T'was the week before Christmas!

 

 

 

Hello chic friends!

 

We had such a lovely dog walk along the beachfront on the weekend, with the howling wind and rainy summer weather in 'sunny' Hawke's Bay :) It was a very brisk, quick walk I can tell you, and everyone was pleased to hop back in the car afterwards.

I usually walk the doggies down the road from our home as I am not a fan of driving somewhere to walk, but it’s just nice to have a change of scenery sometimes, you know?

And for most of the week it's been rainy and cosy too but that’s okay, I have plenty to do inside and the lawn is nice and green as a result.

I can’t believe it is almost Christmas! Are you organised or stressing? I have everything under control and feel calm and peaceful. I love to keep things simple, it feels so good.

 

 

 

I say this is how I'm feeling right now, calm and peaceful, but then wondering if I've forgotten anything important to do before Sunday :) Isn't that always the way?

So I'm here to say to you to give yourself grace, even if you slept in this morning (like me), and your desk is still a mess (me, again, but I'm going to clean it up today).

2022 has been a funny (funny strange not funny haha) year for so many people it seems. For me, from June onwards I was on a fast-paced track with loads of different things happening. The majority of them were beneficial, just a lot of action and bandwidth was required.

I've heard people talking about taking a reset, and doesn't that sound so appealing? Just like when your phone isn't being as responsive or an app is playing up, you can switch your phone off and on again and everything is fine again. Our human selves may take longer than 20 seconds, but it's worth doing.

Tidying my space always resets me, and I'm sure it does you too. Just that vista of order soothes our tired eyes.

Whatever your week before Christmas looks like, I hope it's a good one, and if you need a dash of calm, check out my book ‘The Peaceful Life’ on Amazon here. And if you already own it why not dip into a chapter for five minutes.

The beautiful image on the cover of this book makes me feel serene just gazing at her!

 

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And I don't mean to bring you down the week before Christmas, but we lost our Jessica Cat last week. 

 

She had advanced kidney failure and had been getting progressively thinner over the past year.

But right until the end she never lost her spark, keeping the dogs in line, and making herself at home on the dining table after we'd finished dinner... as pictured, ahem. Very hygienic I know.

I thought she was 12, but on checking her vet book saw that with her estimated age from the rescue shelter she was closer to 14. We adopted her and her kitten Nina in 2011. 2011 doesn't seem that long ago! Eleven years goes by in the blink of an eye, doesn't it?

Nina cat is doing fine, she lives in Nina World. I think if we could see inside her head there would be pretty pink clouds floating around :)

So hug your pets today, and don't worry about me, I still have four left... I'm certainly not lonely!

Fly free Miss Jessica, it was a privilege to be your pet mum xx

To finish, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for being you. Thank you for reading my books and my social media. Thank you for the lovely messages, comments and emails you’ve sent.

Thank you for posting reviews of my books on Amazon too! If you want to give me the biggest Christmas gift, an Amazon review is it :) They help other lovely ladies find my books, and I really want to spread the message that living a beautiful, positive, happy life is possible no matter your income.

We are so lucky to have the opportunity to ‘meet’ like-minded women on the internet, so that we can feel connected and inspired even if we live in the middle of nowhere. I love that.

Anyway, I just wanted to say how grateful I am to ‘know’ you. I really do feel that way from any correspondence we might have had!

I wish you a wonderful, peaceful and happy Christmas break. I hope you get everything you’ve ever dreamed off. I am personally ‘not a gift girl’, so I love seeing my loved ones, trying not to eat too many chocolates (how can one feel so gross afterwards when they taste so good?), and getting through a stack of juicy novels (to be honest it will only be one or two, I’m not that fast a reader). Whatever you wish for, may it be 'under the tree' on Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas to you!

xx Fiona

 

 

 

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(My Amazon links are affiliate, and via Amazon Smile which donates money to the ASPCA. The price you pay isn't any different, so thank you if you choose to use my links!)