DAY 46

Today I am grateful for: the most beautiful library in the world

Another busy day in NYC, but the highlight would have to be my visit to the New York Public Library. This is a research library so all the books (8 million of them) are kept downstairs in a giant vault. You put your order in and 30 minutes later your book gets sent upstairs for you to look at. Kind of like a home-delivery service for knowledge.

The building is incredible. Very Harry Potter-esque. All marble and archways, staircases and chandeliers, artwork and painted ceilings. It was a privilege to be around such beauty.

Like my 'Day 5' post, I am grateful that our ancestors placed so much importance on literature and the passing on of knowledge. I love books. I really, really do. I was walking around that library with happiness in my heart, thinking about what a beautiful place it was to store all that knowledge.

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Monday in review:

World Trade Centre memorial and St Pauls church

'Top of the Rock' at the Rockefeller Centre

Grand Central Station

Bowling at 'Brooklyn Bowl' with Rowan's friends from Church

Pizza on the way home

DAY 45

Today I am grateful for: seeing the real New York

It was great to see the real, normal New York today - where everyday people live everyday lives. Brooklyn seems to be that place.

It was a super-hot day today (the first I have had here). Rowan was telling me that on hot days the Fire Department will come along and turn the fire hydrants in to sprinklers - with different spray nozzles on each one. The kids and the locals all come out to play, chat, drink beer and watch the world go by from the sidewalks on each street. This is the city's heat management plan and it seems to breed a community aspect in a giant city. I loved it.

Today I'm grateful for seeing how it really is.

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Sunday in review:

- Church with Rowan

- Lunch at 'Five Leaves'

- Williamsburg Pool Party - a free festival

- 'Mac and Cheese' for dinner at a great little restaurant (forgotten the name sadly)

- Home early - 10pm!

DAY 44

Today I am grateful for: friends - old and new

By chance some mutual friends of Rowan and myself (Don and Rhona Fraser) happened to be in New York this weekend as part of a stop on their world trip. It was excellent and a little strange to see them waiting for us on the steps of the Met where we had planned to meet up for sunset drinks.

Don and Rhona were with their friends Johanna (from Brooklyn) and Marilyn (from New Jersey). The 6 of us had a great time chatting over drinks and then dinner at a fantastic Indian place in the city (alas I can't tell you exactly where it was as I seem to be absolutely terrible in remembering what part of the city I am in at any given time).

Today I am grateful for old friends and new friends. The city seems so much smaller when you see friendly faces you know.

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Quick update on Saturday (sorry no photos this time)

- Brooklyn Markets

- Lunch at Habana Outpost

- Brooklyn promenade

- Brooklyn Bridge park

- Sunset drinks at the Met rooftop bar

- Indian dinner somewhere

- 'Wild Nothing' show at the Bowery

DAY 43

Today I am grateful for: Perspective

Day 43 was another jam-packed, non-stop New York day - so busy in fact that I am just getting the chance to sit down and write now - at 10am the following morning. I was out and about from 9am to 2am yesterday - now that is what I call a holiday!

The absolute highlight of the day, and even the trip so far, was being atop the Empire State Building for sunset. As you can see from the pic, it was one of those magical moments that come around only once a lifetime. Sadly, I was so caught up in fighting the crowds to get the good photos, and navigating through the hundreds of tourists that I forgot to actually look out at the view and take it all in. I am afraid my photographer brain took over and my holiday brain took back seat for a while. I regret missing taking even just a few seconds to 'enjoy' rather than 'record'. If I have learned anything from this trip is that I need to remember to be in the moment occasionally too - I'll work on that today.

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For those of you who want more....

Spent some more time in my 'happy place' - Central Park.

River cruise around the Island.

Empire State Building with Rowan.

Dinner at Vapiano (another of Rowan's favourites!). It's an excellent italian place where they make to order.

Icecream for dessert at Sundaes and Cones

We headed out to some Williamsburg bars after dinner. The good news is that I have found where all the men have gone - they are in Williamsburg. The populace here seems to be made up of 20/30 something urban hipster men. Sadly I have it on good authority that they are all commitment phobes, lacking initiative and disposable income. Oh well, it is nice to know that the single men still exist, even in they are not in my immediate surroundings most of the time!

