Hello Spring, it's nearly Autumn...

Today in Sydney: so much rain. There’s flooding in New South Wales, and I hope you’re safe and dry. We woke up to State Emergency Services evacuation warning texts for some areas, and we live in a particularly rainy suburb but thankfully our area of Sydney is still okay. If you’re in warning zones in New South Wales, I hope you’re safe and I’m thinking of you.

On this side of the world, autumn, and on the other side there’s spring.

I live in two places in my mind and heart — that’s the life of an immigrant. My birthday is in spring and fall (beginning of May), Christmas happens in winter and summer. I always think we can choose to feel strange about this or good…experiencing both, living both, and knowing what the other side feels like.

Mangoes at Christmas. Christmas snowfall. Either way can feel like magic.

It helps me to remember a little tip I learned — that happiness is 50-50. I used to want to be happy all the time, but the older I get, the more I believe this is true. Fifty percent happy, fifty percent other is do-able, and (as I always tell myself) it’s okay to walk through the low side and know that the good feelings are coming back.

Whether it’s family or our dreams, finances or opportunities, even health or sickness…I know that life rolls on in peaks and troughs and everything feels better weathered together.

Happy Sunday, my friends. Enjoy your Spring in northern climates, and stay safe and dry Down Under.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• No news yet about how to help people in flooded areas of NSW — I hope you’re keeping safe.

• Fun thing — water lilies are going in my pool, my friends. Aren’t they pretty for winter? I got mine at IKEA.

• Super useful — the best Lululemon dupes for workout leggings are here. Really lovely! I want the snakeskin ones because…why not live a little? My favourite workout tip is this: the louder the music, the more fun I have and the harder I work. Happy Sunday!

The Best Dessert.

Hello, my friends. I woke up this morning to a beautiful heavy rain, and it made me think of all things baking.

If you know me in real life, you know I absolutely love to bake, and making desserts is a close second. A few weeks ago I opened my treasured handwritten recipe book and found a classic dessert I’ve made for decades.

Chocolate Parthenons. I have no idea where the name came from and all I can tell you is that this dessert contains all the good stuff: butter, eggs, flour, sugar, chocolate chips and walnuts.

If you’re looking for something vegan, try this favourite recipe for raw brownie bites. But if you want delectable and delicious and old fashioned, Chocolate Parthenons are for you.

Ingredients (makes 6):

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup plain flour

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1/4 cup melted butter

• 1 tablespoon vanilla

• (optional) 1 tablespoon brewed coffee (the liquid!) or cognac or other flavouring

• 1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

• 1 cup chopped walnuts

• Package of filo pastry (you’ll use less than 1/2, that’s all…)

• Preheat your oven to 200C or 400F.

• Mix all the ingredients — beaten egg, melted butter, flour, vanilla, chocolate chips, chopped walnuts.

• Then melt some extra butter for the filo pastry sheets. Maybe around 1/4 cup? And here’s the fun part.

• First, cut the sheet of pastry in half, brush with melted butter and place one layer on top of the other, like a crisscross or letter X. Brush that with butter, too. (Or you can drizzle and spread with clean hands…easier)

• Then place gently in a muffin tin.

Keep it simple and no need for perfection. Try not to break through the pastry. This is what you’re aiming for…

Just fill it up with about 1/6 of the mixture, and pinch the top to close it. You’ll have extra bits on top, sticking up sort of merrily.

Place in a 200C oven (400F) for 8 minutes (fan forced). That’s it! You want the mixture to be melted and delicious, but not too solid.

Sorry—this photo isn’t the prettiest but Chocolate Parthenons are absolutely delicious. It’s really easy at the end of a dinner party to pop them in the oven and serve them warm. A tip: I usually make them in the afternoon, cover and pop in the fridge, then place the tin on the counter to get to room temperature before baking.

Perfect for a rainy Sunday night dinner dessert. You’re welcome!

