So here's some more photos from Bali. We had such a great time, and saw so many things. It was quite a packed, busy holiday, but we still found time for massages, pedicures, manicures and cocktails.

Uluwatu temple right down the south point of the island is breathtakingly beautiful (and full of cheeky monkeys!).

The Balinese Cultural Centre is quite awe inspiring with its two magnificent statues of Balinese gods. This one below is Garuda.

This one is yet to be finished....

See, here's his arms, almost ready to be attached.

We got up early one morning to watch the sunrise on Sanur beach......

After the sun was up we had a delicious breakfast at a hotel right on the beach. Heaven!


The rice paddies up around Ubud are absolutely breathtaking. This photo unfortunately doesn't do them justice.

We saw a number of magnificent, ancient temples, set in luscious tropical grounds.

The Balinese bathe at this particular temple because it is said to wash away your problems.

We visited Kintami, an active volcano in the north of the island. It was a spectacular view and there are a number of restaurants to eat at and take in the view.

Just for fun, I've included a couple of photos of the main mode of transport in Bali - scooters. There are hundreds on the street at any one time, with up to four people on them. We saw a person on their scooter carrying huge bags of rice, two were carrying a ladder and another two were carrying a window pane!

These people in the image below soon took off and were hurtling down the freeway at 60km per hour!

We also took an elephant ride, went swimming, ate out every night, saw a couple of bands and did lots of shopping. The shops in Bali are many and varied, ranging from little stalls selling shell jewellery and designer t-shirt rip offs, to rather exclusive shops selling sophisticated resort ware or homewares.

I think that if you were building a magnificent brand new house, and wanted to fill it with asian antiques, curios and modern asian furniture, a trip to Bali would be worthwhile, even when you include the shipping expenses. You can get everything from giant stone buddha heads to beautiful mother of pearl photo frames.

Like any country, Bali has the good, the bad and the ugly. There appears to be a lot of poverty, and many people work incredibly hard just to eke out a living. But having said that, the Balinese people seem very content, and from what I saw, are incredibly gracious people with the biggest, warmest smiles I've ever seen.


If you are planning to go to Bali here are my tips -

1. take good walking shoes because the footpaths are treacherous or non-existent!

2. spoil yourself by taking in the sunset over the beach at Ku De Tah or the Oberoi at Seminyak, while sipping one of their delicious cocktails

3. watch the sunrise at the beach at Sanur

4. take Travelan tablets with every meal to avoid Bali Belly

5. book a hotel for a few days overlooking the rice paddies at Ubud.

Ok, I hope I haven't lost you with my travel log. My next post will be back to business as usual, I promise!

Bali bliss

I arrived home from Bali at 9.00am this morning, after a wonderful eight days in Bali. I had such a fabulous time visiting this fascinating country.


I haven't had much sleep, as we travelled all night, so it will be an early night for me, but I couldn't resist putting up some of the photos I took while I was away. I hope you enjoy them.

These last two photos are taken at one of the villas we stayed at (please excuse the wonkiness of the photos!). The bathroom was absolutely huge, and included a beautiful water feature. We had our own private pool, and because the weather was very hot and humid, it came in handy.

I'm looking forward to catching up with my blog friends over the next few days, but in the meantime, I've got some sleeping to do!

Best wishes,

Raising my glass

I have a dozen girlfriends coming over tomorrow night for drinks to help celebrate my birthday.

There will be plenty of food and cocktails.

Tonight I'm making frozen cosmopolitans, while the rest of the cocktails we'll make on the night - strawberry mojitos, sparkling limoncello slushies and mudslides. Yum!

Images 1 - 3 Taste 4 Oregon Live

I'll raise my glass to my special blog friends, who have given my year an extra sparkle.

Have a happy weekend!

Best wishes,

Excuse me while I jump up and down

Ok, slight deviation from theme here. But I'm so excited and I had to share it with you!

I've just found out that one of my favourite male actors - gorgeous Frenchman Guillaume Canet - is making an English-speaking movie! He stars alongside Keira Knightley and Australia's Sam Worthington in Last Night, the story of a married woman's temptation.

And who better to tempt her than the handsome Guillaume?

Oh I can't wait to hear him speak in English....I hope this movie comes to our shores soon.

Guillaume Canet, former husband of Diane Kruger, now partner of Oscar winner Marion Cottilard, is a big big star in France from what I understand. Wonder if this movie will make him a Hollywood star too?

Right, I'll calm down now.

Best wishes,

Happy Days

I'm not going to talk about decorating today. Today I wanted to share with you another part of my life. I hope you don't mind.


A few weeks ago I felt I had reached one of my lowest points ever. My son, who has only been at school for two and a half years, was suspended for the tenth time. Yet again I got a call at work to say 'please come and collect your son, we can't deal with him anymore today'. It was Monday morning. He was not to come back for the rest of the week. But this time it came with a new message "You may have to consider sending him to a new school or home schooling". And he only started at the school in February, after being asked to leave his last school.


By the time I left work and got to the school, my son had ran away, and I had to chase him through the streets to grab him. I then had to figure out how on earth I was going to care for him for the rest of the week, given I work full time.



My son, who can be the most charming, sweet and affectionate boy, has been diagnosed with oppositional defiance disorder. When he gets angry, he is uncontrollable, violent and self-destructive. It can happen at any time, over the smallest thing. A good friend of mine (you know who you are!) termed him 'Mr Fabulous or Mr Furious' and it is so true.


It has been breaking my heart to see my son not be able to function like other children and it has been affecting my job as I have had to take so much time off. I have felt helpless and hopeless. Questioning how I had failed as a parent.


My son's father and I have taken him to numerous psychologists, psychiatrists and other health experts over the last couple of years and to date, have spent thousands of dollars with very little results.


But finally, we have got some real help. We've been to see a fabulous counsellor who has been in daily contact with us, even visiting us at home on the weekends. He was with us for three hours on Saturday - now that's dedication! In the last week and a half we have made the following changes:



no tv or other electronic devices
constant parental presence
replacing punitive measures with 'sit-ins'. Based on the work of Haim Omer.

Additionally, I made the decision to remove all synthetic food additives from his diet - which is a challenge - even many brands of bread, yogurt and butter have preservatives these days!

It's been hard and exhausting to make these changes. The first couple of 'sit-in's with our son were harrowing experiences as we received the full blast of his rage. But in a short space of time, the difference in my son has been nothing short of amazing. A transformation. Mr Fabulous has come out to play and we've seen no sign of Mr Furious for the last six days. The people he's closest to are amazed to see this happy, relaxed boy. And Angus himself can see the changes and how much happier he feels.

I'm not saying that we don't have difficult days ahead of us. And the real test will be when he returns to school in two weeks time when the school holidays are over. However, we are setting him up for success by starting him with half days at school, with the remaining part of the day supervised by me or his dad. Luckily we have supportive bosses who are allowing us to work from home.

Right now I am allowing myself to feel hopeful. Hopeful, yet cautious. It's one day at a time. But I have seen a glimpse of the boy he can be.

I read a great quote recently on Creature Comforts, from Maria Robinson: "Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending". I really hope that is what we are doing - moving forward, creating our own happy ending.

Thank you for reading our story.

Best wishes,