The Year of (Blank...)

Hello my friends, and hello everyone new this week!

So much is happening just now here in Sydney:

• Darn! There’s a Covid cluster in the Northern Beaches, so for us that means a teen who can’t skate and can’t have his mates over…that’s where they all live.

• I stepped on a tiny piece of glass this week and have to hobble to the doctor to get it dug out of my foot — youch.

• And Christmas is nearly here….hooray!

Honestly, I can’t wait for next week when our little family of four is ready to settle in for Christmas movies, treats, card games and general fun.

At the same time, I’ve been thinking about 2021 and I was inspired by Rebel Wilson when she talked about her Year of Health in 2020.

I think I’m going to have a Year Of Cheering Myself On.

I need to write more books, and I want to get better at taking really good care of myself. I need to be my own best cheerleader. That’s my plan for 2021.

What about you?

(If you want to share, I’d love to hear about your plan for 2021. Inspire me…for you, what is it The Year of?)

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Some Christmas fun — I got this top and my sons say I look a bit like Snow White but it’s super cute in person.

• I made peanut butter balls last week (my husband’s Christmas favourite…they’re kind of like Reese’s peanut butter cups). I found a delicious recipe here.

• If you need some sweet gifts for girlfriends, everyone is loving The 10 Minute Fix. Here in Canada, and here in Australia.

It's the little things, baby.

Today will be a busy day, but in my heart I’m quiet.

Last night I had the most beautiful walk with the guy I love…through the neighbourhood streets, past the kids riding bikes, watching the sun sink orange and low, hiking through the bush at the end of our tree-filled suburb.

Kookaburra song.

Rain and sun showers, then a rainbow.

Oh, 2020, you’ve been a wild and sometimes scary ride.

It makes me think of a line from a song I used to love: It’s the little things, baby, that give you away…when you try to deny how you feel.

How are you?

How are you right now, this second? I’m asking in case no one else has…

How I feel is this: glad we made it, and wondering about 2021. Hoping for a safe vaccine for the rest of the world and all the people I love. Ready for a rest and a new laptop. I’ve worn this one out with all my tapping. The decorations are up, the gifts are wrapped and my favourite season is on the way. Christmas-Summer is lovely, if you want to know. I miss a white one, but a green one with kookaburra song is also really good.

We are lucky here in my little circle in Australia, and we’re used to celebrating Christmas as an island of four. We’ve done it for years and years. If you’re a little worried, a little tired, or wondering how you’ll feel in this season where everything is different this year, I’ve got a simple idea.

It’s the little things, baby. Notice the tiny and beautiful. It’s there—peace—waiting for you.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Love, Catherine x

PS.

• Our tree out front is so pretty but hard to capture in a photo. Wish you could come over at night for a cup of tea and a sweet treat.

• Missing this Hyams Beach sunset. A little thing, and so very pretty.

If you're a woman who makes the magic...

Oh, hello tired lady.

Are you the one who makes the Christmas magic? The one who figures out who loves what, shops for it, hides it, wraps it, and places it with love under the tree?

The one who makes sure that the holiday treats are in the cupboard…the peanut butter balls, the gingerbread houses to gift, the special cookies, the chocolates you all love? Turkey, ham, cranberry sauce?

Are you the one who remembers, remembers, remembers and decorates so everything sparkles and then tries to make the magic happen in the hearts of the people you love?

My sister, Rena, did this:

Made 10,00000000000000 gingerbread cookies to give away. Her gingerbread recipe is the best — healthy, fresh, delicious.

I use it every year to make simple gingerbread houses (just so so so much better than the kits you find in the shops, or the ones you buy for $80 at the bakery.)

But oh, my friends, sometimes we get a little tired of being magic-makers.

So today I’m here to remind myself (and you) of this: the best Christmas memories are made when the magic-makers RELAX.

When I chill the crap out.

When I hug my crazy, frenzied merry-making brain and say to myself, “You’ve done enough, Catherine. It’s okay if nothing is sparkly or fun today.”

It’s okay if my people are grumpy.

It’s okay if the gift is disappointing, if the teens are not into family games night, if the turkey is dry.

When I RELAX, when I settle in to being with my family and letting things be, then the true magic happens. It gives everyone else space to step up and help. My family gets to be with the more fun version of me — the one who puts on fancy earrings and sits down on the sofa. It gives me the chance to breathe and find my own joy in this beautiful, sparkly season.

Work and then rest, my friends. Plan and then celebrate. Let’s be present as our present to the people we love.

Here’s to happy holidays!

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Rena’s gingerbread recipe is easy and the best. It’s here for you :) Enjoy….from her Canadian house to yours.

My personal Before & After

Hi everyone, and a huge hello to all the new people this week. In case someone hasn’t asked you this weekend, how is your heart doing?

Me? Yesterday I felt a little low, so I did what I usually do — my ‘go to’ trick to feel better. I give myself a personal Before and After. I like to call it this: Clean up what you’ve got.

