Be bold, be brave, be happy

I've been thinking a lot lately about a friend who's going through a bit of a tough time.

It's part of life to have a few bumps in the road, but I hate to see the people I love struggling - especially when I can't do anything to help except lend a friendly ear or a shoulder to lean on.

There are three things that have always given me strength through tough times.

"Be bold. Be brave. Be happy."

Be bold.  What is it that you really want?  Sometimes we spend so much time worrying about what might happen, or what others will think that we forget to fix the picture clearly in our heads about what we really want - not just what we think we can get.  Being bold helps us find balance between wild, crazy dreams and keeping one foot on the ground.

Be brave.  Being brave isn't just about saving someone from a burning building. It's having the difficult conversation, facing up to the facts or taking action even though you are scared to move.  Sometimes I tell myself "I'm being brave" and the statement gives me courage even though I am shaking in my shoes.

Be happy.  Because life is just too short to be anything but happy.  Be grateful and count your blessings every day and the happiness in your life will expand exponentially. 

My secret addiction

It's time to fess up and come clean. 

My name is Pita and I'm addicted to Pinterest.  Yes, really.

If you are uninitiated to this delightful site, you might want to look away now because once I tell you that it's the most amazing place to find, collect and store links to all the things you are interested in, you might decide to go and have a look. And then when I tell you that you can arrange all your collections onto handy little boards for anything that takes your fancy, you might want to try it.  And it's all downhill from there.

At first it was just a place to collect a few recipes.  I didn't have any more yellowing pieces of paper floating around the house from recipes that were torn out of newspapers and magazines. Then I started collecting ideas for hairstyles, cute cats, ladybugs, great quotes, writing tips, crafty projects and the colour blue.  The next thing I knew I was scouring the net for inspiring photos, blogs I love, black and white images, drawing tutorials and even - gulp - a tips for organising and decluttering your life.  More than 2.5k pins later, I have a thriving collection of material that I add to on a daily basis and return to regularly to gloat over like some crazy hoarder of old tin cans.

Just a few of my Pinterest boards.

I found this great image on Flickr and bizarrely it has been
my post popular pin - shared 135 times.

In my defence I do try new recipes quite a bit and I've got more than a few hairstyles that I've learned from the site.  It also keeps the clutter around the house down because I don't have any of the aforementioned paper clippings sitting in drawers as they are all online.

The site has a devoted following of 'Pinners' and unlike Facebook, it doesn't work on a friendship basis.  You don't have to know anyone to follow them, you just wander through material that interests you and its easy to run off on tangents of related material, finding ever new photos, tutorials, videos and tips about fun things. It even has its own language - pins that people have tried that worked out are called 'pin wins' and those that don't are called 'pinstrosities'. There is even a hugely popular blog called Pinstrosity, where people share their hilarious failures and successes - such as the cookie bowl mayhem.

So there you have it.  Crazy, time sucking and possibly pointless? Sure. But also a fabulous reference site and place to collect photos, articles and information about anything in the world you could possibly be interested in. And oh, sooooooo much fun and - dare I say it - addicting.  If you are a fellow Pinterest fan, you can find me here.

Sending love to the West

Hellooo and happy Valentine's Day (if you are into that kind of thing).   This year I decided to spread a little love of the non romantic kind and participate in Baked Relief's Love to the West drive. 

Baked Relief is the amazing brain child of Danielle Crismani and began during the 2011 floods; bringing baked goods to volunteers helping with the clean-up and those affected by the floods. Now she is working with an army of volunteers to provide support to Queensland families whenever it's needed in the form of home baked goodies.  What a fabulous cause!

To put together my smoko kit, I bought a box from the post office and then I did a little shopping to buy a mug, a tea towel, some cheesy dipping biscuits, teabags, and fruit sticks.

Of course there had to be some home baked goods, so I made some Anzac biscuits because they are yummy and they will last during their long journey out west.

I even made a cute little card to pop in with everything.

So now my little parcel is winging its way to a rural family who will hopefully enjoy a few little treats, baked with love and given in honour of a day when we show that we care.

Find out more about Baked Relief at their website.