Photo A Week: Flowers

Nick bought me these flowers… they’re gorgeous and smell divine. When he has a flight to a particular place in China he pre-orders lilies and brings them home in a long box. I can never remember where he goes so each time the flowers are very unexpected. They are always closed and within a few days start to open. I feel very spoilt.

365 Project – Week 1

I’m participating in A Photo A Week and while taking my photos from my window, I found Isis stretched out on our floor cushion and couldn’t resist taking her photo.  Could you?

On Tuesday, it wasn’t until later in the day that I took this photo.  This Buddha head and Buddha sit on the table in our entrance.  I love having candles sprinkled around the place.

Osiris was up to mischief on Wednesday and I snapped this photograph after he had settled down a little.  He was  inspecting what he could get up to next.

On Thursday I printed out the final version of Soul Coaching Collage and was looking through my diary to see when I could schedule an afternoon of fun and inspiration.  Our lovely leader, Denise Linn is so supportive, encouraging and giving.  As a certified Soul Coach, I can now facilitate this program separately from our 28-day Soul Coaching program.  Collaging is something that we do as part of the Soul Coaching program.  This program allows us to take the process deeper with more detailed information.

Friday saw me writing some blog posts.

On Saturday I finished a book called, Anastasia by Russian author, Vladimir Megré.

It is the first book in the Ringing Cedars Series and is about a mysteriously powerful woman discovered in 1995. Anastasia lives in the wilderness—for the most part without warm clothes, food cultivation or man-made shelter—and survives on fruit, nuts, berries and mushrooms, brought to her by “wild” animals with which she lives in peaceful harmony.  She is considered to be a surviving member of an ancient Vedic civilization whose extraordinary powers and knowledge FAR EXCEED anything known today.

I plan to start the second book, The Ringing Cedars of Russia, tonight.

Today, it’s rained all day.  It doesn’t usually rain at this time of the year so I thought it was appropriate to take a photo of the rain.  I’m thankful as the rain has watered our garden and all the plants on our balconies, personally I think the garden loves the rain water better than our tap water.

I’ve chosen to join the 365 Project, a photograph every day. My aim is to pick up my camera more often and explore my surroundings.  Hong Kong is an interesting, busy and dynamic place, I wish to be more open to the wonders it has to offer. I’ll post the week’s photos every Sunday.

Wishcasting Wednesday: My Story

I’m joining Jamie’s Wishcasting Wednesday and this week’s question has actually very relevant because I’ve pondered how to change my current “story” of ill-health.

I wish to live my life feeling vibrant, radiant and in good health.  I stand tall, proud of who I am, where I’ve been and where I am going.  I am fit, slim and I walk confidently forward, reaping the rewards of successfully achieving my goals.

Photo A Week: From My Window

I’m blessed to be able to work from home and since moving into our new home, I have a lovely space that very much represents who I am.  I am lucky to have views of the water from my office and instead of taking the photo through dirty glass doors, I took advantage of the sunshine and took it from my balcony.

The big pyramid like building in the distance is the Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel and behind it, is the resident complex, where we use to live.  It looks far away and surprisingly it’s a 45min walk to the hotel and back home.  We have a hidden gem behind the buildings and it’s a walkway along the beach and it’s well lit up as well as very clean.  The walk is actually a really nice one on clear days.

This photo is of our garden from our bedroom window.  It is on the opposite side of our house, so one side we have the lovely water views and the other side we have a lush green garden view.  The buildings opposite are tall apartment blocks within our complex, and you can just see the complex pool.

Our aim is to add a bit of colour to the garden and create a herb garden.

A Photo Every Day – 365 Project

When I’ve seen something or heard about something 3 times I take it as a sign and in a matter of a couple of days, the ‘A Photo Every Day – 365 Project‘ has come to light so… it’s a sign!  I did say I want to get back into my photography and the Universe is delivering.

I’m going to take inspiration from Jamie and post my daily photos, weekly and I’m starting the project as of today, 1st February 2010.

I look forward to sharing my journey.

Sacred Life Sunday: Home Alone

This weekend has been quiet and I’ve been home alone, meaning my husband has not been here, but as usual my furry companions kept me company.  Osiris and Isis have discovered our floor cushions and as I came down stairs I found Osiris enjoying the unusual warmth of our winter day and taking in the rays of sunlight hitting the floor cushion.

I am thankful that they are part of my life.  Osiris likes to keep me company when I’m working in my office and Isis loves her evening cuddles while watching TV.

I love that they both love to cuddle, and they do so unconditionally.  All my cats have reminded me to love unconditionally and they have all demonstrated how to do so.  These two crazy ones are just the same… I feel their love for me and I hope they feel my love for them.

Press Release: Joy Rebel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JOY REBEL ARMY GATHERING STRENGTH

Dallas, TX-April 25, 2009

They come from all walks of life and across the world. Joy rebels. There may be one in your own neighborhood.

What is a joy rebel?? A joy rebel is a member of an elite army started by Brandi Reynolds in early 2009. Brandi was tired of the ‘must fix list’ tirade found in most of the self help section and decided she wanted to have some fun, reclaim joy and live a fully authentic life.

