What I'm Loving this Week...

I've decided that each week - and I'll aim for Monday - I'll share with you three things that are making me smile....   

• I'm absolutely LOVING and almost out of Sweetie Pie Tea which I purchased when visiting Adore Tea while staying with my best friend in Canberra in January.  It's a truly beautiful blend of Rooibos with berries and blossoms and it's sugar free and naturally sweet.  It truly reminds me of childhood - more imagined than real - where we'd sip pale pink tea out of blue and white striped mugs whilst wrapped in a snuggly blanket in front of an open fire...
• This is not the first time I've used one of Apivita's gorgeous cleansing lotions, but this is the first time I've used the cleansing milk with honey & orange for normal-dry skin.  Their products are beautiful - free of parabens and other nasties like silicone, mineral oil and propylene glycol. Instead of the major ingredient being water - as it is in MOST beauty products, Apivita use a green tea infusion for it's anti-oxidant properties.  The natural fragrances are beautiful and come from essential oils such as lavender, neroli  and geranium.  If you haven't tried their products and like me, you prefer natural products, check out their online store.
• The third and favourite of the items I'm sharing with you this week is L'Occitane Verbena Eau de Toilette - I recently got a bottle of this for Mothers Day after coveting it for quite a while.  It's such a divinely fresh and sparkling bottle of lemony goodness.  Just one spritz of the Mediterranean verbena, geranium and lemon scent truly makes me feel positive and happy and ready to face the day - it's my new must-have, signature scent... (at least until this perfume addict finds another she loves as much) <3

We Are Family

Family.  That one word means different things to different people.  Some consider it a plural term to lump all those related by blood into one basket.  Others see those people they gather close to their heart, chosen on merit and not DNA to be their family of choice.  Far too many are dysfunctional.  The storybook picture of what constitutes a family is just not a reality for many people anymore; that doesn't mean that the strong and loving bonds of family are lessened by an absent parent or two parents of the same sex or being raised by parents who chose you but didn't biologically create you.  Your family is quite simply - your family.

My family is the single most important thing in my life.  I'm fortunate to come from a family who all feel the same way.  From outsiders we have as much criticism as we have envy from those who wish they were a part of our large, encapsulating embrace.  My family consists of my three teenage sons, my parents, my sister and her son and myself.  I live with my two younger sons and my parents in a large home with more than enough room for when the rest of the family are here a few nights a week for dinner or sleep overs. My older son lives with his partner and she is the daughter I never had and although they are only 19, she has been a part of our lives for many years.  Our lives are full and chaotic, certainly never quiet or lonely and I would never want it to be any other way.

But family doesn't stop beyond these walls.  My ex husband and his partner and her children are also a part of my family.  We go out for dinner as a big group every few weeks and I think my boys love the fact that they have both of their parents together, accepting one another for who we are, enjoying the company, forgetting the expectations of society and generally having a great time. My ex has been with his partner for around 10 years now - longer than we were together - and I can honestly call her my friend.  Letting go of those ideas set by society that there should be some kind of cold war between the new partner and the old is damaging to all concerned and I can tell you from experience it's so much nicer when everyone gets along.

I think most people would agree with me on this... when thinking of childhood memories, many of the best ones involve siblings, cousins, and trips to grandparent's homes and generally centre around traditional family gatherings.  I know for me this is true.  Cousins are another interesting topic.  I have friends whose cousins are as close or closer than their siblings and other friends who have cousins they rarely see or haven't even met.  My cousins are great (for the most part) and thanks to facebook we have actually grown closer as distance had been an encumbrance.

There is something to be said for the blood ties, even as watered down as it becomes as generations spread their proverbial wings and plant seeds on diametrically opposed sides of the planet. I am passionate about genealogy, well, family history to be more accurate (as I like to put leaves on the trees and flesh on the bones) and my incessant search for fleshing out my own tree led me to discover a few of these kin united by blood.  In particular I found (actually she found me but that's by the by) a fifth cousin once removed who is so much like me that it's as if we were identical twins separated at birth and not by a protesting brother torn from his sister and shipped to The Colonies in 1831.  She is my soul sister, my dearest friend and my family.  Her family is my family too.  Actually, sinking your teeth into your ancestral roots not only gives you a great understanding of where you come from but it helps you to understand who you are and why you are the person you are.  It also helps you to realise that we are all connected.

Family Tree Art by Jenny Lee Fowler on Flickr

The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build A Home

March Against Monsanto!

March Against Monsanto! by missjojo featuring an eau de perfume

AX Paris mohair sweater
$30 - axparis.com

Frye
$315 - gravitypope.com

Crossbody handbag
target.com

Tasha infinity scarve
nordstrom.com

Agent Ninetynine embroidered hat
$19 - generalpants.com.au

Urban decay cosmetic
urbandecay.com

Witchery lip makeup
$16 - witchery.com.au

Fresh eau de perfume
nordstrom.com

What's in a Name?

