Two Women Who Inspire Me

Women are amazing creatures and only a women can truly appreciate another women's uniqueness and awesomeness.

I want to talk about two women who inspire me. I am not talking about women the whole world knows about but everyday women who have gone and dreamt the impossible and made things happen. One I have known all my life and the other I have just met.

Meet Mira Stanislawska-Meysztowicz who is one of my Mums dearest, best and most crazy friend. For the first 18 years of my life she was like a 2nd Mother and I am sure knowing her has rubbed off on me and helped me chase my dreams and believe in myself. She is one person other than my fabulous Mum who always told me to follow my dreams and my heart. Mira moved to Poland over 20 years ago and discovered her passion and that was to make a difference in this world and protect the environment.

For nine years she has led the Clean Up the World campaign in Poland, as well as many other pro-ecological activities. In 2001 Mira was awarded a Knights Cross Order of the Revival of Poland. The children of Poland also awarded her with the Order of Smile in 2002.

I was so excited to catch up with Mira yesterday on her annual trip back to Australia. I love that in the latter part of her life ( I dare not disclose her age) she looks as young as she did 20 years ago and that she still has such incredible passion in all aspects of her life.

On Friday I attended a most amazing one day workshop where I was lucky enough to meet with one of the speakers Cathy Burke. Cathy is another awesome everyday woman who is making a massive difference in the lives of others. She is the CEO of The Hunger Project in Australia.

The Hunger project believes in self reliance, they are not about raising funds and sweeping in on a white horse with millions of dollars. Instead they believe that people have the ability and more importantly the desire to be self-reliant. Their goal is to end world hunger by addressing peoples attitudes and once their mindset has changed, they begin action through skill building and helping with achievable projects. They work at a grassroots level by finding leaders within the local community to help empower women and give them a voice.

They work in Africa, India, Bangladesh and Latin America.

I could go on and on but I urge you to watch this video for a greater understanding.

Cathy Burke and I clicked and felt a kindred spirit in each other and will be working together in the future to keep getting the word out far and wide about what The Hunger Project does. I so love this organisation and what it stands for and would love for Piccadilly Market to get involved so watch this space peeps.

I would love to leave you with some wise words from a woman who I have admired for a very long time after discovering her when I lived in America.

Maya Angelou

Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it.

Courage allows the successful woman to fail-
and learn powerful lessons-
from the failure-
so that in the end,
she didn't fail at all.

Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you. All the other tangible rewards will come as a result.

Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise.

I can be changed by what happens to me. but I refuse to be reduced by it.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.

It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.


Maya Angelou

All over this wallpaper

Happy New Year Peeps

Hasn't wallpaper come a long way since I was a child?
I did have a gorgeous blue and white Laura Ashley wallpapered bedroom that I adored but other than that my memories of wallpaper are terrible. We moved into one house where there was purple and black velour swirly wallpaper that made me feel dizzy. It didn't last long but the memory has.

Fast forward 30 years and the options are endless and deliciously gorgeous.

I just came across this range from Pip Studio and I am in LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

This is my number one choice, it comes in 6 panels.



but take a look at these





and don't even get me started on the home wares...where does one begin?

This bed linen matches my fave wallpaper

Christmas Traditions

Well that's it for another year. I hope you all had a wonderful festive season with your family and friends.

I LOVE this time of year, as soon as the tree can go up it does and the Christmas Carols start for the whole month of December and the excitement builds. The Carols by the Bay would have to be the kick off for the season for my family. We go every year with friends, have a picnic dinner and feel grateful for where we live and what we have.



My family has a Polish background, both parents migrated with their families to Australia and I am very thankful to my beautiful grandparents for making sure that their Polish traditions were celebrated by the family and continue to do so after they departed. There are some things that have been Australianized which is also nice.

I always take a Ho Ho Ho photo every year which the kids for the first time reminded me about this year. I hope this will continue through to adult hood.




We always have Borscht(Beetroot Soup) with Uszka (tiny mushroom tortellini) on Christmas Eve also known as 'Wigilia'. My grandmother always made it but after she passed away my Mum makes the soup and all the women and kids get together in mid December and make the uszka together which is fast becoming a new favorite tradition.

My children all LOVE the soup and had 2 big portions this year and are already looking forward to next year when they get to have it again.



In Poland there is no meat eaten on Christmas Eve. Carp is the chosen fish which I am not fond of and have vivid memories of helping kill the Carp the year I was living in Poland. So we have chosen not to follow that custom and we do the Turkey and Ham but will always have some seafood for nibbles.



One of the most beautiful and revered Polish customs is the "breaking of the oplatek". It is a thin wafer, made of flour and water and is white. They used to be baked and distributed from house to house in the parish during Advent. Now they are produced commercially and sold in religious stores.

