Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts

Friday, January 6, 2012

December Photo Challenge #decpics

In late November the wonderful Tina Gray posed a 30 Day Photo Challenge for the month of December and of course I jumped at the chance. 
Here is my December in 2011;
1: Favourite Food 2: Smile 3: Happiness 4: Leaves
5: Morning Sky 6: Books 7: Something Funny 8: Favourite Colour
9: Inspiring Person 10: Nature 11: Something Old 12: Hands
13: Written Word 14: Movement 15: Technology 16: Animals
17: Memories 18: Something New 19: Best Friends 20: Seasonal
21: Where You Sleep 22: Clothing 23: In Your Closet 24: Gratitude
25: Artwork 26: Transportation 27: Daily Routine 28: Nighttime
29: Light 30: Self Portrait

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Simplify Your Life Week One #syl12

The wonderful Deb from Home Life Simplified has launched her 52 Weeks to Simplifying Your Life challenge which I am so excited for! The challenge for week one is to reflect back on 2011 in a positive light. In late 2011 I reflected on the past year but didn't focus so much on me and the positives. 

I thought this task would be easier than it actually was. I do feel a lot better after this exercise though. Maybe 2011 wasn't as negative as I think.
Image
Reclaiming my life from anxiety and getting the house organised. I can now go out and not get anxious, something I could only dream of at the beginning of 2011. We live in a small space that can easily feel cluttered which clutters our minds. Organising, decluttering and donating material possessions that we just don't need or use really created a better energy in our household.
Seeing lufflump go from a shy, awkward child to the outgoing, adventurous child he is today. His growth has been amazing and beyond our wildest dreams. The mister is in a good place as well with work and getting back into fitness. Finding out about sesame and watching her and my belly's growth has been a joy. Learning and growing through my blog has definitely made me happy.
Lowering expectations of self, events and others has given the mister and I both peace this year. We've been able to find a medium where we expect less but with the respect we believe we deserve to get. I'm still learning to focus my energy positively and not waste it negatively.
The mister continued and continues to be a positive influence in my life. Through blogging I've met many positive people who have helped enrich my life. In 2011 I decided I didn't want negative 'friends' in my life so did a big reassessment and culled those negative people out of my life. It was very cleansing moment and continues to be.
Luckily lufflump still naps which allows me to also nap which has been necessary during this pregnancy. I've also been lucky to have almost weekly day dates with the mister. Lufflump also has had some overnight dates allowing relaxation and rejuvenation. I also discovered the simple beauty of a nice hot, private shower for a quick feel good fix.
This a constant change with new challenges often due to lufflump's development, my health and the mister's work schedule. The mister and I have always worked well as a team; encouraging, communicating with and being supportive of each other. Disagreements are discussed but not dwelled upon. Sitting back, trusting and allowing him to parent the way he believes is best and him doing the same with me makes our family work. If one of us says or does something the other backs them up. Luckily for us we parent similar and where we don't it balances out.
Starting and growing my blog motivated me and gave me the excitement I lacked in other areas of my life. Forming connections over social media with amazing women was definitely a highlight of 2011 for me.
I learned to trust my body more, I am stronger than I think, no one is a perfect parent and that life is what you make it. A big lesson for me was from the floods; I realised that things, material possessions, are just things and don't make up for love or family. That helped me begin the declutter process in my home and life.
I was and am grateful for my wealth, health, family, friends and freedom we have in this country. We are, in fact, living the lucky life!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Christmas 2011

Christmas lights!

Santa's set up
Opening presents
Still opening presents
Jessie lost her hat to Mack
Loving to roll about
Opening presents at Noni's house
Christmas lunch at Noni's - playing with Cracker toys
Dinosaur love!
The mister and I :)
Want to play? Join in the fun - Faith Hope & a Whole Lotta Love and My Little Drummer Boys.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Welcome!


Welcome to the revamped 'Tutu Ames' all ready for 2012!

As you might have noticed there's been a name change as well as look. When I began 'Tutu Ames' I still (occassionally) wore tutus, but since I have not in a VERY long time I didn't feel the name was a right fit. I'll still use Tutu Ames for twitter, facebook, instagram, email and blog address. I think if I changed everything, it would be confusing. I know I get confused sometimes when a profile photo is changed let alone name. Who knows what will happen in the future though.

