No, I love you more!

Happy Valentines Day!

Today is all about the love: spreading the love, feeling the love, giving the love, taking the love, eating the love (hey 3 course meal with heart shaped chocolates at the end), smelling the love (roses are red), seeing the love (so many hands to hold), and hearing the love (cue Dean martin, “That’s Amore”).

It’s at this particular time of year, that I start thinking about relationships, and not just the romantic type, but every kind that you have in your life. And it’s on this exact February day that my sisters and I forget to fight about who stole who’s mascara, that my friends and I swear that despite any boys, we will always be each others’ real soul mates, and that I am just strangely over generous and loving to really anyone I come into contact with.

It’s like someone has slipped love juice into my morning tea, and I am now magically in love with the entire world!

(Please note, that to further evidence this reality, I jet created a new Pinterest Board in honour of my love for words! If your interested, and also share this butterfly feeling for strings of consonants, check it out here. Mr. Bowman, I’m talking to you!)

But seriously, I am telling you, this Valentines thing really gets to me!

And what I begin to understand as I try to love everyone just a little more today, I realise that I am really just wanting to make them happy. For Mum, I will empty the dishwasher and make her a coffee before she comes down stairs after her shower; for my youngest sister, I will play a game of tennis with her when she gets back from school and for my friends, well,I will send them horribly unattractive snap chats of myself (You like that right? Girls? Awks.)

It totally comes back to this quote I read a while back – and I cannot find it on Pinterest, Google, Tumblr or Instagram, so maybe I made it up.

It went like this: “Relationships are not about you, they are about making the other person happier, because of you”.

I was/am/forever will be in love with this, and trumpet it’s truth: relationships with your family, friends, boyfriend, girlfriend, lover, partner, lab partner, boss, teacher, dog, goldfish and teddy bear, ARE NEVER ABOUT YOU.

Like ever.

Ever ever.

It’s about them. About them being happier BECAUSE of YOU.

And because YOU make THEM HAPPY, they will LOVE you more anyway. Its a win-win situation!

So go love and make everyone you love happier. Go on, get!

The ‘not-so-chocolate’ ripple.

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Even though I clearly said “not-so-chocolate”, don’t pretend  your not already  frothing at the mouth as you imagine yourself devouring one of grandma’s guilt-ridden, brandy-soaked, cream-filled, peppermint-crisp topped chocolate ripple cakes.

But seriously, this post has nothing to do with your lovely Nanna, her roses, how good she is at knitting, or even  just being so adorably cute….or her famous chocolate ripple cake.

It has to do with this ‘ripple’ thing I’ve been experimenting with lately.

I am yet to determine the proper name for it, and it’s been the first time that old mate Google hasn’t been able to hook me up with a credible answer from his mate, wiki.

So ill try explain it.

Basically, I recently started working at a cute little cafe, and appointed myself a little mission to make every customer I serve smile – this was especially exciting when a stressed/rude/ignorant customer would come to the counter.

What I found is that, with just a little nudge, everyone: the run-down mum, the senile old man, the time-poor executive, the ambitious 20-something chick with the amazing windsor flats and perfect ombré (I must ask who her hairdresser is), are all capable of having an AMAZING day.

What got me excited, was thinking about how the course of their day had now been altered, by my teeny-tiny, one-dimpled, colgate-brushed SMILE.

I am a massive advocate for the whole “law of attraction”, “you are what you think”, “get what you give” etc., etc. movement, and it is profound to think about how circumstances, events and occurrences may have changed as a  result of an altered perspective.

Sure, I only gave Mark his weak cap in a latte mug with extra chocolate dusting and a side of a friendly grin, but I wonder if that little extra, just maybe, inspired him to do something nice for the next person he came into contact with, and then if that person did the same…… and then if that person did the same……and then if that person did the same……and then if that person did the same……and then if that person did the same…….

You get where I’m going with this right?

Moral of the story, start a ripple (it will fit your macros I swear!).

I challenge you to do just one thing nice for someone, and rest happy knowing that you’ve actually changed the world, albeit in a small way.

PS. For anyone who is not shredding for stereo, heres a chocolate ripple recipe.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/25207/choc+ripple+cake