a new year happiness list

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I am a big list maker. Totally love them. 

Naturally, as I love lists and am a seeker of happiness, it would be logical for me to have a happiness list. 

I originally wrote my first happiness list to help me easily and quickly know what to do when I had a free moment to myself to feel happier. You know, like a quick fix for those down moments in life.

I found it really helpful. In fact it changed my life. From this experience I now personally believe everyone would benefit from writing their own happiness list.

The ideas on my personal list are generally quick happiness ideas and help to change my mood when I am feeling down. Some of my other ideas are long term goals and ideas to bring happiness to our family and to my heart.

As many of us at this time of year are setting new goals and planning out our year, why not consider writing a happiness list instead? A short list or even a longer list of ideas that you want to try or do to help you feel happier during your year.

To help get you started I have written an ebook: Pockets of Happiness to give you an example of how I go about creating my own personal happiness list.

This ebook is an insight into how I have come to find more happiness in my life. I wrote this ebook to help those of you who struggle with finding time for you during your day.

I get asked all the time how I manage to fit time in for myself with seven children, so I have shared a few of my secrets. I even have created a some ideas you can borrow and use to start from.

Many of my readers who already own a copy of Pockets of Happiness have told me that they originally did not think they needed to read my ebook. However, after reading it they realised they did need it to help bring more happiness to their life.

Today to help you get started on your own happiness list and to plan out an awesome 'happier' year in 2012 I am allowing you to download a copy of my ebook for free.

I am only going to have my ebook: Pockets of Happiness available for free for you today.
I hope it will help you find greater happiness and joy in 2012.

The time limit has now run out to get your free copy. I hope you enjoy reading it.

My ebook is now available to purchase for $4.95

Happy New Year Everyone.

holiday mode

Holiday mode = Pool + Cherubs

Every day I am watching cherubs in my pool.

I am reading, relaxing and eating.

{I have to admit I am kind of over the eating part!}

I am treasuring, cherishing and soaking in my cherubs.

Connecting, chatting and feasting on their goodness and love.

I am loving the Christmas break.

Total Bliss!

Seven Cherubs wishes you Merry Christmas

Just popping in to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I am taking a blog break and plan on spending a lot of time in the pool with my cherubs or smurfs!

I have some guest posts lined up for you to enjoy and look forward to catching up with you again in the New Year. 

Thank you for your wonderful support in 2011.

Kimochis review - toys with feelings inside

As a mother I know that often our children struggle to communicate what they want or need. They can struggle with knowing ways to share their feelings and can find it difficult to express how they are feeling to parents, friends and even teachers at school. Kimochis is a company that has developed toys that help children, in a playful way, learn to communicate and express their feelings in a more effective manner.

Kimochis' (means 'feelings' in Japanese) are small soft pillows that come with cute characters such as: Cloud, Huggtopus, Cat and Bella Rose. Each Kimochis pillow has a facial expression that represents a feeling on one side and on the other, the name of that feeling. These feelings range from angry and sad, to happy and loved. There are 24 different pillows available.

The larger toy characters have feelings just like children do. Each character has a special pouch in front into which "feelings" or smaller pillows are placed. Using the character and the Kimochis pillows, children can get in touch with their emotions or feelings in a fun and comfortable way through puppetry and play. When children can communicate how they feel effectively they will develop strong social skills, increase in self esteem and confidence and find it easier to build lasting friendships in life.

We had the wonderful opportunity to review some Kimochis products and I have to say I am really impressed with this idea and concept. Let me introduce you to a new member of our family, Cloud. He is a bit moody and unpredictable, just like the weather and maybe even a little just like me! When he is happy he spreads sunshine but when you turn his head his sad face signals that thunder is on it's way. Actually, I think he is totally like me!

We also received a story book of 'Cloud's best worst Day Ever'. The story books are to help children understand a little more about feelings and to connect with the character they will be learning with. As I read through the story with my children they could easily see how Cloud is like them, learning and discovering how he really feels and with ways to express himself. They could see that it is normal to have a hard time controlling your emotions and that friends will still care for you if you just try your best to not be hurtful to others.

When you purchase a Kimochis character it comes in its own box with three pillow feelings, which are different for each character, and a detailed Feel Guide, which is an instructional booklet. The booklet is full of fun, easy lessons and activities to try with your children. We have had a great time in our family trying some of these activities out.

