The Gratitude List: 2013 you've been so good

I can barely begin to imagine that 2013 is almost over. This year has been so good to me. I've been on so many adventures and I feel so grateful for all of the experiences I've had this year. I have had massive, mind blowing highs and I've spent more time smiling and succeeding that I thought was possible.

I think it's easy to get caught up in the end of year madness but it's great to sit down and think about the things that you are grateful for from this year. Send out a THANK YOU to the universe and make the decision that next year is going to amazing.

2013 was especially good to me so I've decided to put together my final gratitude list for 2013 with the things I've been grateful for throughout the year.

1. The live music I've seen and the amazing artists I've witnessed



It's easy to be grateful when my list of artists I've seen looks like this

Maximo Park / The Hives / The Killers / Childish Gambino / Big Day Out Festival (multiple bands) / Bloc Party / British India / The Kooks / Kristin Chenoweth / Idina Menzel / Jay Z / Justin Timberlake / Beyoncé / Bastille / William Beckett / Foals / The Basics / Franz Ferdinand / Muse / Alicia Keys

2. Travelling the world



This year I've been lucky enough to travel to

London / Dubai / Cancun / New York / Toronto / Anaheim (Disneyland) / Los Angeles / Bali / Gold Coast

A lot of my travel adventures have been through work and I've visited some absolutely stunning places with the best people. I loved every trip I've been on and I know they wouldn't have been as great had it not been the people I travelled with.

3. My family



But seriously, if your nieces and nephews were this cute you'd be grateful too.

4. My Black Milk collection



I've spent this year in lycra as my Black Milk collection has grown to ridiculous proportions. I love that I can wear something crazy and ridiculous and feel so comfortable and happy. I am grateful for the confidence their clothing gives me.

5. A little bit of everything else.



It has been so hard trying to reduce the things I'm grateful for into 5 points. I have had so many great experiences this year. There have been ups and downs but this post is about finding the things that have made me smile this year. I have shared this year with so many great friends and family and I am happy to look back at 2013 and think this was a lucky, fun filled, adventurous year for me.

Have you taken a look at your 2013 yet? Share your links below if you've posted about it - I'd love to see what's been making you smile this year

Bring on 2014 and another outstanding year.

 - Brooke

The Gratitude List: Week ending 22 Dec

Another week before Christmas all done and dusted. Can you guys believe CHRISTMAS IS TOMORROW!?!?! I can't wait to wake up, make milkshakes, pick up my Grandma and open presents with my family! Before all of that happens, here's what I'm grateful for from last week.



1. Christmas lunches that include a lot of beer - On Wednesday the team leaders of the Flight Centre stores in my region/area were treated to a Christmas lunch at the Hofbrauhaus in Melbourne. Delicious food, amazing company, 2 litres of beer and a great time at a rooftop bar after lunch is a fantastic way to spend a Wednesday.



2. Time off - I've actually had the week off from work (well from Wednesday - Sunday) and it was so nice to relax and rest. I didn't have anywhere to go, anywhere to be and I loved it. I watched season 2 of Sherlock, read books and listened to Beyoncé (a lot).



3. Quality time with the nieces and nephews - Seth has been away in Adelaide for a couple of weeks so Friday night dinner was extra fun. I love spending time with these kids, they are so ridiculous and cute.

4. AMAZING MOVIES - This week I saw American Hustle (WOW) and Frozen. It's so fun to go to the cinemas and watch a movie on the big screen. I love it. I especially love it when I go to the movies with friends or family (especially if it's a kids movie and I'm seeing it with nieces and nephews).

5. Christmas crafting and preparation - This year is the first year that some of my crafting ideas have come together. I've made more things this year than any other year and even though I didn't make my usual Christmas cookies I feel like it's been a great lead up to the big day. I've watched a bunch of the Christmas movies off my list, I've made mini Christmas trees and glitter dinosaurs and I've built my first gingerbread house. It's been busy but I've had so much fun.

I'm really excited for this week - there are lots of things happening but ultimately I'm just excited to spend some time with my family and eating and drinking far too much. Tonight I'm watching Bad Santa (totally inappropriate but it's a Christmas tradition) with my hair in curlers.

