Author: Amanda Viviers

Place: Office

Poison: Water

Favourite Things: Hertime Post its!

The last few days have been completely manic! In the midst of all the pressure, this morning I went to a breakfast with leaders of the city, Tim Costello the speaker, to launch the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign in Perth.

This campaign has been around the world and has made such a difference, but it wasn’t until I was on a panel at the Parachute Music Festival in January, that I truly contemplated this thought.

Can we, this generation truly make poverty history. With the revolutionary sounds crying through the television about the political coo in Thailand, I am so impacted by the faces of those children who smile at me from the slums of Khlong Toei Bangkok.

Bono says ‘It is not right that 30,000 kids die every day because of a 20cent per child immunisation scheme!’

I say ‘It is not right that one child die, because of lack!’

I truly am not sure that I, Amanda-marie Powell can make poverty history. But together we all can make a difference.

Tonight our team event managed the Public memorial Service for Peter Brock, and the tributes, songs and words were powerful. The hearts cry of Peter Brocks life was ‘Live your dreams’

I wonder right now what dreams remain unlived in the hearts of each of the children I encountered in the slums through lack. Not just lack of finance, lack of permission, lack of education, lack of nutrition, lack of courage.

From a young age I have always said I wanted my life, (no matter what I did with it) to inspire others to live the life of their dreams. I want to empower others, I want to make a difference and live large.

Creativity and Inspiration is just not for our own self stimulated need to achieve, for me it is all about realeasing others…

Together we can make poverty history.

Forever

A

 

Place: Burswood Hotel
Poison: Long Black
Favourite Things: Make up artist (Rebecca) and Hairdresser
The Big Day!
Well, three years ago on an unsuspecting Saturday night sitting at church I turned in the Meet and Greet time and smiled a random girl, not knowing that she would become one of my closest friends.
She looked away and rejected my initial advance in the whole Meet and Greet Protocol. No way! I had a meet and greet failure. Unbeknown to me she was very shy. Later that week I received an email, saying ‘So sorry I am really shy and I turned away at meet and greet, but next week please come say hi, I would love to meet you!’
Okay, you are saying that sounds a little weird, but the coolest thing is a random encounter at church has brought together two like hearted people, me and Miss Elly.
We have flatted together now for 2 and a half years. This season is now over as today I am one of her bridesmaids and have the privilege of seeing one of my nearest and dearest commit her life before God, to her lovely man ‘Mr Ben Vance’.
Here is a tribute to Miss Elly, to her consistency, to our late night chats, for her patience with my morning vibes! Basically I think she is amazing, and is looking completely fab right now.
Here’s a toast to many more years of laughs, love and life filled with magic moments.

Come on let’s get married…
Excited
A
 

Place: Burswood Intercontinental Hotel 

Poison: A glass of white wine 

Favourite Things: Miss Elly & her wedding dress floating in the bedroom 

On the back of two full nights of hectic event management, the only thing that has stopped this champagne bottle from overflowing has been the steady hand of my mum trailing along side of me. 

She came up to Perth to hang out with me in the midst of Hertime Occasion, Peter Brock’s Memorial Service, Elly’s Wedding and Church this weekend. The thing that makes my mum so intriguing, generous and vivacious, she is a twin. Right from the start of her life she has had to live a life of partnership, which I fully believe has made her a remarkable person. She had the choice to become jealous, attention seeking and frustrated at this person who was so much like her, yet they both made a commitment to allow this partnership to make them better mothers, lovers and friends. 

Growing up, we were exposed to much naughtiness, game playing and competition at the hand of two individuals who had a bond so strong that they created an amazing dynamic together.

 

Check this out! (Yes I am in a red sailor outfit!) 

Anyway, my thought for today is that two hands joined together are so much stronger than one. Event Management and creativity are strengthened by the power of partnership. 

I would never have wanted to attempt the last week without a team of people around me. Solo shooters; leaders who run out ahead all alone are unprotected and unsafe. 

Yeah it maybe easier in the long term, because there is no one who disagrees with your opinion, but in the long term you will be weaker because of it. 

The pursuits and pleasures that my mum and her twin have embarked upon together are breathtaking. The fulcrum of our family was balanced by the partnership at the core of it- the twins. 

Creativity that is self-centred, self-seeking and self-driven is a small right at the very essence. 

Partnership reverbs as the heart of our universe. If you think it is easier to create alone, you are living a life so much smaller than you were intended too. 

As my head hits the pillow, bridesmaid central, partnership is powerful… 

Praying that tomorrow is a day that marks a relationship and partnership that lasts the length of a life time. 

Much Love 

A

 

Place: Office

Poison:Long Black

Favourite Things: My mum sitting behind me reading a book!

Some days are bleak, some days are dull, then once in a while a ‘pj on the beach type of day’ is captured!

Last night we had our bi-annual hertime occasion. An evening for women all accross our city to be loved on, pampered and last nights theme was ‘Energy’.

We had nearly 1,000 women in our auditorium with a live painting, coupled with a spanish guitarist. Connisuer icecream and Killawarra champagne mini’s with straws. 80’s try hard dancers and men in tight tights!

It was hilarious, stressful, energetic and draining all in one package…Being a glutton for punishment I am getting ready right now for another night, a whole new crowd and a new set of drama’s that test an event managers patience.

I woke up early this morning, with the foreground grunt of my mum’s snoring, remembering this day not so long ago when the GTC went waltzing along the dunsborough foreshore in our pajama’s.

Some days, when life is stressful, when 1,000 women are begging for their icecream NOW! You need to remember those days when life was carefree, when you didn’t give a stuff about who sees you in your sleepwear and just smile.

Creativity is highlighted by those ireplacable moments in time that will never be repeated and always cherished.

Here’s to a new night of event management, supported and cherished by those closest (even in our pajama’s on the beach!)

Love it!

A

Place: My Office

Poison: Skinny Flat White

Favourite Things: Museli and Yoghurt (YUM)

I have many fond memories of my mum, but one of the most vivid is her amazing ability to make a house a home. She did this in so many ways, but mostly in hospitality and the openess of her heart and our front door.

She owned a small cafe when I was in primary school called ‘Patty’s Pantry’ and it embodied the grace and generousity of her whole life.

She taught me from a very young age that the dinner table and the kitchen are the heart of a home! Scones, muffins, homemade sausauge rolls, sponge cakes were so much more about her heart to love on people, than the actual contents of the recipe.

My mum would get up at 3am to bake (OH WHAT A WOMAN!), but her life (as all of them have been, from swimwear manufacturing, fabric warehouses and cafes) was all about commitment to the people she served and the smile and heart that she generously gave.

Here is a photo from last year’s ‘Annual GTC Christmas Cookie Bake off!’ I love it… More than anything it speaks to me about life, moments, capturing creativity and friendship.

Food is not found in the recipe, it is all about the heart. A great chef adds more than the ingrediants on a page, a great chef creates character in the food.

I love to cook, but more than that, I love to live loud with food and the atmosphere of a home. Wherever you find yourself, grab another and celebrate life. Its the only one you’ve got!

Yum!

A

PS- And have a glass of wine for me, toasting to the good not evil in this big, wild old world.