dedicated to my tweeps…

This post is dedicated to my tweeps. I guess twitter is one of those things that unless you use it, you don’t understand it. Twitter is a safe place. As Nomie_yardarm described the other day, It is a place where I can hear about @mumto2angels who has got a new couch, I can hear about @spetznatz going to the synchrotron, I can hear about @TraceyMmm who might be looking forward to a hot date with her man. I can hear about @Gabfran and what new shoes she has blogged about and I can hear about @jodieansted and her latest dish she has cooked. Because of twitter, I am working on getting a team together for the mother’s day classic which @Nomie_yardarm has volunteered for and started training for. What an inspiration!

When I have a problem with something technical @spetznatz has been ever so kind as to answer my stoopid questions on more than one occasion. I am completely clueless when it comes to computers and technology. Much as I love it, I love the nerds more cos they can help me use it!

Because of twitter I have met @aprilke and her wonderful blogs, and I have also met @Ggirl_Australia who always has an encouraging word to say. @Jellywrestler with her wonderful post-it note bikini, who could forget! Always like to hear from @Ustupidbitch too…

It was through the safe place that twitter is that I found support when my Mum was diagnosed with cancer.

Not to forget her @Bern_Morley and her latest: samisms! @Bern_Morley has also had me in tears over her blogs at times. She writes with such raw feeling, and what she writes is stuff I can relate to.

Twitter is also a place I can hear about @KerriSackville and what her toddler is up to for the day. This usually illicit a laugh and may or may not have something to do with nutella. Twitter is a place where I find @sharpestpencil who is learning new things about school holidays and quite interestingly! Her son, the smallest pencil has a blog… From when he was only months old! Twitter will help me keep up to date with when that is updated! I can also chat to @MegsyJC and hear about her plan to secure an iPhone for herself. On twitter I can chat to @AliWeatherburn about beer and I can meet @An_Idle_Dad who usually has a witty anecdote to offer on any given argument. I like seeing @rickofawesome on twitter too, cos he is someone who knows how to have a joke and a laugh! Also he just drips in awesome whenever I speak to him.. Maybe some of it will rub off on me? I also love to chat to @indydreaming about her latest blogs!

On twitter I get to hear how @41babyproject and her baby are going, and I also get to learn some peculiar things from @markbate.

Because of twitter, I got to catch up with a friend @robtrotter and his wife when I was last in Melbourne.

Of recent I have met @mummytime and @Seraphim75, @missBenben, @sheisjade, @DonnaTewTwits, @macsnorky, and @jaybirdoak.

I love to hear from @plauren on twitter too. And @__mares__ shares with me what her plans are, and often we can moan about Melbourne weather. Trust me! There’s plenty of moaning to be done.

On twitter I get to hear from @appletartlet who is wrangling the kids in the school holidays and looking forward to her last chemo session next week. Well, looking forward might be the wrong way to put it. She is looking forward to it being over.

Twitter informs me what @Aussiewaffler is up to, whether it be her latest art project or nursing a wii-sports injury. Hearing from @theNDM is always good, she has a tale or 2 to tell about the lovebus. She would like to be able to have baileys on her breakfast cereal. @theNDM has lately been whacking tweeps with sticks, well just @KerriSackville cos they are up against each other for the #2010bloggies.

Twitter brings me news from @Quirky75 and what is happening in her house over there in the middle east. @AngelaPJ and @Sparkly_tiara have been quiet of late, but that’s probably cos they’ve been busy with school holidays! I hope!

I don’t hear much from the lovely @rachwells, or anywhere near as much as I’d like to. But she is busy. @teddybear21 always has lovely things to say, always a greeting of good morning twitterland! And that makes me happy! @wollywally always has wise words to say, spreading the love. And @ACTinglikemama will spend some time chatting in between looking after her bubba’s! @SuperTriviaGuy usually has something positive to say. And will wish a good day to all, he has a positive outlook on life, and things will always improve the next day…

I noted that @TarrynRucci has been busy putting her marketing degree into use as she campaigns for votes for @KerriSackville’s bloggies attempt! @Carly_grace keeping us all interested with her blogs. I don’t mind the odd chat with @CherylH77 about her plans for the weekend, and she is usually dreaming of shoes.

