Hi there gorgeous!
We’re back with my usual scrapbook of photos + ramblings from the past month! Holy dinger, what a HUGE month December was!
I noticed I didn’t post quite as much as we’ve all been ass up in major workbook launch work mode!
Here we go!
That time a decade ago… When I had an inner marriage ceremony to commit to loving and honouring myself… And invited some strangers off the Internet to come stay at my house and be my goddesses of honour. We ended up having the most incredible time… And one of those strangers from the Internet has been my bestie-roo ever since we set eyes on each other! Thanks @sonyaforrest for accepting wild invitations!!!! #tbt
I test painted our walls red… They’ve been like this for weeks until I decided I actually really prefer turquoise blue. Just like I’ve painted every other house we’ve ever owned. I’m consistent in my wildness at least. Have taped it up and ready to paint it all MERMAID SPLASH. Basically the most perfect paint name ever.
Ready for a beer in the garden after painting walls all afternoon.
When I see the fairy girls playing in our garden… I just think… This. This is where we are supposed to be.
Best day masterminding with two of my favourites… Dr Kate Byrne from Betty Means Business and Denise Duffield-Thomas … I want this in my life more often!!! So important to brainstorm together… It strengthens everyone’s business and heart muscles!!! #ladyboss #entrepreneur #mastermind #businessgoals #businesswoman
To round out our mastermind, we had a family gathering. Me & Kate got to meet Denise’s husbo who is the loveliest ever. Annnnnnd Beff & Willsy finally got to meet!!!! These two are basically conception twins. Little known fact: me & Denise both decided to have babies at the same time, so we launched The Great Conception Race of 2013. We ended up conceiving in a week or so of each other & shared our pregnancies. And by shared, I mean: “I barfed, she glowed.” Willow & Bethany met for the first time earthside. I think they knew each other before though… When they played and laughed in star land… And they saw two friends opening their arms out wide for babies… And they joyfully tumbled down & chose us.
Just call me Mama Big Spoon.
I went to Starry’s Christmas school concert on my own (so that Beth didn’t tear down the joint. Instead, she stayed at home and teared down the joint there.)
I thought it was going to be so boring that I actually brought work to do in my journal. Instead, I silently sobbed the whole time and sang The Little Drummer Boy like my heart depended on it. Then I met two English ladies and spent the rest of the morning being exceedingly inappropriate with them while eating cake. At the start of the concert, one of Starry’s teachers said:
“Festivals are important to us all. They bring nourishment and they deepen community.”
It felt so perfectly true and right. That is indeed what happened. What magic.
Bethy one year ago… And now. I’m forever grateful for saying yes to our strawberry blossom.
The place where all the magic happens (outside of the bedroom that is hahahahahaaaaa!!!!) ANYWAYS… My big office station… Covered with art, crystals, angels, goddesses, essential oils, bush flower remedies & a billion pens. Just the usual office of a creative hippy.
Toys made for Christmas.
Sting ray soft toy made from wool felt & wool filling. Stitched with embroidery thread. Supplies bought from Winterwood. Template found by googling “stingray felt template”. A fun little creative stitching project for the night to give to a sweet boy who loves sea creatures. As usual, I did mostly handmade presents for Christmas… It makes it feel more special and slow instead of stressful crazy shopping!
Chris was soooooooooooo excited that I was collaging in bed… My side of the bed was pristine of course!
I wrote a long Christmas letter each year to share family news with our nearests & dearests… I’ve been writing them for 13 years now… Decided to change it up a bit this time & illustrate & handwrite the whole thing… Then scan & make copies. Also: don’t know if you noticed but I really need to get my phone camera fixed. Blurry as fuuuuuuuuuuck. Do you write a Christmas family letter each year? Or is it one of those strange remnants of history because I grew up on a farm?
Another night of Christmas gift crafting… This time while watching Trainwreck. A rainbow unicorn for a spirited girl and a sheep for the daughter of my dear friend who comes from a sheep farm.
Inside the 2016 goal-getting weekly planner-diary… Prompts to help you get your monthly, weekly & daily goals & tasks sorted… Along with financial goals, gratitude journaling & divine doodle space!!!! Get yours now at www.shiningyear.com
My sweet, mischievous Christmas elves. I’m teaching them how to dance on tables from an early age. We found that tabletop a few years ago washed up on the beach. It’s solid, heavy wood… Probably the table from a ship. We lugged it home and put legs on it. It’s been our favourite table ever since.