DAY 42

Today I am grateful for: The best pizza in New York

I'm finding it hard to pick just one thing to be grateful for each day as there is so much happening! I would like to be grateful for the whole day but that is hard to take photos of, so have chosen tonight's dinner to highlight.

Today I am grateful for pizza from Artichoke. This is the best pizza I have ever had in my life - a big call!. It was 'Spinach and Artichoke' and the taste is indescribable. Hands down the best pizza in New York (or so according to Rowan who is a big fan!). I'm training Rowan how to take good photos and I think he is getting the hang of it - good job Row!

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For those of you who are reading my blog to keep up on the travel adventures here is an extended version just for you!

Today turned out to be one of those rare idyllic days that come along and remind you that life is good. The weather was perfect (warm and sunny with a gentle breeze) so I spent most of the day in Central Park. Started off with a 1 hour bike ride around the park - I had the bike for 3 hours but I got too nervous with all the cars around so I returned the bike and opted for foot power instead.

I was walking along with the sun on my face, Rowan's amazing 'New York Mix Tape'** playing on my iphone and I realised I was happy. Not 'happy in general' happy but 'so happy you have a big smile on your face for no apparent reason' happy. I was the happiest I can remember being for such a long time. All was good with the world. I thought to myself that that exact moment would be the moment I wished I could return to when the festival gets crazy-out-of-control in April and all I can do to stay sane is to remember.

Central Park has a little zoo that I had a wander through. It is beautifully laid out and very relaxing. I especially loved meeting the Snow Leopard who lives there. He was lovely. Made me want to give him a squishy cuddle like I do to my cats. That's a Lemur on the bottom right - King Julian from Madagascar....

Headed over to the Museum of Natural History for a couple of hours. This is the museum that the 'Night at the Museum' movies are based on. You might recognise the guy on the left from the movies!

Rowan, Amy (his New York boss) and I grabbed a drink after work and then watched the sunset.

Till tomorrow!

** Rowan's boss, Amy, is a New York native and took great joy in putting together a mix of 25 songs that all refer to New York in the title or lyrics. I had it playing on repeat all day and it was the perfect soundtrack to my perfect day.

The list includes:

• The girl from New York City, The Beach Boys
• New York, New York, Bryan Adams
• The Only living boy in New York, Simon & Garfunkel
• Englishman in New York, Sting
• Saturday in the Park, Chicago
• I Happen to like New York, Judy Garland
• Autumn in New York, Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald

DAY 41

Today I am grateful for: Food amazingness

Today was all about food and culture. After coffee with Rowan and his New York 'Linda equivalent' Amy (haha)around the corner from my hostel I headed in to Times Square (crazy) and then to MOMA - the Museum of Modern Art. Unfortunately as today was a rainy day every tourist in New York headed there as well. It as an amazing place but it lost it's charm on me due to the overwhelming number of people crowded in to the small spaces.

After lunch I walked to Grand Central Station to meet up with the 'Food on Foot' walking tour. This tour was a great experience and I loved every minute. The group of 35 headed out to Queen's to experience the melting pot of cuisines located in that small community. We sampled chinese, japenese, indian, moroccan and some yummo baked goodies. It was a great way to see how New Yorkers live outside Manhattan Island.

I was lucky enough to stumble (literally) upon the cupcake bakery, Magnolia, made famous in 'Sex and the City'. I sampled the famous 'Red Velvet' cupcake which is God's own baked good with icing on top. At $2.75 each they were heaven in bite sized pieces. Will hopefully make it back there again soon for a second go at the menu. So inspiring! I will try again at mastering cupcakes when I get home.

So today I am grateful for Food amazingness. Thanks New York - let's see what you help me to be grateful for tomorrow!

DAY 40

Today I am grateful for: Rowan

Well the good news is that I have made it to New York City in one piece - albeit a very tired piece. I don't think I have ever been quite as relieved as I was when I saw Rowan waiting for me at JFK airport today. It had been a long 35 hours travelling....

Once we got my accommodation sorted out (it's perfect!) Row and I headed out for an AMAZING dinner at this cute little Mexican place near my hostel. I'm staying in Williamsburg which is an incredibly vibey place, with uber trendy people all around - even at 11pm on a Tuesday night. I think it will be the perfect place to take a break from Toowoomba life for the next week.

