The best time of the year (and it’s different for everyone!)

Are you a lover of birthdays like I am?  For me they signal another wonderful year to come.  I love birthdays a lot (and not just for the presents - I’m not really into gifts so much).  It was my birthday last month, and as soon as the calendar flips over to October 1^st, I’m in celebration mode.  Everything just feels fizzier.

It’s my husband’s birthday on the same day, which is fun.  I was 48 and he was 47.  Just a baby!  We decided to host a dinner for our neighbours to celebrate, and it was a blast.  Although, when we were tidying the house and garden and putting together food and drinks for ten we, well I, did wonder W H Y did we do this to ourselves on our birthday of all days?  But I knew once everyone was there it would be fun, and it was.

There must have been something in the air that night because everyone let loose and it turned into more of a raucous house party that you might encounter in your younger years.  Well, perhaps a sedately raucous house party, with the ages ranging from late forties to seventies :)  But certainly different to my usual Saturday night.

My Aunt said that it seems to be tradition in our family that you work harder on your birthday, because we all host our own parties, whether it’s dinner or afternoon tea.  And I did do afternoon tea for my female relatives the following weekend too.

But you will never hear me complain about getting older. I choose to believe each year gets better and better, and that I get younger as I get older. Why not, I say!  I got the ‘younger as I get older’ thing from my flatting days before I met my husband.  I’d spent my twenties being married to my first husband, and was domesticated and definitely not living the wild life.  Then, in my early thirties when I was divorced and flatting with my sister and two other girls, one of our male friends said ‘Gosh, Fiona’s getting younger as she gets older’ because I had a new lease on life.  I thought that was great and took it on as my personal motto :)

I don’t feel like a grown up and I think it’s because I love to dwell in happiness, silliness, feeling light-hearted and looking for things to feel joyful about.  If you want to change the way you are aging, I believe that you simply make a decision – you decide it is so and it will be.  I look forward to birthdays and love being the age I am.  When I wish someone a happy birthday and they say, ‘Urgh, don’t remind me’, I don’t understand that!

Have you ever noticed how some people, even though obviously their age, radiate youthfulness?  It’s their energy – something intangible that you are drawn to rather than just how they look.  It’s a back-to-front thing really: when someone is glowing with good energy and positivity they become more beautiful and youthful, just as a smile lights up your face.

The day after my birthday I spent mostly sitting outside with my journal, Kindle, music, husband and pets. It was beautiful weather and so, so relaxing.  The gorgeous birthday roses on the outdoor table were a gift from a neighbour’s garden.  They are my favourite colour too.  I love yellow and pink together, antique rose and rose gold – all those combos.  So delicious.  The roses on our dining table are from our garden; I am so grateful to have beautiful established rose bushes from the original owners of our house.

Who else is an October baby?  I feel so lucky to be born in what I consider to be the best month and star sign (although I could be biased).  Libra is associated with beauty, peace, harmony, the colour pink, and Venus the planet of love, of course.  We are an air sign, so yes, you could say I have my head in the clouds most of the time.  But it’s so pretty up there… why would I want to be anywhere else?

Wishing you a wonderful rose-tinted day, and please, let me know when your birthday is and if you associate with your star sign.  My Libran readers, are you as flossy as I am? 

Fiona 

PS. We are in the spring season here in New Zealand, but you lucky people in the northern hemisphere are experiencing autumn.  Yes, I love spring and the warmer summer months, but autumn will always be my first true love.

If you haven’t read my book How to be Chic in the Winter yet, why not check out a sample from Amazon?  In this book I share all my ideas on how to enjoy the winter season instead of just enduring it – even if you are a summer person!

I wrote this book for myself initially, because I found I kept doing the same unhelpful things over and over each year to cope with months of the cold weather - eating sweet and stodgy fattening foods, feeling lazy and unmotivated, being grumpy and a generally unfun person.  I started gathering all my thoughts on living an ideal chic winter and this book is a result of that.

Included are my favourite winter recipes because that was my biggest hurdle - coming up with meals that felt comforting and hearty, but which were also healthy.  They are all very simple to make, but also very importantly they don't take too long to put together.  I like to keep prep time to a minimum because I would rather go for a walk or read a book than spend too long fussing around in the kitchen.

I’m sure you will find ideas to transform the way you think about winter, and it all came from my own desire to ‘live slim, happy and stylish during the cold season.’  You can find it on Amazon Kindle here and in paperback too.