Hey petunias!

We’re back with my usual scrapbook of photos + ramblings from the past couple of weeks.

An order arrived from Amazon… Oh happy day. This probably describes my current book tastes quite well… Business, creativity, graphic novels & communication/relationships.

I went to the Women’s Collective conference in Canberra. Look at me all getting out into the world and shit! Took illustrated notes as always – you can download them here!

Hanging out at the Women’s Collective Conference with my amazing mate Julie from Dilkara Essence of Australia who creates Indigenous skin & hair products… She is incredibly smart and a visionary and an amazing connector of people. Her products are now in the Qantas inflight store. She has so much grit and passion and drive to create some amazing products and services and stores and retreats celebrating Indigenous wisdom and plants. Truly inspirational. Also: funny as fuck.

New BFF made at The Women’s Collective. My magical mate Mikaela who runs a seriously fucking cool creative makers hub and co-working space in Canberra. She is the bomb diggity. We are going to create some seriously sublime stuff together now we have connected at last after being Instagram mates for over a year!!!!!!

Me & my life partner Kate Byrne from Betty Means Business. We have been friends online for a looooong time and have hired each other as coaches/consultants for various things. Since I moved back to Canberra we met at last and it’s been the greatest thing ever. She is even funnier + naughtier in person than I ever could have wished for. We now spend a large amount of time eating cake at Tilley’s and talking shit under the guise of “networking.” INAPPROPRIATE SOULMATEZ FOREVAAA.

Beautiful, spirited, passionate, kind, get-shit-done business women. You are girls after my own heart. I love you Kate, Tracy, Natasha + Lisa!

I couldn’t talk about The Women’s Collective event without sharing about the incredible non profit that was there… Angel Gowns Australia which turns donated wedding dresses into gowns for babies that are stillborn or pass away… So the babies are laid to rest with loving thoughts and gentle hands and the sweetest of memories… And their parents know what people are thinking of them… Always… And want to do something to help their suffering. It brings me to tears when I think of the love this organisation is the embodiment of. If you have a wedding dress, or can sew and want to be a volunteer, or can donate funds to help them continue this heart-filled service, please reach out to them. Fiona is a true earth angel who so selflessly serves to help others through the hardest days of their lives. Bless you Fiona.

At my daughter’s school, they give students lavender footbaths to help them feel calm in their bodies. I’ve even known a principal giving an upset parent a footbath!!! It harms back to an age old tradition that spans many cultures. To wash someone’s feet is to honour them and pour energy back into them. It is a gift of service and a joy to do.

So me and the girls gave Chris a foot scrub, then a footbath and a rub with lotion. We collected flowers from around the garden and used essential oils. It was a blissful way to spend an hour… To thank and love up and honour a man who does so much. Of course, Mermaid Daughter #2 decided his footbath made for a excellent bath for her as well, and crammed her little bum in there too. Bless.

Sunday Sabbath. Also known as: LBD (Lazy Bastard Day)

WE SURVIVED SCHOOL HOLIDAYS!!!!! I’M STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (shirt by my spirit animal Dallas Clayton  sooooooooo not a sponsored fashion post OMG could you imagine a Leonie being a fashion blahger LOLZZZZZZZZZ X ONE MILLION. My style statement is “boho hobo” – bohemian homeless. Love your friendly, dishevelled hippy friend who hasn’t brushed her hair in weeks. Wow, this ended up being a reaaaaaaaaaaally long sidebar. CARRY ON.)

I spoke too soon about surviving school holidays. After weeks of her pleading and pestering to go to the dinosaur museum, we took our five year old and her baby sister to it. We lasted 25 minutes, because the dinosaur noises were waaaaaaaayyyyyy too intense for her and resulted in sobbing and carrying and much telling me that she needed to go home. Such a sensitive being… Totally the genetic result of two sensitive parents. Sorry about that little mate. It will be your biggest gift and your biggest challenge this life. Luckily the gift store there had a huge crystal and gemstone section so we recovered in there and Mermaid Daughter #2 let me know “I feel so much happier in here.” Me too kid. Me too. #parentingahighlysensitivechild #realtalk #realparenting

Leoniesaurus Rex.

Busy few days ahead doing photoshoots and videoshoots of 2016 Shining Year workbooks & planners & to do list pads. Having some horizontal hang time in bed in preparation.

The greatest bromance known to womankind. Kate and her creepy ass stalker.

Guess what’s coming soooooooon????? I am so insanely proud of this collection. It is beyond anything we have done before. Bigger and better than ever. Completely redesigned, the Biz book has been rewritten and so much added to it to make it an incredibly powerful and complete business plan tool… It is glossy and gorgeous and I’m beyond proud.

