consistency is key to happiness and success

A new year brings 365 untouched days for us to leave our mark on, to dream our dreams, live them, and still there's washing to fold.

Even if you're not one for new years resolutions what I'm writing about today is an unavoidable truth.

Anything that you want to achieve in life, that you want to master, or even just get a little bit better at calls for one thing - consistency.

My husband who has published nine books and has a single minded focus and self belief that I marvel at reminds me regularly that consistency is the key to achieving all the things that he does.

Let's take a look at the usual suspects where 'consistency is key' applies:

- Improving health and fitness

- Weight loss

- Reducing stress and anxiety

- Getting children to eat fruit and vegetables

- Saving money, building wealth

- Having stronger more fulfilling relationships

- Becoming a better artist, singer, musician, athlete, photographer, craftsperson

I admit I struggle to be consistent with some things in my life. My blog is a good example of that as you patient readers know. I have bursts of posting and then it is quiet for days.

My unfinished cookbook is another example. Spending just half an hour per day - everyday - would see that book finished in a couple of months. So why am I stalling? What is the pay off?

I'm going to get deep now.

Generally there is a pay off that we might not even be fully aware of as to why we keep doing things a certain way that basically just aren't working.

We cling to those ways mainly because we are comfortable in the pattern we are in and attached to the feelings that those behaviours bring. What??? I hear you cry, attached to the feeling of being broke or overweight or having projects unfinished, am I crazy you ask?

Nope. Not crazy. Just spelling out the complex human condition. Somehow we have to let go of being attached to those feelings and see ourself stepping into a new way of being and feeling, allowing ourself to do that and get on with it.

I've veered slightly off on a tangent but my point is whatever you are hoping to achieve and feel fulfilled about this year requires your daily attention. Daily is the key word. Ok, you can have weekends off if you want to.

Save 10% of every dollar you earn this year. Every dollar.

Write one page every day of that book you've been dreaming of writing. Every day.

Phone a friend or family member once a week and have a good talk. Every week.

Get up half an hour earlier and go for a walk, do some yoga, move your body. Every day.

Present fruit and vegetables to your children at every meal and snack. Every meal and snack.

Consistency is what it takes. I hope you'll join me this year in being consistent about the things that really matter. Happy New Year!

'twas two nights before christmas

"That's the stuff nightmares are made of," said my friend laughing when I told her about the party I was going to on Christmas Eve where guests are asked to perform a 'frivolous act'.

I had tried convincing River that it was going to be the perfect opportunity to play guitar in front of an audience. He had other ideas. "No Mum I'm not playing guitar, I think we should sing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer".

Talk about feel the fear and sing it anyway!

We had been rehearsing and then without warning there was a plot twist.

The week before Christmas, Sol came down with gastro. Relentless vomiting that saw him unable to keep water down. Within a few days three kilos had vanished from his little frame.

On our third trip to the local emergency department the doctor said, "I have to send you to a bigger hospital your son needs to be seen by a paediatrician."

So the night before Christmas Eve Sol and I drove the 40 minutes to the bigger hospital and he was admitted to the children's ward and place on a drip. Placed on a drip sounds so simple. It wasn't simple. It was necessary but it was also traumatic. Getting a cannula (a needle for the drip to go into) into the back of a six year old's hand is not fun especially at 10.30pm when all they want to do is be curled up asleep.

I am going to spare you the difficult details of time spent in hospital other than to say Sol is well again, just a bit on the skinny side, and that we were able to come home after a 24 hour stay. We arrived home at 8pm on Christmas Eve. The party in Melbourne had started an hour and a half earlier. I was in no shape to be at a party and Sol definitely wasn't but I thought of our friends at the party when I looked at the clock and felt both relief to be home from hospital and disappointment that we weren't in Melbourne celebrating Christmas, the end of the year and being with friends.

Sol had fallen asleep in the back of the car. The heat of the evening enveloped us. I scooped him up off the back seat and carried him inside the house. We were under strict instructions to continue giving him 30mls of fluid every 15 minutes. I set the timer on my phone and followed the orders dutifully. There was no way I was going back to hospital with Sol, he was going to get well!

