Around mid April last year, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Keith Urban ‘Get Closer’ Tour, by my beautiful second family. Surprisingly though, for possibly the first time in the history of concerts, I think I was more excited about the support act than I was for the actual concert.

Tonight, Lady Antebellum would be in Brisbane performing live at Keith Urban’s concert, a concert that I was lucky enough to be attending. Although they weren’t the main act of the night and although they only had a small amount of time to perform, as you can imagine, like any other girl going to see her favourite band perform live for the very first time, I was still over the moon with excitement.

On top of that, like always, we had some of the best seats in the house.

Unfortunately though, this time last year I was still extremely unwell and after using all of my energy just to make it down the stairs and into our seats, my excitement was quickly fading. By the time Lady Antebellum stepped out on to the stage and the music had started, things had gone from bad to worse in a matter of minutes.

The music was so loud that I was in tears from the pain. My whole entire body was shaking with the vibrations and at the time, my body wasn’t strong enough to handle that kind of stress. So slowly, with tears in my eyes I again made my way back to the stairs, only this time I was walking up instead of down and this time, the excitement I had previously held about tonight had been replaced with disappointment. This time I was leaving, not arriving and it was completely devastating.

There they were, closer than ever before and I couldn’t even manage to stay in the same room long enough to hear them play my favourite song. Luckily I had Mumma with me though, who sat outside and hugged me while I cried, listening to my favourite song from behind closed doors. Then what seemed to be just as quickly as we had arrived, she took me home again.

 Still devastated of course, Mumma did her best to cheer me up, promising that they would be back and that I would hear them again soon enough. At the time, I didn’t pay much attention, but like always, Mumma was right and they did in fact come back.

Tonight, Lady Antebellum came to Brisbane for their very own Australian Tour. Tonight I was given a second chance to see one of my favourite country bands perform live and this time, I was feeling on top of the world. Although I still had to have my ear plugs in for most of the night and although our seats may not have been as close as they were the first time, I didn’t care in the slightest. Down there on that stage tonight Lady Antebellum were performing live and this time, I stayed. This time I stayed and I heard every single song.

So regardless of how far away we may have been from that stage, I was still there in that room and they were still singing all of my favourite songs. Regardless of what happened last year, I was here now and that was all that mattered. Tonight I was given a second chance to see Lady Antebellum perform live and I soaked up every single second of it.

What was originally going to be a beach day took an unexpected turn at around 11:30am this morning, when Boyfriend decided he would instead take Matilda and I on a picnic.

At first, I thought I was the most excited about the whole idea, but that was before I saw the look on Matilda’s face when we arrived at the park. No puppy pre-school, no sleepover at the kennels, no drive around the block and not even her favourite treat could compare to the excitement of seeing all of those ducks in that pond; she was over the moon.

I’m not sure she really knew what she was looking at to begin with, because at home, our ducks don’t swim. We don’t have a pool and we don’t have a pond, so the only ducks she has ever seen have been land animals. Just your usual run of the mill feathered friends, that spend their days waddling along the ground. These ducks though, these ducks could swim.

From the moment she saw the first little duck swimming along the water, she was ready. There was just one little problem, my big brave Matilda just happens to be afraid of the water and considering this duck was quite happy to spend his day floating about in his big giant pond, he wasn’t leaving Matilda with much chance of having duck for lunch. That didn’t seem to stop her from trying though.

By the time we were ready to leave, I had lost count of the number of times she had paced back and forth along that pond, just waiting for one of them to cross over on to the land. Finally though, when a group of them actually did decide to leave the water, she was so shocked that they could walk as well as swim, that she had somehow forgotten how to move. So instead of trying to chase them, she continued to sit there staring at the ones still floating across the water.

Brave of her, I know.

I think by the end of it all, the ducks had eventually caught on to the idea. They soon realised that she wasn’t in fact a big bad wolf, but was just a cute little puppy who was afraid of the water. A cute little puppy who although she thought otherwise, was not actually going to have duck for lunch.

 It’s always the unexpected compliments that mean the most. The compliments that we didn’t see coming, from those people who have nothing to gain from expressing their feelings towards us. Somehow those are always the compliments that seem to hit home the hardest.

Today I received one of those compliments, from someone completely unexpected about something that meant the absolute world to me and even now, words can’t even come close to describing just how amazing that felt. At the time, all I could manage to say was a quiet, yet sincere “thank you” to which I hope she understood my appreciation.

It was in that exact moment though, that I started thinking.

As a person who just received one of these ‘unexpected compliments’, I was given the chance to feel first hand just how life changing they truly are. So why is it that we don’t go out of our way to do this for others more often?