It can take as long or as little as you like — a true 10 Minute Fix! Here are some quick ideas:

• Wipe out the cutlery drawer.

• Stand in your closet. Quickly hang your clothes in order of item type, then colour. Boom!

• Get rid of any coffee mugs you don’t love. Same for towels. Donate, repurpose, recycle.

• Move the furniture.

• Are there old papers you need to shred, papers that are holding you to your own past? (I’m talking old bills, tax returns from years ago, or something that makes you unhappy?). Let yourself be free of those things.

Yesterday, I just had this urge to purge.

I wanted to be DONE WITH THINGS. So I reordered my clothes in my closet, wiped out the cutlery tray, recycled two mugs, cut up an old towel to use as rags and then I did is this: I learned to use the pressure washer. Normally this is a job that I would kinda sorta pretend I don’t know how to do and leave it to my husband but…I wanted a really great Before & After.

So I took myself outside and learned how. It felt mesmerising. I’m laughing at myself thinking how silly I am that clean tiles make me feel so much better BUT…they did.

Is it time to give yourself a little personal Before & After?

Do you have the energy today to clean up what you’ve got?

I promise, it’s a great little 10 Minute Fix.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Still loving my tree swing chair!

• Fun tip — Covid is rotten but Facetime can make it better. I took my lovely Canadian mum & our friend Marlene on a “tour” of the Christmas decorations at Bonds Nursery (Flower Power) yesterday. I showed them the prettiest gum leaf wreath, but I should have snapped my own photo for you here because the website photos are awful! But it was so pretty in person. And this oyster shell wreath was also beautiful.

• We can all help entertain people who aren’t getting out much with a quick video tour of something fun…a winter walk, the decorations in our neighbourhood, all of it.
  

I got my Christmas present early...

You guys…I can’t even begin to tell you how FUN this is!

Amazon dumped a huge flat box in the middle of our porch and I came home and found it, so my husband gave me my Christmas present early this year.

It’s a tree swing!

It’s a bird’s nest for a lovely girl!

I want to move in and live out here in the garden by the pool with my coffee and my laptop and my books and my swinging nest-chair.

My husband says I’m channelling a 12 year old and guess what? He’s right. I am. And this might just be the most perfect present in the world.

The swing is made of the softest cotton. If you scootch all the way back in the seat it literally feels like you’re swinging in a nest. It doesn’t need a cushion and—oh my goodness come over for coffee and try it out—it is so much fun.

This used to be the spot for the tyre swing, but our boys are now 16 and 20.

Look at those sweet faces and missing teeth. Miss those little boys. But they grow, and on the weekend, we’ll give away the tyre swing to a family who needs a little cheer.

But for now, this is me — swinging and dreaming in a new little nest.

It reminds me of my favourite line from a poem attributed to the poet, Rumi. I always think of this one when I consider:

• marriage

• family relationships, especially between sisters and brothers

• forgiveness of others (and ourselves)
  
  

Nobody’s doing everything right.

No one is perfect.

All we can do it keep making our nests, and inviting the other imperfect birds in.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• The tree swing is here! Oh, I’m so excited to share this with you because you might know a 12 year old or a 54 year old who would love one for Christmas!

• I have amazon prime here in Australia so I got free shipping. Looks like it will still arrive to us Down Under before Christmas…
  
  

"That's for other people."

Hello from sweltering Sydney!

Today, as half of you rest after Thanksgiving, and some of us roast slowly in the heat or have the aircon cranked to high, and some of you walk through a wintery day…I had a thought I wanted to share.

This week I sat in the parking lot at the mall talking with my cousin in Canada about why her family of origin (who lived so close to a community ski hill) never learned how to ski. And she said something that stopped me in my tracks.

Whoa. Stop everything.

How many times in my life have I not done something because I thought, “That’s for other people”?

Sometimes the thought is completely subconscious.

I started to make a list.

• skiing. That’s for other people.

• training to the point of actually feeling like an athlete. That’s for other people.

• buying and selling multiple homes (flipping houses). That’s for other people.

• taking care of my body as a priority, to the point of being naturally slim. That’s for other people. (I do this one partially, not completely because…that’s somehow selfish, or too time-consuming, or too self-focused, and for other people???)

• playing an instrument. That’s for other people.

This question resonated with me so much.

You might be different, and not get this at all. You might be a super logical person. You might just do whatever the heck you want, when you want.

But me? I have stopped myself because deep inside I think, “Oh, that’s for other people. Not for me.”

I have to admit it: a lot of life’s opportunities that are fully available to me I shut down automatically. I don’t even LOOK AT how to get there, or THINK ABOUT what I could do, or what I want because— “That’s for other people.”

Your turn.

Do you limit yourself, too?

Are there a few things you could do that you just don’t (yet)?

Here’s the promise I’m making to myself: in 2021, I am going to do some things that I’ve always secretly thought were for “other people.”

Will you join me?

When I think about what I’d choose or where I’d start, my brain feels like this:

This could be fun, but where do I start?