He stayed awake for a couple of hours and I kept up his fluids, he then slept soundly. River had placed carrots out for the reindeer and dry biscuits for Santa (lucky Santa?!) "Mum do you think Santa is lactose intolerant?" he asked filling a glass with rice milk.

Once the boys were asleep and I had finished my midnight gift wrapping session I placed a white electric guitar and an amplifier next to the Christmas tree, a gift from Eddy Pop. Perhaps next year River can do a rock version of Rudolph.

..........................

Stay well. Stay cool. Thankyou for reading and thanks for your patience with my on again off again posting. I hope that you are all having a wonderful festive season and are looking forward to making great things happen in 2016. xx

ps I had planned to share this link for a wonderful dairy free grain free trifle before Christmas but didn't get to so here it is now, still good for New Years Eve... Try Jo's Lemon Berry creation.

2014

 

2014 what a year you've been. I can't believe in a matter of hours you'll be over.

The most defining, challenging, exhilarating months of this year for my family and I were the five months we spent on our road trip up the east coast of Australia from the Mornington Peninsula where we live, to Hope Vale Indigenous community and back.

6, 578 kilometres round trip in fact.

As for blogging this year, as you'll see from the popular posts list below recipes were popular as were the wholefood step-by-step series. I am taking note of this as I go into planning mode for next year.

2015 brings with it the beginning of a new era for my family as our youngest child, Sol, heads off to school.

This will be bittersweet as I celebrate how ready Sol is to start school and be with his friends, celebrate having more time to write and blog, and at the same time I will miss his company and this era of motherhood. Baby days are over.

Pete has already begun planning another road trip for us (my only instruction is it is not as many months away!)

If I complete only one thing in 2015 it will be my ebook. Really I will.

Let's take a little look back at the year here...

10 most popular blog posts for 2014

mango sorbet by Emily Rose Brott

wholefood step-by-step: step # 1 apple cider vinegar

Ruth's spelt crepes with avo, lemon, fetta and sprouts (thanks to Jodi for sharing this)

how to make rice paper rolls

zucchini fritters + fruity salad (thanks again to Jodi)

wholefood step-by-step: step # 3 filtered water

ask the expert: do kids need vitamin supplements?

wholefood mama: meagan from this whole family

wholefood step-by-step: step # 6 milk it

feel the fear and cook it anyway

A few of my personal favorites from this year...

the 'i' in family

wholefood mama: olga dossa

soul food: on vulnerability

is there any chicken?

stills collection: road trip

Over to you. What have you enjoyed about visiting here this year? I'd love to know!

If you've never left a comment here before say hello! We bloggers love getting to know readers.

Thanks for continuing to visit, and for your patience when posting hasn't been as regular this year especially when we were on the road.

Happy New Year everyone. See you in 2015 x

happy, healthy 2014

(flowers on the coriander that went to seed in our garden. so delicate and pretty)

Happy New Year! I'm back. I hope you've all had a delicious, relaxing Christmas holiday and are ready for the new year. I am easing my way into it, reflecting on 2013 and then leaping all the way ahead to 2015. In doing so I am beginning with the end in mind, imagining it is the end of 2014 and wondering what I would like to accomplish this year. Here's a list of things brewing:

- complete my ebook (most of the chapters are written - hooray! - and my aim is by the end of January to have the recipes finalised, tested and photographed, then in February it will down to editing, proofing and designing. Simple really. Ha!)
- write at least 3 articles about our travels later this year up the east coast and down the centre of     Australia
- get to know the intricacies of the functions on my camera
- cook with ingredients I've never tried before
- cook at least one recipe per week from the stack of cookbooks I have and never cook from!
- make sauerkraut
- daily yoga and/or walking
- reduce grains in my diet
- increase range of vegetables in our diet
- set up online shop to sell the pile of children's pants I have sewn that are just waiting to be played in

This is just the beginning. I am sure more ideas will brew. How about you? What's on your 2014 wishlist?