Enjoy your weekend, everyone.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Other delicious recipes from me at Love Our Age: my favourite rosemary olive oil yogurt cake. I make this one whenever I’m worried.

• Hello everyone new—thanks for joining me every Sunday. My aim is to uplift, inspire and have a little fun. Cx

Lonely. Hopeful. Beautiful art.

Hello Sunday and hello everyone, and a big welcome to all the new people! (A reminder if you’re new: I’m Catherine Greer, author of The 10 Minute Fix, and you’ve signed up for this weekly little newsletter of happiness. Thank you! I’m glad you’re here with us.)

Can I introduce you to the most evocative, brilliant illustrator I’ve seen recently? Norwegian artist Lisa Aisato is definitely someone we all need to know about. Her beautiful paintings transport me right into the heart of how I feel. This one is about Loneliness. There are so many others on her Instagram page — images of loyalty, joy and connection.

My friends, do you remember this feeling from your childhood?

You can see all of Lisa’s work here.

This week was a strange one: my beautiful mum got her Covid vaccine in Canada, I worked on my new novel — the first one for adults — and I’m pretty sure you’re going to love it, I started re-reading Marcus Zusac’s The Book Thief and wow, it’s just as wonderful the second time around. I hurt my wrist and made Bill Granger’s easy Chick Pea Stew for a girlfriend lunch. (We can have friends over in Australia, and I think you guys know that Covid-life is simpler here.)

I felt a little lonely, and questioned everything.

That was me. How about you?

Are you waiting for this?

Sending you so much hope today, and lightness and joy. I’m turning my attention toward all the beauty and goodness I can find this weekend. I hope you do the same.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Bill Granger’s Chick Pea stew is actually vegan — hallelujah, as vegans can be tricky to have over but I seem to love a lot of them :) Recipe is here and photo doesn’t do it justice! It’s really pretty in person.

• I make a lot of recipes from Bill’s Open Kitchen cookbook and it’s great, though published in 2005.

• Missing everyone and everything. Wish I could have you ALL over for Chick Pea Stew and then sit with endless pots of tea and cups of coffee and slice after slice of chocolate cake. xox

• And for Sydney locals…my adult son (also a cellist) is performing next Sunday evening at Mosman Art Gallery with the Seraphim Strings Trio, plus a guest pianist. Tickets are here. I’ll be there and I’d love to meet you!

Posture check in...

Hi everyone. Checking in with a favourite topic that is so easy to ignore…

How’s your posture going?

Mine’s been pretty terrible for years — I have forward head thrust — so I’ve been working on it and I’m really pleased to tell you that it’s getting better.

As a writer, I spend way too much time hunched over a computer (while crossing my legs under my desk, which makes my posture even worse). Couple that with poor upper body strength and being in boarding school from age fifteen without my mother around to say, “Stand up straight!” and there you have it: less than stellar posture.

That was me. But there’s hope.

I learned this year that exercises and upper body weights really do work if you actually do one thing. TRY. Like if you go out to your garage for the weight workout and you literally pick up heavier weights than are comfy to pick up, and then you work until your face is red and you look all horrible and you sweat and you wish the whole time that you were eating chocolate and reading a really good novel…

Go figure.

That method works better.

Just so you believe me…here I am, really trying at weights. Those are six kilos each, my friends, and they are heavy. I am about to lift them over my head while listening to hits from the ‘80s.

Anyway, today I’d love to share my latest posture exercise with you in case you want to work on your upper back and neck (and possibly forward head thrust) too.

Ready? You need a pillow case and I know you’ve got one.

Here’s the exercise set on Instagram from Dr Caleb Burgess, a Physical Therapist and Strength Coach.

This one feels ahhhhh-mazing…the good kind of sore and tingly as you activate muscles that normally don’t get much of a workout.

Dr Burgess’ Banded T Pull that follows his pillowcase exercise is also great, and I basically do this anytime—without the band. The instagram link will show you all four exercises if you swipe through. I haven’t tried the one with the ball, but all the others are easy and feel so good, even without the gym equipment.

