Small Steps Are Perfect

What Kind of Body Do You Want?

Hi everyone! Isn’t this the greatest dress tag you’ve ever seen? I couldn’t resist holding it up to my crinkly lines and freckles / age spots and snapping a photo because it’s true about me.

“PERFECT IS BORING. The slight crinkles in my “fabric” are a natural characteristic. Love me longer by following my care instructions.”

This year, I decided to love my body. Here’s what that means to me.

1.Embracing ALL of me: my past decisions, my current habits…then sitting with those habits and asking, “Which no longer serve me?”

2. Taking myself for big, long walks.

3. Accepting what is. Wow, I cause myself angst and pain when I struggle against reality. Remember this Byron Katie quote from The 10 Minute Fix?

4. Asking a really basic question: I’m treating my own body this way, but is this how I would help someone else? Here’s a favourite page from Small Steps Are Perfect.

5. Using gratitude. Whatever is happening in my world or yours, whatever the state of our health, we are here now. There are steps we can take to feel better. We have some agency over our own decisions. And there’s a new day tomorrow. And tomorrow.

What kind of body do you want?

How do you take care of yourself?

For me, the answer is this: give my body love and attention. Treat it like I’d treat another person I’m responsible for.

Happy Sunday! Enjoy your weekend.

Love Catherine x

PS.

Sunday Pick-Me-Up!

Hi friends! It’s Catherine from The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps Are Perfect.

What’s new in your world?

For us in Sydney, spring is in swing, bush turkeys are trying to nest in our back garden (eeeeep!) and I’ve been busy writing a new novel that I think you’re going to love. It’s been so much fun!

Also: I found a new recipe for chocolate cake that I’m going to try for my weekly Sunday desert AND I’m starting to put out my nutcracker collection. There’s a story behind them, so if you don’t yet follow me on Instagram, you can read about it here.

This cute guy on a rocking horse is here in Australia (and you can order online, but be quick…they sell out so fast!) Here’s a similar one on Amazon.

Today I plan to rest a whole lot, to make dinner with love for my crew, put a tablecloth and a table runner on the table and enjoy the things I have. The fancy glasses. The beautiful plates.

Lately, I’ve been considering this idea and it’s changed the way I approach my days.

So true.

Today, for me, it’s pure enjoyment of all the things in front of me. The good (family dinner, a table to set, a meal to cook, a cake to bake, a book to write) and the not-great (laundry, weekend copywriting to meet a deadline, and all the hard things we don’t tell each other but we all deal with every day).

Wherever you are, I hope you enjoy your day.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. New book out now!

Why would a woman love Small Steps Are Perfect? You can grab it when you feel a little down, and be inspired. Letting lovely new people know where to find it:

Pretty Things For Sunday

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Hi everyone, Catherine here.

Today I’m thinking of all the ways we can enjoy ourselves, whether we’re out of lockdown (Sydney) or in lockdown (Melbourne), whether the borders are now open (Canada & America) or whether you’re simply hanging around in your pjs at home because it’s the weekend and you want to.

I’m doing lovely things:

  1. Making a dessert for Sunday dinner.

  2. Slipping on my favourite ‘pink diamond’ ring. Similar one here — mine is three seasons old from Lovisa and I wish I’d bought a few :(

  3. Taking a long walk in nature and enjoying the Aussie bush in our beautiful city.

  4. Reading something I enjoy. I’m into Jeannette Winterson’s fascinating book of essays about Artificial Intelligence, 12 Bytes. And I absolutely LOVED Ishiguro’s novel Klara and the Sun. If you’re at all wondering about how we might live with robots, you’ll love his book. I fell in love with the soft-hearted Klara.

  5. Working on my new novel.

  6. Hugging anyone who comes my way in the kitchen.

  7. Listening to Fleetwood Mac while I cook: this song.

  8. Pausing to slow down and be.

  9. Adding the joy for someone else.

That’s it, my friends. If you’d like to join me, then let’s go ENJOY this day.

Sending love around the world,

Catherine x

PS.

Thank you for telling me how much you’re enjoying Small Steps Are Perfect. It’s a wonderful little gift book, and Christmas is coming!

You can find Small Steps Are Perfect here:

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5 Surprising Ways To Feel Better Even If You're Tired

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Hi, my friends. It’s Catherine from Small Steps Are Perfect and The 10 Minute Fix. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Happy Freedom Day, New South Wales — we’re out of lockdown on Monday! For everyone from every country, thank you for being here with me.

We have 83 days left in the year, which gives us so many chances to do and be all the things we might have been in 2021.

That’s 83 sunrises and 83 night walks.

83 fresh starts.

When I was writing Small Steps Are Perfect, I learned five surprising ways to feel better — no matter what was happening in my life. If you’re like me, we’re ALL tired of Covid and being steeped in the daily tea of negativity and bad news.

I was also struggling with some personal bad news and setbacks, and ugh, I needed these tips.

In case you’re not able to get my book just now, I wanted to share them with you here.

  1. Failure can be a good thing. It can force us to get moving.

  2. Choose who you let sit at the judges’ table in your life. Everyone has an opinion. Should it matter to you? You can choose.

  3. Allow other people to be wrong about you. That’s it: just let them be wrong.

  4. Try not to miss it twice. If you’ve made a commitment to try something new — writing your book, exercising, having a day of healthy eating — missing once is okay, but try not to miss it twice.

  5. Sometimes a book can really help especially when we don’t want to share what’s happening. Like Beyonce with her Lemonade album (she turned lemons into lemonade), I wrote the book that I needed to read when I had a very hard year. That book is Small Steps Are Perfect. It cheered me on. It’ll cheer you on, too. It will also cheer on a friend who’s having a tough time.

