see my new baby nephew, because there’s no way I could’ve managed the drive we’d originally planned for our holiday from Brisbane to Melbourne, via Sydney to visit my brother.

It hurts to do housework. Which wouldn’t worry me too much! But it also hurts to sit at the computer, working on my blog. And that really worries me.

I’m spending a small fortune trying to resolve what I’m sure is resolvable. But getting increasingly anxious as the pain gets worse and I seem to be getting nowhere.

Now my pain (and the anxiety that goes with it) has again kept me from being somewhere I REALLY wanted to be. And from enjoying this conference that I’ve been so looking forward to.

That’s got to be the last straw!

It’s not easy explaining pain to the people you love – and who love you.

How do I explain to a 10 year old, who’s not expecting to come home from school and find me here? Not that he doesn’t love me, but that this beautiful boy tells me every morning as he leaves for school, “Make sure you do something you love today Mum, something for yourself”.

How do I tell him that I had a dizzy spell and felt like I was going to throw up. And that it may have been just anxiety, or the physical effects of too much pain, but having thrown up in a public place once before, I’m in no hurry to do that again!!

How do you explain chronic pain, and the anxiety that can come with it, to any of your kids, no matter their age? Or to your hubby – who possibly sees you as an expensive hypochondriac? Or to your mum, when you have to tell her again that you won’t be coming to visit, won’t be staying the night as you’d planned - and you know you’re only going to cry during that conversation?

Not. Giving. Up.

I don’t really have an answer.  All I know is that I’m not willing to give up. I’m really sure that if somebody can get the orthotics right for me, all my muscles will get back to doing the right thing, and stay in the right place!

When my pain is keeping me from so many of the things I love – from sewing, from my morning walks, from getting out and seeing friends and family, even from blogging and enjoying my time at the computer, and from being able to enjoy awesome conferences like the Problogger event! – I know I need to do everything it takes to resolve it.

I hoped I might get back for Day 2 of the Problogger Event. There are some bloggers I’d love to meet, or catch up with again: Liz from Last Chance Training, who was the very first blogger to say ‘Hi’ to me at last year’s event!; Kat from The Organised Housewife, who has such a beautiful, helpful blog, and who I smiled at only briefly at in the queue for the ladies’!; Heather and Grace, who I just quickly spoke to this morning; Kelly Exeter, whose story of changing her life is going to inspire me to change a whole lot of mine (and who creates awesome manifestos at The Smile Collective)… the list could go on…

But I think for now I need to accept the reality of this pain. And of my exhaustion.

At least I know I can enjoy the recordings of the day’s events from here at home. And trust that I’ll be in a much better place – and back doing everything that I love – by the time the next Problogger conference comes around next year.

For now, am off to dry the tears and sniffles before my baby boy gets home.

Brigid

PS. That iPad of hubby’s, that I’ve now had to give back? Was very useful for writing most of this post on the train trip home. So guess what’s now on my Christmas wishlist?!

Do you have your own story of how chronic pain has interrupted and affected your life? For your sake, I hope you don’t, but if you do, you can share your story here in the comments.

Bloggers and would-be bloggers:

If you were lucky enough to be at the Problogger event, I’d love to hear how you enjoyed it – and what’s the best tip you picked up?

If you didn’t get there, you can check out the #PBEvent hashtag on Twitter, or you might even want to buy a Virtual Ticket, which will be available until October 17th.

Maybe you’re struggling with paperwork too, and need to hear them as much as I did.

They might just spark the inspiration that you need to look at your piles of paper in a different way.

They’ve definitely done that for me!

If you read my last post, you’ll know that my discovery of Flylady was life-changing for me at the time.

But despite the morning routine that works so well, and knowing where to start when I do find make time to declutter, I often feel like I have a long way to go.

I have two huge problem areas: My paper piles. And my laundry.

If you want to know just how bad the paper pile situation is, it might help to know that my hubby used to call them “Brigy-piles”. He no longer speaks about them with the same affection!!

These days it’s “So, is there any chance that we could get rid of these papers?” – with, I’m sure, a whole lot more that remains unsaid.

It’s not so much the personal papers that are a problem. It’s that for seven years I’ve been responsible for hubby’s business paperwork. And I’ve been really bad at the administrative side of things.

When everywhere you look are piles of papers, waiting for some kind of decision to be made: sort, file, fill in a form, make a phonecall… it’s kind of overwhelming.

