Sweet & Bright

Hearts are full this time of year.

Yours. Mine.

I'm thinking it will be lovely to slide into a quiet Christmas. 

Here's my wish for every one of you, in Europe, the UK, Japan, India, the Netherlands, Canada, America, South Africa and more...

May the last few days of December -- that pause between all you did in 2017 and all your dreams for the new year -- be sweet. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Everything.

Love Catherine x

PS. Just keeping it real...Luther opened the front door in the middle of my 'photoshoot' with my 13 year old photographer-son and said, "HEY, TRYING TO WATER THE LAWN AROUND HERE!!!" Friends, meet Luther (& Holly). They say MERRY CHRISTMAS. 

And if you're curious, here's my Christmas in Australia last year. (White beaches and a pretty DIY tree!)

Almond Raspberry White Chocolate Cookies

Hi, friends!

A shout-out to two of my fabulous sisters today: Dar and Cookie (yep, it's a nickname!).

Dar smuggled several jars of homemade raspberry jam into Australia. It's probably illegal but she is a superior jam-maker. Think luscious Canadian raspberries, very little sugar, packed to the brim in a mason jar. And Cookie (of course!) gave me this recipe. 

We use Almond Raspberry White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies for one of our favourite Christmas traditions.

I made it up. And it's hilarious.

CHRISTMAS NINJAS.

On Christmas Eve, the four of us dress up in embarrassing matching outfits. The first year was Onesies. One year was Aussie flag boxer shorts, t-shirts and Christmas hats. And this year....well, this year is a surprise, in this package.

The boys open the ninja gift on Christmas Eve, then out we go in matching outfits to "ninja deliver" cookies.

The mission? Drop off cookies, ring the bell and run like...crazy. And never, ever get caught. 

We've had to scale walls, deal with dogs, commando-crawl across front gardens. And best of all, our Christmas Ninja tradition gave us the most hilarious dinner party story EVER. (But it's got lots of swear words in it, so I can't tell you unless you come over.)

You can see why kids love it. Right?

Feel free to steal the idea, moms-with-little-kids. I think it's the best holiday tradition I've ever created.

Almond Raspberry Shortbread Cookies

• 1 cup butter
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons plain flour
• raspberry jam
• white chocolate 

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in almond extract and flour. Roll into (1 inch / 2 cm) balls and place on cookie sheet. Make an indentation and fill with jam. Bake at 170 C fan-forced for 14 mins (Australia) or 350F for 12-16 mins (North America). Cool. Drizzle with melted white chocolate.

Then package up and be Ninjas. But only if you want to!

Sending you big hugs this Christmas.

Love, Catherine x

PS. We celebrated a major milestone this week...Ls to Ps. I love teenagers. I truly do. Can you see that big grin on Luke's face that spells FREEDOM? Ha! (And just for you, more fun recipes... best chocolate cake and best salad ever ...or take a peek at what I've been up to on Instagram.)

The Perfect (do nothing) Homemade Gift

Joy! Presents! Parties!

Sometimes during the holidays we need help, people.

Every week I try to give you something to make your world a little better. Today it's this: the Perfect Do Nothing 12 Minute Homemade Gift.

Easy! Healthy! Lovingly made! Delicious!

1. Buy natural almonds.

2. Preheat oven to 180 C fan-forced (Australia) or 350 F (Canada & America).

3. Roast for 8 - 12 minutes. Sprinkle with Himalayan pink salt (or any salt). Cool.

Serve at a party. Wrap up as a pretty gift. Perfect with bubbly and appetisers, or with fruit and coffee and dark chocolate as dessert. Amazing in every salad you make. These are ridiculously better than store-bought Roasted Almonds.

Happy holidays. You're soooo welcome!

Have fun this weekend (and be fun to live with!)

Love Catherine x

PS. Some weekend favourites for you:

• The most amazing pipe organ in Sydney Town Hall!

• Cathedral bells at St Mary's are here.

• My favourite Christmas animation with GORGEOUS music (3 mins), watch "Walking on Air" from The Snowman here.

How to love December

Does he look a little menacing to you? 