You’re welcome!

I’m often a quick fix kinda girl, and I love these easy exercises because I can do them with a real pillowcase, band and gym equipment or just by pretending to use those things.

Mostly I pretend. Voila. Instant posture training, right where we are.

Enjoy your Sunday, and please know I’m sending lots of good vibes your way.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Another winner for forward head thrust from Dr Burgess is here.

• New people, thanks for joining me this week! Love having you here in my little corner of the internet garden. (If you’re wondering why you’re receiving this email, you either signed up and found me via my latest book, The 10 Minute Fix, or signed up at my author website or at LoveOurAge.com)

Hello, Beautiful Day.

Hi everyone. Question for us this morning.

What if this day was completely neutral?

What if anything could happen, and we could simply make it mean whatever we want it to mean?

I’ve been told I’m optimistic, that I’m sometimes irritatingly positive, but the alternative just never seems like a good idea to me. If I can choose my thoughts, then mostly I want to choose some good ones.

Even during these tough times, I believe that every day arrives neutral and ends neutral, too. We get to shape our days to some extent, and no matter what happens, we can think about our lives however we choose to.

Sometimes it’s good to zoom out and get some perspective, right? This week, I drew a little chart while I had a big talk with my husband. It looked like the future for us:

This is our plan, if we’re lucky with health and family. Yours might be different, of course, and we all want to live our lives in a way that’s meaningful and true.

For us, we’ll continue to work as long as possible. We both enjoy working — we find it stimulating and interesting and we both love being on the go. We hope to invest in being involved grandparents — that matters to us. Our boys and our family have been the heartbeat of our lives together, and our family is the best thing we’ve ever built. And do you see our very unpopular point of view with that little question mark…we don’t care much if we travel? Really, we just don’t care.

Here’s the thing: when you draw out your life in however many columns you have left, attitude becomes everything.

No one knows what the future will hold, but when we take a bird’s eye view of the best case scenario of the years we may have left, it’s really easy to get clear on what we value.

Right now more than ever, the days are long but the years are short. Covid’s been rough, with a few hidden gifts inside like more time getting to know ourselves, or loving our families, or making our homes feel more like “home.” Right now we’re all caught up in the daily grind and thoughts of “will this ever end”? But I believe it’s also really important to pull focus, like they do when they shoot movies, to back up our Life Camera a bit so we get a look at the full picture.

Then we can decide a few things.

We can choose how to think. We can decide what we want to happen, and take steps toward that if we can….come what may.

That’s the question I’m trying to ask myself right now. And hello, beautiful decades (if I get you). What will I do with you to make the biggest impact I can with — as poet Mary Oliver says — “my one wild and precious life”?

Sending some good weekend vibes your way. I hope you’re doing okay.

Love, Catherine x

PS.

• Texas is close to my heart. I spent a lot of time there in my 20s with my snowbird Canadian parents. Here’s how we can help during the storms.

• Read Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Summer Day”. (Thank you, America and Americans, for sharing your amazing poets with the world.)

• My beautiful friend, Tara, a lovely Texan-turned-Aussie, gave me the little aqua notebook. You can find it here.

How I Fell In Love (Again)

Hi friends. (Hi new friends…so glad you found us here at LoveOurAge and I’m so glad you enjoyed my book, The 10 Minute Fix. xo)

It’s Valentine’s Day, so there’s a lot of love-stuff floating in the air. For me, this was a hard week, a week where I had to teach myself how to fall in love again with a LOT of things. Does this ever happen to you—when you’re so over a situation (hello, Covid) or even just over yourself and your own circular thoughts and loving anything is the last thing on your mind?

That was me this week. I was over it and done. Here are all the ways I needed to fall in love again.

