Month: February 2014

January Joys: A Picture a Day

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I am not really one for new year’s resolutions in the traditional sense.  Instead, I prefer to try and do things that will make me a happier, nicer, smarter, more organised person. This typically includes visiting a new country, learning a new language or trying to create some sort of album for all the photographs I have taken over the years.

I may not get there, and quite frankly, if last’s year’s ‘New Year’s To Do List: The Carry Overs” is anything to go by, I don’t get even close, but I think it is better than trying to stop drinking wine (why is this EVER a good idea?) or eating chocolate (see previous point). Life is too short.

This year, one of my resolutions was to take a picture a day of something that makes me smile, laugh or happy every single day and post it on my Instagram account.  Some days it is easy, other days it is more difficult, but what I love about the concept is that it makes me look for a moment of joy in the every day.

It doesn’t have to be anything extraordinary, it just needs to be something that is special to me. Call it happiness. Call it contentedness. Call it life’s simple pleasures. I call it a nice reminder that every day, even the shitty ones, can have one solitary moment when, if time stood still, I could happily stay there forever.

This was my January.

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A good book and a beautiful teacup.

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A small man and a big ocean.

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A frangipani flower

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Sydney on a glorious evening

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My brother in Sydney – probably the best thing about January.

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In the beginning…

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SydneyWhen I first set up this blog almost a year ago, I didn’t really know what I wanted it to achieve. I love travelling, writing, reading, good food, great bars, adventure, my gorgeous man Jon, my fabulously crazy family, and the cutest little dog called Charlie, but the challenges of living on the other side of the world from my family and friends (they mostly live in London, I live in Sydney) can sometimes make you forget the good stuff in life. Even after five years.

I guess setting up this blog was my way of reminding myself that life is an adventure. If you are lucky, it is full of love, it is full of laughs and it is full of happiness. It is what you make it. And on days like today, when I feel sad at being 10,500 miles away from my dearest Dad on his 60th birthday, I have to remember that while I would move heaven and earth to be there, the fact is I am blessed and extremely lucky to have a close knit, wonderful family and a kind and caring boyfriend who love me unconditionally. Sometimes I don’t deserve it.

So there. After months of having a blog sitting in cyber space, worrying about when and how I was going to create that ‘awesome first post’, it is the sense of loneliness and the feeling of missing out that has prompted me to put pen to paper, or whatever the blogging equivalent may be.

I know living on the other side of the world from all that is familiar isn’t easy, but I know I am lucky to have the opportunity to experience it. I have a good job, a great home and fantastic people in my life. I get to go to amazing places, do exciting things and live a truly happy existence. I want this blog to be a reminder of that.