Twenty days. Two Zero. I’m almost finished! I say that with a touch of sadness but a lot of happiness because this has been really great for me.
Today’s tip is a tip that is often overlooked but it has great significance in the weight loss journey.
Find some support.
This is really important.
Knowing someone’s got your back can help you do things you never realised you could do. When you’re venturing out to drop a lot of weight, you need someone who believes in you to be there. It is not easy to change your life but it’s a heck of a lot easier to do when people around you are willing to help you reach your goal.
My biggest support by far has been my husband. I have to give him a lot of credit.
Having his support has been essential to me. When he eats right, I want to eat right, when he works out, I want to work out. Feeding off each others positive energy is amazing.
My kids have also been great. They’re only young but they ask plenty of questions about exercise, food and drink. I’m sure you all know what kids and questions are like. Yeah.. never ending! Having to explain things to them keeps me accountable. After all I’m a massive role model in their lives, I really should be practicing what I preach.
Then there’s the Creating My Reality community. I said I would use my blog to find supporters and that’s exactly what happened. I want to thank each and every person that took the time to interact with me these last 20 days. Social media is a powerful tool in society nowadays and reconnecting with old friends and connecting with new friends because of these posts has been wonderful. I really do thank you all. Each person that took the time to say something has made me smile, made me try that little bit harder. I hope that you’ve gotten as much out of these posts as much as I have.
Do not overlook/underestimate the importance of having even just one person who will stand beside you and say “You CAN do it.”
I hope you can find that someone who will be there for you too. That’s your challenge today.
I headed to my local library yesterday. I was in search of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, I figured it was about time I read it for myself after having it recommended by numerous people. Unfortunately it was checked out so I browsed the entire non-fiction section instead and came away with four books.
Last night, when all was finally quiet, I started in on the first. A design book called Decorating with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. I know you’re not meant to judge a book by it’s cover but this time around that’s exactly why I got the book! The collage of bright colours and furniture immediately caught my eye and I knew there was no way I’d be leaving the book behind.
The book teaches you to be your own interior designer and the advice offered up from Laurence right at the beginning (because that’s how far though I am so far!) is great. He guides you through:
how to create a design scheme – with a cold glass of chardonnay in hand
how to mentally envision the space you want to create (right up my alley!)
how to create a mood board to inspire new ideas
how to shop for furniture, fittings and furnishings
what should be on your to-do list
what to remember about positioning furniture and fittings
listing all the details in a design presentation
budgeting
spacial awareness
And that’s just scratching the surface of what’s shared in this book!
Of course today, I jumped on Google to find this ever inspiring interior designer. You can find him here.
It’s well worth the read for all of it’s practical advice and the photo’s are visually delectable. I can’t wait to read more.
If you’re interested in purchasing your own copy you can find it on Fishpond, just click on the image above.
My family and I have been out and about in Dunedin enjoying the sights and experiencing some of what the Cadbury Chocolate Festival had to offer the locals and tourists during their annual celebration. We headed up Thursday morning and I wrote briefly about the day in this post here. It was fun, we went to a…. hold your breath people…. MALL. Then after a brief shopping stint we chilled back at our rooms and had dinner with my lovely in-laws. Soo good to have family around!
Friday came around and we all ventured into town to catch the free bus to Baldwin Street to watch the annual Jaffa race. Jaffa’s are a marble shaped, candy coated chocolate made here in New Zealand. Baldwin Street is, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the steepest street in the world. There was a huge crowd and an odd amount of super tall guys, which made viewing things pretty difficult but we stuck it out and enjoyed ourselves. Every Jaffa in the race was numbered to coincide with a ticket that could be purchased for $1. All money collected went to charity.This year they did two rolls, one with the regular red/orange coated jaffa’s and another with purple jaffa’s. We’re all in agreeance that the purple jaffa’s rolled faster! You can be the judge by watching the video’s:
By the end of the walk back to the bus stop, carrying a stroppy baby most of the day, the bus rides and the massive crowds of people, we were all pretty tired so we headed back to our flat for a rest. Not before we picked up lunch and 1/2 price hot chocolates at Ra Bar and Cafe at the octagon though. Great service thanks Ra staff
This bus was full so we waited for the next one.
A bit about Baldwin Street.
Radio people and a band. I think it was More FM?
Girl in a tux handing out lollies.
Face painting fairies.
Kids eating Jaffa’s from the girl in the tux photo.
Baldwin Street. Doesn’t look too steep but it really is!
Caught this shot as the stilt people walked past us.
The stilt people walked all the way up the hill and back down again. Insane!
These people won ‘The best seat’. A cherry picker at the side of the road hehe. True kiwi style.
