I used to enjoy getting a professional spray tan regularly, but I found it would get very expensive. So in 2016, I decided to buy my own spray tan machine and tent, and set it up in the garage. I used it to spray tan myself, my sister and friends. I only charged my friends enough to cover the cost of the product, not enough for me to make a profit.

I never actually intended to turn this into a business. I am not in the beauty industry at all. I am a teacher and I also owned a photo…

I am completely ashamed of how much weight I put on over the last six years. So ashamed, in fact, that my profile pictures for any of my social media accounts were taken 6–8 years ago when I was 30kg lighter.

However, there comes a point where you need to stop blaming external forces for your poor health, and I have decided that 2021 is the year for me.

Now, I find it completely daunting starting a whole new weight loss and health regimen after not looking after myself for such a long time. The thought of going to the…

I love my kids so much, but, honestly, they can be hard work. Between chasing them around, preparing food for them, providing craft activities, changing nappies and the constant cleaning, parenting a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old is exhausting.

And that’s fine! Please don’t think that I am complaining, because I’m not. I knew what I signed up for when deciding to have children and I really make the most of every day that I get to spend with them.

However, I need my downtime and, truth be told, I don’t love playing all of the games that they love to…

I am making the pledge to submit 30 articles to 30 different publications over 30 days. I will be updating my progress on this post over the course of 30 days, starting from 2nd March.

This challenge comes from David Majister. Please see his post (linked below) for all of the rules for the challenge.

A little bit about me…

My Plan

I am going to find very difficult to write my 30 posts because I have work and family commitments. Heck, I am a day late with posting my pledge! …

I was raised to be courteous of other people and to be aware of other people’s feelings. While that sentiment is nice, it actually taught me a terrible, primarily female habit: apologising too much.

I had this epiphany when I went to the movies to see A Simple Favor. In the film, Blake Lively’s Emily tells Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie to stop apologising because “it’s a f***** up female habit.” That one line struck me to my core. I do that too. I apologise for everything, even if it is something that is out of my control, such as another person’s…

Like most new parents, when I had my first child, truckloads of advice was given to me by well-meaning family, friends and strangers. More often than not, the advice was unsolicited and every new piece of information I heard contradicted the last.

However, the best advice for me was when a friend introduced me to RIE parenting. I thought it sounded interesting so I decided to research further. Before long, I was hooked.

I even found three books that shaped me as a parent and have been a continual point of reference. …

I live in Melbourne, Australia and in 2020 we had one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, where we couldn’t even travel further than 5km from our homes for about 8 weeks. When you’re in lockdown, you really need to find something to help you pass the time, so I decided to take up a hobby.

I took up cross-stitch as a hobby in August 2020. I have been working on it every night for about 30–45 minutes since then. Immediately I noticed that my mood, sleep and weight loss all improved.

Mood

I have been suffering from light anxiety…

Heart pounding fast, being short of breath and head spinning. Big emotions suddenly sparking in my chest that would bubble up to my head. Frequent outbursts of rage.

I feel ashamed to say that this was the first two and a half years of motherhood for me. I feel even worse to admit that the witnesses of my crying or my anger were my eldest child and my husband.

The smallest things would set me off: running late for playdates (what will the other moms think of me?); …