Earlier today, something amazing happened. Not only did I play my first game of tennis in a little over two years, but during that very same game I somehow managed to trick my mind into letting my legs run a few steps and to be perfectly honest it felt even more amazing that I can even begin to describe.

Sure it was only a few baby steps, baby steps moving at a speed closer to snail pace than the speed of light, but those baby steps just happened to be baby jogging steps and those jogging steps were done by my little legs. Legs that have gone so long without jogging that they would have struggled to even remember the process. So regardless of how fast those little legs appeared to be moving, the important thing was that they were moving and I was completely over the moon.

So over the moon in fact, that I even found myself stopping mid-match to go and hug my stud of a Boyfriend, who luckily was just as proud of my little legs as I was.

Right now though, I think my poor little body is currently in a state of shock. My arm is already feeling like a giant bowl of jelly and chances are my legs will probably give way climbing up the three flights of stairs heading back up to our room, but for tonight I am far too proud to care.

Tomorrow morning may well be a different story, but tonight myself, my jelly arm, my jelly legs and my amazing Boyfriend are far too busy being happy to complain about a thing.

They say that every once in a while right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale.

Four years ago today, love came into my life and gave me just that; my very own fairytale.

For as long as I can remember, like most girls my age, I’ve dreamed of finding my very own Prince Charming. Not the kind in the fairytales that rides in on his fancy horse though, but the kind of Prince Charming who was made just for me. The kind of Prince Charming who comes along and sweeps me off my feet. The one who shows me why it never worked with anyone else.

Four years ago today, I found that boy; I found my very own Prince Charming, strutting his way around a baseball field.

I found a boy who looks at me with his gorgeous blue eyes in a way that no other boy ever has before. A boy who can light up my whole entire day with just one single smile. A boy who makes me fall more and more in love with him, with each passing day. A boy who knows me better than anyone else in this world and despite my countless flaws, still loves me unconditionally.

I found a boy who spent half of the year on the opposite side of the world and still managed to make me feel as though he was right here beside me, the whole entire time. A boy who despite the distance between us, somehow made our love grow stronger than I ever thought possible.

I found a boy who has not only loved me at my best, but has loved me for years on end at my worst. A boy who despite countless circumstances that would have been reason enough for even the best of us to leave, has stayed. A boy who has been there every single second that I have needed him, from the very first moment we met.

I found a boy who is patient; so unbelievably patient. A boy who for his whole entire life had been early for everything, up until the day that he met me. A boy who now spends half of his life patiently waiting for his girlfriend, who is late to absolutely everything and still, he never once complains.

I found a boy who for the first time in my life, allows me to be completely myself. A boy who let’s me laugh uncontrollably at jokes that aren’t even funny, let’s me cry for no reason at all, let’s me embarrass myself atleast a million times over and still at the end of it all, kisses my forehead and tells me that he loves me.

I found a boy who treats me like an absolute princess. A boy who makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world, every single time he wraps me up in his arms. A boy who even at my worst, still somehow manages to make me feel beautiful.

I found a boy who above all else, just wants to make me happy. A boy who loves me more than I ever thought someone could and with each day that I look into those perfect blue eyes of his, I somehow find myself falling more and more in love.

I found a boy who is everything that I’ve always wanted and yet everything that I never knew I needed.

 With every day that passes, it seems almost impossible to love him more and yet as days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months and months turn into years, sure enough our love for each other grows stronger. Just like that, with each passing year, we become happier and happier than we ever could have imagined.

Which brings us to the now; here we are now, four years on from that very first day that we met, madly head over heels in love. Here we are now, still writing our very own fairytale; a fairytale that still gives me butterflies, every single time.

A fairytale that as well as making me the happiest, luckiest girl in the world, has changed my life forever.

Up until now I never fully grasped the concept of the ‘travel bug’. It just didn’t really make sense to me. However, after a recent family trip to two of the most amazing places on earth, all of that changed. Not only do I now have a new found understanding of the concept, but it appears I have in fact caught that very same bug.