• Family love — I had a moment this week where I was running down a track to pursue the next big thing, then stopped and realised…wait, I still have a 16 year old at home who needs me, and a home and family and they need me, too. While forward momentum and doing new things is the key to my own happiness, I wondered if maybe the time to press go and run ahead is not now, not yet. Maybe I need to fall in love with where I am, and not miss these last few years of family in a big rush of self-actualisation and chasing the next accomplishment.

• Slow love — during a dog walk, I decided to let Holly meander and not rush her. I realised that I am always hurrying, and I asked myself the hard question, “When was the last time you actually enjoyed yourself, Catherine?” I race through so many moments.

And now I’ll ask you the same question: when was the last time you truly enjoyed yourself? We don’t slow down enough…

• Home love — this is a big one for me. I don’t know about you, but when I feel stretched too far, like a tiny bit of butter spread across a long baguette, I need to come back and notice my own home. It’s so simple, but I put on music, wipe the counters, tidy up, tuck in the sheets, mop the floor. My head and heart feel better when I make my space feel more like home.

If you’re needing a little encouragement today, try dishing up some love. We can give it to others, yes, but also to ourselves and to our own little nests, however grand or humble they may be.

Enjoy your weekend,

Catherine x

PS.

• Can I share something grown up and lovely on Valentine’s Day? I’m not an influencer but I have to tell you about this. First my sister, Dar, bought one, then she bought my mum one, and when I saw it here in Australia at Costco, I was all in. It’s brilliant, even on timber floors (make sure yours are sealed). If you clean your own house like I do, then this is for you…a steam mop.

I got mine at Costco for $99…worth every dollar, even though there’s a cord. You use this tiny bit of plain water to steam your floor clean, then throw the mop head in the wash. No detergents, no chemicals and my floor is the cleanest it’s been in forever — plus it’s dry straight away because of that steam. Here it is on amazon.com for $49USD and here in Canada for $79CAD and here online in Australia (but it’s $139, so try Costco if you can). A clean floor? That’s love too.

Pssst....

Hi, friends. It’s the weekend and I’m doing crazy stuff…as in, I’m stretching out of my shell.

I don’t know if you feel the same, but I’m sooooo tired of the current reality — Covid, illness, making do around the world, waiting for a solution, all of that.

I’m not psychologically stuck — still moving forward — but I do feel like Life might be handing us a big black bunker and asking us to step inside, and today I’m saying NO, THANK YOU. Nope. I’m choosing some better thoughts.

I’m getting risky in my own mind. I’m deciding that it’s time to act on some things, to make a move forward, to step OUT creatively.

Maybe I’m doing it in reaction to all the physical Covid restrictions (which we follow around here). My brain, my mind, my thoughts want to get a whole lot bigger.

And YOU? How are you? Really, how are you, in case nobody has asked you today? How are your thoughts and do you need a little wake up call to turn your incredible brain toward something new?

I do.

This is my favourite line from American poet, Amy David.

Yes, I do.

I want to go make some mistakes. For me, it’s the only way I grow.

If you want to grow bigger and make some mistakes too, I’m over here cheering for you. I hope you enjoy your weekend, and find a way to stretch a little.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• I’m trying to do something new and fun (for me) — will let you know how it goes if it goes!

• Welcome to all the new people this week. I appreciate you!

• Anyone up for making the most delicious salad on the planet? It’s my Fresh Corn & Quinoa Salad and it’s so healthy you won’t regret it.

I'm Working On This...

Hey, Happy Sunday. Welcome to you if you’re new…there are so many of you this week! I’m guessing you’ve signed up for my weekly emails after reading The 10 Minute Fix. I’m honestly happy you’re here and I hope I can offer something that uplifts and inspires you today.

Right now this is my Sunday morning view: a rearranged lounge room after the Christmas tree was put away, and I always feel like moving furniture gives me a fresh new start.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all of us around the world — Covid, Covid, go away — and I’m trying to find any kind of silver lining. For me, it’s this: I’m learning to make the most of my home.