Life is busy, yes, but life is always going to be busy. What if we were to put that aside for a moment. What if just once, you took a few seconds out of your own busy day, just to tell that lovely lady who serves you your favourite coffee every morning exactly how much her smile brightens your day.

What if we remembered that feeling we had felt when we were complimented unexpectedly and we then did our best to pass that feeling on to someone else. What if for once we went out of our way, just to make someone else smile. Not in an act of personal gain, but simply because someone else was once kind enough to do the same for us.

After all who knows, maybe making someone else smile might just make you smile a little too.

It’s been 119 days, 23 hours, 12 minutes and about 15 seconds since we returned home from our American adventure. That means for 3 months, 27 days, 23 hours, 12 minutes and 15 seconds, I have officially been an addict.

An addict of online American window shopping, an addict of googling countless items of American food that I can’t even eat and an addict of looking through thousands of photos so many times that I could probably come close to sketching them myself at this stage.

To tell you the truth actually, I think it’s becoming a bit of a problem.

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It all began in Vegas, where within a matter of days, I was head over heels for Macy’s. A store that has everything a girl could ever need. A store that I now dream of at least every other night.

Before long, it had continued on to Hawaii, where within a matter of hours, my sense of smell was working on overdrive. Then, before I knew it, I was walking into every single Honolulu Cookie Company we passed not only taking in the heavenly smell of freshly baked cookies but daydreaming about just how perfect they would taste; if only I could have a tiny little nibble.

It wasn’t until the third moment though that I realised I was in trouble; the day we stumbled across The Wholefoods Market. The day I entered my very own slice of heaven. An entirely Organic food market the size of a small town, filled with millions of different foods that I had never even seen before. Foods that believe it or not, I could actually eat. I could hardly believe my eyes.

So between the online love affair with Macy’s, constantly checking the shipping details of the Honolulu Cookies as I await the news of International Shipping, dreaming that one day a WholeFoods Market pops up in my very own backyard and looking over the photos that link all of these little pieces of heaven together, you can understand just how fast my American Addictions are starting to take over.

With the exception of baby Baxter himself, this little guy could quite possibly be my dream car. The kind of car that I have wanted for as long as I can remember. I’ve never really wanted something new or something fancy, but instead just something that made me smile. Something cute, but at the same time something beautiful and preferably, something a little bit Vintage. The kind of car that you only have to look at and you could already tell that it had its very own story. That’s the kind of car I always dreamed of.

Don’t get me wrong though, Baxter is absolutely beautiful and I love him to pieces and even if I could, I wouldn’t trade him for the world. It’s just he wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I was dreaming of my first ever adventures.

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For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed of never ending dirt roads, loud country music, my favourite boy in the seat beside me and a little old Vintage car leading the way.

A boot filled with old suitcases, checkered blankets and a picnic basket full of my favourite treats. We’d drive until the road reached a perfect little town, where’d we’d stop and set up camp. We’d lay on our giant blanket, under the shade of a beautiful big willow tree and we’d make pictures together from the shapes in the clouds.

Time would pass us by, but we wouldn’t know just how much until the sun hid behind the trees and the moon took its place. We still wouldn’t move though, instead we’d stay out under the moonlight and take turns to see who could count the most constellations. Chances are he would win that round, I’m much better at the clouds version.

Soon enough, it would get cold and he’d pull me in closer to stay warm. He’d look at me with that sparkle in his eyes and we’d both smile. The kind of smile that doesn’t need words, because it already means more than anything either of us could ever say.

Eventually, we’d say goodbye to that little old town, taking with us the memories of an unforgettable adventure. We’d head back along that long dirt road and our perfect little Vintage car would lead the way back home, with yet another magical story to add to it’s collection. Only this story, this would be ours. 

One that would stay with us forever.

Just recently I made a decision. Nothing life changing of course, but a decision nonetheless.

I’ve decided to add yet another option to my million and one beautifully romantic proposal ideas, that like most girls, I have managed to come up with over the years. I’ve decided that if done properly, this cute little cookie, could quite possibly even make ‘Top 10’ on the options list.

It would have to be paired with a few of my other ideas of course and the ring inside would have to be the perfect kind of Vintage, but at the right time, with the right kind of smile and that little sparkle in his eyes, a few magic words could just possibly make this work.

As long as the Fortune Cookie was gluten/wheat, dairy, soy, egg and nut free of course, because well, if I was being honest, I never really could say no to a Fortune Cookie.

 So this is one of those stories where the technologically challenged girl tries her best for a miracle. One of those stories where if you already know the girl I’m talking about, then chances are you already know how the story ends.

For the sake of the exercise though, you might just be surprised.

For about three years now I’ve been dreaming about having my own eBay account. A place where all of those clothes that I swore I would wear, but never actually did, could be given to a brand new home. A place where I could finally sell a few things out of my overflowing wardrobe and maybe even make a few dollars along the way. A place where things wouldn’t go to waste.

