Catherine Greer's Blog

Hello, friends!

Just dropping by to let you know I’m thinking of you right now. How are you doing with your ‘shelter in place’ and with all the changes in your part of the world?

If there’s sadness and loss, I’m sorry. Here in Australia, we seem to be doing a little better and I’m so grateful that our family is fine.

For anyone who misses the weekly encouragement from me, I’m blogging twice a week over at Love Our Age. You’re so welcome to join me! (That’s www.loveourage.com)

Since January, I’ve been writing about happiness and mindset, ways to celebrate and lovely things.

Readers’ Favourite posts so far:

Why we should call ourselves beginners

The little list of what you CAN control

A quick and easy beauty hack

Delicious raw gf df brownies

The crazy idea that made me start Love Our Age

Today I shared my Easter cinnamon buns! Take a peek below. You’re so welcome to the recipe.

If you’ve missed me, come along on my new adventure.

Yes! Sign me up to Love Our Age!

I hope you and yours are well. Sending love from Sydney.

Love, Catherine x

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For all the friends and family in Canada who have asked: yes, the fires have been so sad.

Our home in Sydney is fine — on a suburban street. We are extremely lucky. The air quality has been terrible, but of course what is worse is all the devastation people are facing.

There is the human loss, loss of homes and habitats, and the loss of animal life as well.

We live in a suburb that backs onto bush, and a week before Christmas I saw a wallaby and a kangaroo, disoriented, hopping through the streets near the shops.

Can I tell you how sad that looks? With hot and dry summer really only starting, we have no idea when the fires will clear.

Sending love to everyone affected. (The photo above is from social media and I don’t know the source. Apologies for using it without permission.)

And on a happier note, if you’re interested in following along on my new journey — for some inspiration and joy as we all learn to Love Our Age, you can sign up at my new website: www.loveourage.com

If you subscribed yesterday

I had a few tech problems so some sign ups were lost. So if you’d like to be included, please subscribe here (again!) and I’ll delete duplicate addresses.

And if it’s not your thing, no pressure at all! Thanks for being here.

Love Catherine x

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Happy 2020!

After taking a blogging break, I’m back — with a whole NEW website for you!

In the past 18 months, I’ve been thinking about living with joy. I’m an encourager at heart and I love to share what I learn. So I created Love Our Age (www.loveourage.com), where you’ll find Good Vibes everywhere!

I think age is a gift and I want to spread some joy.

You can sign up for weekly inspiration! Always free, always fun — a fresh perspective on life.

Feel better.

Be encouraged.

Have some fun … and be fun to live with!

The best is yet to come,

Catherine x

PS.

Psst…take a sneak peek NOW at www.loveourage.com !

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Hello, my friends.

It’s Christmas Eve morning in Australia, and as I write there is finally rain. Not a lot of rain, not enough to solve the fires, but some rain and we’re thankful for it.

As you know, I’ve been taking a blogging break but you’ve all been on my mind. I’ve been extra quiet lately, but I’ve been cooking up something wonderful for you in the new year — so stay tuned! I’ll be in touch soon.

I’m hoping that 2020 is the start of decade that brings good news and a LOT of good cheer.

From my heart to yours, Merry Christmas and here’s to a happy New Year. May you all be well loved, safe and filled with laughter and quietude, rest and fun.

Love, Catherine x

Happy Sunday!

Something big to share today — after three and a half years of popping into your inbox every weekend, It’s time for me to press pause.

I have loved the privilege of saying hello every week, and sharing what I’ve learned.

Thank you for reading!

One of the things I’m good at is consistency and follow-through. I’m proud that I’ve blogged 182 weekends in a row without fail…and met fantastic women…and made a difference with what I’ve shared. Thank you for your emails and your comments, for supporting my picture book and my debut novel, and for cheering me on.

I appreciate you!

But you know how in a job interview, when you’re asked to share a weakness and you give them a weakness-that’s-really-a-strength (“Oh, I’m SUCH a stickler for detail!” or “I have to be on time — drives other people crazy!”)?