Merry Christmas lovelies <3 p="">
 - Brooke

The Gratitude List: Week ending 15 Dec

I can hardly believe that it's Tuesday already. It's 8 days until Christmas and I think this past week has been one of the best for December so far. Why? Well let me tell you



1. Christmas Parties - I went to my work Christmas party on Saturday night. It was held at a venue called Madeline's at Jells Park. We had 19 stores turn up and it was a really fun night. The theme was "a touch of Christmas" and it was nice to see people embrace the theme and dress up a little. I wore my Black Milk Christmas Tree skater dress and my Crown & Glory holly hair clip. I talked to lots of people, drank lots of cider and laughed a lot.

I also had dinner with my team last night and we exchanged KK gifts. I feel so happy with my new team and love that we are all so different but it works. They are just really good people :)



2. Beyonce's new album and videos - I can't even begin to explain how happy this surprise album has made me. Every song is awesome, every video is stunning. I've been listening to it so much since I bought it. My favourite video is "Flawless" but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the roller-disco video for "Blow" and the beauty pageant inspired video for "Pretty Hurts" (plus pretty much every other video in the collection).



3. Gorgeous artwork arriving - This week I had an original sketch from Dallas Clayton arrive. He did the most amazing thing this year where you paypaled him the cost for the art and he would pick out a sketch to send you as a SURPRISE. Mine was this cute dinosaur and I think it's perfect. Plus I had a print and wood block mounted print from Cuddly Rigor Mortis arrive. I don't actually have space for all this amazing art but I couldn't resist any of these images and will find places for them both.

4. Christmas shopping = done - I told you I was going Christmas Shopping on Saturday and I managed to get it done and dusted in 1.5 visits (I had to go to a different town on Sunday to pick up 1 gift). It wasn't a hellish experience and I actually had fun.

5. Brand new shoes - I've been waiting for them to arrive and this week they turned up. Holographic, gold, tassels - am I describing your perfect shoe? They are so beautiful and out of this world.

How has your week been? I have the rest of the week off from work so I've not got much planned. I have some crafting, a Christmas lunch and movie date organised but I'm mostly excited about relaxing before Christmas.

 - Brooke

The Gratitude List: Week ending 08 Dec

PHEW! What a week. So many things, so many events. You can really feel the craziness of Christmas taking hold. I have lots of fun things happening in December so it's nice to reflect on the things that made me smile through the week. So, what were those things this week?



1. MUSE - On Friday night I ventured into Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne to see Muse. I've seen them a couple of times before and was a little hesitant on buying tickets this time. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE them and I LOVE watching them live. I haven't really listened to their new stuff or listened to their music at all lately. I needn't have worried or hesitated about buying tickets - THEY WERE AMAZING. They have one of the best live shows I've seen and one of the best stage set ups around. They played a really great mix of old and new stuff and when the opening riffs started for "Plug In Baby" I lost my s**t just a little.

2. Alicia Keys - On Sunday night I went back to Rod Laver Arena for a different type of concert. Alicia Keys was all kinds of brilliant in a totally different way. She is powerful, talented, beautiful, inspiring and did I mention talented?!?! She totally blew me away - I may have almost cried when she started to play "Diary" and couldn't sit in my seat while she played "No One". She finished with Jay Z on a screen (always nice to see his face) and her album version of "Empire State of Mind, Pt 2".



3. We decorated out Christmas tree - I've mentioned before that we have a family tradition of not getting our Christmas tree until after my Dad's birthday. This year we broke that tradition. We had the nieces and nephews over on the weekend and Dad got the tree especially so that they could help us decorate it. IT WAS THE BEST FUN!! We put on Christmas Carols and they spent the whole time getting excited about every decoration we removed from the boxes.

If you are ever feeling "Grinchy" about Christmas just talk to a kid about it. Their enthusiasm, energy and excitement is infectious (just make sure you know the kid - it might be weird if you just walk up to a child in the supermarket and started talking to them about Christmas)

I also visited my Grandma and put up her Christmas Tree for her and helped her organise her Christmas presents. It was so nice to visit her and spend some time decorating and making her house fill up with green and red.



