Albert Einstein, Skinny Lattes and Perseverance :)

Evening Peeps!

So its the end of day three. Long shifts in a steaming hot restaurant, missing my boys ( and the cat) and melting in  crazy warm weather. My legs are like lead, my brain is about to spill out my ear, and if I see another skinny latte today, I think I might go a little bit insane!
I didn’t keep my word yesterday. I didn’t post but I have a good excuse in that a friend who has been unwell came for a visit, and we spent our evening  drinking lots of tea, and having a good old catch up. Quality time with good friends is one of the most important things in the world, so I may be forgiven perhaps?

Speaking of friends, I received a lovely mail from my friend George yesterday.He is one of the people in my life that encourages me to write and for that I am so grateful. He began his mail by sharing one of his favourite quotes with me, and we will return to that another time. He also shared with me some life lessons inspired by good old Albert Einstein. The one of most relevance to me today is ‘ Perseverance is priceless.’

Lets face it, its hard to stay committed to something at times. Life gets in the way, work gets in the way, apathy distracts us. Or does it? Is it just an excuse, bad time management or fear?
When you are lucky enough to figure out what your dreams and your hearts desire really is, it takes work to get there. It takes courage and it sometimes feels like you are a very little person at the bottom of a huge mountain. It takes self belief, the moments  you feel beaten or tired, insecure, not good enough, not talented enough, then you must channel your inner Einstein and stay with the tough times. Can you imagine if Rosa Parks hadn’t the courage to stay put in that seat, or if Anne Frank had never picked up a pencil?
Don’t give up on your goal, what ever it may be. No matter how big or small. One little step in the right direction every day and you will get there. We all have role models, we all have people we admire and look up to, but what we forget is,the people we have placed on pedestals, well, they are just people too. People that persevered.
Its a wonderful feeling to reach your goal. We do it every single day, with the little things that need to be done. Apply the same principal to the big things.
Engage the head, and the heart; just do it.

I should have been in bed twenty minutes ago, I’m working again tomorrow but I knew I would feel guilty if I didn’t keep my word ( to myself) and post.

Fear is our biggest enemy in our own heads, but that topic is for another day.

I hope you persevered at something today, and if you did, well done!
Babies and toddlers have commitment down to a fine art, they move mountains every day. The boy wonder has figured out how to stand, and simultaneously open the kitchen cupboards,smile, dribble, blow kisses and dance……Now the fun begins!!!

‘The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
― Confucius, Confucius: The Analects

Never give up!

Much love

Cat x

The weather, water fights and flowers!

Good evening peeps,

Its ten pm here in Wexford Ireland, and its a lovely 18 degrees Celsius. For the benefit of my non Irish friends, before I proceed, I need to bring your attention to two things. Firstly, Ireland is probably the best nation in the world to have a full conversation about the weather with everyone and any one, at any given time. It is as sure as the sun rise. There will be a salutation and a mention of the weather. The other tit bit of information I need you to know, is that in general, we cant really handle the heat. Exceptionally hot weather in our minds, is the  low to mid twenties. It makes us a bit lethargic and just a tad cranky. Well me anyway, I cant speak for the whole nation!

I’m blonde with very fair skin, my older mischief maker is blonde and my little boy wonder is ginger and as pale as cream;  sunblock factor 50 is bought in bulk here.My other half is a wee bit luckier, and he can tolerate the heat… Months working in Portugal acclimatised him to our unusual balmy weather. Not a rain cloud in sight. It rains alot in good old Ireland- Which is of course something to be thankful for .I spend my time covering children from head to toe in cream, and then chasing them into the shade in the garden. I just cant cope with the heat. That said, we are blessed in Wexford as we are right on the coast, and have our choice of beaches. Many a day has been spent on the beach with a picnic basket, or sitting on the pier in the fishing village of Kilmore Quay, eating fish and chips.

