What if I told you that beginning now, you had a total of three hundred and sixty-five days to do everything that you have ever wanted, everything that you have ever dreamed of. Just three hundred and sixty-five days to live the life that you have always imagined; where would you begin?

Would you trek through a mountain range, just to see the view from the top or would you spend all day with your toes in the sand?

Would you lay beneath the shade of that beautiful big oak tree, just to feel the cool breeze blow across your face or would you travel to Ethiopia and spend your days as a volunteer?

Would you capture the world from behind the lens of a camera or would you run away and join the circus, just to befriend a lion?

Would you spend an entire day watching your favourite movie on repeat or would you finally call that long lost friend, the one you’ve been meaning to call for years?

Would you spend your days buried beneath a desk full of paperwork or would you buy a new pair of gumboots, just to splash through the puddles?

Would you travel the world with nothing but a pen and a never ending notebook, in hopes of uncovering every inch of life’s beauty or would you visit your favourite park, just to feed the ducks?

Now what if I told you that those three hundred and sixty-five days had just turned into a lifetime?

What if I told you that you now had an entire lifetime with the world at your fingertips. An entire lifetime to make all of those dreams come true; would all of those things still matter or now that you have been given the promise of a lifetime, would they simply fall into the ‘tomorrow’ pile?

Would you still spend every single one of those days making every second count or would each one of those days no longer seem as important?

Too often we fall into the trap of tomorrow, causing us to lose sight of the true value of our todays. We forget that every single day is a blessing. We forget that regardless of whether we are given just ten days in this wonderful world or ten million, every single one of those days is a brand new and beautiful chance to chase our dreams; a chance to make ourselves happier than we could have ever imagined.

Every single day is an opportunity to walk with the sand between our toes, a chance to run away and join the circus. Every single day is a chance to reach for more, a chance to smile just that little big bigger and that little bit brighter.

Every single day is a blessing, not just those which we call ‘tomorrow’.

Flashbacks from the good old days, straight from the heart of a teenage girl I once knew.

“It’s been almost two years since I first left school and to be perfectly honest, I couldn’t really tell you what I’ve achieved since then, except for the fact that somewhere in between, I’ve had the time of my life.

A little over a year ago I was the girl with the five most amazing best friends who sat together in the middle of the pathway, eating from her fire truck lunch box, counting down the days until life as she knew it changed forever. I was the girl who couldn’t wait to leave school. The girl who missed more days than she showed up for and the girl who was always late. The girl who sat in class and drew pretty pictures instead of taking notes, but the girl who still had a plan. She planned to go onto University, to study for four years and somehow at the end of it all become a Speech Pathologist. The girl who would eventually own her own business and someday make a life for herself. She planned to see her best friends at least once every week after they graduated and she planned to fall in love with someone amazing. As you can probably imagine though, it didn’t take long for her to work out that unfortunately, things don’t always go to plan.

Now, she’s the girl who misses her five best friends like crazy, who can’t find her fire truck lunchbox and who more than anything wishes that she could sit on that path for just one more day. She’s the girl who never made it through University like she had planned, but who instead, added her name to that long list of people the world likes to call ‘drop outs’.

Now she’s the girl who swapped University for Tafe, studying childcare instead of Speech Pathology and working part time. She’s the girl who woke up one day with a brand new plan for her life.

Sure, she’s still the girl who shows up late and misses far too many days than she should. She is still easily distracted, drawing pretty pictures instead of taking notes, but at the end of the day that’s just who she is. She’s the girl who despite her best efforts can’t hold the same thought for more than thirty seconds, the girl whose mind constantly wanders and the girl who couldn’t possibly give you a straight answer about where her life is headed.

She’s the girl who loves adventures. The girl who would prefer to walk down a road with no signs in sight and her imagination running wild, than a picture perfect road that has been all mapped out for her.

You’ll be pleased to know though that somewhere along the way, this girl did happen to fall in love with someone amazing,; someone even more amazing than she ever could’ve imagined.
His name is Christopher, but you can call him Boyfriend.”

To be perfectly honest, I don’t think I ever truly understood just how quickly life happens until right now.

Thinking back to those somewhat treasured schoolyard days, it almost feels like another lifetime ago. Back to those never ending hours spent daydreaming away, watching the clock tick by, just hoping and praying the day would finally come to an end.

Back then the days would go on for weeks, the weeks would last for years and somehow, the years would stretch out for what felt like an eternity. Something that at the time, I constantly wished would change and yet here I am now, wishing things had stayed the same. Wishing that just once the days would last that little bit longer and somehow, time wouldn’t fly by so quickly.

