#2623 Indian Summer

I lay on the couch, eyes closed, with the faint sounds of Oscar nominees being called out from the nearby TV.

I was trying to do the good thing and sleep, because baby boy was asleep. Trying to switch off from the outside world, when every bone in my body argued it didn’t want to, I’m not a day sleeper.

But at this stage of my life, I HAVE to.

And then the winner for Best Actress… “Michelle Yeoh.”

I nodded to myself, pretending I wasn’t listening, knowing full well she was a big contender leading into the awards. I know this because when you sit on the couch and breastfeed for so long and so often, you hear a lot of various news, both factual, worldly and celebrity.

I felt the beginnings of light sleep start to tickle my senses, but so too did the winner’s words, as they crept into my sleep space.

“…And ladies, don’t let anyone tell you that you are past your prime.”

To loud cheering applause, and a sleepy SmikG who had to smile in appreciation and agreeableness.

If anyone knows about the Indian Summer, it’s me. 🙌❤

#2575 (Un)masked

Ok, enough with the anonymity. It’s about time I show you my face…

Mask. 😂

I bought these coffee and charcoal face masks from the Rachael Finch range, way before I fell pregnant, so it’s been at least a year they’ve been in my house that I HAVEN’T used them.

I figured, if it’s taking me so long to use them when I am pre-baby, imagine how much less time I’ll have for them once baby arrives…

It’s not even like there is much work involved, but it’s doing something that is out of practice, or out of your usual routine that makes it hard. Even though it isn’t.

It took me all of one minute to mix it up…

A couple more minutes to apply to my face…

10 minutes of lying there and meditating/visualising peacefully with said mask.

Then another good five minutes to get it off (it hardened well!)

So like, 20 minutes in total really!

It was a wonderful idea, and something I will definitely try to inject more time for, even when baby is here, now that I know how achievable (and short a time) it really is.

I just better make sure I don’t apply the mask and then attend to baby. You know… poor thing might get a shock or something.

“Where is my Mum and who the hell are you?” 😂😂

Incognito Mama. 🎭

#2514 The ‘other’ anniversary

It only occurred to me earlier in the week. My nephew was scheduled to have a procedure today, and as I thought about the date, the familiarity of November 24th started to sink in.

Of course. It was my ‘other’ anniversary.

2 years ago, I had a procedure. Well two actually, I can reveal that, more now. I shared this info with my sister the other day, saying that it was a day of rebirth for me, and hopefully it would be a day of rebirth for him too. He and I now shared a big thing in common.

November 24.

When I step back from the day, nothing physically changed for me, not that I was aware of anyway. Nothing was found to be ‘wrong’ with me. I went home the same day. And to some extent (SOME) I went about the rest of my days as I had before.

The procedures had found nothing out, leaving me as clueless as I was when I went into it.

But mentally, emotionally, something huge had shifted. It had shifted in me. I was stronger. I felt more confident. I also felt like I could tackle a lot more than what I previously thought. I realised I was courageous, when before I had felt like a coward.

2 years on, and I can’t believe where I am now.

It was always part of my wildest dreams, but to be on the other side of that dream is something else.

A few important things punctuated this day.

Firstly, I sent positive energy my nephew’s way, and soon heard back that he was doing well, recovering and at home. Thank goodness. 🙏

Thirdly (yes I’m jumping) I finally got my car back! Enough said, freedom is back.

But in the middle lay the sweet stuff. I had a hospital check-up… for my pregnancy. 🤰🥰 I wonder what the November 2020 version of SmikG would have thought about the insight that in Nov of ’22 I would be talking about iron reserves, sugar, my fundus being checked (and being spot on in the middle!) being happy about gaining 6 kilos, and hearing baby’s heartbeat, while also getting a distinct kick for the midwife (because baby kicks all the time).

She would have lost her mind. She would have been unbelievably happy. But that version of me had to go through what she did, to get to this place.

To get to me.

I am grateful to that version of me, for her bravery, her strength. Mostly I’m grateful that she held on, and never gave up.

I will make sure to keep the tradition going. 💪

It may have done not much at the time, but I swear, I will never forget this date.

November 24 changed my life. 🙏

#2493 The Christmas PSA

Yesterday a fuel public service announcement… today, a Yule one.

😆😆😆😆

Today, I decided, without any other reason than ‘I want to,’ that I’m going to start counting down to Christmas.

A couple of Christmas memes in my friends messenger chat got me in the spirit of things, and then after finding some great Christmas memes on insta, I decided I’d share, from now ’til December 25th, a funny Christmas meme every day on my stories.

@smikgwriter for those who don’t know. 😉😉

So, here are the stats so far…

There are 52 days until Christmas Day!

OR, 8 Sundays until we feast on Christmas lunch.

We have 27 nights until our old mate Elf reappears and we gotta start putting him in wacky situations…

And for me, about 3 weekends until our tree and decorations go up!

Give or take.

Actually, take… because knowing me I’ll get antsy when I hear about someone already having their tree up and be like, “damn it, I must do it too!”

I basically, in a very child-like way, love Christmas. Always have, always will. I attribute it to the magical memories made when I was younger…

And this year, I have so, so, so much to be grateful for. With the arrival of Christmas, my heart is just bursting with jingle bells. 🥰❤💗💖🎄🎄🤰🤰

#2437 R U OK?

I, for one, had a great day.

I was OK.

I have felt lucky enough to feel OK for a while now.

But for a long time, years even, I wasn’t.

Which is why when I heard it was R U OK? day today, I knew I had to check in on loved ones.

