It was a beautiful day to celebrate my Mum’s birthday.
You know what made it even better? The weather.
You know what made it even MORE better? The company!
You see this cake? This cake was the BOMB.
You know who made the cake? My Mum. For her own birthday.
She rocked the cake. As she does everything else.
Love you Mum. Thanks for a great day all. 😘😘😘😘
We kinda don’t know what is going on at the moment… so we stay home.
And much like our ‘holidaying at home’ decision was made a while ago, to just do day trips in and around our surrounding areas during our summer hols, so too am I reminded that we chose this spot, because it’s pretty damn perfect even if we just stay at home.
The first pic is me sitting on a beach chair no less, but from the shade of our front porch, looking out.
The second of course is more obvious, and is of tonight’s gloriously striking sunset.
Both views are beautiful to look at for different reasons.
If I have to stay here, here is good. 🙏💖
It’s been such a hot… no not, even day, or spate of days… try week! Maybe even weeks! Geez!
So I was super rapt to know a change was coming this late evening. My goal was to stand outside in the rain and get soaked, so I stood there, waiting…
Then I thought I should get a better view, so I went UP ⬆
And I waited there.
Baby girl joined me, so did Hubbie. We watched the sky. So stormy. A big grey cloud threatening, coming closer, closer…
Surely in like a matter of minutes, it would pelt down with rain!
Guess what?
STILL WAITING!
Well I’m not outside of course, we went inside soon after we realised the clouds seemed to disappear as they arrived in our part of town, every time. 🤔
But, even though ominous and grey, they were still beautiful. ☁💖
We had a hole in our bedroom wall today!
There was banging, grinding, men being super loud, and I’m sure the neighbours were going “what the…?”
It was surreal, really. Even though it was for a good reason, it still fell like…
We could just fall off it? If there wasn’t a balcony deck there, that is. 😂
We were excited to finally get our old, rotting balcony sliding door replaced today.
And though you can’t see it properly in the receding light of the afternoon…
I assure you, it looks a lot nicer now.
It’s not just a room with a view anymore.
It’s a room that has a nice door view too.
💖😂
We sat down to dinner tonight, and I happened to look out, beyond baby girl, to the waters behind her.
I loved what I saw.
A halo of light, the sun breaking through the clouds, illuminating the beautiful Bay below it.
It made me feel like God was there, parting the sky to speak down and tell us some extraordinary truth…
Leaving a beautiful glow in His wake. 💖🙏
It was grey, and even drizzly as we left the house, but that wasn’t going to stop us.
Neither did it affect the herds of people walking blocks and blocks to get to the Mt Martha South Beach Market today.
It’s a beautiful little beachside market with great water views, a real village feel, and baby girl and I wandered about, smelling this, touching that, ooh-ing and ahh-ing as required, and then also…
EATING THIS.
You know those spiral spuds that you find at any kind of outdoor, food truck dependant event? Baby girl loves those. As soon as she saw there were food trucks, she was suddenly hungry, and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet.
We walked around some more before I caved in. Hell, even I wanted a spiral-y spud.
We took our skewered potato and sat on a bit of a hill, not even facing the market behind us… because the view in front was so much better.
So much of my days are spent trying to get as much done as possible… ticking things off my list, running from one task to the next…
But here, we just sat. I moved all else from my mind. Felt the damp grass on my butt. Slight sprinkling of water on my head.
It was a lovely moment. 💖
Today I was incredibly restless.
It was grey, there was wispy rain. Some of it may have had to do with the interrupted night – a man actually died in a horrible crash outside our home last night. There were emergency services everywhere past midnight.
The low mood carried into the day.
We didn’t want to do anything… yet being free, off work, together, we felt we HAD to do something.
Yet we couldn’t be bothered.
Look at this precious life we are granted! And to waste it away on days, doing nothing, lounging around, yawning, and crying “bored,” when we have just been privy to another life being snatched away?
But that’s assuming life is meant to be busy. Full of stuff. Running around.
Life can be just as beautiful, and just as meaningful, by enjoying the things around you. Taking a pause. Breathing in deeply. And respecting our earth.
So we took a walk. To clear our heads, process our thoughts, and connect ourselves to the ground on which we walk on every day.
The water was there too. We may not have touched it, but we felt the force of the wind as it rippled across it, smelt the sea air, and knew that no matter how beautiful it looked, those waters were merciless.
The danger is so far, but a wrong step from the lookout, and it can come running up to our faces with a loud smack.
Life can change so easily my friends. Take care out there, and enjoy whatever it is that makes you happy… yes, even if it means lying on the couch.
Sometimes we need that too… only as long as we get back up again. 💪
I’m feeling a little sheepish, because I didn’t get to capture the most peaceful and beautiful part of my day.
But like many things in life, just because it wasn’t snapped, 📸 doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
The heart can tell it happened.
I find this happens in the most perfect moments. Those where we are free, going with the flow, living from within our purpose.
And we don’t have a camera on us.
AND running off to grab a camera, well it kinda defeats the purpose of being calm, free and all.
But it happened today. I had a coffee up on the balcony as the sun was approaching midday point, so half of the balcony was still in shadow…
But the other half was lit up.
I moved my chair to the part where it SHONE. MOVED IT RIGHT UP.
And I sipped my coffee.
I thanked my lucky stars that I was enjoying this beautiful moment, up high, right under birds as their wings flapped above me, dragonflies whizzing about in the garden below me with butterflies gently meandering, the waters shimmering in the horizon, with the still and warm air enveloping me in a gentle embrace…
While my coffee got me buzzing. 🤩
Still, I was calm. I was grateful.
