I’m sure I am not the only person who has noticed this – but lately, doesn’t life seem so busy? Full of birthdays, dinners, shopping, to-do lists, cleaning, family duties, and you blink & then life jumps from Monday to Sunday? You are left thinking “where did the week go?” Every day my End of Financial Year countdown clock stares me in the face and reminds me of how quickly life passes by!

In the past 12 months many of my weekends have left me feeling overwhelmed & exhausted rather than relaxed & refreshed. From much of my own doing, over-committing, pushing myself to do more, and having always considered myself as someone who likes to be busy rather and can’t spend a day without leaving the house.

Well lately that has CHANGED! More and more I am loving a lazy sunday, with a sleep-in ’til 12, a yummy home made brunch & a day reading a magazine (such as the Renegade Collective – give it a read!) & sipping teacup after teacup of chai or vanilla tea.

So having such a busy life and now wanting to take every minute spent, busy or relaxed, for granted, has made me think more about how I spend my time and what I want to get more out of on my weekends!

While I am a stickler for cleaning, I am slowly learning to relax a little, and that yes it is OK to leave dishes overnight and that I can go a day or two without doing a load of washing! Learning to relax on chores a little bit has also made me feel like there is an even divide on chores & appreciate more of what my other half does & spend less time being a nag!

This year Matt & I also invented a Thursday night ‘date night’ for us to ensure we have a minimum one night a week where we put tiredness, whinging & our busy lives aside and spend some quality time together. We ruled we don’t have to go out, that it can be an amazing home cooked meal & wine and we have had many date nights together so far! They have included chilli pasta, sushi, new restaurants & shopping! We both have so many ideas to keep us entertained that this is a lovely tradition & we are glad we have dedicated a night to each other.

We even decided to have one random week’s date night as a weekend away in the Blue Mountains after a stressful couple of weeks! This involved lots of exploring, cafe-hopping & silly tennis playing!

Our spontaneous weekend away in the Blue Mountains

So what time I have had left over, between relaxing & date nights, I have tried to make sure I am spending my time wisely with family & friends & much needed catch-ups. I have already had a couple of really fun weekends in Canberra catching up with good friends, and although it was busy I felt so relaxed & happy by Sunday evening. Cherishing every moment I spend with my brothers, having my sister over, babysitting my nephews & niece. Oh and don’t forget my monthly facials with my mum! While it is a crazy balancing act to juggle family events, catching up with friends & what little time is left relaxing, I have appreciated every minute spent this year.

What could be better than a summer Canberra pool party?

This weekend I managed to squeeze in an awesome wine tour with friends, a sleep-in, a lovely catch up with long-time girlfriends, afternoon tea with the fam & a yummy home cooked dinner with Matt. And a relaxing couple of hours to blog & paint my nails (for those who know me well – I’ve gone a whole month of not nail-biting! It’s a miracle!) – I don’t know how I did it but its been a perfectly balanced weekend!

Wine & cheese anybody?

So I am encouraging you all to look back on your weekend, think of how much you enjoyed it, and for your next weekend, spend less time on the boring stuff or committing to things you don’t want to do, and more time hanging out with friends & family you enjoy the company of and reserving a couple of hours of me time. You will be amazed how much you look forward to Monday!

And at that, its bed time!

x Rach

Thanks for the lovely catch up, ladies! x