I think at the heart of it we never lose the love of having a good, old fashioned, girly sleepover. There is something so comforting about PJs and being able to lounge around and not have to dress to impress. There is something so special about it.

As I kid I had sleepovers for my 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th birthdays. My mother was a saint… Clearly!!! So much more patience than I. Is it sainthood or just pure insanity?

Last night my amazing friends threw me a post wedding hen’s night (Their one request after finding out about my surprise wedding was to still do a hen’s). I don’t really like the massive party scene so one night over dinner and few drinks they asked “What would you like to do?” … Somehow it lead to some crap talking about 1990′s boybands, specificially New Kids On The Block who I absolutely idolised, and how great a decade it was and yet, completely underrated.

I said jokingly “A 1990′s theme party! Better yet, let’s have a PJ party which I had LOADS of as a kid/teen” …

They said “Leave it with us!”

When they asked me to pick a date for the night I didn’t know the date of my surgery. When I found out the date of the surgery we went into crisis talks about whether to press ahead with it (Being 4 days later!) and the girls seemed keen to keep on (And Kelly agreed) because it was a PJ party.

After the surgery I didn’t want to do it. I was tired and sore and, as you all know, depressed. My bestie Rach said the choice was mine but insisted I was going to do nothing. Her, Chanz and Vee had planned everything and said all I needed to do was be home in my PJs. We changed it from being a full sleepover to a midnight cut off so I could rest which put my mind at ease also.

Even in the last minute I wondered if I had done the right thing but then the girls said to me “Any time you want to go to bed, you want it to wrap up, you want it over you tell us and we will pull the plug on the whole thing!”

When they arrived a few hours before the party they made me stay in bed and watch DVDs while they took over my house. Little did I know, they had cleaned, they had prepared food, they decorated, they moved my couches from the front room to the bigger room at the back, they had chilled drinks in the eskies and so on.

The three of them came into my bedroom and gave me a present of a brand new set of beautiful pajamas and, once I was ready, they pulled me out and showed me the surprise.

A room filled with Backstreet Boys posters (They had no New Kids ones but I will forgive them!) colourful helium balloons, a table full of candy, an ice cream station, a pizza station and so on.

They had loads of 90′s music, put images on the TV of the 1990′s and had games suiting the theme.

They were all dressed in their PJs too. Soon enough, a very small group of my closest girlfriends rock up in their PJs and the night began.

It was AMAZING. I didn’t have to do a thing. They got my drinks, they had my laying down with a pillow, they served food, they hosted games. We laughed, we chatted, we laughed some more. They gave me an awesome present also of a dressing gown with my new last name on the back.

The whole night was incredible and it took me from depressed and down to feeling on top of the world. So special, loved and appreciated. It was the BEST medicine (Other than my hubby and kids) that I could have asked for.

The fact that everyone was in PJs with me was even better. I had been in pain all week so laying around in my PJs after surgery was the most suitable theme that there could have been.

At the heart of it is that teenaged girl who loved gossiping with her friends over a good sleepover with loads of junk food and sillyness.

Even more special was having Ang come when her fiance went through major surgery last night, something I didn’t anticipate would happen but I am massively thankful for. Her and Kez definately light up a room with their presence… Love you girls HEAPS!

Again, I said it on that bookface place but the girls who came, you were ALL so fun and amazing and funny. I loved having you there. I really did. Thank you SO much.

And to my three gorgeous and wonderful besties… You did it perfectly. Thank you for dragging me out of a long week of sadness. I love love love LOVE LOVE you. You rescued me. I know it isn’t all clear yet but today I woke up feeling like me for the first time in a while…

I am not saying I am 100% of the way… But let me tell you, having the love and support of such wonderful people makes me feel so blessed. I cried at the end of last night feeling like I didn’t know what what I did to deserve such a wonderful event.

I have the BEST friends in the world… Rach, Chanz, Vee, Ang, Kez, Renee, Stevie, Jess, Jetske, Gretchen and Tess… You girls are amazing.

Thank you for being in my life and being perfect. It may be he hormones talking of course…

And the moral of this story is???

Again I apologise for my absence. Been a bit poorly this week so chose sleep over writing! Woot sleep!
Anyhoo, this week I had a, what I felt was, profound conversation with my friend Ranita. This is a woman I have only met recently but she has quickly become someone who I trust a great deal. I think maybe because she has been through so much herself and she is a similar age to me that I was able to gel and, to a degree, identify with her.

She called me up during the week and it was quite funny as I had been ignoring phone calls all day (Nothing personal people, I was sick and blergh!) yet felt compelled to answer the phone this time and it was her. We started talking about our past, about where we had lived and about some experiences in our past we may not necessarily be proud of.

Hey, Even The Cat Says So!

She went on to say to me that I need to try and focus less on the negative events of mine, and other people’s, past and spend more time focussing on good events. She suggested that I should keep a journal but instead of reflecting on the negatives, only write down the good memories. I actually really liked that idea.

The next morning I spoke to Kelly about that phone call and I was saying to him that in reflection I have had a lifetime of brilliant memories. Sure, I have had some shit things happen that have impacted my life and how I deal with things. In fact, I think Ranita is right when I focus on it all too much.

