Porsche Panamera - what do you think?

I've seen two 4 door Porsche's in past week (Panamera). Very stylish, but seems to take some of the coolness out of a Porsche.

What do you think?

Of course, if I was given one I wouldn't turn one down. Can you just see two baby seats in the back!

http://bit.ly/Pxsez

Dreaming of sun, sand and sipping cocktails

Vanuatu here we come!

After a crazily busy time for my husband and I, we finally booked a much needed holiday to Vanuatu in January and we can't wait. Time to catch up on some reading and getting some rest.

Considering consulting or freelancing?

It has been a very long time in between posts - sorry!

The last few months have been incredibly busy with my business stepping up a notch. It has been a challenging juggle attempting to fit around the kids, who are only in daycare two days a week. It has meant many late nights of working once the kids go to sleep and a few boring weekends, but these are the things you have to do if you want to run a business and have a good balance with kids.

While I am not actively looking for work, the work seems to be finding me at the moment. I guess a nice position to be in, but it is often hard to say no too.

But I have been lucky that I know so many wonderful professionals that I have been able to refer a lot of the work to that I can't take on.

For anyone considering marcoms or PR consulting or freelancing, there is an abundance of work out there and doesn't seem to be letting up.

It just shows how valuable your network of contacts are!

Another low life .............

This just infuriates me - a mother ........ actually she doesn't deserve the title of mother ......... a low life tried to sell her baby so she could buy a car. Well I guess at least the baby would hopefully find a better life, but very sad all the same! Only in the US.........

Back-seat Parenting

I had to share this funny, but very true article on back-seat parenting written by Mia Freedman in Sunday Life Magazine. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/backseat-parenting-20100705-zw5q.html

In Mia's words: "The best parents are the ones who don't have children. I was a perfect parent once. I knew exactly how kids and parents should behave and I shared my grand philosophies with anyone who was interested and many who were not .............. then I had babies and it all went to hell."

Nothing can quite prepare you for parenthood. We all have these grand ideals about what it will be like when we have kids and how kids are supposed to be. 

Throw out the text books I say! Every kids is different. I don't know many parents who have experienced parenthood the way they thought it was going to be before they had kids.

Some babies will quite happily sleep through 16 people singing happy birthday at the top of their lungs and in the noisiest Mexican restaurant in town (Master 3 was one of those!). Whereas others will make a huge fuss any time you want to sit down and have a bite to eat in a cafe or restaurant (Little Miss 1 is one of those). 

I was blessed with a first baby who slept well, we could take to restaurants, on holidays, etc and still feel relaxed. Then number two came along and it was the biggest shock to our systems - she was the complete opposite. She woke every 2-3 hours until she was 10 months old and she knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it.  

As Mia so wittingly discusses, as a parent you find yourselves doing things you always said you wouldn't like using the TV as a babysitter, using food as bribery, etc. Sometimes you have to do what you can to survive!

Having said all of this, parenthood is the best thing ever! I have two beautiful children who I love and adore. They make me laugh and there is nothing better than a cuddle from your children or hearing the words "I love you mummy." 

There will always be fantastic days, but there are also very difficult days where you just want to run away. We are only human! 

We have all looked at parents and made judgements. All I can say is unless you have experienced what it is like to have the ups and downs of parenthood, please try not to judge us! We try our best to do the best we can - well most of us anyway. But often it is not what the textbook says!

Australia's first female PM!

Interesting times in Australia this week with KRudd ousted out of power as Australia's leader, replaced with Australia's first female PM - Julia Gillard. I think the whole nation has been taken surprise as this wasn't the result of an election, rather a Labor party overthrow - and it came with little warning. One day KRudd was in power, then next Gillard.

Many are excited that a woman is finally running the country. This certainly is history in the making! What remains to be seen though once all the excitement has settled, is whether she is the right person to lead this country and whether she can keep Labor in power once election time comes around ........... which could be as early as August.