But you guys, it’s the Mary Oliver line from her poem, “The Summer’s Day”:

“Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”

— Mary Oliver

If 2020 has brought us anything good, it’s this: we have more time to think about things, and make some decisions about the future.

Happy Sunday!

(If this resonates with you, drop me a note if you have time. I feel a little vulnerable sharing this idea with you, but maybe you feel the same about your own life? Is there anything you’ve stopped yourself from doing?)

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Hello to all the new people this week! You are so welcome here at Love Our Age.

• Tree’s up in our home and I’m loving our early start to the holidays! Fun tip if your family is struggling a little: a puzzle, whether you finish it or not, somehow makes people feel like there is space and time in the world. Puzzles feel jolly, and holiday-like. You probably have one lying around the house somewhere. The piece of felt means you can roll it up anytime…or just box it up when you’re tired of it.

An old-fashioned favourite...

Well, hello!

So many of you asked for this little recipe from the 80s so here we go today. Yes, there’s ham, grated cheddar, butter and flour, eggs and jalapenos. What more could you ask for?

Ready? Set up your hand mixer! Preheat your oven to 200C (400 F).

• 1 cup water

• 1/3 cup butter

• I cup plain flour

• 4 eggs

• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar

• 1 cup finely chopped ham or crisp bacon

• 1 teaspoon dry mustard

• 10 finely chopped jalapenos (optional)

In a saucepan, combine water and butter and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in flour.

You are supposed to drop in eggs one at a time and beat FOREVER until your arm is sore but NO. Grab a hand mixer, crack those eggs in one after another and mix the whole thing using the mixer. It works just the same. I pause to think of all those cooks in the 1980s beating things forever with a wooden spoon.

Someone should have told them to rebel. :)

Add in the ham (or bacon), mustard, cheese and jalapenos. Mix it all together with the hand mixer.

I use a piping bag to drop on a cookie sheet (with baking paper). You can also use a spoon.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve warm. You can also freeze them and reheat in a 200C oven for 5 minutes.

My husband loves these. I’m 50-50. :)

Happy Thanksgiving if you’re in America. Happy Friday here in Australia. Happy Thursday everywhere else.

I hope you and yours are safe, that you’re feeling well and doing okay.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Today I’m whipping off to IKEA with a girlfriend to buy wrapping paper. Did you know IKEA and Costco have the best Christmas wrapping paper ever? Love this one and this one.

Nutcrackers are marching, tree's going up!

And I’m giving you a wave this morning. How’s your weekend going?

Like so many other people, I decided this year that Christmas was going to start early and stay for a long time. If a virus can do it, Christmas can, too — so there.

And that brings me to a principle I wrote about in The 10 Minute Fix. When life hands me something rotten, I respond with a tiny, good thing I can control.

Covid. Early Christmas.

We’re going all out around here this holiday season—not with the expense, but with the joy. I’m hauling out every decoration we own and re-appreciating it. I’m planning to make my husband’s favourite 1980s appetiser for tree decorating this afternoon: Ham & Cheese Puffs. (Even that name makes me laugh because it’s so 80s). Here they are — what do you think?

My friends, I’ve collected nutcrackers for 25 years and there’s a special reason why. It’s because my life was in the toilet.

I had literally imploded everything in my world through a combination of stupidity, passion, a thoroughly broken heart, a cowardly man and my own immaturity. And pride. And love.

True story.

But I had a girlfriend who appeared to be a lot like Olivia Newton John at the beginning of Grease—kind of perfect and shiny. I was more like Olivia at the end, or at least that’s how it all appeared to the world about the two of us.

Anyway, this beautiful friend collected nutcrackers.

I felt like if I could somehow emulate some part of her life, I could be a shiny Olivia Newton John too. I’m laughing at my young self, but honestly…I bought a nutcracker.

Fast forward a few years.

Life gave me some lucky breaks after all that misery. I married an officer and a gentleman, immigrated to Australia from Canada, had two beautiful kids…and collected a lot more nutcrackers.

Then I just started to like them. I loved how our little boys loved them, too.

Every year when we bring them out we make each other happy.

The skateboarding teens who slept over last night walked into the living room at 11pm after feasting on nachos and collectively said wow.

Now I’m heading way down memory lane, but the lesson for myself is this.

I’m proud of how far I’ve come.

I don’t hate my past and I’m not ashamed of it. I love the young woman who made all those big mistakes. She wore her heart on her sleeve, and was a champion for trying, failing, trying, learning. She held her head up and kept working at a job when every man around her fell apart like a baby. She did the only thing you can ever do—she kept going.

My sweet Olivia Newton John friend (the nutcracker inspirer!) is still a friend, 30 years later.

And my beautiful family has our own nutcrackers.

We’re doing okay. I’m doing okay. I’ve learned so much and come so far.

And as for you and yours, I hope you’re okay, too. I hope you can do the little fix from my book: if life is crappy right now, lob something really good back at it. It can be a tiny thing—anything you have control over—to make yourself feel a little better. And please, keep going.

Whew! Time to make breakfast for all those teens.

