Permission to Be Vulnerable

Sorry, all.

My Newsletter is nearly a week overdue, reason being that life just got a little hectic on the home front.

Peter, my husband, has been struggling with the pain and discomfort of extensive dental surgery, performed on him two weeks ago, which hasn’t healed as it should have. My Mum was taken via ambulance to hospital, suffering a mild stroke, the night after I helped my step-daughter, Natasha, move into her new apartment. Because of a shortage of beds, I was with Mum in emergency from 7pm until two o’clock the following morning . And just at a time when communication with family members needed to be running at its most efficient, their replies to my emails were bouncing back, left, right, and centre (thanks to iinet). Add to all that my hot flushes and lack of sleep due to the onset of menopause, by Wednesday night I was having a mini-meltdown!

When Distraction Can Equal  Disaster

Picture this....

Last Friday at 10:40am, I was driving down Foveaux Street to the Athena Network's Cappuccino Connection. The event was being held at one of Surry Hills' local cafes, Le Pain Quotidien. Having left my studio later than I would have liked, I was in a rush.

Not having slept well the night before, I woke up feeling like the bottom of the proverbial birdcage and going backwards fast: my printer wouldn't work, I couldn't find an invoice I wanted to pay that day, and a phone call came, just as I was ready to leave my studio.

9 August, 2010 - Virtue in Action in Sydney

After all the ugliness that has dominated the news over the past month, what with more vitriol-filled diatribes from Mel Gibson, sordid tales of sexual harrassment of a female employee by one of Australia's most successful CEO's, Mark McInnes, and the tragi comedy of Labor's election campaign, it was a breath of fresh air to read about the virtues of the human spirit in yesterday's City2Surf in Sydney.

1 August, 2010 - Best Laid Plans...

The morning of the 31st July started off just fine. At 12 noon on the dot, a van picked us up from our hotel at glorious Boracay Island (Philippines), where we had spent the past 5 nights. After a short ride to the docks, we jumped on a small boat to Caticlan. From Caticlan, we were scheduled to catch our connecting flight to Manila, then from Manila an overnight flight to Sydney.

I had planned this connection meticulously a few months back to be as effortless and stress free as possible for all of us.

29 July, 2010 - Reconnecting With My Tribe

I'm sitting here in glorious Boracay Island (Philippines) with a sore throat and a shocking head cold which has managed to work its way to my chest. My continuous coughing has kept me, and Peter, awake from the early hours of this morning.

Yesterday, I had lunch with my good friend, Marika Martinez from Women's Own Adventure, who designs and runs all-women tours around Australia and the world. I have always admired Marika's philosophy, that of providing authentic and out-of-the-ordinary experiences for a small group of women, arranging every detail of the tour so that her clents can focus on having an amazing adventure and forming enduring friendships.

Her latest adventure? Spain, and the Camino de Santiago de Compostela!

Congratulations to Spain for realising their dream and winning the World Cup!

I've had the most frustrating time this week, organising our accommodation for Boracay Island, in the Philippines. The hotel rates have skyrocketed over the past 2 years, and anything under AU$300 per night was looking pretty mediocre. But I simply refuse to pay that kind of money for accommodation for a beach holiday! To make matters worse, Waling Waling hotel,  which I had been negotiating a brilliant package with all week (and was on the verge of paying for, I might add) came back today to tell me that they were undergoing renovation. "I apologise, Ma'am, but I forgot to mention it to you the other day." AAARGH!

Why was I persisting? There are so many gorgeous destinations in the Philippines like Palawan and Bohol. Why was I hell bent on going to Boracay?

Adversity Inspires Change in Cambodia: The Story of Somaly Mam

by Victoria Ugarte

There are times in ones life when one has the privilege to listen to a story about how adversity can inspire change, and no story is more humbling and awe inspiring than that of Somaly Mam's.

Like a shining star dropping down from the heavens, this beautiful, delicate and graceful Cambodian lady spoke to 250 of us at Sydney Town Hall last week, and in her gentle sing-song voice, told us a horriffic tale:

On the 11 May, I had written to you from the Chiapas Highlands of Mexico on the warp and weft of life, prompted by the news that our family was expecting a new arrival towards the end of the year.

Today, I write to you from Sydney on the departure from this world of a truly loved member of our family, Peter’s mother and my Mother-in-Law, Hana Svatos. A remarkable woman with a strong will to live, she was one of the few that survived Auschwitz concentration camps. This primal force enabled her, with her husband Mikulas, to bring their 3 children to Sydney, Australia, from Czechoslovakia in 1964.