So today I am grateful for Rowan. Row is one of my favourite people in the world and I am so glad that I get to spend this week hanging with him in this unbelievable city.

I'm off to bed. Will hopefully be able to make it for coffee with Row at 9 tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed.

DAY 39

Today I am grateful for: Not travelling with children

I'm sitting in the Sydney International Terminal with an hour to kill before I have to head to my gate. I was thinking that the thing I am truly grateful for today is that I am not travelling with any children in tow. My sister dreams of being able to make the international flight and actually be able to 1 - watch the movies and 2 - maybe even take a nap. Both of which are things I am planning to do in the very near future.

I worked out that I will be on the move for over 30 hours and started this morning at 3am. I am very much looking forward to seeing my great friend Rowan's smiling face at my gate in New York. I may or may not be wearing my cranky pants from lack of sleep - so Rowan had better be prepared for the possibility of a somewhat different Linda to arrive from the one he saw last :)

I did manage to make a quick stop at the Wiggles store for a birthday present for my nephew Jamin. I am looking forward to his modelling the Dorothy tail for me when I get to Salt Lake City next week.

I'm not sure when the next blog will be posted but be sure it will be as soon as I can think straight enough to snap a pic of my excellent accommodation!

DAY 38

Today I am grateful for: A 3rd Birthday

Last weekend I managed to catch my brother and his family in Brisbane on Saturday afternoon. It was Ava's birthday that coming Thursday and I arrived just in time for afternoon tea birthday cake with the family and Ava's maternal grandparents. As you can see from the pick, the star biscuits made an appearance along with the smarties mud cake.

There is something special about celebrating the early years of life (as well as all the other years as well). For the last 365 days Ava had been learning something new every day. I'm sure Lara could tell us some very good stories of all the things Ava had learnt and maybe some that she shouldn't have learnt as well.

Once again I am grateful for family. Family keep me grounded. They keep me honest. They remind me that life is about so much more than my own battles and triumphs. For me, family are the people who love me when I don't even love myself.

I'm all packed and ready to go for a 6am flight tomorrow. Not sure if I'll get a chance to blog but will do my best. Wonder what I can be grateful for on a long-haul flight.....

DAY 37

Today I am grateful for: a mother who makes me things

I decided that I didn't want to be lugging my bulky camera bag around the US (mostly because it would make me look like a dorky tourist) so I got a medium sized Billabong bag on sale that is perfect for my camera and a couple of lenses + assorted other items required for touristy things.

I didn't want the lenses and camera banging around in there so I sweet talked my mum in to making me some little drawstring cases for them. I would have preferred black but she refused to make them unless I chose colours. Now it looks like there is a party going on in my bag.

I'm grateful that my mum is crafty with a sewing machine and can manage to turn my crazy ideas in to actuality. Thanks mum!

DAY 36

Today I am grateful for: the Easterfest team

We had our annual Easterfest team leaders day at Emu Gully Adventure Centre today. As always, it was a great day where around 70 of the most amazing people I have even been privileged to work with gather together to learn, talk, play and eat outside of the pressure-cooker that is the festival itself.

I'm grateful that God has placed me in this organisation for these working years of my life. I am indebted to the wilful sacrifice these people make each and every year to put on an event that is so much bigger than any one of us. I am humbled by the support and encouragement they bring to each other and every challenge we face, individually and as a group.

For this team, I am grateful.

I am also exhausted. Must be getting old.....

PS: Please note that I did not have my hat turned backwards in an attempt to recreate the coolness of my youth - I turned it around when I was taking photos because it gets in the way, and forgot to turn it back. I have noted how silly I look and will rectify the situation in the future.

DAY 35

Today I am grateful for: people who care when I leave the country

Today was my last day in the office (HOORAY!) before I head off to the states on Tuesday for 5 weeks. This will be my longest holiday away from Easterfest in 10 years.

I have had mixed emotions about the trip actually - excited about seeing my sister & co and my amazing friend Rowan, a little guilty about leaving the office for such a long stretch, nervous about what the guys will get up to with the festival in my absence and slight trepidation about travelling alone (not my favourite thing to do). I have been so busy getting myself out of the office this week that I haven't spent much time thinking about the trip - good thing I have Sunday and Monday to get all sorted out.

