Author: Amanda Viviers

Place: My office

Poison: Long Black

Favourite Things: sex and the city

Carrie Brashaw from sex and the city has been inspiring me. (yes, a little naughty, but oh so year 2000)

Aside from the sex scenes!! Take or leave them…the series is actually really great.

Until the movie came out, I had never seen a series and now I am hooked.

I am especially inspired by her colomn to write more about my everyday.

So hopefully you have noticed more updates on my blog.

Anyways, a book I got out of the library recently is ‘101 things to do before you’re old and boring!’

Its fabulous!

Here they ARE!!! with someones comments written with them. (not mine…no I dont have a husband…)

Go wild.

1)  Send a Message in a Bottle:  Did this as a class project once; never got a response.
2)  Run up an Escalator the Wrong Way:  Did it, but only because I was in a hurry.
3)  Make an Origami Crane:  Too uncoordinated and impatient.
4)  Learn How to Tell When Someone Has a Crush on You (and When They Don’t):  Wish I’d had this list in high school.
5)  Keep a Dream Diary:  Still do this.
6)  Touch These Creatures:  No thank you; there’s no way touching a ginormous hairy spider will improve my life.
7)  Prepare Yourself for Fame:  I’ve been prepared for years; Fame is obviously avoiding me.
8)  Learn to Play an Instrument:  Wish I’d done this!
9)  Play a Computer Game to the End:  Done this too many times; undoubtedly this says something about my social life.
10) Have an Embarrassing Moment and Get Over It:  This is called life; happens all the time.
11) Get Your School Involved in a World Record Attempt:  So cool; wish I’d though of it.
12) Paint a Picture Good Enough to Hang on the Wall:  When stick people become the next big thing, I’ll be rich!
13) Learn to Whistle (and Make Other Noises):  Still not too good at this.
14) See a Ghost:  Yep, and I’m still recovering.
15) Fart and Burp:  I’m taking the fifth on this one.
16) Make a Swear Box:  Right now, my box is about as big as the Empire State Building.
17) Act in a Play:  Never have, but would like to.
18) Win Something:  Rarely, but it has happened.
19) Make a T-Shirt:  Still have the one I made in junior high.
20) Stay Up All Night:  I have kids; this was a normal routine for a long time.
21) Sleep All Day:  Again, I have kids; this just doesn’t happen.
22) Invent a Secret Code:  Not unless talking to an infant and my cat counts.
23)  Learn to Do a Card Trick:  Does fifty-two card pick-up count?
24) Grow Something from a Seed:  Several times; they usually end up dying anyway.
25) Start a Collection:  I collect angels; statues, figurines, pictures, etc.
26) Help Save the Planet:  I recycle.
27) Turn Back Time:  Been trying to do this since I passed age twenty-five.
28) Learn to Do a Party Trick:  Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think chugging is a party trick.
29) Climb to the Top of a Mountain:  Nope, but I’m open to someone carrying me to the top.
30) Make a One-Minute Movie:  No, but sounds like fun!
31) Host a Party:  Yes, but Tupperware Parties don’t count, either.
32) Visit…:  Never been outside the US, but have been to Arizona, Las Vegas, and Florida.
33) Learn to Bake a Cake:  Of course; that’s why Betty Crocker is so rich.
34) Hide a Treasure and Leave a Map for Friends to Find:  Done this with my kids; alas, no Johnny Depp at the end.
35) Learn How to Ask Someone out (and How to Dump Them):  Afraid my husband wouldn’t appreciate it.
36) Start Your Own Blog:  Several times.
37) Write Lyrics for a Song:  Yes; they sucked.
38) Make a Time Capsule:  No, but I want to.
39) Be a Genius:  Well, duh!  That’s a given!
40) Take Care of an Animal:  Yes, and we’re getting a new calico kitten, Callie, in two weeks!
41) Learn to Like These Foods:  I watch Iron Chef, so I would try just about anything.
42) April Fool Someone:  Not really; it just seems too mean.
43) Do Something Charitable:  I donate to the United Way regularly, as well as give blood to the American Red Cross.
44) Teach Your Grandparents Something New:  I don’t think they’d want to learn what I could teach them.
45) Invent a New Game:  For my children, all the time.
46) Go as Fast as You Can:  I’m pretty sure this is called speeding.
47) Make your Own Badges:  Yep; I’m Supreme Queen Genius of the Universe.
48) Watch These Films:  Most of them!
49) Read These Books:  Most of them!
50) Pretend to Be Sick Convincingly:  This is how I missed most of my freshman year of high school.
51) Save Your Pocket Money for a Month and Spend it All at Once:  That takes self-control; I don’t have any.
52) Learn to Swim:  Yes; I taught myself.
53) Succeed at Something You’re Bad At:  Cleaning my house, although I’m not sure I’m really succeeding.
54) Be a Daredevil:  Except for my love of roller coasters, I’m not really into being wild and crazy.
55) Invent a New Trend:  Wearing sweats and a T-shirt 24/7 hasn’t really caught on yet.
56) Know Who Your Friends Are:  Sure do!
57) Plant a Tree (and Climb it When You’re Older):  Planted one, don’t climb them since I broke my arm doing that at age
8.
58) Start a Band:  No, but I know if I did it would be called “The Geniuses.”
59) Camp Out in the Backyard:  Several times.
60) Learn to Live Without Something You Love for a Week:  I’m not into self-punishment.
61) Join a Club:  I belong to several of them, both on- and off-line.
62) Cook a Meal:  Daily, although I don’t always want to.
63) List the Things Your Parents Say They’ll Tell You When You’re Older:  I wish I’d done that for blackmail purposes.
64) Make Your Bike or Skateboard Look Cool:  My bike was pink and gray, which was cool enough for me.
65) Learn to Juggle:  Too uncoordinated.
66) Have a Snowball Fight and Fun in the Snow:  Every winter.
67) Build the Ultimate Sandcastle and Have Fun in the Sun:  Every summer.
68) Take Part in a TV Show: No, but I was in a commercial once.
69) Make a Scene in a Public Place:  Thanks to my kids, this happens a lot.
70) Spend Christmas in Another Country:  No, and don’t want to; Christmas is for being with family.
71) Do Something Nice Without Being Asked:  All the time; it’s called being a mother.
72) See Your Music Idol Perform Live:  Not yet, but I’m still holding out hope.
73) Have a Sleepover:  They got me through my teenage years.
74) Become a Spy:  I’d tell you about it, but then I’d have to kill you.
75) Watch a Tadpole Grow into a Frog:  Do people really do this?
76) Learn to Say Useful Phrases in Other Languages:  I don’t think foreign curse words is what they mean.
77) Make Your Own Greeting Cards:  I’m cheap, so yes.
78) Hold a Yard Sale:  Just had one not too long ago.
79) Build an Igloo:  Not much use for an Igloo in Illinois.
80) Start Your Own Secret Society:  “Geniuses Unite”; you have to be really not stupid to get in.
81) Research Your Family Tree:  I got too scared to finish.
82) Learn to Skip Stones:  Yep; just watch out for water fowl.
83) Dye Your Hair:  Heck yeah; I’m too young to be gray.
84) Lobby Your Local Congressman:  Several times, for all the good it did me.
85) Write a Story and Get it Published:  Twelve times, in fact.
86) Sing in Front of an Audience:  If karoake counts, then many, many times.
87) Learn to Use Long Words (and Drop Them Into Conversation):  How did you think I got A’s in high school?
88) Blame Someone Else:  Kids are good for lots of things.
89) Learn to Stick Up for Yourself:  Did this around age seventeen.
90) Get from A to B Using a Map:  I’m laughing too hard to answer this one.
91) Send a Valentine Card:  Still send them to my husband after ten years.
92) Have Your Own Plot in the Garden:  It’s there, but it’s dead.
93) Build Your Own Web Site:  Several times; you’re on one now.
94) See Your Name in Print:  Many times; not all of which I’m proud of.
95) Make a Unique Milkshake:  I’ll stick to Jamocha, thanks.
96) Glue Coins to the Floor:  Do you know what that would do to hardwood or vinyl??
97) Learn to Take Great Photos:  Sure, headless people are really in right now.
98) Drive Something:  Car, Limo, and does “driving people crazy” also count?
99) Be Vegetarian for a Week:  Sorry, but this gal is a carnivore through and through.
100)Meet Someone Famous:  I consider all the great authors I’ve met to be famous.
101)Decide What You Want to Be When You Grow Up:  Still working on this.