I could have sworn that just yesterday I was celebrating my twenty-first birthday and yet here I am now, already twenty-two and only just learning life’s little secret; thanks to the speed of life, apparently it’s all downhill from here.

According to the magical handbook of life, statistics say that your twenties are the ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ years; something that I never fully grasped the concept of until just recently. However, given that more than enough time has already flown by far too quickly, I’ve decided that I’m not quite willing to write off the adventures of my twenties just yet. As far as I’m concerned, life has only just begun.

At just twenty-two years young I would say that it’s about time to throw caution to the wind and start living in the moment. Time to throw away the clock and start appreciating every single day for exactly what it is; a wild and precious adventure.

 Time to admire the beauty in the slower days and revel in the excitement of the faster days, because really, when it comes down to it, the speed in which the clock ticks by is completely out of our control.

Time is always going to pass us by, regardless of whether we may want it too or not. So for the sake of our own story, I say we sit back, enjoy the ride and do our best to make sure that at the end of all of this, we have something magical; something worth reading.

Every now and again, in amongst the madness of it all, life blesses us with moments that are so rare and so precious that we can’t help but cherish them forever. Moments that are so far beyond our control, that they’re certain to have been sent to us from the heavens.

March 17, 2013 was without a doubt one of those very moments.

A moment that although I had dreamed of for what seemed to be an eternity, I never in a million years thought I would experience. A moment that thanks to my selfless Saint of a Mumma, I was lucky enough to share with my amazing big brother and my very best friend. A moment that although fleeting, almost instantly turned into one of my most treasured memories; a memory that I have no doubt will remain a favourite for quite some time.

 Standing there with possibly the world’s biggest smile spread across my face, I couldn’t help but stop for a moment to count my blessings. There I was with my clown of a big brother by my side continuously cracking jokes, in one of the most beautiful little country towns that I had ever seen, listening to some of the best live country music that I had ever heard, waiting backstage to meet the world famous Rascal Flatts; my favourite country band of all time.

There were no words.

There I was, after being chosen from tens of thousands of screaming fans, just seconds away from having one of my absolute wildest dreams come true. I was by far the luckiest girl in the world.

In the midst of that perfect, magical moment, I would like to be able to say that I stood back and soaked it all in, but to be perfectly honest it’s all still a little bit of a blur. The second that they walked out from behind that tent though, it all somewhat hit me at once.

 There in that very moment, nothing could wipe that smile off my face. Not the forty-five minute wait that we endured backstage beforehand, not the fact that sadly an announcement had been made informing us that signings weren’t available and not even the fact that The Band Perry were currently playing live on the main stage, a stage that we could no longer see. Nothing was about to ruin the wonderful mood I was in. Now, more than ever, I was well and truly on top of the world.

Just between you and me though, that wasn’t even close to the best part. What happened next was far more magical.

In the midst of patiently waiting, I did my best to reassure myself that it would probably be better for everyone involved if I could somehow remind myself to breathe. When it finally came time to meet the band however, all of those great ideas seemed somewhat irrelevant. With quite possibly the world’s biggest smile spread across my face and an entire tummy filled with butterflies, reminding myself to breathe was the last thing on my mind.

Luckily though, by some kind of miracle, I didn’t stumble my words nor did I blurt out “Rascy, I love you”, all of which are a much bigger deal than you probably realise. I did however, somehow manage to piece together a rather polite hello. A hello which was then followed by three of the most amazing hugs that I think I have ever, ever been given.

There I was, just your average twenty-two year old girl, lucky enough to have been given the chance to wrap her arms around Rascal Flatts. Life couldn’t possibly have been any more wonderful.

Apparently though, it could.

After planning my entire outfit around my brand new designer leather snake skin cowboy boots, you can imagine my excitement when the handsome Joe Don Rooney turned around with a smile on his face and complimented me on ‘how beautiful they were’. Needless to say, with just that single, simple little sentence and his ever so gentle hug, he had not only just managed to brighten my day but my whole entire year.

The magic of the evening though, it still didn’t quite end there.

My precious little Guardian Angels must have continued to watch over me, because after the Rascal Flatts meet and greet, my amazing boyfriend walked with me back up to the top of the hill to where The Band Perry were now signing merchandise; an extremely long line which I happily joined the end of.

Now for all of those Band Perry fans out there, just in case you were wondering, she really is that beautiful, quite possibly even more so in real life. So beautiful in fact, that I gracefully stumbled my words from the very moment she began speaking to me. Her handsome brother however had managed to shake my hand, ask for my name and tell me how beautiful he thought I was, all of which I was somehow able to respond too. Yet sure enough, the very moment that Kimberly smiled at me with that big beautiful smile, I could hardly remember to breathe.