Anyway, I digress. We cant really handle this weather. It turns our skin red, we go mad buying gas Barbecues, sun loungers, bikinis, and all other sun related products.It is a fact we go BBQ crazy. And then its gone. The sun has teased us, showing up, making us like him, and then he fecks off again. Not to be seen until this time next year.

Today was a tough day to be in work. I work in a cafe bar on main street, and its a busy little spot. I’m grateful to have a job, I’m grateful for the glorious weather, but not both at the same time. Too busy, too hot. No patience. No respite anywhere from the heat. I often dream of emigrating to a hot country, but give me the dull days and the low teen temperatures any-day. I like boots and I like woolly jumpers. I also love stormy weather, and buckets of rain. See what I mean? We cant stop ourselves talking about the weather…. 🙂 The Autumn, oh sweet autumn.

Anyway, as said in my last post, there will be a post everyday. My brain is not working because of the heat, and sleep eludes me. It sure is kick the blankets off you hot tonight. We had our first water fight with the boy wonder this evening, while we transplanted sunflowers, lavender and lots of beautiful herbs from their temporary accommodation in window pots to their new bed in the garden.The squeals of pure joy and laughter was just beautiful.  The feeling of compost in your hands, and watching little seeds burst into life is a wonderful thing. It keeps me grounded and inspires my creative side.

I really hope you all had a reason to smile today, and you did one thing to make yourself feel happy.How was the weather!!!! Here’s a nice little thought for you to ponder………

Seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them.

Joseph Henry

Are you preparing that lovely mind of yours to follow your dreams?

 

Love and best wishes

Cat

 

 

Words of wisdom from Bruce Lee

I read an article on-line this morning entitled ; The Wisdom of Bruce Lee: 25 Quotes on Mastery, Martial Arts & Consciousness and I have to admit, I’m so glad I did.

One quote in particular stuck in head

                           ‘ Always be yourself,express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.’

Right at that moment I needed those words, and I’ll tell you why!

As I have said in my ‘about page’, It’s always been my dream to be a writer. Id safely say at this point it has become an obsession. I wake up in the morning thinking about the characters in my novel, I go to sleep at night thinking about them, and they have started to infiltrate my dreams.

On a good day, I am so full of positivity and drive.I have put it out there. I have written the word ‘author’ beside my name. I have told my family and friends. I’m sit at the laptop, my silent confidante ( yes, the old battered laptop is a  she ;))  and the words just seem to come out in the right order. Sometimes funny and other times poignant.

Imagine my delight over the last couple of days after setting up this blog; people are actually reading what I am writing. It took courage yesterday to announce in one fell swoop on Facebook that the blog existed, and as the notifications came in, I felt so nervous as to what people might say. But, it wasn’t what I expected. It was truly lovely, supportive and kind.

As the likes and notifications came into my email account from word press, I was like a woman deranged checking and checking the stats. Ecstatic. The views were in the hundreds, and still coming.

And then, I self sabotaged. I had a look at friends blogs and I felt so deflated. Their pages were so well presented, their words more eloquent, more followers, more popularity, more interesting topics. More everything. Who was I kidding. No one wants to hear what I think. No one will read my book, I will probably never finish it anyway.

Deflated was how I felt. Even though I had finished another chapter of the book and it was looking quite good. Then Bruce came along and dropped his bombshells of wisdom in front of my eyes. Call it divine intervention, synchronicity or just good timing. It worked.

He’s right you know. Everyone is unique, and everyone deserves to be their authentic selves. When I think about people who are very successful in their craft or career, they all have something in common. Positivity and self belief. A lesson for us all. We are all unique and we all have something special to offer the world.

So here is my little nugget of wisdom for today. Do one thing this day that gets you closer to expressing your dream. The burning desire in your heart that you wake up with in the morning or dream about after you slip into dream land. Just one little thing. Start with a list. Lists are always good, and tell a friend. A friend that will support you and encourage you. If your dream is to travel the world, start with a list. If you dream of singing in public, start with singing in front of your trusted friend and use a hairbrush. Nothing is impossible peeps, the hardest thing is the beginning. Make the list, and believe. You deserve it. One little thing. My vow to myself is to write one little piece here, every single day, and I am a woman of my word. x

In conclusion, here is another little positive quote to stir the imagination;

‘The power of imagination makes us infinite.’ 

