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    Boy or Girl? Plus baked vegan carrot cake recipe...

    Boy or Girl? Plus baked vegan carrot cake recipe...

    There's a lot I love about the way my American friends celebrate special occasions. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Baby Showers. What ever the event, you can be sure they don't go about it halfheartedly.

    So you can't even imagine my excitement when my best friend- our muffin’s future God mama / the sunny Californian Britney- offered to throw me and Elliot a Gender Reveal Party!

    For those not in the know what this party entails, here’s the gist:

    Mum-and-dad-to-be get their 20 week scan and if the sonographer can see the baby’s sex, they don’t tell you, but write down Boy or Girl on a piece of paper, seal it in an envelope and you then pass it on to a friend who is throwing you the surprise party, where you and your guests find out what you are having at the same time. This could be with a treasure hunt, quiz night, blue or pink coloured balloons, etc etc. Fun, right?

    I’ve always loved the idea of finding out in this way (we’re both too impatient to wait nine months), however before Britney took over, I thought we would organise this on our own. We were supposed to get the secret envelope to one of my raw chefs at Tanya’s, who would then take a look inside and make us either a blueberry cheesecake (blue for boy) or strawberry cheesecake (pink for girl), then coat it in white icing with absolutely no sign of what colour is inside. Then Elliot and I would slice open the cake with all of our friends in the room.

    But! Britney does everything better!

    She made sure not to give away any clues and said to leave it with her. The only clue she was willing to give away was that the reveal wasn’t to be via a cake, so if I wanted to make one of my own, then it’s my call, otherwise she had the food and drink sorted too. Wowsers. That’s a whole lot of work, time and effort and even from your closest friend, it just feels like too much to accept.

    Of course I could never turn up empty handed or leave a friend to do all the work, so I promised to bring a cake. Two cakes- one for each gender.

    better raw gender reveal

    So I gathered my recipes and a plan to make it happen, but the day of the reveal also coincided with my actual birthday and Better Raw’s annual sale, so the evening was approaching faster than anticipated. By the time I calculated how long it would take me to shop for ingredients, soak the cashews, make, decorate and leave both cakes to set in the fridge, I knew I’d be hours late to my own party…

    Slightly panicked, I dove into my 20 year old recipe notebook for ideas.

    Crazy to think that I still own a book so old, torn and well-travelled, half of which is filled with carefully written recipes and instructions in Russian by my 10 year old self and the other half with a whole lot of scribbles in English after I began to learn the language in New Zealand. What’s crazier is that the recipes within it either use a bunch of animal products, processed ingredients or both. Still, this is a place I like to refer to for ideas and where best inspiration comes from when creating my healthy recipe versions.

    As soon as I flicked to the page with my once-upon-a-time-favourite carrot cake, I knew I had to make it. It’s baked, which requires no setting time in the fridge, so it had to save me at least 3 hours and desperate times were upon us.

    There’s one problem- I haven’t baked for over 6 years!

    Actually there's more than one problem- the recipe contained eggs, processed sugar and other ingredients I haven't used in over 6 years either!

    But then again, I checked out my notebook for inspiration, not the recipe per se, so I took out all the healthy versions of listed ingredients from my pantry and started up a science experiment to invent 'vegan eggs’. I used a little banana for the ’slimy’ part of the egg, ground flaxseeds for the ’sticky’ part which holds ingredients together and coconut yogurt to make it ‘mushy’. It didn't take long to invent, however having not baked in such a long time, I completely forgot the fact that there is baking AND cooling time involved before icing the cake, so we were still late to our own party afterall. The cake was AMAZING though!

    tanya maher baby gender reveal party

    Recipe below, but first, the remainder of the story…

    We arrived at Tanya’s in Chelsea, where a portion of the cafe was reserved just for our group and decorated in the most adorable blue and pink colour palette. There was really nothing to give away the gender at that stage though- Britney made sure to have an equal ratio of blue to pink for everything.

    We had such a good time catching up with all our friends, that I didn’t even notice how nervous I was until she called everyone to start making their way downstairs.

    Downstairs? What is down there? This was the time I dialled in my parents in Ecuador and my sister in New York via Skype and Elliot FaceTime’d his mum in New Zealand, so our families could partake in the fun.

    When our whole group entered myhotel’s darkened meeting room, we were impressed to see rows of chairs facing a large projector screen. Elliot and I knew it already, but this is when everyone else saw just how lucky we were to have a friend that would go through all this trouble. And this was before we even knew what she actually did!

    When the movie showing begun, the first video was of the God mama herself introducing what was about to happen in the most hilarious way, followed by video clips of our friends around the world sending their well wishes and vocalising their bets (and even names) on what we were having. When I say ‘around the world’, I mean around the world! Friends from New Zealand, Australia, Ecuador, New York, California, Japan, London, Portugal and even Bangkok, sent in their video predictions for us to watch.

    I wasn’t just blown away, I was an emotional wreck! Every familiar face appearing on the screen in front of us made me gasp for air. Then hearing them speak directly to us or to our baby was more than enough to make my eyes swell and my legs shake.

