Making every day a productive one

There is nothing like a bit of productivity to make you feel good.

I love doing mundane tasks just so I don’t have to think/worry about them – getting things done and off my plate gives me a bazaar boost.

I am sure I have mentioned before that I love writing ‘to do’ lists. Today my list consisted of a few things:

• Book in baby shower venue and confirm preliminary details           
• Draft baby shower invitee list
• Change our dog’s address with the GCCC
• Change my dog’s veterinarian appointment 
• Contact furniture refurbisher about glamming up some pieces of pine furniture for the baby’s nursery
• Go to Medicare

I managed to fit this all in while completing a very busy day in the office and sending out multiple stories to clients for approval, billing out accounts and making appointments. All in a day’s work…

Over the weekend I bought paint and brushes to start work on decorating the nursery, organised what artwork and craft projects I wanted to start, which would feature in the room and did several hours’ research on baby products, furniture for the house, textiles and landscaping ideas for the backyard.

What was a little daunting was thinking about actually completing these tasks with a newborn baby. Thank god for time (hey I have another 20 weeks up my sleeve) and the fact that I work with my dad and am able to take some time off work after the little one arrives… maternity leave is a god-send.

Today I also had some other more emotional priorities to take care of.

These included touching base with some friends I hadn’t spoken to in a little while to let them know I’m thinking of them, sending texts and emails to family to let them know how everything is going with the baby and telling them to stop going overboard with presents and embroided clothing for the baby (this was specifically directed at my grandmother who is busy creating gorgeous garments for the baby, whose sex we aren’t finding out).

I also took a moment while driving to work to make a promise to myself to stress less this week and concentrate on my big picture priorities, which is my growing family.

It gives me a great sense of satisfaction to know that I have made the effort and was able to tick several things off my ‘list’ – it sounds strange but I’ll go home tonight feeling much lighter after culling several items off it.

Tomorrow will be a new day and a new list.

 

                                        

She's just a girl in the world

I think Gwen Stefani is one of the coolest chicks on the planet. I love No Doubt, and grew up listening to songs like "Don't Speak" and "I'm just a girl" - they are still some of my absolute faves. 

GS recently sat down with Harper's Bazaar fashion editor Lori Goldstein and discussed love, lipstick, her boys, fashion and of course, music. She is just so rad, I had to share the amazing photos (taken by none other than Terry Richardson). All credit goes to Harper's Bazaar US (you can read the interview here ).

Marvelous minerals

When I find a great product, I like to share!

Last week I bought Nude by Nature’s Natural Mineral Cover Foundation (15g) in the Light colour and application brush off eBay for $47.95.

I must say, for a mineral foundation powder, its coverage is really good and a little bit goes a long way.

Here is the blurb about the product from the Nude by Nature website.

 

Remarkably enhance and even out your natural skin-tone with a swirl of Natural Mineral Cover. This genius formulation is sure to impress when it covers redness, enlarged pores and birthmarks and is so gentle you can even use it on rosacea!

Simply buff the Cover onto the skin until achieving the desired amount of coverage and watch the skin glow with this pure, natural finish. You can even use the powder as a concealer by applying with the tip of the finger or a brush to get a more concentrated coverage.

The beauty of this product is its ability to look like skin, not powder, with Kaolin Clay included, this Natural Mineral Cover allows it to mould easily with the natural oils in your skin. With no talcs, parabens and bismuth, you have a product that not only works, but is perfect for the most sensitive of skins.

It also contains SPF 15 ensuring you’re protected from the harsh damaging rays of the Australian sun.

Available in 3 shades - Light, Medium & Dark.

Please note that no, I haven’t been paid for this post, I just really like the product and thought I’d share the love if any of you out there are in the market for a new mineral foundation.

Cheers, AVx

Weekend Warriors

The past week, we have had the most glorious winter weather, so we've been trying to get as many jobs around the house done as possible!

Last week Ben and his dad, Doug, spent the weekend in our front garden completing our landscaping. We wanted steps leading up to our front letterbox (which hasn't been built yet - this will be another weekend project) and we were originally thinking the steps would be constructed of treated timber and then stained.

However, we went for something different and decided on a timber sleeper/river rock combo and I think the results are fantastic. We used the leftover river rocks from the stairs around the edge of the garden bed, giving it a more natural feel than typical concrete edging that you usually see.


Timber sleeper/river rock stairs. Pack of four solar lights were picked up from Bunnings for $25 (we only used 3 here).

