tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79202065604145163112024-02-02T15:38:48.043+08:00Mel's CrossroadMel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-67703871525007967182012-03-20T15:11:00.000+08:002012-03-20T15:12:19.277+08:00Top Notch Teaching has LaunchedThe day has finally arrived, the launch of my new blog. I have been so excited! My goal today was to try and create as much ‘buzz’
as possible. So I have been diligently
hitting all of my networks to encourage people to come on over and take a
look. If you haven’t done so yet, then
please come over to <a href="http://topnotchteaching.com/" target="_blank">Top Notch Teaching</a> and let me know what you think!<br />
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I must say that I don’t think I would have been able to get
this all up and running, if it wasn’t for the support and encouragement of my
family, particularly Stevie and my Mum.
I know that Stephen has probably been hoping for this day for a while, so
that I’ll stop asking him questions <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">:-D</span>.</div>
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I’ve also been enrolled in a course by a guy called <a href="http://www.corbettbarr.com/" target="_blank">CorbettBarr</a>. I read his blog ‘<a href="http://thinktraffic.net/" target="_blank">Think Traffic</a>’
and get lots of good ideas about blogging. Earlier this year, he launched a new course
called <a href="http://startablogthatmatters.com/?doing_wp_cron=1332227185" target="_blank">How to Start a Blog That Matters</a>.
I know that if I hadn’t enrolled in this course, I probably would never
have gotten this far. If anyone out
there is thinking about starting up a blog, I would highly recommend this
resource. He provides weekly lessons,
with easy to follow checklists to help keep you on track. I was pretty chuffed today when I realised he tweeted about my launch!!!</div>
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So some more stats for you, I now have 87 followers on
Twitter and 17 people like my Facebook page.
I also have 2 people subscribed to my updates. I’m happy with these numbers and am
interested to see how I progress over the coming weeks.</div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.8573389-31.9797991 115.8178569 -31.9259081 115.89682090000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-13455236057956747902012-03-09T14:36:00.000+08:002012-03-09T14:38:05.741+08:00Quick trip to Melbourne<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span>Well I’m sitting in my hotel room writing this blog
post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m in Melbourne staying at the
<a href="http://www.rendezvoushotels.com/default.asp?action=article&ID=21672" target="_blank">Rendezvous Hotel</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been flown here
by my work for a meeting and have planned to stay for an extra day to do some
shopping and catch up with my Grandma.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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But, low and behold, I have caught a dreaded cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I woke up this morning with the body aches
and my ears are still all blocked from the flight in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I managed to do a little shopping this
afternoon, but just found it too exhausting so now I’m resting in my room.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Things are motoring along nicely with my new blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not long now until launch day and I’m
working hard trying to get everything done that I wanted to have done before
this day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve been hitting the social network scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m actually finding <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/TopNotchTeachin" target="_blank">Twitter</a> really addictive
and am being acquainted with many new ideas and resources that I was unaware
of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve now connected with quite a few
people and have over 50 people following me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I really need to work on getting my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/topnotchteaching" target="_blank">Facebook</a> page going a bit more now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve been thinking back to last year when I first started
this blog and to where I am now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
pretty happy with how things are progressing and I feel like I’m doing what I
really want to be doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a friend
say to me the other day, “you must be following your passion because you’re
spending so much time on your blog and not getting paid!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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All of my spare time is going in to developing <a href="http://www.topnotchteaching.com/" target="_blank">Top NotchTeaching</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the first thing I think
about in the morning, and it’s the last thing I think about in the
evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder if getting so into
this will last?</div>
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</span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com2Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.8573389-31.9797991 115.8178569 -31.9259081 115.89682090000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-57153789414642271262012-02-19T20:15:00.000+08:002012-02-19T20:17:31.045+08:00Top Notch Teaching begins to take shape<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Well it’s been a busy couple of weeks, not only am I super
busy at work and with spending time with Emily and Stephen, but I’m also madly
trying to set up my new blog. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have so
much to do and so little time!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But instead of complaining ;-P I thought I would share with
you some of the things I’ve been working on in the past couple of weeks.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I have been learning how to use Paint Shop Pro (this is
similar to Photoshop), which has been a pretty steep learning curve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t really know too much about layers
and vectors and rasters, but have slowly bumbled my way through. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I have wanted to know how to use a product such as this to
help with my drawings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of the
lessons, posters and worksheets I design as part of Top Notch Teaching (TnT) I
want to add my own graphics, rather than using Clipart or mass produced
graphics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I have been playing around
with a hand drawn picture, and then adding the colour etc in Paint Shop Pro
(PSP).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not really having too much
luck yet though!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I have however used PSP to make a very simple banner for my
new blog (see below).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s nothing
flash, but I thought I would go for the clean, simple look.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also designed a welcome landing page for my
TnT Facebook account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, it’s quite
basic but gives people an idea as to what I’m all about. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBzoBHFhgBkAMVp3ptwSOv5oya6zrVjvquKa0_98wdyIQvoWFot3XXhg4l5NGQSTFwbE2KOInjixUbmrhM77pOtvZZgj2t4MOhQAhyphenhyphenrwxn7lI651MFC4eDBKvifKGy6XTsxISpYnGBq-O/s1600/Logo_Rectangle_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWBzoBHFhgBkAMVp3ptwSOv5oya6zrVjvquKa0_98wdyIQvoWFot3XXhg4l5NGQSTFwbE2KOInjixUbmrhM77pOtvZZgj2t4MOhQAhyphenhyphenrwxn7lI651MFC4eDBKvifKGy6XTsxISpYnGBq-O/s320/Logo_Rectangle_5.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banner</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUse7JZ8aJfn-11mVk3cChPFQHkPRHFNpeJ3DLGvQM_nYlLcG7ANbUDaH74vZv_6XnnpwdpFGUxJRUqLyC1PaEwkT6Hyo-mX3wMfIk1ljVOn4TncnqdQiQbTqF2gS01pSm1_eiSslStNJ/s1600/landingpage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUse7JZ8aJfn-11mVk3cChPFQHkPRHFNpeJ3DLGvQM_nYlLcG7ANbUDaH74vZv_6XnnpwdpFGUxJRUqLyC1PaEwkT6Hyo-mX3wMfIk1ljVOn4TncnqdQiQbTqF2gS01pSm1_eiSslStNJ/s320/landingpage.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Facebook Landing Page</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">So if you’re interested in education and/or teaching then
please follow me </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Georgia; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can follow TnT on Facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/topnotchteaching" target="_blank">here</a> and
Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/TopNotchTeachin" target="_blank">here</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m also more than happy
if you want to share these links with any other people you think may be
interested.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">It’s only 29 days until TnT launches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a countdown clock at the web address: </span><a href="http://topnotchteaching.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia;">http://topnotchteaching.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia;">, with links
to my Twitter and Facebook accounts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, you may be wondering; ‘why on earth would I be interested in
following Top Notch Teaching’? Well.....</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Because <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Top-Notch
Teaching</b> will provide you with practical, time saving tips and resources so
that you feel inspired, empowered and willing to <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">build a richer learning environment, thus making a better classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Because <b>Top Notch
Teaching </b>will:<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Write about being a reflective teacher; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Write about the importance of developing planning skills; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Share lesson ideas and lesson plans;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Delve into the various teaching strategies that teachers use
and how these can be practically implemented in the classroom; and</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Explore management skills.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: magenta;">If you have any other ideas about what you think would be
good to include, please feel free to share.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">If you want to see what my goals are for the next fortnight,
