September Dreams

The above is of where I am writing this as we speak - how gorgeous is this office??!

Unfortunately, the holiday I was envisioning for the Swiss experience has been hijacked with the preparation of the birthday celebrations! Its been fun still, but the days have been filled with doing rubbish trips, shopping missions, cleaning the house, organising everything and assembling IKEA furniture... We've still been trying to do it with grace and gratitude and thanks that we are in this lovely environment, but I've not really given myself the opportunity to sit, dream and plan!

But I have put time aside to look at my September dreams. A few will be carried over from August, but I am also realistically prepared to carry some over to October as September is looking a very busy month with returning to Sydney on the 16th, finishing work and all that entails for the 24th while celebrating farewells and Steering Committee meetings and a few other things in my first week back in Aussie land. Regardless here is September!

1. Celebrate Mum and Dad's birthdays (6th and 7th Sept) and enjoy the time with all the guests coming.
2. Enjoy family trip to Germany for the 10-yearly Passion Play in Oberamergao.
3. Organise and finalise Christmas trip dates.
4. Celebrate one year anniversary with the Man on the 19th Sept!!!
5. Organise and finalise living arrangements in Sydney
6. Steering Committee Meetings and organising online SC
7. Prepare thank yous and farewells to Staff and Students
8. Start looking at potential business set up with home building
9. Give and facilitate women's talk on finance at work on my last day!
10. Work out a personal routine for new work/life set up.
11. Start Transition plans to 10thousandgirl
12. Set up amazing home work space
13. Continue the Success Principles.

So, looking back at my August dreams, I was perhaps being overly ambitious with a few, especially in regards to my dreams associated with home as I was away and busy with work! So what did I achieve?

1. Enjoy weekly date night and quality time with The Man; DONE!
2. Get started on Jack Canfield's The Success Principles: How to get from where you are to where you want to be. Read and implement at least 1 per week; DOING,I'VE DONE MORE READING THAN IMPLEMENTING
3. Organise, facilitate and enjoy the 10thousandgirl Steering Committee Monthly meetings; DONE FOR THE SYDNEY COMMITTEE
4. Experience and celebrate Melissa and Julian's wedding and festivities in Perth; DONE!
5. Savour family and friends time in Perth; DONE!
6. Plan for, pack and set intentions for Dad's Birthday Europe trip (leaving 27th August 2010) DONE!
7. Create and buy Dad's birthday presents; IN PROGRESS
8. Start handing over job responsibilites to Successor at work; DONE
9. Regularly Journal and Blog my experiences; I'M GETTING BETTER AT THIS
10. Start transition to 10thousandgirl with plans and personal set up; NOT YET
11. Organise a fabulous wardrobe space; NOT YET
12. Set up amazing home work space; NOT YET
13. Set up workable personal routine; NOT YET
14. Ensure I'm spending enough quality time with myself... TRYING TO!

Swiss Arrival

Being in a foreign country can be like being in a land of magic. You tend to look at everything new with awe and wonder. If only we could be more like this in our everyday.

I’ve just looked at the outside thermometer and it is showing 2 degrees centigrade as the rising sun has just peeked over the alps to the left of me. Im sitting on the balcony of our Chalet Edelweiss, hearing the somewhat unflattering sounds of construction in this otherwise tranquil setting.

What a wonderful office to be working in, looking into the valley, seeing the old traditional Swiss Chalets and gazing upwards at the beautiful mountain range called the Dents du Midi (another somewhat unromantic name, translating to Teeth of the South!).

So, a recap of my Swiss Sojourne so far…

• Pretending that I understood everything the customs officer was saying to me after seeing I have a german passport…
• Arriving in Zurich and realising my mobile is not working. So attempting to call the family on a credit card payphone (which I haven’t used in years; when was the last time you used a payphone?!) to let them know I’ve arrived and that I would be catching the next train (then checking my bank statement to realise that the 3 minute conversation cost me $34AUD).
• Catching the 9.43am train instead of the 9.13 train and having to make up my connections as I went – so it ended up that I had to lug all my baggage on 4 different trains to get to Aigle train station where the family picked me up.
• What a wonderful thing European train rides are. And what picturesque country side Switzerland has. My train experience gave me:
• The gorgeous sight of vineyards by the lakeside
• Stretches of glorious green grass and lakeside abodes with Swiss flags on the embankments
• Christmas trees planted everywhere with impressive buildings on hilltops
• Red flowers in flowerpots on every balcony and window
• Everyone on a bike looking like they are competing in the Tour de France
• A man in a suit fishing by the lake. They sure dress differently en Suisse for a fishing trip!
• Swiss Cows
• Speaking in numerous languages in my head, preparing myself to ask the conductor a question in either French or German if he didn’t speak English
• Eavesdropping on conversations around me, piecing together a probably more riveting conversation than is actually going on
• Driving straight from the train station to do some food shopping. I’d forgotten how fantastic the cheese range here is. There is so much more than just Cheddar in the refrigerated departments!
• Then finally arriving at our true home, Chalet Edelweiss and knowing the my30 year old towel linen bed was waiting for me…

Awww, what a pleasure it is to be here!