Shine and Dine 2015 for Make-A-Wish is Set to Create More Wishes

The event of the year, Shine and Dine, is due to take place on June 5th, 2015 at the stunning Dolton House Jones Bay Wharf, Pyrmont. Shine and Dine is a spectacular black tie charity dinner that raises awareness, funds and valuable wishes for terminally ill children through Make-a-Wish Australia. In its third year, Shine and Dine has cemented themselves as the unmissable event to attend attracting many supporters and celebrities wanting to support this amazing cause. 

Sharon Melhem

Sharon Melhem is the beautiful and powerful brain-child behind the Shine and Dine annual event. Working hard to source supporters, promoters, suppliers and everything that goes into creating this event, Sharon is busily on the go to achieve enormous dreams and wishes for these children. Sharon kindly found some time from her hectic schedule to let me find out a little more about her.

WHERE DID THE IDEA OF SHINE AND DINE COME FROM?
I have always worked in marketing and event strategy and as a result of increased consulting requests I started Kouture Productions. One of my client's needed help with a charity event for their Miss World Australia pageant and realising I could utilise my skills, experiences and networks to help others was extremely rewarding. This experience influenced me onto the Shine and Dine concept!

HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN A SUPPORTER OF MAKE-A-WISH AUSTRALIA? 
I've always had a soft spot for children; they are just beautiful souls. To learn about Make-A-Wish wish granting cause and how they provide hope and joy to children who are facing a life threatening illness just melted my heart. 

I had to help and make sure more of these wishes were granted more frequently. Make-A-Wish receives over 2,000 wishes from kids every year – these wishes exceeds the funding available.

WHO HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST SUPPORT FOR SHINE AND DINE?
My family. They go on the entire journey with me; from all the lows and to all the highs. I would not know where I would be without them. I am truly blessed.

WHERE DO YOU HOPE TO SEE SHINE AND DINE IN 3 YEARS TIME?
I hope for Shine and Dine to grow bigger and better year on year and that even more funds are raised for these kids. It would be a dream come true for Shine and Dine to be known as the charity gala dinner and cause that people cannot ignore and want to support.

WHAT IS YOUR ONE WISH?
To be able to work full time in developing more charitable event concepts under the Kouture Productions umbrella so my impact is greater for people in need.

Shine and Dine 2013

Shine and Dine 2014

This is one event you won't want to miss for 2015 so jump online to their website here and get yourself a ticket to this fabulous night where you'll be creating memorable wishes. With amazing supporters from the likes of House of K'dor, James Shawshank, and Merc Real Estate you'll want to be apart of this!

To Sharon - thank you for making time to catch up with me and share your thoughts and dreams. You're an amazing soul putting yourself out there to help others. I wish you all the success and an awesome Shine and Dine 2015. 

See you all at Shine and Dine!

Jo x

Movie Review: X+Y (Mathematical Love)

I was invited to a media screening of a new film, X+Y, which is due to be released on 9 April 2015. According to the synopsis "teenage maths prodigy, Nathan (Asa Butterfield), struggles when it comes to building relationships, especially with his own mother, Julie (Sally Hawkins). 

In his complex world, he finds comforts in numbers and is taken under the wings of an unconventional teacher, Mr. Humphreys (Rafe Spall), and the pair form an unusual friendship. Nathan's talent wins him a place into the International Mathermatics Olympiad (IMO) where he and his team travels to Taipei under the squad lead Richard (Eddie Marsan). 

Nathan is confronted with unfamiliar surroundings and challenges and be begins to experience feelings for his Chinese counterpart, the beautiful Zhang Mei (Jo Yang), feelings that develop when he returns home to England."

The movie is a feel good heart-warming film that follows the complex relationships of Nathan, falling in love for the first time and trying to understand it through mathematical formulas. 

Nathan was diagnosed as autistic as a young child and finds comfort in maths. He also suffers the lose of his father young in life from a car accident and therefore looses the trust and loving relationship of someone close to him; a bond that his mother isn't able to replicate or gain for many years. As he advances in maths, he forms an unusual friendship with Mr. Humphrey's who tutors him into a place in the IMO in Taipei where he meets the lovely Zhang Mei and through their time spent together, they develop feelings for each other. 