This week I met @Kylie_ladd too! Always nice to welcome a new tweep!

Whatever the story my tweeps are telling, I must say that if anything, they are all human beings living life. We do happy dances when there is triumphant news and we console and commiserate when there are failures. We rejoice at the good, and provide a sympathetic ear and hugs when times get tough.

On twitter I met J, @akicktotheneck. And truly from the moment I met her, I knew she was a special person. The way she chatted about her battle with cancer and her on-going treatment. J is a positive person and has done it tough. A number of different occasions I have spent chatting to J, and she always has her chin up. J sees life as it is, and has had me in stitches countless times. She has also had me crying on a number of occasions with her various blog posts. It was through twitter that I saw this incredible outpouring of human strength and love and energy. Last week when we found out that J had suffered an aneurysm, and was in ICU, it was incredible to see the response. It was through J that I also met @labodydesign and @origazgirl. It is the plight of these three women I write about today. It is J really who is fighting the biggest fight of her life and @labodydesign and @origazgirl who are fighting alongside her. J is fighting to live. And if it were not for twitter I’d have never met (?twet=twittered/met) all of these wonderful people, including J!

Right now I want to send all my love, energy and positive thoughts out to J. I know she has it in within her to beat this, J has an extreme amount of courage and strength. But if we all send our positive thoughts, love and energy to her she will make it through! So this post is dedicated to J, and hoping that it generates lots of warm, fuzzy positivity for her. Hoping all this energy, love and strength being sent to J, will work towards a good outcome for her.
The latest updates say that J is now awake.. And you can read about that here

I love you all! Thanku for being who you are to me!

I hope I haven’t forgot anyone.. But as you can see it took awhile to compile!! If I have forgotten you flick me a dm!

I knew I’d forget some important people! @Raznay the dear one has been away for a few weeks! I hope she’s ok!!

Where’s the love…?

Ok, a blog… Well here it is.

I am a student midwife. And as a student midwife one of the first concepts we studied last year had to do with the empowerment of women, and I think this principle can be applied to life in general really. It is a principle which in relation to midwifery generally refers to the empowerment of women. The idea is to find ways in which to enable a woman to feel that she has the power to achieve the things she needs to. By facilitating a woman to feel powerful she can then use this power to impact her family, her community, her workplace with this positivity. The central theme seems to be a matter of confidence. A matter of believing you have the capacity to do something. I think this can be applied to men and women alike. That this empowerment can be so much more of a positive, not only for the person who is empowered but also for their communities, social settings and families. Obviously there are cases where just a simple belief or confidence that you can do something; are not going to be sufficient. But let’s just stick to the simple stuff ok.

This morning, someone who I care about in my online community of friends received some callous criticism. I felt the criticism unfounded. I feel the criticism was delivered gutlessly, and I feel it was uneducated criticism. I think the person delivering the criticism did not know what they were talking about and decided to jump on a high-horse. I think that person might need a hug. I find that usually those who are most critical of others are so because they are people who are the most in need of a hug. They are people who are generally dissatisfied with their own life sufficiently enough to feel the need to cut everyone else down around them. They are people who need every extra bit of patience we can muster. So rather than extending the hand and delivering a slap (as I might feel like doing) I feel that maybe we should send a hug.

I think that we as human beings all have a natural competitive streak to varying degrees. I guess that what I mean by that is that there are differing degrees to which we choose to compete with others. I think all of this is natural.

And let’s face it, in all honesty; a little bit of competition is healthy right? It prompts us to try to exceed our previous efforts. As an ambitious person, I see nothing wrong with this. I am competitive too, I like approval from people I admire and I like to be seen as talented. I like to excel and I like to do better than I have done before.

I guess my problem therein lies with the over-competitiveness some people seem to develop as a result of all this. I think the problem I am trying to get to here is something I see a lot of in people. I see all too often people are trying to have the “best” of experiences or the “worst” experiences. As an example, I hurt my ankle a few years ago. I couldn’t walk for 6 months. There are some people who you would talk to about this, and they would have all the sympathy in the world. There are others who would want to tell you about their experience. And they would need to detail why their injury was so. Much. Worse.

