Providence Moved Already!

Hello sexy wordpressers! 💗 Rise and sparkle/smoulder! 🔅

I feel awesome this morning because I just finished a 30-minute HIIT and lower body strength combo workout and … it’s only 8AM 😀

So as I’m enjoying my morning cuppa, I am reflecting on the amazing fact that I am doing HIIT + strength workouts. It wasn’t too long ago when I truly thought I wouldn’t be able to do them again because … well because post baby I really had a hard time getting back into the workout zone. I tried several times, each time starting slow and having had to adjust my pace even slower … I tell you even a 20-min lower body Pilates workout would leave me sore for days. Pilates! 😭  (And my baby turns 2 this month 🤨).

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

But now let’s talk about this post’s title because it really is amazing what happens when you articulate your goals. Here’s the backstory in case you guys are interested.

So after the said post/backstory I sat my lazy arse down and proceeded to crochet, unconsciously adopting the mindset that I was gonna start working on my goals in January (because I’m a perfectionist and I’m fond of clean starts).

But then I thought … but it’s only September! 🤔 Why waste all that precious time? What can I do NOW to make sure I hit the ground running in January. (Because we all know there’s usually a lot of hemming and hawing at the start of something 😴).

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.

Soooo …

Goal #4 is to find an outside interest that I could do regularly at least once a week. Preferably with a good chance of socializing.

Well, 2 Sundays ago I [finally] found a good Christian church that my family can attend every week. Mind you, this is no small feat considering we were looking for an English-speaking church. What’s even more awesome for me is that this church is made up of foreigners (like, 9 out of 10), so we have something in common right away.

Plus, they have Bible study classes for kids of all ages 😀 Score!!!

Goal #3 has something to do with my crochet & knitting hobby. It’s been a goal for almost a year now and I knew “something” was preventing me from moving forward.

Well, I finally understood what was standing in the way and it’s not what you think! 🤗 But it’s a long story and it’s about my chosen artforms so I’ve decided to talk about it in a separate post.

And as for goal #1? Well, I seriously & excitedly believe that my (sudden comeback) ability to do higher intensity cardio & strength training will help me achieve this in time. Maybe I’ll talk about this in another post too because getting to this place has been a real journey that I struggled both physically and mentally with.

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!”

In any case sexy people, my message to you is this: start now. Don’t wait for January (but you can wait until Monday because I believe Mondays are perfect for starting something 😁 😁).

The start of something can be slow, filled with additional challenges & roadblocks that are usually unexpected and can undermine your efforts. I’m beginning to think it’s good to start something at the tail-end of the current year if you want to see real results by the following year. I don’t know 😏 maybe that’s just me 🤪.  But sometimes we start something in January expecting to see results in March and are frustrated that we didn’t meet our deadline. I think it’s because starts can be messy and you just have to account for it depending on your goal.

~~ oOo ~~

So okay, I’ve blabbed enough for today.

Thank you for visiting and reading and you can always give me warm fussy feelings by sharing your thoughts below 👇

Have a sexy one! 💋

The Photographers Probably Knew It All Along

found on

 

The Sneaky Little Thing That’s Preventing Me From Finding A Job

I have this friend that is often the hapless beneficiary of my rants and confessions about the isolation of my life as an introvert expat SAHM (in a quiet, small city in a non-English speaking foreign country – sorry, I just somehow feel less maladjusted if I lay out the parameters like that 🙄).

For months now she has been passionately encouraging me to find work online. If not for anything but the mental exercise and the opportunity for communicating with more human beings.

I have been tempted many times – my resume is already polished, an online profile has been created, and feeble, half-hearted attempts at answering job postings have been initiated. But I always halt the process before it “gets too serious”.

And I don’t know what to think about the reason why. Sometimes I ask myself if the admission of which now certifies me as a majestic “bum” but the truth is – I have fallen in love with BEING IN THE NOW.

Being in the now – what does this mean?

Well to me it means asking myself at almost every juncture during the day “what do I feel like doing now?”.  Sometimes this means washing the dishes, or doing dance fitness videos, at other times learning something new or even just deciding to have tea while listening to the chatter of birds. It’s never the same and there’s no rhyme or reason to it.

But more often than not, it sends me off to bed at night with a feeling of serenity.

Turns out it’s really something that I have come to appreciate about being a SAHM (with no small children to take care of). And I’ve come to see it as perhaps a luxury only afforded to SAHMs (with no small people to take care of) – the freedom to spend the day however you want. The luxury of listening to the voice inside you and letting it be your guide 🤗

And I figured, if I had a job I would no longer have this luxury. And apparently it’s something I deem more precious at the moment than mental challenge and increased social contact.

And so I say to all SAHMs like me:

Enjoy it while it lasts! ❤

3 Day Quote Challenge: Day 3

It’s day 3, and the final entry for this challenge 🙂 In true TGIF fashion I’ve chosen to highlight my love for the silly and humorous today and for me no other ‘thing’ (or group of things?) embodies this better than The Minions ❤ ❤

So please excuse me if I wallow in the shallow for this post – it’s all for a good laugh or, at least the promise of a smile on your face 😀

found on funnyminions.com

found on lovethispic.com

There are tonnes of funny Minion quotes out there I truly had trouble choosing. But the ones in this post also give you a glimpse into my personality so I think I’m good 😛

found on thefunnybeaver.com

Feel free to give me a link in the comments section to your favorite Minions quote if you have one 🙂 ❤

Finally, the 3 blogger-friends I pass this challenge on to are:

Shirley of ShirleyFessel.com

Lindsay of LetterstoDutch

Lara of ArtByAnnabellaboobop

The rules of this challenge:

1. Thank the person who invited you to join
2. Post 1 or 3 quotes for 3 consecutive days
3. Choose 3 other bloggers to share the love

And that is it for me today! 😀

Have a great weekend, y’all! ❤ ❤ ❤

3 Day Quote Challenge: Day 2

For day 2 of this quote challenge I’ve decided to spotlight a favorite activity of mine, one I am grateful to be able to indulge in and one I intend to keep up for as long as I can: exercising to be fit ❤

As with anything, the desire to start something and commit to it – i.e. invest money, time and effort into something consistently and for the long haul – begins with the mind. Until I understood why I should exercise, that’s only when consistency happened:

quotesgram.com

 

Of course, there are times when life gets in the way and my exercise schedule is thrown out of whack or stops altogether. It’s usually not that easy to get back on track especially if I think about how long it will take to see results again but, this quote seems to always trump my impatience:

found on Pinterest

Then there are days I am doing a new exercise video and it doesn’t turn out as expected.  It might be too difficult or not enjoyable or some other reason. I can be easily discouraged by this and either stop or consider it a bad workout. I have to constantly remind myself that ~

 

So that’s me for today. Now it’s time for me to choose the next 3 blogger friends who will spread the quote-love 🙂

MewsOfTheMuse

Debbie/forgivingjournal

Yanti/New Lives

Rules of this challenge:

1. Thank the person who invited you to join
2. Post 1 or 3 quotes for 3 consecutive days
3. Choose 3 other bloggers to share the love

Visit back tomorrow for Day 3! ❤ 😀

3-Day Quote Challenge: Day 1

Some time ago this feisty blogger friend asked me to play the 3-Day Quote Challenge and, although not really a big fan of quotes, I chose to show up and have fun with it because – this is Emz and she’s got the power to do that. LOL! XD

Terima kasih/Salamat Emz! ❤

This will also be my 4th weekly challenge for April by the way. You can read all about that here, here and here.

The rules of this challenge are simple: thank your nominator, post 1 or 3 quotes for 3 consecutive days, and invite 3 other blogger friends to spread the love ❤ 😀

Quotes are so ubiquitous that their glamor is mostly lost on me. HOWEVER, I can’t deny the power just one serendipitous quote can have when it comes at just the right moment.

And then there is also this one amazing writer of children’s books that I adore so much, Dr. Seuss – you KNOW him, right? Who doesn’t?! 😀 Dr. Seuss’ quotes are so simple and straightforward and innocent and yet they always blow my mind with their profundity.

So I’d like to start this challenge with 3 of Dr. Seuss’ quotes that for me aptly convey the message of just being YOU – celebrating and honoring your uniqueness and knowing that you have every right to kick ‘arse’ on this earth because God said so ❤ ❤ ❤

thespiritscience.net

simplelifestrategies.com

earlymoments.com

Isn’t it amazing to BE YOU? 😀

Now it’s my turn to invite 3 other blogger friends to join the fun and today I’m very pleased to pick ~

Karin/Another Piece of Me

What I Know Now

Vitaly’s Daily Wisdom

More fun quotes tomorrow! ❤

Share Your World 2016 #9

Have you done something you truly want to do today?

Yes. I’ve finally found out the names of the 2 lovely cleaning ladies [that come to our house every day] by asking them myself! (In my pidgin Indonesian). They are Ibu Ingah and Ibu Supiati. “Ibu” means mother or madam in Indonesian.

Which reminds me of one funny incident when I was just a few days old here in Indonesia: One day coming home from a morning walk I hear a man behind me say “pagi,’bu” and felt myself blush. I did not know the meaning of the word “Ibu” at the time and honestly thought the man said “good morning, boo” and well … you know what that means! LOL!

Don’t worry, I’m wiser now.

I also used to think Indonesians were just so kewl because they ended most of their sentences with “yeah”. As in, “tungguh (wait), yeah?”  At the time I did not know that “yes” was “iya” generally shortened to “ya” . XD XD 

So really, I cannot stress enough how important it is to learn at least the basics of the foreign language you are going to immerse yourself in. Go ahead, you can go “duh!” on me now XD

Now where was I ….?

What can you help the world with?

I have no idea. And then simultaneously a lot of ideas that seem too trivial or grandiose upon closer examination 🙄

People (office mates) used to tell me they liked talking to me because I was such an encourager. They’d be in doubt about something and I’d help them feel better and more confident about themselves. So I guess I’ll start there. Yeah, why not?

If life was ‘just a bowl of cherries’… which fruit other than a cherry would you be..?

I’m not that fond of fruit really so this is a difficult question 🙄

I also think that the whole point of choosing the cherry to mean “life is pleasant” is because it’s easy to pop in your mouth. I mean, you don’t have to peel, slice or remove anything before being able to eat it. It even comes with a handy stem, usually. And cherries are sweet and they have that beautiful color too. I’m over analyzing this, am I?

Can I still be a cherry, please? XD

Quotes List: At least three of your favorite quotes?

Ahhh, I’m also really not into quotes. But I can offer you a personal “template” instead.

Whenever I beat myself up in some way, like say I call myself “cranky” in my head and I want to stop that nasty voice I go “cranky is as cranky does” — and that is enough to remind me it’s not me (the person), it’s how I’m acting.  And as such I can also change this right away.

It can be applied to anything too: “lazy is as lazy does”, “careless is as careless does”, “happy is as happy does”. It works for me every time 🙂

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week ~

I’m very grateful (and stoked!) that this post still keeps getting responses ❤ ❤ ❤

If you haven’t yet, please chime in!

~ and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

A new fantasy book series 🙂 (Squeal!)

~ oOo ~

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~ oOo ~