I don't know about you but I am forever telling my children to use their words, to communicate with me so I can understand how they are feeling. With Kimochis pillows children are better able to use words to express how they feel. We were sent some extra pillows to play with and even a blank one you can use to write down a word your children and family may be familiar with. I love that they are bright in colour and just the right size for little hands. I also totally love the facial expressions on each pillow.

As a family our favourite Kimochis game is 'Kimochis Charade', where you pick a feeling and act it out. My favourite was Sam acting out Shy. He does not look shy at all! We had a great time and discovered it is hard to act out the word mad when you are laughing so much!

Kimochis here in Australia are already supporting many social and learning programs for 3-9 year olds in over 150 schools and kindergartens and hospitals. As an approved product on the rebate list of the Helping Children with Autism Government support package they have wonderful advocates for their products. They even have an Educators Tool Kit available to use for educators.

I would recommend Kimochis for every family to help children learn to express themselves. I cannot comment on if it would help families who have children with learning difficulties as we do not have that situation in our home. All I can say is that I know it is used by many speech pathologists and educators to help children who do have learning difficulties and as a mother I believe it would be a worthwhile purchase. You can view all the awards they have received here.

Since reviewing this product our family has been talking about 'feelings' at lot more and I have noticed my children have become more aware of how their actions may hurt others. I have been hearing more comments of, 'that hurts my feelings' for example. I love that it has helped us become more mindful.

What about you: How do you teach your children about 'feelings' in your home? 

Do they struggle to share how they feel?

Cloud retails at $49.95 and the mixed feeling pack retails at $19.95

The Kimochis books are available for $24.95

You can also find Kimochis on Facebook and Twitter

P.S - I have to give thanks to Kimochis as now all I have to do as a mother is hold up that cute little pillow that has the words Mad on it and my children scatter in one second. Haha!

an empty book

I have not felt much like writing this week.

My heart has been tender.

I have been pondering over some changes I want to make in my life.

To help me see things clearly I have looked at my life as a book.

So far in my life experiences I have filled many books.

Some of them have been sad stories and some of them joyful stories.

Each book I have filled has been been worth writing and recording.

Now I feel I am about to write a new book.

A new story, a new chapter of my life.

I am a little excited about this journey.

It is a fresh start with new clean paper. 

An unwritten story.

We can choose to write a new book at any time in our life.

We just need to open the cover and be ready to begin.

I look forward to sharing this adventure with you.

It may be boring, it may be fun, I don't know.

 But, it will be about me.

It may even be a little about you.

I hope you will join me for the journey.

I hope you will start your own story.

A Christ Centered Christmas

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This time of year we tend to get caught up in the rush and craziness that comes with purchasing presents, attending Christmas get togethers and school concerts or performances. All of these festive activities and pursuits of our time are wonderful and bring happiness to ourselves and others. In doing so we can often forget the reason for the season and the importance of having a Christ centred Christmas, if that is what your faith and tradition involves.

This year I am personally trying to put Christ back into Christmas a little more in our home. I am not one to force religion or my faith on others but I do love to share some of the faith filled activities we participate in as a family on my blog. After chatting to some Seven Cherubs fans on facebook we collected some ideas to help you keep a Christ centred Christmas in your homes. Some of these tips and suggestions could apply regardless of whether you are religious or not. They are about putting others first and of serving and uplifting families during this special time of year. 

Here are the suggestions below:

Jac - When I was younger Dad would read the Christmas story before we were allowed to open presents. I have also heard that some families choose a present to give to the less fortunate out of the presents they get on Christmas Day.

Amanda - Help the kids make Jesus a birthday present. Just decorate a shoe box and every time they do something that would make Jesus happy they write it down and put it in a box. Then on Christmas morning your read out all of Jesus's presents.

Pippi - We make a cake for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday. This year they are doing a 4-layer carrot cake.

Elizabeth - Make sure you always say Christmas not Xmas.

Rachael - We read The White Stocking poem and the idea is to get a white stocking and to fill it with pieces of paper as gifts to the Saviour that you will work on during the next year.

Kylie: Read the Christmas Story from the Bible and picture book variations up until Christmas. We never use or say Xmas instead of Christmas. We have an advent calendar where each day we have to do something eg. sing a Christmas carol, help someone etc. Acts of service and also read scriptures of Christ's life. Go see the Temple Christmas lights and program they have in Sydney. Display a nativity scene prominently in our home. I have one client who puts up the nativity first and then a week later the rest of the decorations. The nativity is the first one you see when you enter the house.