4. Creating decorations - I've posted already about the mini Christmas Trees I made with popsicle sticks. When the kids were around I had them decorate some of the extra trees that I made up for them. They had a blast decorating them. They used textas (markers) and glitter glue to decorate their trees. They are now hanging proudly on our big Christmas tree.

5. Getting a start on my Christmas movies - So far I have watched 4 movies from my list. I've not done as well as I was hoping but I've been enjoying re-watching these movies. I did get distracted by a last minute Lord of the Rings marathon (I decided I wanted to watch them all before seeing the new Hobbit movie on the 26th of December). I can't wait to sit down and watch more Christmas movies.

How are you getting into the Christmas Spirit this week?

I am going Christmas shopping this weekend (brave I know, but I have some tips that I'll share on how to survive the big stores at Christmas) and have lots of Christmas movies to watch. I'm also listening to Christmas songs to/from work and at work.

Have a fabulous week
 - Brooke

The Gratitude List: Week ending 01 Dec

WOW, it's really December - DECEMBER YOU GUYS!!!! I'm excited for so many things this month. I have lots of Christmas parties, lots of bands and lots of big things happening, but I want to remember and be happy for the little things too.

Here's what rocked my world this week

1. NEW HAIR CUTS: I got my hair cut this week and it feels so good. After spending two days at the Blogcademy with two amazing women (Kat & Gala) who were both rocking the hell out of straight fringes (or "bangs" for those in the USA) I knew it was time to bring it back. My hairdresser Courtney is such an amazing person. She puts up with all my crazy whims and is always willing to try anything with my hair. This time I asked for shorter at the back and longer a the front - I knew my hair needed a good cut but I didn't want to lose the illusion of length at the front - she did it without blinking and I love it. 

2. Dinner dates with amazing friends - On Saturday night I caught up with a friend I have known for a VERY LONG TIME (read: about 15 years ++) and it was so nice to be able to sit around eating delicious Indian food (naan bread = yum) talking about life. It's such a nice feeling to have people who know you so well and that you can still connect with after 15 + years of friendship.



3. I CAN'T STOP BUYING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS - So far this year I have purchased a bunch of new decorations (a snow globe penguin, silver bell stars, a quilted "Merry Christmas" hanging sign, a collection of cute wooden hanging ornaments and a wooden Christmas tree). I'm so happy that the stores have out really cute affordable decorations this year.



4. Getting tickets to bands I love who are touring next year - This week alone I have bought tickets to see The Lumineers, Arcade Fire, Bastille and Arctic Monkeys. I was really lucky to get a text message from my friend Jeanine asking me if I wanted her to buy me a pre-pre-sale ticket to Arctic Monkeys - I said HECK YES! She works for a touring company and had staff access to tickets - how amazing is that?!?!

5. Relaxing and taking time for me - I slept in, I read books, I relaxed and caught up on some TV shows, I just took some time out and breathed. It's so nice to be able to just stop for a bit and have a "nothing" day where all you do is bum around at home in your pj's.

This week is chock-a-block. I've got 2 x gigs plus my Dad's birthday and a Christmas tree to decorate. I'm also going to introduce my nieces and nephew to a Christmas movie they haven't seen before.

What are your plans for this week? What are you looking forward to?

 - Brooke

Gratitude List: Week ending 24 Nov

This week was filled with all kinds of normality. I worked 6 out of 7 days however I still had plenty of things to be grateful for.

1. NEW BLACK MILK - Crazy Cat Lady leggings and Christmas tress skater dresses OH MY! These delightful items arrived during the week and I'm so happy with these new items. The cat leggings are so perfect I can't imagine what my life was like before owning them (I'm wearing them while I type this). I have a special feature coming soon to the blog so if you love cat items like I do you're sure to love it. 

2. Seeing movies in Gold Class - Gold Class cinemas are basically smaller cinemas with recliner chairs  - luxury cinemas! I love going to Gold Class, things are more expensive but I manage to get free vouchers through work "perk points" and this time we went and saw The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (which I LOVED)

3. Jennifer Lawrence - After watching The Hunger Games I went on an internet search of Jennifer Lawrence. This girl is a seriously inspirational human being. I think the best thing about her is that she's honest and natural. THIS VIDEO just made me want to give her a big hug and tell her she's awesome

4. Reading books from amazing authors - I've started to read again, which has been a great stress relief for me. It helps that the finale for Divergent Series by Veronica Roth came out and the next book in the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead came out. I am half way through The Fiery Heart and I love the double perspective we're getting with the book written in the POV of 2 of the characters.