22 days, my friends. That's it. And let's face it, though we all love the holidays (I love Christmas!), the mental load of joy-making usually falls on women. 

What's mental load, you ask? Emma, the brilliant French cartoonist, explains it here. It's truly something to think about; click that link and take time to have a look. (I'm currently loving all things French, like my fabulous collaborator and friend, Helene Magisson!)

The solution?

A bit of this:

Sit down, lovely person. Sit down and take it all in.

Do what you can -- and rest as often as possible. 

Between the gingerbread houses and the school plays, end-of-school-year in Australia and the gift buying and wrapping, in between the dips and appetisers and toasting with bubbly, tree trimming and catch-ups, work life and friend life and family joy...

rest.

Inhale the beauty all around you this season.

Look in the eyes of the people you love. Absorb what they're saying. Be present for your crazy-wonderful friends. For your family.

Hold each sparkly moment in your fingers.

And rest.

Enjoy your first weekend in December. We are all so lucky to be here.

Love, Catherine

PS. Last year's gingerbread house photos are here -- let me know if you want my sister's incredible recipe! This weekend, I'm in the middle of these ones...

Guess Who Is Illustrating Jacaranda Snow?

French-Australian artist, Helene Magisson!

I'm beyond excited to tell you that Helene has agreed to illustrate JACARANDA SNOW, my first picture book.

Helene's work is so beautiful! Before I knew who my publisher had commissioned, I had already imagined Helene as the illustrator of my dreams...and you'll see why.

from Beauty and the Beast (New Frontier, 2017)

Helene understands beauty. She sees it everywhere, and so do I. She's the perfect artist to bring JACARANDA SNOW to life.

Her training is fascinating; Helene studied history of art at the Louvre combined with a bachelor of painting restoration, including medieval illumination. Please, if you have time, read this incredible article (in Helene's own words) about her love of art!

The Gardener...available on Helene's website

“I use only traditional techniques: hundreds of different brushes, extra-large papers with strange smells, and thousands of different water colours... so my art studio is always incredibly messy! I never use pure water colour. I mix 2 colours (sometimes 3), always ‘playing’ with the amount of pigments so that the layers are never completely plain and flat. I like when it vibrates. I work on a few layers first with a rough brush and add 2 or 3 layers with soft brushes to polish the final aspect.”

— Helene Magisson

Helene has several picture books available now. Her first book was a new interpretation of the classic story, The Velveteen Rabbit. Her latest book is Slowly, Slowly with T.M. Clark.

• Visit Helene's shop

• See her portfolio of work

• Read more about JACARANDA SNOW

I keep daydreaming about all the kids who will get the chance to enjoy Helene's gorgeous art, wrapped up in my beautiful story.

Enjoy your beautiful weekend, everyone. If you're in Sydney, it'll be filled with JACARANDA SNOW. And if you've taken any JACARANDA SNOW photos, I'd love to see them: catherine@catherinegreer.com.au

Catherine x

P.S. Here's sweet Miss A, the daughter of my gorgeous writer-friend Tara, and their jacaranda snow! Tara's an emerging novelist and her fabulous blog is here...enjoy!

<Photo credit: Tara Ray>

Playing Big and Playing Small

This week on The Practical Minimalists podcast I had a heart-to-heart with hosts Heather and Eryn. You'll love these two American women and their work. I promise! Click on the link above to check out their podcast. You can read about Heather and Eryn here and follow them here on Instagram.

We talked about playing big and playing small.

You guys, we'd need a world of coffees at my kitchen table to talk about this.

In your life and mine, why are so many people stuck on playing small? Where did it come from?

• Are we afraid of being criticised?

• Do we have imposter syndrome?

• Do women eat the lie that we should be small and quiet and agreeable? And not take up space?

On the podcast, we get real and honest about... 

• parenting fails

• hiding our light

• playing big

• starting where we are

• and JACARANDA SNOW, my new picture book about kids and flow and growth mindset.

Today I want to whisper in your ear what I said to Heather and Eryn, "We need you to be as big as possible. The world needs you to shine."