Gayelene - We do a grocery hamper for an anonymous family. I make the kids come with me to the grocery store to select things for the family that also includes a small gift for each person in that family. I love how considerate and thoughtful my kids have become over the years we have been doing this. We all then deliver it to the local charity that distributes it.

Gabby - We have a fisher price nativity scene, it's the little people's range & very cute. It reminds us & our 4 year old what its all about in a lovely way :)

Veronica - First time I'm making the effort since bub's are big enough - putting out a nativity set and reading kid's version of the Christmas story, talking about St Nicholas and giving as the connection to Santa Claus, getting a gift or two for charity. I'm still making it up as I go along but these are some thoughts.

Mandy -  We're really lucky, our local church role play the first christmas every night the week before Christmas. It is a tradition for us to go down and watch it. They spend the week before building the set, a lot of effort goes into it. Lovely local people putting in a lot of effort to get their message across. I just love that my kids get to know that Christmas is not just about presents.

Diana - I have 24 Christmas stories that I absolutely love. I read one per night to my children in the lead-up to Christmas. You can find them here. Tissues may be needed.

Marie - My girls when they were younger loved doing the Christmas tree gift tags at K Mart and Target. I still do that. We also love attending the Christmas carols by candlelight locally.

Emma - My son's class had a Posada where we each welcomed little Mary & Joseph figures (and their donkey) into our homes for a night on their journey. We lit a candle and read a Christmas story. Each night a different student takes them home. I know it made my children think more about the real meaning of Christmas.

In our family we love to watch these Life of Christ Bible video's together as a family.

I love all of these suggestions and we do many of them in our family as well. 

What do you do as a family to keep a Christ centred Christmas??

Jingle the Husky Pup and Ticklish Book Review + Giveaway

The days are flying by faster than I care to admit and Christmas is just around the corner. Eeek! I don't know about you but the more I am trying to slow down, the more life just keeps on speeding up. Today I thought I would share with you some great products I have been testing out and surprisingly it has involved a little jingling and a little tickling!

We have a new visitor in the Seven Cherubs house - Jingle the adorable husky pup.

Now this is no ordinary stuffed dog - this is a special dog from Hallmark. I have featured a recordable story book here on my blog before and this time Hallmark have taken it a step further by making the experience more interactive by including a toy with the story. Jingles the Husky Pup comes with a story book that you read to him and as you read certain key phrases in the story he responds with either a bark, a singing bark or a jingle.

Jingles is so soft and fluffy. I wish I had captured Libery's face when she first saw this dog. It was like a scene out of the movie 'Despicable Me' where the little girl gets her stuffed toy and hugs it and yells, 'It's so fluffy!' It really is that soft and fluffy. Liberty squeezed it and had that look on her face like I want to squash it to death and I just love it! 

We sat down to read the story and she was so shocked to discover that it actually speaks and makes a barking noise. Totally went up a notch in the 'I love you' stakes for Liberty. Since Jingles has come to stay at our home I have often found Liberty on the couch snuggled up with her Jingles dog reading the story together, her version of course. So clever and such fun to watch. 

Jingle All the Way (the book that comes with Jingles the Husky Pup) is a story about a good little dog named Jingle who did whatever he was told. The only thing Jingle couldn’t do was ‘go home’ because he didn’t have a home to go to. Jingle’s good behaviour and friendship is rewarded, as a boy who wants a dog and a dog who needs a home find each other.

Here is what I like about it:

* It includes a book that allows you to read to your cherubs and because there is the dog involved they are more likely to want to read with you. 

* The Jingles the Husky Pup toy is actually a good quality stuffed toy - soft and cute

* The Jingle All the way story book is a lovely Christmas story to own

* Kids can learn the key phrases to hear Jingles respond to them instead of knowing the whole story

It does say that clarity and speed of reading does affect the way Jingle responds. He may not always respond to young children. I tested it out on my kids and if they spoke clearly and loudly they could get a good response from Jingles. Check out the demo below to learn more:

Jingles retails for $34.99 and you get the book and the dog.

He can be purchased here.

Now that we have done some jingling in our home let's move on to the tickling. During the week I was sent a copy of the new book out Ticklish! by Dr Jennifer Barham-Floreani. This is her second published book and 'Ticklish' is targeted at parents of children aged 0-12. It's all about how to help your child learn, love and play and discusses easy ways parents can help improve their child’s general health, development and wellbeing.

