Tag: Happy Birthday

Coffee Catch-Up #45

inspiringmax

If we were having coffee I would tell you that my virtual coffee dates are very similar to my real life coffee dates. I love them but they are often a long time coming. That aside, I was happy to see that Natalie is still hosting our #weekend coffee share. Thank you. I find it welcoming to catch up with old friends as well as make new ones. I was surprised however to realise today that I had been MIA for nearly 12 months. How quickly that time has gone. I am hopeful that 2024 is the year that I get my blogging act together.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am still working 3 days a week despite giving a lot of thought into retirement. It’s weird. I know that I am ready but part of me doesn’t know who I am when I’m not a mental health nurse. At present I am on long service leave and not missing work at all. We have a few big trips planned for the next 12 months so I am thinking I have about 18 months left in me. Who knows, whichever way it goes I will definitely be taking Dolly Parton’s advice.

“Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

If we were having coffee I would tell you that my husband and I have become cruisers. Last year we went on 2 cruises to various parts of the South Pacific. Our first one was to New Caledonia and Vanuatu onboard the Carnival Splendor. It was a lot of fun. We visited Noumea, Mystery Island and Lifou.

In October, we joined The Mutiny On The Bounty cruise with P&O’s Pacific Adventure which followed the journey of Willliam Blythe. During the cruise we visited places associated with the mutiny including stopping for half an hour on the exact spot it occurred. We also stopped at Norfolk Island, Nukualoka and Vava’u (both part of Tonga) as well as Fiji’s Dravuni Island and Lautoka.

We found both cruises very relaxing however we were very unhappy with P& O’s food. It was lacking inspiration, very repetitive and you had to pay for choices such as pizza and burgers. Both of which were included on Carnival six months earlier.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that X (our grandson) turned one a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we couldn’t spend the day with him as he was in Japan with his other grandmother. Despite this my daughter and I celebrated in our own way. We had Australian party food, party pies and sausage rolls as well as our family favourite cheese dip. Unfortunately, hubby was away minding X’s rabbits. To add to our enjoyment we had a few celebratory drinks and watched Shrek 1 & 2.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I lost my mother just before Christmas. Unfortunately her death was a long goodbye as her body slowly shut down. Like every thing she did in life, her death was in her time. Looking back I think it is very interesting that my first and last visit to the nursing home were on the night shift. At least the first time I was returning her after a family celebration.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am continuing to enjoy my creative side again learning more about my Cricut cutting machine. I Love it when the items I design turn out well even if they aren’t perfect. My favourite things recently have been personalised chocolate wraps, my glitter baubles wall chart using our Christmas family colours of the last 20 years. Last year was Ice Christmas – white, silver and pale blue. I also created the gift boxes for the table settings. To complete this I also learnt to create stickers.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world?

Thanks to Natalie for hosting

6 Years Young

inspiringmax

Today Inspiring Max is 6. I can’t believe how much life has changed. My first blog post back in 2014 was titled Happy Mother’s Day.

Here is my 12 month celebratory post, my first blogiversary in 2015. I was excited by how far I’d come. In May 2014, I had 23 views and I didn’t care I had no followers, I had views and I began to believe in myself. I could do this. By May 2015, Inspiring Max was moving up with 12,567 views and 415 followers. This month, May 2020 I have created 574 posts, have had 16,106 visitors, 30,444 views and 1,108 followers.

I also love that after a year of blogging Inspiring Max had been read in 114 countries and in the following 5 years it continues to find new audiences and now has been read in 134 countries. Many of these countries I never knew existed.

One of the things that surprised me during my break from blogging is how my site kept growing even without me working it. Like our finances growing with compound interest for the approximately 800+ days I was absent Inspiring Max kept growing at 2-3 views per day without new content. This makes me wonder where I would have been if I had stayed.

When I returned to Inspiring Max, one of my favourite things was visiting my old blogging friends and seeing how much their blogs had grown. After all, blogging isn’t just about writing and posting good content. I believe it is a package. We are part of an ever growing community and no-one can blog alone.

To me, blogging is divided into four parts:

  • Blog hoping – going from one blog to another viewing and reading their sites
  • Joining in challenges created by other bloggers
  • Engaging with new and old blogs, by liking and commenting on their posts
  • Gaining knowledge by sharing experiences. Never has this been more relevant than now. We can all check on each other during this time of world lock down.