While I was shopping yesterday I was grabbing new things I had already bought to try on with stuff I was thinking about buying. Had fly-away thought….” Whatever you do don’t pack ‘unpaid for stuff’ back into a paid bag. (An arrest for shoplifting will not do much for your career🤔.) Even checked bag while I was at the counter to make sure. Imagine my horror when I get home to discover I have two identical tops. OMG, I actually shoplifted 😱….and I didn’t get caught! Am feeling slightly bad arsed (although I know its wrong on so many levels and this thief was going to return the top today, I promise😳) when I decide to check my receipt and discovered I had actually paid for both of them. Mmm mild disappointment to realise: Not so much a bad arse, as a dumb arse.🙄

This morning I woke up feeling my usual self again, having dealt with residue emotions from this week. Amazingly I was actually ten minutes early for the bus to Woodridge that I usually catch at kings beach on Fridays. As I walked outside I was hit by the most beautiful sunrise. 😄 I had to take my phone out to get some photos. Had this very clear thought that I am not yet living a gratitude-filled life…instead, I am simply ‘learning to live a gratitude-filled a life.’ Aha moment that there is a huge distinction between the two..(so its ok if you fall off the wagon Gayle.😌 ).

I always love the pool by kings beach when the sun is rising. In 2010 when I was travelling in Vietnam I met a Welsch girl called Nia. I have to say, I haven’t met many people that I can spend longer than a…mmmm a week with while travelling but her and I spent almost two weeks together and I was truly devastated when we had to say goodbye. If there is such thing a sense-of-humour-soulmate then she would have been on of mine. Something would happen, we would look at each other and fall into hysterics without so much as a word. We would constantly argue about who was funnier. (Deep down I think she knew it was me😎…but it was just hard for her to admit)

Anyway, we were in Siem Reap, Cambodia and had planned to visit the famous Buddhist temple, Angkor Wat. It is the largest religious monument in the world and also ranked as the 7th Wonder of the world. Being so large and all, we couldn’t decide if we should do the one, two days or 3-day tour. We eventually decided on the 1day which started at some ridiculous hour in the morning so we could see the sun rising over the temple. (I think it needs to be said: Neither Nia nor I were morning people at that stage). I remember us standing there waiting for over an hour, bored out of our skulls 💀waiting for the bloody sun to rise🌅 When it did eventually rise hundreds of other foreigners were snapping away excitably and we were already over it. Nia and I managed to do our entire Angkor Wat tour in 5 hours flat. Don’t get me wrong..it is truly impressive and an absolute must see but 5 hours of ruins was about as much as either of us could survive. What i do recall is us laughing the entire time. When my dad died a month later Nia sent me a calendar that she had made of our 2 weeks together and it truly was one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received.. ( I still have up in my flat. 😄) So often when I look over the sun rising at the kings beach I think of that day. Today it was especially beautiful….and had thought that it might actually have been more beautiful than Angkor Wat….(minus the 900-year-old temples of course.) While I am pretty sure our kings beach pool will never be the 8th wonder of the world😏 ….I just think it is such a good reminder that we really do have beauty all around us, no matter were we are. 🤗

Have an awesome evening😘💐🌲🌲🌲🌳🌳🐝