Thankful Thursday #6

Some of my cousins and second cousins. Love them!

How are the weeks going by so quickly lately? Seriously, it's Thursday already? What?

Anyway, this week I haven't really thought much about what I'm thankful for, so I'm kind of struggling to write this post, but I think it's because I've had a really good week (in a very ordinary way - i.e.. I was relatively healthy and nothing terrible happened), so this week I am thankful for:

Extended family - I may have mentioned before that I have an absolutely ginormous extended family, and I'm incredibly thankful that at my uncle's 50th on Saturday night I got to see many of them. Get togethers with the Cioffi's are always a memorable and amazing experience. I can't explain my love for my aunts and uncles, my cousins (all 14 of them) and their kids (all 21 of them). It is an amazing thing that our family is so large, yet so close to each other.

Car pooling - one of my friends from school who was a few years younger than me goes to uni the same time as me on Wednesdays and lives about 2 minutes away from me, so we decided to car pool! Besides not having to drive every second Wednesday now, I am so glad of the company on the drive and getting to chat with a friend on the way to uni and back. Still feeling a little on the outer since moving back home, so this simple little thing has helped a lot.

Rain - It's finally cooled dan enough to have soup for dinner and wear jeans over here with the last few days being a rainy and cool 20ish degrees and I'm kinda, surprisingly grateful! I'm a summer baby through and through, but we've had ridiculously hot weather since last September, so I'm feeling grateful for a drop in temperature and an excuse to snuggle on the couch!

Good news - I found out on the weekend that one of my cousins is having a baby in August! I'm so happy for him and his wife! He was my absolute idol growing up and mum always tells this story of how when I was 18 months, I had Giardea and he was only about 12 or something but I wouldn't go to mum or dad or any of my aunties, because I only wanted him and he held me for 5 hours while I screamed my head off in emergency. If anyone needs proof that he is destined to be the most fantastic dad ever, there it is! He will be so great and I'm so excited!

Thankful Thursday #5

So, I'm making this quick and doing it off my phone because I need sleep right now. My first assessment for this semester of Uni is due tomorrow and it's not complete but I don't care because tired. 

This week I am thankful for:

Good surf - both for my own pleasure as I learn the sport and for the amazing competition that is the Quiksilver and Roxy pro, which I was lucky enough to experience the last two weeks. 

Meeting idols - yep, I met Mick Fanning, Alana Blanchard and Gabriel Medina (winner of the 2014 Quiky Pro, as luck would have it!) and I am so, so grateful. They have inspired me so much, especially Alana as a female competitor in the male-dominated sport I love so much! 

Cake - who isn't thankful for cake, ever. Amiright? 

Wonderful, helpful volunteers - especially those at the Living Museum in Evans Head who are going out of their way to help me with my research project on WWII. They are amazing people and I thank them for the job they do so much! 

My sissy - over the last two weeks, I've been Lucy enough to spent mucho quality time with my sissy and I'm really loving it. Since I moved out, we are so much closer. It's amazing. 

Thankful Thursday #4

Hello all! I do hope you are having a lovely week with plenty to be thankful for!

This week I am thankful for:

Little corners of my home coming together - I haven't done a lot of decorating in my new place yet because I really don't know which style (if any) I am going for, but I am incredibly thankful for the few pretty little nooks and crannies that are coming together now. I feel like a Sim - my environment meter is slowly and surely going up as bits of my home come together haha

Dad's retro surfboard - My dad gave me one of his old, retro surfboards on the weekend so that I can start learning while he makes me a new, custom board and I'm so thankful for both of these things! I love his old board. It's so cool!

Afternoon surfs after work - Thanks to my new board, some fine weather and living in one of the most beautiful places in the world, afternoon surfs have been happening this week. I'm only learning, but it has been so much fun and I am really going to miss the sun being out until after 7 when daylight savings ends!

Afternoon cups of tea with mum - I went and visited mum on Tuesday afternoon and sat and had a culpa with her while I taught her something on the sewing machine. It's a strange feeling teaching mum things to do with sewing when she is the one that originally taught me how to sew, but I really appreciated this it of time spent together. I miss her since moving out of home.

Lennox Head Pizza and Pasta - Jake bought us pizza for dinner tonight and oh my gosh it was so delicious! I am convinced I'm going to get fat living within walking distance of the pizza shop, but I am thankful for the delicious Moroccan lamb pizza and the little pizza shop it came from all the same.

Fiona O'Loughlin reading my review of her memoir and thanking me for it on twitter! I'm fan-girling. Holy shit! She is amazing and she put like a billion xxx's at the end of her thank you tweet! Totally star struck and gobsmacked and proud!

As always, a big thank you to Lisette and Leona for inspiring me to be more thankful.

Thankful Thursday #3

Okay, so I know I'm late again but these posts mean too much to me not to write them at all and this week has been a very up and down week full of anxiety and a little bit of illness for me, so that makes it even more imperative to be thankful. I started back at uni on Tuesday at a new uni and was not feeling very positive about it all because I just loved Griffith so much, but it's turned out that SCU isn't all bad and there have been plenty of little things throughout the week that I can be thankful for.

Friendly faces - I walked into uni this Tuesday feeling like I was going to throw up, when all of a sudden, I saw a single friendly face who offered to show me to my class and all became right with the world again. Friendly people are the greatest!