John Muir

Much love to you all, and thanks for reading

Cat x

A day in the life of a Cat

Yesterday was a tough day at the office I can tell you. I’m usually a bit wrecked on Mondays, on account of working at the weekend, but yesterday was just a nightmare. I was up, as usual at the crack of dawn with the boy wonder, and instead of being creative and writing, I chose instead to clean the house- who can be creative in a mess eh?

All day was spent cooking and cleaning, and excluding a quick visit from a friend, I didn’t sit down. The boy wonder sensed my urgency to get cleaned up and made it his mission to undo all my good work as we moved from room to room.

My older one was in his bedroom aka the scrapyard, and the battle commenced to acquire his help. After lots of negotiating, a raised voice and a threat of no hols, he finally gave in.

Dinner time came and the kitchen was back to square one. Dinner was eaten- yum, pork with wild mushroom and chilli, noodles and stir-fry of veggies. More washing up. More sweeping, more mopping.

Boy wonder then decided that he wasn’t going to sleep. Ever again. We rocked him, we walked him, sang to him, hugged him, smothered him with kisses and rocked him some more. Big brother hugged him and snuggled with him, but the beautiful hazel eyes were shining brightly.Finally, the lids started to give into sleep. Dad dutifully carried him upstairs and laid him like a prize posession into his cot. Boom. Job done.

I finally laid my head on the pillow, so grateful for my comfortable bed. The stack of books were ignored and I blissfully floated off into the land of dreams. But no. That was not going to happen. Jim, the cat. Arrrrrrggghhhhh. He, in the height of the trying to get the baby and big brother to bed debacle, had seized his moment and made a dash to the forbidden land- namely any bed in the house.

He was up on my bed, purring, clawing and nuzzling. Looking for love. If I gave in now, id never have peace again. Up out of bed, down the stairs, out the door with him. Goodnight Jim. A final kiss to my man as a head for the stairs again. A peek in the door of big brothers room, gentle snoring is all I hear. Back to my room and a peep into the cot. The hazel eyes are shut, the little chubby hands on the pillow. Angel. My beautiful little angels. Finally to bed, perchance to dream.

Up at the crack of dawn again this morning, the hazel eyes full of love and smiles. The house is clean ( miracle) so its time to get my creative hat on and get back to my friends on stony lane.

Today I’m grateful for my gorgeous boys, my lovely man and my cat. Im also grateful for the lovely nights sleep I had.

Have a lovely day peeps, and do something that makes you feel good x

“you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Much love

Cat

Birth into a world of technology

So, I’m a writer.

Fact.

After years of stalling, dodging, excuse upon excuse, I have finally thrown my skinny butt up on to that horse and burst out of the stalls into the sunlight. On the advice of my (published and successful) author friends, not only have I joined twitter, I am now blogging. And it scares the crap out of me. I can deal with a teething baby that is constantly stuck to my hip, I can cope with a slamming door as the pre teen leaves the room in yet another huff, I can make Irish coffees with the best of them, while cooking the best chocolate cake you ever tasted, but I cant get to grips with all this technology malarkey. And I’m only 35 for feck sake. So this is an apology in advance.  For the wrong use of social media slang, forgive me. For the non fancy page, I’m sorry, and don’t even get me started about the dashboard, they belong in cars. Is there a blogging etiquette?? Or will I get away with my daily, sometimes half demented meanderings on all that is life love and laughter.

One thing is for sure, what I lack in social media expertise, I will make up for in positivity. So the quote for today are the words of Winston Churchill;

‘Sucess is going from failure to failure, without losing your enthusaism’

 

And there it is, my first blog.

Thanks for reading

Cat 🙂