July 31, 2016

Surprises and half birthdays

I have spent this weekend being surrounded by exhibitions of love. First up was a surprise birthday outing for my girlfriend Carrie, where we spent the day go-karting. I was faced with embracing the saying “do something that scares you everyday”.  The newest thing that scares me is being in a go kart, surrounded by newly post pubescent males flying around a go kart track where they bump into you and all I’m trying to do is be a good driver. Not the point of the exercise, I know. I’m not designed to be a go kart driver it seems.  Let me bungee jump, let me sky dive.  Go karting…

June 22, 2016

Secure Attachment

Whilst reconnecting with my world in Brisbane, I have come across some wonderful new folks in both a work and leisure capacity.  There has also been the opportunity to get back into some deeper conversations with old friends about their lives and what’s happening for them. Though I’m not intending on filtering my social chats through my work lenses, my personal interests of mental health, yoga, self-awareness, work life balance and generally being kind to each other, creep into my thoughts and words.   Practicing yoga this morning was particularly heart wrenching. In the past month I have listened with a concerned and heavy heart as people speak to me…

March 30, 2016

Conversations to identify Doors

I spent my Easter weekend sitting in a cabin the the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia, on a co-created ‘retreat’ style weekend.  The point of this weekend away (far away for me, as I’m typically based out of Brisbane) was to spend some quality time with a close girlfriend, Terri, while also delving into some ‘life stuff’.  We had wine, we had mini-eggs, we had a book to prompt the conversations and most importantly, we had given ourselves permission to look into stuff. The road to this particular cabin in the woods is not one fraught with off roading, it’s kinda just off the highway between Radium and Golden, about…

March 21, 2016

Attitudes at Altitude

  I have been frequenting the halls of flight terminals a lot the past 12 months, ideally this won’t be changing any time soon.  I love the world of aviation and all the elements that make it up. As I sit here, on a flight to Perth, I am lucky enough to have two seats to myself, thus not nearly as cramped while trying to pen my thoughts into my laptop. Flying to places new and old always makes me excited, I typically get very little sleep the night before, the sense of a flight pending looming over my brain. This can be a good thing from a preparation perspective and a…

February 28, 2016

Where in the world…?

I was hit in the face with a realisation the other day. Over the course of the next 8 weeks, I will wake up in no fewer than 7 different cities.  What!?! That is crazy talk I hear you say. In this case, I completely agree with you! The best bit is, I planned it! Bah!  This led me to thinking about seeing new things in the old as 3/4 of the trip will be to places I’ve grown to know in some manner and 1/4 will be brand new.  I took myself for a walk along the river (in Brisbane, currently) and tried to see my ‘home’ city through…

February 18, 2016

Work, Money and a bit of Love

Work. From my time within the cubicle work spaces I know that Mondays were prime for getting things done, productivity from 8-10:30am.  Maybe with a coffee walk placed in there somewhere for exercise and mental health purposes of course.  I had to be as productive as possible Monday and Tuesday to avoid the Friday 5pm and still at my desk situation.  Plus, there are budgets to meet to keep myself, my direct manager, my team, and my big boss happy.  The long afternoons spent staring at a computer, answering phones, signing up for 12 hour days to get things done. By the time Friday rolls around, your brain is dribbling…

February 7, 2016

Marco……?

Hello wonderful people! I have been recalcitrant with my blogging these past few months, for that I apologise.  There have been some interesting events rolling along in my life. Since departing my parents house in the countryside, I’ve been on a constant rotation of house-sitting duties for friends and associates.  I have become an expert in cat sitting, let me tell you. I have even managed to befriend a cat who hides from most people apart from his usual family and I can pick up Tequila (name of current cat I’m chilling with) and pat her for a couple of minutes, purring and all, before she wiggles to escape (that…

October 16, 2015

The Interlude

The length of time it has taken me to write another blog post is a little tardy on my behalf.  I have truly been enjoying the lifestyle that living in the rural corner of South-East Queensland brings. Apart from the incredibly taxing waiting time for anything internet related to complete.  During our last gripe about this Mum lamented it had taken a whole day for a song to be downloaded through itunes…. Seriously, ask Beth and I’m sure she’ll tell you that kind of expanse of time is on par with Malawi timeframes.  The outcome of this is such that you unplug for a while reconciling yourself that all those…

September 14, 2015

Scary Movie: Farm version

Cacophony. If you have ever woken up in Australia, chances are high that you were greeted to the day by the song of a bird or 10. Especially in Spring, especially in Queensland. This morning I woke up to a chorus of song. There are whip birds, wrens, lorikeets, kookaburras, to name the ones that I am familiar with. It’s similar to being in a region specific bird sanctuary. This melody has taken Mum and Dad about 20 years to achieve. When we first moved to this block of land, it was basically 40 acres of clay with a house perched on it. Now there are flower beds, citrus trees,…

September 1, 2015

Life n Times

    In typical Hayley style, I’m sitting amongst a half packed lounge room pretending to pack. I’ve moved all objects from my room at M-J and Plum’s house into the front room and weighed things a bunch of times. I have bags under my eyes from a combination of late nights, emotional fatigue and maybe being a tad hungover. I know that I’ll be totally packed before tonight is over, then spend tomorrow pacing. It’s really the only time I get stressed over little things. The good news to all this is that I had a lot of distractions leading up to this very point. Let me elaborate…  …