Accidental Wonderland is where I find myself. A bit of an accidental family, one that was planned but happened a lot bit earlier than expected. Nevertheless I've found myself in a wonderland with amazing people who I love with all my heart. The mister and I often find ourselves looking around at our life smiling, amazed at how wonderful it really is.

The look will be changing very soon as I have the amazing Sass from Moozoo Designs working her magic. I just wanted to get off my ass and keep my promise to return to blogging today (can't be breaking my first 2012 'promise'). I need some motivation to get out of bed lately and am hoping that blogging will be that again. Plus I have SO MUCH to say! This is a quickly whipped up look, everything that I spent ages on previously I ended up scrapping. Hormones.

I'd like to take a moment and thank those who supported me in 2011. I wanted to do a detailed post thanking individual's but I'm exhausted from getting lufflump to sleep (where is Samuel L Jackson or Noni when I need them!?). I promise that I will in the near future. Honestly, it's on my blogging to do list. It's in writing, I can't and won't ignore it.
So what do you think?

Monday, December 19, 2011

2011


Where has this year gone? It's flown by and to be perfectly honest I'm more than happy to see it go. I'm well and truly over it. Of course it hasn't all been bad. Here's a recap of our year.
New Years Eve
  • The mister completed a Certificate 3 in Diesel Mechanics to help with his entry into the airforce. His final attempt is early January. I freaking hope he gets in, he'll be a credit to the RAAF and we'd finally be able to have some plans.
Family holiday to my grandparents near Port Macquarie
  • He also quit his old job where we used to live. They were asses and the business has since closed down. It was all a big mess and I'm glad he got out when he did. He also got a new job, working two jobs again. We weren't struggling as such buthis first job is dependent on university semesters meaning his hours dwindle to nothing during the holidays. I didn't realise how many holidays uni students get! He loves both jobs and they've both opened up a lot of opportunities doe him which is just wonderful.
Hair changes!
  • I kicked ass in uni then dropped out (again). My head, heart and soul just wasn't into it when I fell pregnant. I was doing a boring unit and had no motivation to do uni work. I will get back into it eventually, I know I have time.
Birthdays - mine, lufflump's and the mister's
  • I started blogging again and fell in love with twitter. I also fell in love with the blogging community and some brilliant bloggers. I've formed some wonderful relationships with bloggers and companies alike. Everyday I learn something new; about blogging, people or myself and that's the main motivation that drives me to continue.
Blog meet ups - HelloEvents + NuffnangKellogg'sHelloEventsHelloEvents Christmas
  • I fell pregnant unexpectedly and a few years earlier than planned but nonetheless welcome. It hasn't been the cruisy pregnancy I had with lufflump with evening sickness in the first trimester and some scares, but it's been easier than some. We found out we're having a girl and our family will be complete. Now to keep trying to convince the mister to get the snip...
Sesame
  • I began medication for my anxiety. I've written about it before on here and at Mum's Word. It wasn't an easy decision to continue while pregnant but it's helped regulate my mods and lower my anxiety enough to (hopefully) not have stressed out the baby and my family.
Protesting for our environment's health
  • Luflump really has grown a lot this year. He's very sociable and is happy to chat to anyone, whether they can understand him or not. He loves daycare more than ever and is now in the big kid's room. He's very sure of himself, his wants and isn't afraid to make it known. We're still co-sleeping even after spending a lot of money on his own bed but we all sleep better together.
Lufflump's firsts - magazine spread, movie, big bed, swimming lessons
  • We wanted to move to somewhere bigger but after months of looking around we've signed on for another year. Brisbane is getting pricier especially if you want a courtyard, dishwasher and air-conditoning. While we don't have the latter we realised that for the price we are paying, where we are were pretty well off and don't need the extra in our electricity bill.
Lufflump's had a good year!
  • It hasn't all been wonderful though. My grandma had a stroke, the mister's grandpa has been unwell and my Oma has been very sick. Friends, family and the mister's home town were affected by the floods. ALl three of us have had multiple hospital trips, some minor and some not. The mister and I have both lost friends to life. My Opa and a beautiful little baby girl died leaving behind broken hearts coupled with relief that no longer they were to feel pain. There's also been money and life stresses, unhappiness with services and people - you know the usual bullshit encountered in life.
2011, I'm more than glad to see you go. You've thrown some horrible arrows among the good. One of my most hated years indeed. Thank you for the good and fuck you for the bad. I hope 2012 learns from your mistakes and doesn't follow them.
Are you happy to see 2011 go? 

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