then check out my <a href="http://melscrossroad.blogspot.com.au/p/accountability-journal-mdbp.html" target="_blank">Accountability Journal</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com2Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.8573389-31.9797991 115.8178569 -31.9259081 115.89682090000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-73303248017037230562012-02-13T15:00:00.000+08:002012-02-13T15:01:34.233+08:00Photo Shoot<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I decided that as I will now have an online presence through my blog etc, I needed to also have a better picture of myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked through all of my photos and couldn’t quite find what I was after.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I arranged a bit of a photo shoot with my sis Shells over the weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This was pretty good fun, and little Em also had a ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She loves getting her picture taken and as I posed for shots she did as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So below I have the best couple of pics Shells got of me that I will use and also some of Em, cause I think they’re sooo cute <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Georgia; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQ9XuNBgNOiycKF3VHGbjpSwmnTIXNuvpdtbSiRP7aRZlsYuH_IdGgOlUAd3jtdUrKlfs4NZbd_nmUyF17sKHaeGU4mEKLIDKpWpcAx9xUCy0n0xqTQlmeDR8c6EdHx6VdMcqvOBLVQGu/s1600/DSC_0236.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQ9XuNBgNOiycKF3VHGbjpSwmnTIXNuvpdtbSiRP7aRZlsYuH_IdGgOlUAd3jtdUrKlfs4NZbd_nmUyF17sKHaeGU4mEKLIDKpWpcAx9xUCy0n0xqTQlmeDR8c6EdHx6VdMcqvOBLVQGu/s320/DSC_0236.JPG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
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This one is okay, but looks a bit formal!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaiDwSk_wty3uBx9PC7t2iry-UDbBNgOxe9MXMmKr1TOfxC8GlEMcpWxomHmhqnROjEt79IH-tlBpRaICxoGcLmIHwJ3YapeoNfdr2SRoK4byzYxokm3BlDp1AeVVuzd4SCURMzUYRWC8f/s1600/DSC_0247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaiDwSk_wty3uBx9PC7t2iry-UDbBNgOxe9MXMmKr1TOfxC8GlEMcpWxomHmhqnROjEt79IH-tlBpRaICxoGcLmIHwJ3YapeoNfdr2SRoK4byzYxokm3BlDp1AeVVuzd4SCURMzUYRWC8f/s320/DSC_0247.JPG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I like this one better, looks a little less formal with the greenery! Although Stephen thinks I've got a cheesy grin :-)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-cELa3sXAO5CA_EPPSF9wmdd-_Qom80U67cVs5gzRiQOp6Za4v00DnugOOK2B1juPnc_b24WHpTH8kBxJEGAi3R2cfD1wg5l-bEQvAixMcEV2p6czBuWBHvdWJu_UNkEpq4eApArCaCe/s1600/DSC_0249.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-cELa3sXAO5CA_EPPSF9wmdd-_Qom80U67cVs5gzRiQOp6Za4v00DnugOOK2B1juPnc_b24WHpTH8kBxJEGAi3R2cfD1wg5l-bEQvAixMcEV2p6czBuWBHvdWJu_UNkEpq4eApArCaCe/s320/DSC_0249.JPG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maybe not...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaA6nspGroK9NaoTUx0HkdDQ1V-ey_tPW_u96q45RiFsMQ34_z4cFnEC5EhsrW8kKNW9T0mp5a8IbAJXVtMFluwYJcCQtZr1NVvsGfK_3k3b8eHxNEVqXU5pTNXQS61878SM5kyl5rQ2N/s1600/DSC_0221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaA6nspGroK9NaoTUx0HkdDQ1V-ey_tPW_u96q45RiFsMQ34_z4cFnEC5EhsrW8kKNW9T0mp5a8IbAJXVtMFluwYJcCQtZr1NVvsGfK_3k3b8eHxNEVqXU5pTNXQS61878SM5kyl5rQ2N/s320/DSC_0221.JPG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She loves wearing her Dad's shoes!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrHvWM0KKdJ3v5hyphenhyphengA3CkqbpvtRn1dhtUnvhRXF2cXPFjdYFeIHi0kwlBK3F25Sgk2FZlaEX9dWufXCVKM8eqePX_mDFyEkRSlDK6I2QpwDxWVSAm7dvsUVFueTaJGUBF6GsrmiwtXN8Pa/s1600/DSC_0224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrHvWM0KKdJ3v5hyphenhyphengA3CkqbpvtRn1dhtUnvhRXF2cXPFjdYFeIHi0kwlBK3F25Sgk2FZlaEX9dWufXCVKM8eqePX_mDFyEkRSlDK6I2QpwDxWVSAm7dvsUVFueTaJGUBF6GsrmiwtXN8Pa/s320/DSC_0224.JPG" width="212" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com3Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.8573389-31.9797991 115.8178569 -31.9259081 115.89682090000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-38261862959765325392012-02-05T21:30:00.000+08:002012-02-05T21:31:10.840+08:00It’s so exciting…..I have a name!<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
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Well at long last, after much procrastinating and being indecisive with my new blog name, I have finally settled on one that I really like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s funny how you can play around with so many different names and be unsure, but when the ‘one’ comes along you just know it’s a good fit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So introducing:</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: magenta;">‘Top Notch Teaching’</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have bought the domain name and have a web host.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if you type in <a href="http://topnotchteaching.com/">http://topnotchteaching.com/</a> you will find my new blog!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m so daggy as this was just so exciting for me ;-)</b></div>
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I didn’t actually come up with the name myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I follow a blog called <a href="http://passivepanda.com/" target="_blank">‘Passive Panda’</a> and in the last week they wrote a post about coming up with the perfect name for your business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was really good timing for me, as I have been struggling with this for quite some time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After reading through all of the suggestions and playing around with a few different options, I decided to leave a comment to see if anyone reading could help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>James Clear, the author of the article wrote back with a few suggestions, one of them being my name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as I heard it I knew it was just right!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to check out the post or my comment and the reply, click <a href="http://passivepanda.com/business-name-ideas" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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I still have no tagline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve had a few people suggest some different options, but I’m not really sold on them yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stephen thinks that I should try not to be too clever and go for something that is a little more descriptive. When searching, the tagline will come up with the name and it will describe what the site is about and hopefully encourage people to click through <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Georgia; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Possible taglines that have been suggested so far include;</div>
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- Top teaching tips for the truly awesome teacher</div>
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- Teacher's tools a notch above the rest</div>
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- Top notch tools of the trade</div>
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- Tools of the trade for any teacher</div>
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- Total tool packages for the top teacher</div>
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- Online tools to support your teaching</div>
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- Online tools for tip top teaching</div>
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- Burst to the top of the teaching ranks!</div>
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- Dynamite teaching tips (so good, they're almost dangerous.)</div>
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Do you like any of those, or do you have any other possibilities for me?</div>
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I have much to do, but am looking forward to really getting to work to get it all up and going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m hoping to launch the new site before Easter, but we’ll see how I go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to know what my goals are for the coming fortnight then check out my<a href="http://melscrossroad.blogspot.com.au/p/accountability-journal-mdbp.html" target="_blank"> Accountability Journal</a>.</div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com4Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.8573389-31.9797991 115.8178569 -31.9259081 115.89682090000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-61461669216845988412012-01-30T13:40:00.000+08:002012-01-30T14:05:16.670+08:00Nearly there, refining my topic and developing a tagline<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">So I have been further working on defining my topic and thinking about my goals as I haven’t really been that impressed with what I have come up with so far.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">My ultimate goal is to help<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> make the life of a teacher easier, saving them time by providing quality resources, ideas and tips that will help them with their teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to help teachers build a richer learning environment, thus making a better classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personally, I would like the blog to challenge and inspire me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to research and talk about educational issues, and connect with other educators from around the world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">My point of differentiation will be to provide practical, time saving tips and resources for teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This could be related to lesson planning, classroom organisation, behaviour management and how to implement different teaching strategies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also have many connections with experienced/expert teachers who would also love to share their time saving tips and resources.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">So with this in mind I have further thought about a name for my blog and a tagline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I have come up with so far is:</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Teacher Saving - Saving teachers time (although Stephen seems to think this sounds too much like a bank!)</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strike>The </strike>Thinking Teacher – Thinking about a better classroom</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strike>The </strike>Thinking Teacher – Work smarter</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strike>The </strike>Thinking Teacher – Work smarter, not harder</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strike>The </strike>Thinking Teacher – Saving teachers time</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">(According to my little sis I shouldn't use 'the'. So I have checked and Thinking Teacher is availalbe as a .net and .com.au. So that would also work).</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong><span style="color: magenta;">What’s your preference?</span></strong></span></span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com4Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.8573389-31.9797991 115.8178569 -31.9259081 115.89682090000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-91348119359671635692012-01-24T20:34:00.001+08:002012-01-28T13:51:34.214+08:00Blog Names Continued.....<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I’ve slowly been compiling a list of possible names for the new blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks to the family the other night; they helped me brainstorm some other names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was rather fun coming up with suggestions, and my favourite so far (and it’s available) is ‘Give a shit teacher’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But probably not quite right for what I’m after </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Georgia; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Below is what I have so far….