‘Bella Donna!’ A man says as he approaches and thrusts his smiling face in front of mine with a quick glance up and down. If this happened in my home city, I’d be worried. If anyone invades your personal space and makes some comment, you’d feel threatened. Here, in Florence, it’s a part of the […]
When you’ve written your list of 100 Things, I need to let you know that there is a rule—a non-negotiable rule. As one item is crossed off, it has to be replaced with something new. That way, you will never feel like your life is over, and you always have one hundred […]
After months of preparation, last Sunday I did my first TEDx talk— The List. Over the next few days I’ll share some quotes from the talk. I hope you enjoy them. Do you ever feel as if life is more like a spectator sport than a game you’re actively involved in? Do you find yourself […]
Last night I skyped with a friend in India who I met in Oxford at Summer School. In a few weeks, I’ll be meeting up with a group of women I met in Tuscany last year at a writing retreat in San Francsico. Then, in June I’ll be heading back to Florence and Tuscany to […]
If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through, you must. Otherwise, you’ll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you’ve already been in. Anne Lamott Dove’s new Choose Beautiful campaign showing women choosing to walk through either a door marked Beautiful or Average encourages us to question how we […]
Our church Easter service was a celebration of colour and life. One of the key quotes used was: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. The Message Matthew 5:14 I have loved reading these words and they inspire me to be a better writer, a better person. Light. God-colours. That’s […]
Easter means lots of things to different people. In Australia, the land of the long weekend, we often see it as the best weekend of the year—four days off in a row. Autumn means cooler nights, sunny days, the opportunity to go for bush walks and to enjoy sitting outside in our favourite cafes. Time […]
Getting out of our comfort zones takes many forms. Once I went on a tandem parachute jump because my husband thought it would be a good ‘together time’ activity. That was way out of my comfort zone! On another occasion, I asked a stylist friend to take me shopping to take me out of my […]
Last night we had dinner with some Italian friends at their apartment overlooking the Swan River on a beautiful, still autumn evening in Perth. When we arrived the table was set, a carafe of wine breathed on the table and kisses were abundant. Our contribution was our favourite Australian dessert wine, the rest was pure Italian. […]