Happy Sunday, and I really truly am sending all of you love.

Catherine x

PS.

• Thanks for listening! I feel like we’ve had coffee together this morning at my kitchen table. Oh, look…where there are TWO MORE nutcrackers! Ha!

The thing we lost recently...

So here’s a weird true story for you with a metaphor for life…

We moved into our family home 14 years ago, and the owners had a double door between two bedrooms that locked with a special key. Our two young sons wanted their own rooms, but often would play together with those double doors open between their rooms.

That key was the only way to keep the doors closed, and with two young kids, we guarded it with our lives.

What if we lost the key?

What if the boys were playing with it, locking each other in and out and they lost the special key?

Fast forward 14 years to yesterday, when we were replacing the carpet on that side of the house. We needed to open the doors between the boys’ rooms, which had been locked since they became teens.

But we couldn’t find the key.

It wasn’t in the special key spot we’d used for years (a hidden mug on a shelf). Frantic texts to the boys yielded a no from both of them. My husband tried a zillion different allen keys, with no luck.

The worst had happened. After worrying we’d lose the key for 14 years, we finally lost the KEY. We’d have to remove the doors from the hinges to get the carpet installed, and then…

My husband googled ‘round key with ridges double doors’ and found that Bunnings carries THOUSANDS of them.

For $3.

In fact, we must have walked by walls of those keys every Saturday for 14 years when we were at the hardware store.

Yep, it’s a metaphor for life.

Most of the things we worry about never happen. All that time is lost.

And even if we do actually lose the key, sometimes it is laughably easy to just FIGURE IT OUT.

If you’re worrying about something today, is there a chance that maybe it isn’t such a big worry after all? Maybe it’ll be easy. Maybe the solution will pop up before you have to rip doors off their hinges.

Maybe this time, it will be a simple fix with no downside.

I hope so! You deserve every good thing, especially this year when life has been hard.

Happy Friday.

Love Catherine x

PS.

If you’re in Sydney and you need to replace carpets, you may want to get a quote from the guys who helped me this week. The price was almost 40% less than the exact same carpet installed from a provider in my upper north shore suburb. What?! Email me for info — happy to help you!

And because everyone loves a good before & after…(my older son, the one whose day job is law school and hobby is becoming a BBQ pit master, spilled a tray of meat and juice on this carpet six months ago. That’s why it looks SO BAD.)

Before…

After!

It’s hard to take a photo of carpet that shows the colour properly. It’s actually lighter than it looks here…but so much better!

"I'll figure it out."

Hello & happy Sunday.

Well, here’s some irony for you…I’ve spent the last hour in tears trying to write a blog post telling all of you guys that one of my favourite phrases ever is this:

First, let me tell you why I love this idea so much. (Then I’ll tell you why I’ve been crying.)

“I’ll figure it out” is a little mantra I whisper to myself all the time. When I don’t know where the next client is coming from in my business, “I’ll figure it out.” When I’m not sure what to do (if anything) to help a child with a broken heart, “I’ll figure it out.”

When I’m sad or scared or lonely, when I worry that COVID means I’ll never get back to Canada to see my mum, when I don’t know what the future holds for authors and who will buy books during a pandemic…when I worry about all of it, I whisper to myself: “I’ll figure it out.”

Try it. It helps every time. You can whisper, “I’ll figure it out” and I promise you’ll feel a little better about your challenges.

Honestly, it works.

Except for computers. This is where we get to the part about me crying this morning. (I’m laughing now at how dumb I am, you guys, but here it is…)

I’ll figure it out does NOT work for my stupid computer. When there is an automatic system upgrade, and suddenly it has become 10,000 times harder to snap a photo of my beautiful Aussie native flowers on my kitchen table and quickly make it smaller so it loads faster in a blog post I am sending to you on a Sunday morning — and it NO LONGER WORKS because of the new computer upgrade — then, my friends…

I WILL NOT FIGURE IT OUT.

Because I hate technology. Because it makes me want to tantrum. Because it literally makes me cry and want to throw my laptop in the pool that is almost warm enough to swim in now in our Aussie springtime.

So instead, I did the next best thing: I cried. I drank coffee. I made my long-suffering husband’s eyes roll back into his head as he tried to google and fix this thing that used to be so easy to do before the computer upgrade. (IT IS NOT AN UPGRADE IF IT MAKES MY LIFE WORSE, BILL GATES. JUST LETTING YOU KNOW.)

Oh my lord, I am now laughing at myself and crying all at the same time. Literally, laugh-cry. Grrrrr, agh!

Thanks for letting me be honest about my not-so-perfect life.

I hope this photo didn’t take too long to load for you today, and that you’re able to read this and find a little inspiration.

I hope you start to tell yourself, “I’ll figure it out.”

Now I have to go and actually try to figure it out. (Thank goodness for my husband. I appreciate him so much when it comes to tech. Honestly, he’s a gem.)

Enjoy your Sunday.

Love, Catherine x

PS.