Here’s the disclaimer: we are so very lucky here in Australia, and I wish I could have you ALL over for coffee and cinnamon buns right now because our Covid situation is really good, our government has been wise, it’s summer and we are better than just okay. I watch the news and I know it’s easier for us, way easier.

And yet, the gift of Covid is this: we are all noticing our own homes. Covid has made me think about all the things I can do for free, with just a little effort, to make our nest a whole lot nicer.

• Change the sheets more often.

• Put away what’s on my countertop in the bathroom and kitchen.

• Sweep the tiles at the front door and wipe the door down, so it’s clean.

• Faux flowers when I can’t have real…I know, I know, am I an old lady now? But these lilies above are so realistic. I’ll link below.

• A cup of tea at night in a china cup I love.

Yes, the simple things. Little fixes to make our homes more “home” and prettier, or more functional, or just feel like a nicer space to be.

Truth is, we can choose to do this, right? Truth also is…it doesn’t even necessarily take longer, or make more work for us. Because here’s the thing: we can spend time wishing life were different, or we can spend that time making the best of it.

I read something this week that stopped me in my tracks. When that happens, I know I’ve found a lesson I need to learn.

Peace. It’s elusive right now during crazy Covid times, but it’s there, waiting for us.

I hope you enjoy your weekend around your home, and I’m thinking of you, spread around this world…sprinkled in Canada and Australia, America and England, India and Germany, and on and on.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Those lilies are here, and they’re super convincing in real life. You can order online.

• Tip for faux flowers: I have three different bunches, and I only keep them on display a short while. Then I store them in a vase in a tall cupboard so I never get tired of them. And of course, when I can, it’s so lovely to buy fresh.

• Also this little tip: any green thing from outside, or any wintery branch, can look pretty and it’s free for us to enjoy. All we need to do is take time and notice, and bring the outside in.

"Oh, that's not for me..."

Well, hello friends. I woke up to a beautiful sunny Sunday and I’m so excited about that. I hope there’s something peaceful and pretty for you to look at in your world right now. Is there anything prettier than sunshine or snow? Starlight, twilight, summer days or winter…I look for the beauty.

That’s why we keep our Christmas tree up for ages. We all love it (I taught the kids — ha! sorry future-partners….my boys will want the tree up for months…and by the way, would you like to inherit 12,000,000 nutcrackers???)

Yesterday it was time to take down the tree, and this is how I do it: I wrap every ornament separately in coloured tissue paper, co-ordinated with each lovely decoration, and store them in a big tub. Then when we decorate the tree next year, we “open” every ornament and often make a little surprised comment about how much we love this one or that one.

From here, I can feel you doing two things:

1. Agreeing with me — you do something similar! So fun!

2. Gritting your teeth with the entire pain-in-the-buttness of this approach.

And I am who I am.

And you are who you are.

Do we have to be the same for us to love and respect each other? No. But it seems like right now we give our opinion and give it in a way that can make people feel cancelled. That’s the new term, right? We get ‘corrected’ or get ‘cancelled.’ As an author, I get this a lot. In public. And what people say stands there forever. It’s the price of being a creative and sharing your work with the world.

I wonder if we could try this instead:

It’s such a lovely thing to say, or do. Truly it is — because it leaves some room in the world for everyone else.

Book you don’t like? That’s not for me.

Person you don’t like? She’s not for me.

Decision someone else made that you don’t like? No, that’s not for me.

I know life is not as simple as this when you look at the big issues, like justice and freedom and equality and lawfulness. I know, absolutely, that there are things in the world where we should stand up, correct others, vote, march, fight.

But I also know there are so many times where we can use kindness instead. And “That’s not for me” really is the truth.

It’s not for me, but it might be for someone else.

Hope your Christmas decorations are safely down, the room is rearranged, and there’s a little something beautiful you can find in your world today. It’s tough out there, and we need to keep our spirits up.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Did everyone watch the inauguration? Amanda Gorman was absolutely stunning!