You can listen to our chat on the The Practical Minimalists podcast by clicking on this link, or you subscribe on iTunes. Heather and Eryn's show is about so much more than living a minimalist lifestyle! If you want a sneak peek of the writer-friend-vintage-collector I mention, Jules Van Mil, you can see her vintage jewellery here. Enjoy!

Love, Catherine x

P.S. The jacarandas are snowing in Sydney!! (Here's the story-behind-the-story!) For all you beautiful Canadians and Americans, this is a jacaranda tree. Sending big hugs to my talented photographer-friend, Doug Frost...and to all of you. 

<Photo credit: Douglas Frost photography>

Dear Unhappy Man (Who Crashed Our Girls' Lunch)

I'm sorry you were so unhappy when you rocked up to our table to say hello.

I'm sorry that you hate Instagram (because it's fake) and Millennials (because they check their phones so much) and probably even ME (because I am a happiness blogger and a fiction writer and an unashamed believer that Life Should Be Fun.)

I know we don't see eye to eye.

I know you wanted me to change my mind, and be incensed and denounce Instagram and dislike everyone under the age of 35.

But I don't.

All I did was remove myself as fast as politely possible from your company. Because here's the deal: we don't all like the same things, or live the same way, or want the same kind of life.

I want happiness and joy, so I spend my time (my life) seeking happiness and joy. 

I'm not sure what you want. Righteous anger? Less technology? Different millennials? Maybe what you really want is for everyone else to think like you.

I went away from you...happy! You stayed at that cafe table and were...angry!

That's perfectly fine. We both have the choice to see our world however we want.

Maybe I'm not right. Maybe you're not. As I love to remind myself (almost daily), "Catherine, you are not for everyone.” It's a lesson that takes a lot of maturity and wisdom to truly understand. 

The good news is this: we all find our tribe eventually...and I am a unicorn.

Choose your thoughts and create your world.

Sending hugs this weekend to everyone (even the grouchy guy!),

Catherine x

ps. I love Instagram -- to me, it's filled with our beauty and joy. Take a 'sticky beak' (Aussie rhyming slang for 'peek' at my beautiful, ordinary life here! I love seeing yours.

"I have saved this afternoon for you..."

Hello, friends.

Can I share something gorgeous with you?

It's T.S. Eliot's poem, "Portrait of a Lady."

Have you ever spent a melancholy afternoon "recalling things that other people have desired"? Have you ever had your "conversation slip...among carefully caught regrets"? Have you ever whispered, "I have saved this afternoon for you"?

So many people think they hate poetry, but I think this: they just didn't have a good English teacher to help them fall in love with words. 

Life without at least one good English teacher is a tragedy. 

It really is.

"Portrait of a Lady" is a bit tricky, but it's gorgeous. Remember? If you've never read it, you can try it here. (You don't have to understand every line to call it 'beautiful.')

And if your tastes run a little simpler, here's one for your weekend by American poet Robert Frost.

<Image source>

And here's my personal favourite, a stanza from Wallace Steven's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." The poem has 13 stanzas in total:

<Image source>

If you take a look here on Instagram (and in all my other kitchen photos), you'll see I have "Thirteen Ways" on the wall.

Beauty is everywhere, guys, just a click away. Any poem you love you can read right now. You can even google '50 Best Poems' and be inspired by what you find.

So there you have it -- some beauty for you today as I sit here sipping Earl Grey tea, thinking of you...in Australia, in Canada, in America.

Enjoy your weekend. Be fun to live with!

Catherine x

Talent

A story for you...

I saw this young construction worker at the Queen Victoria Building yesterday. (In Australia, they call themselves 'Tradies.') It was close to closing time, and he had come to one of the most beautiful, lavish, iconic buildings in Sydney to play this baby grand.

His drink from McDonald's (called 'Maccas' by all of us here) was plunked beside him; he had on heavy work boots and a construction jacket and he was playing the baby grand.

His music was stunning.

This young man has talent....of the real, heartbreaking kind.

I would have loved to hear his story: why he was there after work, whether he had a piano at home, how he'd learned to play so well.

Did he come every day?

Did his co-workers know about his gift?

But a group of teenagers came up and asked him to shove off. They told him they wanted a turn and proceeded to whack out a rendition of a thin and jazzy tune.

