Looking back and looking Forward....

Wow - I just went right back to the beginning and read my very first post - and then my second one - Jacqui Jones you have been with me all this time! Thank you !

I am sitting here with a biog smile on my face for the lovely life I ad before I went back to fulltime work!

Do I miss it - yes some elements of it really tug at my heart strings, the garden the freedom to sit and sew all day if that's what I wanted to do.  But most of all I miss sharing my achievements - my baking, my home grown this and that - my sewing projects.  Now my version of "sharing" is dropping off the local Newspaper with my work stickers on the front because it has an article about how I sold a home in 7 days and another article about vacant land that I am quoted in.

How my life has changed - for the better? After reading those first few posts I am not so sure.

Until next time

Angela

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

New Years Resolutions

Well it is that time of year again - a time to reflect on what has been and what is to come. I don't make resolutions as much as plan for the year ahead.

Although last New Year as I sat on the beach contemplating who knew that we would sell DaisyMountain and move to the 'burbs'? I certainly didn't plan for that.

What I did plan for however was to Simplify my life - and that came through selling our five acre property and large house - and with them the hours spent in maintenance, cleaning and travelling.

I planned to spend more time with my children - and that came through selling DaisyMoutnain and moving closer to work so while they have been on holidays I can come home for lunch, take them to the park after work for a play and spend longer at home with them in the morning before heading to the office (2 minutes away).

My other plan for the year was to streamline my business so that I could do more of it - and that has come through selling DaisyMountain ..... you get my drift

That is the thing with "resolutions" or plans when you give it up to the universe you acheive your aims but sometimes in ways you least expect. And sometimes it is as simple as one grand leap achieves several aims.

So for the year ahead my "resolutions" or plans include:

- taking some of this extra time and spending it on me - and in the process getting healthier, thinner and gaining more energy.

- sticking to my new business plan - a very streamlined simple plan which will get me the results I want

- and ticking some things off my (yet to be created) bucket list - which I call the Daisy Do list.

Have you got one of these? It amazes me how many times I have been told by highly successful people "write it down and it becomes a reality". This year I have done a lot of writing down and those things have become reality.

I am not sure what to add - oh there are a few things like waterski again, snow skiing, get back on a surf board. But in the few minutes I have spent thinking about this list I have realised that my dreams are pretty light on - maybe a bit safe - so for the next few days I will be going all out and thinking outside the square - thinking big and thinking bold - to compile the DDL.

My "almost New Year" challenge to you is to do the same - It doesn't have to 100 things but there have to be some things that will require effort and planning - something that will be an ACHIEVEMENT in every sense of the word.

Until Next time

Daisymum

Sunday afternoon

Thought I would share a photo I took at a new home I listed last week - this Wisteria is simply gorgeous. The photo below is just part of the garden there too....look at that Queensland bottle tree.

Well another lazy Sunday has passed with usual round of cooked breakfast quick game of cards with the kids and loads of relaxing and playing games together.

Daisygirl16 went off to school camp today - at the Sheraton !!! - it is a hospitality camp - funny how they didn't need any parent help on this it is probably the only school camp I could see myself on! !! Although the girls are going there to work - making beds, serving food etc we still had to pay - not sure that is quite right but oh well.

The kids seem to be the only ones going anywhere at the moment - Daisyboy15 just got back from the trip of a lifetime to New Zealand with his rugby team - they played a game, watched a couple of world cup matches and did the usual tourist stuff in Wellington.

Mind you daisyman and I are going on a fishing trip later this month to raise money for the Harcourts foundation. Now you all know camping is not my thing but I am rather looking forward to waking up on Teewah beach in a tent.... but I reserve the right to change my mind if it is raining !! The Harcourts Foundation is largely supported by agencies who donate a percentage off the top of their commission - it is a lovely worth while thing to see the money be distributed to worthwhile charities. Next year the major fundraiser is a trip with a terrific bunch of agents walking the Kokoda Track to raise funds for the Foundation.

Actually when daisyboy15 went to New Zealand we were having trouble getting the boys a game as it was school holidays - because of the sort of company I work for I was able to send the CEO Mike an email asking if he could do anything (Harcourts started in NZ in Christchurch) - after six long weeks and a series of emails going higher and higher up the food chain - they got the boys a game at Poirura College - daisyboy and his teams mates said it was the highlight of the trip staring down the Haka performed by the opposition!! It made me realise how proud and lucky I am to work for a company that really does live its core values - Fun and Laughter, People First, Do the Right Thing and Be Courageous. The Foundation is another example of the company living its values not just paying lip service to them.

Until the next time I have five minutes spare !

Daisymum