I’ve learned that sometimes my consistency is like that.

It’s a strength.

It’s also a weakness.

It keeps me keeping on, when it may be time for something new. Paulo Coehlo said it best:

So, after a few years of Fast Forward on the blog and in my life, I’m going to Press Pause. I’m heading inside to dream and think and plan.

It’s scary, but I’m creating room for something new.

There’s a project I’m excited to work on, and I need space to let the “new” flow in.

So this is my chance to say a heartfelt thank you for being in my corner of the internet all these years. I feel like we’ve had coffee every Sunday morning before my family wakes up. I hope to see you again soon!

Until then, as always, remember to have some fun … and be fun to live with. So important for us all.

Love Catherine x

PS.

If you’re in Sydney and looking for a fabulous fashion workshop, this one is amazing. It’s called Style For Life!

Want to watch me? I perfected macarons! I totally recommend this book.

Popular posts on tackling fear, loving people better, and fixing mistakes.

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If there’s one thing that guarantees happiness, it’s strawberries!

In Australia, we’re in the middle of strawberry season — so for a celebration this week, I made Chocolate Dipped Strawberries for dessert.

They were perfect.

Want to hear all my tricks and tips?

5 tips for perfect strawberries:

Wash and dry the strawberries well. Make sure they’re completely dry, right up to the leaves (which you gently pull upward). Chocolate won’t stick to damp berries.

Don’t cheat and use your microwave! Heat the chocolate in a double boiler. Just bring an inch of water to simmer in a pot, and place a bowl (plastic or glass) on top. Make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water.

Add oil. Break up one block of baking chocolate (or chocolate chips). Add to the bowl. Then add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil — this is what gives the beautiful sheen. Stir until melted.

WAIT. Don’t dip too early. Let the chocolate cool and thicken a little before you start dipping. This may take 10-15 minutes. Line a tray with baking paper for the dipped strawberries. If the chocolate is cool, it won’t pool as much at the base of the berry.

Cool at room temperature, then pop in the fridge. Leave the dipped berries to cool for at least 5 minutes on the benchtop. Then put them in the fridge to harden. The chocolate won’t crack off the berry when you take a bite.

So easy and so delicious.

I hope you enjoy your weekend — and if you’re in Australia, I hope strawberries are on the menu!

Love Catherine x

PS.

Need some courage to start something new?

Looking for fun silver shoes for $7?

How about a 10 minute fix for whatever’s wrong?

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Welcome to Sunday, the day when you can sit for a second and think about your week.

If you’re anything like me, in your mind you gather up all the people you love and sweep over them, and wonder whether they’re okay.

Partner?

Teens one and two?

Mother who has been to the doctor a lot recently?

Friend who is worried about her colonoscopy?

Last week I stuck this sign on our fridge, just as a general reminder to anyone who drops by.

There’s a difference between having a problem and being a problem.

Does someone out there need this reminder?? Let’s get clear with the people we love and tell them this: YOU are not the problem. The problem is the problem.

Together, we can tackle anything.

Enjoy your weekend, and love the people you’re lucky enough to love.

Catherine x

PS.

A flower-arranging tip for supermarket roses, classic 1980s spinach dip, and a reminder about who you are!

Love this photo my Instagram friend Elizabeth took…I want to do this for a friend, and also be the friend who finds this! She wrote, “I have so much love in my life, known and anonymous.”

Last night I enjoyed some quiet time.

After the teenagers ate their pizza (apparently I’m now better than Dominoes so let me know if you want the recipe!), and after I baked our favourite cookies, I lit a candle and thought about something I read this week.

So simple. It’s this:

True for every single one of us.

True about me.

True about you.

Our minds want to fill in the blanks and make up a story that makes sense, but we just don’t know what’s going on for anyone, not really.

So today, no stories. No filling in the blanks. No assumptions.

I’m going to be gentle on people — and on myself.

Sending peace out around the world this morning. Enjoy your day, and love your people. We only know a little of what’s going on.