The tradie picked up his bag, took his Maccas' cup, and walked away. 

It made me think about talent: about who gets where and why. We only need to look at the explosion of beautiful photography brought on by iPhones to know that so many people have talent inside them. So many people are bringing beauty into the world.

So many people deserve to shine.

I believe beauty for its own sake is worth it -- whether we get recognised or not. The pianist-tradie may not get to play in a theatre like the State Theatre of New South Wales (below). He may always sneak in his daily practice on a baby grand in a glitzy shopping mall after work. But there he was, an encouragement to everyone: putting his beauty into the world.

Let's all do that, however and wherever we can.

Talent has its own way of getting out into the world, whether it's on a global stage or in a shopping centre, or even (quietly) in our own homes.

Have a beautiful weekend, everyone.

Be fun to live with!

Catherine x

ps. Want to hear the gorgeous Pianist Tradie? You can listen to him on my Instagram here or come to Sydney to the Queen Victoria Building...I bet he'll be there again. :)

The Lively Show

So. Much. Fun!

It was a big week -- that's why I'm sending you two blog posts (with love).

I had the chance to join podcaster Jess Lively on The Lively Show to talk about an online course Jess teaches, Flow With Intention Online. At it's heart, it's a class about optimism and flowing downstream rather than struggling up. (I've written about that idea here and here.)

Jess Lively is this amazing American world-traveller, podcaster and entrepreneur. She inspires and teaches, and she also generously donates funds to build schools for kids in developing countries with Pencils of Promise. She's interviewed so many of my heroes, like Liz Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic) and Brene Brown (author of Daring Greatly). Jess is very expansive in her thinking -- she loves science and some out-there stuff -- and I love that she's all about helping people live with more joy.

Click here to listen to me talk about my new book deal & Jess' online class...fun-spiration from us to you!

Happy weekend, everyone. 

Catherine x

PS. There are also many, many other fabulous interviews with Jess and a range of lovely people, celebrities, thought leaders and entrepreneurs at jesslively.com.

Jacaranda Snow

Have you ever been so excited that you're up at 4am?

Hello! That's me right now. I've had the biggest week, where -- honestly -- my dreams are coming true. What I want more than anything is to inspire you and light you up about yours. That's why I want to tell you about the picture book I've been working on since 2015...

JACARANDA SNOW is an optimism and flow book for kids. It shows kids that they're in charge of one thing, always: their thoughts.

By choosing their thoughts, kids can change their worlds. Better-feeing thoughts lead to better-feeling kids. Right? Right.

Now over to you. And your dreams...

You are beautiful, just as you are today. You are enough, right now, like this.

But maybe you're a flower with this tiny ant crawling across your petals. The ant has the power to drive you crazy. You can ignore it, swat it away, pretend there are no ants...but still: it's there. That's your dream, you know, the one you aren't telling anybody about? Because you're too old, or too young, or too unknown (or too famous?) or too serious or too tired or too much of a perfectionist to start??

That dream of yours is the ant, crawling around your brain, trying to remind you of this: I AM HERE! Little but mighty. Irritating, but busy!

Are you taking steps or waiting? Are you walking forward, or avoiding?

Let me gently say, making your own dreams come true is so worth it.

Dreams have a way of wanting to get OUT into the world. And I know this: if I can free mine at 50, you can free yours, too.

<My puppy eating the Wombat puppet that my publisher sent me. My book contract's on the table! Yay!>

Thanks for all your cheerleading of my journey! Thanks for being on my side!

Feel free to share your thoughts in the Comments or send me a message on Instagram.

Catherine x

PS. Want to celebrate with me? And help?! Pre-sales help a publisher see if people are interested in a book. To read a blurb and order JACARANDA SNOW, you can go here.

We'll post JACARANDA SNOW to you mid-2018, with love from Sydney! JACARANDA SNOW will be available online and in shops as well.

Heartbeats

When I get a chance to dance, I dance.

When I get a chance to smile, I do.

Time is marching, my beautiful friends. Be a little bold and pursue what you love. Inhale all the beauty you can find.

It's everywhere.