The aftermath.
This guy got his car stuck between two others so they lifted it out lol. I love NZ.
Colouring in at Ra Bar & Cafe. FYI: They have a thing called ‘Outrageous Tuesday’s’ where they play Outrageous Fortune on the big screen for everyone to watch.
Nas lovingly putting his marshmallow into his hot chocolate hehe.
They came with Jaffa’s. Cute.
One of the amazing churches in Dunedin. It started pouring the second after I took this photo.
Later in the evening Andrew’s Mum came to our room and watched Boston so we could take the older kids out to Toy Story 3 3D. I almost cried! Multiple times! I’m a huge Disney fan and we’ve been watching the Toy Story movies on TV with the kids the past few weekends. We loved it and I highly recommend it to all you Toy Story fans out there. After the movie we walked down to a place called Time Out (kind of like a small spacies parlour). Then it was all on. It looks like Andrew and I breed a bunch of competitors. Not hard to see where they get it from if you were ever to watch Andrew and I go head to head in any game situation…We never give up! It’s a battle right to the end lol. Good thing we don’t argue like that.
It really makes me wish we had somewhere like that to go down here, it was fun to be out doing something the kids loved. I’m really laid back with my kids, I let them be kids but I don’t let them play a lot of video games. I don’t have too many hang ups as a Mother but kids and too many video games is one of them. It’s just one of those things with me. So they had an extra good time playing the games.
Sorry if this photo is offensive to some. In our family we’re ok with gun’s and teaching the children about safely using them. Both Andrew and I were raised around them.
The oldest two fighting it out playing basketball games.
Not too shabby. Must take after their Dad.
This was a pretty fun game.
Davis did really well.
He shot all the teeth and beat us all.
Andrew and I went head to head. Most of my shots bounced out of the hoop! I got wasted lol.
At it again. Sibling rivalry at it’s finest.
We won enough tickets for them all to get prizes.
Davis got a sticky hand.
Before we headed home we took the kids out to dinner at the most pimped out Chinese restaurant. It was awesome! I seriously felt like we were in a scene of a Kung Fu movie and we were expecting a fight scene to start any moment. The decor reminded me just how much I love all things Asian! Thankfully Andrew does too so he indulges my desire to own a lot of Asian stuff around the home. The kids are learning just how much we both love Asian collectibles, people, food, movies and cartoons and are getting in on the act. They’re begging to learn how to use chopsticks properly so I’d better step it up.
This photo doesn’t do the place justice. Loved that window insert and those imported chairs.
Hand sewn silk pictures and cool room dividers that double as plant holders.
Awesome lampshade. Plush bench seats. The owners were watching us so I had to pretend I was taking photo’s of my family…lol.
Saturday we headed out to Larnach Castle. New Zealand’s only castle. The weather was pretty miserable but I still managed to find myself inspired by the restoration done to the place, the gorgeous stained glass windows, intricate ceiling details and absolutely stunning furniture throughout the home. It’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be but it was still beautiful. You aren’t allowed to take any photo’s inside the castle sorry.
The front of Larnach castle.
Running up the stairs.
Coming back down.
Fun times.
People staring at us from the top.
Some of the garden.
The ballroom. It’s used as a restaurant and hired out as a ballroom still.
The entire castle and my little lady.
Now it was my turn to make a request. I wanted to stop at some 2nd hand stores. I remembered one from about 11 years ago and stopped in there first. It had a lot of art there, one that really caught my eye, I should have bought it but I didn’t. I ended up purchasing a gorgeous green lampshade that reminded me of the lanterns I’d just seen the night before at the Chinese restaurant.
My lampshade.
Then we headed to a place I’d actually spotted in the middle of the night as we were hunting for somewhere to dine for dinner on Friday night. I knew it looked to be like THE store for me. I was so right! Can I pick em or what?! The place’s name is Arkwright’s and it has the coolest collection of unique things. I really wish it were closer! I’m thinking trips to Dunedin may have to be a regular occurrence for us now, just so I can shop at Arkwright’s. Dunedinites, you are lucky
Best 2nd hand store!
Then it was back to the mall for lunch and some last minute shopping for the kids to spend their money. A hula hoop, a soccer ball and some bouncy balls later we were done. I took the kids to the bathroom before the drive home and was gifted with a single red rose when we returned to Andrew. Yay! I love good surprises.
My rose.
It was a great trip, we’ve been to Dunedin close to a million times now but each time we discover something new to love. The architecture is top of the list. We didn’t want to leave but are glad to be back home again.