</span></div>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Me and my lesson plans</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: #f0f0f0; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154.05pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The teachers tray</span></div>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Innovative lesson plans</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: #f0f0f0; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154.05pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Click a lesson plan</span></div>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Carry on teaching</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Stress less teacher</span></div>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Teacher attitude</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Hot spot education</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Teacher fountain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Perth teacher</span></div>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Teachers bookmark</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Swan teacher</span></div>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Education project</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Committed teacher</span></div>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The aussie teacher</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: #f0f0f0; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154.05pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Teaches well</span></div>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Teachers esky</span></div>
</td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: #f0f0f0; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: #f0f0f0; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding-bottom: 0cm; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; width: 154.05pt;" valign="top" width="205"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: magenta;">Teac</span><span style="color: magenta;">hing hq (new)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong><span style="color: magenta;">Are there any there that really stand out?</span></strong></span>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com1Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.8573389-31.9797991 115.8178569 -31.9259081 115.89682090000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-76825632857098297212012-01-23T14:27:00.000+08:002012-01-23T14:27:35.254+08:00Draw Happy<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I’ve taken the plunge and signed up for an online drawing course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s by an Australian artist named <a href="http://www.janedavenport.com/workshops/draw-happy-mini-workshop/" target="_blank">Jane Davenport</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I’m brave enough I might even share some of my drawings here, but we’ll see.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">One of the first things that Jane asks us to do is to keep an Art Journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never had an art journal before, but I am looking forward to doodling in it and filling the pages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t have to be perfect and I don’t have to show it to anyone else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s a place for me to explore my ideas, practice techniques and improve my drawing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does anyone else keep an art journal?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What types of things do you keep in there?</span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-64797762642796484502012-01-12T22:15:00.000+08:002012-01-12T22:15:48.433+08:00Topic Is Decided…Now To Find A Great Name For My New Blog?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I have pretty much narrowed down my possible blog topic choices to being organised and education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After some thinking about both of these, I realised that I can’t really get very excited about writing about being organised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think for me, this could only go so far before I got bored of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deep down I already knew before my last post that I wanted my new blog to be on education, but I thought it was definitely worthwhile thinking of other possibilities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I’ve started reading through the various posts about setting up my blog and one I’ve come across early on is finding a great domain name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are a few things that I should keep in mind:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong><u>Length:</u></strong> I think generally the shorter the better (easier to remember), but longer names shouldn’t be ruled out if they’re good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong><u>Use of Keywords in name:</u></strong> I’m not overly familiar with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and all the other jargon that goes with ranking in search engines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think my name will probably be semi-branded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is when you embed a keyword in a brand name.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong><u>.com vs .net etc.:</u></strong> The <a href="http://thinktraffic.net/how-to-find-a-great-domain-name-for-a-new-blog-and-set-it-up-in-15-minutes" target="_blank">post</a> I’m reading recommends .com being best because of convention and online expectations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if I want to reach a local audience as well (and I’m not sure if I want to register a business down the track if it matters what suffix I use) then maybe .com.au would also be worthwhile having.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I should look at acquiring both?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong><u>Things to Avoid:</u></strong> Numbers, difficult to spell words, hyphens and letter jumbles (do the letters from one word jumble into the next)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Okay so I’ve got a few rules to consider when choosing a name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next I need to do some brainstorming to narrow down the possibilities.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>Step 1:</strong> develop a list of words and phrases related to my topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>List potential brand names:</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Education, educational, instruction, instructional, knowledge, intelligence, curriculum, lesson plans</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Teach, teaching, teachers, learn, learning, learners</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>Step 2:</strong> add helper words. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is adding short non topic related words that might be a good add on to the brand words.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Expert, whiz, master, leader, authority</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Hotspot, hive, store, village, community</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><em><span style="color: magenta;">I might need help with this Step, any suggestions?</span></em></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>Step 3:</strong> Search for domains with combinations of my words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The suggestion is to use <a href="http://www.bustaname.com/" target="_blank">Bust a Name</a> to find available domains, but it doesn’t search for any .com.au domains, only .com, .net, .org etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the ones using my combinations above include:</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Hotspoteducation.net</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Educationhotspot.net</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Hotlesson.com</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Lessonhive.com</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The list is so extensive, it’s somewhat overwhelming…mmmmm this is difficult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you have any suggestions on how to make this not seem so hard?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it’s best to just go with a bunch of names that I like and seem catchy and then see if they are available.</span></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: magenta;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">If you have any tips for me or any name ideas then I’m all ears </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Georgia; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Georgia; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></span></strong></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-10109686543017144212012-01-08T20:06:00.000+08:002012-01-08T20:06:49.250+08:00Help Me Define My Topic For My New Blog<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The first thing I need to do is work out what I want my topic to be. Let's have a look at what I have so far.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1</span>.</span> What are my goals for my new blog?</strong> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The first step in defining my topic is thinking about my goals - why do I want to start this blog? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I would like something fun and enjoyable to work on</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I want to find other people with a similar interest to connect with</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I want to be able to really immerse myself in a new challenge</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">It would be nice to be a leader in the field and produce something meaningful</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">It needs to have minimal establishment costs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Help me become a better writer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Reach a wide audience</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Produce enough income to have as my primary job.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>2. Li</strong></span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>st possible topics that I have a) experience in, b) an interest in and c) think I could be good at writing about.</strong> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">So here is the hard part, write down all possible topic ideas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Homemade items: I definitely have an interest in this and I think I could be good at this, but I don't have too much experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Critiquing and discussing TV programs. I watch a lot of TV and really enjoy it and I could definitely write about this. But maybe it would become a bit mundane after a while?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">How to be organised. I am very experienced in being organised, and I could definitely write about this. I'm also always interested in finding out about tips and tricks to lead a more organised life. Although not sure how to monetise this?