• The Aussie native flowers were a gift from a beautiful young couple last weekend when we hosted a dinner for my husband’s team at work. They’ve lasted so well! If you’re overseas, I thought you might like a peek—our native flowers are so unusual and so gorgeous. Wish you were all here to have coffee (while I cry about tech) and see them! Let’s believe that one day this virus won’t stop us from visiting the people we love. I truly hope you and yours are coping. Sending love.

Simple gifts from the heart.

A new friend came over a few weeks ago to pick up her teen after a sleepover, and this is what she brought: a fragrant bunch of rosemary tied with brown string.

I ran a vase of water, placed the rosemary on the kitchen table. Every time I walked by, I bent down to inhale her kindness, her garden.

It was a special gift.

This year, I’m trying to remember the little things, the simple things.

• Sharing leaves from my kaffir lime tree for other people’s curries.

• Gifting extra copies of my latest book to a women’s shelter to add to their holiday packs.

• Making chicken noodle soup for a son recovering from surgery…even when I know he might prefer a chicken burger and chips.

Simple gifts from the heart are ours to give any time.

They don’t cost a lot but they feel like gold. This holiday season, I’m going to try to give more good cheer, more thoughtfulness, more hope, more change. For some new-but-not-yet-friends, I’m going to give a little piece of me…

If you have a second to think about it today, consider what you have in your hands and home that you might want to give from the heart.

Some of you paint (I know you do). Some of you bake beautifully. Some of you organise and teach classes. These are all beautiful gifts to share — a voucher for your online course, a gift card, a wrapped cake, a herb bouquet.

We’ve got this holiday season. We can do it simply, with so much love.

Enjoy your Friday. I hope you have a relaxing weekend, with lots of time to sip hot drinks and dream.

Love Catherine x

PS.

I have two fabulous friends with two businesses I’d love to share today. Both women are vibrant, talented and so much fun to be around. Ready to meet them? (These are friends, not #ads…women who I know you’ll love. I wish all of us here at Love Our Age could sit down and have a big, noisy morning tea together. I know you’d like each other!)

• Jules Van Mil at Style For Life has fabulous and practical styling tips for women. Her latest online class, The Secrets of Casual Elegance, happens on Nov 28 (Canada & America) and Nov 29 (Australia). Jules is in Australia.

• Colleen Kavanaugh is here at Your Life, Styled — her new biz that helps us get organised and find calm & joy. Colleen is in America. Her instagram is so inspiring!

Celebration Salad...Hearty & Healthy!

It’s Celebration Sunday around here. My husband’s team from work will arrive here this afternoon, and I’ve been baking and cooking. In our weird 2020, some of his team haven’t ever met face-to-face, so we’re looking forward to a fun afternoon and evening.

Can I share one of my favourite salads with you?

It’s hearty, healthy, and perfect for vegetarians (or vegans, if you use vegan mayo). It’s also perfect with smoked pulled pork, which is what my oldest son is making for our main. This year, while in law school, he fell into the hobby of being a pit-master, so we’re into all things American BBQ! (And speaking of America, did you tear up a little when you thought of Dr Biden as the new First Lady? And Kamala Harris as the first female VP?)

Okay, let me share this salad before I run around terrorising my family with cleaning up before our guests arrive!

Not quite sure how I’ll wake up the five teens who were skateboarding in the garage until 2:30am, but I’m going to try!

Corn Quinoa Salad

• Steam 6 cobs of corn, cool, and slice off kernels.

• Cook 1 cup quinoa and cool (this will yield 2 cups)

Chop the following:

• 3 cucumbers (for us here in Australia, Lebanese cucumbers and overseas…maybe 1 English cucumber?)

• 3 tomatoes, de-seeded, or a punnet of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

• 1/2 bunch of fresh dill

• 1/2 bunch Italian parsley

• 1 red onion

Make the dressing. This is embarrassing because it’s so easy. Are you ready?

• Mix 1 cup mayo with 1 tablespoon of soya sauce.

Mix everything together and serve.

My friends, you will thank me. This Corn Quinoa salad is healthy, filling, keeps for around 3 days in your fridge, transports well, and looks like you’ve made a big effort.

It’s delicious.

Enjoy your Sunday. I’m thinking of you!

Catherine x

PS.

• A couple of years ago, I bought this beautiful large bowl with Christmas money from my mum. I wanted a salad bowl that I could use and think of her. And I do — every time I use it. Here’s one from Wheel and Barrow that’s similar and on sale, but I think mine is a little prettier. There may be more to choose from in store, Aussies. This one in gold is pretty. And this one is lovely, too.

How I Comfort Myself

Hello, my friends.

It’s Friday morning in Sydney, and—remarkably—I have the house all to myself. One teen is at school, our older son is at his new part-time job in a city law office, my husband is in the city for work…and I’m here in the very quiet home office writing to you.

Covid has meant that the house has been full 24/7, and what used to be a quiet workspace for me on my own has turned into a ‘family office’ of sorts. It’s been great, but also the peace is nice today. I’ve lit an orange-blossom candle and poured myself a big glass of water.

