18.5.11

a virtual coffee & thoughts on happiness...

i'm a day late...but i am soo ready to stop...sit...chat & listen...
virtual coffee...
i don't know about you all out there...
but i love these virtual coffee's...
a weekly *round-up* of thoughts...idea's...sharing...
just as it would be if we were really meeting for coffee...
a moment out of our day to see how each other is travelling...



so...if we were really meeting for a coffee today...
i'd be popping you back on the pink chair...by the window...but outa this wind!
we could still see the front garden together...but we wouldn't mess up our hair...
the poppies, the irises, the roses that are all beginning to bloom...
it still makes me smile- big with a lot of hand clapping much to the amusement of the kiddos- when i see our garden coming to life after a long winter...
for an aussie gal in this gorgeous english countryside, these will always be storybook moments...
for my kids- who are now au fait with life in two countries, on opposite sides of the globe, these moments are totally taken in their stride...
a garden of wonderful succulents & sandstone on the beaches of sydney...
&
a lush green garden of roses & ever changing flowers in the english countryside...
whatever!
part of me wants them to sit up & take note of the differences...
but the bigger part of me is soo proud of them...
they have adapted to life in two countries as only children do...
& at these moments, particularly, i feel blessed to be their mother...




so...if we were really meeting for a coffee today...
i'd serve it to you with a crusty baguette & fig jam...
i'm just back from shopping...i need the energy to now unpack the haul into the pantry...
&
Sainsbury's, according to my daughter, makes baguettes just like in france...
crusty on the outside...soft on the inside...
she'd like to be a leetle bit french...
we'd all like to be a little bit french at times...
i'm sure those french gals can eat basket loads of baguettes without having to walk it all off later...


& if we were really meeting for coffee...
i'd run this thought by you...
are you happy?
i don't mean happy with the minute details of your life, but just happy by nature?
do you look at the glass half full, or half empty?
have you reached that spot in your life that makes you realise that you are actually exactly where you want to be...?
not physically...but emotionally, confidence wise, career or creatively wise?
i had a gorgeous cousin of my husbands, whom i adore, ask me if i "ever have a s****y day"...
yes Em...i'm talking about you...
i had a giggle, as she has seen me through some pretty long lunches with three little kids as we lived a  beach apart in sydney...
had she forgotten those times of comparing, analysing & bemoaning our lack of sleep?
she too, has three little ones now...& i know she's where i have been...


so...i got to thinking...really thinking...
& i am in that great place...
i really know i am...
yes things totally bug me everyday...
the weather...
the kids leaving their school shoes in the rain on the trampoline...
the ironing pile staring at me, & it seems only me...
the lugging home of shopping bags only to have to then unpack them...
the list is long & very boring...
BUT
i am intrinsically happy...
i love where i am at in my life...
i like who i am...
i've worked pretty hard to get to this point, we have done more in the last three years than some do in a lifetime...
i'm not judging anyone else...not at all...each to their own is an important lesson to embrace...
but...
i've always wanted to do something bigger than i thought was possible & fortunately i fell in love with someone who, for his own life, had always wanted the same...
this life abroad has been the final piece i was looking for to making me feel happy with my days...
we will, one day, be returning to the beautiful beaches of sydney...
& we will be returning with a true sense of our happiness...
there will still be the everyday that bugs me of course but real happiness is not, for me, based on those things but on the experiences of life...
what you make of it...


if we were really meeting for coffee in my front room, you all cosy on the pink chair...
i would be watching your face whilst i shared with you this pile little mountain of thoughts...
i would be hoping that i see a flicker of recognition in your eyes...
an *i-know-what-you-are-flapping-on-about* sorta look...
any thoughts on all that?
i know, i should have warned you of a big blurb from me & made us stronger coffee's!


& if we were really meeting for coffee...
i'd ask you to recommend a new blog to me...
one that you have stumbled across this very week that makes you wish you'd found them a year ago...
i have one...not from this week, but a blog that always makes me smile...
it makes me so thankful to have children...
it makes me wish i'd home schooled somewhere along the line...
{i like to think we sort of do...you know on the weekends...challenges are big in our house!}
i'd tell you to go visit my lovely friend Alicia at *la famille*
she's just a breath of fresh air...a daily read for me amongst my faves here in this bloggy world...


anyhow lovelies...
i have shopping bags staring me down from the kitchen...
the coffee machine still humming away...
& beds to make...
so thanks for dropping by...
see you next week...
grab a rose or two off the bush growing up the front door on your way out...
&
thanks as always for listening...

xxx

as always...go say *g'day* to our host Amy {here}
tell her i'm the reason your late
:)






18 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh Melissa, I think I might need to settle in on that pink chair for a coffee followed by a wine or two, just so that I can nod along with your flappings! And you know what, your happiness shows through in all, and how you write. And it is so good to pause and reflect, just as you have. And I thank you, because, just today, I needed a wee reminder! xx

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  2. you just totally made my day :) i'm flattered to be on your daily reading list. and your thoughts on happiness got me thinking today...depending on my mood...and the time if the month, i tend to see things "half empty" i'm working in this...thanks for the thought provoker :)
    xo,
    alicia

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  3. Lovely post...as always :), you certainly got me thinkin today...I'm always a glass half full, I don't know why, I just try and keep my life simple and make the most of every day x

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  4. Hmmmmmmmm, that certainly was food for thought.....or coffee as the case may be :) I was actually thinking about this kind of stuff yesterday as it happens. I'm still thinking about it, so I'll get back to you ;)

    Thank you for your lovely thoughts.

