Things are happening. Times are changing. Obviously in 3 weeks I’ll no longer be a ‘Magahy’ in the legal sense (something I’m still bewildered about – having an unusual last name your whole life and then replacing it with something as ‘easy’ as MacDonald is a funny concept) but on other levels, I’m itching to dive into new opportunities and chase new adventures. Chase might be the wrong word choice actually – I feel like I’m about to “step into” or “become well acquainted” with a new direction career/ business-wise, and whilst I’m going to take the time to nut out exactly what that will entail, I’m excited. And eager.

The truth is, I’ve really missed writing here. And while I’m being all truthful, there was also a short period there where I didn’t miss writing at all. Mojo – gone. Energy – depleted on wedding must-do’s and work expectations. A constant stream of productive “doing” meant no time for reflection, or creation, or writing articles that came from a deep desire to help, and while I knew in my heart of hearts that I needed to pull back here to let the wedding take centre stage, it wasn’t until I read the below in Danielle LaPorte’s brilliant, bold, bombastic guide to kicking ass The Firestarter Sessions, that I truly believed that that was what I should be doing. That I wasn’t just making an excuse and my Sagittarian passion-for-new-projects had burned out, never to be salvaged.

Danielle says (on crazy ambition): 

“It’s the superhero syndrome: I can do it all! I can squeeze in more hours out of the day, keep up my exercise regime, be romantically attentive, well groomed ‘n’ stylin’, AND launch a brilliant, innovative, substantive product in record time. Nothing will change, I’ll just fit MORE in. 

Of course you have to do more. You will need to expand in order to reach new heights. But that capacity needs to be poured directly into your new project, not spread thin among pre-existing obligations and habits. Ask yourself what you’re going to have to give up in order to pull it off.” 

Gosh I needed to read those words. When I spread myself  too thin, my output is rarely at a level I’m really proud of. Once you jump on board the dizzying merry-go-round of obligation, it can be hard to get off but I couldn’t be more grateful that there are (hugely successful) women out there like Danielle lighting the way, dispelling the balance myth, and living that truth themselves.

My synapses are sparking. I’m curious, reading lots, cogitating, looking to grow, plotting. Coming back to me. The soul fire has started to smoulder again.

Autumn Makes Me Happy!

Every year, when Autumn rolls around, I declare my undying love for the perfect days in May and June. It’s all about crisp mornings and evenings, sunshine, blue blue skies, chirping birds and not a drop of rain in sight. Just the way I like it – like a long, slow massage for the soul.

(PS: Mother Nature… ahh… I know you’ve already got the memo, but just a reminder that this weather would be fabulous for our wedding day. Ok, great, yep, I know, just checking.)

Selfish for 27 Days

I’m overjoyed to be a feature contributor to Selfish for 27 days and loved chatting to Susana on Skype last week about overwhelm and the way I go about counteracting that through positive reinforcement, visualisation and a bunch of other tactics.

Unfortunately my video interview is solely for viewing by members of the group so I can’t share it here, but if self-care and learning how to nourish yourself so you can go out and live the life you were born to live sounds like your kinda thing, I highly recommend you check out her next event later in the year. Signing up gives you access to this truly wonderful community that hang in the Facebook Group and I’m loving all the updates on the “selfish acts” people are undertaking. Just reading them fills me up.

Thoughtfulness

I was totally blown away to receive the above wedding gift from Serena from Pretty Fluffy (who I’ve been lucky to meet through this blog) as well as a beautiful card wishing Ramai and I all the best for our life together. So generous, so incredibly thoughtful – and it really made me think about how much a gesture like that means.

While we’re on the topic of thoughtfulness, as always, deep gratitude to you all for your emails, comments and lovely words about our upcoming nuptials. I’ve loved sharing this experience with you all via the blog and I feel like on the day I’ll have not only the people standing in front of me sending their love, but also the support of all of you here, and that is one hell of a special feeling.

New Bits & Bobs

Purchased the cutest new ladder from Reinvented Treasures at The Village Markets last week. Rustic charm for the win!

My affair with neon continues. Loving cute online store BLANK and all their lovely paper goodies.

My other affair – with Glasshouse candles – also continues with Sassafras, which “captures a delicate blend of blackberry and tea rose, with a hint of jasmine.” Yum… and would you look at that gorgeous floral packaging!