Writing set lists and photo checklists and video shoot details for tomorrow’s huge day filming and photographing the 2016 Shining Year production collection. First time I’ve attempted anything on this scale!!!!!!!!!!!! Wish me luck!!!!!!!

Love me some colouring book action!

Thanks to Joanna, a gorgeous goddess, for sharing this beautiful moment with her lovely daughter!

These are all from my latest FREE 100+ page colouring book download!!!

Get yours here!

The big day arrived…

My van is fucking chockers… Loaded to the gills for the 2016 Shining Year product collection video and photo shoot today…

2016 Shining Year product collection photo and video shoot in process with our set designer Mikaela from The Maker’s Collective and the amazing Tracy Lee Photography. Funny but true: I have been on the hunt for a photographer to work with, and ended up finding Tracy’s work and falling in love with it. She went to the top of my spreadsheet of photographers to work with and I planned on contacting her. One day later I saw she joined the Academy. A couple of days after that, I found myself sitting at the same table as her at The Women’s Collective conference. I passed her a note that day that said: You. Me. Next Friday. Work with me?

She wrote back: SURE!

When it’s meant to be, the universe throws signs at you until you relent.

Fully gussied up. #2016shiningyear product collection photoshoots.

Pure sex appeal.

There may or may not have been large handfuls of glitter thrown and blown everywhere at the product collection shoot. I may or may not have glitter on every square inch of skin that is very very difficult to get off. I may or may not be utterly delighted that I look even more like a mermaid now. My husband may or may not be not as quite delighted that our bed sheets bear the glittering marks of this historic day. Mwahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!

GLISTENING.

Yes, of course I’m not wearing shoes. Bloody hippy.

Fancy.as.fuck.

Once we spent HOURS doing product photography and videos, we headed to a STUNNING park for more photographs and videos… helped out by some truly beautiful souls including my darling mate Lile, Deanne, Kate and Smita.

7pm. Heading home. It’s been an 11 hour day doing this #2016shiningyear product collection photo and video shoot. Huge and amazing and hard work and perfection. Thank you to my beautiful team and tribe of support and mates for today. I am so very lucky. Can’t wait to share what we created with you all.

And… I totally had to schedule in a LBW (Lazy Bastard Weekend) to recover from that epic shoot. I slept for 14 HOURS after that!

Hot date ordering groceries online while the wombfruit destroy my office. #realparenting

Sunday verandahing. My favourite hobby.

Oh I’ve missed this. I haven’t made toys for over a year I think… Haven’t felt settled enough to do it. Mermaid Daughter #1’s kindy teacher asked me to do some repair work on the kindy room dolls. So much fun!!! I needlefelted some new clothes, repaired her hair, added flowers to her hair and an embellishment to her cloak. All while soaking up the verandah and garden, listening to Liz Gilbert’s Big Magic on Audible, while Mermaid Daughter #2 needlefelts beside me. Top quality Sunday afternoon.

I CAN NOT EVEN EMOTIONALLY PROCESS THIS SITUATION

National Portrait Gallery today! Hoooooorayyyyyyy!!!! Mermaid Daughter #2 on my back, Mermaid Daughter #1 between us, handsome stranger who I think I will take home with me.

Yay!!! Delighted that our upcoming 2016 Shining Year planners have been featured in The Mother magazine!!! Sooooo cool!!!!

My office takes up the master bedroom at the front of the house. So I made a nap station/reading nook in the walk in robe which also serves as my ginormous business filing cabinet of wonder. #priorities #doubleduty

Pizzzzzzza nighhhhhhht because adulting is hard. And it makes Beff do a happy dance like nothing else.

Another doll renovation for Mermaid Daughter #1’s kindy. This one had threadbare felt and holes so I needlefelted more felt into it, made a vest and pimped its style. Happy doll!!

Dropped off the pimped up dolls to kindy today and chose two more that looked verrrrrrry well loved. One has its head dangling off and the other looks like an octopus. This will be really fun to restore them!!

Makes my brain hurt and bend and grow… But I went to a business financial management workshop tonight to get smarter at reading financial statements. Was so good to work out where I’m at, what I’m good at, what I need to improve.

Our lil whirlwind is ready for summer.

One of the biggest joys I discovered in 2015 was graphic novels. They seem to be how my brain works… Art & words intertwined. Started this one last night. It’s somber & beautiful.

Awesome morning with my old high school darling Lena. Took an unexpectedly looooooong walk with our Girl Squad (we both now have two daughters). Happy heart to be out in the world with friends. Can y’all remind me I need more of this in my life? That getting swallowed whole by work & family makes all of us feel dull & slightly nutty?

