Giving thanks

It's Friday night and my OH has already checked in to see whether I will be joining him and the others downstairs so I cannot stay long. It is a fantastic day for many reasons.

1) It is my OH's b'day today and effectively he stopped work early so we could celebrate. My Mum also made us a cake which was a lovely surprise.

2) It is my birthday tomorrow and I have managed as part of Andy's b'day present to arrange for us to spend a night in a hotel with great food tomorrow night. Bring it on - a night as a couple ;-)

3) I went to the inaugural meeting of a new networking group for Mums and managed to find more people interested in my social media courses including businesses so work is really looking up.

I say us because tomorrow is a celebration and I will truly be middle aged, there's no hiding from it now. I don't mind as I have a great deal to be thankful for such as an amazing place to live (I can definitely recommend barn conversions); my daughter has received a place at the local school which is 500 yds from the front door; my work to have a street party for the Close I live in is coming together which will hopefully create more of a sense of community (yay!); my relatively new business idea definitely has wings and is attracting in customers which is fantastic; and I get to spend my birthday with people who really care about me; and many of my twitter and FB buddies have been out in force sending me wonderful, supportive and fun messages showing that I am part of wider community too.

So my wish for you my readers is that you too have a truly munificent weekend ;-)

Thankfulness

Don't know about you but I have always had many positive connotations about the old Timotei ad where a beautiful, innocent young woman with long blonde hair is prancing around nymph-like in a waterfall. It's as if anything is possible when you are in touch with your whole self. I saw this photo and chose it because it reminded me of that original advert.

This is a short post in which I am giving thanks. I feel so much genuine gratitude for many of the people in my life at the moment that I thought this was the best way to express it.

Thanks goes to my cousin who gave me a real break earlier this week. We were down in Bosham staying with her and her family and as ever nothing was too much trouble. She was not even fazed when 2 y/o did a poo in the pool which leaked in part. Best of all for me was having lots of adult company, eating good food and drinking wine, and being encouraged to help minimally in the preparation. It was just what I needed.

Yesterday went well. I met up with two wonderful co-active coaches in London to finalise some of the venue stuff around our conference on 14 May. It could not have been easier. We now do not have to pay a charge for the pub where we have reserved drinks for post-conference drinks and it is so beautiful, covered in window boxes currently filled with daffodils. Lunch will be available for all overlooking St Katherine's Dock and if it is sunny like yesterday there will be nothing that can be beat it. What is wonderful is that we have a record number of people coming to the event including some big names in the coaching field all of which is wonderfu

Next and probably most importantly, it looks like I have solved my limited company headache. My business is not at the stage where it makes sense to go for limited company status and yet I was being press ganged into it by a client. Fortunately the lovely Will Farnell also an ex-PwC colleague, has offered to act as an umbrella company so that I can do the work they are offering me in May. Woo hoo!! In the journey to this point I received advice and support from many other twitter buddies- too many to mention but you know who you are and I am grateful to you.

If that were not enough riches, I am also blessed by some of the friends that I have. It is my eldest's 4th b'day next weekend and I was dreading it because neither sets of parents can come and we have around 16 kids coming!!! Anyway one of my friends who is coming with her two offered to help out in any way that we needed. She happens to be very creative so is making the Princess for pin the tiara on the Princess, and her lovely husband who adores kids is coming to help out with the mad house.

In other words life is good, I feel incredibly blessed and thankful to all those who have helped me achieved this state and I hope that I in turn can do the same for others through my work and presence. Have a great weekend and if you want to share any thoughts on the topic please do so as I love to hear from you.

Thank God it's almost Friday

Inspired by Paula's post, I thought I would also put an entry into Sleep is for the weak's writing workshop. The theme that spoke to me was the one on thankfulness. Let me start by giving you some context.

This week has been mental. The weekend was taken up by a very important event, my husband's brother and partner got married. It was lots of fun and very creative - we had a tea dance where we learnt the cha cha and the jive whilst drinking Prosecco in china cups and eating lashings of cake. The wedding breakfast was served in the evening and it was the most authentic Indian curry I have had in a very long time, served in a brown cardboard box.

The newly weds then boarded a plan on Wednesday morning headed for a three week holiday in Japan before continuing on to New Zealand, which is where they plan to settle. We had spent two nights in London over the weekend, enjoyed a pre-wedding meal the night before and a brunch with immediate family on Sunday so I thought we had said our goodbyes. There was however an expectation to reconvene on Tuesday night for one last get together. In the end I sent my husband and the girls because I had a few hours to do an emergency rewrite of the workshop I was presenting the next day!

Wednesday for me was mad. I ran a cross-cultural mentoring workshop all day in London then whizzed back to Hitchin to grab the car. Then it was a drive to Newmarket to film a slot as part of the People's Panel for the Politics Show on Sunday so it was a late finish added to which I had had an insomnia attack on Tuesday night!

Today instead of a quiet day in the office catching up with calls and other stuff. We all had to get dressed and drive up to Staffordshire for a family funeral. The girls are only 3 and 2 so I stayed at a family member's house so one could nap and the other could play with all the princess stuff whilst the others attended the service. The wake was held in a pub and after three hours, the girls were getting bored so we made our excuses and left to make the great journey south and home.

What has kept me going this week? Through it all there has been my family. My husband is very good at keeping calm and reasoning stuff out and the girls just lighten the mood. The eldest was trying to explain that we could afford to go to New Zealand if we took all the money in her piggy bank, the huge bag of coppers she received from her Uncle before he left and various other bits of money that are lying around the house! They spent the afternoon charging around talking to the members of the family they knew at the wake spreading their sunshine wherever they went and impressing people with their confidence. My youngest is very attuned to my feelings and came up and demanded a cuddle today. I will always remember us singing versions of Row, Row and other such stuff with her on my knee in the midst of the wake. I just feel grateful to have such a wonderful immediate family who bring joy to me and others in their own particular ways.