Dr Jen is well equipped to be classed as an authority on paediatric health and holistic parenting as she is a chiropractor by trade, but also mother to four boys under the age of 12. A very busy mum and also an advocate for nurturing your children.

The book is called Ticklish for several reasons but one reason I love, that Dr Jen highlights, is that tickling needs to be done with 2 people, you cannot tickle yourself. In this way it is a lovely reminder that our children need us as parents to guide them, support them and believe in them.

The main focus of the book is that today we are raising children who face more physical, chemical and emotional stressors than any generation before. Therefore, parenting it is a new ball game and we need to parent differently than what was done in the past. With this approach Dr Jen teaches about affection, health, body balance and wellbeing in a way that I have never seen in a parenting book before. Naturally there is a section in the book on Chiropractic Care and I have to say I enjoyed the section on Power to Parents the most, encouraging us to also 'invest in you' as a parent.

To give you a little more insight into how Dr Jen feels about parenting here are her top parenting tips:

* Create laughter in the home with plenty of tickles and commit to expressing more affection.

* Spend time with your child each day—engaging and connecting with them, free of agendas.

* Know what increases their ‘feel good’ chemicals and try to get as many ‘feel good’ moments and less ‘out-of-sorts’ moments with your child (learn how neurochemicals influence your child).

* Make sure your child is getting ample sleep. If not, explore new bed-time rituals to facilitate better sleep.

* Be active. Limit your child’s television and electronic time and give little people an opportunity to the safely explore the world around them.

* Prioritize brain foods and good fats every day and stock the fridge with an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, preferably organic.

* Do an audit of your pantry and throw out as many processed foods as you can. Learn how to identify chemicals in the ingredients lists of food items.

* Be kind to your partner and learn alternate ways to express stress and frustration.

* Be active! Engage in some form of physical exercise each day.

* Ask for help regularly—commit to weekly ‘time out’ for you.

* Surround yourself with positive, up-lifting people.

Ticklish is especially for those of you who are looking for a different type of parenting book that focus' on wellbeing more than specific tasks you should do as a parent. It covers such topics as brain development in newborns, when your child's body is out of balance (toxins, trauma in the womb, sleeping habits, digestive health), ADHD, Autism, Asperger's Syndrome and companion disorders. I would say that this book is most beneficial to purchase if you have a child aged 0-2 years old but is still helpful for children aged 0-7 years of age.

Here is what I love about the book:
* It encourages playful relationships with parent and child
* It is written for raising children in our day with our current lifestyle challenges
* The main focused is on health for children and for yourself
* I love that there are a lot of images in the book
* I love that there are quotes about laughter
* I love that there is a checklist of milestones for your children from 0-7 years

You can purchase Ticklish for $24.95 here or enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a copy of Dr Jen's new book.
I have 3 available to giveaway:

Elf on the Shelf Ideas

We have a new visitor in our house.

An Elf on the Shelf - Aussie edition.

A cheeky elf that is about to cause a lot of trouble.

I am a little excited, maybe even more than my kids!

I love that he is a blonde elf for a family of blonde cherubs.

He appeared out of nowhere with a note introducing himself to our family.

Kate shared a great way to introduce him and even has some free printable stamps.

So far in our house our naughty elf has:

Kidnapped all of the Pet Shop toys

Let us some snow from the North Pole

Went skiing on weetbix on our kitchen table

Some of you may even have your own Elf On The Shelf and may be more experienced at what some great ideas are to do with him. I am just starting out and thought I would put together a collection of good sites that have some fun ideas for causing mischief this Christmas. Here are some below:

Elf on the Shelf Ideas
Elf Magic Idea's
How to introduce the Elf to your family
15 creative ideas for your Elf on the Shelf
101 ideas for Elf on the Shelf
Cheeky pranks you can play with your kids
Elf on the Shelf Website

Below are some more images of what you can do:

Tips out toys and make a mess.

Paint the kids noses red while they are sleeping and leave a note.

Change the colour of the milk to green.

Hide in the freezer and steal the icecream.

Tips out the cereal.

Sit up in bed with the television remote.

Deface a family picture.

Steal the toilet paper.

I found all of these images on Pinterest.

The Elf on the Shelf even has a cute commercial that kids can watch:

I am looking forward to having fun with our elf.