And then she invited some friends and they invited some friends and now an army of strong, crafty, fun loving, authentic men and women all over the internet and blog sphere have taken up her cause and marched into the streets and across their web pages with…heart shaped sticky notes. And sidewalk chalk. Oh and warrior names that reveal their innate talents like ‘bubble blower extraordinaire’.

They do things like leave notes in books for others to find. Write joy in sidewalk chalk. Hug trees. And generally wreck havoc on the doom and gloom population glued to the network news.

Anyone committed to the sublime art of being their authentic self is welcome to join this rebel army. Potential warriors can join at http://brandireynolds.blogspot.com. There they will be welcomed into a community of amazing humans, receive weekly missions and get a badge to add to their blog or web page. They should probably not be averse to glitter glue.

Let’s make this a joy nation. Join today!!!
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{Brandi Reynolds is a photographer and joy rebel that clearly doesn’t take herself that seriously. For more info, you can contact her here: brandi@brandireynoldsphoto.com or visit her website here: http://www.brandireynoldsphoto.com}

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I Should Be Asleep

But I’m awake and writing this post. I was so tired earlier and did go to bed but then was woken by cramping and coughing. Unfortunately I’ve come down with a head cold – yuk and ended up in a coughing fit that has left me wide awake. Instead of lying in bed, continuing to cough I decided to get up and write a blog post.

The reason is because I thought I should share how I’m feeling now so that I can report back after tomorrow. I know that might sound strange but there is a logical reason for it. A new friend is introducing me to a spa treatment. I know she has an invested interest in the spa, but she is also wanting to help me with my health.

My understanding of the spa is it is portable, and it uses ultrasonic waves and ozone (active oxygen) to help with healing the body whether it be muscle related, stress related or disease related.

My friend explained that a colleague had thyroid problems for 10 years (like me, an under active thyroid), including problems with insulin (which for me has just been identified). After 6 months of using the spa twice a day, she was medication free. It has now been 7 years since being off medication. She said she was big and lost 120lbs/54.55kg (and my friend said that it’s hard to believe as she’s small). Her colleague is a local lady and is 64 years old (also she said that too is very hard to believe as she looks fantastic). I’ve not met her colleague so I cannot comment for myself.

I’ve had health issues for 10 years, early last year I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid, very low levels of Vitamin D, Vitamin B12 and Iodine, as well as depression, candidia and ecoli. My thyroid is still underactive, my Vitamin D and B12 are still low, as is my Iodine levels and now I have insulin resistance (its before pre-diabetes) and have not had my period since late August last year (so 5 months and I’m not pregnant or going through early menopause). I struggle with losing weight even though I exercise and I could do with losing 20-25kgs.

If this spa can help with my health, I will be a very happy girl. I’m tired of all the medications and having a roller coaster ride with my health.

After searching the internet, I found this YouTube video that demonstrates what I understand of the spa. This could be it, if not it’s very similar. Note: the first half of the video is about the spa, the second half is about a water filtering system (which is not part of the spa itself).

SO… tomorrow I’ll be able to report back on how I feel after the session because I feel crappy at the moment with a head cold and my body is tired.

I’m being brave

Towards the end of last year I started to step out of my comfort zone and invite people I had recently met to coffee. Admittedly, it was more of an email invitation because I didn’t know if I could accept a verbal rejection. Some people accepted my invitation with gusto and others never replied.

Being an expat, working for myself, it can be difficult to meet people with the same interests or who are fun and adventurous. I’ve been living in Hong Kong for just over 5 years and the experience is invaluable and the friends I do have are all lovely, however many are having babies.

I’m very happy for them and they are all great mums (and dads), however catching up can be a little challenging when friends have children. The girls nights out drinking bubbles have become more like catching up over coffee. I’m more than happy to do that, and I also want to find people who enjoying drinking bubbles too.

This year I’m continuing to be brave and have decided that I’m going to attend Ceroc classes (it’s a dance class that is similar to Jive but you don’t need to go with a partner) and I’m going to attend art classes. Nick will come along to Ceroc when he’s not working, otherwise, I’m going to be going alone. I know next week I’ll need to take a deep breath and just go, and not chicken out beforehand.

This week, my one brave thing is to go to art classes on Saturday afternoon. I’m actually looking forward to it.

New Year, New Dreams

Life has been a journey since the last time I wrote. My doctor diagnosed me with hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid) and then depression. My husband and I bought a home and moved. I stepped back from my businesses for most of the year while trying to get some sort of hold on my health. My old girl, Missy went missing just before Christmas.

I’m now so ready to move from the past 12 months and will be using this blog to record my personal journey as I become fit, healthy and stepping back into my gorgeous, goddess self!

I’m also going to dedicate this post to my old girl, Missy.  She would have been 15 years old in February and she has been in my life longer than my husband, so losing her this way – just disappearing from the complex garden – has been very difficult and very sad.  I get teary just writing about it, it’s just so sad, I’m sad. I miss her telling me about her day out in the garden, and her chatter of a morning in bed.

Her Favourite Pastime

She Loved Being Outside

Missy Loved Boxes

I trust that she’s safe, loved and well looked after. If she’s crossed Rainbow Bridge, I trust she is at peace and spending time with her rumble buddy, Pirate – who went to kitty heaven 2 July 2007. I miss him too.