Given the circumstances, I think it’s fairly safe to say that I may have just experienced the magic of my very first girl crush. A crush which considering I am probably just one of thousands who fell head over heels that night, I am not at all embarrassed to admit.

So there you have it; a brand new memory of a love affair with my two country favourites in one of the most beautiful little towns that I have ever laid eyes on, shared with all of the people who mean the most in my life. A memory that I will without a doubt cherish forever.

Just in case I ever forget any of those finer details though, all I have to do is pull out that magical photo and sure enough, all of those perfect memories are bound to come flooding back. A magical photo that by some divine miracle is free of messy hair, lazy eyes and crooked smiles.

According to the information gained from Google, it should’ve taken us just nine hours and forty-three minutes to arrive at our beautiful hotel hidden somewhere in the middle of the Hunter Valley. Just nine hours and forty-three minutes of travelling and apparently we should have reached our holiday destination. Twenty-eight hours later though, I had a rather profound realisation; perhaps sometimes even Google can be wrong.

With that being said though, in the defence of the wonderful invention that is Google, it’s probably safe to assume that the nine hours and forty-three minutes did not include hourly toilet stops, countless carefully selected food breaks or casual midnight stopovers at cute little Caravan Parks out in the middle of nowhere.

It’s probably also safe to assume that throwing the GPS out of the window whilst doing 110km along a country highway is generally not something that is advised, nor is it going to assist in a shorter trip. Although by this stage we weren’t too worried about the destination or the clock for that matter, I would say that we were all far too busy enjoying the view from the scenic route.

We saw kangaroo’s and wildlife in fields that stretched out for miles.

We saw cute little country cottages and hundreds of run down, old country shacks.

We saw Mumma cows with their babies and big, beautiful horses just lazily grazing in their paddocks.

We saw more tree’s than you can even begin to imagine and country towns smaller than our local shopping centres.

We sang along to our old country favourites and we found ourselves stumbling on the words of new ones.

We played the number plate game with absolutely no cars in sight and we played I-spy with nothing but endless fields of green grass and tree’s.

We spent the night in a cabin the size of a shoe box, reliving the days of school camps and curfews and we learnt far too many times just how confusing the concept of daylight savings can be.

We slept, we yelled, we argued, we laughed and we smiled until our cheeks hurt.

 We misread directions, we got lost, tired, hungry and at times, far too frustrated with each other than we should have been and yet still, despite it all, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Somewhere along the way, during that twenty-eight hours of staring out at the green grass and trees, I realised that even when you think you know exactly where it is that you’re going, you still never really know just where it is that you’re going to end up.

One thing is for sure though; anything in this world can be an adventure if you take the right people along for the ride, even twenty-eight hours of green grass and tree’s.

Another year gone, another birthday passed and another amazing day spent with family and friends, being completely spoilt rotten; is it really any wonder why birthdays make me as happy as they do?

Beautiful clothes and breathtaking gold bracelets. Brand new perfume and fancy floral handbags. Cute little lunch boxes and handmade winter beanies. Precious turtle earrings all the way from Hawaii and heartfelt cards with not so lucky scratchies. Sparkling sapphire rings with pretty little diamonds and birthday phone calls from all of those people who mean the most.

Mumma Bear visits with my perfect little Baby Bear and an entire day spent with my handsome boy. My very own ‘allergy-free’ chocolate mud cake and a delicious home-cooked roast for lunch. Best friend surprises and a lovely autumns day filled with nothing but sunshine.

Message after message from all of those beautiful people who are constantly making my life magical and just incase all of those things weren’t quite amazing enough, a night spent watching two of my favourite country bands perform live for the very first time in Australia, with three of my very best friends.

As far as birthdays go, it was definately a favourite.

Despite the fact that it was far busier than usual, my one and only big brother was missing from the festivities and somewhere in between all of the excitement, I somehow had to find the time to pack my entire wardrobe into a single suitcase; an activity which just so happens to be my least favourite thing in this whole world, I still had an absolutely wonderful day.

A wonderful day which just like the countless others that this beautiful life has blessed me with, I am so incredibly grateful for. A day which has just been added to the very top of my ever-growing list of reasons behind why I truly am one of the luckiest girls in the world.

After yet another night out with Mumma Bear at the beautiful Jupiters Casino watching two of our ‘now favourite’ Irishman perform live, I can honestly say that just like our other crazy little adventures, this was definately one to remember.

Given that we had an entire night together, like always, there were countless highlights. So many in fact that if I told you them all, we may very well be here forever. So for the sake of time, how about I do what Mumma likes best and I just start by telling you my top three?

