The challenge of taking a moment...

It is hard to believe that Christmas and summer holidays is upon us and 2014 only a breath away. With the mad dashing associated with last minute organising, seeing friends, collecting family, it can be hard to pause and look back upon the year.

Yet it is important to stop. To be thankful, to appreciate, and to love. How can we see what we have and have achieved if we don't actually take a moment to think about it?

So stop - even if only briefly, and look around you. Smile, breathe, and welcome 2014.

Take care and be safe these holidays. We'll see you in 2014, bigger and brighter than ever.

Coffee - making the most of a special little bean.

There is something truly pleasurable about arriving home to find a delivery of coffee beans, expertly chosen and freshly roasted, waiting on my door step.

Perhaps it is the knowledge that tomorrow I'll be sitting down with a freshly made coffee, its heady aroma gifting me a moment of peace in a hectic day. Such simple things make life that little bit more special!

It could also be the pleasure of having such beautiful coffee sent to me, with me barely raising a finger. I didn't get in the car and make a special trip to the shops or do the madcap 20 minute run around at lunchtime. My secret? I ordered it online.

There's something else though too. I love buying from specialty stores - artisans that care about their craft - small locally owned businesses. I used to buy coffee from the supermarket. It wasn't until I tried beans from a specialty store that I realised what I had been missing.

So what's the difference? Quality. According to many online blogs like coffeegeek, roasted beans have a premium shelf life of around 2 weeks. After that, the quality starts to fade. Bottom line is, not only do you want high quality beans, but you want your coffee beans freshly roasted.

There are a couple of local specialty coffee retailers offering online shopping and home delivery. Tasmanian Coffee Roasters, based in Hobart, and offers lower prices for online shoppers. I recommend you use their online shop to decide your order and then call them on the phone. In Launceston, Ritual Coffee has a coffee club offering members a new roast, delivered on the first Monday of every month. Both offer the highest quali1ty coffee, delivered to your door.

And if you're after tips to store your coffee, Coffeegeek and Wikipedia recommend storing your beans in an airtight or ceramic container in a cool dark place (like a cupboard!). Use the beans within 2 weeks or so, but if you need them longer, try freezing them. If you're using ground coffee, the shelf life is even shorter - so buy in smaller quantities if you like your coffee at its best.

Life's too short for bad coffee. And now you have no excuse.

The special gift of being a mum

Life is funny sometimes. When I look back at life when I was single, or newly married, I wonder how I filled it. It felt busy, rushing around seeing friends, going to dinner, playing sport, sleeping in... How that has changed with 2 beautiful little ones in our lives!

Life is more packed, yet slower. I know that sounds contradictory, but you have to slow down with kids. Time spent talking over breakfast, and packing school lunches, making block towers or reading books before bedtime takes priority over washing, doing the accounts or grocery shopping. That is where it tends to get busy - that mad rush between the kids going to bed and my crashing on the couch at night!

Yet, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love being a mother. Seeing life through the eyes of a child. Feeling their arms wrapped around your neck and kissing you good night. It swells your heart until your body feels like it will burst. Unconditional love and trust.

Being a mum has made me a better person and I have a much better perspective on life. Yet I can't help but worry for them, and every other child I see in the street - are they cold, are they happy, do they feel loved? The rewards of parenthood comes with its burden too!

My 5 year old daughter is more excited about mother's day than I am this year. Each day she tells me something else that I can do this year for Mother's Day 'Mummy, we can sit at the proper dining table and have candles', or 'Mummy, we will give you an extra special cuddle'. Her excitement makes it fun, and makes it much more real. It seems that I have already had my gift for Mother's Day.

Real strength: the power of community

Sometimes it is easy to wonder if there is such a thing as a real community these days.  With 24 hour news, social media and the internet, our own local communities can seem irrelevant.

However, our local communities are not weak, insignificant, or meaningless.  We only need to look at the recent bush fires around Tasmania to see the power of local communities: people giving, volunteering and helping others to get through difficult times.

It is easy to get on board when the news crews are there.  The test is when the news cycle has turned to the next tragedy, the next hot spot, and the rest of the world moves on.

What has really struck me (and made me proud to be a human being!) is seeing the plethora of small, grass roots' efforts to help local bushfire victims.  In my community of Taroona, the local bakery was donating their tips to the bushfire effort, while the Taroona Community Association held a fundraising auction last weekend.

There are more, but the point is that none of this would happen without people deciding to do something in their own way.  They’re not screaming about their efforts on the news, on facebook or twitter.  They are just doing it because they care.

This is not to say that Tasmanians are more caring or altruistic than other people.  My family in Queensland has been flooded for the third time this year, and they have also experienced the generosity of spirit of their local community.

What is important is that perhaps it is through these difficult and dark times that we see what we really have, and what is important: community.