Now we just need to give him a name.

Do you have one in your home???

P.S * I am guest posting over at Diminishing Lucy today on:

 5 ways to Nurture yourself with a busy schedule

My Christmas gift giving plan for my children

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This year in the Seven Cherubs house I am working on a new Christmas gift giving plan for my cherubs. Normally our tradition is that each year for Christmas I look around for a new present or toy for each of my kids and by new I mean a whole new set or product to introduce to our family and home. After some reflection I have decided to make a change this year as I find by Christmas day I have exhausted myself and our expenses trying to get everything that they want and desire.

Seven kids with seven different personalities and desires = frazzled and exhausted mum.

We long ago reached a stage where we had way too many toys and this year I just cannot stand the idea of adding even more toy chaos to our home. My plan is to use more wisdom in my older age (feeling old today!) and have decided to build upon what we already have.

My new Christmas gift giving plan for my children is to look at what we already own around our home and to add to it or to build upon it. By the way, let's hope my kids don't see this post!

A couple of examples:

My girls love to play with 'Littlest Pet Shop' so I have purchased a few packs to add to this collection. I know it is something that they already love and as I have already purchased the big version of this product (in the picture above) I just need to add a few more little things and I can add to the fun factor.

My kids also love to read the 39 clues and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books so I have purchased a few extra books to finish the collection off and to have it all up to date with the most recent stories. I love reading these books as well and talking to my kids about them so this is a fun gift for all of us.

My boys (and Liberty) love Transformers toys. As we already own several of the larger transformer toys I have purchased some smaller versions available now to add to the collection and for them to have fun with. This way it is not as expensive as buying all of the bigger versions and we can still have more of the characters without having to pay the more expensive amount.

We are a big fan of Lego in our house and are continually trying to add to our collection. In the past I have tried purchasing smaller packs but found they did not get played with very much. This year as my boys are a little older I have purchased some larger lego packs I have been watching and waiting to go on special that will allow my children to work together.  I am hoping that the larger pack will encourage team work and combined play.

My girls really love Beanie Kids. They love to collect them and adding to this collection I know will make then happy. Once upon a time I would have purchased a whole bunch of them but now I do not need to even purchase 4 of them - 1 for each girl. If I purchase 1 or 2 I know they will be excited to have more in the collection. The Beanie Kids are shared and get swapped around so cutting back to 1 or 2 will be easier and my girls will still be happy.

So do you get my idea and my plan? Basically I am trying to keep it simple and to expand on a few collections we already have and to teach my kids to just enjoy what we already own. I don't know what the reaction will be this year from my kids but I do have a few surprises in store for them. All part of the Christmas gift giving fun when you are a parent.

So what is happening in your home this year? 

Trying to cut back or going all out this year on gifts?

5 tips to avoid social media depression

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A little while ago I recorded a vlog about how I feel about being a blogger. I shared how blogging can cause blogger or social media depression. As much as I love having a blog and being a blogger, I have days where I find this blogging business totally exhausting and downright depressing. It is a lot of work running a blog and it can be depressing as a blogger when you pour your heart out and no-one comments. I know I am not alone in feeling this way by the many private chats I have had and also by the comments that were left on my vlog post.

I have been writing on my Seven Cherubs blog for nearly 2 years now and have had many highs and lows during that time. For my lows, I have worked through my emotions of not feeling good enough when I enter the dangerous territory of comparing myself to other bloggers. I worked really hard to be one of those popular bloggers and totally drained myself in the process. I have come to accept that I simply am not one of those popular bloggers that everyone adds to their blogroll. (For those people who do have me on their blogroll - a big thank you I do appreciate it!)

I am one of those blogs that people like to read but not to actually show that they came to visit by leaving a comment on a post or to even admit that they like my writing and what I have to share. I have many blog stalkers....silent stalkers and I know you are there because my blog stats tell me so.

I am happy for you to stalk and to read, I am not going to take it personally and I appreciate you doing so. I accept that this is how my blog is and how it is going to continue to be. I am not one of those bloggers where people just have to leave a comment because they are so cool and you just want to try to be close to them or part of their blog. Don't worry, I get it...this is not high school and I am not in the cool crowd. I blog my own way and I am happy.

I have also had many wonderful moments where I have received some lovely comments from readers who have inspired me and touched me in wonderful ways. I love comments and I love getting to know you better. But, as a blogger if I set my mood or writing according to the comments and visits I receive each day I know I would spend a lot of my time feeling very depressed.