Let’s talk about how we give ourselves some comfort, okay?

For a very long time, and this is embarrassing to admit, I didn’t really understand that feelings were for feeling. I was so quick to run from them or try to wrangle them into something resembling happiness so I could feel ‘safe’.

This looked a lot like:

• Buying Cadbury Fruit & Nut bars and stashing them in the fridge.

• Talking obsessively to my ever-patient husband, who is the wisest person I know and gives the BEST advice on everything. (Yes, the whole world agrees with me on this point. If you know him, you know! People queue up for his advice and always have.)

• In my head, saying mean things to myself about not being faster, smarter, better.

And then one day I realised I had to learn to comfort myself. Since this is fairly new for me, and I’ve only been at it a few years, I thought I’d share my Comfort List with you.

Maybe my list will help inspire you to create a list of your own.

1. I make myself a coffee. (I keep decaf on hand, too, for any time of day)

2. Light a candle, or as many candles as I can. Pretty light always makes me feel better.

3. Weird one (learned from my DOG! Ha!) — I literally shake it off. If I have a yucky conversation or feel awful about something, I’ve learned to actually stand in place and shake everything…get that negativity out of my body physically. I jump up and down, shake my arms, run in place, probably look like a maniac but TRY THIS. I mean really do it: shake it off. It works. It helps so quickly and is way more effective than thinking.

4. Listen to a song I love. (Remember, even if you don’t have Spotify you can listen to any song on Youtube. Google it and feel better.)

5. Go on a rampage of appreciation from The 10 Minute Fix.

So curious to hear what you do to comfort yourself! What am I missing? What do you know that I don’t? Tell me, if you have time. I love learning.

Enjoy your day,

Catherine x

PS. Furry summer slippers…in Australia it’s time for them! Aren’t my jade ones pretty? They’re from Target. Link here if you’re curious. Not an #ad, just for fun. Oh, and here are some on Amazon.

Hello, I'm ageing. (And I'm okay)

Happy Halloween if you celebrate. We did a lot for two little munchkins who came to our door last night, but it was fun. Oh Corona, will you just give it a rest?? I think we’re all ready to be finished with you.

But today, drinking coffee in my pjs, I’m thinking about my face.

Can we talk about how I’m looking older? Can I tell you about my choices (which may be different from yours…and that’s okay.)

For me, all the delicious hormones of youth are gone now, and I’m not replacing them. I’m not botoxing. My hair is grey. My skin is a little thinner.

But my heart — my heart is beautiful.

And I’m guessing yours is, too.

Here’s the thing: do you care that my face is getting older? Do you mind that I have a huge teacher-frown-wrinkle on my forehead that shows I’ve listened and concentrated most of my life? Does it bother you that my skin isn’t snapping back to it, that I have age freckles, that all my parts that used to live up north are sliding a little southward?

No, you don’t. I’m sure you don’t.

I’m sure you love my wisdom and my friendship, my recipes and my cheerleading, my insistence that you can age and have fun, be yourself, grow older with grace and focus and energy.

Here’s what I think: I think it’s still worthwhile and important to scrub up and look lovely at every age. I’m all for pretty and FUN and enjoying our lives because, truly, we are all so lucky—despite the ‘hard’ that we all have.

But worrying about all the surface of me that I cannot control is not what I want to do.

I want to spend my last half loving my age. However many more years I get, I want to be comfortable and SHINE LIKE I AM.

If you guys have read The 10 Minute Fix you know that I like the work of Mel Robbins, an American coach, lawyer and speaker. She wrote this and I wanted to share (you can find her at melrobbins.com).

She’s right.

In my life, I feel proud of who I’ve become…and the people who matter to me really don’t mind one bit that I’m looking older. (If you’re one of the many beautiful strangers here who haven’t had coffee with me at my kitchen table — do you mind that I’m well and truly 54, and very unlike Nicole Kidman’s 53? Didn’t think so.)

Oh, yes, sometimes there’s this little voice in my head that says I have to convince people that I’ve still “got it” whatever IT is. But the truth talks a lot louder than that.

Truth is: we are here right now. We’re lucky for every day that adds a fine line to our faces. And I’m not going to spend one single moment worrying about whether this age, my age, is less beautiful than the last.

Let’s live it up, and love our age together…whatever that looks like for me and for you.

Catherine x

PS.

• Hello to all the new people this week! You’re so welcome here in my little corner of the internet.

• Like my sunnies?? Oh you guys, I’m starting to feel like a micro-influencer when I tell you where I got this and that…and honestly no one has asked me about them but I think they’re cute. Now I’m laughing at myself!! If you want to know, I bought them at H&M for $12 (current season). Similar here on amazon.

3 Minutes for Neck Relief...

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday in Australia :)

Welcome to all the new people here at the Love Our Age blog. If you found me via my new book, The 10 Minute Fix, I’m excited to have you here. I hope you’re enjoying the book so far. I got a beautiful message from a reader this week about Chapter 64: “Let People Remember You.”

