What Enough Isn’t

I've written here about choosing 'enough' in my professional life and about living with 'enough' in the past month, but today I want to write about what 'enough' isn't. Enough isn't missing out. Some people might look at my life and see the things I don't have. We don't go away on flash holidays or …

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Enough is, well, enough

I want to write today about the idea of having 'enough'. 'Enough' is essentially the idea that you live, and are content with 'enough' - enough stuff, enough money - basically what you need and no more. It's about stepping outside the constant drive for material wealth and material goods and creating a life that …

Smashing the Patriarchy One Stitch at a Time

A friend recently asked why I'd bother to knit dishcloths in a perplexed and possibly appalled tone. I'd not thought twice about knitting dishcloths, but now well, it felt like a small act of rebellion. The more I thought about though, the more rebellious I came to feel. And it's taken a while, but I …

Food for Thought (and Little Tummies)

I took a big step last week, and sent in my resignation letter to the school I taught at before T. was born - I'm officially not going back to work for the foreseeable future. Hooray! Hooray?? I knew, ages ago, that I was going to make the decision not to return to work after …

The Choices we Make

"Forget success. Make it your mission to be brave. Forget your job title. Listen for your callings. Forget wealth. Learn to live well in your place. Forget marketing. Find and tell the stories that will heal you. Forget popularity. Let yourself love foolishly. This is what the world needs from you." Marianne Elliott We make …

Feminist Inspirations

As both a New Zealander and a woman, I have long admired Kate Sheppard, not only for what she accomplished, but how she accomplished it and the way she lived her life. After many years of struggling to have their voices heard, on September 19th 1893, New Zealand became the first country to give women …

Sweetness in the Stillness

Most of the time I feel like my life is brimming - full of love and family, and a job I love, students I care about, things I want to do. And I love it. But then there are these moments of stillness, often in the holidays or towards the end of a term, where …

A Full Life

I always make a point of trying to avoid saying "life is busy". The phrase seems so over-used in today's fast-paced society that I don't even know what it means anymore. So I'm not going to say that I've been busy lately. What I am going to say is that life has been full lately. …

Living Authentically

Lately I’ve been feeling the pull. To write more. To connect. To grow. To share. This blog has seen me through some many ages and stages and now it is us. As I family. Me, S. and T. I’m still figuring out what us looks like and how I share that with the world. I …

Moments of motherhood

Write, so. Here we go. A blog. It’s been so long, but would you believe me if I said it’s been the hardest thing to do lately? It’s not a lack of ideas that’s been holding me back, it’s an overwhelming number. My heart has been so full lately that it’s been hard to know …

(Not-so) Guilty Pleasures

I have to start with a confession - I watch Glee. It's one a very small handful of TV programmes I watch online. Okay, that over and done with I can get on with the topic for this post - guilty pleasures. Actually the reason Glee is so related to this is that their last …

Lexical Love

When I was at university, completing my BA in linguistics and German, I wrote for the student magazine. (For some unknown reason New Zealand universities all have magazines rather than newspapers). Being the eclectic girl that I am, and of course being completely incapable of choosing just one thing to focus on, my roles with …

The Slow Crawl

The funny thing about being a teacher is that you never do quite know what to expect. Daily life in the classroom changes by the hour, and while there's always a routine, there's 50 million little things that can change each day to vary it up. Life is never boring. I'll give you that. The …

Finding my own Definition of Success

You know it's funny to look back and think how time has changed. Or rather how time has changed me. In 5 short years I've moved out of home, gone flatting for the first time, completed my bachelor's degree, almost burnt myself out doing honours, been crazy enough to sign on for a master's degree, …

Reasons to Dance

I recently saw a post over at the Adult Ballerina Project* listing some reasons why you should take ballet as an adult (see original post here). Reading through this got me thinking about my own reasons for dancing (I guess this kind of follows on from last week's post. Anyway, without further ado, here are …

Unloved but Beautiful

A while ago on Twitter I cam across a thought provoking question from @zen_moments. Their question was this: Do you ever stop and notice the poor unloved places in the world as we hurry through? This question led me to thinking about some of the places I saw in Malaysia when we were on our …

Life Lessons from the Women I Love

There are so many things I've learnt from the wonderful women in my life, some funny, some inspiring, some practical. Here are a few of the most perception-shifting things I've learned (mostly in recent years). 1. Tears are healing, especially ones of laughter (thanks for those genes, mum!). 2. It's important to celebrate the rituals …