What would make you happy ???

So hands up who watches Oprah ???  On a recent show I was watching, Oprah interviewed a guy named Tom Shadyac, a hollywood director who has downsized his home and finances and has found a much happier and fullfilling life.  He has made a documentary simply titled "I am" ......check out the website and trailer... http://www.iamthedoc.com/  He has interviewed some very interesting and influential people.  I haven't seen the documentary as yet but certainly looking forward to seeing it soon. 

So this made me think about my life, what I have, how I live, what I believe.

A New Chapter

Recently I started a new chapter in my life.....University studies.  This of course means I will also have to learn how to balance motherhood, business, friends, working out, housework and studies!  I am extremely excited but will have to admit, in the beginning, I did feel a little overwhelmed by it all.  I kept wondering what if I can't do this? what if i am not capable?  I expressed these feelings to a very good friend who gave me some wonderful advice....."just take it one paragraph at a time and you will be fine".  So that is what I am going to do.... take my studies one paragraph at a time and the rest of my life one organised task at a time!

Health & Happiness Journey - Meal Planning

So I have been planning to show you the DYO Magnetic Meal Planner in action for a while now...so here it is.

Over the last month or so I have been on a healthy eating plan (not that I eat junk food all the time...infact apart from chocolate not much at all, just to improve my general health & well-being)....from the Michelle Bridges "Crunch time cookbook" http://www.michellebridges.com.au/index.html ...which has some fantastic recipes and great advice...I highly recommend it.

I wanted to show that the DYO Meal Planner can be used not only for general family use but also if you are following a structured eating plan. So I sat down a week and a bit ago now, got out the book and planned the meals for the next 4 weeks. I have already done the first week (which was actually week 3 on the eating plan), and now up to week 2.

Now whilst I am following the plan throughout the day (it has breakfast, lunch & dinner)sometimes for dinner I will have to adjust some meals to suit my 5 year old but you will get the general ideas.

So the first week went something along these lines;

Day 1 on MB plan - Chicken Rice Paper Rolls
Meal option used: San Choy Bow (a kid friendly meal) and we used chicken.

Day 2 on MB plan - Chargrilled Chicken w Salsa
Meal option used: Chicken salad

Day 3 on MB plan - Cauliflower, spinach & ricotta bake
Meal option used: Vegetable & pasta bake

Day 4 on MB plan - Kangaroo with mash
Meal option used: Beef with vegetables

so I will skip to week 2

Day 1 on MB plan - Chinese poached chicken
Meal option used: Chicken rissoles with vegies (ok so this was one of the adjusted meals)

Day 2 on MB plan - Vegetable stacks with tofu
Meal option used: Vegetable curry (my son will generally only eat vegies all mixed together with rice or pasta and some kind of sauce)

Day 3 on MB plan (thats today!) - Salmon with tartare sauce & rocket salad
Meal option to be used: Tuna salad

now I don't want to give away all Michelle's recipes but just a few other suggestions are;

- tomato, anchovy & basil pizza = homemade pizza
- lamb and sweet potato tagine = lamb casserole
- Lentil Shepherds pie = vegetable pie


So hopefully now you can see just how versatile the DYO Meal Planner is.....oh and make sure you tell all your friends!

Health & Happiness Journey - Gardening

So you are probably thinking...what has gardening got to do with health & happiness?? Well when you build a new one by hand it can be quite the workout to say the least!

So a quick update on my health & happiness journey so far...I have been going along eating generally well and trying to keep to 5 meals per day which takes a bit of getting used to as i'm not particularly a big eater generally. I have also started a muscle building workout routine (which admittedly i have had a week off from) consisting of lunges, squats, push ups, tricep dips, crunches etc. I will give a more detailed account of both my healthy eating plan and workouts in the next few posts.

So back to gardening...a few weeks ago it was decided that the weed pit down the back of the yard had to go and be replaced with a few native bushes. But in order to do that I would need to pull out all the weeds (that were as high as the fence!) and find the remaining plants from the garden that used to be there and transplants them into a new garden. So I decided to extend a garden on the 2nd level (we have a 3 level all grass backyard). So I laid out the hose in the shape I wanted and started to dig up the grass. Now this is not the first time I have dug up grass....but I think I forgot just how hard it is but definately a great all over body workout as you use legs, arms, abs, back and that is just using the mattic. Then there is pulling the grass up, digging up plants, digging new holes for the transplant, carrying bricks from one end of the yard to the other for the boarder.

Apart from the obvious workout you will get from building a garden, it also gets you out in the sun (sunscreen & hat a must) and fresh air, you can get your kids involved and build something together but most of all you will come out of it with a sense of happiness and satisfaction that you created something.

These images were taken prior to finishing.....I have to add a few finishing touches yet, so will post an update next week with the finished product.

Health & Happiness Journey

So I have decided to get my act together and go on a health kick...yes i do say this quite often but this time I will be holding myself accountable by making it a public thing!

This isn't some major weightloss exercise, although I do plan on losing a tad bit of weight and toning up alot! it is more about becoming the happiest /healthiest and best person I can be in 2010! So for the next 6 months, I will be posting every week or so my goals, progress, eating habits (good&bad), exercise routines, fitness tips (don't worry these will come from the experts!), recipes, fun, relaxation etc.

My health & happiness tools will include;

• Health & Well-Being Journal - a must have for every health & happiness journey
• DYO Magnetic Family Meal Planner - to keep evening family meals on track
• my.organiser - to schedule everything
• my trusty fitball - which doubles as my desk chair....great for posture and your abs.
• my beautiful new pink bike - which I just recently started riding....I had forgotten just how much fun bike riding is!
• treadmill - luckily the junk was taken off it recently so I can actually use it!
• yoga dvd
• pilates dvd and band
• hand weights

So if anyone wants to join me on their own health & happiness journey please do and feel free to leave any comments about your progress along the way.