    By the time Britney appeared on the screen again to do the final reveal, I was so overwhelmed with emotion, gratitude, anticipation, love, nerves and adrenaline, I was no longer sure that I was ready to know. When she said that this wasn’t the way we’d find out and that we now all had to go upstairs and look for a unicorn, I didn’t know who I was relieved for the most- me, because I got an opportunity to gather myself or my family, because they could now continue watching without the shaky experience they were getting when the laptop was on my trembling lap.

    IMG_4558

    The parents and the God parents

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    The Unicorn Piñata

    The rest was such a blissful blur, that I still don’t really remember where the unicorn piñata was or how it was split in half over my and Elliot’s heads or the details of what (or even what colour) fell out from inside, or who clapped first when the gender was revealed, but I’ll never forget searching my husband’s eyes for his reaction and thinking what an amazing dad he would be to a…. baby girl!

    A girl! A girl! We are having a baby girl!

    And I’ll never forget what Britney did for us. This little love bug inside my belly has already been so cherished and celebrated from the first day of discovering she was there, but she has no idea how lucky she really is with all the loving grandparents, aunties, uncles, God parents, and not to mention mum and dad, awaiting her arrival.

    IMG_4563

    It's a girl!

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    Pure happiness

    And now the recipe! I asked on Facebook and Instagram if you guys were interested in a baked vegan cake recipe and to my surprise, the majority said 'Absolutely'! So here you are. It really is so delicious and using the best ingredients, I think you'll love it too..

    Baked Vegan Carrot Cake

    better raw gender reveal 4

    3 cups grated carrots
    1 cup light olive oil
    1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
    2 cups wholemeal flour (I used spelt)
    2 cups coconut palm sugar
    EGGS (1/2 banana, 1 cup soy/coconut yogurt, 1/2 cup ground flaxseeds)
    1 tsp vanilla extract
    1.5 tsp cinnamon powder
    1 tsp Himalayan salt
    2 tsp baking soda

    [For the pink icing, I used a similar recipe to the Strawberry Layer here>> and for the blue icing, I used the recipe of my Blueberry Pie filling on p.117 of The Uncook Book]

    -Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
    – Blend oil and sugar.
    – Add banana, yogurt, vanilla extract. Blend again.
    – In a bowl- mix flour, ground flaxseeds, cinnamon, salt and soda.
    – Add carrots and walnuts, then mix.
    – Finally stir in the blended mix, scraping everything out of your blender. Stir well to combine ingredients evenly.
    – Transfer to a 8 inch tin and bake for 1 hour.

    The Uncook Book launch and Pina Colada recipe

    The Uncook Book launch and Pina Colada recipe

    Hi my friends,

    Whoa what a week it's been.

    I don't remember the last time I felt this busy, excited, energised, exhausted, emotional, productive, behind, overwhelmed and calm all at the same time. Actually, I've never had a week this full on before.

    To sum up just a portion of events that occurred in this short space of time, I had a birthday and my huge annual birthday sale which is always exciting and mega busy, my bestie threw us the most incredible and emotional gender reveal party (more on this next time), I took Tanya’s Cafe and book signing on the road for the first time ever, our dear friends and travel buddies got engaged, my first published book was officially released all over the UK, the massive competition with an insane amount of entries came to an end, prep for The Uncook Book launch was in full swing, followed by the exhilarating launch party itself and ending with travel outside of London for uncooking demonstrations and book signings.

    Sounds super fun (and it really really was), but during all the celebrations, my inbox nearly exploded and I’m now weeks behind replying to everyone (if it’s you, now you know why, love you!), my sister’s flight was so delayed that she missed the gender reveal party which she was looking forward to since the moment she learned she was going to be an aunty, the wheels on my giant suitcase broke off on the way to the Birmingham demo which made the 30kg of equipment not only too heavy for helpful strangers to drag, but especially for me with a growing baby bump, which brought on a meltdown even I didn’t anticipate, and meanwhile ‘interesting’ events kept occurring at our cafes which needed my immediate attention.

    The last thing I wanted to do is to write a post full of what sounds like complaints, but I hope you can see that I am just like everyone else :)

    I cry, I get tired, I experience stress, I forget to drink water, I worry, I think too much and I take off my cape when it needs a good clean.

    Amazing how just one day, sometimes even one moment, can remind you that you do live the best life ever and that there’s nothing in the world which would have you trading it for another.

    For me that moment was last Thursday…

    The Uncook Book launch party with some of my favourite people in the world, at my very own happy place, with my dream publisher, blessing my pride and joy into the world, may have just topped all the best nights of all time!

    Aaaand finding out that during the first week of its release, The Uncook Book has already gone into its SECOND printing. Just wow.

    Thank you so so much, it's all because of YOU!

    Here are some of the pictorial highlights from my best night ever...

    DSC_0014

    The Uncook Book ready to party

    DSC_0105

    Peanut Butter Cups from the Kid's Section (really, Adult's section, but it was going to sound strange if I had an 'Adult's Section' in the book)

    DSC_0045

    Prep in full swing. Vodka Lavendade (less the vodka for a non-alcoholic version) and Pina Colada (scroll down for recipe), both from the Party Section

    Tanya Maher, The Uncook Book

    Here I am with my book baby and a 5 months baby bump

    Tanya Maher, 5 months pregnant

    See? There really is a bump. I love it!

