15 Dec – Happy Place

Where is your happy place?

I find that I can have all different kinds of happy places…

Daily Prompt – To Do? Done!

Quickly list five things you’d like to change in your life. Now, write a post about a day in your life once all five have been crossed off your to-do list.

1. Sleep More.

2. Exercise More.

3. Write a novel.

4. Create a better connection with my family

5. Finish all my video games

It’s been a terrible couple of days, truly. It really does feel like such a burden having to get out of bed at 11am, after thirteen hours sleep, only to go to the gym and see that it’s empty. Y’know, that really is one of the things I love about mid-morning workouts, not having to WAIT for any of the machines.

On my way home from the gym I called my mum, and she’s well. Enjoying her part-time job and semi-retirement. Doesn’t really know what she’s going to do with herself though. I’ve suggested that she should look into revisiting her plans for writing her book. She started it, and I reckon she should finish it. It’s been a couple of years, she could look at it with fresh eyes and completely change everything, or change nothing. Just write something! Then I called my brother, and we have decided to surprise mum in a couple of months time. I’m going to be in Brisbane for a few days, and he and mum are going to plan a lunch, and I’m just going to turn up ‘out of the blue’. I’m looking forward to it. We haven’t been together for quite some time.

But I’ll also be using it as a celebration. Today I’m going home to write the final chapter of my novel. It’s only taken two years, but I’ve chipped away at it bit, by bit, and now, BOOM, I have a novel. I kind of need Mum and my brother to read it, because they’re mentioned in it, but it’s nothing that isn’t particularly true. I’m kind of anxious about finishing it, because it’s taken so long, and I actually didn’t think that I’d ever finish it, but I’m going to. When I get home, I’m turning off the phone, turning on the music, locking the door, and enjoying some writing time and some sunshine and some fresh Spring air floating through the windows.

I’m excited. And nervous.

I may also have a cake waiting for me – it’s my incentive for finishing it. Just me, a fork, and a cake. I’m not planning a party or anything fancy, I’d rather just quietly celebrate on my own. Well, technically, the celebration will be after the bath. The bath will be a long, long soak in the tub, then I’m going to give myself a mani / pedi, a face mask, a hair mask and smother myself in moisturiser, then kick back on the couch, with my cake, a steaming pot of tea and my PlayStation game. In the spirit of completion, I’m almost ready to finish this one as well. I’m at 88%, and I’m determined to finish this one as well, so I can add that to the list… and who knows, that might require another cake as well.

And then once it’s all done… I’ve got a date with the ocean!!

…in HAWAII!!

 

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/to-do-done/

Daily Prompt: Nothin’ But A Good Time

Imagine that tomorrow, all of your duties and obligations evaporate for the day. You get the day all to yourself, to do anything you please. What types of fun activities would make your day?

Does that day also happen to be about 48hrs long, so I can actually fit in everything that I would like to be able to do on a ‘day off’? A day off really should be longer than all the other days, especially given my list below… or I’ll need to have two consecutive days off for pure indulgence.

1. SLEEP

Yes.  I put this as #1, and all in caps because it’s the most important and my absolute FAVOURITE thing to do on a day off.

The day would start off with a wonderfully luscious sleep-in. One of those mornings where it’s a bit chilly, but the sun is warm, and beaming in through a bedroom window, and you wish it was possible for these already fluffy pillows and doona just to get that little bit fluffier and softer, so you could just disappear into them for a couple more hours of slumber-heaven.

2. Breakfast

The one thing that I absolutely love about travelling, is a free buffet breakfast. Oh, it’s HEAVEN!! Moreso when there’s no agenda. I think the best time I had with a buffet was, surprisingly, at an airport in the Virgin lounge. The airline had completely messed up my flight home, and told me to be at the airport at 8am for a re-scheduled flight at 9am, only to turn up and have them say that there’s been another change and I’m not on a plane until 2pm. I then demanded lounge access, which they gave me, and it was fantastic.

I got myself set up at a table, watched a Harry Potter movie with Hulk, and basically ate myself silly.

So. Much. Food!!

3. The Beach

What better way to enjoy a relaxing day, than heading off down to the beach for a bit of a swim, and a nap in the sun… then more swimming, and more napping, followed by more swimming and some more napping.

4. A Massage

Now, I’m not talking about a quick 30min neck and shoulder massage, I’m talking at least a 90min – 120min full body, deep-tissue oil massage. I’m the sort of person who puts their body through quite a lot, but then neglects it, and then I complain like a whiny little kid when I’m in pain from sore muscles. (SIDENOTE: Must get back onto my foam roller and look for my spiky-ball.)

What I love, is being able to have a long full-body massage just to really work out all the knots throughout my body, and put things back in some kind of alignment again. Granted, most of the time I find myself falling asleep – it’s quite embarrassing because I snore, but I find that I’m just in such a deep state of relaxation… I love it.

4a. Spa / Sauna / Steam

The other side to a treatment like this, is being able to have a spa / sauna / steam session either before, to help relax and loosen up the muscles, or after a long massage. It can be pretty awkward if it’s done afterwards, because I end up like a rag doll, and struggle to a) keep myself upright and b) conscious – too much time in a steam / sauna room, tends to make me really hot and sleepy… which then brings me to the brink of fainting / passing out. And let’s face it, that’s not necessarily a good thing.