Leftover river rocks were used to line the garden bed at the front of the house.

The plants that we put in about six months ago are coming along.

It feels good to get jobs done. I don't know about you, but I love ticking things off a 'to do' list and this has been something we've been wanting to complete for a little while now, so it's fantastic that it is now done.

Next step, as mentioned, is to build and render a brick letterbox. We'll probably start sourcing materials for it this weekend and then lay the slab for it. After the yard is done, next step is the baby's nursery and I already have several projects (art and furniture) planned for this. Excitement!

TV gives us a good dose of reality

I am not ashamed to admit that I like to watch reality television. Having pay TV is great, because most of the shows on it are reality TV shows or ‘docu-dramas’ or whatever you want to call them.

I like to watch other shows as well, like the news, cooking, home renovating and music channels, but there is something about reality TV that gets me hooked.

Guilty pleasure viewing... Jersey Shore.

I think I like it so much because I can’t believe that half of what is aired is actually aired. Like the kids on Jersey Shore who go out night after night and drink, sleep around and fight like it's going out of fashion. It’s the shock and awe factor.

Let's be honest, we usually don't watch these shows because the characters have something to offer us on an intellectual level - we watch because we want to indulge in their crazy antics.

Last night I watched ‘Being Lara Bingle’ one of the newest shows to be added to my must-watch list. It joins Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Guiliana and Bill, Jersey Shore, Real Housewives of Beverley Hills, Made in Chelsea, The Only Way is Essex and the list goes on… then there is the reality competition-style shows like Masterchef, The Voice etc.

The Kardashians have come under fire for how much of their lives they expose for TV ratings.

I have gotta say – these people who appear on these shows have really got balls (yes, even the girls) for putting everything out there. I know that many say that these shows aren’t really ‘reality’ and that they are more scripted than we know, but regardless, it still makes for compelling viewing.

For instance, last night while I was watching Lara Bingle go about her thing, I saw a young woman who really has made a pretty successful modelling career for herself, who has some great friends who have stuck by her and a family who have been through some immense struggles. She hasn’t hurt anyone by being famous or for once being engaged to a sports star… she's just another Sydney chick trying to make her mark on the world (for the record I couldn't imagine being on the front page of a magazine with a story about my obvious cellulite and weight gain like Lara did).

For some reason, people love to hate Lara Bingle. I don't.

I guess with any of this TV, if you don’t like it, you do have the option of changing the channel. There are so many armchair critics in Australia (many of them employed by the television networks to bag the opposition) and they all love to rip shreds off each other.

I am sick of hearing about The Shire – I watched the first episode of it and it wasn’t for me, so I haven’t tuned in again. Simple as that. I am not out there kicking and screaming about how it ‘dumbs down’ Australians and makes us look like a bunch of vain, Botox-obsessed airheads like many commentators have.

Sophie and Vernessa from The Shire, Channel Ten's latest reality TV offering.

I think that reality TV is there to give a snapshot into the lives of people to show how very different we all are. Whether we would like to admit it or not, we are a voyeuristic society – the popularity of Facebook and Instagram proves that we are a bunch of sticky-beaks who love to know other people’s business.

I think that reality TV shows just give us an open outlet to indulge in this and compare our own reality to the lives of those we see on our flat screens (by compare I don’t mean literally, because lets face it, most of us won’t have an extravagant $1 million plus wedding like Kim Kardashian and then get divorced after just 72 days).

And yes, for the record, I will be tuning in to Channel Nine's revamped Big Brother - it's filmed in my home town and I am genuinely amazed at the careers some of the contestants from this show have been able to carve out for themselves.

Whether we want to admit it or not, a majority of what we are watching on television these days is deemed 'reality' TV and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

'Tis the season for fresh produce

Buying fruit and veg that are in season means more flavour and cost savings for the consumer

I find cooking so therapeutic and love trying new dishes. If you’re thinking of cooking up a storm and have heard all these TV chefs preaching to us about the importance of using ‘seasonal produce’ but aren’t sure what is in season, Taste has compiled a list of fruit and veg that are at their best in July.

Eating food that is in season means that it is of better quality and taste, and generally is sold a bit cheaper than other fresh produce. So when you hear these chefs yabbering on about it, they do know what they are talking about.

So it’s in our best interest to try and cook with ingredients that are in season as much as possible.  

