From my early twenties and from the very first years when I started to read fashion magazines, I learnt that there was one item every girl needed to have in her wardrobe. That item was the quintessential little black dress.
One is never over-dressed or underdressed with a Little Black Dress.”
Karl Lagerfeld
I am part of the X Generation of women. We are the ones that started the whole “you can have it all – be a wife, a mum and a career” Superwoman Syndrome. We have a lot to answer for. They say that our daughters will look at our frenetic, frantic lives as we multitask and juggle schedules and write our long to do lists and develop a strong desire to not have lives like ours.
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I love my Apple Macbook Pro for a number of reasons. Its portability is one reason, and it looks smart. But I also love it because it’s a sleek writing and reading machine. If you are a follower of this blog then you already now that I like to read, write and discover things of interest on the Internet. This is what always brings me great joy.
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I am an Australian born to Italian migrants who came here after World War Two. I love this country and I feel so grateful that we are generally a peaceful and happy nation. We still have our issues but as a democratic society with free speech, these issues are always discussed, debated and protested about in a safe environment.
When there is a natural disaster, and we have plenty of them, cyclones, bushfires and floods we band together as a community to support and help. When our farmers are experiencing drought we come together to lend a hand.
We love our sport, our beaches, our unique animals and plants and our diverse landscapes. We love to celebrate with family and friends, eat, drink and be merry.
We are laid back.
We are a pretty happy bunch.
International Women’s Day
You will notice that the image that I have chosen for one of my Posts this week is colourful. I have purposely chosen a bright image as a visual celebration for International Women’s Day (IWD). I love this image. It speaks everything I love and hope for all women around the world. To be safe. To be loved. To find their joie de vivre. Their joy of living. To be themselves. To have a purpose. To have balance in their lives.
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The past ten days have been tough. Work has gotten busy, my dog is unwell, my family life is busy, and I am busy writing and developing my writing. Oh, and I am learning to row and learn how to speak Italian. The serenity has seeped out of my life. Drip, drip, drip, gone, empty.
Nearly 2 weeks ago I had a lovely cosy little life. A life of balance and serenity. This search for a calmer and more controlled existence was what had inspired me to start writing this blog. To share how I had managed to achieve this in my own busy life and to hopefully inspire you to find your own personal oasis within an urban existence.
I was on the lookout to still do all the things that I loved doing and to try new experiences and, still have balance and serenity. Stillness. A moment to breath. To stop sometimes.
WHAT MIA BELLA VITA CAN BRING TO YOU 🌸
Have you ever wondered what life is all about? Do you feel that all you do is work, look after your family, work some more and then wonder where your day has gone? Your week, the month, the years!
Do you have dreams of having a Sea-change or Rural-change just to get away from the grind? I did! For years. And it wasn’t until my husband was made redundant that we decided this was a time to change the way we lived our lives. So we relocated to Brisbane. Two years on we haven’t looked back.
We moved here 2 weeks before my 50th birthday. I was overweight, sick, depressed, tired and so sad. I had lost my smile. I had been a pretty happy person. On deep reflection, I knew I did not want to enter the next stage of my life like this – a walking shell of a woman.
So I decided to stop and slow down. To stop multi-tasking, to take deep breaths and to not bring work home (I am a teacher). To find balance in my life and live the life I yearned for. This included being more sustainable because I think this planet is pretty special. This goal has given me the biggest purpose of my journey to a more balanced and serene existence.
I have started to meditate and I am working hard to commit to this daily.
I decided to stop collecting stuff and
to start collecting experiences and in doing so I found my smile again.
I love words and phrases. I love words that make sounds; onomatopoeic words. Words that conjure up emotions. Words that inspire your imagination. I love to read and discover new words and build my vocabulary. In partnership with reading, I love to write. It’s a wonderful way to leave the hustle and bustle of a busy life. It’s meditative and ever so calming. When I write I feel my heart rate drop … in fact, I can feel it slowing down this very moment. It fires up my ;endorphins and I just feel so happy. For me, writing is a joyful activity. When I am working on my current novel; I am transported to a new world. As I step inside my character’s skin and live in her world I gain such pleasure. I feel so honoured and blessed to be able to do this and to love doing it. My imagination is enlivened. Think lots of colour and music! Every time I write I am developing my craft and my skill each and every time. Writing is my mojo.
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I have found a new best friend. She was always trying to get me to pay attention to her and to encourage me to spend a good amount of quality time with her. But I neglected her for years, thinking I didn’t need her. feeling that she had the potential to stop me from doing the things I loved and in achieving my goals. She was always there for me when I could give her some of my limited time and she took what she could graciously. Some moments when we parted it was brutal and hard but I use to push through. I always thought she would be there. Until she wasn’t. Her name was Sleep.
O sleep, O gentle sleep,’ I thought gratefully, ‘Nature’s soft nurse!’ Elizabeth Kenny
I was always a great sleeper. I use to brag with pride that I could function on five hours, sometimes with less of sleep. My husband would be in awe. I was invincible. I could manage everything. I was an efficient multi-tasker juggling a number of projects at one time. I maintained this for a couple of decades. Until everything came crashing down.
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If you follow my Blog you will soon realise that I always allocate a visual to my blogs and my posts all thanks to my best friend Shutterstock. I thought about going with the quintessential one that we all know; you know the one? The one with a woman looking hot and fanning herself in a sad attempt to keep cool. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s exactly what it can feel like. But I decided to go a more positive way to visualise that Menopause, or the Big M as I like to call it in polite company, doesn’t have to be or isn’t always that bad. I am writing this blog in the hope that it can help, and inform other women out there who are about to embark or who are already on the journey within this major hormonal milestone in a woman’s life.
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