Happy Monday

What a crazy, sad, funny, heartwarming, heartbreaking week it has been. Last week's Happy Monday post went live right just before I found out that it most certainly was not a happy Monday. I'm not going to talk about the siege, because I need to stop thinking about it. Danielle from Keeping Up With The Holsbys wrote the most beautiful post that really just sums it all up for me.

I am getting better at not letting horrible things drag me down into the mire. As I was hearing the siege unfold I just felt grateful that my loved ones were safe. I checked in with my dear ones in Sydney and was so relieved that hadn't gone chocolate shopping that morning. I lived the day of the siege and those that followed clinging onto the happy stuff, feeling so privileged to be able to feel happiness when there are people in the world that may never know happiness again. That is how we can get by and not let the bad guys win. There is so much goodness in the world that we just need to give it the same amount of attention as the bad.

Things that made me happy this week:

:: Listening to a friend tell a "7 minute joke" that lasted about 20. She corpsed about 200 times and the joke was just dreadful (sorry darling if you are reading this) but I would happily lose another 20 minutes of my life just to see her tell it again.

:: Being called a free spirit by an old (young) friend. I have never really felt that about myself but always liked the idea of 'those kind of people.' I mentioned this to The Bookworm and he pointed out that I am not scared to follow my heart and do something different and unexpected.  I had never recognised that part of me that is brave enough to leave the path and bush-bash for a while. I've spent that last few years bush-bashing and while I really like paths with their lack of bugs and scratchy bits, life is more interesting and satisfying in the wilderness.

:: A quick chat and a hug from a friend on Tuesday afternoon when I just could not make sense of the world. She is a wise old soul (in a young vibrant body). She grounded me and helped me on my way.

:: Christmas drinks with a new group of friends. I think if I had to name the most cherished thing that 2014 gave me, it would be all the new friends. So many. I spent my first few years in Melbourne clinging tightly to the handful of people I knew here. Then at the beginning of this year I decided to just start saying yes to catch-ups and opportunities to meet people, even if they were a bit scary for this little introvert.

:: Cramming into the bathroom of a wine bar with said group of new friends to take a selfie and potentially win a bottle of Champagne. Marvellous stuff.

:: Hanging out with Miss Carly. and eating lots of dumplings. Dumplings are good for the soul, as is time with the life-force that is Carly.

:: My first paid-for work Christmas party in 10 years and by-geez it was a good one. So much good wine and lovely chats with a great team of people. I have a lot of whinges about my work (which I deliberately never share here) but I can't fault the people; absolute delights.

:: Surprise Christmas trees. I am not really feeling the love this year. We are having an orphan Christmas- I can't get back to family in Brisbane due to study/work/finance restraints. I am picking up some retail work which means eight days in a row in the lead-up to Christmas. However, I arrived home from work yesterday to a little tree in the corner of the lounge room which we decorated together last night. We did'nt have a star for the top so The Bookworm created an angel out of a champagne cork. It feels like Christmas might be happening after all.

How are you doing? It has been a tough week for so many people. Take care of yourself x

Happy Monday

Such a delightful week

It has been just the most delightful week! I can't even focus on the little moments of happiness because I've been too busy with the big ones :)

Tuesday morning I launched my new blog! For some time I have been pondering the future of Seeking Victory. It is not quite a food blog and I have less focus on wine than what I would like given that wine (and the blog) is such a huge part of my life. I wanted to create a blog that focussed on wine and food and one that I could direct professional contacts to without worrying they would stumble across a post about my dog or breast cancer awareness. So Champagne and Chips was born. I would love you to head over and have a look. Don't worry though, Seeking Victory is here to stay with its usual mish mash of posts on the things I want to say; just there won't be as much food here anymore (I'm sure it will still creep in :)

Happy Monday

It has been such a big week! My grandma's funeral, a lot of family time, flights to and from Brisbane, catching up at work, the final planning stages for a blogger meetup I have happening on Tuesday, working on a new project- just so much going on. It has actually been a very lovely week. The funeral was quite small and simple, just as grandma would have wanted. I managed to slip some funny little stories into the eulogy which I think she would have liked. Seeing my family is always good, even under the circumstances, and my impending aunty status felt very real with my sister in law sporting quite a baby bump (16 weeks along).

Things that made me happy this week:

Happy Monday

I am feeling a bit conquered by the universe lately. I try really hard to focus on the positive things rather than wallow in the bad but I feel like I have had months (and months and months) of swimming upstream. I am exhausted emotionally and I should be exhausted physically except I seem constantly high on a stream of adrenaline. I headed upstairs at 2:30 on Sunday morning purely because I thought I should lie still for a bit. I think I maybe slept two hours.

The upside is that I am often awake to see the sky do amazing things.

3am Saturday morning...