Pinterest's send pin option - Since leaving the Gold Coast and my beloved Griffith university, pinterest seems to be mine and my best friend's main channel of communication. We often send each other funny little things that relate to inside jokes we share, or pins of things we know the other would just love so much. On Monday night I had a particularly shitty night with family and financial problems getting me down and just before bed, with tears streaming down my face, I opened this pin that Darci sent me that set me off in hysterics! It was exactly what I needed to cheer me up!

Comfort foods - This week has definitely been a good one for comfort foods in my household. I went through 4 litres of ice cream and a large jar of nutella in less than two weeks and even convinced Jake to let me buy more! Not exactly a healthy diet, but hey - I'm happy and ice cream is delicious!

Setting goals - This may come across as a strange thing to be thankful for, but I'm a terribly indecisive person and I'm not very good with goal setting (load of rubbish, innit). This week, however; I decided that June/July 2015 I will be in the UK/Germany. On top of being indecisive and not good at goal setting, I'm also a rubbish saver, but it seems this decision has all of a sudden  got me watching my pennies and I've actually managed to put a fair chunk of money away already! I never thought a UK trip would really be possible for me while I'm at uni, but I may just prove myself wrong here!

Jake - yeah, I know I could put this dude in pretty much every Thankful Thursday post ever, but this week with him has ben so great! He has made me laugh so much! Picture this - I came home on Wednesday afternoon to see my burly, Aussie, beer drinking, tradie boyfriend with a mud mask on. Yep, that's right, a mud mask! My friend lent the mask to me to try because it is a product she bought through me from Arbonne that I hadn't tried yet. I put it on Jake jokingly on Sunday afternoon when I was doing it, but I never expected him to like it enough to want to do it again! So funny!

I hope you have a lot to be thankful for this week! As always thanks to Lisette and Leona for inspiring me to be more thankful!

Thankful Thursday #2

I miss this little dude! And my mummy.

This week, as the full reality of living out of home again and living with Jake sinks in, I definitely am finding it crucial to remember the little happy things throughout the day that I can be thankful for. So without further ado, this week I am thankful for:

Living by the beach - after a hard day of unpacking or working, afternoon bike rides for a swim at the boat channel, or simply kicking back with a cuppa and listening out the window to the soothing sound of rolling waves are greatly appreciated.

Jake mopping and vacuuming - this might should like a simple thing to be thankful for, but that's the point. Before we moved out, Jake's mum still made his bed and did his washing, so the fact that he has been willing to help with housework without prodding is a miracle to me and such a relief! So far, it's really helped us to avoid arguments.

Paying off my library fines - this week I paid off $17 of library fines that I have guiltily been avoiding for two years and started borrowing books again. Ever since, I've had my head stuck in a book. It's great!

My Arbonne support network - I don't want to get all soppy, but these girls are amazing. In Arbonne, you have a "team" of uplines and downlines and then you have sisterlines, who are linked to your team in other ways. Really, your success depends on the support of your upline, who should be checking up on you and helping you stay on track, and your downlines who you support in the same way. Their most important job is keeping you motivated and excited by the business and keeping your dreams alive. Well, my upline has sort of left Arbonne at the moment because she has enormous stress on her plate and family problems which are demanding her attention right now, and I totally understand that, but it makes things a bit difficult for me trying to do this thing without her support. Enter, my fantastic sisterline's District Manager, Rosie, who has taken me under her wing, made me feel a part of her group and offers me tremendous support with my business. The kind of support you expect from your upline. I can't thank her and her team enough for making me feel like one of them, and for keeping me motivated to succeed and passing on their knowledge to me. They don't know how much it means.

Living in Lennox Head - Seriously, this might be in every Thankful Thursday post forever now. I love this town so much! The atmosphere, being able to ride bikes everywhere, the friendly people who stop you randomly in the street for a chat, the singing barrista at my favourite coffee shop in town. This place is amazing and I don't think I'll ever get over it!

Last but not least, I am thankful to Lisette and Leona for inspiring me to be more thankful.

Thankful Thursday #1

I have been a long time lover of Lisette's Thankful Thursday posts, and when my UK twin, Leona jumped on board as well, I just knew it was something I should do. In the stress of the past months, it has been all to easy for me to push the good things aside, and I really want to focus on the positives this year, as I'm sure it can only help improve all aspects of my life. 

Things I am thankful for this week

Moving in with Jake

I am so thankful that this is finally happening for us! We sign the lease and pick up the keys on Saturday and that is just so amazing to me!

Mumma bear's generosity

I'm a bit short on cash this week what with having to scrape together $900 for the bond for our new place and having my car insurance run out at the same time. Even though my family is a one income family, mum always puts our needs first and is always there to help with even just the little things. I'm very lucky to have such a fantastic mum!

Fellowship of the Bloggers

So, if you haven't heard yet, some bloggy pals and I have started a new blogging collective and I am truly thankful for it this week! Tilly, Gemma, Sam and Magdelena are such fantastic, supportive people to have in my life and I am thankful for how close this new venture has brought us together. Bloggers are the best!

Arbonne

I know you are probably wondering why I am thankful for my business, and no it's not because of the business aspects of it. Arbonne skin care, hair care and cosmetics have transformed my skin and hair. I've never been so confident in my appearance and not only that, but Arbonne has helped me to reconnect with so many friends, and make so many more! After moving back from the Gold Coast, having a business that forces me to get out there and be social is exactly what I need and so I am incredibly thankful that I have this opportunity!