I saw him and I cried

Okay, so I am an emotional mess!  I confess I cry at movies and reunions with family you haven't see for years!

Yes, that's right.  I watched "Sex in the City" on my Qantas Australia flight to Qld to visit my sister for her 40th and I cried.  Actually, it was on the way home.  Seeing Carry's face when she belts him with the flowers did something to me on a deep level. In that moment as I sat in my window seat on the plane, trying to discretely hide the tears and the sniffels, I was every woman ever jilted!  And yes, I also cried when the couple were reunited on the bridge. Who wouldn't it was pure Hollywood magic!

But I cried more when I was embraced by my younger brother who I had literally not seen since the funeral of my mother over 19 years ago.  One look at his face and my sunny smile became a watery wonderland.  It was so lovely to be with him again and to know that someone I loved deeply was back in my life.

I don't know how you feel, but to me family is really special and precious and often neglected!

I have a photo of the three of us to prove it...brother, sister and I, sharing the moment together!  It is a memory I will have for life, because I don't know how long it will be before we can all be together again.

It just showed me how important family really are to our hearts, if not our minds.

I'm now looking forward to getting some weight off, as the years have been way too kind to me!!!

Women Speak Out Forum - Discover your Passion!

We are rapidly approaching the big day, 13 September 2008!  Why is that day so important?  That is the day that Perth will host it's best women event ever - the Women Speak Out Forum!

What will the day hold for women?  The opportunity to discover, rediscover or connect with your passion and be inspired by others who are already pursuing their passions, a silent auction, inspiring motivational speakers, networking, community and business booths and passion focused break out groups.

All women aged 18 years and over will gather from all over Perth at the Arena Joondalup at 9:30am.

I envisage that they will spend the day going, "Oh...oo....ahhh..." as they journey through the exhibitions, hear the speakers and join in the discussions.  We may even have a Bollywood dance demo to get them involved in a bit of fun.

It's going to be a fabulous day of fun.  Want to come?

Adventurous Women!

Find more photos like this on Adventurous Women
I met a fabulous woman, Sue, who has become a member of Women Can International Inc. She has a business called Adventurous Women and she organises travel expeditions specifically for women. You don't have to be single or a specific age. She's got a trip to Egypt planned for March 2009 if anyone is interested in going with a group of ladies to see the Nile, the pyramids and the wonderful Middle East. Just thought I'd share her site with you all, as the photos are just exquisite from her adventures. She has trekked Mt Everest and the Himalays and made it to the base camp where she could see the peak but had to turn back due to altitude sickness. She's a gutsy woman and full of interesting stories, so feel free to pop over to her site and join up.

How amazing is Apple Mac?

I can't believe I made it all the way to almost 42 years of age without knowing how great an Apple iMac computer is!

My girlfriend, Jayne, impressed on me the value of buying an iMac and after much harassment I said, "Okay." So here I sit in front of my ultra speedy new iMac computer with a 24 inch screen and I am just so overjoyed with what I can do, the clarity of the image I am seeing, the way that you can drag the windows around the screen and organise yourself.

Now, having been a devotee of Windows and PCs for over 20 years, I would never have thought that I would say that there was any program that can compare with Outlook, as I use it so much and find it very effective, but iMacs Address Book, Calendars, Email and Tasking even put Outlook to the test with the simplicity of data entry, the ease of creating calendars and the appearance of everything.  I mean, if there is a phone number, an event time in an email you can just click on it and off it goes to your calendar and address book!  No double data entry!  Plus you can colour code appointments simply by creating calendars for all the areas of your life.  I am so impressed I'm thinking of becoming an Apple affiliate!!!

I guess I've been bitten by iMac fever or something, but I just love it and that is coming from a very deeply ingrained Windows PC user.

I was also skeptical about the look of the keyboard and the mouse, as the whole keyboard could almost fit in my handbag, with it's flat little keys and lack of the extras like sound control buttons etc.  I mean, my usual wireless keyboard is everything a woman could want, almost including the kitchen sink.  But it is so bulky!  Looking at this MAC keyboard with it's totally flat keys I thought that's going to slow me down.  But you know what, it's so much more responsive to touch and I've actually increased my speed not slowed it.  So once again a great big tick and thank you to Apple!