We’re having a bit of family time right now. Today we explored a store called Smiggle, it was the one place my daughter really wanted to go. Smiggle is a totally cute stationery shop on George Street in Dunedin. I suggest you take a look. I love the colours and the quirky gear like massively oversized bulldog clips and super long and twisty pencils, not to mention the pig and skeleton erasers. The place even smells like a candy store AND it was packed. People were constantly in and out of the store. I’m stuck on an internet speed from the 90′s right now and it’s doing my head in, so I’ll leave you with a glimpse of Smiggle fun.
Please excuse the poor photo quality. I had to take the photos with my phone.
‘Nick nacks I Want’ is the name of a folder I keep. Yeah I know, back in the day it was originally spelled knick knacks. I try to bookmark all the things I like so I can go back to them and slowly check things off my list as I gather them. See, sometimes I actually let out the purse strings and purchase something, I’m not completely uptight. This is only scraping the top of what’s in my folder. I’m a pretty eclectic girl as you’ll see from this collection. I’ve mentioned before that I like ugly things, below you’ll get a small glimpse of what I mean. Right now, I’m digging these:
A colourful chandelier
I saw one on TradeMe for $90 and should have bought it .
Any suggestions on somewhere that stocks fun lighting for affordabe prices?
Do you have anything on your wishlist right now? I’d love to see!
This is not a paid review. This is just my secret obsession.
I’ve been keeping a secret from you all but I can do it no more. I am having a love affair with another family. It’s been going on for months. Their name is Novogratz and they are just simply amazing. I have not been so inspired by anything in years. I’ve read every magazine article on them, every newspaper interview and almost every blog post ever written about them.
Told you. Obsessed.
It took me a while but I did it. If only I had paid this much attention to school, I may have stuck it out longer.
Why do I love them so much?
Easy.
They learned by doing. They’re laid back. They have great style. They have seven kids. SEVEN. Love it. It almost makes me reconsider having more. Almost. Then I remember there’s pregnancy involved and how no one but me seemed to like the woman deemed Miss B*tch that hung around for nine months.. It’s a wonder I’m still married.
The Novogratz are a gorgeous family living in downtown New York. Fifteen years ago Robert and Cortney purchased their first property, a derelict town house in Chelsea; an untouched, unfashionable part of New York at the time and began their first gut renovation.
Back then Robert was working on Wall Street and Cortney was in pursuits of an acting career.
It was through this first renovation they began to realise they had a knack for blending the old with the new; unique flea market items with designer decor to create high-end homes on a budget.
This was the beginning of an exciting journey for the couple who went on to buy and gut more property (including a gun shop!), have seven children (including two sets of twins) and create a business called SIXX Design (named after their six children and one more X for any more to come along).
If that wasn’t enough, in the U.S. they’ve just celebrated the end of the first season of their new BRAVO reality TV show; 9 by Design. I’ve been trying to get my hands on this show (happy to pay for it if you can help me!) but can’t because everything is limited to people based in America. I feel so left out. No really, I do. Ask my husband.
I’ve been fortunate enough to see the first two episodes (all legit I swear) and have so far watched them both three times. Two of those times with my children. Yes, I’ve spread the obsession to my kids. They are also big fans.
So last month I ordered their book; oops I forgot to mention this earlier. YES, they even have a book!!
I purchased it off Amazon and it arrived here much quicker than anticipated. Don’t you love when that happens?! I unwrapped it and spent the whole afternoon reading over everything. I shared it with my children and we all pointed at the different things we liked, my husband came home and read through it too (also a fan). I don’t hide my love affair from them, I get them to join me.
The Novogratz children remind me of my own, especially Breaker and Tallulah. I love the fact they called their fifth child Five and I cracked up at the scene where they joked about calling their latest addition “X” because my husband and I did the same thing when we were pregnant. We even gave it an arm action. It was the proper way to say it!…we decided to go with Davis though.
If you haven’t heard of them, now you have. It’s pretty clear to see that I am smitten with them and I bet you will be too.
Last week I stumbled across this website called 12 Seconds. It lets you create and upload 12 second long videos with ease. Like really, it’s so simple to use it’s got me hooked.
I wanted to get into vlogging but don’t like seeing myself too much, I think I can handle 12 seconds though. So here’s what’s going to happen in the revamp.
I’m going to begin doing daily confessions on my 12Seconds page. I’m then going to take those videos and link them to my regular These Are My Confessions posts. I figure sometimes I might sound snarky through text (although no one’s told me that thankfully) so hopefully hearing it will help it come across as I intended.
Not all the confessions will be done through video, I’ll still have my regular lists.
Now for the fun part!
I would LOVE LOVE LOVE if you would join me! You don’t have to do it daily, you don’t even have to do it regularly but I’d love if you just gave it a go, even if only for a one off 12 seconds.
