Ugh! It’s been too long. I feel like I’m just sitting down with a good coffee and a wonderful, long lost friend. I’ve missed blogging like I miss such friends. It’s probably compacted with the fact that I’ve been on a ‘facebook’ ban for the last month! No ‘social media’ connection has been an interesting experiment!

It all started with a bet. I love a good bet and this one I didn’t want to lose! However, it got technical! The original bet was that I had to ‘fast’ from Facebook, Chocolate and Alcohol for the month of Feb. I was challenged by my husband, so naturally the only thing I cared about was my pride!

I started with a bang! Deleted facey from my phone, logged out from my mac and away I went. No biggy! Ha! I honestly missed it a lot in the first few days, but luckily for me, it coincided with my returning to (nearly) full time work so I was THAT busy. After about a week, I stopped thinking ‘wonder what this person is up to’ etc but the thing that stayed the longest was my inner status update voice. We shall refer to that from here on in as my ISUV. This voice drove me nuts! I would see something update worthy and immediately phrase a somewhat witty statement in my head. At least I thought it was witty! I would re-write it with my ISUV a few times, tweak it to be funnier or wittier than the original and then when I realized I was talking to myself WAY TOO MUCH I knew I had a problem!

Don’t lie. You have an ISUV too. It exists. It’s a condition we all suffer from and there’s no cure. Admittedly, my ISUV started to weaken as the month of Feb crawled on. And I have to say that now I feel like my ISUV is a lot quieter. The month off has done me wonders! You should try it!

The rest of the bet was to fast from chocolate and alcohol. The latter being the one I was least worried about, and the one that first got to me! I couldn’t believe it! My ISUV was going nuts while I was up-ending celebratory glasses of red!

Cut a long story short, I entered two analogue images into a competition in Sydney. Part of my 2013 Wish list was to have the courage to enter my art into a competition. So, I just did it before we flew out to Japan, not even giving it a second thought. Turned out, both images were chosen as finalists and we found ourselves flying up to Sydney to be at the exhibition launch. A wonderful day out, flying up and back in the one hit. We met some dear friends at the uber-trendy Koskela gallery for a spot of lunch that turned into way too many bottles of Pinot. Lets’ just say it was truly divine to see my images up on the walls of this gallery, and the rest of the day was a cracker! Laughing out loud in the rain as we made our way back to the airport. Doing the robot dance as the plane’s wings move into place on the tarmac. Oh giddy old me! These days are often the best – the truly unexpected moments in time that jump up on you! Who doesn’t love them! And secretly high fiving myself all day because I was THAT excited to see my photos up there with the best of them! So… I broke my alcohol fast but it was all for a good cause right?

And, as for the chocolate, well, show me a Prep teacher that doesn’t eat  chocolate and I’ll show you the robot dance I did on the plane!

So, to sum up the last month of my life would be nearly impossible. It’s been my own magical whirlwind of returning to work, celebrating courage, blissful family time, nailing the work life balance and all ending in a giant, over indulgence of social media, alcohol and chocolate! I think I’ve managed to polish off at least 4 packets of those nifty new tim-tams they’ve got out! Lucky for me I start back at training this week! Oh help me!

What have I learnt over the last month of fasting? Nothing I already didn’t know… I love chocolate and it’s a part of my life! I like alcohol and don’t let me tell you I don’t, and yep, I love facebook and I’ll just have to be ok with that one! Ha! Who am I kidding – I love being connected to my wonderful friends that I don’t get to see face to face all the time. I wish I could, but I just can’t so chatting with them and stalking their photos will have to do hey!

So, where to from here? More blogging. There’s a few more stories up there that need to get out. A few friends of mine have shared that they want to start blogging soon and I couldn’t think of anything better. It’s such an awesome platform to get your voice out there. Maybe not your ISUV but hey, I’m sure everyone else has super interesting things to say!

I’ve been working away on my 2013 wish list after being in Japan, getting a new car and the whole photo competition thing! So, I think I’ll need to re-visit my list and start some planning again.  High on the list is to get stuck right into my photography. I feel a sense of accomplishment that I think needs to be pursued.  Watch this space!

These Days Are My Days And It’s Good To Be Back!

(especially knowing that I won the bet, hands down, in regards to Facebook, and that’s really what the bet started with… at least that’s what my ISUV is saying right now!)

xLinz