All around you.

Happy weekend, everyone. (Be fun to live with!)

Love, Catherine

P.S. Check out the Gratitude Project for more ideas.

Lovely, Easy Winter Soup

Hello from Sydney, where we're cuddling up!

Think fires, cozy pjs and winter flowers like these potted gerberas I found at Harris Farms last week. So pretty. Nearly a metre tall, two pots for $12. Incredible!

Lots of this has been going on:

And soup. Lots of soup!

In winter, we often eat soup for dinner. It makes the house smell like love. Are you with me?

Lemon Chicken Soup is favourite recipe from my sister in Saskatchewan (Canada). The secret? Fresh lemon juice. I love the flavour of freshly juiced lemons, so I use around half a cup.

Easy Lemon Chicken Soup

• 5 cups of chicken stock

• 1 cooked, diced chicken breast

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 1 cup of cooked rice

• 1 cup of milk (with 2 tablespoons of cornflour) or use milk + cream

• Sprinkle of Lemon Pepper seasoning

Heat and then simmer until soup has thickened.

Half of you are wintering with me in Australia, and about half of you call Canada and America home...so if you're heading into summer, you might want to check out this incredible Thai-inspired salad instead.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Be fun to live with!

Catherine x

Artolution

Guys, so excited to tell you that Max is back!

This time, he's painting with two Aboriginal communities in Australia. 

Max and the co-founder of Artolution, Joel Bergner, are staying with us next weekend for a mini-rest...and we can't wait! 

Curious about Max's story? Jonathan Fields has just featured him on The Good Life Project, a hugely popular American podcast.

Click here to listen.

Want to help take art to the world's children-in-need? You can donate here. 

Thanks, as always, for reading...and thanks for letting me share what I care about most. 

Catherine xx

PS. I've been doing a little tidying up of my website, with some new author photos and info. If you want to see my online home (actually, my REAL home, too ... check it out here!) Many thanks to my talented photographer and friend, @merilyn

Everybody Knows A Lady Like Jen

Here's Jen. She's a beautiful ninja.

I don't know her personally but she is far, far more than this short story: a few years ago, Jen rescued herself and her Littles. Then she got up and started a charity called the Beauty Bank.

Jen gives life's little luxuries to women in need. She takes the unused beauty items we ALL have lurking in our bathroom cupboards and wardrobes and packages them beautifully to give to our sisters.

Share, share, share our stuff

I don't need to give reasons for why we should help. We know.

Some of our sisters are worried about getting shoes on their kids' feet. Or they're trying to find a safe way to leave...so they are not exactly buying themselves scented soap or mascara or cute earrings. We have extra hidden in our drawers; we can bless the universe. You see how this works?

Find a box & fill it

You ready? It's not hard.

Get a box, walk to your bedroom / ensuite.

Put in all your unopened soaps, body wash, make-up samples, candles, jewellery, pre-loved but lovely scarves, belts, handbags etc (see full list here). Or throw a few new items in your cart when you're in the cosmetic aisle. Easy. Jen will make beauty packs for women in need.

Go to the post office (Cost: $10)

I know.

The queue.

But while you're there, think about this: you are a good egg. You are blessing the world. You are doing what you can for somebody who is scared or lost. She may be a stranger. She may live next door. (Or...she may even be you. If it's you and you're reading now, reach out. Take a baby step forward. Here's the number in New South Wales for domestic problems: 1800 65 64 63 and the website is here. People are ready to listen.)

BEAUTY BANK PO Box 991 Sutherland NSW 1499. (Postage costs $10.25 within 50km of Sydney for a box under 22 kilos)

Let's rescue some beautiful prisoners

A little kindness (body wash, mascara, scarf, earrings) goes such a long way when life is hard.

Can you see -- we're not giving soap, we're rescuing prisoners? We're dropping keys into their laps. 

Thank you, Easter chickadees

Thank you, Aussie girls. And for all you overseas readers, Dr Google will show you a charity in your own hometown that does the same thing. Please say you will.

Sending big hugs. I hope you pilfer all the mini chocolate Easter eggs you desire this weekend. 

