life has been incredibly full of late ... weekends have rushed by with hardly a spare moment, whether it be working on an event i am helping to pull together in my spare time, or going away for a long weekend to the snow with my husband, organising activities around my mother's 70th birthday and my older son's 17th, keeping track of work and preparing to work full weeks for a month and a half becos my boss is going on an overseas trip (which i found out today will be delayed by a couple of weeks becos her partner injured himself today!!) ... and sooo much more!
We have been socialising a bit lately with my husband's work colleagues (well some of them) which has involved dancing, loud music, clubs, and much alcohol - quite a change of pace from evenings in front of the tv!
and my women's circle has also committed to working through a 7 month Inner Goddess Makeover based on a fabulous book by a woman called Tanishka, who is originally a kiwi, but now lives in Melbourne. I am anxiously awaiting a package from her in the mail with a copy for each of us, hopefully in time for this coming weekend when we will be gathering out of town for a couple of nights. Looking forward to it!
OK now, you can gather yourselves up off the ground now (having fallen over in shock at seeing a new post on my blog!)
Promise to write again soon!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Sunday, June 3, 2007
so its been a while ...
sorry guys if you are checking here regularly, life has somewhat overtaken me in the last month or so. big time personal drama, but i won't go into that here, because i have something new to share with you.
today i had an epiphany of sorts :) for some time now i have been wondering about the message i have to share with the world ... i am a speaker without a topic - but one who can speak about anything, i am a writer without a book - but one who can write about anything.
and today, i had a realization that i want to write and speak about women's lives and women's wisdom. and that part of this has come to me because i am struggling to find my own wisdom and my own path forward just now. but i want to create something that women will give to their daughters, perhaps when they are as young as 8 or 9, or perhaps on their first menstruation - their initiation into womanhood.
a book that will also be shared with women having their first child, getting married or divorced, going through menopause, discovering their life purpose. a book of wisdom that draws from all women of all ages, from all around the world.
ahhhhhh.
it feels right to me. it feels like i have a purpose, to begin to research, collect, collate, edit and draw together the strands from women like those reading this blog .... and those who are not. from those who are legends in cyberspace and those who have never even seen, let alone turned on a computer. i want to collect their words, oral or written and put them in a place where every woman can read them.
so a book, or perhaps a series of books ... a platform on which to speak and share and encourage others to share ... a website/forum for women to voice their experiences and share and support each other, and potentially so much more!
i would love to read your comments and thoughts in response to this idea - what would you like to see or read or share in such a book?
today i had an epiphany of sorts :) for some time now i have been wondering about the message i have to share with the world ... i am a speaker without a topic - but one who can speak about anything, i am a writer without a book - but one who can write about anything.
and today, i had a realization that i want to write and speak about women's lives and women's wisdom. and that part of this has come to me because i am struggling to find my own wisdom and my own path forward just now. but i want to create something that women will give to their daughters, perhaps when they are as young as 8 or 9, or perhaps on their first menstruation - their initiation into womanhood.
a book that will also be shared with women having their first child, getting married or divorced, going through menopause, discovering their life purpose. a book of wisdom that draws from all women of all ages, from all around the world.
ahhhhhh.
it feels right to me. it feels like i have a purpose, to begin to research, collect, collate, edit and draw together the strands from women like those reading this blog .... and those who are not. from those who are legends in cyberspace and those who have never even seen, let alone turned on a computer. i want to collect their words, oral or written and put them in a place where every woman can read them.
so a book, or perhaps a series of books ... a platform on which to speak and share and encourage others to share ... a website/forum for women to voice their experiences and share and support each other, and potentially so much more!
i would love to read your comments and thoughts in response to this idea - what would you like to see or read or share in such a book?