The sun was shining on me.
That was all I needed.
Today was an exciting day.
WE GOT OUT.
Escaped from the confines of our home.
No, it wasn’t cleaning all day,
finding a board game to play,
then pruning with waters glistening in the horizon on the bay.
NAY.
WE WENT OUT.
Baby girl and I hit the Main street. Shopping. Excited with, “look, SHOPS ARE OPEN!”
We stopped at my 10/10 coffee place from the other day, Flowergirls and co cafe –
YAY –
and had a great coffee and babycino break.
And gingerbread man. 😉
People were milling around EVERYWHERE. EVERYONE was out.
We continued the fun this evening when we went out to dinner at one of our fave restaurants, The Royal Hotel.
HOORAY! Wine! I haven’t drank it in about 2 months. I was firstly going through some health hell, then I was terrified of drinking anything that wasn’t water, so I stayed away for so long…
Until tonight.
That one glass of red made me go all YIPPEE in my head, and immediately, I loved everyone. I missed everyone.
I mean, I do love and miss everyone, and by everyone I mean only those people I care about.
HA HA HA. (Still some alcoholic effects I see?) 😜
But seriously. Cheap drunk alert. I was happy happy, LA LA LA, my seafood linguine was NOM NOM NOM, and then we walked across the road, to the best view of them all.
Ahhh.
All in all, today was a great way to get back to it all.
Shop. Coffee. Dinner. Beach.
Relax. Happy. Grateful. YAY.
REPEAT.
Today, I did some washing. Hung it in our backyard.
I baked some muffins. Scents of banana and cocoa filled the walls within our home.
I ripped out old plants and dying branches from flowers that desperately needed a good prune. I tidied it up…
To make our home look more pretty.
And it was all the more convenient and timely, that I did these random, but interconnected odd jobs, as the theme unifying it all was that of the home.
Tending to the home.
Using the home.
Filling up the home.
Because on this day 4 years, we bought this home.
I made the winning bid. When I think of that day, I have to shake my head in disbelief sometimes. It was 4 years ago, but many parts of that day are still so clear to me, even now.
I remember the well wishes I received the morning of the auction by some amazing family and friends.
I remember driving up with my Mum and baby girl… and being so nervous, that both Mum and I had to stop at a servo to pee on the way.
I remember arriving 15 minutes into the inspection before auction. I remember the street being FULL of cars. I remember nosy neighbours walking off, having had enough of a sticky beak, not caring to see who would get the house.
I remember NOT ONE auctioneer approaching me as I wandered through the house for the final time before the dum dum daaaa! moment.
I remembered my sister seeing the view from upstairs and saying “it’s a great house” but saying it in a way like “shit, it will be competitive.”
I remember my bro-in-law saying similar words, saying he’d overheard a lot of interested parties talking about it.
I remember all of us standing outside in the front yard, with the strong Winter wind blowing around.
I remember baby girl running around the yard as the main auctioneer started his spiel, referring to her in his opening monologue.
I knew then, that that was a GOOD SIGN.
I remember him motioning to the water views behind us, while I secretly cursed him – “don’t remind them of the views!”
I remember him saying that the winning person could celebrate on the main street afterwards at one of the many cafes, and the desire was so strong in me then, because we had been to those cafes and those restaurants. We had walked those streets, we had holidayed here, and we had done our research.
We were ready.
I remember the auction beginning, and Mum standing near baby girl, watching her run around while mumbling under her breath that the price was going too high.
I remember my sister positioned closer to the nature strip, creating a barrier so that baby girl couldn’t escape.
And I remember my bro-in-law standing behind me, ready to whisper words of advice.
I remember staying quiet for a long time.
I remember the TOTAL SATISFACTION (this is SO clear to me) when I put up my hand, and made my first bid.
The auctioneer looked at me, and his expression conveyed something else.
I had come in later. He knew I meant business.
And I remember how when I made the second, third bid, one of the agents made a beeline to me, thinking he could now help me.
Huh. Where were you guys INSIDE the house?
I had my own agent behind me 😉
I remember holding that winning bid… and the auctioneer urging others to jump in… while I begged in my head “please no, just let it be over…”
Then, IT WAS OVER.
There was clapping. There was cheering. People around me were genuinely happy.
And we were over the moon!
Inside, a familiar face! I saw the agent I had been talking to leading up to that day… He had been hiding out with the owners, of course.
I signed contracts with shaky hands, and snapped a photo of the interior, with the price tag, to Hubbie.
HE WAS OVER THE MOON.
After celebratory photos with the auction board, we headed to the main street.
Mum, sis, baby girl and I had our celebratory coffees and treats.
And when we got home hours later, Hubbie was on cloud nine.
I remember all this so fondly, and I don’t think I can ever forget such a momentous day for us.
A day where we realised our big dream of sea changing, a day when we made it.
And so when baby girl snapped a sunset from my phone this evening (I’ve trained her well) I didn’t think much of it…
‘Til I previewed it later.
It was blurry. Much like a memory can be. But there was that lawn. I could still see that sign in my head.
The guy who was standing to the left of me… the two ladies on my right. The family of four who I thought of often, comprised of a couple with their two young girls, who walked off half-way through the auction…
I hope they found their dream house, just as we found ours.
Now there were different plants, different colours, and different people coming in and out…
And 4 years on, there’s no place we’d rather be. 💖🏡🌅🥰
carcrashgratitude 