Catherine xo

ps. Thank you for following my Happiness Blog. I hope you feel inspired to be yourself and love your world. If you like it, there's more here!

Happiness Is Complicated

Can we talk about happiness -- whether you mostly are, or aren't?

Take a look at this gum tree I saw in Melbourne. Blossoms, gum nuts. People walk by them all the time. Did you see the bee, lurking...or just the flowers?

That's exactly like happiness: FLOWERS!! With one unpredictable bee.

I don't know how you make yourself happy. For me, it works like this:

Some of you know I collaborated on a book, Choosing Happiness, way back when I was pregnant with Elijah, way before Gretchen Rubin made happiness a Thing. It was an incredible experience -- published worldwide, translated, still selling, the whole shebang -- and it got me thinking that I'd like to write my own book one day. So, ten years later, I went off and did it. Twice, so far. So. Much. Fun.

Writing makes me happy.

What does it for you? Do you know (yet)?

Getting creative will make you happier... 

Not because you will be famous.

Not because people will follow you, or think better of you.

Not because your work will change lives.

But just because, in the quiet of your own house, in your own space, you will have the pure joy of making something that's yours. I'm a cheerleader by nature and a champion for creativity, like my "friend" Liz Gilbert. Here's why. Because being uniquely, creatively you, writing or singing or making jewellery or starting a business or whatever you do, is worth it. It feels good. It will make you happy.

If not now, when?

Is there something stopping your creativity? Is it age, inexperience, embarrassment, procrastination, fear?

Here's the truth: all those worries are mostly noise, like an unpredictable bee.

x Catherine 

PS. For the most fun, creative Aussie photo, check out my Instagram today! Aussies are so fab -- we'll "have a crack at everything." Even this.

Hello, Melbourne!

I'm in sophisticated, bookish Melbourne! Such a treat. Let me show you a few of my favourite things...

Girls & ladies, the shopping. So good it sizzles.

My favourite chocolate shop Down Under, Koko Black (but sadly, it can't compare to Purdy's and Roger's in the Pacific Northwest of Canada. O, Canada! I love you so :)

This gorgeous dude at Hunt leather. Why have I seen so many rhinos today?? (The women working in this shop are smart & savvy. Loved them!!)

For fun, we need cocktails. Am I right?

And exploring a city with a soul mate who loves the same things you do? That's perfect.

Gorgeous architecture...up, down, all around.

And a not-so-subtle reminder to make the most of time...

In our friends' home in Hawthorne, the ivy meanders inside their studio to say Hello. It reminds me of a favourite quote from The Alchemist...

Raise a glass, give a kiss, be fun to live with this weekend, friends. I'm sending you love from Melbourne,

Catherine x

Mummyville: 5 Ways I Got It Wrong (& Right)

Oh, I could write a book on this one.

But for some reason, in nearly a year of blogging, I haven't written a single post on Parenting. Or a book, either. I think that's because I don't see myself as a Parent-er. I spent a good chunk of my 20s and early 30s as a high school English teacher. Then I became a copywriter.

At 34, Mummyville.

Here's my experience. (Yours may be different!)

Kids are beautiful, frustrating and not as fragile as we imagine. You love them; they gut you with equal parts worry and joy.

They are everything. They are everything that scares you and scars you and thrills you and stabs your heart a zillion times a minute like no adult ever could. American poet e.e. cummings wrote this about being in love, but to me it's about being a Mum:

<image source>

Carrying someone else's heart is heavy labour. Here's what I wish I'd known...

1. Your Littles are their own selves. With a life path that's got surprisingly little to do with you.

That's all. Understanding this truth is everything.

2. Sleep. I never got ANY with babies. And I was crazy.

Crazy. I cry to think of it now. If you know a mother who isn't sleeping, go to her house, take the baby from her arms, send her upstairs with a stiff gin and tonic and force her to sleep. Feed the baby pumped milk, formula, green smoothies, anything. Take it outside if it cries. Just HELP. (And do not ever, under any circumstance, say IF YOU WERE MORE RELAXED, YOUR BABY WOULD SLEEP MORE.)

Honestly, if you are one of the people who said this to me, I still haven't gotten over it. Sixteen years later.