Short but equally as special:

+ Being spoilt with a 3 hour pamper package voucher (thank you Ramai!) + finishing up at work this Friday (woot woot!) + finding an awesome (brand new) orange rug at the op shop + Kikki.K + silverbeet + making a mock up of our wedding arch with my family and cracking up laughing the whole time as we marched around the yard with giant sticks (we’re strange!) + my wedding dress – looooooving + excited messages from friends, I have a feeling our wedding is going to get C-C-CRAZE + watermelon + clarity + the beauty of LOVE.

Mantra of the week (inspired by the sensational Gabby Bernstein): “This or something better.”  

Righto superstars, since we missed last week I reckon you’ll have LOADS to share this week so tell me: what’s making you happy of late? What are you thankful for? What pleasures/ treats/goodies have you treated yourself to? Share away! x

Image: We are Yawn

Just a reminder that if you ever feel like filling your bookmarks bar/ Google Reader with amazing blogs, all you need to do is simply click the ‘Blogs to Bookmark’ category in my right sidebar. There’s quite the list happening these days.

Enjoy ma dears x

1. The Post Social 

2. The Kitchy Kitchen 

3. Weekday Carnival 

4. Simple Lovely 

5. Sprk 

Links I’m Loving This Week

1. You may have already seen this on Creature Comforts but I had to include it for those that may have missed it – Things I’m Afraid To Tell You. Prepare to lose a good hour reading all the posts from various bloggers who have jumped on board to expose their vulnerabilities. Brilliant, illuminating and comforting all at once.

2. Loving this cool Scandinavian apartment. Stand-outs: the string of festoons around the doorway and the mobile. Rad.

3. Hands up if you love cocktails + design? You NEED this cocktail swatchbook, expertly created by Mrs Lilien. Yes, that’s NEED.

4. It’s come to my attention that the only plants I don’t kill are succulents… so you could say I *ahem* filed this post from A Beautiful Mess away for future reference.

5. And finally, some healthy sweet treats from the lovely Yaz over at The Happiness Cocktail.

Holy moooooley.

Here’s how this excited bride-to-be has been keeping busy of late…

Health & Beauty

No-one had the heart to tell Rachel that she’d mistakenly covered her face in Betty Crocker Vanilla Icing. 

The lowlight of the week was definitely spending Wednesday doubled-over in pain with… get this… kidney stones. I know – what? All is well now but I definitely won’t be rushing to experience that kind of pain again. Eck. 

Kidney stones aside, on the beauty front I’ve been madly slathering Sodashi’s beautiful new Brightening Marine Mineral Mask all over my face twice a week and hand-on-heart, I can honestly say that this is the best mask I’ve ever used. Period.

I always look for ‘brightening’ properties in my skincare (to counteract pigmentation – I live in sunny Queensland after all) and the consistency and way the mask leaves my skin feeling is just divine. It’s nice and thick ‘n’ creamy and comes with a handy mini “spatula” (I’m sure this is the technical term) for applying the product. Winner.

I also start my 12 Hypoxi sessions next week so will do a full wrap up before the wedding as I know a few of you were keen to know more.

Mood

I’m not going to sugar-coat this – my moods over the past week have been kinda up and down (and up… and down). So fun, you guys!

On Tuesday, before The Kidney Stone Adventure, I was feeling so “un-me” that I left work feeling sick, called my naturopath to see if she could squeeze me in for an appointment ASAP and literally had to hold back tears as I walked through the door and she greeted me with a big hug and a knowing smile.

The conversation basically went like this:

Her: “So lovely, what’s up?”

Me: “I’m just feeling a bit… you know… UGH… and…”

Her: “You’re melting?”

Me: “Exactly.”

Her: “Mmm hmmm.” (knowing smile)

We chatted about what was on my plate at the moment and the ways I could make the last couple of weeks before the wedding less crazy-crazy and more crazy-good, and I instantly felt better. She made a very good point that when you try to live/ do live your life at an ambitious 10 out of 10 most of the time, dipping down to a 7 out of 10 can have a huge effect on the way you show up in the world, and that often, there may be other things at play.

Sam (naturopath wonder woman) is a specialist in female hormones and previous tests had revealed mine were quite out of whack, so she stocked me up with some fantastic supplements to help them along and I feel eleventy million times better already.

