{bubble tea love}

I follow Rebecca Judd on instagram and she wrote this great post recently on her blog responding to an article about parent shaming and bullying.  I really like what she wrote and agree with many of her points. I don't want to get into a debate on my blog about who is 'right' or 'wrong' but I agree that there seems to be an awful lot of ' judgy -ness' out there that is just completely unnecessary. Breast feeding vs formula feeding Stay at home parents vs working parents Natural birth vs c-section Kids vs no kids Married vs unmarried and the list goes on.. Bec touches on celebrity bashing in her post but I know many of us have been subjected to it in our day to day lives.  I have had all sorts of judgy comments thrown my way eg I am sending my kid to daycare when she is too young, why do I want to work full time and leave my kid, did I feel ok about having a c-section (like it was a bad thing), why did I only take 5.5 months off for maternity l...

I know there are some haters out there but I like Blake Lively .  She just seems nice, cool and someone you could be friends with.  I don't know if it was scripted or rehearsed beforehand but I liked her even more after seeing the latest 73 Questions video from Vogue.  Watch it here . As a follow up from my recent  post , Blake has also recently launched her own lifestyle site,  Preserve .   Part blog and part online shop it will highlight and curate (everything seems 'curated' these days!) American artisans, stories and products.   I haven't had a chance to have a proper look yet so my verdict is still out.

We just got back from the most wonderful week away in Bali.  A full week of family time - swims, lazing around, reading, massages, eating lots of yummy food, walks and shopping.  You know you had a good holiday when the time away felt longer than it really was and you forget your work computer password on your first day back in the office! The Mr and I hadn't been to Bali since our honeymoon a few years ago and my how it has changed and built up.  But I do really love Seminyak as you get a real mix of the urban (good restaurants, bars and shopping) along with beach and pool time.  We are thinking it may become an annual holiday :) Accommodation: We stayed at the W in Seminyak in the Petitenget area.  Beautiful resort with beach access and super lovely staff, it was the perfect backdrop for our holiday.   The onsite restaurants, Fire and Starfish Bloo , are super yum and the Woobar is the perfect place for sunset drinks.  There are little golf...

It's been a while since I have written a music post.  Life gets in the way, we get busy and I had forgotten how wonderful it is to make new music discoveries and listen to a beautiful song for the very first time... Zach Braff has a new movie coming out.  Similar to his debut film, Garden State (which had an awesome soundtrack ) Wish I Was Here boasts an equally impressive lineup for its soundtrack. A few songs have been released on NPR for listening.  Do yourself a favour and have a listen... Cat Power and ColdPlay: listen here Bon Iver: listen here The Shins: listen here

What a tiring day to start the week.. It started off with me reading up on financial markets regulatory reform to prepare for an industry conference I am speaking at on Wednesday and ended up with me googling 'how to deal with toddler tantrums' after a big and quite a long tanty thrown by the little Miss... I am tired! But I do genuinely love being challenged by both in my life (on most days anyway). For those parents out there, I did find an interesting article talking about the science behind toddler tantrums. Apparently they are primarily caused by their little brains not having developed the ability to understand reasoning, logic and self control yet.  I don't know.. I think the little Miss understands a lot more than she lets on sometimes and is just super duper determined.  So I don't think I will or should stop saying no to her #poorkidwithatigermum #imaginewhatshewillbelikeasateen I hope the week ahead will be a little more drama (and tantrum) free!

I recently wrote about success when I was making a difficult career decision.  Today I read a post by Deepak Chopra on Linkedin . A little bit new age and some may think a bit airy fairy but I thought it was worth sharing as good food for thought when making work and life decisions. I have extracted some of the article below but the full article is in the link above.  As he writes: Success is a magic word, and I believe in it too. When people are given the opportunity, almost all will pursue some kind of success. But matching opportunity with success is trickier than one might suppose. If Bill Gates had had the opportunity to fill Mother Teresa’s shoes, or vice versa, what would have happened? ...   In India there's a term for the life that leads a person to the right path of success: Dharma. The word comes from the Sanskrit verb "to uphold," implying that the universe will support you when you find the path that is right for you. How do you know if you are...

Gwyneth started it with the launch of Goop in 2010 and I have noticed that increasingly celebrities are getting on the bandwagon and launching their own lifestyle websites.  I know there are a lot of critics out there but I personally enjoy browsing through them.  For pop culture fans like me, you can really get a feel for the person behind the celebrity and get lots of tips in the meantime or even if it is just for a stickybeak.   I give them credit for being entrepreneurial, finding an additional income stream and being in control of their own image and brand.  Aside from Goop, a couple of my other favourite celebrity sites are:  The Tig Recently launched by Meghan Markle (who plays Rachel Zane on one of my favourite shows, Suits ), The Tig is described as ' a hub for the discerning palate - those with a hunger for food, travel, fashion & beauty ".  Her posts seem very genuine and this page has become one of my frequent reads....