There is just one little problem though, this new found travel bug of mine; it appears to be stuck. The dreams are there and the plans are in motion, but I don’t think the financial side of things has been taken into account just yet.

Someday though, when this little bug gets all of her finances in order and finally masters the art of saving, I have a feeling that she’s going to be in for the trip of a lifetime. After all, her list appears to be growing longer and longer by the day.

For now though, I think we might just stick to a few of the favourites:

1. Frolick on the beaches of Hawaii whilst eating a mango and coconut shaved ice; again.

2. Swim in the pool at the Mandalay Bay Casino, Las Vegas.

3. Fill an entire trolley full of food at The WholeFoods Market, Las vegas.

4. Line dance in Alabama.

5. Spend a day admiring the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee.

6. Watch a real Major League Baseball game with my boy, preferably the Orioles vs Phillies in Baltimore, Maryland. Then on the way home from the game, visit the hotel that I imagined visiting every day for 6 months out of the past two years.

7. Shop for an entire day at any Walmart store in America.

8. Walk along the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California

9. Ride the Ferris Wheel at the Los Angeles County Fair.

10. Be brave enough to do a night time tour of Alcatraz in San Francisco, California

11. Search for the Resort with a Ten Pin Bowling Alley in the middle of their Hotel foyer, the one that they showed on Getaway about ten years ago in Kuala Lumper

12. Go dog sledding in Alaska

13. Visit the Penguins, Polar Bears and baby Seals in Antarctica

14. Go on a real African Safari

15. Take a tour of ‘Tree Hill’ on North Carolina’s Cape Fear Coast, Wilmington

16. Go on a real Gondola ride in Venice, Italy

17. Ride the carousel in Canet Plage, France

18. Spend a day shopping at the Harrod’s store in London, United Kingdom – Just so I can come home with one of their fancy little bags.

19. Visit the house where “The Notebook” was filmed at Martins Point Plantation on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina

And last, but definately not least;

20. Spend months on end living at the Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, Kenya

Ps. That last little travel dream of mine, if it truly is as good as I imagine it to be then please don’t be surprised if I move there someday. After all, what girl doesn’t want to wake up to Giraffe kisses every morning?

Two hundred and forty one.

The total number of stairs I climbed while I was walking around Brisbane with Mumma today, just because I could, because for almost two years the thought of taking the stairs was just not an option. Not even a single one.

Today though, as I walked past the escalator option to instead take the stairs, I could not have been more proud. I was so proud in fact that I walked up every single one of those two hundred and forty one stairs with a smile on my face, reminiscing on just how far I had come.

Today I walked up a total of two hundred and forty one stairs and yet believe it or not, that wasn’t the best part. The best part was that somewhere inbetween all of the stair climbing, I’d managed to prove to myself that all of those baby steps were finally starting to pay off after all.

Whether it’s your next door neighbour or the person who lives two streets from your house. Your very best friend or just someone you once knew. Your Great Grandma or your favourite Grandpa. Your Mumma or your Dadda. Your big brother or your little sister or even just an article you flicked past in a magazine once. The odds are, every single one of us has already had our lives changed by Cancer in one way or another and for some of us, maybe even more than once.

Be it the beginning of a battle or the end of a war, we all know someone who has stood tall and fought. Maybe they won, maybe they lost or maybe they’re still fighting. Either way, when it comes to Cancer, if you were to ask me I don’t think anyone ever truly wins.

Cancer isn’t fussy with who it chooses. It doesn’t play favourites and it doesn’t sound a warning signal to allow you to prepare for what’s ahead. Not that it would really matter much, because let’s face it, how to deal with Cancer is not something you get taught at school, although maybe it should be.

Cancer is cruel. It knocks you down more times than you can count and then just when you think you’re finally strong enough to stand again, it hits you a little bit harder.

Cancer doesn’t take pity. It doesn’t slow down, it doesn’t stop to apologise and it doesn’t play by the rules. When it hits you, it hits you hard and all you can do is pray that you’re strong enough to stay standing and if you’re not, pray that the people around you are strong enough to hold you up.