I see it happening in women who are mothers as well. I have a friend who had a caesarean section to deliver her child. And said to me that she felt she was frowned upon by other friends who had been able to give birth without having a caesarean. It’s this kind of attitude that sucks. I mean come on! Who is she to say that her labour was or wasn’t any worse? I mean, who is ANYONE to say such a thing?? Seriously, I am not you and you are not me. So I can’t comment with absolute conviction what should or shouldn’t be. Everyone is unique. And instead of this constant competition; I think we need to band together as humans. We need to work as a team. We need to empower each other to become the best we can be. We need to encourage, nurture and grow.

This is not to say that there is not a time and place for criticism. But it all depends on the mode in which it is delivered. In fact it’s all in the delivery. It depends on the place it has come from. If it has come from a place of caring, of nurturing of growing then it is helpful. If it has come from a place of malice, of bitterness, of contention, or from a place of one person projecting their own insecurities onto others then this is not appropriate. And I think we need to rally together to become more positive people all round.

We don’t all have to agree all the time. Cos let’s face it: we won’t! That idea is as unrealistic as it sounds. But we can make an effort to be uplifting to people. Make it a goal to make one person smile each day. I guess if I do this, I feel happier.. And I feel like I have made some sort of difference..

Couch potato

In November last year, I wrote a post. The post simply put detailed some plans I had to make changes in myself. I made a commitment to get fit, get healthy, get strong. I wanted to lose weight and feel good. I decided that if I was going to do it; I had to make the commitment and take the plunge. No sense in waiting for the new year! I started my new life then and there.
Since that post; anyone who reads my tweets, facebook status updates or ramblings on my blog would know I have made a conscientious effort to exercise. I have exercised in rain, hail, shine or extreme heat (45degrees no less!) I have eaten healthy and well. And since November I have done this!
Here’s the best part! I have now lost 7 kilos, I can now box, I can do body pump classes. I can run for half an hour, I can lift weights! Yes, sometimes I fall over. But not nearly as often as I used to.. (read about that on my dizzy post!)

So here I am. Next plan is: I am going to continue with my weight loss quest. But I also now have a goal.

I’ve been using an iPhone app called “couch 2 5k”. It’s aimed at someone who has not done any running getting to run 5k. It’s been good.

I also thought I should set a goal, and I have.. I have decided to get a team together to run the mothers day classic in may. It’s a 4k run and it’s kind of perfect cos it raises money for breast cancer! (my mother is currently winning that battle!)

So, I am putting the call out everyone who wants to join? Anyone wherever in Australia you are! Let’s join together and get teams in every state of Australia! And let’s raise money for breast cancer research! Who will join me? In getting fit? And raising money! Who will join with me in getting healthy and losing weight? And raising money for a good cause!

I don’t wanna hear any excuses! We can allrun if we put our minds to it! I have an old ankle injury which is giving me grief this week! But what’s that in the scheme of things? I have a goal and I’m not goig to let anything get in my way…

You might say I’m a little determined? Now, need to try and convince my little sis to get on board! (cross country runner from way back).

Last I checked the mothers day classic website it sai registrations start in February! So I figure if we have a team together in the next week or so that’d be something!

Who’s with me?

Photo meme

Ok, so I guess I gotta do it! Blogging on iPhone gets tiring! But here I am! Long story short my USB thingy for internet is broken on my laptop.. So here I is!

First Thea over at do I really wanna blog? was first to tag me, and then Naomi at Under the yardarm did too! So I guess I gotta do it! I love this! Really! I spent about an hour tonight looking at photos.. It brought up a lot of memories, some good, some… Er… Less than good… I had a heap of photos, and I guess there are some I might be tempted to delete, but then it, er… he still really *was* a part of my life for sometime… So I guess it’s all a part of the story….

On my hunt for favourite pic I first decided on, this one…

It’s a pic of me, my brother and 2 sisters… In 2006, we spent a day together in Fremantle, Perth. We laughed all. Day. Long.