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Education. I could share programs, lesson plans, other resources and write about the latest innovations. I'm experienced in primary education, am definitely interested and I know I can write about this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Children's books. I could have a go at writing these and sharing the process and finished products on the blog. I'm interested in this and I think I could do it, but I have no experience in actually writing a children's book. Although I could link this in with an education blog and write books to accompany teaching lesson plans and programs??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Something to do with novels, maybe similar to the TV idea?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>3. Review the list against my original goals and criteria.</strong> Eliminate those that don't match. Make a short list and narrow it down to the top 3.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I don't think I could really immerse myself and be a leader in the field with a blog about TV programs or homemade items. Even with novels, I'm not really sure how to fully define this topic and it's definitely been done a lot before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong>So that leaves being organised and education. What do you think?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I'm definitely leaning towards education as I feel I have a lot I could share with teachers, parents or anyone who has an interest in education. I could then tie in the children's books idea at some stage as well. I know that there is ample information out there on education so I wonder if I could really succeed at this. However, I know when I searched for programs and lesson plan ideas as a teacher, there was a lot out there but they were not of a very high quality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I'm not sure how many people would be interested in tips and tricks for leading a more organised life. I may need to do a bit more research on this to see what's already out there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I also really need to consider if I can make money from these topic choices as this is one of my goals. The education blog I think would be much easier than the organised blog. For the education blog I could sell lesson plans, programs, eBooks, digital resources for the smart boards and maybe some sort of consulting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">For the organised blog I could do some affiliate advertising (this is earning a commission for selling other people's products) maybe an eBook on tips and tricks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><strong><span style="color: magenta;">What do you think are the pros and cons of these topic choices?</span></strong> </span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com5Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.8573389-31.9797991 115.8178569 -31.9259081 115.89682090000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-78533049043246681452012-01-03T20:53:00.000+08:002012-01-03T21:50:19.139+08:00The Big Challenge Takes Shape<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I've had a bit more of a think about my big challenge and how to go about tackling this. Let me explain... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I mentioned in my previous post I've really enjoyed writing this blog and reading others. Before I started my own blog I had only really ever read a couple of blogs of friends. Since I've started writing my own I'm really into researching and reading all sorts of blogs. Currently I'm reading blogs about education, how to create your own blog and make money, how to find your passion, happiness blogs, digital graphics and the list goes on.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So I'm thinking my new challenge will need to involve a blog somehow. And then I came across the blog </span><a href="http://thinktraffic.net/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Think Traffic</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">. I found a post about a new challenge that the owner Corbett Barr was setting for himself and inviting people to join him. The project is </span><a href="http://thinktraffic.net/the-million-dollar-blog-project" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Million Dollar Blog Project.</span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> If you want an in depth look at what's involved in this project check out the link.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But basically it works like this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Think Traffic will build a profitable blog and we're invited to follow along; </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They will show exactly how they do this, from picking a topic, developing content, building a site, building an audience and generating an income; and </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are a couple of rules for participants (by the way it's free :-)) including keeping an <a href="http://melscrossroad.blogspot.com/p/accountability-journal-mdbp.html" target="_blank">accountability journal</a>, installing a couple of traffic measurement tools and reporting any income made.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This project has already started and they have over 330 blogs signed up. I have a lot of work to do in catching up and making a start. I really want to do this well so I will be asking for your feedback along the way. I will keep my accountability journal as part of this blog so you can see how I'm progressing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However there is much to do even before I think about launching such a site. Some of my initial tasks include:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Registering for the challenge and reading through the various posts</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Picking a topic</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Coming up with a name for the blog</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Setting up the <a href="http://melscrossroad.blogspot.com/p/accountability-journal-mdbp.html" target="_blank">accountability journal</a></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Building the blog</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Writing content</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Launching the blog</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I hear you asking why this, why am I setting myself this challenge? A couple of things have come to light since I started this journey and that have helped me see that this could be a really positive thing. These things include:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I really like the idea of being my own boss; this could be an avenue to make this happen. However, I will need to be very careful in my blog topic choice. Previous experience has shown me that if I'm not fully committed to the product then it will likely be a flop. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Much to my amazement I like writing and sharing information with people. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I find technology and the information that's available quite intriguing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So stay tuned as I have lots to do and I can't wait to share my challenge.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But first I'd like to know...what do you think?</span></span></strong></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.8573389-31.9797991 115.8178569 -31.9259081 115.89682090000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-20026180369950506002011-12-29T21:17:00.000+08:002012-01-03T19:28:37.788+08:0026 Things You May Not Know About Me (but that may help me find my passion/s)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I thought it might be a good idea to share some things about me that you may not know. There is a purpose to this....it will provide some insight into who I am but also into the types of things in my life that I have really enjoyed, been good at or struggled with. Hopefully by thinking about these things I will be a step closer to determining my passion. So here goes :-)) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1.<strong> I am 35 years old</strong>, but today as I'm writing this and going on 4 hours sleep (thanks to little Miss Em) I feel much older!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I have had many jobs in my short working life.</b> It goes a bit like this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Checkout chick at Woolworths. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had this job through high school and it was a pretty good way to earn some extra cash while still at school. I was pretty good at this job...I often won the prize for the fastest scanner ;-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After high school I went to TAFE and studied to be a social trainer (working with people with disabilities), but most of the work available was in group homes and I didn't really see myself working in one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I got a job as a telemarketer for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. This involved phoning random people to sell raffle tickets (yes one of those people!). Again I did quite well in this; I won the prize for most tickets sold.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I decided I needed a new direction so my Mum and I bought a lunch bar /deli together. I was only about 19 so this was a bit of an eye opener. Wow, we worked so hard in those 3 years, we didn't end up making any money, in fact I think we lost money. I hated working with food, but it was kind of cool owning my own business. I liked the idea of being able to make all the decisions and not having anyone to answer to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I sold this I thought I could work with my Dad and train to be an auto electrician. This didn't really work for me as I decided that I really hate getting my hands dirty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Next I started applying for various types of jobs. I ended up getting a job as a trainee manager for Dick Smith Electronics. This was okay, but definitely wasn't really challenging enough for me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That's when Mum decided that I had to go to university :-)). Somehow she managed to get me in and I trained to be a teacher. On completion of my degree I taught in regional Western Australia for 5 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And finally I've been working at a university as a course coordinator for the past 2 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3.<strong> When I was a kid my sisters and I were really involved in little athletics.</strong> The one thing that I was really good at was the 1500m walk. I even managed to win state medals in this and represent WA in Singapore.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">4.<strong> I have completed a university degree - Bachelor of Education (primary) with first class honours.</strong> My thesis was: A study to identify and define an online learning environment in a primary school context. I also won the dux of our graduating year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">5.