Thursday, May 3, 2007
he is home and safe
and things are reverting pretty much to normal. almost in sync with his arrival, the weather turned cold and wet this week, and the autumn leaves that have been stubbornly clinging on are now mostly scattered across the lawns and filling the gutters.
his trip was an eventful one ... with snippets now trickling through as he remembers them. like yesterday morning when he came out and said " did i tell you how i got approached for a modelling job in singapore?" of course, he hadn't, so i pressed him for details :) apparently some guy had approached him in the street and told him they were looking for young guys for a modelling shoot the following week and would he be interested. gave him a business card and everything. my boy said - somewhat incredulously, that he was only in singapore for a day, and the scout looked most upset and asked him if he would be back in singapore any time soon. "not very likely" said my boy (who btw hated singapore). and the scout went on his way. joey went on to tell me the guy looked a bit dodgy, and apparently joey's girlfriend (who had been with him at the time the man approached) had run off as soon as he started talking to joey. lol.
anyway, he wasn't kidnapped for the white slave trade, and also hasn't started on the road to international modelling stardom!
he has struggled a bit this week with understandable tiredness and some asthma, but would go back to France in a heartbeat (and yes, me with him!!!)
had to stop for a minute and sort out a computer emergency ... all good now, thanks to the joey helpdesk (yes he is at school and i rang him on his mobile!)
his trip was an eventful one ... with snippets now trickling through as he remembers them. like yesterday morning when he came out and said " did i tell you how i got approached for a modelling job in singapore?" of course, he hadn't, so i pressed him for details :) apparently some guy had approached him in the street and told him they were looking for young guys for a modelling shoot the following week and would he be interested. gave him a business card and everything. my boy said - somewhat incredulously, that he was only in singapore for a day, and the scout looked most upset and asked him if he would be back in singapore any time soon. "not very likely" said my boy (who btw hated singapore). and the scout went on his way. joey went on to tell me the guy looked a bit dodgy, and apparently joey's girlfriend (who had been with him at the time the man approached) had run off as soon as he started talking to joey. lol.
anyway, he wasn't kidnapped for the white slave trade, and also hasn't started on the road to international modelling stardom!
he has struggled a bit this week with understandable tiredness and some asthma, but would go back to France in a heartbeat (and yes, me with him!!!)
had to stop for a minute and sort out a computer emergency ... all good now, thanks to the joey helpdesk (yes he is at school and i rang him on his mobile!)
Friday, April 27, 2007
the traveller returns!
tomorrow morning at 9.30am we go to the airport to pick up joey from his trip to France. i am looking forward to seeing him and hearing all the stories and seeing all the photos from his trip. i am excited about how much he will have learned about the world, and watching changes unfold in him as he processes it all and gets used to being back home again.
the three weeks has gone so quickly - for him and for us I am sure. I would so love to travel back there with him and share some of his memories and experiences.
the three weeks has gone so quickly - for him and for us I am sure. I would so love to travel back there with him and share some of his memories and experiences.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
love and respect
so i was reading in another blog about the possibility that what men most want in a relationship is respect, and what women want is love.
and i am wondering if your experience of life and relationships suggests that to be true ... or otherwise.
i can see some truth in it for certain ... i know that other things, material things, are not the priority in relationships for me - just the windowdressing of the comfort zone, for me having the assurance of love is most important as the foundation for adventuring into the world.
respect is something i feel needs to be earned - it is not automatically conveyed. in my family, physical affection and words of love were not casual daily events. they were reserved for special occasions, birthdays, events, celebrations of achievement.
so i have grown up to distrust those who throw out words of love too easily. to me, that wasn't real or true unless the other person actually knew me enough to really choose to love me or not.
i did make sure, though, in bringing up my own children, that words of love flowed more easily and they were never in doubt of how we felt about them. And we have encouraged them to hug and be hugged, or to ask for a hug when they feel the need for comfort. All things that never happened for me and my brothers as children.
in more recent years, i have developed a different idea about love and sharing love with others .... as an infinite resource, that can be dipped into at will and never runs dry. i have real concern and love for my friends who i have only met online, as well as those i have also had the privilege of meeting in the flesh.
and of course for the friends i meet and talk with daily or weekly.
amongst my women friends i find it easy to share an unconditional form of affection, and find it puzzling when in some cases, their male partners find the same women threatening, undermining of their masculinity, and who knows what else.
is it simply their own insecurities they are projecting, or is there something more? are they seeking respect from their partner?
i don't really have the answers, but i feel like i am swimming in the soup of these questions at the moment, perhaps because i am heading towards my mid forties, and around me, mid-life crises are burgeoning like many headed hydrangeas!