I had a 'last lunch' with mum and Dana at my favourite Deli Delicious today. Gee I love that place! I have made them both new converts - they have vowed to come back and stock up on the yummy gourmet bits and pieces on the shelves.

I realised today how reassuring it is to have people in your life that actually miss you when you are away. You know how you have those friends and family members that you talk to every day or two, share all the parts of your life with (well I do anyway) - even the boring bits... well mum and Dana are two of those friends to me.

I'm grateful for being missed. For people who notice when I leave the country and count the days till I come back.

Six words - Friends: the people who miss you

DAY 34

Today I am grateful for: being asked

Today's grateful is a little cryptic - simply because I found it a little hard to be grateful today.

Why? Well, embarrassingly enough, I was stood up for a lunch date today with a really nice guy (or so I thought) that I met last weekend. I've never been stood up before and I found it somewhat demoralising. The question mark in my picture is what I was asking myself this afternoon - why? Was it something I said or did? Did he forget? Did he get hit by a bus and lose his short term memory?

All week I've had an inkling that he wasn't going to show but held out hope that maybe he would. Proving my pessimistic self right is not at all satisfying.

Trying to find something to be grateful for out of the situation proved tricky but I realised that no matter what happened, the guy saw something in me that he wanted to get to know - which prompted his asking in the first place. My self-confidence got a little bit of a boost at that moment.

So that is what I am grateful for - that he asked. I'll ignore the fact that he chose not (or forgot) to follow through. He asked.

Today's 'six words' come thanks to Clare Bowditch: You tell the most beautiful lies.

PS: This isn't a post looking for sympathy or encouragement - it's just a statement about looking for the good when things go wrong.

DAY 33

Today I am grateful for: Apple and their iPhone

Today's grateful is the iPhone. About 3 years ago I remember thinking to myself - wouldn't it be great to have the internet all the time - and then the wonderful people at Apple worked it all out for me.

I recently snapped a couple of pics of my brother entertaining his daughters with "Angry Birds". I am amazed how quickly the next generation is able to pick-up and adapt to technology. I wonder how these two girlies will get their daily work done in 2030?

Life is not nearly as advanced as "Back to the Future" led us to believe 2010 would look - but it certainly is easier than it was 15 years ago. I think email and the internet has been the best technological advancement of this generation.

I can't image working and living without the ease of email and the world of information found on the internet. Sure both email and the net have their detractions as well (no I don't need any viagra thanks, and what's that spyware I see on my pc?) but image actually achieving anything via post and phone calls.....

DAY 32

Today I am grateful for: Compassion

I got mail today – a letter from my Compassion sponsor child in Kenya. His name is Sammy Ndegwa Ronald, he is 13 and has been my sponsor child for the last 4 years.

It is both an incredibly sobering and equally encouraging experience to receive letters from this little guy. In his first letter to me back in 2006 he finished off with "I'm grateful to you for giving me a chance to change my life". And that is what Compassion is doing, with the help of all their sponsors - changing the lives of thousands of children who would, without their help, never have a chance to pull themselves out of the terrible poverty they were born in to.

Here are a couple of excerpts from his letters that just make me smile with his love for someone he has never met, and a reminder that life is a blessing here in Australia:

- "Pray for me to be a good boy at school and at home"

- "Also, there is not enough food in our village, what about yours?"

- 'Thank you for the Christmas gift you sent me. I was as happy as a King"

Nothing has made me feel so grateful about my incredibly blessed situation in life than hearing from Sammy. How blessed am I that I can go to the shop and buy whatever food I need, I have received some of the best education available and am now employed at a fulfilling job that pays me well. I have access to free health care, answers to any questions I could ever ask, transparent and reliable government, free speech and equality as a female.

If you don't already, let me encourage you to consider sponsoring a child through Compassion - you really do change a life the moment you sign up.

I should be grateful every day that I live in this country and at this time.

DAY 31

Today I am grateful for: Renata

I had breakfast with my great friend Renata. Nata and I can't actually remember when we first met but we must have seen a little of ourselves in each other from the start.

We don't seem to be able to coordinate schedules all that regularly to catch up - but when we do it is always an enlightening time. Renata see's the world with very different eyes to me. Some days I wish I saw it her way as well.

Time spent with Renata always leaves me with more hope than before. I guess that is an outstanding trait to have in a friend.

