I Heart Me Monday Week 12

What is important to you? So important, that you want it to be important to your children?

I think the one thing I feel is really important in life is to be happy. If you're in a position where you're not happy, you need to do something about it.

So that's what I hope I'm helping my boys to realise as they grow up.

I want them to be happy.

I want them to look on the world as a place of fun and adventure.

That even the small things can be glorious.

I want them to focus on the good things without forgetting about the bad. That way they will always be mindful of how lucky they are.

I hope that they'll learn to be thoughtful towards others, to remember that although the world doesn't revolve around them, their lives will be rich if they can make sure they take care of and love themselves.

It's a lot to impress upon a child at any age, particularly while my boys are so young.

I like to remind them of how lucky we are. We have our family and friends around us who love us as much as we love them.

We're safe, we've got a wonderful home, and are so fortunate to have food on the table every day.

I want my boys to grow up knowing what one needs to be happy, and to realise that actually, that's not as much as some people might believe.

I can only hope that by being a happy, glass-half-full kind of person, my boys will learn to be this way too.

*****

What about you?

What's so important to you that you hope your children will feel the same way?

Go on over to J "Notes" post and see what everyone else is saying!

I Heart Me Week 11 (tuesday edition)

I'm a day late with this week's I Heart Me, but that's ok, cause nobody's perfect, right? :)

This week's prompt:

What would you do if you had all the time and money you needed?

Ohhh the possibilities!

All the time and money I *needed*, or *wanted*?

Well, either way, I think one of the first things I'd do (other than the usual buy a house, give some to my family and close friends so they'd be set for life, get a maid and a nanny, so on and so forth), I'd go for a trip around Australia (taking Barbara with me of course!) to visit Veronica, Kim, Tiff, and a few others.

I'd hug them so long I don't think I would be able to let go.

I'd go to the U.S. and visit my aunt and cousin, meet his gorgeous wife and son, and of course have a massive shopping spree while I was at it!

I'd go to Canada and meet my extended family over there. Apparently there are a ton of us over and around Vancouver, but other than maybe two of them I've never met, and that was when I was around 10 or so!

I could afford to get Max on a very expensive but highly recommended ABA program.

Of course the new house that I'd have would include a massive studio room full of photography equipment and art supplies (not mixed up though, or that would get messy!).

I'd take the boys to Disneyland just to see their faces light up (taking someone along who could help with the boys of course!).

Ohhh what I would do if I had all the time and money I could possibly need...

Hey, with Euro-millions, it could happen. Though it'd help if I actually bought a ticket. >_<

I Heart Me Week 10

Ooh I like this question from J "Notes":

What are your favourite things?

So many thing fall into this category, so I'm going to list them from what comes off the top of my head at first thought...

• Zack telling me he loves me, and giving me cuddles. His laugh, his cheeky sense of humour, even the way he stomps his feet up the stairs when he's in a sulk. It's hilarious!


• Max running towards me with a huge smile, looking me right in the eye, arms outstretched when I pick him up from nursery. I don't think there's anything that could lift my heart more than that.


• The way I'm learning more and more about my parents as time goes on. My mum and I are so similar in so many ways - it's almost like a carbon copy!


• My beautiful friends, both in real life and online. It's not so much that there's a divide between them anymore, rather than the problem being that some of my very dear friends live too far away for me to give them a real cuddle.


• Light. The way it dances on water, and makes everything so beautiful in it's own way. It's what drives anything photography related. How could I *not* love light!!


• The internet. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't know so many amazingly strong, creative, wonderful people!


• Apple products. I think with an iMac, iPhone and iPad, plus iPod touches for the boys, I can safely say we are an Apple family!


• Puppies! Oh how cute they are! Nice to pat and then say bye though... no poop to clean up after!


• Same goes for newborns. OH SO gorgeous, but I'm getting rather close to my bed and decent sleep to ever think about wanting to do that again!


• My life. I am SO lucky where I am right now. I have an amazing family, my boys, my mum and dad. We are all so lucky to have each other. My friends, the house that we've made into a home, the town we live in, the time I get for me, finding, no... creating myself the way I want to be.

So these are my favourite things... what about yours?

I Heart Me Monday: Week 9

This week's prompt from J "Notes" is the following...

Where are you with your New Year resolutions?

I didn't really make any specific New Year's resolutions this year to be honest.

What I have done, though, is sign up for Ali Edward's One Little Word class. It's based around scrapbooking which is something I've never done before, but I really like the concept of it. You think of a single word to guide you through the year.

I chose the word Create.

It's not just about finding my creativity again, though that is a big part of it, and I'm loving getting back to doing things I once loved, and learning new tricks and techniques.


It's also about creating the sort of life and home I want for us here in chez Softthistle.

I want to create loving and fun relationships with my boys.

I want to create a decluttered and welcoming home for anyone who might visit.

I want to create wonderful memories that we'll all remember for years to come.

By choosing the word create, I'm inviting all of these things into my life, and more.

I'm loving the path it's taking me on, and I'm always mindful of my one little word throughout each day.

So I guess my "resolution" is going pretty well so far!

What about you? Have your resolutions gone to the wayside, or are you still on track?

Oh, and please pop over to J Notes' post and have a nosey at what others are saying!

I Heart Me Week 8

This week's challenge from J Notes is a fun one:

Tell us 3 things you have done, 2 truths & 1 lie.

I think I can manage that one... maybe.

1. I've been to the top of the Empire State Building.


2. I've climbed up the Wallace Monument.


3. I've been on the London Eye.

Well that was easy! So... which one do you think is the lie?

Go on over to see what everyone else has been telling tales about!