A few key themes really stood out for me in this film; understanding and living through Bullying, Loneliness and Hope, oh and obviously, Love. 

Bullying
I found this topic interesting and something that got me thinking after the film and the reality of life. These students are competing for place in the IMO and there are only 6 places for each country which they have to whittle down from 15 students. These students are the top performers in their school and are told how unique and smart they are, and when put together, you would think that you have the best of the best competing against each other.

However, in this environment not everyone can be at the top which means someone will be at the bottom (of the best) and so in this environment, bullying occurs rather than support, and issues of isolation, depression and segregation forms with a group of people who you would assume would be supporting each other. 

It was interesting to see that bullying happens in any environment and any group of people. I was naive to think that if you were bullied, that you wouldn't bully others, however, to survive and to be accepted, even by those who are the same as you, bullying does happen. We all need to learn to accept people as they are, accept that there are people who will be better than us at something and learn to take the positive qualities from everyone.

Loneliness and Hope
Nathan is the main character in this film, however, his mother, Julie, plays an amazing role where you follow a mother's desperation to connect with her son since loosing her husband from a car accident. She spends years pleasing and supporting Nathan's talents, needs and his autistic emotions, or lack there of, with no love or respect in return. You can feel her disappointment (and frustration) as Nathan continues to reject her and you want so much for her to set him straight but her patiences is strong and she pushes through each day alone. 

Her strength and hope for her son really iterates a mothers love for her child and never giving up on him no matter how much he pushes her away or says nasty things to her; she continues to show him love, she continues to respect his wishes and she continues to believe in him. This is true love.

Love

The relationship between Nathan and Zhang Mei is cute. Two teenage kids who come together because of their commonality of Maths; however Zhang Mei shows Nathan another culture (Chinese) and another way to experience life. She also is able to show Nathan that there is more to life than just maths and that life is about living and doing the things you enjoy and loving those who are close to you and love you. 

It's a funny and heart warming film that I did enjoy. It's not a film I would watch at the cinemas but definitely one I would watch at home on a rainy day or a lazy Sunday. 

X + Y will be released in cinemas on 9 April 2015 and if you're one for a funny emotional movie then this is one for you. 

Thank you Pinnacle Films and Nixco for the invite.

Jo xo

Merry Christmas ….. Keep Dreaming and Sparkling

Firstly, wishing all my family, friends and followers a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful time wherever you are and with those that are important to you.

WOW! Another 12 months have past and here I am writing a Christmas post. For me it's been a hectic, fun and an eventful year. I have personally experienced and learnt many new things. One of my biggest achievements of this year is moving into my place and decorating it in my style and personality (this never seems to stop) and I've been falling in love with what I've done each day. I'm proud that everything I own is mine and no-one can take it away from me. 

Another achievement that I'll point out and really never thought about ever doing is starting this blog and becoming an official blogger. It is been both inspiring and personal for me; a place where I can share and write about my thoughts, my experiences, my reviews around Sydney, my travels and my journey in life. I wouldn't have been able to achieve this without the help of my beautiful friend, Camielle, who has a blog of her own - Gen-Y Mum. If it wasn't for her guidance, advice and IT help, I wouldn't have got this off the ground. To Cam: Thank you!

The world has experienced many events in the last 12 months and in Australia, especially my own city, Sydney, we have recently been faced with not-so-nice events but events that I believe has brought us closer and made us stronger. Although these events have happened, I believe that there is always a positive to come from it. We may not see it straight away but in time we'll know. 

Reflecting on 2014…hmmm… like I've mentioned above, I've had a couple of achievements that I'm really proud of and many special moments with friends and family. However, I am ready to say goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015. So with this in mind, I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my family (and the extension of my family) tomorrow and eating myself silly (which pretty much began a couple of days ago). I'm also looking forward to spending the following days with friends celebrating the end of 2014 and brining in 2015.

Have a fabulous Christmas and thank you all for following on my journey this far…… 

Jo xo

Thank you InBloom Town Hall

I want to share a lovely gesture I experienced on Wednesday by InBloom Florist in Town Hall (train station), Sydney. They so kindly demonstrated the strength and compassion us Sydney-siders have. 

A few of us from work decided to walk down to Martin Place to place some flowers in memory of the Sydney siege and to pay our respect. After walking around to two nearly sold-out florist we finally came across InBloom in Town Hall. 