I don’t know about you, but my own paperwork overwhelm completely affects my enjoyment of life.

The paper piles are a constant reminder of my workload. And my time spent on the things I love doing – like working on my blog and biz – can be riddled with guilt, because there’s so much else I ‘should’ be doing.

I don’t relax at home, because even in our living areas, the business paperwork seems to be everywhere. Mostly because, at this stage, the kitchen table and family computer desk are where my ‘office’ happens to be.

It’s time for the paperwork nightmare to end! It’s gone on for far too long.

I think I knew that when I wrote this in my last post:

(If there’s a Paper Pile Flylady, I definitely want to know about her!!!)

And like every great movie and every good story, just when all hope seemed lost, along comes the Fairy Godmother, to wave her (or in this case, his!) magic wand and transform the whole sorry situation.

My own Fairy Godmother came along in the form of our new accountant. It’s just a bit unfortunate for him (and I’m not in any hurry to tell him!) that I now have an image that I can’t erase from my mind, of him in a pink dress, waving a wand!!

It all happened just casually in conversation, when he mentioned that for ten years he’s been running a ‘paperless office’.

You can imagine how quickly my ears pricked up! I asked a couple of questions about it, but could’ve asked so many more. I had to remind myself that we were there for the sake of our accounts, not home management.

And that it’s not always a good thing to appear obsessive with someone you’ve only just met!

But in the back of my head was the memory of my sister-in-law telling me only a few days earlier about her love for admin work. And about how much she enjoyed standing there scanning things.

I take back all cycnical thoughts that crossed my mind. Thoughts like, “Scanning? That’s not real admin work!”

I now suspect that I’ve been living in my own little home office world for too long, and wonder if I’d have a completely different perspective if I’d been working in a ‘real’ office.

One very informative conversation with my sister-in-law, and one SD card purchase later, I now have the beginnings of my own Paperless Office.

So what exactly am I doing to create my Paperless Office?

Firstly, I created one folder on the desk top, that I’ve named “Our Paperless Office”. (Not very original or creative I know, but for now I need no excuses for procrastination – and finding the ‘perfect’ folder name would be one of those!)

Within that folder, I’ve created three folders:

• CCP  (hubby’s biz)
• NSSBS  (my biz)
• Personal

In our business folders, I’ve created further folders for documents such as supplier invoices, receipts, BAS statements (this should save me wasting five hours of my time searching through every piece of paper in the house if the bank ever needs information from me again!!)

In our personal folder, I have folders for Health, Paid Bills (with further folders for each type of bill), School and Activities.

There are a heap of documents I won’t even need to scan, like those invoices, bills and school newsletters that are received via email. I can just copy or move them to my folders so I’ll easily be able to find them.

I’m making sure to consider, when naming both my files and folders, how it is that I’m most likely to search for the digital files. Which means making sure to use both the invoice number and date when saving supplier invoices.

At this stage I haven’t looked into the idea of OCR software that creates a text/readable file of your documents so that you can search entire documents. For the type of information I’m saving, that’s probably not necessary.

And I’m just using a flatbed scanner for now, but will look into getting a document scanner as we start to change our systems and rely on our paperless office for more of our business documents.

I’m also working out as I go along which documents are even worth keeping digitally, as well as which ones we need to keep for tax purposes.

It’s a work in progress. I’ll work out how I go along what’s the best way to name my documents and folders, and what’s the best way to backup and save my paperless office.

If I wasn’t busy organizing our upcoming family holiday, I’d love to be making progress a whole lot more quickly.

But it’s so good now to be looking through a pile of paper with a completely new perspective, and asking myself some new questions.

And for those papers that constantly get shuffled from pile to pile, because I honestly don’t know what to do with them, I now know exactly what to do: Scan and save them!

I’d much rather have them taking up barely noticeable space on my USB stick or external harddrive, than staring me in the face from a messy pile of papers on my family room or office floor.

I’m not expecting to achieve total ‘paperless-ness’! But already, I’m feeling a whole lot less cluttered, with just the small changes I’ve made so far.

I can’t quite imagine yet just how awesome I’m going to feel when I’ve transformed 20+ piles of paper into contents of a small folder on a memory stick and harddrive.

I may even have time to write a whole lot more blog posts and spend a whole lot more time getting creative. Which, let’s face it, is my ultimate goal right now!

What about you? How do you manage your home office and/or personal paperwork? Digital files or hard copies? Piled or filed?!

Brigid