5. Watching old movies with my nieces and nephew - On Saturday when I came home from work I was greeted with a couch-full of kids watching Free Willy. It's really fun watching them react to things I watched when I was their age. Evie stood transfixed by the movie and Bridie kept asking questions to which Evie would tell her "they are trying to save Willy". So cute!!!

What is making you happy this week? I know I've got a few things happening this week that I'm really looking forward to including a local town festival.

 - Brooke

Gratitude List: Week ending 17 Nov

I didn't post a Gratitude List last week due to my excitement and distraction by The Blogcademy (don't worry there's a post coming on that). This weeks Gratitude List is jam packed full of fun amazing things to make up for it.



1. THE BLOGCADEMY - The highlight of my week/month/year. I can't even begin to explain how happy I walked away from these two days. I was so blissed out on Friday afternoon that the almost 2 hour commute back home didn't bother me. I could see my hula hoop from Hooplovers.com in my rear-view mirror and I smiled all the way home. My re-cap of the two-days is coming (it's in the drafts being carefully edited before posting).

2. A quick stay in North Melbourne - I didn't want to have to stress about traffic so for the two days that  I went to the Blogcademy I decided to rent a small studio apartment in North Melbourne. It was a last minute decision and it was the best decision. It was nice to set up shop in a small little space and be by myself for 2 nights. It gave me a chance to re-charge before the next day in quiet.



3. Seeing Franz Ferdinand live - on Thursday night I went to the Forum theatre tired and mentally exhausted but it didn't last long once Franz Ferdinand hit the stage. I found myself bouncing around, dancing and singing and basically having a fantastic night.

4. Creating Vision Boards - Since I moved to a new store I needed to update and re-new my vision board for at work. It's something I really love doing and I think I'm pretty damn good at it. I love creating collages and this is the perfect excuse. I also scoured the internet looking for some inspirational quotes and have plastered one of the walls in our back office with these quotes. It looks bright and cheerful and exactly what I want when I am sitting out there.

5. Chinese food for another b'day - I didn't realise exactly how many family b'days there are in October / November until I started writing these lists. We've had 4 different b'days in as many weeks. Last week it was my sisters turn and we went out for delicious Chinese food at one of our favourite places followed by one of my Mum's amazing sponge cakes.

This week I want to make sure I do something nice for somebody else - I want to share the kindness and happiness I've experienced this past week with somebody else. I'm not sure how or what but I'm determined to make someone smile unexpectedly.

 - Brooke

P.S Thanks to Lucy at My Day My Way for the shout out - it's nice to find another blogger being grateful for their week

Gratitude List: Week Ending 03 Nov

So it appears I'm not the as good at scheduling posts as I thought I was. I thought I had this ready to post on Monday night, but it appears that didn't happen. Lesson learnt

Here are the things that happened through the week that made me smile



1. I've been so busy and stressed out these past few weeks due to the fact that I was moving stores at the end of the month. Not only was I moving stores but I was opening a brand new store in a totally new location on November 1st. It was a lot of work but I'm so happy with the new store. I'm so happy it's finally open and my thoughts and energy can shift to this new team and new location. It still feels a little surreal right now.

2. Having my Sundays back - with this new store comes 6 day trade, which in turn means I get my Sundays back!!!!! I'm so used to working in a 7 day trade location and working full weekends that I'm not going to know what to do with all this free time on a weekend. It's perfect timing too with summer fast approaching, this means I might actually make it to the beach this year *hooray*



3. Birthdays - we celebrated another 2 birthdays this week. Cute little Seth and Evie both had birthdays during the week (that picture of Seth KILLS me - he was trying to blow out the candles but was just filling his cheeks with air and making the noise, not actually blowing on the candles).

4. I went and saw Thor 2 (or Thor: The Dark World) at Gold Class on Saturday evening and while we didn't get to try the Rocky Road Popcorn (they were sold out which has just peaked our interests even further) it was an amazing experience. There is something about the Thor movies that I just love. It is pure escapism. It was extra nice as the Gold Class cinemas we went to has had a re-furbishment and have super comfy new recliners (except they aren't as long in the legs and I had to curl my legs up on the foot rest).