with love
and i am wondering if your experience of life and relationships suggests that to be true ... or otherwise.
i can see some truth in it for certain ... i know that other things, material things, are not the priority in relationships for me - just the windowdressing of the comfort zone, for me having the assurance of love is most important as the foundation for adventuring into the world.
respect is something i feel needs to be earned - it is not automatically conveyed. in my family, physical affection and words of love were not casual daily events. they were reserved for special occasions, birthdays, events, celebrations of achievement.
so i have grown up to distrust those who throw out words of love too easily. to me, that wasn't real or true unless the other person actually knew me enough to really choose to love me or not.
i did make sure, though, in bringing up my own children, that words of love flowed more easily and they were never in doubt of how we felt about them. And we have encouraged them to hug and be hugged, or to ask for a hug when they feel the need for comfort. All things that never happened for me and my brothers as children.
in more recent years, i have developed a different idea about love and sharing love with others .... as an infinite resource, that can be dipped into at will and never runs dry. i have real concern and love for my friends who i have only met online, as well as those i have also had the privilege of meeting in the flesh.
and of course for the friends i meet and talk with daily or weekly.
amongst my women friends i find it easy to share an unconditional form of affection, and find it puzzling when in some cases, their male partners find the same women threatening, undermining of their masculinity, and who knows what else.
is it simply their own insecurities they are projecting, or is there something more? are they seeking respect from their partner?
i don't really have the answers, but i feel like i am swimming in the soup of these questions at the moment, perhaps because i am heading towards my mid forties, and around me, mid-life crises are burgeoning like many headed hydrangeas!
with love
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Moving on and wondering ...
what is in the air at the moment?!! seems that there are lots of people experiencing dramatic life changes around me ... most of them painful. I don't know what is behind it all, or if they are simply coincidental, but i sure hope it all stops soon!
over the weekend i took part in an ashes scattering ceremony ... the weather turned out much better than expected so we were able to do it on the water at one of my stepmother's favourite childhood locations. it was very emotional and quite hard for many of those present, but provided a degree of closure - and the ability to begin to move on with life.
I loved connecting with the men of my family again - my brother and my father, who i see too seldom. One day I will persuade them all back to live somewhere near me!
I also had an insight into appreciating something that we all too often (we meaning I) take for granted - having a reliable memory. Surrounded by older family members and hearing the same stories repeatedly, i truly understood just how valuable it is to have good recall of not only what is going on right now, or who we have just told a certain story to, but also of our more distant past.
I love that older people (in their 70s or more) have such a wonderful recall and so many stories of their own childhood experiences. Not for the first time i have a desire to record those memories before it is too late.
over the weekend i took part in an ashes scattering ceremony ... the weather turned out much better than expected so we were able to do it on the water at one of my stepmother's favourite childhood locations. it was very emotional and quite hard for many of those present, but provided a degree of closure - and the ability to begin to move on with life.
I loved connecting with the men of my family again - my brother and my father, who i see too seldom. One day I will persuade them all back to live somewhere near me!
I also had an insight into appreciating something that we all too often (we meaning I) take for granted - having a reliable memory. Surrounded by older family members and hearing the same stories repeatedly, i truly understood just how valuable it is to have good recall of not only what is going on right now, or who we have just told a certain story to, but also of our more distant past.
I love that older people (in their 70s or more) have such a wonderful recall and so many stories of their own childhood experiences. Not for the first time i have a desire to record those memories before it is too late.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
podcast, swicki and video!
so there they all are now!
if you want to hear my voice (sounding as my son said like a public service announcement - i used my " radio" voice) click on the top link where it says Karen's test podcast and have a listen!
might record a more fun one at some point and add it in for my friends to listen to :)
play with clicking on the phrases in the swicki "cloud" and see what comes up for your searches - they can be quite interesting.
that's all for now, I have some other missions to take care of today ... spot you later.
if you want to hear my voice (sounding as my son said like a public service announcement - i used my " radio" voice) click on the top link where it says Karen's test podcast and have a listen!
might record a more fun one at some point and add it in for my friends to listen to :)
play with clicking on the phrases in the swicki "cloud" and see what comes up for your searches - they can be quite interesting.
that's all for now, I have some other missions to take care of today ... spot you later.
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