5. A Nap.

This is probably THE BEST part of the whole day… being able to do everything listed above, and then come back to either lay on a sun-saturated bed (or couch) and curl up for a lovely arvo nap. But, one that’s at least 3 – 4hrs long. Anything less than that is a waste of time, and it just makes me feel even more tired than I was before.

6. Gaming

Now that I feel quite refreshed and relaxed, it’s time for a gigantic cup of tea and about fifteen biscuits (or a block of chocolate) and then the PS3 goes on, and I fire up one of my games. At the moment I’m right into Lego Marvel Super Heroes, but at the same time, in the back of my head, I’m completely aware that I’m not giving any time to my other favourite game, Tomb Raider. This game is so good, and so addictive, I usually find myself sitting there, tears streaming down my cheeks because I can’t even bring myself to blink because I find it so engrossing.

Alternate 6. A Bath

By this stage, I’ve woken from my nap and had something to eat for dinner. Then I think one of my favourite things to do is run a bath and use something like a fancy bath bomb, or some relaxing bath salts, and then I’ll either get in (and feel myself slowly broiling from the inside out because the temperature is so hot) and I’ll already have my laptop set up to watch something. Sometimes it’s a couple of episodes of a TV series I’m watching, or it might even be a movie.

And then, when the water has gone cold, or the show / movie has finished, there’s only one thing left to do…

7. Go To Bed.

It’s been a long day of pampering, and self-indulgence, and you know what, it’s exhausting. So all I need to do now, is go to bed and sleep for about 10 – 12hours, so I can wake up all nice and relaxed and refreshed tomorrow – ready to take on the world!

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/daily-prompt-good-time/

Daily Prompt: Those Dishes Won’t Do Themselves (Unfortunately)

What’s the household task you most dislike doing? Why do you think that is — is it the task itself, or something more?

Without a doubt, the thing I hate the most, is having to clean the damn shower / bath. It’s one of those tasks that I just keep putting off and putting off week after week until I can’t handle it anymore and I completely snap and go on a cleaning frenzy.

Oh god, how I wish it was simpler. In saying that, I wish that I either had a shower with one of those detachable arms so I could rinse down the shower walls easily without getting water everywhere; or alternatively, get a steam wand so I could do everything just using steam and not have to deal with gassing myself from the cleaning chemicals.

I think that I hate it so much is because it’s such a messy job to get it all clean. But it’s also because we let the bath get to such a state that it requires a lot of elbow grease to get the soap scum off. I’m sure by now you’re all imagining that my bath looks a little something like this:

I can assure you that it doesn’t, nor would I ever allow it to get to that state. The reality is, that you can’t really see how dirty it is, unless you look really closely… but I can see it, and it drives me crazy. Hulk has only ever cleaned it a couple of times, and lets just say he should stick to cooking. Cleaning something like the bath is most certainly not his forte. Bless him for getting in there and giving it a go, but I like things to actually end up being clean not… well, still dirty.

Needless to say, cleaning the bath is my job. There’s something quite satisfying about scrubbing the crap out of the bath to make it all bright and squeaky-clean before filling it up and actually having a bath.

It’s just the cleaning process that’s the worst. But it’s also due to the configuration of our shower / bath. It’s not a great set up, and in the end I have to strip off and get in the bath to scrub every square inch of porcelain and glass, so I end up covered in chemicals all over my feet, and then get completely drenched rinsing it all away because I have to stand there and manually move the shower head around. It’s time consuming, it’s exhausting and it’s just the worst!

However, the satisfaction once it’s all done and it’s so nice and clean again is great, and makes all the process worth it.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/daily-prompt-home-2/

Day 13 – Plugged In vs. Offline Time

How much of the day are you plugged in? Do you consciously set aside offline time, or does it happen whenever it happens?

I think the only time I’m ever truly offline, is when I’m asleep. 

God, that sounds so bad. But I find myself plugged in constantly.

Checking my phone to see what the weather is like before I get out of bed, and then grabbing my iPad to check my email… then it’s breakfast whilst watching the news, and checking my laptop to see which of my downloads have completed, and which have finished seeding. On my way to work, I’ve got my earphones in either listening to music or watching a tv show. From there, my day is spent in front of a computer screen, where I can do my work, look up info in our database, check out my RSS feeds, monitor my email and facebook, and, when I get a chance, write a blog post – such as this… all at once.

My life revolves around technology and the constant update of information, but that’s how our lives have progressed. We’ve become so reliant on being able to obtain information and live and conduct our lives online, the concept of actually being offline has become somewhat foreign.

Even now as I think about it, if I ever have a bath, I either bring my laptop or my iPad with me, so I can watch a movie whilst I relax.

If I read a book, it’s on my iPad.

If I’m playing a game, or making notes, it’s done on my phone.

And after all that, even during those rare occasion where I actually do have some free time, I play video games on my PS3.

I think that I need to consider taking myself offline more regularly, but being more proactive about it. Actually turning my phone off. Turn my iPad off. Read a real book, made from actual paper! I should try and schedule some time to fit it in.

I wonder if there’s an app for that?