It took me a while to come up with something that I felt truly represented who I was.  I played around with some clever names; lyrical representations, names with double meanings, humourous titles with clear directions and then it hit me - yes! I am all of those things, but I am also just Jojo.

I am a person who's known to not only double dip, but to have each of my fingers dipped into many proverbial pies.  Dipping deeply in just one pie is not what I'm about - unless of course it's a pie with many layers, rich, decadent and rather nutty with more than a few hidden ingredients (especially if they're organic and good for you)...

My outer life may seem rather dull to many.  I don't work in any kind of regular job, and I don't go to many interesting places at all these days but my inner life is rich beyond compare.  I honestly don't understand the concept of boredom; I never have enough time to do even one tenth of the things I long to do.  I'm fascinated and passionate about so many things, I'm creative, I'm artistic, I engage deeply in the search for the meaning of life.  I laugh a lot and loudly.  I value family above all things. Connecting with other people is vital to me - I need interaction, I need to be heard and I need to be valued.  I don't mind at all if people think differently to me or have vastly different beliefs and ideas but I do mind if they instantly discredit me for the very same reasons.

Names - they do say a lot about us when they are chosen BY us and not by anyone else.  I know I often get a feel for what someone represents purely by the name they've chosen and I guess that's why I've not really chosen anything as I don't believe a name can possibly encapsulate all that I am. Although I'm contentedly complex, I'm also an open book - I guess I'm just Jojo...

Confessions of a Bookaholic

I don't just LOVE books, to me they are as necessary as food and shelter and currently hover higher up the list than chocolate, alcohol and sex. You get the picture?  Every available shelf, table, corner of the floor is full and overflowing with tomes of ambrosial escapism.  Ambrosial you ask?  Yes, that smell of books is one of the best smells I can imagine (and I'm not talking old grotty, dust carriers) - to me it smells like the beginning of a journey, of making new friends and of falling in love all wrapped up in a few hundred pages.  I wouldn't go as far as wanting to smell like a book, but I want to smell books for the rest of my days... Which is why I am not interested in ever getting a kindle or the like. I couldn't count how many times friends have suggested that I invest in an e-book reader, however there are many reasons that I don't consider them a great option for me.  First and foremost - I share my books, primarily with my mum and sister and secondly, the joy of holding a new book, of smelling it, of lovingly turning down the pages (The Horror!), of hugging it to my chest and occasionally the satisfaction of throwing it at the nearest wall - are all too priceless to swap for a sterile flat screen. I don't often throw books.  I admit to throwing one of my all time favourite books - Tess of the D'Urbervilles - when Angel Clare first showed his bigoted side (he redeemed himself though) and  I most likely kissed the book better too ;)

The last time I moved house I had 2 3/4 moving trucks full (as well as countless car trips) and the removalists made some comment about one load was just for books - they probably weren't wrong either.  I really do love my books, and I don't feel at home in any house that is devoid of them.  To me they are little advertisements as to who the occupants of the house are.  I used to fear being judged by my books, (seriously!) as I had a few shelves of 'new age' books in the early 1990's when it wasn't fashionable to do so and I was struggling in that no-mans' land between being a hip and free party girl to being a respectable soon to be wife and new mum.  I didn't want people to look at my books and assume I was different or weird or not their kind of person.  I wanted to be accepted for who I was (or thought I was at the time more precisely).  I now display them as something I'm very proud of - they are my plumes - colourful, rich, incandescent and enchanting. If people think I read rubbish then they are likely to think the same thing about me.  On the other hand, if they find my book choices interesting, unusual, sometimes predictable and mainstream and at other times just plain weird, then they will have a pretty good summary of me as a person. On that note, if you're interested in seeing some of the books I've read then check out my goodreads page. If you become inspired and want to read any of them I can't recommend booko highly enough as a great place to find the cheapest books - including postage - delivered to Australia.

No doubt I'll waffle on some more about books at some point as I'm always waiting for the tell-tale double ring of the doorbell which signifies a delivery - and on those mornings when it's oblong and bendy and weighty and smells like a new beginning and then IF you can tear me away from a cosy corner or entice me in from the sunny spot in the garden and prise the precious paperback from my hands - I'll tell you, trust me.

I started a blog!

Well, well, well...  I started a blog!  Why start a blog now?  I guess I am a storyteller and I have so many stories inside me and I often say 'I should write that down so I don't forget it' and here I am!  Will I post often?  Do I have much to say?  Who knows, but let's take it one day at a time.  I have usually been the first to jump onto any new form of social media of all types and descriptions and I have thought about starting a blog a few times but the closest I've come to it has been to create some lovely photo blogs which you can see here and here.  I also have an architecture photo blog and another of beautiful people, but I've never written, well, not publicly.  So this begins a journey of delving into the deeper parts of self, finding memories in deep recesses of my mind and also pouring recent observations, thoughts and frustrations out through my fingertips.  I guess it will be a little confronting and also cathartic.  My blogger journey begins <3