Cancer is sneaky. It’s like a constant battle of hide and seek, searching for missing pieces of a puzzle, without knowing just how many pieces you’re looking for. Sometimes you get lucky and the doctors will find the whole puzzle and sometimes you won’t.

There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to Cancer; the picture isn’t ever just black and white.

Sometimes it’s the old man in the hospital bed, fighting to take his last breath and sometimes it’s the little boy on the playground, too young to ever truly understand. Sometimes it’s the lady wearing the mulit-coloured scarf, too ashamed to show the world just how much the fight has taken from her and sometimes it’s the man who goes about his days as though nothing has really changed at all. Sometimes it’s written all over their face and sometimes it’s hidden behind the bravest of smiles. Sometimes you can tell from just one single glance and sometimes you wouldn’t have a clue.

Sometimes it makes a person bitter and sometimes the hope of a second chance is all it takes to make life seem a whole lot sweeter. Sometimes it makes a person drown in their sorrows and sometimes it gives them a new lease of life. Sometimes it brings families together and sometimes it tears them apart. Sometimes it isolates you and sometimes it shows you just how many people truly care. Sometimes it knocks you down so many times that it breaks you and sometimes it reminds you just how strong you are.

From the outside, we tend to judge. We often question the way a person handles themselves or the way in which they choose to cope, because we assume we know exactly how a person is feeling, when really all anyone is ever doing is trying their best to make sense of a crazy situation.

The truth is though, no matter how much we judge or how many times we assume something, we won’t ever really know until we ourselves are faced with that situation and even then we can only do the best that we know how.

At the end of the day, all we can ever really do is pray for the best. Pray that somehow this is all just part of a greater plan for us. Pray that someday, this will all make perfect sense.

So for now, I’m praying. I’m choosing to pray and I’m choosing to stay positive. I’m choosing to believe that good or bad, all things happen for a reason and although maybe right now that reason isn’t completely clear, someday it will be. Someday it has to be.

Whether we choose to admit it or not, at one point or another we tend to take more things for granted than perhaps we should. Whether it’s the unconditional love of our families, friendships we share, relationships we are a part of, career opportunities that come our way or just every day life in general, more often than not daily life finds a way of taking over and we forget to count our blessings.

The truth is we’ve all done it, it’s human nature. It’s part of the way we’re wired, but how often you choose to take these things for granted, well that is completely up to you.

Today I chose not too. Today I chose to be grateful.

For my family; the people who taught me how to love. The ones who I would be completely lost without. For my friends; the real ones. The ones who know just how to make me smile. For my boyfriend; the boy who stole my heart. The one who despite everything, he stayed. For my Matilda; my little ray of sunshine who every time without fail, comes up to meet me with a smile on her face and a constant wagging tail and for the amazing life that I am lucky enough to wake up and live, each and every day.

So next time you feel as though daily life is starting to take over, stop for a second. Take a moment to step back from all of the craziness that is every day life and remember just how lucky you truly are.

Every day, stop and take a moment to count your blessings, because I promise you, even on a bad day you’ll have more blessings than most.

It’s official, I am well and truly hooked.

Not just your average kind of hooked though, the “hook, line and sinker” kind of hooked. As in even before the episode I am currently watching has ended, I’m already counting down the seconds until I can begin watching the next one.

In fact, you could probably go as far as to say I am beyond hooked and although this isn’t a new found love of mine, considering I am now three seasons in and I’m already counting down the seconds until the fourth is aired, it’s a love that appears to be getting stronger and stronger by the day.

I’m sure by now you’re probably thinking I’m just another one of those immature teenage girls who is obsessing over the current Vampire craze and to some extent you’re probably right, but when it comes to The Vampire Diaries, I’d say it’s a little more than that. Unlike Twilight, this is far from your average tale of a vampire and a girl. If you asked me, The Vampire Diaries isn’t just about vampires, it’s a story of epic love.

Just what kind of epic love though, well that depends on which brother you choose.