5. Finding new ways to wear my Black Milk maxi dresses (especially my blue galaxy one) - I CAN WEAR THEM AS MAXI SKIRTS!!! This was a revelation for me this week. I want to wear my maxi dresses as much as possible but I kind of feel like it can be a bit much for day-to-day wear but throw on a casual t-shirt over the top and voila it's more casual. Perfect!

 - Brooke

The Gratitude List - week ending 27 Oct

It's easy to keep up to date if I set myself up at the beginning of the week. I opened a new blog post in my drafts and anytime something awesome happened throughout the week I just jumped into the draft and wrote a little about it.

Here's the things that have made me happy this week

1. Seeing Beyoncé - Yep I know I've already posted about this HERE but I seriously can't stop smiling whenever I think about that concert. AH-MAH-ZING

2. Going to the Zoo with my family - Sunday we went to the zoo. It was Kyla's birthday so the family headed into the zoo to look at all the animals. We are blessed with one of the best zoos in the whole world in Melbourne and it's even more fun when sharing the experience with the crazy nieces and nephews. 

3. Work conferences - Is it weird that I love going to work conferences? We had a 2 day team leader conference in Rye this week and I LOVED it. I love my job and I love that we get the chance to work on ourselves to then create a better work environment when we go back to our stores. 

4. Stuffing letters - I move shops on FRIDAY. I've been at my current shop for almost 6 years so today I decided to personally send out letters to my customer base (I was told by my marketing department that they would do it but it wouldn't go out until the end of next month). I spent hours today individually addressing around 350 - 400 letters and stuffing them into envelopes. It felt satisfying knowing I was allowing myself the opportunity to have customers follow me to my new location.

5. Birthdays - I helped 1 niece and 1 nephew celebrate their birthdays this week. It's always fun to give presents and it's even better when you see the looks of joy on their faces. We ate party food and laughed at Kyla's new laugh which sounds awfully a lot like Woody Woodpecker. 

It's been a happy busy week

 - Brooke

Introducing The Gratitude List

I think it's important to focus on the good things in life. We all struggle through things and can feel like there are things that are dragging you down. I've found that if I spend a lot of time focusing on the negative things then that's the only thing I see and feel.

A new feature I am bringing to this blog is called "The Gratitude List". I know a lot of other blogs do this and I know it's something I really love to read. My Gratitude List is going to focus on the things that have made me happy during the week. I'll chose a top 5 and share why these 5 things have made the list for the week.

Let's kick this off

1. A short break to the Gold Coast with my team from work - every year we are allocated a budget (if we hit particular targets) as a team getaway fund. This past financial year our store was very successful so we had some cash to splash and went for a 2 day trip to the Gold Coast. I think this trip came at the perfect time for our store. We are undergoing quite a few changes in the next month and it was a great chance for everyone to relax and get to know each other and basically have a fun break away from the store. I haven't been to the Gold Coast since I was 15 years old so it was great to experience it as an adult.

 

2. The sunshine - our second day on our trip was spent very lazily going out for breakfast then coming back to our hotel and relaxing by the pool. I spent a nice chunk of the time soaking up as much sunshine as I could and I feel great for doing it. I think I said at the time "I feel like a lizard soaking up all this sun". I could feel the stress and worry melting away and it's the most relaxed I've been in a couple of weeks.

3. Panther Maxi Dresses arriving - I purchased a beautiful Panther Maxi Dress from Black Milk Clothing in their Halloween release and it arrived on Monday. It is all kinds of wonderful. I smile just thinking about it.

4. Paying off my place at the Blogcademy in November - I think this is pretty straight forward. After paying for my place it made it so much more real that this is happening in under 4 weeks!!!!!

5. The cast for Les Miserables in Melbourne was announced this week in the most amazing way. This medley that they performed made me cry and I'm so excited to purchase tickets to see this. I'm thinking I need to get tickets around my birthday in July next year (it opens in Melbourne in June).

It amazes me the level of talent there is in the world.

 - Brooke