Best part of the day.

In keeping with my efforts to live more 'in the now' -  to stop and take time to appreciate - to see, to acknowledge and just look - I got to thinking about what are the best parts of my day, when I find it a little easier to stop and take notice.

One of my favourite times of the day is when I walk out of my office at the end of the day and stroll down Blue's Point Road to catch the ferry home.  I love the onslaught of fresh air as I walk through the door after sitting in an air-conditioned monolithic building all day.  The feel of the breeze, the sun on my back, the smell of frangipani and the visual feast of the lovely terrace houses, the beautiful gardens and the expectation of the iconic view of Sydney Harbour that awaits me at the end of my walk.

I look forward to this 20 minute trek and it never ceases to raise my spirits. Then its the ride home on the ferry. Each day I am amazed at how lucky I am to be able to travel to and from walk on the ferry.

There are lots of other things that qualify for the 'best part of my day' category such as the first sip of coffee, waking up to the beautiful sunrise I see from my bedroom window and of course curling up in my comfy bed at night.

 I have so much to be thankful for. I just need to learn to be more aware of the small things that make up lots of best parts of my day. What is the best part of your day?

This week's challenge from the documented life project was to add a doodle to our planner page - here is the result of my playing.....

Doodled over gelli-print tip ins - added a couple of stickers and washi tape...looking forward to next week's challenge?

Just Keep Swimming

How true - I need to remember this - just keep swimming - problem is - I can't!!

Being part of the Documented Life Project  seems to be helping me address a few issues that I just keep putting on the back burner. This week's challenge is a great example. The challenge was to write a secret message and then paint over all but one key word.  As I started to think about the challenge the words 'Don't Quit' kept popping into my head. Then I realised that if you read 'don't quit' and hide some of the letters you get 'Do It'. Perfect.........what is something that I need to do! - LEARN TO SWIM!!

I know, I know, how can you live in Australia and not learn to swim....I just never have really. It was last year's new year resolution, and I did give it a go....but I quit!

So now, with my new inspirational planner (thanks to the documented life project) I refuse to sink!

Here is my page this week..........

Thanks for stopping by!

Back again!

I know, I know, I said I would be back soon, but better late than never!

We have moved into our apartment and settled in beautifully. Absolutely loving the apartment lifestyle, and really enjoying our new life!

Where to start.....so much has happened since I last posted! Maybe I can do it in pictures!

Here is our new view! A bit different from looking out over bushland in the beautiful Blue Mountains, but beautiful in a city sort of way! Either way - we love it!

Creatively, I have joined up with the documented life project, and have been having lots of fun creating a planner. It has helped make sure I allow time for creativity and there is lots of inspiration from wonderful people who are involved. Below are a couple of my pages and here is a link to the website.

Well I will catch you next time, hopefully with a few more planner pages done and an update on city life! - as always - feel free to leave a comment - always great to hear from you!!

Take care....VonnieMay x

Its been a while!

Hi there,

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post on Vonnie May!

It has been an extremely busy few months and I am only now starting to get back into a routine, and hopefully will be able to continue with the blog and share some of my latest news!

Well, you may recall we decided to make a major life change and downsize our house of 33 years, and move into an apartment by the water. Well, it has actually happened, well sort of :)

We are on our way....we have packed up our house and its up for sale. This was an amazingly emotional roller coaster of a ride! The packing up, sorting through and getting rid of a huge amount of stuff was extremely cathartic, as well as extremely hard! So many mixed emotions we have travelled over the last few months.

But now we have moved into an apartment until our new apartment is finished being built - a bit of a halfway house really. This isn't our final resting place but it is easing us into this new 'apartment life' .....and we love it!

Apartment living is something I thought would take some getting used to, but we have found so many positives to living in an apartment. In future blogs I will try and explain this and update you on the journey we have been on, and continue to travel.

Meanwhile, here are a few pics of some things I have been up to since we last chatted! Hope you stick around - I promise I won't leave my next post for such a long time.

Thanks for stopping by....feel free to leave a comment. x

Packing up all my fabric

Lots of new paint!

Results in a new painting!

Beautiful Clivia from the front yard

Bye Bye Front Deck - I know I will miss you!

A quick trip to Melbourne

My latest best friend....Lucy...isn't she beautiful - we have lots of adventures planned together!

Spotted on one of my rides through Bicentennial park.

Not long now! peering through the construction site!

Freecycle Junkie!

Well the purge continues. And in its wake I have discovered a new obsession....yes I will admit it.......I have become a freecycle junkie!

Freecycle is a global group whose mission is to keep stuff out of landfill.  It's made up of 5,104 groups with 9,399,620 members across the globe. The proviso is that all stuff must be given away for free.

But to me...its like the 'get rid of stuff fairy'.

Simple - as we clear out all the stuff we have been hoarding for the past 34 years - good stuff - stuff that we couldn't sell - but it is just too good to throw away, we post it on www.freecycle.org - we leave it out the front - and just like magic - it disappears!

It has become a bit of a sport in our house - like fishing - we unearth the stuff - throw in the line (post in on free cycle) and wait for the fish to come in!

Here are some pics of stuff that have gone to good homes and are being appreciated again, that otherwise have been taking up space in our house.

This was our 'honeymoon' tent!, we took this tent on our honeymoon 34 years ago. - It was a bit hard to part with this one, but we were so happy when a young couple came to collect it. They were so excited. It brought back some lovely memories.

I'm sure these videos are being enjoyed by some kids somewhere.

Old railway racks - now being renovated . These were a 'hot' item on freecycle - everyone wanted them!

Overall Freecycle is great! - It is such a good feeling to know that stuff you just don't need or want anymore has a new life with someone new who really appreciates it.

A win win all around really!

Thanks for stopping by.

Unearthed treasures

Well we are continuing with project downsize....clearing out the house of 34 years to fit into a brand new apartment....there is so much stuff to get rid off.  Freecycle, Ebay, Vinnies and the local tip are certainly getting a workout.

But once in a while we come across some treasures that we just can't part with. The photo below is a pic of such treasures.  These are melamine plates that were made by the kids, in their kindergarten years. These 'kids' are now in their late 20's early 30's!! These are the treasures you just can't get rid of...but what do you do with them?

Camping break

The pace of life has been extremely fast of late, with the new job, project downsize and everyday life, things have been quite hectic.....to say the least.

So recently we decided enough was enough, packed up our Pod and headed off to the Wollemi National Park to spend a weekend away camping, getting back to basics and just enjoying the great outdoors. We went with our dear friends Fed, Fliss and their Flock,  and had a fantastic time - as we always do, with such great company.

The weather was great, a bit cold for some of the group, (mr fc!), but no-one else seemed to feel it, and thanks to a great fire, great food and lots of laughing and fun we came back home feeling refreshed, and a little sad that the weekend had ended so quickly.

Here are a few shots of the weekend..........we have promised to do it again soon, but for an extra night to really have time to kick back and enjoy!