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Small steps are perfect. They really are. We have 83 days to enjoy, to live a little, to do the things we wanted to do in 2021.

Love, Catherine x

PS. You can find Small Steps Are Perfect here:

Easy Macarons

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Happy Sunday! It’s Catherine from The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps are Perfect—my new book!

I promised you my easy macaron recipe. Let’s do this! It’s ideal for your gluten-free friends and family.

First, though, thank you to everyone who has jumped in and ordered Small Steps are Perfect. It’s a little book of comfort & joy and I hope you love it. This morning I received another beautiful message from a reader who said, “Just got my Small Steps Are Perfect book today—when will there be a third, please…so excited!” Thanks, Ingrid. I’m grinning.

Also this:

“You’ll want to share this book, but you’ll want to keep it for yourself, so save a lot of guilt and buy two.” Love!

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If you’d like to pick up a copy for you (and I hope one for a friend!), the links are below. Thank you for your support! Writers can only keep writing when readers buy and share books, and I appreciate you.

Now on to these beauties….

Can you see how delicious they are?

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The pep talk: yes, you DO need to weigh everything and you DO have to be exact.

You’ll need:

  1. A scale.

  2. A fine metal strainer to sift the almond flour.

  3. Piping bag with a round tip.

  4. Almond flour, icing sugar, caster sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, and GEL food colouring (not liquid).

Okay, let’s make this easy. All the YouTubers act like it’s rocket science but I think it can be practical and fun (that’s my take on life, actually).

The Macaron Shells:

Weigh and set aside these ingredients in separate bowls:

  • 260 grams egg whites (not from a bag…from real eggs…and at room temperature)

  • 172 grams caster sugar

  • 312 grams almond flour

  • 458 grams icing sugar

  • (You’ll add a few drops of GEL food colouring to the egg whites later)

The filling:

  • 230 grams (1 cup) butter

  • 380 grams icing sugar

  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Make the shells:

  1. Whip egg whites to firm peaks, and gradually add caster sugar. I use my Kitchenaid mixer.

  2. Add a few drops of GEL food colouring and mix. So pretty!

  3. In a big bowl, sift almond flour and icing sugar together through a metal strainer. Discard chunky bits. Weigh again and make sure you have 770grams total weight. (Yes, you have to.)

  4. CAREFULLY and SLOWLY, mix the dry ingredients into the egg whites in your mixer until BARELY combined. I turn my mixer on and off, take it slowly and barely mix together. Nobody tells you to do it this way, but if you’re CAREFUL and don’t over mix, it saves you a lot of time and painful mixing by hand.

  5. Then you need to macronage. Transfer the mixture to a wide bowl, use a spatula or a scraper and fold, fold, fold until the mixture falls off the spatula in a ‘figure 8’ ribbon without breaking. Then stop. Don’t overmix.

  6. Pour mixture into a piping bag with a round tip.

  7. Line cookie sheets with baking paper.

  8. Pipe small 2 cm (1 inch) shells. Aim in the middle, hold the piping bag upright and squeeze a ‘dot' — it will spread a little. Whack the finished tray on the counter to remove air bubbles.

  9. THE SECRET — let dry for 30 mins to an hour. You should be able to run your finger across the top of the shell. This creates the ‘feet’ on the macaron shell.

  10. Preheat oven to 160 C fan forced. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

  11. Cool, match up the shells, then make the filling in a mixer. Whip the butter for about five minutes, add the icing sugar and the vanilla and that’s it. Pipe the filling onto one shell and top with a matching shell.

This will make more than 50+ delicious macarons. They freeze really well, and taste even better the following day. Everyone loves them.

Is it a little bit tricky? Maybe, but only the first time. That’s kind of like life, too.

Enjoy!

Love Catherine x

PS. If you need a little inspiration, please consider SMALL STEPS ARE PERFECT: Simple ways to find comfort & joy. You can find it here!

Surprise! It's new!

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Surprise!

Happy Sunday, everybody, and hello new people. You’re so welcome here in my little corner of the internet. I have some book news to share…

Small Steps Are Perfect: simple ways to find comfort & joy!

Isn’t it pretty? I love this book!

You might love it, too. Here’s why.

  1. It’s practical.

  2. It’s an instant pick-me-up when you need some encouragement.

  3. It’s the perfect book for your bedside table—short chapters, fun stories, wisdom, reassurance…all the good things we need to feel better. Like a big sister to The 10 Minute Fix.

  4. It’s a fantastic gift for a friend—lasts longer than flowers, and it’s pretty, encouraging and fun!

You can find it here!

This book is dedicated to all of you (you’ll see when you open it!)

Here’s a sneak peek inside. Months ago, when I was writing the epigraph, I loved the synchronicity and magic of finding these words of Van Gogh’s. I’d never read them before. Amazing.

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You guys, this beautiful book is like the little engine that could…we just keep chugging on, my friends, and sometimes we need a bit of inspiration and encouragement. Comfort & joy. That’s what you’ll find here!

I’m off to celebrate with coffee and breakfast! See you next Sunday…and I hope something amazing happens for you today :)

Love, Catherine x

PS.

  • Welcome to the new people this week. So happy you’re here.

  • Stay tuned…next week I’m sharing my EASY recipe for macarons that anyone can make. One batch is probably 40-50 macarons. Buy almond flour + butter + icing sugar + gel food colouring for next Sunday .

  • Book love—with my whole heart, THANK YOU for your kindness and support! Sharing books with your friends truly helps authors keep doing what we love. I appreciate you!