Taking Stock: October

No Happy Monday this week because I am madly studying for an exam and although the week has had some nice stuff in it I wanted to plan a little further ahead and schedule this baby in (ahh, the magic of the internet). I often read other taking stock posts and think how mind-healthy they are but have never done one. Something nice to reflect upon in the future too I think.

Happy Monday

It has been a bit of a mixed bag of a week in Seeking Victory land. There were some truly lovely things as you will see below but also a funeral, illness of loved ones, multiple days in a row of puffy eyes from too much crying, feeling lost and floundering about in the big scary universe. But Happy Monday is all about finding the happy (especially when it seems like it is hiding) so let's dive right in.

Things that made me happy this week:

:: Seeing these little guys. It is winter, and it has been damn cold (significant wind chill!) yet these fellas popped up in a grey day to remind me to smile. They are clearly delusional and all kinds of cray cray but that's Melbourne for you.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday folks, or week 2 of things that made me happy this week (background).

I took a week off work this week, having realised in April that I hadn't had any downtime since December 2012, and barely two days off in a row since then either. I do have a whirlwind trip up to Brisbane once or twice a year to visit family, but there is always so much to pack in to 3 or 4 days, and so many wonderful people to catch up with, that those trips are anything but relaxing.

My week off has been a bit of an eye-opener. I hired a bunch of DVDs on Monday and camped out in front of the TV, eating chocolate for lunch, and didn't take much pleasure in any of it. Just felt achy and sick. Tuesday I got massively twitchy because I didn't know what to do with myself and ended up sitting down to an hour or two of study. I am so highly strung all the time (I kinda have to be to fit everything in) that I don't know how to relax. Wednesday we had a lovely day in the Yarra Valley doing wine-tasting (I was spitting and driving- not at the same time, classy) but we fitted in three wineries and kept to a pretty tight schedule. Yes, doing nice things, but I was far from relaxed. Erghh. Thursday I had dinner with a dear friend but was so tightly wound my brain was as scattered as confetti (but far less magical). By Friday I finally began to settle. Saturday I started sending emails to try to fix my situation. Phew!

Things that made me happy this week:

::This extraordinary, astonishing woman, and the fact that she was featured, without photoshop craziness on the cover of a national women's magazine.

Source

Happy Monday

When I finished the 100 Happy Days project I was in a pretty good place. I had taught myself to seek out or take notice of the happy moments that grace my days and I thought it was something I would continue.

I haven't.

I need to do a bit of a life re-haul. I work 38 hours per week in regular jobs, spend another 9 hours travelling to and from work and I have been spending at least one other day doing freelance wine sales (on one of my days 'off'). I do get two days off but they are split so I never get a weekend. And I work every weekend which puts a big ol' dampener on my social life. I am also studying for my WSET Diploma and sacrificing sleep to spend time working on this blog. Something's gotta give, and I'm not sure what it will be yet. It will not be the blog though- this time is really important to me, and even though it is hard to justify the hours sometimes, it is my art.

This post is a bit of a homage to Cider with Rosie, who does a lovely little recap of her week each Friday, and is a way for me to try to recognise the good things without filling my Facebook feed with #100happy days. Monday is my day off so hopefully as I am finishing my week, and you are starting yours, this might be some inspiration to look for the happy.

Things that made me happy this week:

::Finally getting to try an amazing bakeshop I have been stalking on Twitter and Facebook, Beatrix. The bookworm handed in his final assignment for his Grad cert so I went in to grab a few yummies to have for dessert. I may have gone overboard.

Half way....

In January I signed up for 100 Happy Days, a project where, for 100 days, you submit a photo of something that made you happy. You can find my initial post here. Well, I am halfway (more than halfway actually) and going strong.

It has been a very interesting exercise and tougher than I thought it might be after that first day of relishing the novelty of it all. It may be because some big stuff has happened- I changed jobs, I had (another) health scare and the Bookworm went back to uni. Some days I was so overwhelmed by the world that trying to find a good moment seemed impossible and exhausting but because I had* to, I did. That is really the essence of the project for me; even on a bad day, most of my problems are very first world and there is always something to be grateful for or a moment of happiness to reflect upon.

Struggletown days

100 Happy Days

I was sceptical at first, but also intrigued by the loveliness of the idea- every day for 100 days take a picture of something that made you happy. On the website they suggest cake is a viable picture option; OK, I can do this, I have permission to take pictures of my food in the strive towards happiness. BRING IT ON!
The concept is delightfully simple, by recognising moments of happiness you are moving towards living in the moment and becoming happier and more satisfied with your life.

I started on Thursday, one of Melbourne's hotter days with the mercury set to reach 44C. I had a 10 hour shift in The Wine Shop With No Wine and also no air-conditioning- this was going to be tougher than I thought.