Me and this bloke. We hired a new nanny to watch the girls in the afternoons while we work. It’s been about 8 months since we had our last nanny, with Chris taking up the chief kidcare again since then. We both started getting worn from not being able to have a conversation, and Chris from not getting enough time to do all the production assistant work for me as much as we both wanted.
Having a nanny again is a great gasp of fresh air, of sweet spaciousness. Every day we have been going for a walk in the bush together, just for half an hour, just to talk without being interrupted, without having our minds devoted to making sure no kids damage themselves, no whining, no sore legs, no Beth screeches. It feels like blood flowing to our brains, our blood pressure toning down a notch.
And the kids are ridiculous happy. They cook and make art and have picnics in the garden. Starry counts down the minutes to have her arrive and tell her the plan of what Super! Fun! Activities! they will do that day.
It’s always such a sweet reminder for me: you don’t have to be the only one who loves and tends to your kids, guys. It can really be a beautiful thing to get the support and space everyone needs to thrive (and not feel fucking nuts).
It was a good hair day today so I forced Chris to get Santa mall photos taken with us by cajoling our children into forming a chanting parade singing “Santa! Santa! Santa!” whilst stomping up and down the hallways of our house until he relented. He really is the luckiest man on earth.
We survived Santa Photos 2015. Santa did not though.
I was going through an old Collective magazine to tear out interesting articles to send to Grantacular and other biz friends I think would find them useful. Found this money blocks article and was like WOWWEWW Denise Duffield-Thomas WILL LOVE THIS. Then read it and realised she was the interviewed expert for it and that was her quote. LOLZZZZZZZZZ I AM SURE SHE REALLY WILL FIND IT USEFUL
Wow. What a movie. A documentary following a year inside Studio Ghibli. Fascinating look into creative process.
Inherited my hair, but with her own ginger elf flair.
Every weekend… When Beth naps, I let my big kid watch cartoons so I can do a mini solo-mama-retreat in my bedroom. Books, 2016 Shining Goal planners, colouring, collaging. It’s how I get through the rest of the week. If I don’t get this in, I run out of gas real fast.
Slowly making our new house a home. Our hallway was long and white and felt soulless and boring. I painted it a soft green called “Swiss Meadow” and decided to turn it into a family picture gallery. I used as many white frames as possible – some I already had, some I bought, some plain, some ornate. It’s a really sweet spot in the house now.
It makes me think of the research Gretchen Rubin shares in Happier At Home about how having photos of people you love in your home invokes more feelings of gratitude, love & happiness throughout the day. I’ll let you know how it goes but I reckon we are on to a winner.
I came here for a bit of quiet time. That lasted approximately 45 seconds until everyone (husband, children & dogs alike) noticed my absence so keenly they came in search of me to sit on me, mawl me, fight, grump and cry. TIS THE SEASON TO LOOOOOOSE YOUR SHIIIIITTTTTT FALALALALALALALAAAAAAAAA
Beth was in bed. Beer, Bryson and bed. #minisolomamaretreat
A braid and beads on blue kinda day. Though, frankly, when is it not that kinda day?
First thing this morning at Buttfuck O’Clock…
STACKS of packages of baby carriers were waiting for me at the post office!!! Thank you for all your donations to Carry The Future — I’ll be sending these off to Greece for Syrian refugees on Jan 15.
If you’ve got a structured baby carrier (ie Ergo or Bjorn, not wraps or slings), you can send to me at Carry The Future Australia Appeal, C/- Leonie DAWSON International Pty Ltd, PO Box 3166, Weston Creek ACT 2611. I get so teary opening these packages… They smell of babies and motherhood and solidarity and love.
Will be so good to send them to Greece, there are some beautiful Carry The Future videos showing them fitting newly arrived Syrian refugees with carriers… They are so relieved to give their babies a safe place to sleep and an easier way to carry them on the long road ahead. Bless.
Please share with anyone who might be able to contribute a baby carrier in Australia!!!
My office today… Did some illustration outside in the garden while getting some family time in as well. Kids were running amok in the paddle pool, me & Me D were perving on each other simultaneously.
This Christmas, we were delighted to have contributed to the The Compassion Collective campaign to help with the Syrian Refugee Crisis – the largest humanitarian crisis the world has seen since World War 2. One million dollars was raised in a little over a day. Amazing.
