Creating Your Goddess Haven

A six-week adventure for when you’re wanting & needing & craving a space that is a true haven for your the Goddess in You! You’ll use space clearing techniques to make your space’s energy sparkle. You’ll learn how to divinely declutter. You’ll dive into inspired interior design. You’ll be empowered with all of the wisdom, tools & techniques you need to make your space feel & look amazing to you. And you’ll end up with a home that is a sanctuary just for you.

That’s the description for Leonie Dawson’s 6 week e-course Create Your Goddess Haven. I’ve decided to give it a go (again) so this week is week 1. I’ll be blogging my results here each week. A bit for myself and as a bit of a motivator.

If you want to join in you can sign up here or join the amazaballs Amazing Life & Biz Academy and get access to this course, a HEAP of other goodies and a great group of wonderful Goddesses.

So I’ll see you back here in a week with a wrap-up of week one.

Is teal the hot colour for nails this summer?

Well it is this February! Chemmart Pharmacies along with Ovarian Cancer Australia (OCA) are holding Colour for a Cause this month as part of Ovarian Cancer Awareness month.

Chemmart Pharmacies around Australia are stocking a limited edition teal nail polish pack during February with proceeds going to OCA to assist the delivery of its awareness, support, advocacy and research programs.

During February, call into your local Chemmart Pharmacy to see if they are one of many stores offering an in-store manicure for a gold coin donation, which will also be passed onto OCA.

And girls aren’t having all the fun with guys being challenged to sport some teal nails in February. So guys, man up and go teal this February. My dad went teal on his thumbs and even some of the Melbourne Rebels rugby union went teal. I dared a few of the boys at Hawthorn FC via Twitter but none have done it yet.

Check out this gorgeous mani over at More Nail Polish (I’m a little obsessed with her blog lol) and has another planned for 26th February (today) – Teal Ribbon Day.

Mum & Dad got in on the action

and Miss K and I have had some fun

Have you gone teal with your nails this February? I’d love to see them if you have 😀

Fan-fairy-tastic party food

Invites were sent, RSVPs given, decorations and games planned, it’s time to think food…

The first thing on the list is fairy bread because what fairy party, well any kids party, is complete without it! Ours were cut into butterfly shapes. (and cause I was totally into party mode I forgot to take some photos)

Then cupcakes. We priced buying some cupcakes and at $8 each! I made my own.
Vanilla cupcakes with fairy sprinkles

and orange jelly cups which were more of a pain than I thought. I was hoping to get the orange out neatly so I could make caramel oranges (another yum recipe for another day) but it didn’t happen. We did get a batch of yummy orange juice instead 😀

and I decided last minute (like Saturday night) to make giant chocolate freckles and honey joys

plus the usual sandwiches, mini savs (cocktail savs/franks), mini party pies, mini sausage rolls and mini quiches. With 10 little people and 10 adults there wasn’t a lot of food left – which I think is always a good sign 😉

and then there was the cake. It turned out ok. It got eaten so must have been alright.

And with that, another party is done and dusted. Next year I guess I’ll have 2 parties to organise! Any tips for me?

Planning a fan-fairy-tastic 4th party

Miss K turns 4 this Sunday. Wow, feels strange typing that. Seems like yesterday I was still pregnant with her. Now she’s turning 4 and I’m pregnant with her little brother/sister (place your bets – I’m thinking a boy but I thought that last time round lol)

Anywho, I digress. When asked what she wanted for her party theme the answer was a very quick ”fairies” closely followed by her getting my well worn copy of the Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake book and saying “with this cake please”

Insert a huge sign of relief from me cause that should be a lot easier than last year’s cake

mine looked nothing like this. The jelly melted and ran everywhere.

So we have a theme & a cake. I did a search for free fairy printables and found lots. We decided on this cute fairy invite and after much looking decided to use some of these fairy party printables

Yup, this year I’m not making my own bits and pieces like invites & decorations. Don’t have the energy. Plus why reinvent the wheel 😉
Next on the list was food choices. Still keeping it simple but that’s another post.

P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day 🙂

A little Thrill just in time for Valentine’s Day

Awhile back I reviewed the Thrill by We-Vibe and I’ve got a couple to give away to some lucky ladies.

Time to go teal!

February is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month. You may notice a change in my profile pictures around social media as I go teal for the month to show my support for those currently battling Ovarian Cancer and for the families who have lost a loved one.

Ovarian Cancer is a disease where some of the cells in one or both ovaries start to grow abnormally and develop into cancer. There currently is no screening test for Ovarian Cancer. If your doctor suspects ovarian cancer, there are a number of tests they can perform to help decide whether your symptoms are due to ovarian cancer or other causes.

Do you know the symptoms?

Women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer report four types of symptoms most frequently:

Abdominal or pelvic pain.
Increased abdominal size or persistent abdominal bloating.
Needing to urinate often or urgently.
Feeling full after eating a small amount.

