And the 'Husband of the Year' award goes too...

I love a gorgeous bunch of flowers. They make my world so pretty :)

I was inspired to post a floral pic tonight by my fantastic husband, although I don't think he knows yet... well, he gets my blog posts by email so he's bound to find out soon enough!

Anyway, I was inspired because over the past couple of days I have realised how helpful he is. He baths the baby every night, cooks dinner AND lately has been helping with / doing the dishes afterwards while I play on the computer. And you know what he has asked for in return?

Nothing. I don't even think he's keeping score. He's amazing.

So back to my floral pic. The other day I bought flowers for someone to say thanks for their help. At the time I found myself looking wistfully at them, wishing I got flowers more often.

How selfish of me, when I have something so much better.

I don't mean that in a bragging way. I almost didn't write this post because I thought it would come across as showing off. But you know what? I am lucky enough to have a husband that loves me and takes care of our family, so why shouldn't he get credit for that?

Husband of the year ;)

Aww, I'm so romantic.

xo Marissa.

Rainy Day musings....

It's raining today.

Not pouring, not storming, not hailing... just that slow, romantic drizzle that makes you want to curl up with a blanket and dream the day away..

I love these days. Well, I love them in theory.

You see, while all I want to do is relax, take it slow, and focus on my blanket and snoozing, I just can't seem to switch off my brain - and as a result I have about a hundred things I want to do to make the most of this rainy day.

But I only have an hour of free time now while little Sophie sleeps, so instead of trying to cram all of the things I want to do into that hour, I have decided to list them here and simply imagine I have done them all.

If you need some rainy day comfort, feel free to use these ideas yourself. Either do them for real or just imagine you have and enjoy how calm and content you feel 'remembering' those moments.

So here we go: Marissa's Top 10 things to do on a rainy day...

1. Sit down with a big cup of hot tea and a magazine and listen to the rain on the roof

2. Give yourself an at home pamper session (my favourites are mani/pedi's and I love the Nutrimetics range)

3. Catch up on your reading / napping (note: blanket and comfy lounge / bed required)

4. Iron while watching your favourite rainy day movie (I recommend One Fine Day). Trust me, the soft, swishy sounds and heat from the steam of the iron along with the smug satisfaction of doing chores while relaxing will leave you feeling warm & fuzzy.

5. Sit down with your To Do list and cross off anything that simply cannot be done on a rainy day (that extra load of washing, for example). And don't feel guilty about it - after all, you have still done the ironing ;)

6. Plan an afternoon play session with your kid/s. Put down a big towel and get out the playdough.

7. Pop on a cute apron and cook something gorgeous for dinner. I love risotto on rainy days - all that soothing, repetitive stirring that must be done slowly for a good result. And yes, if you want to, sip some wine from a beautiful glass while you stir and just get lost in the moment.

8. Catch up on your social networking. You don't have to go out and get wet to stay in touch. And don't just have a quick glance on your phone when you get a spare second - really wallow in it if you want to. Pop ABC 2 on for the littlies if needed, then plonk yourself on the lounge with your laptop and open up your Blog, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Sunny Mummy pages and get into it. If you're worried abut getting too into it and losing track of time, you can always set a timer to remind you when to finish. Ooh, and you can always open up a woolies / coles online page and do your grocery shopping at the same time. Another chore completed!

9. Organise a drawer, desk or cupboard in your house. Just one will do. Then later on when the house is chaos and the kids are stir crazy from being inside all day, you can sneak off, peek into that drawer and feel the serenity wash over you. Try it :)

10. Take off any binding clothes and put on your most comfy ones. Pyjamas will also work well here. Change the kids into theirs as well if you like. Then build a cubby with blankets and your lounge room furniture. How cozy is that...

Ahh. I feel better already. What a great day.

Please let me know what you do on rainy days at your house, I'd love to know :)

xo Marissa.

How can I get past 'Blogger's Block'?

Tonight, I sat down at my computer all ready to blog.


The setting was perfect:

House clean and tidy

Baby asleep

Husband cooking dinner (thanks honey!)

Glass of wine at the ready

Hours of free time stretching out before me...



So, just one problem: What on earth do I write about?


Uh Oh. Blogger's Block.


So, if there's anyone out there....


What do I do now?


xo Marissa.

Still learning about computer stuff...

Today I am trying to add a "Subscribe via email" link to my blog.

It's going ok so far - the link is there, and when people click on it they can add their details and they even get a confirmation email afterwards.

So far so good. But I don't know if it will actually email them any blog posts yet because I haven't written one since I set the Subscribe link up!

