Health & Beauty
Month Of Love – Part One
Day Two: Meditation adds so much to my life. I feel more present and less stressed. Today I did a guided meditation via the Hay House Meditation podcast. Davidji – Stepping into Clarity – it was quite energising and a great way to break up a busy day of work. I then sat down to a healthy whole food lunch which I ate on my own in silence – really taking the time to appreciate each bite.
Day Three: Journaling is such a wonderful practice. So many thoughts are bouncing around my mind all the time. Problems become bigger – worry increases. Once you take the time to write it all out and organise your thoughts on paper slowly and purposely they seem to become much smaller and more manageable. From this place you can create your own action steps in to solving these tiny little “problems” by making little action lists.
Day Four: I love to hoop! For those of you not yet aware – I’ve taken up hula hooping! I love the element of play. I can hoop and hoop for hours on my own – practicing new tricks and transition. I went with one of my friends to buy her first hoop and get something a little lighter and smaller for myself. We then made our way over to Abbotsford Convent and hooped our little hearts out and finished the day with a delicious Lentil As Anything feast. Good hoops – good food – great company. Today was a great day.
Day Five: Podcasting like a boss again! I’ve been reading the minimalists blog for a long time now – it’s definitely something I get a lot of value out of and now they’ve started podcasting too. I’d been missing a few episodes here and there so today I spent some time catching up on the ones I missed out on.
Day Six: Yet another HOOP DAY! Today I dedicated to learning a new trick – and then took my hoops to a party for the first time. I didn’t really know many people there so it was nice to have something to play with in between meeting new people and making new friends. I took three hoops with me and everyone had a go. Loads of fun!
Day Seven: I love to cook – but haven’t been doing much of it recently. Today I made a delicious dinner with a friend. Good food + good company = happy wanderluster.
Day Eight: Life Admin day – seems boring (and it was) but I’m now organised! All those little things that I’ve been putting off finally got done! I took to each task with gratitude and really just got it all done.
Day Nine: I hadn’t caught up with one of my best friends in a little while. We keep pretty different schedules. Today we finally got the chance to catch up and had a gorgeous healthy dinner together. There really is nothing better than sharing a meal with someone you love (especially when they’re as good a cook as Miss Katie).
Day Ten: It’s been a bit harder than I expected this little month of love challenge. Changing my focus back to me and my wants and needs has been pretty tough. I’ve been very emotional and today I let myself have a big ol’ cry. I really needed it. I tend to keep myself pretty busy and expect a lot of myself. Today I just let myself feel all those emotions.
Hope you’ve all been loving yourselves too.
JW xx
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One Month Of Love
Wanderlusters it’s been a while. Sorry I’ve been away from you all so long. It has been a bit tough adjusting to being back in Australia again. I’m still going through the process of finding my place in the place I called home for oh so long. But I’m back – with a mission.
February – the month of love.
Like I said – I’m finding it tough to see where I fit in all the madness. I’m starting all over again. I feel like I’m stagnant – inspired yet unmoving. I don’t like feeling this way so I’m taking action. This month I’m going to make myself my absolute number one priority. I’m going to love myself first every day this month. It’s not a big task to be honest. I’m just going to take time every day to mindfully do something nice for me and periodically fill you all in.
Wish me luck – send me love.
JW x
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DAY ONE : Febfast! After killing my liver in London for two years and then arriving in Melbourne during the silly season I recognise that I need to give my body a break from drinking and raise some money along the way (DONATE HERE). I’m hoping that it’ll also motivate me to generally be more active and healthier in my everyday life and kickstart me in to creating more positive and healthy routines for everyday life. Today I also decided to document my month of self love here – something I absolutely love doing but haven’t been giving time to since I’ve moved home.
I look forward to seeing where this little self love-fest takes me. Thanks for coming along for the ride. I’d love to see more people get involved in this little journey. So please get in contact with me. You can tweet me @jessicaswander or find me on instagram @jessicaswanderlust
Express Your Gratitude Workshop – Clapham North
Breathe deep – let all the air out of your lungs and think of all the wonderful things you already have to be grateful for.