Best Christmas Eve evaaaaa. Went to my mate Lile’s for a morning family play date… Which we didn’t get home from until 5pm. Lots of laughing and food and kids running amok. Thanks for the bonza time, Dicksons. If any of our kids end up marrying each other, we would be happy to join kingdoms with you. The DawDickson Dynasty. It has a certain ring to it.
The Patented Aunty Lola Baby Sleeping Lounge.
I had pretty low expectations of Christmas honestly. Anything that isn’t a complete disaster is a blessing. It was lovely though. Filled with old friends and kids running wild and food I didn’t have to make. And of course there has been moments of stress, kid meltdowns and misunderstandings. At lunch, my old school mate Zetty asked everyone for their year’s highs and lows. And I loved that we talked about low moments. It led to me understanding my mates and even my husband better.
I think that’s one of the biggest pieces I’ve learned in the last couple of years… Not to whitewash everything with positivity. That the whole story – including the sadnesses, fears and shame – is a much more potent story. Wherever you are, however you are, whether it was merry or not, whether it was Christmas or not… I just want to send you love.
Christmas in Summertime leaves the toddlers like this.
I’ve already written my Top Books of the Year post for 2015 so this one will have to go on my 2016 post instead. So good that when I finished I immediately commandeered Mr Dawson to take me to the secondhand bookstore so I could confiscate every last Bryson book they had available. Bloody brilliant, funny, entertaining & teaches me interesting shit as we go!!!
My planning ritual… I like to start by getting out my workbook from the year before it. I go through with a different coloured pen and make notes beside each piece about what come true, what I want to let go of as a goal, what ones I want to transfer to my new year’s workbook. I also write love notes to myself as I go.
This time as I was reviewing my 2015 workbook, I got so overcome with gratitude for my husband I had to run out to the lounge to kiss him and thank him.
I also keep my 2016 workbooks beside me and transfer over old goals that still need working on or mottos and habits that have worked really well for me. These workbooks are such a therapeutic exercise for me… Helps me feel clear and resolved, more conscious and wise about my journey up to now and what I want to create going forward.
Went back through my 2015 workbook to see what goals I achieved. Managed to synchronistically see EVERYONE I wrote down… Including Denise who flew down!!!!! And my spontaneous trip to Sydders where I got to see my bestie Sone. Thanks workbook for making my dreams come true!!!!!
Reviewed my 2015 workbook goals to see what dreams came true. Love that I was able to see them all in 2015. When I started looking at this a week before 2015 ended, I was a bit bummed I didn’t get to the labyrinth. So I messaged my darling Deb to ask her to go with me… And she already had it locked into her diary to do it in two days!!! Amazing synchronicity!!!
I’ve been using these books for the last 7 years to change and grow my life and business. Oh the places we’ve been… a 5 year travelling holiday, living in some of the most beautiful places in Australia… working part-time so I can be with my husband and kids… building a million dollar company that is thriving and does so much good in the world. I’m breathless at how my dreams have come true because of using these workbooks again and again.
These books may have come through me, but they do not belong to me. They belong to Great Spirit, the Eternal Muse & every soul who they help, and I am included in that. I haven’t started on mine yet… I usually work on them starting after Christmas and finishing by end of January. The more I put into them, the more I get out of them. I’m excited. I’m just as much a raving fan & devotee of the #shiningplanners as anyone else.
Needed a weekend to recover from Christmas (and the year). It was the best. Lolling about, reading and journaling, reviewing my 2015 workbook, starting on my 2016 ones.
A lot of people ask — which one do you do first?
And the answer is — there is no wrong way to do this.
Do Life if it is sitting front of your head and heart and needs to be talked about first. Do Biz if it is sitting front of your head and heart and needs to be talked about first. Or swap between the two as you go. And it’s fine if you start filling out the 2016 sections before you finish your 2015 review… I’ve added things in there before I’ve finished so I don’t forget them. Also, as I’m looking over the last year’s workbook I’ll add goals I haven’t done into 2016’s workbook.
There’s no wrong way, there’s only the way.
And that way is doing, not procrastinating, not worrying if you are doing it right, not getting your head stuck up your own butthole by overthinking it. Momentum creates momentum. Write those dreams down. And then get on to doing ’em.
Incase you are wondering… It’s not just you.