I had it so much better than a lot of people I know yet let the negatives rule how I feel about day to day life and you know, even myself. It is such a sad way to live. It creates a whole bunch of uncessary sorrow and it almost, at times, puts a blanket over the top of the fantastic things so their visibility is reduced to nothingness.

I have made it my mission now to write this journal starting from next week reflecting on memories of my early childhood right through. I don’t intend to make it sequential either. Just memories as they come to me.

However, I also decided that on each blog post I write on here, I will add one of the memories (in short) at the end. Kind of like a miniature version of the journal I write for myself.

Whenever I feel blue, or life gets a little tough, I am going to open my journal and remind myself that life has to have its downs in order to appreciate the greats (And not blanket them as I had previously been done)

I actually think this is such a normal thing for people to do. I am also going to encourage my daughter to start doing the same thing as she, quite often, reminds me of me and reacts in very similar ways. Maybe if we start it young it will make for a more ‘glass is half full’ teenager and less of a whole emo type “I hate you, I hate life, you suck!” type of person which inevitably would drive me up the wall!

Well, At Least They Are Contributing To Housework!!!

MEMORY TIME:

Ok, for my first little memory… One of my brothers is 5 years older than me. Mum always hoped for a smaller age bracket but had problems conceiving. If anything, I think it worked out really well. Daniel was amazing to have as a big brother and really made life fun. He was very understanding of the fact I was younger than him. I remember when I still believed in Santa Claus (I still believe ) he kept pretending to believe just to keep the dream alive. I remember him rushing me outside to check the sky to see if he was nearby and would camp out in the lounge room with me so we could wake up to find our full santa sacks in the morning. He was a teenager and still did this. I love thinking of these times and am thankful that I had someone in my life who loved me that much to do it.

Don’t Take It Personally Santa… We’ve All Been There!

Sometimes I think it is such a shame when life gets in the way and we spend a long time between seeing people. I always say “Yes, let’s catch up for coffee!” then six months later I realise I still haven’t set the time! I am terrible for it. The thing is, quite often I am happy in my own company. Either than or I struggle with persistent interaction. I feel claustraphobic when I set too many plans.

Anyway, this week I was fortunate enough to have two of those meetings that I have procrastinated forever and a day. One being with my friend Aleesha (Well, Renee was there too but Renee and I see each other on any given oppurtunity… She is brilliant at making sure that time happens! ) and the other being with my brother. Daniel and I are close but we seldom spend any time alone together so we were able to sit and have a good chinwag about things.

Now these have taken the better part of 6-7 months to come around. That is pretty standard for me.

It’s funny how life dictates these things and how quickly time goes by.

The great thing about Leesh and Dan is that no matter how long it takes, we are still able to sit and chat like there was no time in between.

I think the best kinds of friendships are the ones that can happily resume after months of slackness. Then you get together and laugh as much as you did the months before.

All I can say is I don’t know how those snooty socialites do it. That is their life.

Thank god for social media or I would be stuffed!

I don’t much feel like talking this evening so I am going to get straight to the point. If I don’t say it enough, I will say it now. I am absolutely astounded and amazed at how we have such wonderful friends and family in our lives.

Even in the last 24 hours the amount of support and love being sent our way is so touching and we are so appreciative.

A particular mention to those friends and family who we are closest to who are willing to bend over backwards to help both us and the little people. It means more to us then you will ever know.

I want to give one particular shout out tonight to our dear friend Waz. He said one thing to me in a message today (Or really, an offer) which gave me tears on the basis of just how much it meant to me. So thank you.

I love you all for being so wonderful, so magnificant and Kelly and I will NEVER forget this time.

I have had a completely pleasant day. So much so that I couldn’t help but use the word ‘pleasant’. No, I didn’t have a little blue bird sit on a branch outside my window chirping as my apple pie cooled on the windowsill and chipmunks cleaned my house… (Although, how awesome would that be? Pleasant would be upgraded to ‘stupendous’. )

Ok so maybe not chipmunks but they are small and furry…

It started with me sleeping in. Now I NEVER sleep in so immediately I felt great. Everything went smoothly from there. The entire day thereabouts was a dream. (I am not trying to hex tomorrow but I am so appreciative for today).

Thinking about it, I also believe that having friends over last night helped. Rach and Steven (And David), Vee and Gretchen came over and between a great feast and laughing, not only was my state of mind improved but Rach told me her week had improved.

Well I know I am more motivated…

Finishing off the night with cuddles in bed (I mean literal cuddles and not the ‘special kind’ for a change ) with my hubby and lots of “I love yous flying back and forth” set the foundation for the weekend.

I had a deep and meaningful post in the works but then you know, today being what it has I felt like a fluff piece was needed. That and the fact I would rather be hanging out with my husband right now

So I am just going to finish for tonight with this…

We’re Flying High!

I didn’t think my day could get any better but after screaming to the end of the game and a glorious win, I was proven wrong (Even if I would have liked a bigger margin than 2 points). Maybe now I do need ‘special cuddles’… or you know… cake?