2012... a year to Savour

At the beginning of 2011 I chose JOY as my word of the year.  And looking back I can honestly say there were a lot of very joyful moments, in amongst the many others.  What I learned most about joy is that it is always present and all that it is required to experience it is to Wake Up and Pay Attention.  Generally joy is in the ordinary moments which so often slip by when we are busy worrying about what happened yesterday, or wishing things were different today.  Joy is waking up to reality and seeing the beauty of what is.

A few weeks ago, I started to think about 2012 and what my word for the year might be. I thought about AWAKE..because the more awake I am, the more aware I become and the more joy I feel.  I thought about NOW...to remind myself that life is now, and I want to love every moment of it.  And then I settled on SAVOUR.   Because that is how I want to live in 2012 - savouring every moment and morsel that life offers me.  In order to SAVOUR, one must be awake and present.  Savouring cannot happen in the past or in the future.  We need all five senses to savour life.  Savouring is a full body experience!

I'll start by savouring everything I eat. Waiting until I'm hungry - and deciding what would most satisfy my hunger.  Then taking the time to prepare fresh, seasonal food - enjoying the colours, the textures, the smells.  Taking the time to sit down, give thanks and then savouring every mouthful of deliciousness.  Allowing my body and soul to be nourished and revitalised through the practice of mindul eating.  Turning every meal into a celebration!

As I learn to slow down and savour each meal, I'll practice slowing down and savouring each moment - allowing myself to really taste life and to be nourished by it.

I wish you all a wonderful 2012 - may it be a transformative year!

Heidi 20 weeks

I thought you might like to see a recent picture of our puppy...every time I open my blog page and see that funny little picture of Heidi in the previous post, I think 'I need to post a new one'!  And here she is at 20 weeks - isn't she beautiful!?

our new addition

One more sleep until we go and fetch the next addition to our family (or should I say our 'pack')!  Tomorrow Heidi, our 8-week-old German Shepherd puppy will bounce into our lives and no doubt turn it upside down!  The sparse amount of spare time I once had is going to be consumed by puppy training, puppy feeding, puppy playing, and eventually puppy walking (at least an hour a day is what German Shepherds need).  Any occasional half hour that I might have used for a random blog post is soon going to vanish!  So before I disappear, here's a picture of our adorable Heidi, taken at 5 weeks.

I hope to pop back every now and then with a new photo and an update on her progress. 

Soul Sisters may be about to become a doggy blog!

daily photo #29

Ok so I'm very far behind on my daily photo posts but I am going to go back and catch up soon!  Sarah is back in Cape Town now - we had a wonderful 4 weeks with her, and we miss her very much!  Here is a picture taken at the airport just before she boarded her plane back to South Africa, via Singapore.

daily photo #16

Today was Anika's last day at her Montessori preschool.  Next term she will join Talya in the Montessory primary class at Huapai District School.  She is very excited about the move and very ready to take on this new challenge! 

As a little farewell to her old friends, we baked some cupcakes and took them along for afternoon tea.  The children sat in a circle and ate their cupcakes in complete silence!  Here's a picture of Anika after presenting Fale, the head teacher with a parting gift.

daily photo #15

After a night of heavy rain, high winds, thunder and lightning Sunday morning dawned bright and relatively sunny.  We headed off to a 3-year-old birthday party (Pirate's Ahoy!), and afterwards paid another visit to our sweet puppies.  They have grown so much in the week since we saw them!  It is going to be tough choosing which little girl will be ours (we pick on 24th July when they are 5 weeks old).  Here's one of the little girls.

daily photo #14

I spotted the green lipped mussels in the supermarket today and decided that Sarah needed to experience this New Zealand delicacy.  I cooked them in a creamy garlic white wine and tomato sauce and we ate them with spaghetti.  Glenn and I thought they were delicious but Sarah wasn't convinced (she's not a big fan of shell food and these didn't change her mind!).