Stefan, well he is safe. He’s stable, he’s calm and he was there from the beginning. He’s the good boy, the one who would love you forever, unconditionally. He’s the boy who would stand by your side through it all, no questions asked.

Then there is Damon.

Damon’s love is dangerous. It’s overwhelming, it’s consuming and it’s the kind of passion that every girl dreams of. When Damon falls, he falls hard and when he loves, he loves with his whole heart. He’s the badboy, the boy that every girl wishes would change just for her, but with Damon comes a sense of mystery and where there is mystery, there is a sense of the unknown. So who do you choose?

The boy who was there from the beginning, the one who stole your heart first; or the boy who has been fighting to win you over ever since.

For me it’s simple; if I were Elena then I’d choose Damon. Damon would get the girl and the reasons are simple.

Regardless of where it all started, any boy who loves a girl that deeply and that passionately and still finds a way to be selfless in his actions; then he deserves the girl. Any boy that is willing to put his heart on the line and fight that hard, for that long, with such a huge possibility of rejection; then he deserves the girl.

Any boy who is strong enough to put aside his own emotions and stand by a girl while she falls for someone else, just hoping and praying for his one chance; then he deserves the girl.

He deserves to win her heart, because let’s face it, what girl doesn’t want a boy to look at her the way that Damon looks at Elena. What girl doesn’t want to be loved that passionately. What girl doesn’t want that kind of romance, that kind of epic love?

Just between you and me though, if we were talking outside of ‘Vampire Love’ then I’d choose the Stefan type, every single time.

Today I was woken up to what sounded like the voice of an Angel, speaking words that were so unbelievable I was certain I had to be living in a dream. From the moment I heard Rascal Flatts and Australia in the same sentence, my eyes had opened and my feet had already hit the ground. It couldn’t possibly be true.

The words that followed had me very nearly leaping for joy, with the exception that my poor little body probably couldn’t have handled the leaping. It was like Christmas morning, only ten times more exciting. I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

Rascal Flatts.

The Band Perry.

Australia.

Surely I heard it wrong, surely I was dreaming.

It took a few seconds for me to pull myself together and realise that I was in fact actually awake. I was awake, but it was not Christmas morning – it was better.

As it turns out, the voice of an Angel was in fact my Brother, but the news he had just delivered had come from the heavens nonetheless. It was finally happening, my dreams were finally coming true. Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry would be performing at CMC Rocks the Hunter, March 2013.

Needless to say, tickets were booked immediately, travel plans were put into motion and I was completely over the moon.

I guess you could say that today, an Angel made my day. 

Today I went strawberry picking, which I’m sure doesn’t sound like an overly exciting task for most people, unless of course you are under the age of ten, however considering strawberries are one of the only two fruit options that I have at the moment I was completely over the moon at the idea.

From memory, I’m fairly certain I’ve been strawberry picking before, a while ago maybe, but it was nothing at all like this. That old strawberry farm had nothing on the one we visited today. Today I was sure that I had died and stepped into strawberry heaven.

It didn’t matter where you walked, every single patch in every single row was filled with the brightest, most beautiful strawberries that I had ever laid eyes on. In fact, I honestly don’t think you could have found one bad patch on that entire farm, not even if you tried.

It was breath taking.

About an hour into the activity though, almost all of our buckets were full, a lot like my belly actually and yet I still couldn’t bring myself to stop picking. So many beautiful strawberries, just waiting to be eaten and yet it would have been near impossible to save them all. It was then that I stopped for a moment.

Upon realising that I couldn’t possibly take them all home with me, it occurred to me that maybe I didn’t need too. Maybe taking home the entire field of strawberries wasn’t what was going to make me happy. Maybe instead, I just needed to take home that feeling.

That feeling of standing there in my favourite gumboots, in the middle of something so perfectly beautiful. That feeling of spending the afternoon with my family, laughing harder than we have in I’m not sure how long. That feeling you get in your tummy, when you just know that nothing could possibly be better than this. That was all that I needed.

Well, that and a car full of strawberries of course.