inspiringmax, Author at INSPIRING MAX

Share Your World – 2015 Week 46

November 23, 2015 inspiringmax

What type of popular candy you do not like to get?

I am not a big candy fan however if I am in the mood I can eat most types. The candy I have consistently refused to eat all my life is candy bananas. I like fresh bananas however anything else banana flavoured including candy or lollies as we call them in Australia is a no go zone.

Photo Credit: Google Images

What do you feel is the most enjoyable way to spend $500?

A mini-break to the Blue Mountains would be a great way to spend $500.00. It has been years since I have visited the Three Sisters, Echo Point or Leura . The Blue Mountains are 100 kilometres west of Sydney so they are ideal for a quick and relaxing get away. Spring is a great time to visit before it gets too hot and bush fire season settles in with many walking trails closed due to risks.

Where do you eat breakfast?

I eat breakfast most days at the computer working on Inspiring Max or visiting other blogs I follow. Everyone else in the house is usually asleep so my connecting with my digital world doesn’t mean my family is rejected.

Would you rather ride one of the world’s longest zip lines or bungee jump one of the highest in the world? This will come with a 5-day all expense vacation.

I would never bungee jump as I am concerned about the effect of the bounce back on my body. A zip line however I would love to try. To me they are a flying fox on a much bigger scale and I have always loved playing on a flying fox even as a adult. Once on a family camping trip my father made a flying fox and we had hours of fun on it.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for this week and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

During the past week I am grateful that I have been able to return to blogging and was able to blog on average every second day, a doubly of my recent posting rate.

This week at Toastmasters we are having our first ever speech-a-thon. A night with no other assignments just 10 speech instead of the usual 4. It will be an inspiring night from which I know I will learn new things.

http://ceenphotography.com/2015/11/16/share-your-world-2015-week-46/

A Tale of Two Cities

November 22, 2015 inspiringmax

If you could split your time evenly between two places, and two places only, which would these be?

For a period I would love to be able to spend 6 moths in Australia and 6 months in Canada. There is so much natural beauty, flora and fauna and history in both places, devoting time to exploring it would be amazing. The question I would struggle to answer is where to begin? Maybe I could use the following acrostic poems as a guide.

Adelaide

Uluru

Sydney

The Great Barrier Reef

Rottnest Island

ACT

Launceston

Illawarra

Albury – Wodonga

Charlottetown

Alberta

Newfoundland & Labrador

Algonquin Park

Drummondville

Arctic Bay

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/a-tale-of-two-cities/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Trio

November 21, 2015 inspiringmax

In the grounds of the historic Bendemeer Hotel this old statue of “Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil” caught my eye. The concrete frogs dressed in the Australian colours of green and gold gave the tradition monkey image an Australian twist. How fitting for a pub that has served and entertained the public since 1864.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/trio/

One More Time

November 17, 2015 inspiringmax

If you were able to relive one day from the last 12 months, which day would it be — and why?

Given the chance I would relive 25th November 2014. The was the day my husband and I embarked on our 6 week Canadian adventure. We were so excited. However on arrival at Sydney Airport I became suspicious that our tickets were incorrect, so I asked at the check-in counter.

“Are these tickets correct, we are going to St John’s Newfoundland?”

“Yes they are correct they just used the abbreviation” replied the counter attendant.

So I settled and didn’t think about it again.

Then we arrived in Vancouver for some reason I became suspicious again. I checked with the baggage handler only to be given the same response, so again I settled and we continued on our journey across Canada.

By the time our flight arrived in Toronto, we had been up for more than 24 hours and were exhausted. Being smart travelers we decided to check which gate our connecting flight went from before getting food or drinks. We wandered to the departures board where I discovered our flight number and destination didn’t match. Then I realised my gut instincts had been right. The travel agent had booked us flights from Sydney to St John, New Brunswick and not our destination—St John’s, Newfoundland. We were devastated. The only good point was that we solved the problem before either our bags or we bordered the flight.

The gentleman at Air Canada’s service desk was excellent. After about an hour he had made a plan to get us to St John’s as quickly as possible via Halifax arriving 24 hours later than we originally planned. To add humour to this difficult situation he told us this destination was a regular mix up for overseas visitors. The other common problem is people flying into Sydney, Nova Scotia when their destination was Sydney, Australia—a much bigger problem.

The moral of this story is mistakes are easily made and part of the journey. Trust your gut instincts, triple check your airline tickets early and always pack your sense of humour when traveling.

Photo Credit: Google

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/one-more-time/

Sisterhood Of The World Bloggers Award

November 15, 2015November 15, 2015 inspiringmax

This week I am honoured to receive the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award from purpleslobinrecovery. Thank you Purple I enjoy your practical humour and advice on everyday subjects. If you get the chance, stop by and check out her blog and join in with her community spirit.

HERE ARE THE RULES:

• Put the Award logo on your blog

• Thank the person who nominated you, linking back to their site

• Answer 10 questions the person asked you

• Nominate 10 blogs and notify them

• Write 10 new questions for them

HERE ARE MY ANSWERS:

Barney or Blue? If you have no CLUE about this question, that’s okay. Just make up a funny 1 liner.

Definitely Barney after all who doesn’t love a purple dinosaur with an imaginary world that their kids grew up with. Barney’s cool!

Photo Credit: Google Images

2. What number comes after 14? Just so I’ll know for next time.

In a series 7 it’s 21 so I’ll go with that to be different.

3. What surprise ingredient do you add to your lemonade?

Now that would depend who I am making a drink for myself or a child. If it’s me I add vodka and parfait armour—tastes amazing. If it’s for a child definitely red cordial after all I don’t know a child who doesn’t love a fire engine.