They themself didn't have much left either but they did have what we were looking for so we decided to grab what we needed - two bunches and three pink long stem roses. While standing in line to pay for the flowers I noticed a sign saying (something along the lines of) "If you're purchasing flowers to place at Martin Place, let us know as it will be 50% off".

WOW! Was my first thought. We got to the front of the line to purchase the flowers and I commented to the florist "what a lovely gesture that you're doing and I comend you for being so kind". She was so lovely and said "we're experiencing a valentines day peak of customers and we didn't feel that we should be profiting from this situation".

It's just a beautiful thought and support this small business was providing and something I really wanted to share with those who read my blog. It's these kindness that shouldn't go unnoticed and they deserve the spotlight. 

To InBloom florist - thank you for your kindness and support. You have provided from the bottom of your heart and your generosity will be returned. 

If you frequent or travel through town hall station you'll find InBloom florist through the tunnel, on the way out towards George Street. Be sure to stop by and get yourself some beautiful flowers. 

Jo xo

Christmas is Just Around the Corner

EEEEEEKKKKKKKKK......!

I would have to say that I'm a pretty good organiser and planner and most years I have been really good when it comes to Christmas present shopping. I have always been one to plan early and have everything purchased, wrapped and waiting nicely under the Christmas tree.

Photo Credit: DIY Network

This year.....well, this year has completely been thrown out of the window. I'm not sure why and I'm not really sure how, but I have left most of my Christmas shopping until the very last minute. I've been stressing about the types of presents to buy, where to buy it, who I'm buying for and if it will be well received! Not a cool position to be in.

However, on the plus side (and there always is a plus side to everything), once I had decided what I was getting everyone, all the items suddenly were on sale. BOOM! Not a bad outcome for leaving it till the last minute. Might have to leave all my Christmas shopping till the end.

Only 7 days until it's Christmas. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my immediate family as well as my extended family. I'm also very excited to be celebrating Christmas with friends just before and just after Christmas Day and this year I have many of them coming over to my place to celebrate the mini holiday. It will also get me back into the kitchen to cook up a feast which I haven't really done in a while.

I've always loved having people over my place and cooking up a feast of something yummy to enjoy as I love bringing people together over food and drinks. It's a great social catch up and it's always a fabulous laugh. Plus I just like to feed people!

What are your plans for Christmas? Have you finished your shopping or still going? Are you a last minute planner? If you're hosting Christmas, what will be your specialty on the day?

Jo xo

Andrea's Amazing Wish

I was honoured to a special night with my stunning friend, Sharon Melhem, who had invited me to attend a special Make-A-Wish Australia event fittingly held at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). The event, Andrea's Amazing Wish, was in honour of Andrea Alzened, a beautiful 9 years old girl who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Make-A-Wish grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions to provide hope, inspiration and strength. The power of the wish encourages children to continue fighting and provides them with hope to achieve a dream. Andrea's dream was to be a professional artist where she could have people come and see her work.

Andrea loves art and when she is "doing her artwork it gets her excited and happy and she forgets that she is feeling sick". When Andrea was diagnosed with this horrible disease her mother, Tamar, had enrolled her into art lessons to help her through her treatments. It definitely worked - during her treatments, Andrea would paint, draw and sculpt and loose herself into a pain-free world where she is able to be creative and forget about the reality of what she is going through.

Through the amazing efforts and work of Make-A-Wish, the MCA was truly onboard with this wish and had offered to showcase Andrea's art pieces. Andrea is the youngest person to have her artworks displayed at the MCA, an achievement she and her family would be so proud of and be the envy of many artists, and her artwork is absolutely amazing for someone so young; a natural talent.

Not only did the MCA help Andrea achieve her wish, but Google also heard about Andrea and had commissioned her to create a "Google Doodle" which they will have displayed in their office here in Sydney, Australia. To take it another step further, Sass and Bide has enlarged one of Andrea's painting and is displaying it in their Brisbane office and provided a beautiful treat to Andrea and her sister by custom making dresses for them to wear on the opening night of Andrea's art exhibition. 