3. You're not their Teacher or their Parent-er. You are their Mum.

Whoa, Lordy, I got this one wrong. I still do. I didn't know HOW to be a mum but I knew how to be a Teacher. So I taught. Proper names of flowers. Latin words. Poems in the playground (Blake and Keats, not nursery rhymes). And whether it was my exceptional parenting or who he was or what, I do not know, I took my oldest son to preschool at age four and thought the other kids were... this is putting it nicely... UNEDUCATED.

I was way way way too proud. And then one day, when he was 13 and truly fed up with me, my son said, "Just be my mother, okay?"

(Pause with me while I get a little teary.) While I was doing all this Teaching, I was also trying really really hard to do Perfect Parenting. But now I know: all they want is a mum. Not someone to foresee any future difficulty and prepare them for it, not someone to read them Julius Caesar when they are 12 so they'll be ready for high school, not someone to core every apple before they eat it. Not someone to guarantee that every adult will say, "Wow, you have really nice manners."

My advice (to you & me): ditch the Parenting. Be yourself. Your real self. Margarita drinker. Lazy on occasion. Overlooker of whether fingernails are too long or your kids are perfectly polite to adults. It's okay. It's probably better if you're this way. The worst thing that can happen is your kids will think you're human & imperfect.

Because we are. Human. Imperfect.

4. Schools matter and don't matter. (For Aussie mums)

Yes, education is important, and  here in Australia we talk about schools a lot. (For my overseas readers: many Aussies try to send their kids to private school. It costs a bomb.) From what I know when I was teaching in Canada in the 90s -- though it may have changed -- Aussie curriculum is about 2-3 years ahead. So any school here is tough for kids, and Mums wonder constantly if their kids are happy. But ask yourself these questions: who was your Grade 4 teacher? Do you think about Year 11 Biology much? How many friends do you still hang out with -- in real life -- from high school?

Then please, give yourself a shoulder massage and relax. It's all going to be okay, no matter what school you choose or can afford. Your child will forget about a lot of it. Just like you did.

5. For everybody (Including MUms): are you any fun? 

I've said this before, and it matters.

Get yourself a cup of tea or a glass of wine, and exhale. Take a few minutes to think about it. If you're not fun to live with right now, that means it's time to find yourself again.

It's terribly easy to lose yourself, especially in a family.

It's okay, my darling. Take baby steps. If you're in the middle of something crummy, think: what can I do to make this more fun? Do whatever it takes to get your fun self back.

You deserve to shine. 

Sending you hugs from rainy Sydney!

Catherine xo

Best Easy Chocolate Cake

Everybody needs this recipe, really.

You have all the ingredients in your pantry (except maybe the block of baking chocolate for the glaze). You can whip up this cake in one bowl. It tastes old-fashioned, fudgy and delicious.

It's fast, as in 5 minutes to make and 35 to bake.

You need a cake for a barbecue? This is the one. You need gluten and/or dairy free? This can be it. (see *note below)

Plus it has the benefit of being a conversation starter because it contains olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And coffee. Let's do it.

Best, Easy Chocolate Cake

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour

• 1 1/4 cups sugar

• 1/2 cup cocoa

• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

• 3 tsp vanilla essence

• 1 1/2 cups cooled coffee

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C, fan forced (170 conventional & around 325 F in Canada??)

Grease a 20 cm (8 inch) cake tin and dust with a little bit of cocoa. The size of the tin is important -- don't use a bigger tin or the cake will be too flat. It's a dense, fudgy cake.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Whisk. Make a well in the centre and add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, vanilla and coffee. Whisk until smooth.

Bake for...well, in my oven it's 35 minutes at 160 C, fan forced. Test for doneness in your own oven.

Delicious Chocolate Glaze

Melt and mix together:

• 150g dark chocolate 

• 125 g butter (or 150ml coconut cream if you're dairy-free)

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Important: let the glaze cool and harden slightly before you pour it over the cake.

*You can go dairy & gluten free if you use coconut cream for the glaze and gluten free flour for the cake.

Have a fun weekend, everybody.

I hope lots of unexpected joy comes your way!