The Closing Ceremony for the year past in the workbook brings up emotions for me too. It’s hard work but therapeutic if you stay with it to the end. It helps to heal and release all that has been unspoken and unresolved so you can begin to clear the way for a new year without a bunch of emotional baggage on your back. It’s therapy and it’s powerful.
And I resist it every year and feel emotionally wrung out but if I can hold on and keep writing, it brings me back home to myself. To wisdom. To gratitude. To certainty. And yes I will emotionally eat my way through some chocolate now!!! Thank you for asking!!! I’m grateful and broken and elated and sore from the year that has passed.
It’s been world-changing for me on so many levels… So many good things, but change of any kind can be hard. Off to go hug myself.
Got to this page… And I’m not ready. Not just yet. My gut says leave it for now, do something else, let the 2015 celebration chapter settle into my bones. There’s no such thing as the right timing… Just the right timing for you. Go with your gut as you do your 2016 planning, my loves.
GUESS WHO GOT A MOTHERFUCKINGGGGG WORKBENCH FOR CHRISTMAS???? Soooooooo excited to get my woodworking tools set up!!!! #chickswithpowertools
I’d seen a lot of crafty blogger projects that used black and white photos printed as cheap engineering prints. I thought I’d do something wild (I’m such a thrillseeker) and try it out. $12 for 2 huge A1 prints pretty impressive! I just ordered mine at Officeworks – they just call them black and white posters. I ordered this big photo of the girls and I adore how it turned out. I’ve hung it in their play area next to a big mermaid. I’ve got another print which I’ll show you later — I’ve got plans to use it as a base for a big artwork for my word of the year (one of the creative tasks from the 2016 Shining Life workbook which is a big favourite of mine!
I’ve had the vomits. I have no idea how the fuck I survived 9 months of this bullshit with #hyperemesisgravidarum. I have such huge sweeping relief that I’ll never have it again. I don’t know how I did it. Ooooof, this feels terrible.
Just realised that I forgot to include this brilliant book by Gretchen Rubin to My Top Books of 2015 post. It really was bloody good. I’ll have to remember to add it to #leoniestopbooks2016 instead. It’s too good not too. 
SOB!!! My darling Lile was going to look after our kids so me and Chris could have a hot date at the National Library together. Instead, I was up barfing all night. On my doorstep were flowers, Gatorade and dry crackers. The kindest, most thoughtful soul she is. How did I get so lucky?
ARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHH THE SUSPENNNNNNNSEEEE
Somebody asked me what my big dreams are for 2016.
I think my answer is: more of what I have. More of this. I love what I do so very much. I love my family, our home, our friends, our city, our life. I love my team, I love our customers, I love all the dreams and goals we have to make it even bigger, more profound, more helpful for the planet and its people. More philanthropy, more soul-centred knowing I’m on exactly the right path. It feels like I’m right on path to make that all come true.
And in a delicious series of events, Granto and I just made an incredibly important hire that is going to be such a passionate force in our company as well. I’ll speak more about that when I can, but it feels pretty bloody amazing (and scary!) all at once. 2015 you have been such a blessing for me. My favourite year yet in a long long time. Yes thank you, more please.
P.S. This just happened on my FB page after we set our goal to make it happen before 2016. I’m in awe of it all. Big love to my team and big love to all of you. I feel incredibly lucky to be in this world.
RELEASING soon… sharing this free guide for everyone wanting to start and run or find IRL workbook goal-getter groups!
Will provide info on:
- how to find peeps for your group
- if you can run them as paid or free events
- a template of how to run them
- why it’s bloody important to be a part of one!
exxxxxcited to share it with ya’ll!!!!
I’m making a big artwork to put my 2016 word of the year on… It’s one of the activities in the 2016 Shining Year Life workbook! This is it in progress… I chose a photograph of me that I felt embodied my word… I got it blown up big as an engineering print ($6 for an A1 print from Officeworks! Score!) I’m using it as the base that I will paint over… Will share progress as it comes along!!!
How I spent my night: on the couch, doing my 2016 Oracle Card readings for both my Biz and Life Goals workbooks. How I do it: I used a bunch of different cards, including Lucy Cavendish and Doreen Virtue. I prayed first to the deva of my little family of four to help with insights for my Life reading, then to the deva of my business for my Biz one. Then I did a quick sketch of each card and wrote a couple of notes of what each one meant. It’s so amazing looking back on these readings… They end up being quite prophetic and reassuring and so beautifully powerful!!
