Jikana Damaru

~ Replica Furniture ~

I just love this furniture from Matt Blatt - fantastic chairs and stools at reasonable prices.

This egg chair will be wonderful in our lounge room - in front of the fire or admiring the view.

This rocking chair would be fantastic in the nursery.

A great office chair?

A wonderful dining chair.

And perfect stools for the kitchen island bench.

I think we are organised for chairs!!

I had my final ultrasound today so there has been a lot of discussion in our house about who this baby will look like. My mum is convinced from the ultrasound photos that it will look like me with big chubby cheeks. My husband is convinced it will look like our eldest daughter Sienna.

The names that my girls keep coming up with are most amusing - our youngest daughter Sofia has decided it is going to be called Baby Jesus - we all find this just gorgeous!

I have just over 3 weeks to go and my wish is for a healthy and happy baby and no matter who it looks like I will think this baby is beautiful.

~ Modern Contemporary ~

In a recent Belle magazine they featured this lovely house on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

The pool house is just wonderful - I can imagine relaxing around this pool

The house has a lovely indoor/outdoor feel - like we are trying to create in our new home.

And the kitchen tap is similar to the one we are putting in the new house.

Just lovely!!

Happiness - Some Quotes to Contemplate

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want" - Margaret Young

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have" - Frederick Keonig

"Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued is always beyond our grasp, but, if you sit down quietly, may alight on you" - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Random Acts

In a world that is full of stress and negativity is taking the time to smile at someone too much effort? I sort of hope that for every smile I give someone they might pass it on to someone else because just maybe it makes them feel better. I'm probably being really naive but wouldn't it be nice to have a smile chain-letter (so to speak). A bit like the ripple effect before you know it there is a tidal wave of smiling people - could it be that easy?

So I am setting a weekly challenge to anyone who wants to accept it, how about you pass on a random act of kindness, friendship or caring or even something as simple as a smile to a stranger this week.

It may be just complimenting someone else on their smile, or their service to you, or may be how a certain colour they are wearing suits them and makes their eyes sparkle.

Just some small thing that you normally wouldn't do on a daily basis.

I would love to know how it makes you feel and what sort of response you get from the person you shared this random act with.

We all get so caught up in our own journeys that the blinkers are on and we fail to see what it around us, sometimes the simple act of acknowledging someone else can make not only our life journey better but theirs as well.

Will you take on the challenge?

The Half Full Glass

There is a philosophy on how people look at life - the glass half full or the glass half empty. The first supposedly means you see life more optimistically than the second which is viewing the world more pessimistically.

For those of you who may have read my other blog (menopausalmumma) you would hopefully know that I try to see the glass as half full all the time, don't always succeed, but certainly try.

I have for a while been thinking about having a blog that shares a positive view on life and helps us focus on things that can inspire us and brings us joy. I very rarely watch the news anymore or read the paper as I find they are mostly full of stories without hope - and I believe in these time of struggle we all need hope in our lives. Hence the name of this blog and the intent behind it - to bring some fun and positive inspiration to others to help everyone see the glass as being half full. It just needs to start with one person feeling happy and they can ripple it on to others. If 100 people feel good it can ripple out to thousands.

So if you have something in your life or something you do that inspires you or makes you feel good, or you come across a story that makes you feel there is hope in this world, you can email it to me at thehalffullglass@amnet.net.au and I will happily post it here so that together we can inspire others. I may also just have links to other people's blogs if they have a post that I find inspiring, uplifting, funny or zany.

I really feel that if we can try and see the good in all things - even if we have been hurt or disappointed badly there is a lesson that life can teach us - we can survive or we can choose to let life victimise us - what will your choice be? I choose to be a survivor because I deserve to have a life full of good things and I believe that you do too.