As for my blog dreams for 2014 my aim is to serve you up:
- at least one recipe per week
- a new series called 'Ask the Expert'
- more wholefood/healthy book reviews
- another new series called 'In My Kitchen' where we peek into people's kitchens and hear their stories
- and the series I am most excited about is wholefood step-by-step where I will post one simple step each week that you can take to transform your diet. By the end of the year with 52 steps taken you will be in a new place with feeding your family and no one will feel like drastic changes or sacrifices were made. Good?

Feel free to make requests, I'd love to hear what you have enjoyed about my blog over the past year, and if there are any particular things you would like some extra help or inspiration with when it comes to eating well and feeding your family well.

I've made a list of links to wholefood/health pages that I like and think will inspire anyone looking to have a healthier, real food year. There are about a bazillion more! Please add any you like in the comments.

Alexx Stuart
Natural New Age Mum
Mamacino
Bitter Sweet Sour
Quirky Cooking
Well Nourished
Changing Habits, Changing Lives
Food Glorious Friendly Food
My New Roots
Homegrown Kitchen
The Wellness Warrior
Facebook page - Real Food Real Change
Facebook page - Chef Pete Evans
Digestible Kitchen
Transition Farm
Apples Under My Bed
Michelle Schoeps Organic

There. That should get you off to a good start. Now don't spend too much time though in front of the screen; moving your body, fresh air and sunlight are just as important as the quality of food you eat.

Here's to 2014 dream big and make it happen!

2013 - get glowing!

2013 we're off and away.

We had a 'private' party to see the new year in. After a very social December there was nowhere else I wanted to be than at home with my three gorgeous guys, cooking beautiful food, drinking fruit punch and toasting to all that we loved about 2012 and what we are looking forward to this next year.

I am naming 2013 a power year. I was born on Friday the 13th, so thirteen is a lucky number for me and my wish for you is that this year is all you dream it to be.

I'm looking forward to getting to know more of you this year and to sharing recipes and stories from the kitchen, recipes that go beyond looks and taste and nourish us at a deeper level.

I am bursting with inspiration for all I want to write this year both here and elsewhere and I hope that you will find information and inspiration aplenty right here to eat well and be well.

For today, I share these words from Lao Tzu

"Water your dreams with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dreams."

What are you dreaming? What would you like to see here this year? Recipes? Interviews? Anything specific? Nutrition? Health and wellness? Help with getting started on the wholefood path? I'm all ears. Happy New Year to you and yours x

twenty-twelve is your year

Happy New Year!!

To resolve – a firm decision to do something.

361 new days lay ahead. Beginning a new year fills me with inspiration and anticipation of the wonders to unfold: new recipes to create, new season vegetables from our garden, new friendships, new projects, places to discover and re-discover, endless new beginnings each and every day. All the while celebrating the ‘old’, the long standing, the familiar, the known.

I'm hoping 2012 is your year to make real food a priority and that I can inspire you with real food tips and recipes with a good dose of motherhood musings thrown in.

See you tomorrow with the first recipe to get you started.

looking back, looking forward

I always enjoy this time of year, the lull of days between Christmas and New Year. For me it is a time to reflect on the year, to clear out cupboards and drawers, and look ahead to the New Year. I’m not one for making resolutions but I do like to think about what I’d do differently or the same in the New Year, and to write a fresh list of hopes and ambitions.

I spent yesterday editing the family photos I took in 2011. I have a first edit of about 280, there’s more to trim before creating an album. With the switch from film to digital photography I think fewer people print photos and instead opt for sharing them via their phones, email, facebook and online albums. I like the process of creating a hard copy album and then being able to sit and share the memories and stories without looking at a computer screen.

I hope that you have all filled up on precious moments this Christmas and that you are having the chance to get sand between your toes and feel the splash and salt of the ocean, or your version of that wherever in the world you may be.