Charlie Brown Headscarf video feat Laura Dundovic

Serenity...

I've been indoors for almost 2 weeks now with my potty-training toddler who contracted Croup and was in the ER over the weekend and is now starting to recover... I'm feeling very 'blah' ... Like I could really do with 2 or 3 days away from my house to relax and just unwind and 'be'. I had the most amazing 2 day break at Monart (a super spa outside Dublin) last year with my Dublin BFFs and whenever I feel like I do now, I think of those few days at Monart... What bliss! I miss you Annie and Leissa.

My little man

This is me and my little man - I think 2 years and 7 months old is my favourite age ever.

Our Dream Come True

This is my favourite photo. I took it yesterday on a trip around Sydney harbour with my son. For me, it captures all my favourite things - both tangible and not. It's his 'vision' and the one I dreamt up before he existed. This city, this life, this family. His exuberance at being on the water, yelling 'it's mommy's OPRAH house' and telling me about all the fishies beneath us as we sailed, making friends with his 'buddy' in the seat behind us (everyone approximately his height is his 'buddy')... it all just floods my soul with joy and a sense of completeness. I just had my 34th birthday and I told one of my soulmates that for the first time I felt entirely at peace - just as I am, just as we are, just as it is... and this is the illustration to that thought.

Australian celebrities sing for Oprah

The Oprah Show

She has her detractors, the people who don't buy the hype, those who think it's all fake, that she's a megalomaniac, insincere or just annoying. I have met them, I have defended her for decades and I will continue to do so ad nauseum. Today, I got overwhelming, conclusive and extraordinary confirmation that my Oprah is a phenomenon. I have never seen anything quite like it. I literally have never seen anyone do what they do for a living better than how this woman does what she does for a living.

There is no pretence, there is no 'show', there is no faking or acting. There is no hesitation, no cue cards or teleprompters - there is just an all pervasive warmth, boundless curiosity and the propensity for exuberant, childlike joy like I've not seen in other fully grown humans.

Many people have the gift of the gab, most coherent humans could conduct an interview and get reasonable answers. What Oprah does is t0 make you feel like you are part of the conversation. She allows you to know both her and her subject on a uniquely intimate level. Oprah appears to have no issue with being seen as a real person, an emotional and flawed individual with empathy and compassion second to none. We see her without make up, in unflattering clothing and in deeply personal situations. We see her as the glamorous, poised and magnanimous uber-celebrity. In both guises, she is the same girl. There is simply no artifice.

I truly never believed I'd have to opportunity to experience her magic first hand and I cannot tell you how privileged I feel to have been there today. To say it was a dream come true seems twee to me. It was so much more than that. We all have our 'person' who motivates us, moves us to tears, makes us laugh out loud and inspires us. Oprah is mine. I've watched her show for my entire adult life - from the time she debuted on SABC 3 in South Africa when I was a Uni student, through life as a young girl in London, a married girl in Sydney, a mommy in Dublin and beyond. She's been there through it all, propelling me forward with her crystal insight, her unwavering belief in our power as human beings and her innate spirituality and gratitude. She's my constant in a life that has been highly changeable. To be in the same place as her at the same time as her and to get her ringing endorsement of Sydney and Australia feels like a sign.

What can I say other than Thank You, Oprah. And to those who don't 'get it', I hope you find your person. It sure does help.

The Unintentional Housewife

I'm a housewife. I didn't choose to be one, but it has happened... unintentionally. This is what you need to be aware of: when/if you decide to stay at home to raise your children, you also inadvertently get saddled with the HOUSE.

The house has needs which rival those of a toddler. The house requires endless, undivided attention. There is never a moment when everything is done and remains so. You may think you've finally done ALL the washing, but that only lasts a maximum of 12 hours. You are never done with the washing - never ever. It's enough to make one move to a nudist colony if only to free oneself from the sickening burden of dirty laundry. The same applies to the dishes - I feel like my dishwasher is on all day long. If only I could apply the nudist colony principle to this and simply not eat... but that would merely reduce the dishes by a third and the other two-thirds would still have to be done... by ME. When the laundry and the dishes are done, there's the general MESS of toys and bits of fruit and endless stickers and magnets and tiny cars which seem to inhabit every spare nook and cranny of my house. I now live in a small regional branch of Toys 'R Us only without the staff to stack and arrange the shelves.

While I do all of this, I'm overwhelmed with guilt that I SHOULD be going to the gym, I SHOULD be getting to that writing that I promised myself I would commit to, I SHOULD be doing the work I'm neglecting from my part-time job... So, even when I do manage to do all the house stuff, I'm still not done... because I'm failing at the rest of my life. Invariable the things I'm neglecting to do are the things which actually fulfil me... the things I do for myself.

I marvel at the women who make it seem possible. I don't know how they do it. Is it practice or is it something one is born to do? See for me, this is unintentional. I don't want to be a housewife.