• If you need a little healthy-ish sweet today, for the new people here…you can try these little no-bake brownie bites. GF, DF, V.

• Hey, if you’d like to leave me a lovely review or a quick star-rating for The 10 Minute Fix on amazon…sending big hugs your way. Thank you.

Sharks! And being brave...

Well, after a super rainy December in Sydney we’ve finally got our summer. Right this minute, the laundry’s drying outside, there are pool towels everywhere, teens have been enjoying swimming at our place and I’ve been loving the warm weather and sunshine.

I know: we are so lucky. Covid during winter isn’t great—I know this because we did our autumn-into-winter when it all started in 2020. Summer does make Covid a lot easier to handle, and in Australia we’re fortunate with fewer people unwell and lighter restrictions on gatherings.

Wherever you are today, can I share a snippet of my world to make you feel a little better?

I’ve been thinking about bravery. For personal reasons that I’m not ready to share, I need a lot of bravery this year. Life is staring me right in the face like a smiling shark and it’s time for me to grow up (yet again) and do some hard things.

You guys, I am scared. I love comfort and success and celebration and ease. I love having fun and being fun for other people.

I don’t love swimming with sharks.

You want to know what I do when I have to grow (or grow up)? I pull out my thoughts and take a look at what I’m believing.

• If there’s FEAR, I need IDEAS.

• If there’s WORRY, I need PRACTICAL STEPS.

• If there’s SPINNING IN CIRCLES, I need a PLAN. (A plan that feels do-able, small steps, believable.)

I try to choose better thoughts as if a waiter’s walking by with several thoughts on a platter and I can take some new ones that will serve me better.

Today I read this and it helped.

Maybe it will help you, too.

I know the world is so hard right now for so many people. Yes, we’re lucky (infinitely lucky) in Australia because we’ve got summer and less Covid than so many other countries in the world. But here’s the truth: we all have our things. Remember this post? Nobody rides for free. It’s a good one, so if you’re new and you missed it, you might want to take a second to read it today.

All of us are in this together. We have right now—no guarantees of anything beyond that. Let’s go out there and try to make this weekend a good one…sharks, no sharks, or something in between.

Sending love (& loving all the new people who are here because of The 10 Minute Fix. Wow, I’m honoured that so many of you around the world are loving this book. I wrote it for us, so thank you! More friends! Yayyyyyy! You’re so welcome here every Sunday.)

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Okay, this made me laugh SO MUCH…see my Christmas swimmers above? That was one of my favourite presents. I was wearing that bikini last night when our 20-year old son walked in from his Brazilian Jujitsu class. He looked up and said, “Well THAT’S a stab in the eyeballs.” Seriously, I just about peed laughing. Do you think he’s had too many lovely young women in bikinis around this summer, and not a lot of 54-year-old mothers??? But body love means that I honour my own choices, and I’m choosing two-piece forever. You do you and I’ll do me! xo.

• Anyway, if you love my swimmers, you can order online and they’re such a great price. They have a real 1970s vibe, the fabric is thick and feels like terry towelling, and I love them. Not an #ad, but you can get yours here. Top & bottom sold separately.

Body Love

Hello there, beautiful person.

It’s been a big week — so please know I’m thinking of all of us with Covid, political unrest, vaccine news and just all the things that we can’t seem to control right now.

But…

Is it okay if we have a little talk about our bodies today? In a topsy-turvy world, sometimes it’s good to centre in on what we can take care of to make things a little better.

Let me tell you a story: I’ve always been wiggly and a mover. My childhood nickname was Squirmie, and I remember talking so much during mealtime that my plate was always mostly full when everyone else was finished because…hello, Fun! Even though I tried most things (volleyball, basketball, figure skating) I hated sports and I was terrible at anything with a ball, but I loved to walk for hours. Fast forward to adulthood, and I’ve always done the basics. I’ve been a runner, exercised, went to fitness classes, dance classes, women’s rugby, group training in the park, Zumba, and now training in our at-home garage gym—which is really just two mats, some weights and a couple of machines.