Sunday… My beloved Sunday. By far my most favourite day of the week. Spent the morning outside in the garden with the kids, now I’m nestled up with a stack of magazines. I go through them with pen and highlighter, sucking the marrow of out of them, writing notes and tearing out articles to send to Grantacular and business friends.
Have been working my way through my 2016 Shining Year in Life workbook and got to the dream board task. I got inspired by something I saw a friend do a couple of years ago. I went to visit her house one day, went to the bathroom and she had a huge magnificent family dream board on the bathroom door. I commented to her later how much I loved it and she replied with a smile “That dream board exists because of your workbooks!”
It made me so giddily happy how we all can inspire each other in this infinite loop.
So this year I thought of gorgeous Sarah and did as she did! I got a spare pin board and Command Strip glued it to the back of our toilet door (so I can stare at it in quiet contemplation a few times a day when I’m alllll alone…. Just kidding… I’ll be looking at it with both my children clambering to sit on my lap or hand me toilet paper and there will probably be a spare dog while my husband walks around the house calling “Honeyyyyyy honnnneyyyy where are youuuuu???” ANYWAYS.) I thumb tacked a bunch of images and oracle cards for life goals I want to focus on this year (be a happy mum, a present wife, develop my health and fitness, take good care of my soul, make art and magic.)
I also added two small laminated posters – an artwork I did of Brene Brown’s Guideposts (you can print your own from my website – I uploaded it there as a free print) and also a poster of Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages. It feels really good to have this done and in a place I’ll look at often.
Plus… Now my toilet feels like a sanctuary! It will be a crowded one, and I will regularly mutter “oh for fuck’s sake” under my breath at my inability to take a dump on my own… But still!!! a sanctuary nonetheless! Have you done your 2016 dream board yet? Where are you hanging it? And can you take a dump in peace?
Love, Enquiring Mind.
I don’t really watch reality TV. But fuuuuuuuuuuuuck do I love this show!!!! Can’t wait!!!!!!
This is a pretty accurate documentation of our personalities.
This man is suuuuuuuuch a camera whore. He just loooooves getting his photo taken.
Me & my girls unpacked a big stack of baby carriers that have been donated to Carry The Future Australia Appeal. I’m collecting them all so my company can foot the big postage bill of getting them sent to Greece to be given to Syrian refugees as they arrive so they can easily carry their babies and children on the long road ahead.
Me & Grantacular are making something completely different just for fun. Can you guess what it is going to be?
One year ago I was at a workbook planning party in Far North Queensland!
Such a beautiful day… I’m up the end there on the right with my listening face on… I’m listening to the gorgeous Cheyenne who, funnily enough, was actually a teacher at my highschool while I was there! We ended up living in the same place in the same circle of friends which was such a blessing as she is such a special soul.
She did her Oracle Card Reading for that year ahead, and had a lot of cards appear around fertility and new beginnings. We assumed it would be about her new creative and business ventures. The cards ended up being far more literal than that though… She gave birth to another baby girl by the end of the year. It makes me smile whenever I think of it.
And it makes me smile that another child on the earth gets to call Cheyenne her mama. Sometimes I have to hug myself with glee at the miracle and wonder of this world… And how the workbooks seem to make it all the more evident. I’m grateful.
Can’t buy your love. Oh wait, yes you can, it’s called a new guitar. His first acoustic with pick-up. It’s beautiful! If you’re coming to our Shining Academy Retreat in Canberra next month, you’ll get to hear it too – Grantacular will be playing it there with a few of his songs. In the meantime though… Mr Dawson is in bliss! It’s his present for surviving 2015 being married to an entrepreneur. I reckon it mustn’t be easy to be married to me and the way I rush at life in that way I do. But still, this Scorpio Ox is so loyal to me. He matches me in sensitivity, being passionate and intense and opinionated. He is unwaveringly committed to himself and is unswayable. I never know what will pop out of his mouth next… It could be the most profound, sage insight I’ve ever heard… Or it could be the funniest, dirtiest, most inappropriate joke ever. Nearly 15 years on, he is still such a magical mystery to me. A mystery hottie with a rad new guitar!!!
*
So, there you have it! My scrumptious scrapbook!
It’s been a wild month and year but I am ready for 2016. I’m so excited at the miracles that will be created ahead!
Creative collaboration. Play. Joy. Dreams come true. Sanctuary and sacred replenishment.
I plan on thriving.
Thank you for sharing the journey with me!
Big love,
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