<strong> I always felt that I was the ugly duckling and the dumb one out of my sisters</strong>. I don't know where this stemmed from (although I do remember at athletics a girl ranking me as the ugliest out of my sisters) but it stuck with me for a very long time. I really only overcame these feelings when I graduated from Uni.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">6.<strong> I really love going out for meals at flashy restaurants.</strong> I would do this at least weekly if Stevie let me and I could afford it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">7. <strong>I bought my first house with my sis Shells when I was 18</strong> and it cost the huge sum of $49 500.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">8. <strong>When we were kids I always made my sisters play various games with me</strong>. I was really good at organising the games and somehow making them play with me. Some of my favourites included having a bank, library, restaurant and school. This was never half hearted; I had menus for the restaurant, money and cheque books for the bank, a borrowing system for the library and a classroom with a blackboard for the school.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">9. <strong>I met my husband playing volleyball.</strong> Later he told me that he used to park his car near mine so that we would have to walk out together and chat; he must have thought I was pretty alright.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">10.<strong> My favourite books</strong> include </span><a href="http://www.brycecourtenay.com/book.asp?bid=10" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://www.dianagabaldon.com/writing/the-outlander/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">the Cross Stitch (Outlander) series by Diana Gabaldon</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Wind-Margaret-Mitchell/dp/0446365386" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">11. <strong>I love music;</strong> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I can't be at home and not have music on</b>. Some of the bands I'm really into at the moment include </span><a href="http://florenceandthemachine.net/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Florence and the Machine</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://www.adele.tv/home/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Adele</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://www.powderfinger.com/?skipintro=0.20475146156123641" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Powderfinger</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://gotye.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gotye</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">12. <strong>As I love music so much and like singing I always wished I could sing.</strong> I always try to convince myself that I don't sound that bad....but I secretly know that it's not great. Maybe this is something to add to my ‘I wish I could’ list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">13. <strong>One of my pet hates; people that won't commit to attending an event,</strong> just in case something better comes along.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">14. <strong>I really like having a good debate.</strong> I enjoy hearing other people's opinions and sharing my own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">15. <strong>I love watching trashy TV, much to Stevie's disgust.</strong> Some of the series I'm really into at the moment include </span><a href="http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-vampire-diaries" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Vampire Diaries</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">,</span><a href="http://www.hbo.com/true-blood/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> True Blood</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><a href="http://abc.go.com/shows/greys-anatomy" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Grey's Anatomy</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://www.sho.com/site/tara/home.sho" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">United States of Tara</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">16. <strong>Having a good belly laugh is awesome.</strong> I like people that make me laugh and don't take themselves too seriously.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">17. <strong>I'm not much in to outdoor activities but Stephen is great at encouraging me to try new things.</strong> The latest venture is kayaking. I didn't really want to give this a go, but Stephen persisted and I actually get quite a bit of joy from it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">18. <strong>One of the things that I really enjoyed as a teacher was thinking about ways that I could engage the kids that I was teaching.</strong> I always tried new ideas, loved writing programs and lesson plans and researching new educational innovations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">19. <strong>I don't know how I could survive without technology.</strong> I am on the internet every day and I am still amazed at how so much information is at my fingertips. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">20. <strong>Having a pedicure or foot massage is one of the most divine things in the world.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">21. <strong>I had really bad acne as a teenager</strong>. I tried every treatment under the sun but eventually went on Roaccutane to get rid of this. This is pretty nasty stuff, but it did the job. I have some scarring on my face that I think is quite bad. This has really bugged me for many years, so I've decided to do something about it. I've started having some treatment through a cosmetic doctor; specifically laser genesis and lime light to try and help with this. So far I've had 2 treatments and already I've noticed my skin seems clearer, and it's not as red. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">22. <strong>Since starting this blog, I've become a bit obsessed.</strong> It's the first thing I think about in the morning as well as the thing I think about as I fall asleep. I'm really into reading other people’s blogs and learning how it's all meant to work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">23. <strong>I've never felt that I was a good writer.</strong> What I've realised is that if I practice I can improve this skill.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">24. <strong>I would love to write a children's book</strong> but because of my fear above never felt this was achievable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">25. <strong>When I lived in Karratha I started up a maternity wear business with my sister Shells and a friend.</strong> It was called M&M Maternity. We didn't do great with this, mainly due to lack of time to fully commit to it. However there was definitely a market there. I think it also didn't help that none of us were really that interested in maternity wear. I think to succeed at something like this you must be quite passionate about the product.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">26. <strong>I really dislike mornings.</strong> I have terrible morning moods and I don't fully wake up and function properly until morning tea time.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So what can I surmise from all of these things that might help with finding my passion?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I really miss thinking about new ideas, lessons and innovations that can engage kids in the classroom;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I like technology and researching information;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have tried self-employment before but not with any great success, mainly due to a lack of interest in the service and product;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I enjoy writing a blog, listening to music, reading and watching trashy TV;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The one thing that I've actually persisted with and done really well at is my teaching degree; and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mornings are not the best time of day for me to be productive.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Well let me ask you, is there anything coming through that rings my passion?</span></strong></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-25610874711120000572011-12-16T19:29:00.001+08:002012-01-02T21:12:54.730+08:00Holidays and Reflection<span style="font-family: inherit;">For those of you who were thinking I had been a bit quiet on the blog posts.....I'm on holidays! Stevie, Em and I are over in Queensland (Bundaberg specifically) for Christmas and a well deserved break ;-)). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The plane trip over was not too hard with Em (except of course for the 20 minute tantrum when trying to get her to sleep). We did also have a slight baggage issue.....where mine and Stevie's suitcases didn't turn up. They finally arrived the next day at 11am and 4pm. Not fun being in dirty clothes for that whole time!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Em has been having an absolute blast playing with all of her cousins over here. I'm sure Christmas day is going to be hectic with Em and her 10 cousins going crazy! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So I've had quite a bit of time to reflect on my progress so far with finding my passion. I'm relatively happy where I'm at, but as usual I feel I could be doing more. I think Donna summed me up nicely in her comment where she said, "you take a great deal of pleasure in achieving new goals."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">With this in mind I am setting myself a new challenge. The challenge is still forming in my head, but it's definitely going to be BIG :-)). Now don't panic, this isn't going to be some whim that I'll give up on in 5 minutes (I know what you're thinking Stevie ;-)). This challenge I think will align with what I think is a passion of mine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'll keep you posted on my thinking as it becomes a bit clearer. I do know that I'll be needing your input and thoughts, but I'm definitely excited about getting started on this new challenge!</span>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-76842283139312907912011-12-07T19:47:00.002+08:002012-01-02T21:16:32.053+08:00My First Picture<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So I’ve been spending some time trying to draw pictures in Paint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found a tutorial online and have used that to help draw my first picture :-).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to have a go at drawing a picture in Paint, you can access the tutorials at this </span><a href="http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_3007_draw-cartoons-microsoft-paint.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">link</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The picture was mainly drawn using the line tool and the oval shape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used the eraser quite a bit to remove parts of the picture that overlapped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also used the fill tool and airbrush for adding the colour and effects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m actually pretty happy with my first attempt at a picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t too difficult and it actually turned out much better than what I thought I could do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will find some more tutorials to help me draw pictures, so that it gives me a chance to learn the different features in Paint.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think the hard thing will be to draw my own design!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway check out my picture below and let me know what you think.</span></div>