And let's talk about the mouse.  I looked at it and thought, it's not going to feel as nice as my wireless mouse.  And now I realise that ergonomically it's probably better as my wrist is not being over stretched and it has extra button functions that I love.  For example, if I were going to get my calculator up in windows, it was about 3 clicks and multiple screens to get to it via Accessories.  Now I click a button on the side of my mouse and up pops a dashboard with a calculator, calendar, stock exchange and any other shortcuts I'd like to add as it is totally able to be customised.

And the creme de la creme is that I can also keep and use all of my windows based programs simply by loading up a program called Parallels that allows me to run the two systems on the one computer.  Can't ask for anything more than that!  Thank you Apple for your ingenuity. If only the whole world realised just how fantastic your products were, IBM and the likes would never have taken out the general market.

Now that I have such a fabulous computer, with it's inbuilt wireless networking capabilities I can set up my computer anywhere and do a presentation or demonstration.  It is going to be such a valued asset to my business.  I also realised that my broadband connection speed was way slower than it should be thanks to my friend, Jayne, and have upgraded to a way faster system so I get more time to do the things I love.

Also, by taking up the Apple of offer of MobileMe, I can access my files from anywhere in the world and there is no long uploading process.  I simply drag them into a folder and away I go.  I can give other people access too.  File sharing has never been easier.

The iMac comes with built-in programs such as i-photo (which has an awesome book making option where you can create a photo journal and get it printed hardcover for around 29.99US); i-movie (a movie editing suite and you don't need a camera because there is one built into the monitor which is great for creating short training DVDs); i-booth (a quick snap photo booth with effects); garageband (a really cool audio mixing suite where you can create songs simply by dropping and dragging loops); and much, much more!

Finally, my next purchase is going to be an iphone so I can link everything together.  It would certainly make my whole organisation easier if I only ever had to do one set of data entry! What a fabulous product, Apple.  You deserve an award for your innovation and for the world to recognise the brilliance of your products. 

PS  I am not an Apple iMac sales woman but with a product like this, it would sell itself!

Book Review: Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

How far must one man go to demonstrate his love for a woman and to win her heart?

In Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers, Michael Hosea was prepared to marry a prostitute. He fell in love with Angel, a young woman with a very sordid past who was sold into prostitution at the age of 8 and so began Angel's tumultuous journey of healing.

Francine Rivers has translated the book of Hosea into the Gold Rush era in the US with finesse. She is a fine wordsmith, crafting every chapter so that it is riveting, imaginative and filled with colourful language that doesn't lose you in imagery but engages all your senses. I often "wander off" when a book goes into description because I get bored, but this book kept me the whole way through and that's over 400 pages worth of written words!

What did I learn from Redeeming Love? So much that I will be eternally grateful for.

Firstly, I learned that true love is constant. It is not when you feel like it, it is forever, unmerited, unearned, favour that is boundless. It is a decision that is made daily, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer.

Secondly, I learned that perfection is a journey, not a destination. We are all on that pathway but none of us have arrived and it is okay to be working towards perfection. We all fail ourselves, each other, God. What we must do is not put all our attention on our failures, but realise the constancy of God's grace so we can move forward.

This last point was particularly relevant for my relationship with my husband. We are currently separated, due to some personal issues, but I have found a much deeper level of grace towards my husband after reading this book. It showed me that love endures all things - the good and the bad and sometimes it chases to make up and other times it allows the individual to come to the end of themselves and for them to make the moves. However, it is always open to reconciliation. This was so great for me to learn.

Thirdly, I learned that there is no sin that is too great for God to forgive or for us to forgive of one another.

Finally, I learned that it is not true when people say, "Once a...always a...". As human beings we have the capacity to embrace change if we choose. The power of choice is probably the greatest gift that we have been given.

I encourage you today if you read this to make your peace with God. He remains the same today and forever - good, gracious, loving, kind, just and compassionate. There is nothing you have done that He doesn't already know about and hasn't already forgiven you. All you need to do is to ask for that forgiveness, and to receive it.

I highly recommend all couples to buy this novel. I understand that it is fictitious but it has taught me some very deep spiritual principles that I know will also help you in your life.