I love it, but I also love this one…

.. Basically just cos we all smiling and having fun..

But I also wanted a pic which showed me and friends! So I went for this next one.. My best friend T and I… We were playing with my underwater camera, trying to get the perfect shot! It wasn’t working cos I kept floating up to the top… So the first shot was well, this…

Then it improved, and we got this..

Which was getting better.. But still not great! I mean it still looked funny… So then we finally ended up with this!

I think my fav pic of all time though is this! Nope you know what! I can’t effing pick one!!!! But this is one of! It’s of the day in freemantle, Perth. It’s just my sister and I walking down the street, but I like it…

So who am I going to tag? I am going to tag none other than the fabulous wench, TraceyMmm over at My life uncensored it’s ur turn now!!! Xxxxxx

Lost and found….

So I think I am becoming a real blogger! He he! The reason I say this is because I came up with this blog post at 2:27pm yesterday! I am becoming a real blogger cos I am inthe midst of a stressful situation I stopped to think, I could blog about this!

Yesterday I drove from Melbourne to as it will now be known as Woolagoolagong! Which is 4 hours drive! I had to be here to start work at 2:30pm. When I got here I was unpacking my car and as I pulled a particular item out of the car and realised all too late that tucked *inside* the pocket of said item was a pair of earrings! Yes, you heard me! WAS! As I said I realised too late! When I peered inside, only ONE of the earrings remained! I don’t know about you, but of all the things in the world I could happily lose, ONE earring does not fit into that category! No, I’d much rather lose BOTH earrings! You see upon losing a single earring I am faced with a dilemma: throw the other one out, or keep it in my jewellery box to forever remind me of the great *pair* of earrings I once had!!!

As I was saying I was searching the ground inside and outside my house, and in my search I found a dollar! (score!) ANY find is a good find.. I started thinking though of all the things we lose and find.. What is the craziest thing you have found?

What is the most valuable thing you have lost and then found again? The value might not be in the dollars but moreover in the sentimentality?

Craziest thing I have ever lost and never seen again was a ring my parents gave me for my 16th birthday! It was kind of symbolic, and I lost it, don’t know where, don’t know when.. Just kinda lost it on the journey! And it has never returned to me! I know the day I noticed it was missing, it had been missing for a very long time.. As had the reason I was given it, it was kind of surreal..

The best *find* I ever made was when I was 12, we were riding bikes to school, my brother and sister were quicker riders than I and both went past the item, and then I rode along a little slower and stopped to see, a hundred dollar note partially obscured by some mud! It was around the time that plastic notes came out, and so I rode home and showed my parents in disbelief! Best find I ever made!

And the craziest story of lost *and* found was one day when Mum discovered her diamond was missing out of her engagement ring! She was desperately upset about it, and spent weeks and weeks looking for it! Even to go so far as to empty out the skip bin at her work! A number of months later, she was hanging some washing out and a glimmer caught her eye! It was quite amazing, there, nestled in the dirt next to the washing line pole was her diamond out of the ring! Even more amazing when you know the diamond is not all that big!

What about you?! What have you lost!?what have you found? What have you lost and THEN found that you thought perhaps you’d never see again?

You are my sunshine….

Well, to say I am chuffed would be the understatement of the century!!! I have received a blogger’s award.. Since it’s the only award I’ll receive… (no academic over here!) I am so excited to pass on the love!!! I LOVE comments on my blog, and the person who gave me this award is the lovely Thea over at do I really wanna blog?

And lets face it! We all know Thea does want to blog….!! She LOVES it, and so do we love her blogs!! She writes on all sorts of things, I love it when her blog comes up with a new one.. And she was one of the first I followed.. But not the first I found…

Here is the award!

It is to acknowledge those that have a blog and spend endless hours ensuring that other bloggers get feedback on their blogs by leaving comments, adding themselves as a follower or dropping by just to let you know there are people out there.