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</div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com3Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-15777007820986067082011-12-05T21:41:00.002+08:002012-01-03T19:36:43.528+08:00What Do You Like To Talk About?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the next question that I thought I might tackle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I may need some help with this one…For those of you out there reading that know me, what do you think I talk about the most?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What topic makes my eyes brighten up and changes my behaviour?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Geez this one’s a hard one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I talk about lots of stuff, probably just because I like talking <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I asked Shell Bell what she thought, she said I talk about work a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think this is particularly because I love my job, but more that I’m just really involved with my job and no matter what job I’ve had I’ve always talked about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know I talk about ideas quite a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I mean by this, is I’ve always got some bright idea about how to make my life more organised or run more smoothly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A classic example of this was yesterday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was out with my Mum and sis Netts and we were generally just chatting about stuff and the topic got onto cooking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now let me tell you this is a real issue in my household.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both Stevie and I hate to cook and it’s a drama that unfolds every night at about 6:30pm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we’ve come up with cooking nights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I work part time I cook 3 nights during the week and Stevie does 1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we always have takeout on Friday night and then it used to be whatever goes on the weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this wasn’t really working for us as we were eating too much junk food, so now we take 1 night each on the weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So because I hate thinking about cooking and food I had a brainwave a few months ago and came up with a fortnightly menu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a different recipe for each night that I cooked and rotated through for 2 weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The recipes I picked all had to be relatively easy and cook within about 30min.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This worked pretty good for a while, but then after a couple of months it just dropped by the wayside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When Netts and Mum quizzed me on this yesterday, I said there were a few reasons why this couldn’t be maintained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are as follows; </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I hate following a recipe to cook, it takes too much thinking;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of the recipes used unusual ingredients which meant I couldn’t often get them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it was too hard to think of a substitute; </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had to write a shopping list, which isn’t so bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when I follow the list it takes longer in the shop and little Miss Emily doesn’t like to spend too long in the trolley shopping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I have a limited window of opportunity before she decides to crack it; and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I got sick of the recipes so I think it would be better to rotate 3-4weekly</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So after discussing with Mum and Netts I’ve come up with another brainwave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will try the rotating menu again, but this time I will focus on recipes that I just know and that are easy and that I don’t need to follow the recipe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will do this 3 weekly to maintain variety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I may need to write a shopping list, but I don’t think this will be too bad, as if I know the recipes I’m cooking I generally know the ingredients so I should just be able to grab them in the shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So far on my menu I have:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Spaghetti bolognaise (easy peasy)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lamb rack with steamed vegies </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">BBQ chicken and salad</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tuna mornay, rice and vegies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Steak and salad</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Does anyone out there have an easy recipe that doens't require much thought? I’ll work on this a bit more when I get back from holidays and let you know how I go!</span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: purple; font-family: inherit;">So as you can see I’m full of grand ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not really sure what else I talk about, so I hand over to you… HELP!!</span></strong></div>
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<br /></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com4Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-49599026181466519762011-12-01T15:43:00.002+08:002012-01-03T19:38:01.071+08:00I Wish I Could.....<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I feel like I need to take some action with finding my passion, rather than just answering all these questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s probably time I started to banish some of my fears and start trying some new things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll still keep working on my lists but I also want to be trying some things out at the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I thought it would be good to start a series of blog posts about all the things I wish I could do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe a list of all those things I dreamed of doing, even though they’re probably ridiculously impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So first on the list of I Wish I Could…</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: inherit;">Draw</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve always been amazed at those people who can draw, paint, sculpt and create pieces of artwork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now if you’ve ever played Pictionary with me you will know how terribly bad I am at drawing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s even more humorous is I also taught art for 2 years up in Dampier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The grade 1’s and 2’s thought my artworks were pretty cool though<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was walking through Fremantle the other day and there was a man sitting at a Café with his art pad and water colours painting the harbour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This just seemed like such a nice thing to be doing on a beautiful sunny day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have tried to take an art pad around and do this but have never really persisted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe because everything I produced was just so simplistic it turned me off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think if I’m not good at something straight away then I generally just give up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So where does that leave me with wishing I could draw….I think that I can still give this a go, but I’d like to try drawing electronically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t got access to any good software so I have been doing a bit of research on how to use Microsoft Paint for drawing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve started playing around with Paint and having a go with using some of the tools.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What I’ve managed to learn so far…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Draw a particular shape using the curved line </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Use the fill tool to colour </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Use the selection tool to move things around and delete and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Resize and copy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What I managed to produce is nothing earth shattering, as it was really just a way to practice using Paint, but it’s a start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel like it’s not a totally impossible wish to be able to draw digitally so I will keep working on this and as I produce something will post it here.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWXR4GDqTVNYsic0-cnZKUz7H0W0FufZ1Xt3aXHq-xS7490avHLB-mrY-t4u3IOS0fHME_jLd3QI83Al-0FAeBwR8mdD-Vz9Le2wa_3ZaaXpVnckgKlS1Zqx686vqSJHpjozuXBT7GCGZX/s1600/Flower+practice+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWXR4GDqTVNYsic0-cnZKUz7H0W0FufZ1Xt3aXHq-xS7490avHLB-mrY-t4u3IOS0fHME_jLd3QI83Al-0FAeBwR8mdD-Vz9Le2wa_3ZaaXpVnckgKlS1Zqx686vqSJHpjozuXBT7GCGZX/s320/Flower+practice+2.png" width="273" /></a></div>