So here's what's in season this July:

 Fruit

Avocados

Custard apples
Fuji apples
Grapefruit
Kiwifruit
Lemons
Limes
Mandarins
Nashi
Navel oranges
Pineapple
Pink lady apples
Pomegranates
Quinces
Red delicious apples
Rhubarb

Vegetables

Beetroot

Broccoli
Broccolini
Brown onions
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celeriac
Celery
Chinese greens
Dutch carrots
English spinach
Fennel
Gai lan (Chinese broccoli)
Garlic
Ginger
Jerusalem artichokes
Kumara or sweet potatoes
Leeks
Olives
Parsnips
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Silverbeet
Spinach
Witlof

Why labels have been 'attached' to parenting

Image thanks to 60 Minutes Australia

This really isn’t a topic that I want to get too heavily involved in… but I have an opinion and want to share it!

Last night 60 Minutes aired a story called On Demand , which was all about ‘attachment parenting’. Put simply, attachment parenting is basically where the parents respond immediately to the natural needs and demands of their child/children.

This includes feeding (breastfeeding more specifically) until the child is ready to be weaned off the boob and other things including co-sleeping (where the child sleeps in its parent’s bed at night so that they are in close physical contact at all times) and emotional contact (if they child cries it is immediately soothed so that they aren’t stressed or scared).

60 Minutes interviewed several mothers who practiced fulltime attachment parenting including several who were still breastfeeding their children at the age of four.

Now I have absolutely no issue with breastfeeding – that’s not my issue. I plan on breastfeeding and I am all for the nutritional and emotional benefits it gives the child. But I can’t help but feel that these parents, although doctors say they will probably raise more emotionally tuned-in kids, will also raise highly needy and dependent kids because they are choosing to give in to the wants of their children who are nearly at the age of starting school.

In the series The Slap on ABC, Melissa George’s character Rosie is an earth mother and attachment parent to her four-year-old son, Hugo. I will never forget the scene where the child runs up to his mother, wailing (because he did the wrong thing and was reprimanded by another adult) and basically pulls down her top and starts sucking because he is upset. No permission is asked, it is just assumed and his mother is happy to oblige much to the disgust of the other adults.

Now I am not debating that the role of a mother is to nurture her family - we were put on this planet to reproduce and it's a gift that I am happy to have been given.

But I think that when you’re a parent, it’s important that your child knows that you love them no matter what and that you go through certain means of showing and telling them this. Your child will grow up knowing how much they are loved because of how you show your affection for them – not because of how much time they have spent attached to your nipple.

I don’t think that mothers should be made to feel bad for not being able to be a full-time attachment parent and breastfeed on demand because they have to go back to work after six months to help support the family. Yes, some mothers have to put their kids into day care – shock horror!

I suppose that I should mention that I am not against attachment parenting at all - I am against the women who choose to put other mothers down because of their superior attitudes and 'I'm better than you' mentality that some mothers have adopted.  

Unfortunately you can’t have it all (be a fulltime attachment parent and be with your child 24/7 and also go back to a fulltime job) so now we have this division that has been created between attachment and non-attachment parents. Why can’t we just be called parents – mothers and fathers? Why has this war between mothers been created when we should really just be supporting each other for doing the best that we can?  

I love the fact that some mothers are able to stay at home with their children and immediately be there for them when they need to be fed or consoled – I would love to give up work forever and just focus on raising a family, but that’s not a reality for me and it’s not for a majority of other women out there as well.

The attachment parenting debate also focuses in on co-sleeping. The 60 Minutes story highlighted pros and cons for this – some parents are just lazy and can’t be bothered getting up to their child in the middle of the night. Other parents are so in-tuned with their baby that if the mother wakes, checks on her child and goes back to sleep, that the baby will often wake, realise they are in close contact with their mother and father, and immediately fall back to sleep without a whimper.

There are some mothers who also swear by self-soothing, where the child cries itself to sleep and gets itself over any issue it had. These mothers have been branded harsh and careless. I have a massive issue with this. The child isn’t loved any less just because it is teaching itself to calm down – it is just the parent’s choice to put their child into this particular routine and the child eventually adapts to it.

Above all, I feel like my husband summed it up best last night by stating that it has become more about the mother and her choices as a parent, and less about the actual baby. Why is the media focusing on driving a wedge between parents when they should be focusing on the good things mothers and fathers are achieving together?

This debate is not for everyone and I don’t have much more to say than this: I am sure each parent strives to be the best mother or father to their children that they can be, and in my book, that’s good enough.