Rightly so, Gillard is keen to be elected by the Australian public to make it official - and it will be interesting to see if she does. There are of course many differing opinions across the country - I think that many are still in complete shock and not sure what to make of it all yet.

KRudd gave the most emotional speech of his life in his farewell to the Australian public. Whether you like or dislike him, you would have to have a heart of steel not to feel a little sorry for him. Not the way you want to lose your job!

Bitchy, sly and exciting - another series of Amazing Race is over!

Sad as it is I actually missed watching The Amazing Race this week. The series finale was last week with the gay brothers winning, with a few cunning ....... but smart moves in the final legs. I was secretly hoping the cowboys would win - so close but no cigar!

But the highlight had to be the scornful lesbians who couldn't move on from the fact that they were road blocked by the models. So rather than celebrating a great achievement of the "not so smart" models making third spot on the finishing line, the lesbians let the loose on the Miss South Carolina beauty queen. Boohoo life is not fair - c'mon move on ladies! It is not as if you could have won anyway.

But the real reason for this post is to use this as an excuse to share the beauty queen's ever so famous speech she made as Miss South Carolina a number of years ago, which continues to haunt her and will for the rest of her life.........and for good reason. Just in case you have never ever seen it - it is priceless. So enjoy!

Fate vs coincidence

There was a segment this morning on Sunrise about fate vs coincidence that got me thinking. They picked the worst example ever to demonstrate fate - even Mel and Kochie had to ask what fate was involved. Some guy met some girl ...... blah, blah, blah. After he proposed to her he got a phone call from her relatives in the US - they had never called that number before and didn't know he was proposing. Pathetic example of fate. So I wanted to share my fate story as I feel it warrants sharing ........

I never really believed in fate until something happened to me a number of years ago. I went on a trip to the US for work and spent a weekend in San Francisco. In the lead up to my trip I had been wanting to get in contact with one of my close friends who moved to New York from Australia a number of years beforehand to see if by chance he would be on the other side of the country, but I never got around to it. I hadn’t seen or spoken to him in years.

Once I arrived at San Francisco airport I was on my way to get a hire car, when there in front of me was a limo driver with a sign with someone’s name on it – and it was my friend’s name (but only with the first name as an initial). Normally there are heaps of drivers with names waiting for passengers but there was only ONE.

I went up to the driver and asked him what the passengers name was and he didn’t know but said the flight was coming from Salt Lake City. So I went on my way thinking it couldn’t be him.

When we were driving something was still eating away at me so I called my friend and got his voicemail so left a message. 15 minutes later I got a call and it was him in San Francisco airport …….. and our flights arrived at about the same time.  I was excited beyond belief - what are the chances!

We spent all weekend catching up on old times. It was the first time I truly believed in fate! And in case you were thinking ........ this is no love story! ;0) 

So what do you think - fate or a huge coincidence?

Will I ever find the gadget geek inside me?

So the new iPad launched in Australia this morning to a huge amount of hype and excitement. People cued outside the Apple stores in Sydney overnight to be one of the first in Australia to get their hands on one. 

Apple also launched its new store in Bondi Junction on the same morning - ambitious maybe, but from all accounts was a huge success.

I am an Apple fan by all accounts - proudly owning a MacBook, an iPhone, an iTouch and various iPods. It would be fantastic to own an iPad as well ......... but I just don't get why you need to queue in the freezing cold and lose precious sleep just to be the FIRST to have one, when you could wait until a decent hour and walk into JB Hi-Fi and get one in 5 minutes on the same day. Do they really think anyone else cares that they are one of the first to get a copy? 

Crazy I tell you ...... crazy! Maybe I haven't found the inner gadget geek in me yet ........ waiting to be unleashed perhaps? Hardly!

C'mon Blues - give us our dignity back!

Tonight begins another illustrious battle between the Blues and the Maroons, with the first of the State of Origin clashes set to be a very wet one in Sydney. Maroons have won the last four State of Origin's, so the Blues have to dig deep to try and regain their (and the rest of NSW's) dignity.

C'mon Blues - do us proud!