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<strong><span style="color: magenta; font-family: inherit;">What is something that you wish you could do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe now is the time to challenge yourself to something new!!!</span></strong></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com2Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-55098802741810000862011-11-28T21:00:00.002+08:002012-01-03T19:39:06.953+08:00What Puts A Smile On Your Face?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So I’ve started thinking about answering some of the questions in the resources I’ve found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, when I compiled a list of all the questions it looks pretty hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t really know where to start and I definitely think I will need some help in answering some of the questions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m not going to answer the questions in any particular order, but rather whatever grabs my fancy at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one seemed a good place to start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t think too much about my answers, but just list down whatever pops in my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll start to analyse my answers at a later time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What puts a smile on your face?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there an event or topic that makes your whole face light up?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Being organised and having a plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It sounds a bit lame, but I have a real sense of accomplishment and satisfaction if I’m organised.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Reading a really good book that I can’t put down and then talking about it with someone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Eating crinkle cut hot chips with heavy chicken salt and vinegar<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sure how this will help me find my passion, but definitely puts a smile on my face!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Surprisingly the thing that is really making me happy at the moment and putting a smile on my dial, is writing this blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thinking about different ways to solve a problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This could be a problem at work or home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Talking about different ideas and possibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sharing my ideas (and advice) with other people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Reading about new ideas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thinking of different ways to make money.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Well these are some of the things that put a smile on my face, I can’t really think of any more at the moment, but I may come back at a later time and add more….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I thought I’d finish off with a few quotes I found about smiling:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“A smile is like tight underwear - it makes your cheeks go up”.</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> ~Author Unknown</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“You're never fully dressed without a smile”</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. ~Martin Charnin</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown”</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. ~Author Unknown</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it”.</i> ~Andy Rooney</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing”.</i> ~Mother Teresa</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: inherit;">WHAT PUTS A SMILE ON YOUR FACE?</span></b></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-21634662277381194312011-11-24T18:13:00.000+08:002012-01-03T19:40:03.881+08:00Is It Possible To Find True Happiness?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">How do we find happiness and fulfilment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the purpose of life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mmmm quite BIG questions, but according to Stephen he believes the ultimate questions of my blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He even sent me a list of quotes relating to these questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the quotes talk about finding the happiness within and it’s not a matter of events or circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve been thinking quite a lot about happiness and how it links in with exploring my other path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would say that they probably go hand in hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the last couple of months I have actually been feeling really happy and well within myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this change came about from a course I attended at work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the modules talked about Emotional Intelligence and Positive Self Talk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I realised that I don’t have very positive self-talk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then, I’ve really made a conscious effort to be more positive with my self-talk and in turn I feel happy <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I talked with Stephen about this change in thinking and explained that because I feel happier I am thinking more about where I’m at in my life and thus why I want to explore my other path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stephen thinks it’s a bit weird that I’ve started this blog, but I’m finding it quite therapeutic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now for those of you out there who may also be in search of happiness, fulfilment or whatever it is you want to call it, I’ve found a couple of resources that may help you.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/the-year-of-happiness-challenge.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Happiness Project</span></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Gretchen Rubin spent time sifting through different studies and theories on happiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result of this she produced a book titled ‘The Happiness Project’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To extend this concept further she has also started the 2011 Happiness Challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each month this year she has picked a theme and then each week she sets a resolution to do with happiness and the theme to try and achieve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not too late to have a go!</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.getinthehotspot.com/101-ways-to-feel-happy/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">101 Ways To Feel Happy</span></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a list of 101 ways to help you feel happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are things on the list as simple as “smile”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I’ll give some of the things on the list a go….</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: inherit;">WHAT’S 1 THING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?</span></u></b></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com4Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-27215847794200284482011-11-23T21:20:00.001+08:002012-01-03T19:40:25.786+08:001 More Resource To Help Find Your Passion<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I just found a blog post titled: <strong><a href="http://www.online-college-blog.com/features/100-useful-web-tools-to-help-you-find-your-passion-calling-or-career/" target="_blank">100 Useful Web Tools to Help You Find Your Passion, Calling or Career.</a></strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This looks rather interesting and I will explore some of the resources further.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I did notice there was a link to an address by Steve Jobs (Apple).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found his address quite inspiring and thought you might like to have a read too – </span><a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html" target="_blank"><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">You’ve Got To Find What You Love</span></strong></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-82809103324652361242011-11-23T20:53:00.003+08:002012-01-03T19:40:55.921+08:005 Resources To Help You Find Your Passion<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have been scouring the internet for some potential resources to help direct me in finding my passion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been quite a task as there is so much out there, as I’m sure you’re all aware with the internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I have narrowed it down to a few that may be useful.</span></div>
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<strong><a href="http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/04/7-questions-to-finding-your-true-passion/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1. </span></span>7 Questions To Finding Your True Passion</span></a></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This website asks 7 questions to help work out what your passion is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the questions look easier to answer than others, maybe a good place to start!</span></div>
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<strong><a href="http://www.getinthehotspot.com/how-to-work-out-what-your-dream-is/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2. </span></span>How To Work Out What Your Dream Is</span></a></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This blog entry is similar to the abovementioned site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Annabel discusses the 7 steps to help you work out what your dream could be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it will be best to combine the ideas from both of these websites.</span></div>
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<strong><a href="http://passivepanda.com/finding-your-passion" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3. </span></span>How To Find Your Passion (The Secret You Need To Hear)</span></a></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This article looks at finding your passion in a slightly different way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author, James Clear, believes that “passions are born out of experiences” and that this is so for work and life in general.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He goes on to mention that if you are not finding your passion in what you’re currently doing then you may need to put yourself out there and maybe try new things and create new experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<strong><a href="http://academicearth.org/lectures/how-do-you-find-your-passion-and-pursue-it" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4. </span></span>How Do You Find Your Passion and How Do You Pursue It?</span></a></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a 4 minute video by Randy Komisar (virtual CEO and professor) discussing a “portfolio of passions”, rather than just the one passion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then goes on to talk about how to match these passions with the opportunities available to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This video makes me think that I’ve been looking at finding my passion in a way that could never be achieved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What’s in the foreground and how do they sync up with my passions that I have today”, definitely something to ponder further.</span></div>
