God makes beauty from ashes

It was wonderful having Alun off on a weekend as he is normally at work. We hung out with our mates in the day, touring the city and sharing a lovely tapas lunch of small meals. That evening, I was so tired from it all and went to bed quite early. Alun sat outside on the porch. I could hear him clearly from the bedroom as the same wall is shared between our room and the porch area. Alun had his favourite radio station on and was laughing merrily away with his favourite DJ's. I drifted off to sleep with a smile, I love the sound of Alun's laugh :) A few hours (I guess?) later, Alun came to bed. He was FREEZING. My guess is that he fell asleep outside. "Gorg" he nuzzled my neck "OMG you're freezing!" I complained. Alun was pretty drunk, God bless him. He chuckled away to himself "I'm ok" "Did you fall asleep outside?" I asked "I've not been outside" Alun said. BUT I KNOW HE HAD BEEN. "You were s...

I hope you don't get offended, I'm just copying a title from a well-known series of bright yellow books in every bookstore in the world, it seems - all starting with the title "[Facebook/Sewing/Cooking] etc... for dummies" In case you have someone in your life with depression and/or anxiety, I wanted to write a guide to hopefully help you know how to deal with them when a social occasion arises. 1. Stick to the plan. If you've invited a friend to lunch, DON'T SURPRISE THEM WITH a sky-diving experience. Obviously I'm being a little sarcastic as that's a pretty big change...but literally try not to change anything about what you guys have agreed to . If you've agreed to meet at a cafe for brunch - then for the love of God, meet at a CAFE for BRUNCH. Don't change plans at the last minute and go to a fancy restaurant. Or a random fish-and-chips shack on the beach. Don't change "brunch" to "lunch" or "early dinner...

I used to love being the centre of attention, so growing up - I LOVED going to parties. I saw it as an opportunity to 'show off', if you like. I would spend hours in my room with my best friends making up dances we'd "perform" at a party later that week/month (whatever) and we'd spend weeks obsessing over what we'd wear. My friends and I would try on every outfit under the sun until it was deemed 'perfect' by the group and I especially would be so damn giddy about the party that I wouldn't sleep the night before. I was so excited to go and hang out with everyone. Parties were better the bigger they were because I liked attention and oh my word, could I get it. A smile here, a laugh there, a wink as I turned to leave a group, hugging or high-fiving all the people I knew and quickly establishing connections with those I didn't, shouting out to friends across a crowded room "Check this out" and doing a cool dance move because I kn...

I'm writing blog tonight for anyone out there who is struggling with their sexuality. I want you to know that God loves you. So much. More than the world. I don't like when people point fingers at others "you're gay, you're living in sin" "You're a lesbian, you're going to hell", "You're a weirdo, you're a freak, you're a sinner, you're a loser". As a believing Christian, I KNOW 100% that God loves you JUST AS YOU ARE. He loves you because HE made you!!! He gave us all hearts that feel and that love and that FALL IN LOVE and for the most part, He rejoices right along with us when we are in love. No matter who you are, God loves you. We are all living temples. We are all a "little Church" in a person and what we talk about, watch, listen to and support comes out in what we say and do in our lives. I want to be all about Love. I want my little Church to be one that has it's doors open to anyon...

I wanted to write tonight's blog on my hysterectomy recovery as I've been looking online about it to see if I'm normal or alone in what I'm going through and although there are quite a few 'vlogs' on girls after their hysterectomies - they were recorded sometimes as much as 10 years ago and there is nothing recent. I want to try to change that. For me, it was a really blessed operation. It was meant to be laparoscopic (key-hole surgery that isn't as evasive and people recover from it a lot faster as there is a lot less injury) but because I had such big fibroids (non-cancerous growths) in my uterus as well, I guess Dr Penis (haha) decided to go "full abdominal" which meant cutting open my stomach from one hip right across to the other. A 'c section', basically - but sideways along my lower abdomen rather than vertically up my stomach. For that I'm very thankful. Alun checked over my wound as they were changing the dressing on it t...

Hey, Just a quick one - if you're new to my blog (WELCOME!!!) or if I haven't told you earlier, I have had this personal blog - basically online DIARY OF JANET - going for 9 years now. I see this blog as the author so I have different settings/views for it but I've tried it 'as a guest' and if you click the 3 lines on the top right of the screen, a menu will drop down. Select "Archive" You'll then see ALL my blog posts over these long years. Click on "See All/See more (?)" and it will list blog titles right back to 2010. I'd love for you to read over all of them so you get a more complete picture of me - not just these weird, random blogs I've been doing lately. Haha. My friends Marc, Becci, Sam and Claudie will message me when they want to ask a question or point something out and I really enjoy the feedback so if you have any questions/suggestions - please message me, I'd love to hear from you. To my loyal follower...

Hey you, I'm typing away this evening with rain spattering the roof and windows. It's really cold and I feel so warm, safe and comfy on the sofa, surrounded in pillows and blankets. I absolutely LOVE this and I'm so thankful I'm recovering from my hysterectomy in weather that I like the best. I'm definitely a winter girl. I love the cosiness of winter and I'm thankful I'm not trying to get better in the heat of an Aussie summer. I went into the city yesterday to sign up with a new Government job agency. It seems like they have a lot of reception roles coming in every day so I feel excited to be going back into work. I just need to make sure I don't take up any job offers that begin before July 26th as I will be working (woo!) in Dept of Planning until then. I'm looking forward to going back and working on their reception desk again. It was a job I was really happy in and I know it's primarily just answering the phones so I know it won't...