On this night, Andrea became an official artist; she kindly offered two of her art pieces to be auctioned off and with the money raised, she donated it to Make-A-Wish so that they can continue providing wishes for other children. This is a beautiful and selfless act I've seen and experience; not only has Andrea gone, and still is, going through so much with her treatments, but she is still willing to give to help others. For a 9 years old girl, she has a very big heart. 

Currently the stats show that approximately 2,000 children around Australia are diagnosed with a life-threatning medical condition and Make-A-Wish have granted 500 wishes, so there is so much more to grant and more funds are needed to help grant these wishes. I encourage you to donate today and help make wishes like Andrea come true.

To help raise awareness and much needed funds to make these wishes come true, Sharon Melhem founded Shine & Dine, an annual fundraiser in support of Make-A-Wish Foundation. Her amazing work and dedication has helped Make-A-Wish provide more wishes to these children and their families, giving them hope, strength and joy. It provides them with a goal to aim for and for a moment, helps them forget about the reality they are currently going through.

The annual Shine & Dine is set for next year and is schedule for 5 June 2015. Mark this special occasion into your calendar and come support an amazing event and have a fabulous night. I'll be there and I hope to see you there!

To Make-A-Wish Foundation - personally, I'd like to say, what an amazing job you do and the power of a wish you provide goes beyond what a child dreams of. Keep up with the great work!

To Sharon - you have a massive heart that goes around the universe. The annual Shine & Dine event you organise, the support you provide and the energy you create is truly amazing. You are a beautiful person both inside and outside and I am so lucky to call you my friend.

Jo x

I'm a Blogger!

From one of my earlier post, Just Write, I mentioned that I would start telling my friends that I have a blog and that I'm now a blogger. When I started my blogging journey I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with it and honestly, I still don't. All I know is that I'm enjoying this journey so I may as well keep going with it and just go with the flow; especially if it makes me happy, positive and feeling good about myself. That's not a bad thing!

I have started telling most of my close friends about this blog and many have been so excited and happy for me that they have even subscribed (if you haven't, I think you should) to receive any new posting that I have written up and even provided me with some amazing feedback and further encouragement. 

One of my beautiful friends mentioned that the blog was "beautifully written & completely honest - very much you! Keep up the great work" and another said "I love the musings and it's really enjoyable to read." It's comments like these that makes me want to keep going and share my experiences, journey and moments (many random ones I must say). It is so heartwarming to know that I'm able to make someone smile and enjoy my blog. I hope to make people smile and happy and if I can do that from my blog, then that makes me happy.

To my friends, thank you for your support and encouragement. Without you all in my life I wouldn't be who I am and I wouldn't haven't learnt so much. You all add something special and amazing into my life and that helps with my blogging!

I'm learning that if you enjoy something, keep doing it. Do something that makes you happy and do it from your heart and do it for love. Everything else will just happen and fall into place. 

Jo x

Love is alive

Received one of the most exciting news; a dear beautiful friend of mine recently got engaged to a wonderful man. I remembered the first time she told me that they had started dating and I've been lucky to share their journey in the last couple of years as they grew together as a couple. 

I wanted to dedicate this post to them as a congratulations to their special moment and to wish them the world as they share the next chapter in their lives. I'm so happy for them both and I'm honoured to be travelling along with them as they plan their engagement and wedding in the near future. 

Personally, I'm a little old school when it comes to love and I believe there is love for everyone. I look forward to meeting my Mr. Right and fall in love and it's moments like these, through my friends, that keeps me believing. 

To Amanda and Adam: you're a beautiful couple and I'm so happy for you both. Thank you for keeping it real and reminding me that love is alive and it does exists.

Love you both!

Jo x

Bye.....

Today I say bye.... It's not the most easiest thing to say or physically do, especially when you don't want to say it. Some will say maybe it's easier to say "see you later" and that is what I had hope to say but today I don't, today I say bye. 

Seven years ago I was given a second chance at life. I'm not sure why and how I  "cheated" death, but I did and I'm here writing this post. Oh, I just realisd what I  wrote; I'm not writing a goodbye note on my life. Don't worry about that, I love my life and want to continue living it to the fullest. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a reason for me being here and able to live a fun life; I'm not sure why but I'm here. One thing I have to accept is that when something isn't working out or going to plan in your life then it's probably best to let it go; say bye.  

Saying bye is one of the most difficult things to say and accept and I've been processing this for the last four days now. I tell myself that I'm strong and that I can do it but I have to admit, it is one of the most difficult thing for me to do. It makes me sick thinking about it. 