I think too often in life we fall to the automatic function of pretending. Keeping it all in. Saying it’s alright, trying to keep going on, going on, going on, with the pile of shit that can be every day life piling up around us.

Whether it’s physical, emotional, mental, or a combination of all three, we are allowed to feel not OK, not just on this day, but on any day.

Once of my biggest lessons has been realising that I should have spoken up sooner. That’s been my main takeaway. Sharing your woes is not just to lighten your load, but sometimes as we speak, we kinda work things out for ourselves, even if it means working out the next tiny little step.

It brings you closer to loved ones as they then know how to help or support you.

If no one asked you today, well consider this your invite… R U OK? If you can’t speak up to anyone in your life, you can always speak anonymously to me.

From SmikG, the gal who was not OK, but now is.

I know it gets better. Trust me. 🙏

Photo by Vie Studio on Pexels.com

#2430 HER book review

So you know how over on my parent blog SmikG, I do reviews, like Foodie Reviews and Book Reviews?

Yeah, well, baby girl has just had her first book review published! 😁😁

I was reading the school newsletter this afternoon. They usually have a section where a student has nominated a book to read, and does a little write-up of it. So I was reading the newsletter, kind of scanning all the sections, when a certain name popped out at me.

It was baby girl’s name. I immediately went ‘another baby girl name at her school?’ I know for a fact that she is the only one with her name there, and I know this because whenever I’ve picked her up earlier from school and have had to punch her name into the computer at the office to get a leave slip, when I type in the first 3 letters, her name is the only one that comes up.

I temporarily forgot this fact though as I looked at the name, thinking huh? But then as I read on and saw the class the student was from, I went hold on, that’s baby girl’s class!

It was her nomination, her book review!

Here it is in all of it’s glory. 🥰🥰💖💖

I LOVE IT. It made me so happy knowing she was featured this week, and also that she had won a voucher for her efforts. I was smiling and smiling and laughing, absolutely overjoyed for her.

Also, I can totally hear her talking when I read her writing, lol.

Move over SmikG, someone else has come to review town. 😂😁💖🥰

#2280 How to turn a grey day around

Yesterday was the perfect grey day.

Today, not so much.

I felt flat, and really quite down. What made me feel somewhat better was learning that so many people around me also felt the same… was it the colder weather? The clocks changing? The dark, overhanging skies?

ALL OF THE ABOVE?

Just knowing I wasn’t the only one feeling it today, helped. But then I did a number of things to try and lift my mood this evening/night.

I put on an album, Queen 2. And just as it too matched my mood in its solemness and slow heavy music, it turned upbeat in the last two songs so much so that I pumped up the music and was singing “Funny How Love Is…!”

I lit candles. Like, a lot. I lit three as the rooms got darker much earlier than what we have become accustomed to with our summery days, and then I went a step further and lit some incense, taking the musky smelling stick from room to room.

We need to change the atmosphere when things feel dark and dim, so introducing light, scent, even sound to our environment can profoundly make an impact.

I set in motion plans. There is nothing like taking charge of that which you can control, and by making future plans for something that you will look forward to, immediately puts you in a better mood, even if the event is weeks away… you can see it. You know it’s coming.

Lastly, I took charge in another way, and did something wild. I booked something, WILD. And when I say wild, I don’t mean Las Vegas wild, I mean SmikG Writer wild.

And if you still don’t know, well that’s because I’m frankly terrified right now, but let’s just say it’s right up my alley… or right up my bookend… something like that. 😏🤔✍️📖

And those are my little itsy-bitsy things that turned my grey day into something much nicer after all. 💖💖

#2275 A hipster place

This is going to sound awfully a lot like one of my Food Reviews, but I don’t care.

Hubbie and I found ourselves on the other side of town today, and then we decided afterwards to make a pit stop to check out this shop in an inner-city spot we used to frequent a lot…

But first, of course, as always…

COFFEE. ☕

The suburb was Fitzroy. The street, Brunswick. We came across this amazing place called Wolfhound on Brunswick, and it was just… I can’t describe it. Look at the photos.

Ok maybe I can describe it. Eclectic. Hipster. Free. Niche. Casual. Arty. Organic.

Just, OMG.

And we did what we usually do when we get really excited and inspired about a place… we start to look up property on realestate.com. 🤣

Ok, so that ain’t gonna happen. But I think we’ll be making our way back to this side of the hood a lot more often, next time with baby girl with tow, just to, you know, mix it up a bit. 😉😉

I love where I live. And by where, I mean Melbourne. You can drive a couple of hours in any direction, and you will feel like you are a world away.🥰😍

#2219 Finding a different path

Now that school is back one of our most tried and treasured routines are back.

Our brunch stop, and then a quick beach walk. 💞💖

Today was lovely in that we walked a little further down Mothers Beach, and found an extra patch of sandy alcove that we don’t usually go down… and then we found a path.

What was at the end of the path? Well you’ll need to find me on @smikgwriter on Instagram and see the vid on my stories then won’t you?

A hint… it’s one of the main reasons why we moved. 🌊🏖️

#2152 Karma cashing in

Today I’m grateful for people letting other people have it.

You know you don’t hear it often, do you? People winning. The bad guys getting put in their place.

So when you hear that someone pretty much got told… and they 100% deserved it… well you feel a little sense of victory.

Just knowing. Not even seeing.

It feels good.

It feels good to know that Karma works through other people too.

And while we’re on the subject of people getting told, my other blog today explores the things we wish we could say, if the timing was right, and nothing else, like NOTHING ELSE but the truth mattered.

But life is often much more than just truth, isn’t it?