Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Cute Overload!

This is so cute! Just to help you get your daily dose of aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhssssssss.

Well, I finish work tomorrow and after the shock of it all subsided, I'm actually really excited. I will be working 2 days a week Jan & Feb, and I can spend the rest of the time creating and getting ready for the arrival of our baby. Sounds lovely doesn't it?

After work tomorrow we hit the road to start visiting family for Christmas, so I expect things will be very quiet around Inspire Create until 12th Jan when we get home. I just want to wish all my visitors a Christmas filled with love, laughs, family and friends. And here's to hoping that 2006 will bring us all health, happiness and prosperity (in that order!).

Take care,

Love M

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Diversionary Tactics

When the inspiration wanes, or your mind is wandering sometimes the best thing to do is walk away and do something completely different.

So to help with getting your inspiration back, today I thought I'd share some fun stuff that you can use as a diversion. Now, I don't condone the wasting of time on silliness when you should be working - instead please consider this list as a helpful tool to get you inspired (or not!!).

Orisinal Flash Games
Mr PicassoHead
The Scribbler
3Hive - legal music downloads
Candybar Doll Maker
Fish Tank

If you have any time wasters inspirational tools - please feel free to share them in the comments!

Friday, December 09, 2005

Home

Do you get that feeling sometimes when you’re driving that you just feel so free and lucky to be where you are?

I have always loved driving – especially in the wide open spaces in country NSW, Australia. But lately when I’m out and about I often have this feeling wash over me that I am so very fortunate to live where I do – my home, my community, my country.

For some people being in a bustling city really rocks their boat – all the people and action is inspiring. When I visit the city I always enjoy it, but at the same time I can’t wait to get home. I live in a comfy little cottage on a 2000 acre farm (mostly sheep, wheat and canola) and I love it. Sometimes the isolation gets to me – it can be a real pain if I run out of milk because the nearest supermarket is 50km away! But most of the time I love my bit of “big sky country”. I can’t see or hear my neighbours, the noisiest thing we have to deal with is the sheep and the harvesters for a couple of weeks a year. I can sit on my back verandah on the beautiful summer evenings we are experiencing at the moment and look out over a paddock of hay towards a stand of gum trees and watch the sun set. This place makes me feel like I have space – space in my head to think and space for my body to move.

I love the weather here – in summer we have a couple of weeks of 40C+ temps (ouch!) and in winter I only have to drive 15mins to see snow (not enough to ski on, but enough to play in!). I adore these extremes – you really know you’re alive when in the space of 4 months you go from sweltering heat to frosty clear days. The 4 year drought we have just been through wasn’t so great though, it breaks your heart to see animals doing it tough and farm families struggling – but that is the way of nature, we are merely passengers on this ride and we are foolish to think we actually have any say in the matter. The recent floods we experienced are very clear reminder of that!

Since living in this area we have been so fortunate to meet some wonderful people – simple, honest, caring, family-focused people who care about what is going on in your life, but aren’t busy-bodies. Who are always ready to help out when they can and can cook a mean BBQ! It feels good to know we are part of this community.

Everyday I’m thankful to be Aussie. I’m not wearing rose coloured glasses – I know we have social, political, environmental problems, but I also know that Australia lives up to it’s title of “The Lucky Country”. I feel safe, I have access to excellent education and health care, I’m not limited because of my sex or religion. I have clean air to breathe and room to move. I can choose the type of life I want to lead. I can afford to live comfortably and have enough left over to travel. I can explore what it means to be me – my strengths, talents, beliefs, emotions. I can love who I want and be able to openly display my affection for the people I am blessed to share my life with.

So this weekend, I plan to get my in my car, put my favourite music on loud, drive through my beautiful country and sing my heart out! Because whenever I do that I feel so alive and so inspired to make the most of the wonderful place I live. I just wish I could find a way to capture that feeling and express it through some creative means.

How does your home make you feel?



The view from my home office/studio across the neighbours' wheat field.


The view from our kitchen door on a stormy afternoon.



Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Changes

Well, I had plans for some very inspiring posts today - ideas that have been "marinating" in my mind for days. But then a rather large spanner was thrown in the works - I have just been made redundant from my job! I finish just before Christmas. Great timing eh?

The company I work (worked!) for has undergone huge changes in the last year, and my job has shrunk over the past 6 months because I have finished all the big projects I was working on and am now just in maintenance mode. So, it wasn't completely unexpected, but still a shock as I would be going on maternity leave late February and they wouldn't have to be paying for me then anyway. So, it really just means that I finish work about 6 weeks earlier than I'd planned. The negative side is that I don't have the security of knowing I could have my job back if I wanted it. (Maternity leave laws in Australia guarantee that once you have worked for a company for 1 year before having a baby you can return to your job exactly as it was before having the baby if you want and we can take up to 12 months unpaid leave).

Today has been one of very mixed emotions though - one minute I'm on the verge of tears, the next I'm starting to plan all the things I can do now - start my creative career, do freelance computer work, throw out the alarm clock (yippee! well, at least until the baby starts waking me at all hours), set up the nursery, spend time with family and friends before the baby arrives....

Sometimes these things happen so that we are pushed to do what we really want. For a couple of years now I've wanted to make a change, but haven't felt ready to make the leap, and since finding out I was pregnant I have been thinking about what I would do when the baby arrived. I know I don't want to work away from home full time, so I'd started thinking about what I could do part time from home. Now I've been given the shove, I plan to grab it with both hands and try very hard to make the best out of the situation I find myself in.

Forced change is never easy, but I hope it will all turn out to be the best thing for me in the long run. Mind you, as it all sinks in I may not be so philosophical tomorrow!!