“That chapter reminded me of how much I used love and wear yellow, too! It also made me think of Mum, how she loved the colour blue, roast chicken, the constellation “Orion’s Belt,” apple crisp...the list could go on and on.”

— Melanie in Canada

How amazing is it that one tiny book can help us remember the people we love?

If you’re new, you need to know that I blog twice a week, Friday and Sunday mornings in Australia, with goodies that are fun and worthwhile. So…on to today.

How’s your posture going? Mine is pretty terrible.

It’s been another busy writing and teaching week for me, with a lot of time in front of my laptop… Ouch! My upper back and neck are feeling stiff. So I did a little search last night and my favourite teacher online is Adriene, who has an incredible YouTube channel called Yoga With Adriene. She’s lovely…take a look!

This is one of her older videos and I absolutely love it.

Here’s why:

• You’ll get neck relief in under 3 minutes.

• Anyone can do this (you could probably do it now sitting in your office chair)

• The video is charming and whimsical — that flowered headband! It’s just…nice somehow.

• The music is sweet and old fashioned, so different from what daily life is dishing up at the moment.

Click here to watch or on the image below. I hope you find it useful!

Enjoy your Friday,

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Lately I’ve been cheering myself up with (silly, right?) nail polish! I had light blue nails this week and now I’ve changed to black. Hello, Halloween. Not an #ad, but you can find cute, inexpensive nail polish in Australia here. My favourite is this brand, Sally Hansen Insta-Dry. Go on, reach for a little Instant Happiness! Why not?

We know this, don't we?

On this rainy Sunday that feels like winter has returned to Sydney, I’ve been thinking about icebergs and shampoo.

We got up early, made toasted sausage sandwiches on sourdough rolls with hash browns for the skateboarding teens who slept over, then walked the dog in the drizzle.

And while I was in the shower after all of that, I thought about a simple fix that always makes me feel better: the smell of shampoo and conditioner.

To me, shampoo smells like hope.

It means — I’m going to give this thing another shot, scrub up and head back out there. It means — the day could be good (or even great, or better than I expected). It’s a small bit of hope in a bottle: the smell of your own fresh, clean hair or the smell of a child’s hair after the bath. Isn’t that scent a gift?

Because for all of us the icebergs exist.

Most of what is going on in our lives lies beneath the parts of ourselves we share. Think about social media, and all that perfection (the crop, the filter, the angles). Think about the last conversation you had with a friend and what you didn’t reveal.

Whether or not we do it online or do it in real life, it’s easy to fall into the trap of Being What We Think The World Expects.

But here’s the thing: we can be who we are. Right this second, in our own internal worlds: we can be all of it, the iceberg and the shampoo. Today, we can let our shoulders drop and be imperfect.

Be the one who has a hard time when she tries to change herself.

The one who still criticises, or overeats, or over-drinks. The one who meant to start working out three months ago and has done it twice. The one who said the wrong thing and didn’t get the project finished (or even started).

You are loved right now, like you are: imperfect and trying. So am I.

Yes, yes, you can do better. We all can, and we will keep on trying. But for today — hugs to you where you are.

The iceberg is real, but so is the shampoo. Fresh starts are here for all of us.

Sending you rainy day best wishes today.

Love, Catherine x

PS.

• No judgement at all, but if over-drinking is a thing you’re thinking about coming into the holidays, my incredible cousin at The Bubble Hour podcast has written a helpful book called The Unpickled Holiday Survival Guide. Today it’s on super-sale at amazon for $7! You can find it here.

• And hey, it’s Jacaranda season soon. My picture book, Jacaranda Snow, is available online everywhere and in bookshops Australia-wide. Free delivery worldwide on Book Depository!

A dress should make you feel happy, right?

A long, long time ago I owned a charcoal grey overall dress made of the softest wool cotton blend. It had a pencil skirt, like this one, with a split in the back for easy walking and I wore it with a black turtleneck and boots all winter.

I loved that dress. I shudder to think of the size of it because, truly, had I kept it, it definitely wouldn’t fit me now! I was very thin at the time from disappointment and heartbreak.

But still, wandering into BigW to buy books last week (did you know BigW is the biggest book retailer in Australia, and does home delivery?), I saw this similar dress and bought it on the spot.

Can’t wait to wear it in summer with or without a T. The straps are wide and cover a bra (total bonus) and it’s super cute and stretchy.

It reminded me of myself — my previous self — and I loved that girl with all her foibles and mistakes, her fears and her hardworking brain. Despite everything she was and did, she was pretty darn amazing. Now, from an older and wiser and stronger place, I wanted to show young Catherine some solidarity.

If you need a pick-me-up, something fun and new, maybe it’s time for a dress you love. If you like the look of this one, you can get yours here. I found a couple of similar ones in Canada (this one and this one) and America.

Sometimes, you know, clothes should be FUN. And they should be about memories and making ourselves happy.

Have I brightened up your day?