EXCELLENT PHOTOBOMB EFFORT, Mermaid Daughter #1! #proudmama

Erin just messaged me… It’s just been announced that I’m a finalist in the MyBusiness Awards 2015 for Businesswoman of the Year. I’m blown away. Just had a little weep in the car. Wow. What a year. It’s taking me a lil bit to emotionally process it!!!! Thank you all so much… For everything. Best. Tribe. Ever. Love, Lucky & Teary Leonie

Just finished this. Mind. BLOWN. THE LAST 30 minutes are intensely spiritual.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT… Pizza with my mates! I forgot my glasses so I have to be all celebrity and wear my prescription sunglasses at night. We decided last time that we would have monthly potluck dinners… All the beautiful women I know here… I introduce them all to each other so they can all be friends too. Annnnnnd me and Melanie Rees have been online friends for YEARS and just met tonight. She is an amazing artist… I immediately ran around her house and into her studio to look at all her artwork. And what blows me away even more is that she only started painting once she had done my Creative Goddess e-course a few years ago!!!! Touches my heart.

Yayyyyyyy!!! Sunday afternoon nap = NAILED IT. I only ever nap in three hour blocks though… I can’t wake up earlier otherwise I’m a grumpy zombie for the rest of the day. Hunky love can power nap anywhere anytime for even just 15 minutes and be refreshed. I have to schedule mine in because they are a commitment.

On Sundays, when Mermaid Daughter #2 naps, Chris & Mermaid Daughter #1 watch a movie together. And I sneak off to bed for books or a block nap. Waaaaaalaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Fucking hilarious. As all British comedies are.

My night’s work… Reattaching the head & renovating this doll for my first mermaid daughter’s kindy room. He’s turning into a Summery Sun God. I don’t think he’s finished quite yet. Maybe some contrast yellow stitching in his coat? Maybe a yellow crown? Either way, he’s starting to shape up beautifully. I’m always amazed at how things flourish with a little love and attention.

I just attempted to do a workout routine at home. I got three minutes in until I gave up because both children were wailing like banshees and attempting to crawl back into the womb because I dared focus on anything but them. Children are ridic, yo. #solidaritymysisters

SYDNEY!!!!

I’m coming to Sydney on Fri Nov 13 for the awards ceremony for that whole myBusiness Australian Business Woman of the Year finalist thing… (JUST BOUGHT A TURQUOISE MERMAID FLAPPERS DRESS BOOOO YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!)

So… while I’m there… wanna play? We’re going to have a meetup in Sydney city… it will be WAY fun!!! (If you’re keen, please EMAIL US – support@leoniedawson.com – with SYDNEY in the header so we can give you the details!)

Husbo asked for an exercise bike for his early birthday present. It’s so great… We both jump on it when we are feeling a bit lagging in energy but can’t run away from the children. So far, so good. Will let you know how it is going in a month!!! Let’s see if we can make it into a habit.

Look what’s coming v soon…. 2016 GOALS WORKBOOKS!!!! DIARY/PLANNER!!!! TO DO LIST DESK PAD!!!!!

Almost 2am… Off to bed. Illustrating the sales page for 2016 product collection. Is booootiful. V proud. Can’t for full sentences. Grateful heart, creative hands. Excited to show you once all the videos and photos and art and technology and hearts come together. It’s not just me anymore. I gots me a team. A team of earth angels who signed up to believe in this mission as much as I do. Okay. Rambling now. Bedtime. Hunky slumbering man to put cold feet onto. G’night my loves.

I just started reading “The 5 Love Languages” and realised that the main way this hottie feels loved is through Quality Time, which I’m not always great at. I’ve always got my head stuck in a book. So I have started crafting out QT parts in our day just to talk and be with each other. It’s filling his love well and mine too. Today we ate lunch in the garden with Mermaid Daughter #2 roaming about. Watched this miracle gift of a garden morph into a new evolution of blooming. Lay in the grass to soak up the grace and warmth of Father Sun. Thank you Universe. More please.

It’s bustle and hustle over here. Me & our designers are doing round the clock shifts on the sales page for the 2016 #shiningyear goal workbook and planner collection. They’ve just headed to bed in America, so the nighttime shift starts for me. Books have just hit the Australian ports and will get through Customs and start shipping next week, with UK & US not far behind. It’s a thrilling season… Also a wild and busy donkey riding one for me & these magical humans I get to work with. We are definitely in the labour stage of birthing these babies… Can’t wait for you to cuddle them in your arms…… Love…. A very proud & a lil tired mama.

PHEW.

Well… fuck a duck… no wonder I’ve been feeling a bit busy the last few weeks… it’s because I HAVE BEEN!

Coming back to Canberra has been like a rebirth into the world for me… a rebirth into friendships and visibility and learning and connections.

I feel very grateful for EVERYTHING that is happening… it is one glorious, wonderful world.

Sending you love love LOVE to the moon + back!

Big love,

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