Love, Catherine

PS.

Happy Father’s Day down under!

I learned my lesson about last week. I woke up and found this…exploding seeds floating all over my kitchen! (Yeah, and when I carried them out to the garden bin half covered by a bag because I was being poked to death by thistle thorns, floating seeds flew all over our front garden!!) For my husband, reading this in Singapore right now, um…sorry about the thistles that you may have to dig out of the garden all spring :( Happy Father’s Day!



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Here’s a story for you.

Yesterday, walking the dog, we explored a grassy laneway between two houses, and we came across the most beautiful scotch thistles.

Weeds. Truly pretty weeds.

My husband waited while I found a way to break off the thistles, then he made an invention with dog bags so I could carry the weeds home. It worked perfectly: a dog bag ‘strap’ to carry prickly thistles for over a kilometre back to the house.

That’s him. That’s me.

Ingenious helper. Gatherer of beautiful weeds.

My son has a Thoreau quote by his desk, and it says this:

So many people read that Thoreau quote and assume they haven’t done their thing.

I think we can’t stop ourselves from doing it.

Our song leaks out. It’s who we are.

Not many people would see weeds in a laneway. Not many people would find them pretty. Almost no one would get up early on a Sunday morning to write about them, and send the message around the world.

Oh, there are so many things I don’t see at all: science (blahhhhh!), or babies (ugh). Swimming…nope! Not my song. Maybe it’s yours.

I’m not saying I’m so special. Please don’t get me wrong.

But there’s this: somehow, seeing the ‘pretty’ makes me ME.

Vic, a beautiful friend with a wise heart, told me this amazing story a few days ago about her unexpected chance to speak at an open mic in a cafe. She’s talented but she got too mixed up about perfection and she let the chance pass her by.

Then she felt terrible. And she wrote this: I knew I should have done it.

Today, please go and sing your kind of song.

Inventor of solutions or finder of beauty? A person who always helps a child? A heart that wants to problem-solve? Baker or walker? Kitchen dancer? Let it out. Appreciate it: the quirky, beautiful person your mama raised you to be.

Enjoy your weekend…and enjoy being you.

You are irreplaceable.

Love Catherine x

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Oh, hello weekend!

Yesterday, during our Saturday bush walk / dog walk, I was thinking about you.

I wondered what you do when you’re stressed.

All of us ‘buffer’ against bad feelings. That’s a term Brooke Castillo uses, and it means we find a way not to feel. We numb ourselves. It looks like this. I’m upset so I…

overdrink

head for the chocolate

watch Netflix

tell the same story over and over

But I have one weird buffer I’d add to that list: I walk.

All my life, since I was a little girl, my buffer has been walking. As a child on the farm, I walked for miles in the fields and country lanes. In boarding school, I walked city streets. When I moved across the country for grad school, I did relentless daily loops around Springbank Park. When I immigrated to Australia, same thing: I have walked every suburb we lived in.

I do it still.

Honestly, I don’t even do it for exercise. I do it because it helps me process.

So here’s my thought — is there a buffer switch you can make?

Drinking wine becomes drawing, chocolate becomes walking, over-Netflix watching becomes watching Youtube videos about things you want to learn?

I think the key might be what you did or loved as a child.

We all buffer, and we all need to learn to go through the bad feeling from start to finish, and not push it away. But in the meantime, while we’re learning to face our feelings, maybe a buffer switch can help.

Switch in strawberries for chocolate.

Switch in sparkling fizzy drinks in a pretty glass for wine.

Switch in walking for telling the same story, over and over…

A switch is a good place to start.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone! Have some fun, and be fun to live with.

Love, Catherine x

PS.

There’s such a funny movie, Hunt For the Wilderpeople, where Ricky Baker, a Kiwi child in foster care, writes haiku to process his feelings. (Watch the movie if you can — so funny and charming. Trailer is here!) Sometimes I think Kiwis are the most talented people on earth. And New Zealand scenery is heartbreakingly beautiful.