So now I have done my happy dance… 2 happy dances in almost as many days… WOW! I have to say, this tweeting, blogging community has given me so much support, and the comments I get on my blog are just another facet of this support.. The person I choose to pass on the award to is none other than the Sharpest Pencil in the pencil case…. It is to Lana, that I pass on this award! Lana who I found first in the world of blogs.. I found her blog The journey from premature to…. well, quite mature

It was the first blog I found… And until I discovered it had been posted in retrospect I spent some time crying over it. Lana writes so eloquently. What she writes is so moving, and so poignant. I love to read her blog.. And since then she has also started another blog for her own writing…. The new blog is so aptly named: The Sharpest Pencil as she is.. On this new blog, Lana writes in such a way as to provoke thought, but she manages to polish it off with a bit of well-placed humour as well. I am always honoured when she comments on my blog… So herein lies the reason for this award… It is nice to know that people are out there and reading your blog…

Getting fit…

Ok, this morning I made the comment on twitter that I have lost another kilo.. (pause for a yay!) And have been asked to blog….. So here it is!

I have been on a get-fit/get-healthy quest… And I am happy to say it’s working. I have lost 7 kilos so far.. And toned up heaps. Here’s how I know how… Clothes I had in my cupboard which had got too small, are now loose… And things which didn’t fit me before do now. So that is uber-exciting… As well as the overall feeling of goodness…

How have I been doing it? Up until Christmas, I was going to boxing classes,  body pump classes once a week.. Classes are not for everyone. But I like them.. It’s a solid hour of workouts which forces me to work my ass off! It’s good cos I have to go at a certain time to fit it in, and I know I work hard when I go… After christmas, the reason I haven’t been is because they had a week of no classes at the gym.. It’s only a small gym, so they had skeleton staff for a week.. And this last week I have been in Melbourne…

But the main theory here is, I eat 5-6 small meals a day.. A meal can consist of a sandwhich, or an orange, or a handful of nuts, breakfast is my biggest meal of the day, usually something like muesli.. And I am just eating lots of fruits and veg… It’s all good healthy eating.. Definitely easy being that I only cook for myself… For the most part I try to limit alchohol to 2 nights a week.. But that has been somewhat lax while away in Melbourne too…

While I have been in Melbourne I have been doing lots of hikes and walks in the mountains. My family live in the Dandenongs in the east of Melbourne. And I have done a number of bike rides too. The bike rides and the hikes up here, are not easy!!!!!!

So here I am, lost another kilo…. do a happy dance with me as I continue.. and I look forward to boxing next week…. If you have any kind of frustration in your life, then boxing is for u!!!!!!

I’m so DIZZY! my head is spinning!

Ok, so this is a little update on my overhaul! I am feeling good.. I have been going to the gym 5-6 times a week, getting stronger, fitter and falling over is happening less! <– I should explain!

As a child I had middle ear infection after middle ear infection after you guessed it! Middle ear infection! Mind you they only discovered this was happening at age of 3! Mum always knew there was something not quite right cos she, at times, had trouble settling me! There you go, Mum! I was not just a sook! I was in pain!!

Anyhow, this little problem of ear infections kept occurring and as a result of around 6 or so operations? I don’t even know how many! My hearing is permanently damaged. I also have tinnitus, which I have had for about 10 years! It is a permanent ringing in the ears! It never goes away.. So while it does change in pitch, intensity and volume, it. never. goes. away. I don’t like silence.. Most people (usually busy mothers) say: I’d love a few moments silence.. So would I.

So here we are in 2010, I am in my mid 20s and somehow the tinnitus hasn’t gone away, and the hearing is what it is. In most cases I can work out what is happening. I have trouble in noisy places more than most people my age would, and I also have trouble with accents. I can only use one ear on the phone, the other one won’t hear anywhere near as well.

All of this has left me somewhat unco-ordinated and quite shall we say lacking in the balance department. But I take it as it comes. Yes, I fall over more often than normal people do, I fall down stairs, off curbs, trip over things, I fall off bikes, off slides, off swings, chairs, I fall in all sorts of places… But I get up and I keep walking. And you can all laugh now.. Cos it’s what I do.. It’s what I gotta do to keep moving… It doesn’t stop me.. In fact I think it makes me kind of endearing, kind of cute… Kind of quirky… Like to call myself a beautiful mess… I am what I am, and no-one’s gonna change it… So if I don’t laugh then other people will feel bad for laughing… We can’t have that now, can we?