I found an awesome website today - Six Words. You can submit anything you like about life as long as it is exactly six words. I had a go and it was oddly satisfying to pluck whatever was running around in my head at the time and condense it in to just 6 words. I think I might finish off some of my posts with 6 words from now on.

Today's six words: Don't just say you'll call. Do.

DAY 30

Today I am grateful for: Sunday afternoon nanna naps

I wonder if this is why Sunday afternoons exist - for all the hard working 9 to 5ers to take a break and have a midafternoon nap.

I am very proud of my bedroom wall - I painted it myself (with the help of Dana and my amazing bro-in-law Danny). It's a very warm inviting room now instead of a stark cream coloured box (like the rest of my unit).

The girls seem to have adopted my bed as their favourite sleeping spot this week - very cute!

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon - grateful.

DAY 29

Today I am grateful for: baby smiles

I had a quick visit with my brother and co this afternoon - and my little nephew Asher just made my day with these gorgeous smiles. I am grateful that my brother was able to snap some photos for me.

In other news, had a lovely lunch with a guy today but alas no sparks. I'm just about to run out the door to a cocktail party tonight so here's to meeting new people.....

DAY 28

Today I am grateful for: friday night friends

As I write tonights blog this bunch of smiley faces are busily playing a game that involves them arguing with each other about whether the sentence 'Early afternoon really tis hot' and other versions are valid acronyms for EARTH or not. Things get a little heated occasionally and I have to step in an adjudicate.

For the last 5 years we are been meeting together every Friday night - you can see our dinners in Blog Post 7. I promised the team that I would name each of them in my blog so here goes (from left)Maree Lyons, Brett Lyons, Your amazing blogger, Jason Stephens, Dana Stephens, Chris Protheroe, Selena Protheroe - and sleeping in the other rooms is Ethan Lyons and Sienna Protheroe.

I think I've talked about these friends before - how they are like my brothers and sisters, how they all like to hear about my dating dilemmas and talk about giving the guys who don't call a swift kick up the behind, how we all LOVE food, love talking about food, and love thinking about how to make the food we cook even better...

I remember a saying about if you do something regularly enough it becomes a habit - well these guys are a habit for me. Friday nights, laughs, advice, ridiculous comments, yelling, discussions and so much more.

I am going to be in BIG TROUBLE when they see this, but I couldn't help myself from sneaking in this pic of everyone while I was setting up the photo.

DAY 27

Today I am grateful for: a girls best friend

AKA Chocolate

Tonight (actually, last night as my internet was as slow as a dead dog last night and I gave up trying to load this post) I had coffee with my long time friend Sally (from the Day 1 blog post). Sally's ever-loving husband Tim bought us supplies for the night - 2 bags of Cadbury's best! Really, what could girls need more than cups of tea and chocolates on a cold and windy Toowoomba night.

I have found that many of my married female friends and family members love to check out the talent on the online dating sites I am registered for. I think they enjoy living vicariously through me, though I do try to convey the frustration that comes from this form of communication.

Sometimes I feel like online dating is just a way for guys I haven’t even met yet to reject me on the basis of something I might think to be extremely trivial. But thinking about it – maybe I do the exact same thing in return. It’s difficult to keep an open mind when deep down you know the type of guy you can see yourself with in 10 years but just haven’t found him yet - but I do fear this man has been fabricated by my mind and the film industry. With this in mind, my rule with dating is this – date anyone once (within reason). Even if he isn’t going to be the love of my life, it’s all practise for when I do meet the right guy.

Dating is an acquired skill. You have to be able to be comfortable with yourself, be able to make and carry a conversation with someone you may have nothing in common with and be able to ask the pointed questions that will glean the answers you most need to know - such as:

• are you an axe wielding maniac?
• do you have so much baggage from previous relationships that you need a truck to carry it all around?
• are you over 30 and are still living at home with your mother?
• is the reason you are still single that you are looking for the perfect woman and haven't yet realised that she doesn't exist?

There is also the skill of navigating the extremely awkward situation that comes when its time to pay - sadly there is no set protocol for the ‘who pays’ conundrum so this always needs to be worked through on the fly.

Sally checked out my profile tonight and said that she would date me, and wondered what all the guys out there are thinking by choosing to ‘pass’ on Linda. If I knew that Sally, I wouldn’t be single any more…

Fun times.

