#5 Gratitude

Today I am grateful for my cultural heritage and background (Serbian, German, Scottish). I know it's not something you hear people are appreciative or grateful of often, but it's something I've realised is really important in shaping who you are. I've lived the best of both cultural worlds. I've experienced the Australian way of life/culture from my paternal family... and also the rich, European, traditional culture of my mother and her family who migrated to Australia after World War II (from Yugoslavia [today's Serbia] and Germany).

And in honour of my cultural heritage, I thought I'd switch my parting message to reflect that!

Bis bald!

(Til next time)

#4 Gratitude

Today I am grateful to have the use of my arms and legs! Being able to walk and generally move is something we all easily forget about... I know I do!

À la prochaine foir...

(Til next time)

#3 Gratitude

Today (and actually pretty much every other day) I am grateful to have been blessed with such a beautiful mother.  My mum isn't just my mum. She's my best friend and noone knows me better than her!

Ich liebe Dich mit ganzem Herzen mein Schatzi. xxx

À la prochaine foir...

(Til next time)

#2 Gratitude

Today I am grateful for my beautiful MacBook Pro. For the last 2 days, it's been inactive (and so have I, quite frankly!). It's quite sad, I know. But what can I say? I love my Mac. . .  forever and always.

À la prochaine foir...

(Til next time)

#1 Gratitude

Today I am grateful that I am blessed with eye sight. I couldn't imagine not seeing the beauty in life.

À la prochaine foir...

(Til next time)

New life perspective.

Today I came across the true and courageous story of a young British woman, Katie Piper. I have found this woman to be such an inspiration. Katie, a former model and television presenter, was the
victim of an horrific acid attack in 2008. By acid attack, I mean sulfuric acid (a highly corrosive liquid) was thrown on her face. It's unbelievable to imagine that anyone could do that to someone and that someone could suffer so badly in such an unimaginable way.

Still beautiful in my eyes: Katie, before the attack (left) and Katie today (right)

Today Katie has committed herself to increasing awareness about burn victims. A documentary which followed Katie's incredibly difficult journey since the attack called 'Katie: My Beautiful Face' was aired in the UK on Channel 4. She has also released a best-selling autobiography and taken up a regular writing gig as a magazine columnist. However, the biggest commitment that Katie has taken up is creating her own charitable organisation called the Katie Piper Foundation.

Apart from being a huge inspiration to me, Katie's story has also been a massive wake-up call. I'm not one to fuss over my physical appearance constantly (I'm not one who wears make-up daily, for example) but there are times when I feel unhappy or dissatisfied with my looks - face, body, hair, whatever. But while I was watching Katie's documentary, I really felt ashamed of myself. How can I whinge or how dare I even think about whingeing about my face, my skin, my 'imperfections?' It just really made my 'short-comings' seem so pathetically insignificant.

Importantly, it's inspired me to appreciate my life more and what I have! So for the next month, I am going to try and commit to blogging about 30 things I am grateful for in my life whenever I can!

If you are interested in finding out more about Katie's foundation and her personal story, visit her website: www.katiepiperfoundation.org.uk and also check out where you can purchase her book!

À la prochaine foir...

(Til next time)