I will continue with the gym and fitness thing. Though I tumbled down some stairs last night. I will keep going, cos although my balance will never be what everyone else’s is, I just know it’ll get better.. And I will feel better.. On the overhaul, weight loss stalled over christmas as the gym hours were different and I was working so many extra hours. I was unable to go to the gym.. I have not gained, but I have continued to tone.. And well, you all saw me in my purple dress… The journey starts with a single jog… And so it continues…

Home sweet home..

So I was thinking today, (I had a lot of time to think on my 4hour car drive!) about this year and what it is to bring! I’ll give you some background on the issue at hand!

I am 25 and going into second year uni this year. A few years ago I moved from my childhood home up to the gold coast. I spent 3 years living up there and moved back just after my 24th birthday. Whilst living up there I spent 2 years in a relationship with a man who I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. On my 24th birthday I caught him in a compromising position, and there ended the relationship. My heart was broken and I was left scarred by that experience. To me my birthday has always been my favourite day of the year! I know, heaps of other people feel the same way, but anyone who knows me would tell you that I take this birthday stuff to another level! For this man to hurt me more deeply than anyone has ever hurt me and on. My. Birthday!

I can’t even begin to describe the pain I felt. And we are now 18 months down the track.

To continue, after this I tried to continue on with life up there but it just wasn’t going to happen. I needed to get far away from him and closer to my family. It was going to be the only way I’d get the support I needed to pick up the pieces of my life and move on. It was decided that I would move to Melbourne and move back in with mum and dad. I am so grateful for them! And looking back it can’t have been easy to have me move back in under their roof, their rules and so on! Oh how grateful I am! But as much as I had grown to dislike where I was in Queensland, as I packed my stuff and my time there drew to a close I felt tinges of sadness. I really started to enjoy my time, enjoy living there. Thinking to myself as I left, why couldn’t it always be this good?

So anyway, here I was in melbourne, November, 2008. I was unemployed and decided for the first time in my life to go after my dream. On a whim one morning before I had discovered Twitter I was surfing the net. I thought “I wonder if its too late to apply for uni next year?” and looked it up, no just in the nick of time! I applied, never believing I would get in! When I told mum of my application over the phone she could not contain her excitment and leapt off her chair dancing! My mum is a special lady, she was a paediatric nurse before she married my dad and she is one person who understands my absolute fascination with all things human body, medical etc. This is one thing that mother and I share cos we just KNOW!

And what do you know? In January, 2009, my dream came true. I was accepted into my uni course. A double degree in nursing/midwifery. Mum danced some more when i told her! Dad even danced this time too! The catch? I had to move again! This time 4 hours west of Melbourne to a place called Warrnambool.

Warrnambool is a fairly big regional centre. A population of about 30 odd thousand I am told. Warrnambool is by the water; often nicknamed: windy warrnambool!

So this year has passed. Well, 2009 has anyway! I have finished 1st year and passed with flying colours! This year has not been without difficulty; I was unemployed for the first 3 months I lived there and *ashamed to admit* relying on support from parents to survive. (not a habit I like to be in at my age!)

In July, my grandfather died after a long battle with life. It was not unexpected, but sad all the same! In fact I lost count of the number of times they had expected him to die and he didn’t! So I guess we were caught unawares!

In September, mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. Very big shock! But she is doing ok! Mum is a fighter, and she will take that cancer and make it her bitch!

Through all these tough times I felt very alone. I felt extremely friend-less! I felt unsupported completely!

For this reason when my lecturer offered me a place at the Melbourne campus of the uni I jumped at the chance! I had the marks to make it, and mum and dad have even agreed to let me come back AGAIN! Even though the house rules
Clearly state that when you are 25 it is time to move out! They will bend the rules for ME! besides, they have a 5 bedroom house! Plenty of room!