Most women who experience these symptoms don’t have Ovarian Cancer but if you experience these symptoms regularly over a four week period, please discuss your symptoms with a doctor and if other reasons don’t rule out your symptoms ask to be tested for Ovarian Cancer

What’s on?

If you are in Canberra, check out Old Parliment House as it goes teal.

Visit your local Chemmart Pharmacy as they are holding fundraising and awareness events and activities in stores throughout the month.
Speaking of Chemmart Pharmacy, they are launching a new teal nail polish, with proceeds going to OCA. Wear teal nail polish throughout February and post photos to the OCA Facebook page (and check out the male celebrities who have been dared to Teal up on Teal Ribbon Day (26 February) to raise awareness. Challenge your friends to go teal in February

Wattle Valley WNBL Teal Ribbon round – 7 to 9 February
Queen of the Lake (9th February). This annual fun run/walk is hosted by OCA partner Brazilian Butterfly at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne and funds raised through participants’ sponsorship are donated to OCA. For more information and to register for this event visit www.ovariancancer.net.au
Teal Ribbon Day (26th February). OCA partners Chemmart, Brazilian Butterfly and My Size sell teal
ribbons for $2 each throughout the month. If you are in Canberra OCA are holding a breakfast event at Parliament House in Canberra on Teal Ribbon Day.

Afternoon Teal events

How can u help?

Buy a teal ribbon
Host or attend a Afternoon Teal event
Buy some Colour for a cause nail polish from your local Chemmart
Donate to OCA

I’ll be posting more through the month with information and sharing our Afternoon Teal event – Scrap til You Drop 2014.

Where did the weekend go?

Gotta love a long weekend but seriously where did it go? Oh yeah that’s right – working on stuff for my blog and trying to plan a fairy party for a soon-to-be-4yo (OMG where did that time go?) and all that while having a small case of morning sickness (sooooo ready for that to be gone)

Anywho, I got a heap of bloggy stuff done during the blogathon….

Do some of the Blogathon mini challenges (see below)
Tidy up my Pinterest boards (not really a bloggy thing but well it’s a social media thing attached to my blog) – started but got overwhelmed. I need to sit down and work out a plan for this.
Clean up and sort emails – Inbox is empty and emails I need to keep are sorted into their respective folders
Do some planning in my blog planner – worked out a social media plan
Re-set up blogging app on new ipad – have put BlogPress on to try it out and see if it’s better than the WordPress one
work on Project Life pages – didn’t happen but scheduled it in my blog planner
Brainstorm ideas for blog – lots of ideas, now to implement them 🙂
Write up some posts & schedule them – started a few birthday party planning posts and a heap of stuff for February

I managed to get 5 of 6 the mini challenges I wanted to do done….

5 Tips to Organize Your Blogging When You Work Outside The Home – some great tips. I’ve finally decided to use my blog planner this year instead of just printing it and not using it
Categories and Tags
Growing Your Instagram Following – one of my blog goals for 2014
Growing Your Facebook Community – another goal this year
Increasing Blog Productivity – more great tips. I want to be more productive this year so will be using some of these, like blocking out distractions (NO sm while blogging!!)
15 Clever Ways to Get New Blog Traffic – didn’t get around to getting this done but pinned it for future inspiration 🙂

Feel like I got a bit done and I’m looking forward to getting back into blogging this year.

My bloggy to-do list

Hoping to get the following accomplished this weekend during the Blogathon.

Do some of the Blogathon mini challenges
Tidy up my Pinterest boards (not really a bloggy thing but well it’s a social media thing attached to my blog)
Clean up and sort emails
Do some planning in my blog planner
Re-set up blogging app on new ipad
work on Project Life pages
Brainstorm ideas for blog
Write up some posts & schedule them

Think that’s all for this weekend. Looking forward to seeing what others get up to and checking out some new blogs.

Winter (Summer) Blogathon 2014

Can you believe it’s been 6 months since the last blogathon? I’m looking forward to taking part again this weekend.
What is the blogathon?

“You know all those items on your Blogging To Do list? Those things you’ve been meaning to get to but haven’t had a chance? Now’s your chance to get a large amount of them done”

There is more info about the blogathon and what people get up to over the weekend over on the Blogathon Blog and if you are interested, you can sign up too.

I’d love to know if you’re taking part so I can come over and say hi. We can even keep each other motivated 😉

Build a boat for the chance to win

Spirit of Tasmania is currently running a competition where you build your own model of the Spirit.
There are four age categories each with a fantastic prize

7 and under: WIN your choice of Lego valued at up to $350
8 – 10: WIN your choice of Lego valued at up to $350
11 – 14: WIN a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (10.1” 16GB WiFi White)
15 and over: WIN a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (10.1” 16GB WiFi White)

You’ll need to be quick though as the competition ends on the 27th January.

So build your model, take a photo and fill in the entry form.

Good luck!