So today I wanted to share with you some of the lessons I have learned on my blog journey and my top 5 tips of how to avoid social media depression. Yes, it is real and it happens!

1. Social Media Depression: Know what social media outlet brings YOU happiness

There are many different social media sites available today to help you promote yourself. I have personally tried spending time in all areas that I know of that help me connect with other bloggers and readers of my blog. Some of the choices available today are: facebook, twitter, google +, linkedin, instagram, pinterest etc. I have found that some social media sites cause me to feel more depressed quicker than others.

On twitter I find I feel sadder the fastest as I can often throw out a tweet only to find that no-one will respond. I may also try to respond to someone or tweevesdrop in on a converstation only to be ignored. Often I try to share a blog post that I love only to not get a thanks from anyone and especially the person who owns the blog. All of these incidents can contribute towards me feeling lonely and not popular as a blogger and a person (I do have some self esteem where I do value myself, I just wanted to add!). So now I only spend a small amount of time on twitter and do not expect to get any response from anyone. When I do get a response or a thank you it is a lovely surprise and I enjoy it but I do not rely on it.

I spend more of my time on Instagram and Facebook as I get a better response and I feel happier in those social media settings. Knowing what social media outlet you enjoy the most and what is going to help you feel happier is where you should choose to spend your time.

2. Social Media Depression: Set a time limit 

We all know how easy it can be to get distracted by social media. Many times I have sat down to write a blog post or to even pay my bills and made the mistake of checking what is happening on facebook. Several hours later, I have been shocked to discover that half of my morning has disappeared and I ended up finding out 50 things about 50 people that I really did not need to know or read 10 articles that did not uplift me in any way, shape or form.

I actually spent a day testing out how I would feel if I spent most of my time on twitter and facebook. I found it very, very depressing. I felt exhausted from doing very little physical exercise, mentally frazzled from reading so many boring and ranty updates, emotionally saddened from getting very little response and connection on twitter and by the end of the day found it very hard to count my blessings.

Having a time limit or alarm set for how long you will spend on social media will allow you to stay on track with other personal responsibilities or goals you may have set for that day. I have been working on sticking to my assigned task for the day and then rewarding myself with some social media time. So much more productive and I find I enjoy my social media time more when I know I have worked hard before hand to earn that break

3. Social Media Depression: Have a blog goal 

Taking the time to write out what you want to achieve with your blog will help you know clearly what you need to do as a blogger. When you feel depressed and lonely, returning to your blog goal will keep you focused and determined to keep moving forward.

If your goal is to simply have a blog as a personal record for your family then it does not matter who you connect with. It is lovely to make blog friends but if you are not receiving a lot of comments do not let it stop you from writing and remembering. Keep moving forward by writing and treasuring your family.

If your goal is to use your blog to promote your business then find out where your target audience spends most of their time in social media and start spending your time there. Keep writing and promoting yourself and your products and do not stop. Believe in what you have to offer and do not give up.

If your goal is to write and uplift others, distracting yourself by wasting time trying to connect with certain popular groups may not be what will help you reach out to others. Look at who you want to really touch and help and then write specific blog posts that you know will help them. I have found that meeting popular bloggers has been lovely and delightful but it has not really helped to increase my blog traffic as much as writing specific blog posts has for my readers.

You may be surprised to see that when you look at your original blog goal that you may already be achieving what you set out to do and that you can be happy with your accomplishments. Wandering off on a different blog path that others are choosing to take or trying to keep up with what other bloggers are doing, will only lead you to feeling depressed and upset when you may not receive the same response that they do. Set your own goals and your own path and stick to it.

4. Social Media Depression: Know that we are all similar but unique

Something that really worries me...A LOT....is when I hear about other bloggers feeling depressed and deleting blog posts. I hear of bloggers who spend a great deal of time writing a blog post, then get ready to post it to only to discover that someone else may have written a blog post on a similar topic. They then doubt themselves and start to worry that others may feel they have copied or stolen the idea and go ahead and delete the blog post that they wrote.

Do not delete blog posts you have written and I am talking about original writing here and not copy/paste blog posts. If you are worried that a blogger may feel you have copied a blog post you have written, link to them in your post, email them and let them know and ask how they feel about it if you are really worried.

