Inspiration for a Monday Morning

 

"There is a desire within each of us, in the deep center of ourselves that we call our heart. We were born with it, it is never completely satisfied, and it never dies. We are often unaware of it, but it is always awake. It is the human desire for love. Every person in this earth yearns to love, to be loved, to know love. Our true identity, our reason for being, is to be found in this desire… love is the ‘why’ of life: why we are functioning at all, what we want to be efficient for… I am convinced it [love] is the fundamental energy of the human spirit, the fuel on which we run, the wellspring of our vitality. And grace, which is the flowing, creative activity of love itself, is what makes all goodness possible.  Love should come first; it should be the beginning of and the reason for everything."

~ from the Sacred Heart by Gerald May

Week in Review

In an attempt to record the important aspects of life I've decided that a Week in Review post is appropriate. I'll write it every Sunday morning and it'll reflect the various important events of my week.


First up, after a frustratingly long amount of time, I finally got my P plates. Yes I'm twenty. Yes I can only drive in a car by myself now. But between moving between two countries and again between two states I just haven't had the time. I'm free as a bird now and I'm ecstatic!

I looked after my very first event on Monday and Tuesday. It was a small function for sixty five people but I was the point of call for manager and client and everyone was happy with my work. The whole experience reminded me of my reason for the wanting to work in this industry - it was pure exhilaration - and I loved it. 


I watched the first installment of the last Harry Potter film on Thursday at Midnight. A one word description? Awesome.


I booked bus tickets to and from Sydney. I leave tomorrow morning and will return on Tuesday. I haven't seen Sydney for nearly three months! I can't believe I planned to visit at least once a month. I didn't realise how much my life would be consumed by work. I'm looking forward to seeing my friends.

Last night I worked on the bar for the first time. I ended up smelling like beer but it was fun. I prefer working on the floor though. I didn't really feel a part of the event. It was a Christmas party (the first of many I'm sure).

Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One

I went to see HP VII part 1 last night and it was incredible. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. I'm so glad that the producers have split it in two. It may be a money making scheme but it lets the magic I grew up with live on that little bit longer.

This isn't an image from the movie 
but who doesn't love a bit of Emma Watson dress up?

Thankful for the right to choose

I know a girl who made a comment about a girl she knows a couple of months ago that has bugged me ever since. She said, "all that one of my best friends wants to do is get married and have children... Isn't that so sad?" At the time, I didn't say anything and I wish I had, so now I will.


I spent most of my teenage years, declaring to the world (or anyone who would listen) that I would never marry. "It's not worth it", I'd say. "Why would you bother? It's too much effort". Children? Children! Are you insane? I'd dealt with enough children in the first 14 years of my life to never feel a desire to have my own. I was going to be a high flying, single career woman with an all cream apartment in the city. Yes, an all cream apartment. Anyone who didn't share this dream, in my opinion, was weak. I felt this way until December 2008, at least.

I'm not sure what changed this opinion. Maybe it was leaving school and discovering that the world was a place that no man should have to walk alone. But somewhere along the line I realised that wanting to get married and have children is a worthy desire and should not be looked down upon. My mother did it, my grandmother did it and many woman before them did it too.


Granted, it was considered "the norm" back then. Women who had the desire to have a career and remain single or unmarried were rare, if not unheard of, but many fought for the right to do so and ultimately won. It's for those women that I will be eternally grateful.


You see, these women didn't want it one way instead of the other. They wanted it both ways. They wanted the right to choose between having a career or making the home or, in some cases, both. They wanted women to be acknowledged, heard and respected on an intellectual level.


As a group, we have come very far. Yes we're not earning the same as our male counterparts yet, but I firmly believe that we will get there someday. What upsets me is when statements, such as the one my acquaintance made, throw us two steps behind. Who have we really become if we look so disdainfully on those who choose a life of child rearing instead of boardroom appointments?


I'm so thankful for the right to choose. I was pretty sure that I had chosen but I'm not any more and I'm okay with that. What's great is that if I don't want to, I don't have to and if I do, I will. I'll always have the key to both doors.

Why Harry Potter Means A Lot To Me

On Thursday, the first installment of the last film of the Harry Potter series is released. I'm beyond excited. I think a little tribute to HP himself is in order.

Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone was the first novel I ever read by myself. Mom started reading it to me when I  turned eleven but I couldn't resist the story and read beyond what she did every night. I loved it so much that I didn't mind having it repeated the next day.

I was captured by the magic of it all and each year, as another book was released, I eagerly awaited a weekend spent in bed, devouring the latest copy of the Harry Potter Series. 

I, literally, grew up with Harry Potter. I was eleven when he was eleven, I was sixteen when he was sixteen. Apart from the fact that an evil wizard didn't want me dead, my life and Harry's life were very similar. I dealt with my own "Draco Malfoys" at school, lost people I loved in horrible accidents, experienced a fair few crushes and had piles and piles of homework to get through. I laughed with Harry, cried with Harry, celebrated and worried with Harry.

I think that that's what made Harry Potter so magical.(Beyond the actual magic that is.) I and other readers were able to identify on an emotional level with Harry and his best friends, Ron and Hermione. That's what made the books so special, so captivating.

I had a friend who used to call me Hermione after Harry's best friend, Hermione Granger. I suppose if I was like any particular character in the books, it would have to be Hermione Granger. A goody-two-shoes, know it all with a penchant for big, furry cats who is beyond loyal to her friends? That would be me.

The Harry Potter Series is timeless. One that I hope my children and their children have the opportunity to experience. This year I'm not able to see the first screening of the film as I usually do with my sisters (grown up life tends to prevent that sort of thing) but the child in me will be at the cinema as soon as possible.

Inspiration for Monday Morning

"No matter what anyone tells you, words and ideas can change the world"

~ John Keating, Dead Poets Society

What I did this weekend

I edited my blog. It took a lot of fiddling but finally I figured out how to create a better header, add tabs, make my links stand out and re-align my web page.

The images I used for my header are all taken from the fabulous website, We Heart It. When I get around to taking some photographs of my own I might recreate the header.

I've added a home tab, about tab and a contact tab. Each one is fairly self explanatory. The twenty things tab is just a list of twenty things that make me, well, me.

It took a long time but I did it all by myself and I'm proud of it. It's not the fanciest look in the world but it's simple and pretty which is all I wanted.

Tonight I'm going to curl up on the couch with some tea and an episode of madmen followed by a skype date with my best friend. It's the perfect weather for it I think.