Wednesday Wonders - 22 March 2017

Okay, Boolings, so I’m not quite up to speed yet.  Every second Wednesday is better than no Wednesday Wonders at all though, right?  I’m working on it.  To be fair, last week I was in the midst of a CRAZY work week.  The weekend leading up involved 18 hours of sleep in 3 days, seven early morning (and by early, I mean 4:30am) starts, and a bucket load of exhaustion.  Go easy on me this time? 

That aside, it’s been a great couple of weeks, with a lot of laughter and love thrown in to keep me from going off the deep end.  Some of the happiness came from:

• My rasta ankle bracelet – with bells!  Mama Boo calls me Tinkerbell every time I walk down the stairs, and I can’t sneak up on my boss anymore, for which he’s very grateful. 

• Taking Care of Business… I.E. Self-love, focus, satisfaction.

• Rubber Duc playing at the Granite Rock Beer Garden a couple of Sundays ago.  It was just the right amount of fun, the guys were all great, I made new friends and got in The Zone, and I got a signed album from the band.  All in all, a great, if exhausting, day.

• A very unexpected blast from the past, in the form of a phone call from an old friend I hadn’t spoken to for a good 18 months.  We didn’t stop talking because of drama or anything, just life happening and time ticking away as it does.  So reconnecting out of the blue was absolutely fantastic, and left me with a very warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.  Also: SO MUCH SKINNER! HAHA It was a good laugh.

• Fresh sheets.  Is there any better way to sleep? 

• Disconnecting from drama.  It’s so easy to become embroiled in other people’s issues without even realising it’s happening, and it’s happened to me many times.  It’s exhausting and draining, and I just don’t have energy for it, so now, when I see it building, I actively disengage.  My life is simpler and happier than it’s been in years, and I’m not going to sacrifice that for anyone else’s small worlds.

• My sister from another mister.  I honestly don’t know what I would do without this babe in my life.

• That feeling of quiet pride when making better choices for myself, when I’m used to making shitty ones.

• The Stand.  I’m a Stephen King junkie/fangirl, and I can’t hide it.  I got this book, which I’ve been looking for for at least two years, on the cheap, and I’ve DEVOURED it.  I finished it yesterday, and it was glorious. 

• Ginger kitties are life.  Our last two ginger babies found a home ten days ago, so it’s just the mamas left with us at the office now.  And Ginger (very original, I know)… Well, she adores me.  She gets so worked up when I give her loves that she bites and zones out, and it’s the fucking cutest thing ever!  I love her too much.

• Jammin’ Reggae Fest.  After months of insane prep and chaos, it all came together beautifully, and I met some truly incredible people.  The feeling of love at the festival was overwhelming, and I was in such a good place that day.  I was exhausted when I went to bed, but I was so happy. 

• Driving home alone on a Sunday night, through the Durbanville winelands, watching a full moon rising, and being left speechless at the beauty the Universe was giving me in that moment.  It was ultimate peace, and I marvelled at the magic of it for a good 20 minutes, saying my thank yous to the Mother, before I got going again.  Truly magical. 

• Working with a fantastic team of incredible people.  I truly couldn’t be luckier or happier. 

• Being utterly exhausted after a crazy couple of weeks, but knowing what we pulled off in that time, thus making the exhaustion worthwhile. 

• 14-hour recovery naps and the feeling of crisp freshness the next day.

• Knowing certain truths in my soul and having them confirmed, without even having to ask.  Always trust that intuition, friends.  Drown out the heart and the mind, and listen to that gut, and you’ll never go wrong. 

• Mama Boo being the best housemate ever.  We just get it all right, and I challenge anyone to find a better deal.

• Finally feeling like I’m getting my mojo back.  Despite the exhaustion and trying times, I’m finding me again, and goddamn, it feels good!

• In that same vein, knowing my power. 

• A perfect Sunday, consisting of sleeping until I woke up naturally (with no alarm), feeling fresh and ready for the day, a sneaky glass of beer on my morning travels, a good giggle with a friend, a nap, reading in my cool room on a hot day, a walk on the beach and a delicious late lunch to round it all off.  Glorious!

• Honouring my truth, even if it’s hard.  I can’t hide from it and I can’t deny it, so why not just embrace it and be it?

• A soaking wet scarf to wrap around myself on a stinking hot day.  We’ve had a little heatwave in the Cape the last few days, and I loathe the heat.  Like, LOATHE it.  My only relief last night was wrapping a wet scarf around my melting naked body and laying under an open window.  Did the trick just in time, and I finally got the sleep I thought would never come. 

• Foggy and misty mornings which make my writing juices flow. 

• And finally, for this week, I’m grateful for gratitude.  Knowing that despite the challenges, there’s always something good out there, and that it’s not that difficult to find, makes me so happy with life. 

 I’d love to hear what’s made your week grand!  Drop a comment on the Facebook page or just in the box below.  Share the love, Boolings!

Wednesday Wonders - 8 March 2017

So, Boolings, it’s Wednesday!  Old readers will know what that means, and new ones are about to find out…. Wednesday Wonders! 

It’s always easy to get caught up in the day to day bollocks and feel like most days are bad days, so having a weekly(ish) deadline to publish a gratitude list is a really lekker way for me to remind myself that life is actually kak cool, and there are plenty of things to be grateful for.  So, without further ado, here are some things that have made me really happy in the last couple of weeks.