Last night I was lucky enough to attend the first Express Your Gratitude Workshop in Clapham North. Put together by two beautiful and inspiring women – yoga teacher Adrianna Zaccardi of Infinite Beings and Emily Riggs of The Gratitude Journals.
The 2.5 hour session started with a sitting meditation where each person was asked to focus on just one ting they were grateful for that day – we continued to focus on our breath and hold on to that feeling of gratitude. This really helped me relax and let go of all that had been worrying me before entering in to the studio that day. I was lost in the rhythm of my breath and the gratitude in my heart.
We began to move – all the while focusing our breath and Adrianna reminded us to focus on what we are grateful for. It was a truly wonderful class – physically challenging and giggle educing. Adrianna has an incredible ability to describe how to get in to each of the poses correctly – allowing us to focus inwardly and on our breath. It was time for shavasana – I closed my eyes and surrended my body to the mat. Adrianna came and covered us in blankets and talked us though a guided meditation focusing on each part of the body and what we could be grateful for. We finished by chanting Om three times – feeling the energy vibrate through us almost bought tears to my eyes.
We all sat cross legged in a circle – enjoying some home made healthy snacks and herbal teas while Emily introduced us all to the wonderful world of gratitude. Craft supplies were passed around and soon we were each making our own personal gratitude journals – complete with gratitude mandalas. It took me back to the craft days I remember having at my aunties house as a child.
After the class I walked home – full of appreciation and child-like enthusiasm – ready to use my new gratitude journal for the first time.
I can’t wait to see what their next workshop will bring.
Big love wanderlusters – I am grateful to each and every one of you x
Stargazing – Our Amazing Universe
I don’t think there is a person on earth that doesn’t look up to the night sky in awe. It’s just one of those things. It’s beautiful, haunting, unreachable, enchanting and mind boggling. I know I’ve often spent hours and hours just staring up at the stars and thinking just how mind-boggling it is.
We are on a tiny little planet rotating around what is comparatively a tiny ball of burning gas suspended in nothingness. We look out to billions upon billions of other stars – some of which have their own planets and moons rotating around them. We do live in a very small world. We can travel it all quite easily and see the world at our leisure. We’re all connected by this modern technology and it’s as easy for me to contact someone in Semporna as it is for me to contact someone in Australia. There are people who view my blog that are from countries I’ve never heard of before – but somehow we are all connected. That much I can grasp in my mind – but when we look to the stars we realise just how small this world is.
When we look to the stars and think of the hugeness of the universe it makes me think of the earth as a whole – no countries, no boundaries, no races or religion. We’re just one.
Chew on that thought for a while Wanderlusters. x
One more reason why travelling changes your life.
I had an “ah-ha moment” a few years back when I was in Bali for one of Eoin Finn’s YES (Yoga Ecology Surf) retreats.
It was the final day of the retreat and I was getting dressed for our last dinner together in one of the bigger houses. I’d already packed up my backpack in preparation to move on to beautiful inland Ubud for the next week or so and I realised just how little I had with me and just how little I actually needed.
Fast forward to November 2013 when I was packing up my bags and getting rid of all my possessions. It was absolutely liberating. I don’t want to waste money on trivial things like more handbags, ornaments, clothes, shoes, jewellery, cosmetics or perfumes. When you really think about it how much do those things actually add to your life? How many hours working did you spend to be able to afford that watch your wearing to make sure you catch your train on time? Now I’m not saying I’ve gone all minimalist and have gotten rid of all my material possessions because I haven’t. I just realised that some of the best things in life are not all that expensive and I’d rather spend my money on a grand adventure than a grand gown that will sit in my closet until I find somewhere to wear it. I’d rather work hard at what I love doing then spend each day commuting in to a job that I don’t enjoy just so I can afford the Claude Maus jacket I’ve been lusting after.