So finally, after years and years of procrastinating, a few weeks ago I built up the courage to start selling on eBay. Miraculously, I not only managed to create my very own eBay account, but I found myself signing up for PayPal and placing my very first item up for sale all within a matter of hours and all on my little lonesome.

I was completely over the moon at how well I appeared to be doing with the technology side of things actually, considering my track record, it was almost too good to be true.

Patiently, I did my best to play out the waiting game. Spending the next seven days checking my laptop at least twenty times a day, hoping and praying that maybe this time around I would have a bidder. As luck would have it however, about 148 times out of the 149 that I checked, I was left disappointed. By the 149th time though, my luck had finally changed and I actually had a winning bidder. The waiting game had paid off and I had just sold my very first item.

By this point, the excitement had taken over and I had completely forgotten that I had no idea how this lovely lady was going to pay me or how any of this eBay process actually worked, but right then in that moment, none of that mattered because finally, after an entire week of waiting by the computer, I had just sold my very first item. My brand new eBay business was off to a flying start.

A few days later, still on cloud nine, I did what any successful eBay seller would do and I posted as many items up for sale as I possibly could. I mean after all, this whole selling thing was a success now, right?

Boy was I wrong.

Not only did cloud nine float away without me, but it threw me off in its travels. Yet another seven long days passed and those few extra items that I had posted while I was on top of the world, never even had a bidder. Not a single one.

So just like that, all of those years spent dreaming of replacing my old wardrobe with a new one, compliments of eBay, had been crushed. Just like that, my eBay experience had ended almost as quickly as it started and there I was, dumbfounded at how the one thing that I never questioned, my ability to sell clothes, was the one thing that went wrong.

This time it wasn’t technology, this time it was blind luck.

Realistically though, I’m not so sure that I should be surprised. I guess that’s just the way the world works. Regardless of how big or how small, sometimes our dreams come true and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes our hard work pays off and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes things go according to plan and sometimes plans change. Sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we don’t.

Don’t worry too much though, bad luck can’t last forever. Odds are eventually, if you keep planning, keep working and keep dreaming, somewhere along the way your luck is bound to change.

 Someday I’m going to travel the world. Someday I’m going to visit the sweet home of Alabama and I’m going to dance the night away.

If you asked me why Alabama, I’m not quite sure what I would tell you, because to be perfectly honest, I’m not quite sure where my love for this town first came from or at what age the love first started. but I do know that it seems to be growing stronger with each and every passing year.

Whether it’s compliments of my intense love for the worlds greatest song and the amazing childhood memories that go along with it or whether it’s because ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ is, and always will be, my all time favourite movie, either way I’m certain that someday you’ll find me rocking my cowboy boots in a small little country bar in Alabama. I’ll be the girl requesting their State’s theme song and then attempting to ‘line dance’ the night away.

Someday I’ll be the girl in Alabama, having the time of her life.

If you still can’t find me though, just keep an eye out for my cowboy of a brother. Chances are, with a trip to Alabama, he wouldn’t be too far behind me. He’ll be the one with a drink in his hand and a smile on his face, singing completely out of tune to every single country song they play that night. He’ll be the life of the party, dancing with the happiest girl in Alabama.

It’s amazing how even just the smell of something, can bring back a flood of memories. Memories that are so vivid and so clear, that it feels like just yesterday you were living them. My memories, well they start in Hawaii.

In a perfect little hotel room, overlooking picturesque palm trees, busy streets and perfect beaches. They start with the sweet smell of coconut and they make me happier than you could ever even imagine.

Every day, I would awake with a smile on my face. A smile so big, that there was no room on my face for anything else. I would have my breakfast that travelled a million miles, all the way from home, just to be there with me and then I would shower. I would shower with the most magical coconut body wash that I had ever laid my hands on and I would moisturise with the matching coconut body cream; the perfect combination. Then, smelling just like a freshly cracked Coconut, I would start my day on the most beautiful Island that a girl has ever seen.

Fast forward four months and here I am back at home, missing not only the picturesque palm trees, the busy streets and the perfect beaches, but the sweet smell of coconut that could take me back there in a heartbeat.

Today though, all of that changed.

Today, Mumma took me to a beautiful big Organic Health Shop, and right there on the shelf, with the rest of the hundred and one coconut products, was that very same smell of coconut that I fell in love with back on the Island.

So today, I was lucky enough to again shower with that magical smell of coconut. And although I may not have been in that very same hotel room, surrounded by those picturesque palm trees, those busy streets, and those perfect beaches, that sweet smell of coconut that filled the room had made those memories so vivid and so clear, that in my mind, that’s exactly where I was.