Place: My office

Poison: Mints

Favourite Things: TED website

I love the TED website and this particular talk about collecting stories is so fab!

 

Be inspired

A

Place: West End Deli

Poison: Long Mac

Favourite Things: my iphone of course. I am obsessed!!!

We have spent the afternoon in the chemotherapy with the most amazing woman. Sr monica spent her youth as a teacher, she actually taught my mum and her twin in geraldton.

Then she spent 30years in Thailand serving the poor and teaching english to students. She is the most generous woman, who at the moment is battling a crazy cancer that has attached itself to her liver.

Every friday from now as she sits in subiaco, at the chemo centre and we are going to hang out. She is going to teach me thai, in preparation for my upcoming trip to Thailand.

I am so blessed to know her, I will never forget the morning in Thailand two years ago when she made me get up very early and walk to mass. It was so delightful. 5 am walking along a thai road, watching the buddist monks walk their early morning blessing walk.

As we walked along this road, I was reminded of the simplicity of life and the importance of space and meditation.

She is such a delight what a privilege to have fridays with monnie!

Much love

A

Place: Busselton, Western Australia 

Poison: Herbal Tea, chamomile, spearmint, rose buds and more… 

Favourite Things: My old laptop back, its like writing with an old friend. The keys feel familiar. 

I’m Broke 

Are you broke? I am… 

Each of us carry many backpacks filled with the memories and wounds from past hurt and brokenness. Over the last few days in many different ways I have met people whose expectations have not matched up and have felt really despondent and disappointed with life. 

What I have found, in my life, the times of my deepest disappointment have been days or seasons where my perspective is warped and so often the expectations and the hopes are the ones that I have set up for myself rather than by others. 

Does this make sense? Basically my thought is- life’s perspective is changed by the expectations and goals that I set for myself rather than the ones given to us by others. And when we freak out, blaming others for missing the mark, blaming others for what they do wrong, blaming others full stop, it has more to do with what is happening in our world, than theirs. 

That’s why I am so enlivened by the concept and reality of grace. No matter what happens, no matter how disappointed we maybe with ourselves or others, grace covers and makes up for where we lack. 

Its not a soft, fairy, weak grace! It is a strong, relevant, raw and tough one. 

Live life with a knowledge of the grace that has been extended to you. It will shape the perspective you have of others and how you respond to everything that happens in your world.