I guess this post will have to be the tester. I could do with some feedback, so please subscribe! And then let me know if it works. For now, both me and my mum are subscribers (aaww, thanks Mum!) so I'll let you know if we get this post emailed to us :)

All this makes me think about how far this whole computer technology things has come! Our first computer was a Commodore 64. I used it to play games (loaded by cassette!). There was no email, no blogging, no Twitter, no Facebook, no online shopping. What did I do with all my time back then? And the printer paper had all these little holes on the sides so it could attach to the printer!

Now it's not just computers, it's smartphones, T-Hubs, ipod touches... the list goes on. And I love them all, even if I don't really understand them :)

What was your life like before all this stuff? Would you ever want to go back and try living without it all?

xo Marissa.

Not enough hours...

Do you ever get the feeling there are not enough hours in the day?

I do. Just an extra hour or two would do.

I wouldn't do anything particularly exciting with the time, but it would be all about ME.

A long bubble bath, time to read a book, do my nails... anything really.

Don't get me wrong, I do these things now - well most of the time.

And my family is very supportive and would encourage me to do more of these things if it would make me happy - I'm very lucky like that.

I think it's more the guilt that gets me. The guilt I put on myself. You know, the feeling of "Gee I love doing this but what I really should be doing is....."

Even now - it's 11.23pm and while I am loving writing this blog post, there is a little voice in the back of my head going "Mariss, you should really be in bed now, you have a big day tomorrow and you need to get plenty of sleep..."

So right this minute, I am going to just take a deep breath, and let that guilt go. I will enjoy this time I have to myself to do nothing but what I want to do.

Aahh.

You know what? All of a sudden I am happy I took this time out. Because now I'm ready to go to bed. I'm ready for my big day tomorrow. In fact, I'm excited about it.

My two loved ones are already getting their zzzz's, and I miss them. So off I go to join them now.

Goodnight!

xo Marissa.

Marissa makes over the blog

Well, It's a make over in progress :)

I have been wanting to pretty my blog up a bit but have no idea what works and what doesn't!

So I'm trying a few different looks over the next week or so. Let me know if you like any?

Big thanks to http://www.shabbyblogs.com/ for their free backgrounds, dividers, headers, buttons etc - just the style I love!

xo Marissa.

marissa brings back the blog...

marissa writes a blog about bringing back the blog...












Hi Everyone :)





I know, I know... it's been forever since my last blog post. I wish I had a great excuse for the big gap but to be honest, there have been a number of reasons, and they are just everyday life things: I've been busy, I was having trouble thinking of what to blog about, I've been tired (still happy, but tired!) and blah, blah, blah... I'm sure you've heard it all before ;)





But here I am again, and you know what? I'm loving it. Even though I really haven't written about anything in particular yet, suddenly my fingers are flying over my keyboard again (although they are also hitting the back space key a lot due to my poor typing skills and the spelling errors it's causing) and I am feeling back in the swing of things!





Here are the things that have inspired me to take up blogging again:

• My husband: My #1 fan. Sorry Ben, yes it's cheesy but it's true. When you say I write a good blog it makes my day :)


• My readers: I put a quick question on Facebook last week asking if I should blog again and was touched by the positive responses, so thanks guys, it's much appreciated!


• Sunny Mummy and the Sunny Mummy Sisterhood (SMS): Attention Mothers: If you don't know who Sunny Mummy is, you need to go to this site: http://www.sunnymummy.com.au/ as soon as you finish reading tonight's blog. I mean it! Stacey (the Original Sunny Mummy) is a breath of fresh of fresh air in the motherhood community and inspires us mums eveyday. And the Sisterhood! So many ladies that are so supportive, warm and friendly and who make you feel like you have known them for years (even if it's only been a couple of days and you have so far only met them online!) There's a group of bloggers on there and I only hope I can be as good as them one day :)


• This website I came across tonight called the blog stylist: http://www.theblogstylist.com/ I have been clicking around on this site tonight and it's so pretty, with so many "how to's" and tips that all I want to do now is give my blog a bit of a makeover :)

So to keep this new found passion for blogging again up, I have decided to be a bit more relaxed about my blogging style. After all, I am a busy girl, and blogging should be fun. Not that I wasn't having fun before, I loved it - but I was a bit too rigid with it.

I'll be breaking free of my blogging style 'rules': No more blogging every night, with the same writing style, same titles, pictures, etc - I'm just going with the flow for a while and seeing where it takes me. Hope you still like it!

xo Marissa.