1. Believe it or not, I had absolutely no idea that Brian McFadden was so unbelievably funny. So hilarious in fact, that I am more than certain he could’ve made a career for himself as a rather handsome comedian. A comedian who not only had me in fits of laughter the whole entire time, but who also happens to have an absolutely amazing singing voice. A singing voice which along with his comedic talents, I was completely and utterly unaware of.

2. Just in case you were wondering; yes, Mr. Ronan Keating is still just as sexy as ever. So sexy in fact, that I think he may even be sexier than the last time I saw him perform. If that is even possible.

His dance moves however, were not quite as impressive.

Just between you and me, I think he may have been taking secret lessons from a very talented zoo keeper. A zoo keeper who decided that it would be a good idea to trade in his signature ‘pelvic thrust’ for the new and improved emu head nod, closely followed by a rather rythmic penguin waddle. It was definately a sight to see. He did somehow manage to pull it off though, which I suppose isn’t really all that surprising. If we were being honest, anyone that sexy and that Irish could just about pull anything off.

3. Quite possibly my favourite of the evening; my introduction to a now lifelong friend, the infamous ‘Jupiters Wheel’.

Despite the fact that we may have only met for just a few moments, the sheer joy that this little wheel has already brought into my life has me certain that our friendship will blossom into something wonderful.

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So there you have it, three little highlights which add up to create one big, beautiful memory. One big, beautiful memory which is sure to last a lifetime.

Mumma Bear; you certainly know how to plan the good ones.

In the midst of yet another rainy Monday night, somewhere between reality and the realm of daydreams, I was reminded of something that somehow I had almost lost sight of. I was reminded just how rare and beautiful it was to have someone so amazing in your life, that they take your breath away daily.

Someone who despite everything, loves you unconditionally. Someone who makes you feel luckier than the thought of holding your very own winning lottery ticket. Someone who has in no way been forced to love you, but has chosen to do so regardless of the situation.

Someone who has seen you at your worst, day in and day out and still believes without a doubt that you are the most beautiful girl in the entire world. Someone who has stayed by your side, when even the strongest of people would have walked away. Someone who has told you with more sincerity than you have ever come across, that even if this were as good as it gets, that it would still be enough for them.

Someone who believes in you when you’re too tired to believe in yourself. Someone who understands you when you can no longer understand yourself. Someone who is there to hold you up when you no longer have the strength to do so for yourself. Someone who even through all of the mess and the tears, can still see you for you. Someone who has been your own beautiful, breathtaking ray of sunshine through even the heaviest of storms since the very first moment that they walked into your life.

Someone who constantly restores your faith that everything really does happen for a reason; even the things we may question.

Today I was reminded that although our current situation may not be one that we would have perhaps chosen for ourselves, it is quite often that very same situation that places us on a path we may never have found on our own; a path that if taken with the right people by our side, will lead us exactly where it is that we are supposed to be.

Today is the first day of March. The very first day of a month that could quite possibly take the cake for being the greatest month of 2013.

Why you ask, well just how many reasons do you need?

1. A weekend away, staying in a room which I would consider to have the most beautiful views on the Gold Coast.

2. A night out with Mumma, watching a live performance by Mr. Ronan Keating; a man who could quite possibly be the sexiest Irishman alive.

3. Unexpected surprises for the birthday girl.

4. Seeing Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry perform live for the very first time in Australia, on a night that just so happens to be my twenty-second birthday. Personally, I think it was just meant to be.

5. A road trip to the breathtakingly beautiful Hunter Valley, amazing Boyfriend included.

6. A weekend filled with endless amounts of Country music, beautiful green grass and more cowboy boots than you could even begin to imagine.

7. Live sing-a-longs with the rather handsome ‘Love and Theft’.

8. Watching Mummas eyes light up when she hears Chris Young sing ‘Tomorrow’ for the very first time.

9. Trying my best to climb onto Boyfriends shoulders in a crowd full of people, just so I can be that little bit closer to the stage. I will also however, be trying my best not to fall from those very same shoulders.

10. Watching Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry perform live, yet again.

11. The amount of butterflies that will be floating around in my tummy come Sunday night, the night that all of my dreams come true.

12. The moment that I finally come face to face with Rascal Flatts, one of the most amazing bands in the whole entire world.

And lastly, because we tend to save the best for last:

13. The fact that I get to share the magic of this once in a lifetime ‘VIP Meet & Greet’ with one of my very best friends; my big brother.

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Dearest month of March, I don’t think I have ever been more excited to see you!