The use of the Christmas Wafer is practiced not only by native Poles in Poland, but by people all over the world whose ancestors came from Poland.

The eldest member of the family reaches for the wafer, breaks it in half and gives one half to someone else, this is normally my Mum and her sister. Then each of them breaks a small part of each others piece and kiss each other and wish each other good health, joy and happiness, not only for the holidays but for the years to come. This is then continued amongst everyone who is present. I really enjoy this tradition the most and my children now also love participating.





We then sit down to a delicious meal, followed by kolendy (Christmas Carols). My grandmother and her 2 daughters would always sing a very moving song called Jesus Maleszenki (Baby Jesus)




This year the next generation(mine) also joined in. We then get to start opening our family presents which of course the children are very excited about. We have a children's Kris Kringle where they put in their list and get something from it from the family. Mine were over the moon to all get exactly what they wanted.






The tradition I have begun with my children is to make a gingerbread house every year that we make with carols blaring and lots of laughter. We are getting fancier as each year goes by. We then take it to Xmas Eve and the kids smash it down.

As a single parent I find Christmas Day very difficult when my children leave with their Dad. I am very blessed that my family celebrate on Christmas Eve so I never miss out but I still find the day tough without them.

This year I decided to volunteer at the Salvation Army lunch in Corio and am so pleased I did. I love being able to give back to my community and if I made someones day just a little brighter by serving them a meal and sitting and having a chat with them then it is all worth it.

I have come away from the experience feeling very fortunate that I am who I am and that my parents brought me up making me believe I could be and do anything I wanted to and that they gave me the tools to be able to live my life the way I do.

So that is it until next year. I wish you all the best for the New Year and thank you for all your support in 2011.

Christmas Cookie Success

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE Christmas? It is my favourite time of year and now that kids are getting older it gets more and more fun as the years go by. We had a blast decorating the tree even though i may have been just a little controlling about what decos went where.

Last night we did the Xmas lights around Geelong which sure was an eye opener. People really do get into the spirit.

Today we had a christmas cookie day and I have always struggled to find the right recipe for a perfect biscuit AND I have had issues with finding a perfect icing that held its colour, was glossy and dried hard. Guess what????? I achieved on both levels today.

The sugar cookie recipe and icing recipe are here for your use.

Very happy with my Cookie Christmas Tree which is a gift for our neighbour and we all had a blast decorating the rest.






Let me know if you have any fave recipes you would like to share.

The Best Market yet

When it is pouring with rain all day and temperatures have dropped dramatically and you have a huge market the next day with a bunch of outside stalls, one can start to stress.

Luckily for me I have a very good relationship with the weather gods and away went the rain and out came the sun and we had a magnificent day. This was most definitely the best Piccadilly market event to date. It is hard to know exact numbers but it was agreed amongst various people that it was around the 6500 to 7000 mark.

The doors opened at 10am and people came in their droves and continued for most of the day.

The courtyard was bustling with outdoor stalls and Le Sausage did a great job of feeding the masses which included plenty of tired Run Geelong participants.

As usual the quality of wares available were amazing and I am sure a lot of people are going to be very happy with what they find under the Christmas Tree this year.

Here is a slide show of what the day had to offer.

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported all the fabulous stall holders.

Until 2012.

1 more sleep!!!

littlewrapbag and little mexico Special Offer to 50 Lucky Piccadilly Market Shoppers.

Only 9 days till Market Day...Yeh!!!!

I love that I get so excited about an event I run.

The lovely, gorgeous, generous Nicole from Little Wrap Bag once again has a brilliant offer for you shoppers.

I have a lot of Nicole's products. I have a gorgeous primrose ipad cover that gets plenty of ooh's and ahhh's at business meetings. I have the matching duo purse which is great for stashing my phone and little bits and pieces in when I don't want to take my clunky handbag. Last year for Christmas I bought all the kids the little wrap bags which they carry around all their favorite little possessions in. Last but not least I have a divine pair of little mexico silver earrings that I adore.

Spend $15 or more on any littlewrapbag or little mexico purchase from littlewrapbag Stall 42 at Piccadilly Market Nov 20th, 2011 and receive your FREE Chica Purse RRP $10*

Be early! You'll find her on Level 2, near the courtyard doors.

Offer is available to the first 50 shoppers who quote the word 'Taxco' during their purchase. Taxco, Mexico is the town where the unique little mexico range of sterling silver is hand crafted.

To preview the full range of products visit her at www.littlewrapbag.com and www.littlemexico.com.au, or www.facebook.com/littlewrapbag

*Offer limited to one per customer. Applies to first 50 customers who spend $15 or more. Valid 20th November 2011 only. Customer may select their Chica Purse from those available at the market.


Thanks Nicole