Hi loves,
It’s been a little while since we had one of those long, luscious, rambling posts filled with photos and life updates.
I find myself Instagramming which is really like instablogging, but it just ain’t as good as the real long form blogging thang that I’ve been so in love with for eight years now. Instagramming is like sending postcards, blogging is like sending letters with photos. An important distinction, me thinks.
So here I am.
Here’s my life.
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It’s been a month and a half since we moved into Paradise House.
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I’ve been extending my repoirtoire of skills: first with wood working and then fence making.
This is AMAZING to me.
All my life I considered myself as bereft of practical handyman kinda skills.
I think that was the biggest gift from renovating the Creative Caravan – I so badly wanted/needed an office/studio to work in that I decided to heft my fear of practical making-shit skills, and just DO IT.
And it was so much easier and more doable than I ever expected.
And I learned that yep – you do run into problems sometimes. And then you problem solve until you fix it, and it’s all good.
So I’ve been SO MUCH more courageous about renovations and making stuff since then, including renovating our old bathroom.
Over the last week I’ve been feeling a little uninspired which is always a good signal that it’s time to switch mediums or try something new.
So I took one of my pins from Pinterest and I ACTUALLY MADE IT.
I KNOW RIGHT. I ACTUALLY *MADE* SOMETHING FROM PINTEREST INSTEAD OF JUST PINNING IT.
This shocks me just as much as it might shock you.
It can be SO easy to just pin the inspiration there and not do anything with it.
And then you get all creatively constipated until you give yourself a creative enema and it all comes agusher.
I guess that’s what happened with me.
I challenged myself this week to make this:
Which is fairly exciting considering I haven’t made anything out of wood since a dingy junior high workshop classroom.
And I’ll be real with you here – I didn’t even consider looking up HOW to make it.
That kind of details stuff really puts me off my game.
So I just bought a chunk of wood, and four wooden wheels.
I didn’t even look up Youtube! What the!
I guesstimated everything and spent two glorious early mornings outside with Mermaid Daughter #1 running amok around me.
I jigsawed like a BOSS. I sandpapered like a BOSS. I worked out how to play power drills like a PRO!
And I did it all stylishly:
Of course.
That’s totally the Official Universal Wood Working Uniform incase you’re wondering.
We had to abandon work the first morning after realising we didn’t have wood screws long enough to – you know – actually hold two pieces of wood together.
But Miss O thought even a misshapen wooden almost-box was pretty rad by that point.
It made the perfect playground for beeswax modelling clay.
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Shititty bricketties. I just spent an hour on this post and nearly finished it and then just lost it.
I hate when that happens.
Also hate when peeps tell you that they just wrote a post and then lost it and you can never ever read it.
Sorry about that.
Onwards we shall go!
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Okay, so where were we?
Oh yes!
We MADE A CART!
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Mermaid Daughter #1 ADORES it. I am wild proud of it.
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And then we MADE A FENCE!
We needed a play yard for Miss O and the puppies to play in here.
We are on 2.5 acres. The top part is along a road, and the bottom part is thick rainforest falling steeply down into a creek. We’ve got a wallaby family that live down one side, and a kangaroo couple living down the other side. We needed a safe space where Mermaid Daughter #1 and the puppies could roam without getting into much trouble of the wildlife/road/cliff kind.
We feel dang proud of ourselves for this achievement:
We knocked over the installation in one day yesterday. It ended up being a really beautiful day working together with zilch meltdowns from anyone… we were knackered by the end of it, but my gosh was it worth it.
It’s a wee bit bare right now, but we’ll be adding vegetable gardens and making some more play equipment for Miss O.
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I’ve got four gorgeous souls arriving in three more days for our first private coaching retreat.
I’m beyond excited.
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The response to Soul Secrets To Success workshop has been INCREDIBLE.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for joining me.
And if you haven’t got your free ticket yet, jump on it NOW!
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I’m still decorating Paradise House.
Soon I’ll take photos to share with you.
In the meantime,
I found this a couple of days ago out on a girl’s date with Mermaid Daughter #1:
I’ve been simplifying all Mermaid Daughter #1’s toys and play areas.
Thus far, it seems to be conducive to a lot more independent, creative play.
Plus, it’s purty to look at:
Her nature table with goodies from around our land:
I painted this for her bedroom:
And have been painting up a storm for retreat bedrooms:
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I don’t think this would be a full and complete and correct documentation of my life if I didn’t refer to how much this is consuming me and I am consuming it:
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My days are filled with a lot of this:
and this:
And I couldn’t be more grateful.
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I am super inspired to go full tango on philanthropy.
I’ve set myself a ginormous, huge goal (I adore audacious goals!):
Over the next 12 months, I am going to donate $50 000 to charities and programs that change the world.
I’m going to make it happen.
This excites me and inspires me and makes me (even more) fiercely determined to make a huge difference in the world.
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Two weeks ago, I also started a Kiva team of incredible women changing the world.
We already have 50 members and have lent almost $2500 to entrepreneurs in third world countries to help them grow their businesses and help their communities from the ground up.
I am thrilled, and totally believe in the powerful work of Kiva.
If you haven’t tried out Kiva yet – click here to receive a FREE $25 loan to give!
Let’s change the world together, my love!
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I’ve read these books:
Rockabye by Rebecca Woolf (I adore that chick!)
I really honour how Rebecca doesn’t lose herself or her passions or her instincts in parenting.
Totally not the usual read for me – but holy guacamole am I loving it! Super smart, savvy + kind all at once!
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Home is where you hang your hat:
As you can see, life has been filled to the brim.
With rainforest and land and art and family and purpose and love and projects.
All good things.
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And I’m off, dearests.
Much to prepare for this week’s retreat.
I’m sending you love beams from the rainforest and more.
love,