So here I am, facing another move! While I can’t really comlain, it’s my dream! To live back this way, I am starting to feel those tinges of sadness once more! What IS that?! I am noticing all the lovely things about the place I have resented for so long! Is it a simple case of: don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone? Or is it just second thoughts, anxiety about somewhere new? I don’t know I’m feeling sad about the move. I am settled. I have great housemates, I have a good job, love the gym, the beach. All that stuff!! Argh! Why can’t I know if I *have* made the right decision?!

When I told Mum of my plans to move she did a happy dance from her bed! I don’t base my life around what my family want but I do wanna be closer to them! I miss them, more often than when shit happens. When uni starts up I won’t be able to afford to come back for many visits, both work wise and financially! Being a student doesn’t pay nearly as well as you’d think!!!!

2009

Ok, so @Nomie_yardarm over here at under the yardarm has tagged me! Nomie is a lovely gal, and as a matter of fact one of the only tweeps I have had the fortune of meeting in person! Nomie and I are both from a similar area in the east of melbourne.. Where she enjoys activities such as naked taxi rides and a spot of wizard stalking on occasion!
So the idea here is to write a list of 10 things that make me happy. Now you will need to excuse me but I am typing this on my iPhone so it may be brief!

1. Running- recently I have undertaken a “me” overhaul. And my new joy is running! A few months ago I fell of the treadmill when I put it up as high as 8k. But now I can run for 10 mins straight at 10! Everyone who’s seen me has commented how much weight I have lost! It’s so satisfying and I feel so good!

2. Learning- it’s not for no reason that I am 25 and just finished my 1st year of nursing/midwifery degree! I have 3 years to go and I am loving every minute and enjoying learning so many new things!

3. This brings me to number 3. Midwifery! I love it! I love EVERY minute of it! I love seeing the baby develop, palpate the baby’s position in mothers tummy! I love being there for the new family after baby is born and helping them adjust to their new life!

4. I love sunshine! When the sun is shining I have this unexplained energy like never before. It’s strange, just makes me wanna be outside and soak it up!

5. My family. They make me so happy! This year has been one which has reminded me to cherish them and love them more than ever! We lost my grandfather after a long battle, and now mum is fighting cancer! Seeing mum go through what she has so far I have been reminded to be happy for the family I have! And also to be happy that I have the mum I have! She is one special lady!

6. I am happy when I entertain! I love to cook and bake and having people to share it with is even better! I have a few signature dishes, which I love to make, mostly cos people enjoy eatig them SO much!!!

7. A glass of wine makes me happy! Love to get to the end of the day and have a nice glass! Makes me happy to have a glass with dad when I get to go home, makes me happy to chat with a friend over a wine!

8. Going home makes me happy! Currently I live 4 hours away from my family in the west of Victoria! It’s not my first choice for a place to live, mostly because it is so far from my family and I guess being single makes it harder to feel supported when stuff happens. But when I get to go home to my other home in Melbourne I feel happy!

9. Being a part of a community! That makes me happy! My parents are quite involved in a local church which for he most part I don’t attend. But even though I don’t usually go, when I do attend they are all so lovely! They care about what I do and they are interested in my life! So for that, if not for any other reason it makes me happy to be a member of tha community.

10. Learning from the past and looking to the future! That makes me happy cos I love making progress. I choose not to regret anything that has happened in my past, instead I choose to learn from the past and apply those lessons for the future. I think if I can begin each new day with a renewed sense of drive and motivation then it’s got the best chance it can!

11. My tweeps! To be honest I have felt so much more support and love from perfect strangers this year! I love my tweeps and love that they share their lives with me!

Nb- these are in no particular order

Now I have to tag 10 people I think! So here goes! A list of top Bloggers!

Rickofawesome over at “sit down for this” sit down for this

Lana over at sharpestpencil

Kerri at <a href="life and other crises

Tracey over at my life uncensored

Caveat calcei over at law and shoes

Steve A at steve a’s blog

Sarah P at oh the possibilities

Ok that’ll do, I am going between here and twitter on my phone to find links and I have run out of time! I need to save for a new USB! Have fun! Love you All!!!