• Rediscovering myself and my truth.  I was unsummarily dumped some time back, and I moped for as long as I could bear it… About a week.  After that, I decided, screw that, I happen to think I’m a pretty cool human with a lot to offer the world, and hiding out in my bed, crying and eating McFlurries wasn’t going to get me anywhere, and started the moving on thing.  It’s been rough at times, as any break up is, but Susie Creamcheese here always looks for a silver lining, and tries to make the best of everything.  Let me tell you, rediscovering my mojo, bit by bit or in clumps at a time, has been wonderful.  Reconnecting with people, things and rituals that make me feel like a better version of myself has opened my eyes to how good my life can be, and how not good it has been for a while now. 

• Blogging again.  God, I’ve missed this!  I know why I stopped, and I wish I hadn’t, coz sharing this little corner of the intertube with you makes me feel good and you seem to enjoy it, so I think I should keep doing it!

• I still, and probably always will, love my unicorn hair SO much!  With pink or purple or turquoise hair, I feel like myself, and I meet so many people who just come up to me and say they wish they could do it.  What a conversation starter!

• Doing actual make up again.  I know it seems like a silly little thing, but I’ve been stuck in a rut for a long time, and I neglected a lot of things that used to make me feel good.  My hair, make up and clothing choices have always been a reflection of who I feel like, and that rut has been very apparent.  No more, I say! Time to have some fun again!

• The realisation that the shorts I got for Christmas are all too big for me now, and I can fit into jeans that I haven’t been able to wear in months. 

• Secret Sunsets.  I was lucky enough to have an incredible long-time friend share this event in my Facebook feed, and I immediately thought “Yes!”.  Then it got even better – the event was moved to the venue I work at, and I got a comp ticket!  Dudes.  DUDES.  What. A. Fkn. Blast.  At work that day, we were all wondering how one would engage with the people there with earphones on, but believe me when I say they make it happen.  I hugged and high fived and booty bumped a bunch of strangers, and was overwhelmed with this sense of joy and love from this collection of weirdo people I’d never met.  More love than I thought I’d feel for a long time.  It was incredible, and I can’t fucking wait for the next one! 

• Buckleys Bellville.  I haven’t been for bloody ages, and I went there on a random Tinder date the other day, and it was a little like a homecoming.  Happy times, happy (fuzzy) memories.

• On that note, Tinder.  Sometimes dodgy, sometimes successful, usually fun.  The best part so far?  Meeting my Twinsie, and responding “Ah, shame.  You show that to people?”  when I get random, unsolicited dick pics.  Guys, really?? Just… just don’t.  Rather just fucking talk to a lady, you know?  It won’t kill you. 

• My Tinder Twinsie.  It’s amazing – we’re like the same person, so look out world!  Now that we’ve connected, and we know our power, we’re taking over. 

• The Durbanville Artisan Festival.  This was a shit ton of fun!  Met up with awesome old friends, amazing new ones, had random conversations, drank far too many wine slushies (LIFE), and went on the swings.  What a jol!

• Living simply.  It’s amazing how happy my life is since it became less dramatic and stressful.  There’s definitely an upside to all of this! 

• My beautiful workplace.  Every single day that I drive in here, I just get overwhelmed with how amazing it is!

Does it get better than this?  No sir, it does not.  Best. Job. Ever.

• Enjoying my own company.  I’m usually the kind of person that thrives on social interaction, but spending so much time with myself lately has given me a new appreciation for how cool alone-ness can be.  On Saturday, I was alone for half the day, driving around running errands and singing to myself at the top of my lungs.  There’s magic in that, friends, and it’s the best kind. 

• On the flip side of that, the second half of Saturday was spent with some of my favourite humans on the planet.  There was a few sneaky craft beers at Granite Rock Beer Garden (try the Weiss!) with my Twinsie, followed by an incredible surprise birthday party with a ‘Dress like a biker’ theme, where I just…. I just partied.  Wow.  It was so worth the Black Label hangover the next day (being in my 30s is the pits!  I never used to hurt so much after a couple of Labels, but my god.) If you’re interested, check out the album here by the super-talented Geoff Shar.  They speak for the awesomeness of that party better than I can. 

• The way the Universe has been gently nudging back in the direction of reconnecting with Magick, and how she keeps reminding me that I’m gonna be okay, as long as I’m kind to myself. 

• Related, Nylon’s Ask a Witch column.  I discovered this thanks to Gala’s Carousel this month for February, and I couldn’t stop reading it.  See what I mean about the Universe and her nudges? 

• This article, that gave me a little bit of clarity in a foggy time, and hope in a dark one.   Looking forward to the power of three even more now!

• Now that I’m not wasting precious energy on things that just make me feel bad, I’m feeling so much more focused, not just on myself and my healing, but work- and goal-wise as well.  This is fantastic, obviously, and people are noticing, as evidenced by the fact that as I was leaving work yesterday, my boss thanked me for being ‘cooking’ again.  I was a bit confused, and he said “I don’t know what’s changed, but you’re so on the ball, the ball can’t drop.  It’s lekker”.  Nice, né?

• All of these things.  In fact, this whole #MarchIsMagical challenge – it’s been a great way to kick-start the reclamation of my mojo, and the fact that I had so many things to just fill that one post made me giddy with joy. 

So, these are the little things that have kept me smiling in the last couple of weeks.  Life is, in fact, wonderful!