4. If you could go back in time, to any age, how old would you be?

I don’t want to go back in time. I’m happy with my age although sometimes would like to be physically younger in my abilities.

5. Why that particular age?

Happy with being in my 50’s dreaming about retirement.

6. Do you drink outta plastic or real glass?

Real glass at every opportunity. If I have to drink out of plastic I like the glass shape to match the drink e.g. if I am drinking wine it needs to be out of a plastic wine glass not a plastic cup—fussy I know.

7. Are you tethered or wireless?

Wireless I think. As long as it works I don’t care.

8. E-book or print?

I love bookshops so definitely print. E-books are convenient but there is something special about the feel of a book and seeing how far you are though it.

MY DESERVING NOMINEES:

MY INTERESTING QUESTIONS:

Your favourite Disney character is…..
What is the vegetable you hated as a child?
Did you get a pen or ink license at school?
Do you drive on the left or right side of the road?
What is your favourite joke?
Do you read fiction or non-fiction?
Who is your favourite author?
What is your favourite sport?
If you could give $1000 dollars to a charity which one would you choose?
Name one of your strengths?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Victory

November 14, 2015 inspiringmax

I celebrate my little victories of life regularly as a way to encourage more positivity in my life. My most recent interesting victory was getting my head around kissing a frozen cod-fish to take part in Newfoundland and Labrador’s famous Screech-In ceremony.

My husband and I choose to be screeched-in at Trapper John’s Pub and Museum, once voted best pub in North America for its fun, food and hospitality. The pub was very interesting however dark which although adding to the ambiance made taking good photos difficult.

The experience began with the ringing of the Screeching ceremony bell. This alerts all patrons in the pub that someone has requested to be Screeched-In.

We choose Sunday 5pm just as the pub was opening for the night for our ceremony. Because of this the pub had limited patrons however all stopped what they were doing, making us feel very welcome as we went through the ritual to become honorary Newfies—Newfoundlanders slang name for themselves.

For more information about the Screech-In ceremony and our experience please visit my earlier post https://www.inspiringmax.com/honarary-newfies/

We loved Newfoundland so much that one day we hope to visit again, next time for several months.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/victory/

CN Tower’s Glass Floor

November 8, 2015November 16, 2015 inspiringmax

For 36 years between 1976 – 2010, CN Tower was the tallest tower in the world at 553 metres in height. So last year when my husband and I visited Toronto, I was excited to reach the top and cross off one of the original things on my bucket list.

From the moment I entered the elevator I was amazed. It takes 58 seconds, yes less than a minute to travel 132 floors. There is also a glass panel in the wall and the floor so you can look out— if you dare. From the main viewing platform, the views were spectacular as we had chosen a clear winters day.

My favourite part of the CN Tower however is its glass floor. Built in 1994, it was the world’s first glass floor. I had set myself a goal I was going to walk into the middle and look down. Initially, although I knew it was safe—I was petrified. I started with taking a few steps out, sitting and looking down. Determined to not let it beat me, I kept persevering until I could walk across the glass floor. My mindfulness training paid off and I was able to enjoy this unique experience even though our photos don’t show the distance below well.

If ever you visit Toronto, Canada take the time and experience the the joy and challenges of CN Tower. In 2013, we visited Canton Tower in Ghangzhou, China which in 2010 became the tallest tower in the world however this honour is now changes regularly.

Coffee Catch-up #2

November 1, 2015 inspiringmax

As it has been six weeks since our first coffee catch-up I think it is time to catch-up again. Due to feedback from our last coffee, this will be a random regular event—a bit like my real life coffee catch-ups. If you missed our first coffee, you can catch-up here.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how much I enjoyed our trip to the cinema yesterday. My husband and I saw Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks. It wasn’t my first choice for a movie, however it looked okay and it was being shown at a time suitable to us. From the start I was invested and intrigued. Based on true events, Bridge of Spies is a story set during the Cold War. An American lawyer played by Hanks is recruited by the CIA to go to Berlin and negotiated the release of a spy plane pilot shot down over Russia. Produced by Steven Spielberg it is full of drama, has great casting and as expected amazing location photography. If you have a few hours to spare it is definitely worth a look.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about my continuing de-clutter at work. Over the last few weeks I have gone through all the cupboards and drawers, throwing out information that hasn’t been needed for years and organising everything else so it can be found and accessed. I even found some photographs of staff from about 8 years ago and my new staff didn’t always pick the younger version of myself. The new look office is going well and people are taking the time to comment. We have also started a treat roster and everyone is excited to take turns and bring in some special homemade treats to share.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was to carve my first pumpkin last weekend. I had no idea to begin with but with the help of Dr Google I learnt quickly. My daughter helped me with the design and although my pumpkin wasn’t the winner of our Toastmasters Halloween competition it was fun.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am looking forward to preparing for Christmas which is now less than 8 weeks away. My family has a colour theme and this year it is Berry. All colours that berries come in are welcome. As my favourite colour is purple I will be looking for purple-blue coloured clothes. I am hoping to find something suitable before my work Christmas party to kill two birds with the one stone.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how I am refocusing on completing the editing of my book on eating disorder recovery. I have about half the book to go and would like to hand it to the editor in Jan 2016 which I think is achievable as long as I keep working at it. Seriously before I began this journey I never realised how much time goes into the editing process of a book. I think I just thought magically happened—definitely not so especially for non-fiction books.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what you have done and how you have been since we last met. Let me know in the comments what you have been up to.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Treat

October 31, 2015October 31, 2015 inspiringmax

Treats and indulgences can take many forms. Share yours with us!

I love Disney so going to Disneyland is my favourite treat. Unfortunate, living in Australia means it is many years between my indulgences. I hope you enjoy these photos taken at Hong Kong Disney in 2012. They brought a smile back to my face.