How do you handle saying bye? How do you accept something you don't really want to accept? How do you process the change that is happening and is also yet to occur? How do you accept that the fight and hope is over? 

So many questions and so many emotions; so many so that I know these may go unanswered. How do you handle this? 

So, I tell myself once again, you're strong, you've fought hard and you've carried hope but you need to continue living your life. Who knows what the future will hold and what will happen next. All you can do is to focus on the present moment and flow with life. 

Today I say bye ..... 

Jo x

A Date with Arianna Huffington

The beautiful Arianna Huffington.
Photo Credit: Dreams & Sparkle 2014

On Wednesday morning, 10 September 2014, I was treated to a very special breakfast hosted by Business Chicks at the floating Dockside Pavilion, Darling Harbour. Guest speaker Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post, spoke passionately with a fabulous humour about aiming to 'thrive' rather than 'survive'.

A question she asked the 1200 attendee's was something I have been asking many people "what does success mean to you?" I've always personally said that success should have its own personal meaning to you and it will be different for everyone. For me success means being able to enjoy a life that makes me happy; this includes having great friends and family around me, the ability to continue to travel the world, enjoying and sharing good food, the ability to volunteer more and just simply enjoying life to the fullest.

I was delighted to hear that Arianna also had a similar view on success. She said that it's definitely not working until you don't have a life and money doesn't define your success.  It holds truth that if you work 24/7 with the aim to make money then you'll lose out on the family, friends, relationships and living your life because you don't have time for anything else. I believe that working hard does pay off but I also believe in work-life balance and that you can have it all; it's a balancing act, which is life! Busy should not be worn as a badge of honour.

All the fabulous attendees settling in.  Photo Credit: Dreams & Sparkle 2014.

She discussed the four pillars to thriving and one of them really stayed with me. "Giving", it's a shortcut to happiness and one of the greatest ways to connect with other people. She emphasised that we should be moving away from being competitive with each other and start working collaboratively. Giving back to others create a cycle and the more we can turn this cycle around and around the happier we will be with life. Even giving something small, such as flowers, to someone can create a happy and positive change in that person.

Give someone some flowers.  Photo Credit: Dreams & Sparkle 2014

The entire talk resinated with me and I could keep writing but I think it would be best for you to attend one of her sessions if you do get a chance. What really resinated with me from Arianna's talk was to keep doing what I'm doing with my blog. She stated that "self expression is the new communication" and if you want to write then just write as you never know who is going to read it. To be honest, when I start my blogging journey, I really didn't and still don't have a end plan of an expectation; all I know is that I wanted to start a blogging journey of my life and share it and since starting I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. 

A few points made by Arianna that I want to live consciously by:

• Getting enough sleep - this will increase our productivity and happiness
• Setting your intentions for the day - big and/or small
• Bringing gratitude into everyday life - even at your toughest moment, you'll realise that you will always overcome them
• Meditation - learning to be in the present 
• Don't be at the mercy of technology - I love Instagram so this is a challenge for me!
• Life is shaped from the inside out
• Remove what isn't serving us.

Dear Arianna, your talk is one of the most inspiring talk that I have been to in a while. I walked away from your session feeling positive, confident and strong and wanting to get home to blog blog blog. I just want to write and even if only a few (thousand) read my posts I hope that I can inspire them to live life, enjoy every moment and hope to create change that makes people happy. 

I hope to meet you again one day and learn even more from you; thank you for being so inspiring!

Jo x

To My Father....Happy Fathers Day

Dear Dad,

Happy Fathers Day! Happy fathers day to all the fathers out there, whether biological, step, or adoptive. If you love and care for a child, it doesn't matter if your blood is the same, what matters is the love and care you provide. 

I'm a lucky girl to have a father who loves and cares for her so much. So much so, I know he'd do absolutely anything for me. Nothing is too hard or difficult for my dad, he is always there.

My dad and I have an unusual relationship; a relationship that is hard to explain but a relationship that only we understand. We can sit together in silence for hours and we can be apart for years, but he is always my dad and I'm always his baby girl....no matter how old I am, I'm always his baby girl. 

Enjoy fathers day with your dad today or remember the great times with your dad!

Jo x