DAY 26

Today I am grateful for: star shaped happiness

Today I chose the stay home and bake instead of heading out the door to the gym after work. There is something extremely cathartic for me in mixing sugar and vanilla, butter and chocolate, heat and time. I think the challenge is in achieving perfection - I might make the same recipe over and over, and every time I am competing with myself to do it better than the time before.

I also love flipping through my recipe books and files, searching for the perfect thing to make for that specific occasion. I love to test myself with something tricky - just to see if I can make it look and taste like it should.

Today I was making my version of a birthday celebration in biscuit form. It's my niece Ava's birthday next week and my new plan is to not arrive for birthdays without something baked with love in my hands. Can you think of anything more like a party than chocolate with hundreds-and-thousands in the shape of a star?

I'm grateful for finding something I can do for others that brings me equal amounts of joy in the creating... Oh and I am grateful for taste-testing too.

DAY 25

Today I am grateful for: my love of cooking

With Joy staying these couple of days it has given me a good reason to actually do some cooking instead of just eating the same old 'good for me' gym friendly food. Tonight I made butter chicken with poppadums and it was yummy!

Today I am grateful for my love of cooking - I can imagine that time in the kitchen could be extremely tedious if I didn't enjoy the basic concept of creating something from a collection of random ingredients. My true love is desserts and baking though - creating naughty, delicious, gooey, chocolately treats makes me very very happy.

Joy reminded that me that I am 1/4 of the way through my 100 days. It as been an interesting couple of weeks sharing my life in daily photographs. There is so much more to come in the next 75 days including another date this weekend, my trip to New York, Salt Lake City and Vancouver plus more friends, family and the people in my life who I am reminded to be grateful for every day.

100 days of grateful - capturing daily moments of gratitude.

DAY 24

Today I am grateful for: Joy and her taco salad

Joy is staying in the 'Street of Moes' for a couple days this week as while she gets the hang of her new job - at Easterfest with me (hooray!).

Joy is spending her early evenings at my place, then wandering next door to mum's unit to sleep in her spare room. I like to think of Mum's place as the East Wing of my little unit!

I was really happy when Joy offered to make dinner tonight - taco salad - a truly American dish that is like a mix between tacos and a garden salad. Even more yummy because I didn't have to make it myself.

I am so grateful that Joy is back in the land of Oz for a while (as she has been in the US for the last couple of years) and I am very grateful that she is lending her brilliance to Easterfest again. Joy reminded me today that when she worked for the festival about 5 years ago I wore her out so badly that she had to go home early on the first night of the festival so she could get some sleep. Hopefully this year it will be a case of 'forewarned is forearmed'. It's going to be great working with her again!

DAY 23

Today I am grateful for: men wielding spatulas

I had a morning meeting at the office yesterday, and was completely surprised to see these two manly men cooking us pancakes for breakfast!

I'm grateful for Bob and Tony. They are two of the most generous, caring, capable guys I have ever met. They are guys that I hope my sons will one day grow up to be like.

But to have these sons it means I need to go on some more first dates. The problem being that the guy I eventually fall for is going to have to pass these two's test (plus many more from the other men in my life) before he gets very far with me.

I kind of feel sorry for him in a way......

DAY 22

Today I am grateful for: wine & cheese & friends

I headed down the range this afternoon for a girlie chat over wine and cheese with my good friends Dana and Karen. Sometime a girl just needs to unwind with women who understand. I love these two girls.

Today we commiserated, laughed, mused, wondered, empathised, congratulated and sighed with each other. A great end to a busy week.

Thanks girls!

DAY 21

Today I am grateful for: Cake & Anna

Today was Anna's birthday. As with most offices in Australia this equals cake and a poorly sung rendition of 'Happy Birthday'.

Today's cake was particularly amazing 'White Chocolate Strawberry Fields Torte' which is now my new favourite.

Today seemed like a good day to be grateful for Anna. Anna is an amazing part of the Easterfest team. I appreciate Anna's wonderful cheery nature, her love of talking on the phone (which I am not a fan of) and her great admin prowess. I also appreciate that with Anna the gender break-up in the office is now equal again.

Anyway - no pearls of wisdom tonight. I am actually writing while sitting in an Easterfest meeting. Better stop typing and start contributing....