Less is almost always more,
Jessica xx
p.s. I always love to hear from you guys, so please leave a comment below, or tweet with me @jessicaswander
Healthy “Snickers” Mousse
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 x frozen ripe banana
- 1 x ripe banana (not frozen)
- 1 heaped tablespoon of peanut butter (I use the organic peanut butter from my local market)
- 2 teaspoons of raw organic cacao
- 3 chopped dates with pips removed
- dash of coconut water
- Loving Earth caramelised buckinis
METHOD :
- place the bananas, peanut butter, cacao and dates in a high powered blender or food processor and pour a small amount of coconut water over the top,
- blend and add more coconut water until you get the desired consistency.
- Spoon the mousse into small glasses and top with buckinis.
- Enjoy!
TIP: using frozen bananas allows you to enjoy this tasty treat straight away. If you dont have any frozen bananas or you’re pre-preparing for later you can just use unfrozen ripe bananas and leave the mousse to chill in the fridge for a while. Make sure to only add the buckinis just before you serve them so they stay crunchy and delicious.
Lentil as Anything- a farewell dinner
And so the farewells begin! I spent this afternoon with some gorgeous friends of mine at Lentil as Anything at the Abbotsford convent. This is one of my favorite places to be when I’m in Melbourne. The gardens are gorgeous, the food is delicious and served buffet style, there is always music and it always feels magnificent…
St Andrews Market
St Andrews Market is one of my favourite places in the whole wide world. It’s definitely one of the things I’ll miss the most when I set off on my adventure. I love lazy late saturday mornings with friends drinking chai and taking in the beautiful energy of this wonderful place.
Delicious vegan friendly options for lunch and music everywhere. People are so happy to chat and it’s a great way to learn more about a variety of topics from bee keeping, sustainable living, superfoods, crystal healing, organic farming, and whatever else you can find. People are so open and happy to share their knowledge with everyone.
Flashback Friday #1
Photographer: Peter Coulson you can view his blog here.
Model: Jessica Nicole Griffiths
This is one of my all time favourites with Peter Coulson. It was such a fun day with some really incredible people involved. You can see a sneaky bit of my own red locks at the end of my hair but the rest of what you see is all individual hair pieces that were put in individually and then cut. Some people are super clever.
I Don’t want to Party Party
Ugh, I’ve been partying way too hard recently. I’m absolutely exhausted! My rubber arm has gotten the better of me and I’ve been a super busy bumble bee buzzing about and getting stuff done.
Not that it’s a bad thing at all. I just have so much going on at the moment. Mostly for super sneaky exciting reasons that I’m unable to share at the moment but thats a story for another time.
All the drinking, dancing, dinners, photo-shoots, business meetings along with my full time job have just taken their toll. I’ve not had time to do all the things that I want to do and I’ve not been my usual bubbly self for the past two weeks and I don’t like it. But i’ve learnt a valuable lesson and that lesson is BALANCE.
Take last week for example. I had something on every single day after work. I averaged 5 hours sleep a night and was up and ready to go at 6am the next morning. By the time it got to Friday night when I was celebrating the departure of one of my lovely friends from work with a few drinks… two champagnes down i was wasted! This threw me a little bit but then later I realised that I had been so busy that day and durning lunch trying to work on everything else that I had actually forgotten to eat. This inevitably resolved in me being way too sauced to function, some reasonably serious phone conversations that shouldn’t have been had in the state that I was in, and feeling like a space cadet in the morning followed by a slightly awkward breakfast with a lovely human I’ve been spending some time with and his friends who also seem equally lovely….
**face-palm**
I’m still working out the finer details of the balance thing but I know I need to organise myself better and give myself an afternoon off from time to time. Being ‘on’ all the time is really exhausting. Starting today I’m writing myself an action list for the week and I’m sticking to it. I’m not going to try to do everything all at once like I have been doing because to be honest thats just silly and I will probably pass out if I do another week of this. I will also allow myself time to actually do the things that I want to do too.
Today I’ve taken a day off work to rest up, so if you need me I’ll be having a little lie in,
Jess. x
Jessica's Wanderlust 