My advice is to keep all of your blog posts as you may even rework them later on in the future. I also keep those blog posts that I have written and I know I will never publish - you know, when you get in one of 'those' moods. I print them out and add them to my journal as it is an important record of how I was feeling. Even when I look back on it and my writing is a little dramatic and full of too much emotion. I keep them as I believe in keeping it real in life.

Be confident with what you have to say and do not feel like you do not have anything to contribute. We all write about very similar topics as bloggers but we are all unique and have a different slant/version/opinion/perspective on life. Do not let yourself feel worthless or depressed because someone else has written about something you wanted to write about. Believe in what you have to say and know that others will be touched and uplifted by your words.

5. Social Media Depression: Know that social media is unrealistic

I wrote a post about being a snapshot blogger talking about how most bloggers only show you a snapshot of their lives. They show you a small little section of what life is like for them and often leave out all of the not so fun parts of life. If you spend a lot of time during your day on the internet reading blogs, reading status updates on facebook and twitter you can quickly start to feel like your life is boring and worthless. It always seems as if everybody else is having more fun, has better children, is going on holiday, has an immaculate home, has a great sponsored post opportunity...the list is endless.

I even worry that here on my own blog where I try to keep things positive and uplifting that many other women see our family as an 'ideal family' in many ways. We are not ideal or perfect. We love each other and are trying our best but we have such a long way to go in being a good example to others. I also love to write about keeping it real by sharing challenges and trials. The last thing I want is to be portraying a family who is perfect. We are far from it.

Keeping a realistic perspective of life will help you to avoid feeling depressed when using social media. I am all for using the internet, social media and especially blogs to connect with other people and especially women and mothers to help you feel uplifted and not so lonely in your personal life. Having said that, if your blog or social media is your life and your only connection with the outside world then you need to get out more and to get a real life, life. As difficult as it may be, (I want to say here that I am not referring to people who are suffering from a real form of depression in any form as I know that is a whole different situation and challenge) it will help you overcome general feelings of feeling low or depressed and help you see things as they really are.

Now that I have shared my tips I would love to know if you have anything that you would add:

What you have you found as a blogger or as a social media user?

Do you feel depressed the more time you spend using it or do you just find it fun and enjoy it?

pinterest + mormon messages

I love Pinterest. I also love finding pins/quotes with a Mormon message or religious message. Some of my favourite pins are quotes from leaders of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I even have a whole board dedicated to faithful, religious messages.

We have wonderful inspired leaders who are aware of what we need to hear and often speak directly to the women of our church. They inspire me to be a better woman, mother and wife. They also inspire me to just be me. Today I thought I would share some of them with you and you may even be familiar with them already. You can follow me as sevencherubs on pinterest. Enjoy x

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Time stands still with Salita Matthews

Recently I received a gorgeous gift in the mail. I just love gifts in the mail, don't you? It was a necklace from Salita Matthews. As you know I am a serious jewellery collector and necklaces just happen to be my favourite accessory. I was very, very excited to open the box and delighted with the contents.

Salita sent me her "Time Stands Still" necklace. I have to say that time truly did stand still when I opened up the box and saw the contents: the colour just blew me away and it would have to be the chunkiest, most colourful necklace that I own. 

This necklace is full of colour, vibrant and gorgeous. I love that it can be turned around and worn two different ways. Meaning I can turn the necklace around to show off two different colour sets to wear with a variety of outfits. See below:

By wearing the necklace this way I can show off a lot more of the white shells and feature the long thin rods that hang so beautifully on the bottom of the necklace.

By wearing the necklace this way I can show off more of the longer shells and add a summer feel to an outfit. People adore the necklace and I have seen it worn by Nikki from Styling You and she looks great in it. 

I like to wear the Time Stand Still necklace it up a little higher on my chest and of course to wear it with a version of my favourite colour blue. I love how it brings out the smaller aqua/teal/blue thread weaved throughout the necklace. I love it!

Salita is one creative lady and after studying for a diploma in Fashion, worked as a stylist in New York and Los Angeles for a freelance photographer. She had a stint in fashion manufacturing and production in Australia and Bali and started Salita Matthews in 2007. 

Her collections are inspired by her travels and her east meets west upbringing, combining unique embellishments, quality fabrics, rich colours and luscious textures. You can view her other jewellery available at Salita Matthews Jewellery and connect with her on facebook.

Thanks so much for the lovely gift Salita and I look forward to wearing it with as many outfits as I can in the future.