So I’ve put that exercise tick in the box, and about half of it was done grudgingly.

But this morning I slept in, and in that delicious well-slept and dreamy state I had a big realisation. I want to step outside my own body this year…and actually learn to love it.

The Year of Body Love.

Not health, not weight loss, not exercise, not doing something gruelling because it’s good for me. Nope. I’ve had a mindset shift. I want to take my own body by the hand and treat me better.

For me, what does that look like?

• I want to see moving my body as a privilege that I “get to do”.

• I want to discover what I might feel like if I were truly strong.

• I want to work on my posture.

• I want to move more every day — long and slow, outside whenever possible. I want to breathe more fresh air, sit less and definitely stretch my arms above my head so much more often than I do now.

(Check yourself: how many times a day do you stretch your arms above your head? For me, not enough.)

Body Love isn’t about another resolution to do better because we’ve been bad at taking care of ourselves. It comes from a different place.

Like this:

I’m intrigued by this, and a little excited to try.

I hope you have a relaxing, peaceful Sunday…and that this CRAZY first week of the new year held some joy.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Hello, new people!

• I’m in the middle of reading Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library and I know wny the world is loving it. Have you read it yet? It’s giving me the most amazing dreams about my own ‘sliding doors’ life and what could have been…

Happy New Everything

Well, Happy New Year to you!

Since so many of you are new here, you’re getting this little newsletter from me (Catherine Greer) because you enjoyed my book, The 10 Minute Fix (available here in America, Canada and Australia) and you subscribed to my blog at Love Our Age.

This is a sneaky hello because I’m officially on Christmas break, but I wanted to let you know I’ll inspire you with weekly posts every Sunday in 2021. The rest of the time, I’ll be working on new books, running my copywriting business and teaching an online writing course or two.

Deep breath!

But for today, if you’re at all like I am, which is up to your neck in promises you’ve made to yourself about how disciplined you’ll be in 2021, then it’s time to pause the overwhelm.

Instead, let’s focus on this simple fix, my friends:

Take a moment to think about it. What’s the best you can hope for?? It’s good for us to dream.

Wishing you blue skies (or blue nail polish, if that’s not possible) and so much joy over the simple things in 2021.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• New — I’ll write to you once a week (not twice) in 2021! I need to get some books written!

• Check out all my previous posts at Love Our Age.

I'm dreaming of a white (sandy beach) Christmas...

My friends, we can’t have beaches this year it seems, but we have our dreams.

It’s the year of finding new ways to celebrate.

Doing a lot with a little.

Making a list of tiny joys.

I hope you and yours are okay, that you find a way to talk or zoom or be together, that you have some happy memories of people you’ve lost this year. I hope Christmas isn’t lonely, that the lights still make you remember all the magic of the season.

I wish you falling snow or sunshine, seafood or turkey, all the simple treats you love.

Love. Lots of it, over and over.

My family of four will celebrate together as I take a blogging break from now until the New Year. I appreciate you being here, and I’m grateful that you spend your time reading and thinking right along with me, as real or virtual friends.

Have a happy, safe, fun holiday. I’ll see you on the other side in 2021.

Love Catherine x

PS. A couple of Christmas traditions I never miss:

• Watching Miracle on 34th Street, filmed in 1947—a classic and way better than It’s a Wonderful Life. Here’s the old-fashioned trailer for the film!

• And this: Christmas Camp Out. Every year for the past two decades, my husband and the boys camp out in front of the tree on December 23. For years it involved treats and hot chocolate — with new matching Christmas pjs. This year, it will probably involve pjs, politics and scotch. They grow up, the pjs get bigger, but some traditions remain the same. We always read a Christmas story written in 1892. It’s SO FUNNY and charming, and could have been written five years ago. It’s called Christmas Every Day by American writer Willian Dean Howells. (Here it is, read by actors.) You can download the story here.

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.