Have I inspired you to find and re-buy an outfit you used to love, in a size that fits you now — just because it makes you HAPPY? (A jumpsuit, white boots, a velvet skirt, some bootleg jeans? What was ‘your outfit’ when you were younger?)

I hope so. Because life is so very short, my friends, and why are we here if we’re not making the most of it?

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Oooooh, I also did a little bit of winter clearance shopping and ordered this dress! It’s absolutely lovely, with an almost pleated flared skirt and will look amazing with boots next winter. Such a deal at the moment — not sure if they ship overseas? The plum colour is so pretty and the knit-plus-flare skirt makes it super flattering (not clingy). True to size. (40% off right now with code TAF40). I packed mine in tissue and will open it up next July. Voila! A treat next winter!

• Note: this is not a sponsored post or an #ad. Just sharing some favourite dresses with you.

Do overs, and why I need one.

Happy Sunday, everyone.

Today, a very quick tribute to this beautiful country…

I walked into a shopping mall in Sydney and on the way to the ladies’ room found this on the wall.

Reset! Take a moment to relax and just breathe.

The sign got me thinking — first I swelled up with pride because Australia is amazing, and how wonderful is this sign in a shopping mall? I mean…how thoughtful. The wall could have been blank, millions of people over the years could have just walked by, but instead, someone had the idea to use a WALL to HELP PEOPLE.

Australia, you’re cheeky and fun and also inspiring.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to reset. Maybe to do-over. To take off the things we no longer need as if we’re shedding a huge hot jacket on a climb up a hill. I watched a favourite Instagrammer, Mel Robbins, talk about it this week.

• What should I shed?

• What could I try to do over?

• Is it time for a reset?

Today I’m sitting with these questions, and I wonder if they might also be helpful for you. I don’t have any answers for us, but often I find the questions are the best place to start.

Rest, relax and enjoy your day. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in fifty years of living, we can actually find a way to do-over a lot of things (once we know what needs doing)!

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Fun stuff…I did some early Christmas shopping in the Amazon Prime sale days this past week, I got my favourite OPI nail polish for my own Christmas stocking. Love this colour!

• In case you missed it, I wrote about nail polish and mum life here.

Dear Readers, Thank You.

Hello, beautiful friends!

Today, I want to send you a kitchen dance…

If you have a little time, this one is from ME to YOU.

I’m so grateful you’re here with me, and I’m thankful that you find the blog fun.

I love that you “take me the way I am.”

Click here to listen… (it’s so worth it! Just 2 mins…a flashback to 2007!)

Enjoy your day,

Catherine x

PS.

• And since I have some fun Ukulele followers, here is the Ukulele music for free :)

• The beautiful artist is Ingrid Michaelson. (Photo credit: star105.com)

...and we made magic at home!

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary…and last night, we made magic at home.

One son was hiking with a 25kg pack and the other was at the skate park with his crew, good teens that we feed and let sleepover on the regular who have their own labelled toothbrushes here. (Teen tip: love their friends. Really love them. It’s so important!) We knew we’d be in for evening pick-ups, so we decided to make a magical anniversary celebration at home.

And it was beautiful.

I asked my husband to hang the lights. It took 15 minutes of us grumbling at each other as we untangled them but … WORTH IT.

And because I’d rather cook for us than sit in a restaurant, I made his favourite (simple) meal.

• A cheese platter (first, not last…I know, I know, but this is what we like.) Burrata and the most delicious aged cheddar from Harris Farm.

• Crab cakes! They’re my husband’s favourite and so very easy to make. Let me know if you want the recipe? Takes 10 minutes and two tins of crab meat. I crazy-poured that sauce on the side by mistake but they still look delicious.

Then I panfried two pieces of trout, which we like better than salmon, and roasted asparagus in olive oil for ten minutes in a hot oven. We ate two (whoops!) Lindt chocolate bars for dessert with fresh blueberries.

In between, we talked about important things, and eventually I got cold so I slid on fuzzy pyjama bottoms with my dress.

And that is what you can do when you make magic at home.

Oh, my friends, we’ve been lucky to weather it all so far. And though you might be imagining ease and glamour and beauty and fun — that is not the real story. It’s just what you’re seeing in the photo of this magical night.

There’s been love, and effort, fights and forgiveness, trying again, years of talking, give, take and struggle, money issues, unemployment, health scares and huge fear and worries about all of it.

We’re all the same in our hearts. Life is 50-50 for everyone. Me and you.

But if you have a chance to make a magical night at home, I urge you to give it a try. If you’re COVID-struggling right now, it’s beautiful and inexpensive. You can use what you have to make what you love. Light a hundred tea lights on your table — make a simple meal you enjoy.

And if you’re doing well right now, a magical night at home can be so much fun! Just try it for FUN. Surprise someone: a partner, a friend. Start in a dress and end up wearing your PJ bottoms underneath when it gets cold, and talk until the stars come out.

Life is for living.

Let’s all remember that, no matter where we are on the road to home.

Love, Catherine x

PS.

• My freshwater pearl earrings are a treat from Zjoosh. You can find them here.