    Kristen. xo

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  5. Do you know what Melissa? I absolutely know "what you are flapping on about"!
    I think you can get to a certain age in life and if you're lucky everything can just sort of seem to click. Of course I get the kind of days where nothing seems to go right, but overall I think I'm pretty happy with my lot too.
    Thanks for the catch up this week and the lovely reflection of life.
    x

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  6. Dear, I love your coffees! Your feeling of moving to England as an adventure for your family is *exactly* how my husband and I feel about him being in the Air Force. We're exploring our own country in a way we never would have if he'd have taken a lawyer position in our home state. And, the we have always said that as long as it still feels like an adventure for all of us, we'll stay in, but as soon as it's a chore and we're unhappy, then we'll find somewhere permanent to live.

    And I'd say that I'm in a pretty happy place right now, but I've always been a "glass is half full" girl. It's why I married my husband...he's never seen a half full glass ever!

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  7. I'm a reformed "glass-exactly-half" girl. Now I'm half-full, all the way, baby. :)

    Love Alicia AND you! Love this happy post!

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  8. I am off to have a coffee and a ponder..... Cx

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  9. I smile at your Aussie self. In my new life on an island, everything is popping up Aussie. My boxed milk, my home decor mags, and you! Love reading your thoughts on life and being transplanted in another country!

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  10. I love this post... and yes I'm happy, thank you for asking. I agree with Beth... things start to click at some point and, for me, plenty has fallen into place now I'm of a certain age.

    A new blog for you... lemonrhodes.blogspot.com

    gxo

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  11. I really needed a coffee and a chat today, thanks dear. I am totally exhausted today, but I still feel a contentedness and happiness that is hard to explain. I hardly have the energy to write, but wouldn't wish for things to be any different! I have lived life in many places and loved each part of the journey to where I am now. Have a wonderful English day my friend, and I will have a wonderful Aussie one! X

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  12. I'm so glad you're in that sweet spot, exactly where you want to be. I'm there too, and funnily enough, for me too, it took living abroad to get there. Funny how wandering can sometimes help us find home!

    Cheers, and thanks for the coffee!

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  13. Hi Melissa,
    I really enjoyed the coffee! Can't wait to pop over, settle into the chair and enjoy your blog again soon. English countryside? How wonderful! Enjoy the rest of your week. Emma.

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  14. Melissa, how I would adore to park myself on your pink chair and chat about life, happiness, and the quintessential pleasures to be found in the every day. Each time I read one of these posts, I do actually feel like I've had a coffee with you...thanks for that. I needed your cheeriness this morning and a reminder that despite the pressures of young 'uns, I am intrinsically happy....and grateful.

    Thanks for the bloggy recommendation...I'll check her out now. One of my daily reads is "whatever", I think if you google "whatever blog" it'll show up. I simply adore it. You'd like her.

    Meredy xo.

    p.s. I know what you mean about the home-schooling thing...there's a part of me that would LOVE to do that..every couple of months I entertain the thought.

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  15. Hello! I love your blog!! your header is amazing and your title gave me a little giggle! Thanks so much for following me, I always find to so generous when more accomplished bloggers say hi to the little ones (like me), so thanks.



    i'll get me a cuppa now

    xo em

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  16. Well I'm certainly happy to have stumbled upon your beautiful blog - it caught my eye on a blogroll. This is one of the most amazingly written posts I've ever seen...so poignant. You have a wonderful way with words, and photography too.

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  17. I am also a happy person, and I think it baffles some people! I'm only 27, so I don't know whether it takes "a certain age" like others have said above! I moved out of The Big Smoke to Bath a year and a half ago, and I am SO happy! But people don't seem to believe me, they ask "but don't you miss London?" or "aren't you bored of your admin job yet?" Nope! I have a lot more time and a little more money thanks to the move, so I get to spend my free time pretty much doing as I please - that's all I've ever wanted so far in life!

    Although I must say, your blog does make me feel like I'm missing out by not having a garden full of roses...:)

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  18. Oh, Sweetie, I'm so delighted you have found this moment in your life. Your blog exudes it - it's so imbued with your warmth and generosity. A perfect reflection of you. J x

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Thanks for taking a moment...x

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