If you’re ever feeling slightly left-of-centre and you feel like “something is just not right” I can’t recommend getting a hormone test enough. The results may surprise you. Burnt out adrenals and weird cortisol readings ain’t cool in the long-term sweet thangs!

Random tidbit:

In discussions with Sam, we came up with a plan for a Wedding Week, which will kick off on the Sunday night prior to the wedding and entail a bushwalk, reading, pampering, lots of quality time with Ramai and absolutely no planning (until the day before, which is Decorate The Venue Day). Sounds pretty much perfect to me!

Organisation

I think in my last update I said that we were aiming to have everything pretty much sorted out by May 6.

So, did we get it all done? Not quite. Lots of it, yes, but there are still a few things to wrap up, and following a trip to our venue last weekend we realised that there are some decorations required for areas we hadn’t previously considered. Never-ending I tells ya!

Some of the things we have been doing:

THE ARCH 

As you can see above, this morning we wandered across to the beach to go on a stick finding mission so we can create our very own “rustic arch” for the wedding. I love the sun/ salt-bleached ones we found on the rocks and looking forward to seeing how it all comes together!

THE FLOWERS

All has been decided, and they are going to be epic.

THE SIGNS

Ramai visited his parents yesterday, who were getting rid of some weathered old fence palings, and what do you know – WE need weathered old fence palings! Win win.

THE LIGHTING

Is freaking expensive. But necessary. Currently going through a gargantuan quote and picking the essentials, but we’re thrilled to be working with two guys that just ‘get it.’

THE VOWS

Are nearly complete! I had to stop writing them on the plane to Melbourne yesterday as I was tearing up too much, and then had to pretend I was reading a really sad book (Danielle LaPorte’s The Fire Starter Sessions, FYI, which is anything but sad).

Note to self: finish vows off in a private place. Second note to self: practice like a mofo to avoid full-on tear-fest at altar.

THE DRESS

Now I’ve been saving the best news for last. As mentioned above, yesterday I flew to Melbourne for the day, and for a very special reason – to pick up my wedding dress!

Seriously, is it legal to marry a dress? I’m crazy about it! Love love love. It’s everything I dreamt of and more, and my girlfriend who accompanied me as I picked it up simply said (tears in eyes): “Oh Rach, it’s just so YOU.”

‘Til next time! Drop me a line in the comments to tell me what’s going on in your world, I’d love to chat. 

Image: via JustB

1. Live Fearless and Free With Terri Cole 

2. Seven Spoons

3. Dreambelle 

4. Simply Grove

5. Chela Davidson

Links I’m Loving This Week

1. Excuse me while I swoon all over the place. Seriously.

2. Kim asks “What’s your insecurity lie?” over on Dream. Delight. Inspire.

3. Dying a little over this wedding. Here and here. Glorious elegance.

4. Healthy treats that feel naughty? Sign me up! Definitely going to give Sarah Wilson’s sugar-free raspberry ripe and Teresa Cutter’s Paleo Anzac Cookies a whirl later this week.

5. I adored Connie’s post on following your intuition on A Life of Perfect Days. Excellent advice.

Here’s the scoop on what’s been going on since my first update.

BEAUTY

I’ve had 1 x beauty treatment in the past week and 4 x compliments on my skin so I think I’ll take that rather decent ratio and run with it. Hey-yah! It’s a nice feeling to know that the results of the sessions are visible to people that aren’t examining my face closely in a rearviewmirror, which, let’s face it, is one of the most flattering mirrors on the planet (do you agree?) and one of the only mirrors I do the wink/ side-mouth tongue-click/ trigger-finger point thing at myself.*

On a serious note – now that I’ve easily earnt my ten points for modesty – the noticeable improvements to my skin can only be credited to the below:

1. The Hydrazone package from Pure Indulgence that I mentioned previously. Winner. My last sesh – a microdermabrasion – is tomorrow and I’m going to miss these gorgeous treatments dearly.

2. Being vigilant with taking my Nails, Hair & Skin vitamins (2 a day).

3. Ensuring I add chia seeds into my day somehow – either in smoothies or sprinkled on salads. They work.

4. Fish oil capsules!

5. The delicious combo that is Dermalogica Skin Smoothing Cream and Trilogy’s new Rosehip Oil Antioxidant + (and just when I thought Rosehip Oil couldn’t get any better!)