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<strong><a href="http://www.pluginid.com/how-to-find-your-passion/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5. </span></span>How To Find Your Core Passion</span></a></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I quite like this article.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author again lists some questions to answer to help discover your passion, but I also like the way that he provides a brief synopsis of his journey and how he answered the questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again I will incorporate these questions in my own list of questions to answer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the coming weeks and blog posts I will explore some of these resources further and begin to answer some of the questions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This post was written for the cash giveaway by </span><a href="http://www.successfulblogging.com/"><span style="color: #2361a1; font-family: inherit;">Successful Blogging</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://www.rocketmanmedia.com.au/RocketFuel/" jquery1322056148424="7"><span style="color: #2361a1; font-family: inherit;">RocketFuel</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> who connect brands with bloggers.</span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-7446421044804801892011-11-21T15:02:00.001+08:002012-01-03T19:41:15.209+08:00Inspirational<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Does anyone out there have an inspirational person in their life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe someone that motivated you to try something different or to change or to follow your dream or maybe just someone you went ‘wow’ to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have such a person, and unknowingly to this person, she has inspired me to look for something more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My person had a complete upheaval of her life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One minute she was working away at her job in Perth, then the next she relocated all the way to Iceland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am still amazed at the complete turn around and dedication that it must have taken to sell up everything, leave family and friends and move to a completely foreign location.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me, this person is such a positive role model and it really makes me believe that it’s not entirely impossible to find and follow a passion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think the next step will be to do some hard work to actually determine what my passion could be…..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But I would also like to know, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">who inspires you and why?</b></span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-92043788551397787632011-11-20T16:27:00.001+08:002012-01-03T19:42:22.847+08:00Introducing<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I thought that maybe as I will be writing about exploring my other path and will be talking about the key people in my life I should introduce them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So introducing:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The husband – aka Stephen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This photo really sums up Stephen – he loves the water.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRbn0aLZy3YZy0XPjckXG53woIp9eD1i23nXgfl8u9HemUrUDMG-MNP70M1loG-7HXIw57rNAuNl-GWOByvjg5AT3mxFpnVXCPPgU6zsZ_gxxVZnUsr021n-0nAWNUyteeNfM1NdVqiZD/s1600/Stephen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRbn0aLZy3YZy0XPjckXG53woIp9eD1i23nXgfl8u9HemUrUDMG-MNP70M1loG-7HXIw57rNAuNl-GWOByvjg5AT3mxFpnVXCPPgU6zsZ_gxxVZnUsr021n-0nAWNUyteeNfM1NdVqiZD/s320/Stephen.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The daughter – aka Emily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emily is now 16months and can do no wrong in Grandma and Grandpa’s eyes (first grandchild).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Qtdi8LwcrSJWZr0JcgiHEOlM1hJ3oejgV2T-OBa8TeyjoIspCdooTEGZldwFl5Gn5rNQPmL6WVNOE7Y0shx2xVJyJuhvq6Bcumv6DCRv2cEykcmAWylX9Bp1g2WzQf6W0p1eXSB9TJwg/s1600/Emily.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Qtdi8LwcrSJWZr0JcgiHEOlM1hJ3oejgV2T-OBa8TeyjoIspCdooTEGZldwFl5Gn5rNQPmL6WVNOE7Y0shx2xVJyJuhvq6Bcumv6DCRv2cEykcmAWylX9Bp1g2WzQf6W0p1eXSB9TJwg/s320/Emily.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The dog – aka Buffy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Buffy, it’s all about playing and chasing her toys.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaKiDb4-5_JzMTi2F5c0osYrc8HnfjVzdA7_QTBBtGjEbCRLEQJvsjErxU3Jsa65D5TC8wltjTlwemE_22Dt_f0kbi44TOnLzqk6gCl5aA-GQ9JOfdRK7nkIIuszLcqkl4chZfNijOXLIJ/s1600/Buffy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaKiDb4-5_JzMTi2F5c0osYrc8HnfjVzdA7_QTBBtGjEbCRLEQJvsjErxU3Jsa65D5TC8wltjTlwemE_22Dt_f0kbi44TOnLzqk6gCl5aA-GQ9JOfdRK7nkIIuszLcqkl4chZfNijOXLIJ/s320/Buffy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The sisters – aka Shell Bell, Manda and Netts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably my best friends!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkyAi6YCcxqtlbbDFyXqQ_sXl5RbMXY2qa75K2elGbYVdAgsyV8G7G_Twd616cuytSovH3qduxlkw5hpoyR9eYxK8OGkS1mIZ6hIuLLBYLsttWxu8x08UQyWGcp3hULm36Nlxye2XiSQ1/s1600/sisters_boat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkyAi6YCcxqtlbbDFyXqQ_sXl5RbMXY2qa75K2elGbYVdAgsyV8G7G_Twd616cuytSovH3qduxlkw5hpoyR9eYxK8OGkS1mIZ6hIuLLBYLsttWxu8x08UQyWGcp3hULm36Nlxye2XiSQ1/s320/sisters_boat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A bit of a golden oldy, can you tell who is who??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mum and Dad – aka Grandma and Grandpa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all about Emily now and if you ask my sis Manda she’ll probably tell you that if Emily is in the room no one else exists ;-))</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mum didn't want me to use her photo, so I found this one instead ;-))</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Me - aka Mel and Mum, and trying to find what it is I want out of life.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com1Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-29423184306915001032011-11-15T19:36:00.001+08:002012-01-03T19:42:41.149+08:00Perseverance<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So I don’t really know much about blogging (maybe that’s obvious to you so far ;-)).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought I should do a bit of research to see what makes a good blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As usual with the internet I looked at so many things and got taken to many different blogs and advice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I did happen to come across this blog post and thought it somewhat appropriate to my journey, </span><a href="http://www.getinthehotspot.com/10-ways-to-get-the-life-you-want/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">click here</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Annabel discusses 10 ways to get the life you want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is also a link to a blog post about finding your dream (or as I like to call it, my passion).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the ideas that resonated with me was ‘staying focused’ and that it could take a long time to achieve your goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I have had a lengthy discussion with Stephen on this very topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I mentioned I wanted to start a blog to write about this journey he spoke to me about perseverance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that if I was going to do something like this it takes work and I need to commit to it and will need to persevere with this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mmmmm is this my husband trying to burst my bubble….or does he know what I’m like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I must admit, I do like having a new project and a new idea and I do get bored easily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, is this any reason not to try to follow a passion?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I just haven’t found my passion yet and thus why I am always looking for a new project.</span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com3Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-29845838827338645242011-11-14T16:34:00.001+08:002012-01-03T19:43:02.539+08:00Do you have a passion?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I decided to broach this crossroad subject and feeling with my sisters; surely they would have an opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now to give you a little bit of background about ‘the sisters’, they’re never short of an opinion or of sharing this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now don’t get me wrong…I’m exactly the same <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another piece of information about the ‘sisters’ is that we’re not real deep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I talked about crossroads, is this it, finding a different path, I kind of got a weird look and was promptly told “geez that’s a bit deep isn’t it”?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When my big sis (Shell Bell) asked me a bit more about my thinking, I mainly spoke about wanting to be doing something I was more passionate about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to be inspired and engaged in what I’m doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And not asking too much, I want this in my personal life and my work life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her response, “but you love your job”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ponder this statement now as I’m writing….At the time I said ‘yes’ I do and thinking about it now I do really like my job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But is this enough?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We spend so much of our adult life working, why can’t I have passion and be inspired with my work?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When talking on this topic with my husband (Stephen) he is very much of the view that ‘we work to live’, it’s all about what we do outside of work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I really love immersing myself into my work; it’s a huge part of my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to be passionate about my work and be inspired by what I’m doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So my question to you; is anyone out there really passionate about what they’re doing, are you inspired???<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would love to hear about your passion!</span></div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com1Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920206560414516311.post-64753700257888870852011-11-11T20:59:00.011+08:002012-01-03T19:43:19.100+08:00Is this it?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Okay so here it is…..I woke up a few weeks ago with this real sense of “is this it”, “should I be doing something more”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know why I had this feeling, is it because I turned 35 this year; maybe I’m starting my mid-life crisis early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe having a baby has made me re-evaluate where I’m at in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing I definitely know is that I feel as if I’m at a crossroad in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can continue on the current path I’m on, or I can look at exploring another path for myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So….this is what this blog is about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a way of sharing my journey with you; and I hope you can share with me any advice, thoughts or experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know where this is going or if I will take the other path, but one thing I do know is that I want to see what else is out there for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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</div>Mel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17633594256479220443noreply@blogger.com0Perth WA, Australia-31.9528536 115.85733890000006-31.971037600000002 115.83210040000006 -31.9346696 115.88257740000006