Bliss and Mayhem

  Image via Pinterest   I am my biggest critic. I am also my biggest supporter. Funny how it works, these interesting minds of humans. I had the one of the worst experiences happen a couple of years ago. It taught me perspective, humility, thought and taking stock. It also highlighted to me how we all go on and on and on  and on about bullshit really. Insignificant stuff, that doesn’t  really matter in the big scheme of it all. I’ve also this year had some really big highs and really big lows. I lost two very special people in my life in a tragic motorbike accident early in the year . The grief has been overwhelming. Time has not healed this – my normal day is not normal anymore and I think about them every single day. But Motherly Guilt . Motherly Guilt gets me every time. I really don’t care what other people think of me. I’m proud of the person that I am, proud of the way I conduct myself and focus on my bubble; which are my children and my man. They are the most important t

   If you're a regular reader on my blog, you would know for sure how much I love travelling to Bali. We have been visiting this beautiful island for the last 6 years and honestly I can't get enough of the place.  When I first visited Bali, like with all new places I was a bit wary when it came to food. Where I ate, what we ate. We ate in more "westernised" establishments and thus paid "western" prices for the luxury. I think I lived on club sandwiches for a few days!  But as we kept coming back, each trip, we started trying different places. We spoke to locals as well as fellow "frequent flyers" and over time received fabulous recommendations of where to eat and what to try.  When in Bali, we eat Balinese food. So now, 90% of where we eat during our trips are local Warungs (local kitchens, little local restaurants). The Indonesian cuisine is so vibrant, fresh and full or flavour and you'd be crazy to not at least try the Balinese food whe

 With every returning trip from Bali, I come back with fresh tips and information which may be especially handy for a first time traveller to the Island of the Gods. It can be daunting visiting somewhere new, so here are some of my tips when heading over to Bali on a holiday:               Money When arriving to Bali you need $35 US each for your Visa on Arrival (VOA ) { This is if you are travelling on an Australian Passport }. The US rate conversion with AUS is pretty crap at the moment but we just change this at Melbourne Airport. We also change about $100 AUD over the Rupiah at the airport which with the current rate is about 900,000 RP to get us through the first day with drinks and something to eat when we get to Bali. ATM’s If you are going to use ATM’s in Bali, remember to contact your bank to let them know that you will be using your card overseas (in particular mention that you will be in Indonesia) Over the last few weeks the ATM’s in Bali have gone through a

   The last three weeks have been mentally and physically tiring. We have slogged through our kitchen renovations and have now come to the pointy end of it all with splash-back tiles, flooring and bench-tops left to complete. Working full time and then staying up till well past midnight every night has been exhausting! But no pain, no gain they say and my goodness the reward speaks for itself!    Behold! 90% finished Kitchen! Steve has a "big" birthday coming up and I really wanted to celebrate it with him in style. So what better place to do that than our favourite place to visit, Bali.  There truly is something about the place that has captivated me. All around me when I'm there, I am surrounded by culture, tradition, beauty, history - every time I visit a little piece of me stays there. {it's probably one of the reasons I keep wanted to come back} I won't go all " Eat,Pray, Love" on you though. As the first thing I love to do when I land in Ba

    This kitchen renovation has been in the making { well, in our minds at least} ever since we moved in to our home 7 years ago. There has been a many discussion, debates, ideas thrown around and I can assure you a zillion times where it all seemed too hard, too much and I had resolved to the fact that it would never happen.  The thing about my husband, is that he is pretty handy. About 90% of all of our renovations have been done solely by him - which in effect has made me assume that doing this stuff is easy,  because he makes it look easy.  I can assure you though - in the last fortnight I have seen how bloody hard, tiring, draining and complicated it really is. We have so far done everything with this kitchen reno ourselves bar the electrics and gas plumbing. Both of us still working our day jobs during the days and then working till past midnight every evening in the house.  We are exhausted! and over TakeAway food!!! But the end is near, so I wanted to share with you our p

 It’s been quite an eventful week here at the house of McLean’s. I mean, it always is really – we love things happening around the home and you never know when you come visit, what changes would have happened around the home. See, we’re 7 years into our house renovations. YES I KNOW! I’m hearing what you’re saying “7 YEARS?” but with all good things {as well as budget, timing and doing it ourselves} I like to remind myself that all good things come to those that wait. Well, I call BS on that. We’re quite frankly a bit  tired of living on a building site constantly with out weekends filled up with work needed to be done. So we’ve grabbed the bull by the horns and thrown ourselves into the last hoorah of the major work that needs to be completed. The Kitchen  Just because I turned a year older over the weekend – {yes, happy birthday to me!} that by no means meant time to stop and smell the roses. Mind you, I had the most glorious birthday guys, lot’s of love was sent my way, flowers,

  Now I understand that every season serves its purpose, with the whole rejuvenating the earth and shit, but if you follow me on Instagram, you’d know by my praises for sunshine, pictures of Ugg Boots and wishing for Bali balmy sunset nights, that warm days are my thing and when the sun has slowly started to bestow its loving heat on my face during the day, I become a happy content lady. The other week, I attended the Empowering Women Conference in Melbourne . I had the most fabulous day; my inspired bucket was over-flowing by the generosity of the beautiful women that spoke. I came back home feeling all warm and fuzzy. The rest of this year was going to be full of “fist pump” kind of moments. Then Monday came. The whole day, I could feel those little twinges of anxiety creeping its fucked up head again. Juggling doing my work on this day, I was wrestling at my desk with tightness in my chest, dizziness, tears and I seriously felt like I was dying. All this was going on, while ans