The combination seems to be working so far, and now that I’ve made a commitment to myself to seriously overdose on vegetables over the next month, my hope is things will only get glowier. And that the under-eye wrinkle fairies might come and magically erase the expression lines under my eyes while I sleep. Dream a little dream.

* jokes. I do that in all mirrors. Ha!

HEALTH

I’m thrilled to be part of a fabulous online event called Selfish for 27 days, run by superstar Susana Frioni, and my focus for the 27 days is going to be on a “Happy Body, Vibrant Mind.” I think I’ll make that my unofficial mantra and what it means to me is:

Happy Body = a body that is nourished by energy-giving foods; food that leaves me feeling clean and satisfied, as opposed to sluggish and wired/ uneasy. A body that moves with ease, that sweats, is flooded with endorphins on a regular basis and as a counterbalance, is stretched and nurtured.

Vibrant Mind = a mind that is full of electric thoughts – sizzling creative energy, a steady stream of optimism (regardless of what’s going on around me). I’m not normally much of a TV watcher but got sucked in to a few hours of “couch potato-ness” over the weekend when it was raining torrentially outside, and by last night, I felt flat. I realised that the next month needs to be about reading uplifting books, choosing a few stellar affirmations, writing notes and love letters (!), connecting with friends and fam, and injecting as much happiness into my life as possible.

I also came to the conclusion as I was talking to Ramai last night that I need to seriously switch off from regularly checking Twitter and Facebook for a while after a few incidents on the weekend where I realised that people’s updates were directly affecting my mood. It was a lesson in detachment I really needed, and a reminder that repetitive whineging on social media won’t only make the complainer feel bad, it’ll bring down the mood of the people reading it as well. Not ideal.

MOOD

Despite a couple of low energy moments over the weekend, I’m feeling pretty damn ahhh-mazing at the moment, and as Ramai mentioned to some friends on Saturday, it seems like the closer the wedding gets the calmer we both feel.

We’re both not fans of public speaking, which is something I will really be working on post-wedding (I look forward to the day where I’m literally begging people to let me rock the mic like nobody’s business!) and even so, Ramai said he’s not feeling nervous about his groom’s speech and is actually looking forward to saying a few words. I’m sure that will change a little on the day of course, but I think it’s easy to build these things up and freak yourself out when really, you’re talking to a room full of your favourite people in the universe, who are there to love, not judge.

We’re writing our own vows and I’m sure the heady combo of nerves and emotion will make it quite overwhelming to come out and say these to each other straight off the bat (pass the champers darling! No… the bottle!), but I’m kinda vibing on the vulnerability of it all. You can plan a wedding down to the last detail but the rawness and real emotion is something you can never plan… and that’s where the magic lives.

*** I should make mention here that I still get teary over some of the sweet messages and emails Ramai sends me daily, so I can only imagine what his vows will do to me. Just call me Blubber. Blub blub.

ORGANISATION

There are 26 things left to do on my list – do you think I can get them done by my self-created deadline of Sunday 6 May? Here’s hoping, I love a good challenge!

Some things that we got sorted over the weekend were getting our notes done for our vows (I now just need to pull mine together properly), sorting out the photobooth, approving the menu design and getting all the details for the ceremony programs off to the designer.

Big ones this week are the script for the MC – is there some kind of template for this, married friends? – choosing all the songs, booking beauty appointments, making the “R & R Wedding Bible” for our day-of coordinator which will have a complete start to finish run sheet with every little detail and images, and finally, doing the big meet up at the venue with all the suppliers. We also need to hunt down a timber yard.

Fianlly, another notable event is that we’re about to start this really fun game where we see how fast we can get our bank balance to go down. It’s just like gambling, only there’s less chance of getting any back. Yippee.

THE CONUNDRUM

Last but not least: hair up or down? Half up and down? In a crimped side pony? I can’t decide!

I may even post some pics in the next few weeks and you guys can tell me your thoughts! (not of the crimped side pony, silly billies, although I did rock that at my 7th birthday in 1989 and it was quite delightful).

So there you go, 5 weeks and counting and a lot to do before then, but bring it on! I was just reading my horoscopes on AstroStyle and it said that 2012 has been the busiest year of my life, and ain’t that the truth?! Maybe 2013 will be the slothiest year of my life to balance it all out? I realise slothiest may not be a word.

Big love and hugs to you all, and thanks for understanding my random posting schedule at the moment, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it! x

Images: Beauty | Health | Mood | Organisation | Hair