This time last week I was in gorgeous Akaroa New Zealand - having breakfast with the guys from work - this was the view....

That short break and a good friend convinced me that this is a good time to slow down, and embrace the inevitability of the holidays.  So for me this week it is casual clothes, low heeled sandals and a relaxed attitude to work.

Does that mean I am not working? No it just means I am not trying to make things happen - I am simply letting them happen.  From the amazing things that keep appearing out of the blue I am thinking this isn't a bad attitude to carry through for the rest of the year.

But of course I won't, at some stage I will get too serious about things and I will "forget to wear flats to work".

If you are struggling to get to the finish line that is "Christmas" - take a breath, put on some flats, and a Hawaiin shirt and if anyone asks you why tell them because it is 21 days until holidays and you are starting early.

If I don't get back here to say it in a few weeks - Merry Christmas ! Happy New Year! Happy Summer Holidays!

Until next time

Angela

Christmas Ghosts...confront yours today !

Really just 78 Days and this year more than most I am counting down the days - for me it is 73 days - that is when we take off for holidays and head to the beach.

It has been a busy year for us all this year and work is particularly busy at the moment. I am working 6 days a week at the moment and some of those days are very very long.

At this point four years ago I would have been panicking that I didn't have the Christmas cake made, or the plum pudding fruit soaking - now it is very cruisy at some stage just before we go I will chuck a cake in the oven and if I have time I will throw a pudding in the crockpot - and if I don't have time I will buy them. Christmas drama is definitely the Ghost of Christmas Past.

The Ghost of Christmas Present however - is still bonbons - I was shopping on Sunday and I couldn't help myself I found some gorgeous "beach christmas" bonbons - which I duly snuck into the house and hid under the stairs - right next to the box I bought last year !!!  And if I had had a torch and the will I probably would have found the extra box I bought the year before too....My name is Angela and I am addicted to BonBons.

As for actual presents - they are relegated to the Ghost of the Future -  I am about to go and organise a shopping day with the girls from the office like we did last year - so much fun.  And a special shopping trip with the kids because we have a dear friend and her family joining us this year and we are all very excited about buying little girl presents!

So have the Christmas Ghosts come out to haunt you yet this year ?

All my lifes a Circle......

I cannot believe it has been almost eight months since I posted here but I have an excuse - honestly!

Apart from being busy I have embraced the dreaded google+ - and between that and changing my work blog to a "word press" instead of "blogger".  It just seemed all too hard to try and work out if I could combine the two on the one dashboard.

But finally I have sat down - concentrated and read all the little bits and bobs and hey presto I think I can run two blogs simultaneously ! On two different formats from the one google+ dashboard.

Well hopefully maybe it will be a bit hit and miss and I will just post where ever I can get to first!

Notes From Daisy Mountain will be more about sustainability in the burbs these days as we have moved to a - wait for it 405 sqm block - so I am desperately going to be going back over some of the old blogs and finding some solutions for our new more compact existence.

Leaving our beautiful Valley was not as hard as I thought it might be - there is something really wonderful about being able to walk to a decent coffee shop, and the local shopping centre and the street where once a month they have a Farmers Market!

But I am so incredibly lucky that I get to work in that beautiful valley - finding just the right home for some wonderful families - and moving some of my friends close to me !!!!

Life is all about circles and cycles - and life has bought me full circle back to where I belong - in the blogging on line community that gave me the courage to spread my wings and do something very different with my life.   In the words of Harry Chapin - "all my lifes a circle, sunrise and sundown, the moon rolls through the night time til the daybreak comes around."

Talk soon

Angela aka Daisymum

Australia Day 2012

Australia Day - and a very different one for our family this year.

Normally we set up the BBQ and the tables in the back paddock make sure there is a pathway mown to the dam and invite all and sundry and then some to bring along a picnic and celebrate with us.

This year we did things a little bit differently - we weeded the garden, took rubbish to the dump and then lazed around most of the afternoon until it was time to walk to the Club for a drink - now dinner is cooking away (and smells great) in the oven because - we have no BBQ !

How unAustralian is that ? No BBQ on Ozday - why you ask?

Well when we moved we got rid of the old one and thought we would get something a bit smaller and more suited to a suburban home deck ( and I wasn't sure if I cleaned all the muck off the outside of the old one that it wouldn 't fall apart!).

So we looked and researched and eventually settled on the one we wanted - which wasn't in stock - so we paid a hefty deposit safe in the knowledge it would be here by mid January - until early January when we got a call to say it would be here in February - because it is a very popular model.

Then naturally we get a phone call last week to say it won't be here until March - March !!!! March - BBQ season is over in March - it gets cooler in March - football starts in March.

But I am determined to look on the bright side the new bbq will still look new for Next summer - unless the phone rings again........in which case we might be picking it up next summer.

Daisymum