    DSC_0011

    The adorable Hay House team, from left: Jo, Alexandra, Jessica, Julie (the incredible and talented editor), Karen and Ruth (the hard working cutie responsible for this awesome night). But where's Amy?

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    Here she is! My sweet editor Amy and her bright smile as always. Fab and Lauren in deep convo

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    No uncooking party without a cold-pressed organic green juice

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    And another super adorable Amy. I've come to a conclusion that the best and cutest humans are named Amy

    DSC_0078

    Sister Party! From left: my soul sister (and the one responsible for introducing me to Hay House) Michelle, my sissy-in-law Saskia and my own sister-face Alissa

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    The stunning Nikki Salamony, PR for Tanya's Cafe

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    Serious chocolate talk with Kris from The Raw Chocolate Company and Richi Qi from The Wellbeing Now Conference

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    The always gorgeous Christy, American Girl in Chelsea

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    Food glorious raw food from various sections in the book

    DSC_0118

    Alkalising Cucumber Rolls from the Party Section

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    My sis of Universe + Chorus , a Pina Colada (scroll down for recipe) and a summer roll

    DSC_0131

    Luigi and my Goji Berry Trifles from the Party Section of the book

    DSC_0182

    A few words turned into such a long gratitude list, you couldn't stop me talking

    DSC_0186

    That little muffin inside was all blissed out and still with so much gratitude pouring though my body

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    The love squad. Thank you all so so much for your support

    DSC_0197

    Happy times with the lovely Maxine there in the back ground and Bronwen from NZ Biz Women's Network here to support too

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    A tad proud of my cake, made using a combination of recipes from the book, especially having had my sister rolling the cute energy balls, my chef Eddie decorating the cake and Rebecca Campbell blessing it

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    The amazing Linda Barker of BBC's Changing Rooms

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    The Uncook Book launch

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    Blogger and co-creator of Plant-based Picnic, Natasha Lipman

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    The Uncook Book launch

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    My favourite human, personal recipe taster and loving husband, Elliot

    The Uncook Book goodie bag

    And the prize for THE BEST goodie bag goes to... Can you believe how much goodness is in here? And all in support of the book launch! Thank you so much for such generous gifts: Superfoodies, Dr. Organic, Hay House UK, Neal's Yard Remedies, Udo's Choice, The Raw Chocolate Company, Planet Organic and Seasoul & Snow

     

     

    And because I believe that every successful party post deserves a recipe, here is one you will LOVE...

    It was a hit and a half at The Uncook Book launch (above), it's the first recipe of the Party Section in the book and it includes my favourite ingredient combination EVER. Introducing...

     

    Pina Colada

    (serves 1)

    DSC_0048

    45ml (1.5fl oz) light rum

    120g (4.25 oz) ripe pineapple, peeled and chopped, reserving leaves from the crown to garnish


    90ml (3.25fl oz) fresh apple or pineapple juice (6 apples or 1 pineapple will usually produce enough juice for 4-6 servings)


    2 tbsp coconut butter


    2 tbsp manuka honey


    handful of ice

     

    -Blend all the ingredients, except the ice and garnish, in a blender until creamy, then add the ice and blend again.

    -Pour into a chilled highball glass or a goblet, garnish with the pineapple leaves and serve with a pretty straw.

    We are having a baby!

    We are having a baby!

    Hi my friends,

    Do you remember this post ‘When nothing goes to plan‘?

    I wrote about how no matter what I did to locate my passport (which I have never ever misplaced, ever ever), no matter how hard I tried to ignore my own intuition and even the cramps and pains in my body because of the divine messages coming through, the universe had another plan for me.

    A plan to stay home.

    It didn’t make any sense, but I ended the post with this:

    I’d always known that I’m being protected and I’d always trusted that the universe has my back. That doesn’t mean that I’ll give up on something just because my intuition is in a chatty mood, but in this case I know I’ve tried every avenue and I have to believe that my guardian angels are by my side. I also know that I don’t need to know or wonder now about what could’ve happened if I went anyway. I may never find out the reason.

    Well I didn’t have to wait long for the answer.

    It came that very weekend.

    I spent the entire time over what would’ve been the duration of our holiday, bent over the toilet, whole body shaking, head heavy, legs weak, back aching, nothing left to come out, but tears through the thinnest openings of what could pass as wasp-stung eyes.

    And the throwing up still didn’t stop.

    And each time you think that surely this is when you will feel better because the bug must be out of your system. But there is no bug to leave your system, unless you call a life stirring around, fizzing up, sparkling changes and developing inside of your own body temple- the miracle little bug.

    We are having a baby!

    healthy pregnancy

    When nothing goes to plan...

    When nothing goes to plan...

    I’m supposed to be writing to you from Corfu today, somewhere on a crystal water beach, sun kissed and salt stained, squinting at the screen through my brand new sunglasses.

    Instead, I’m writing to you from my desk at home, in London, because not everything is supposed to go to plan. Your plan.

    I was so looking forward to this trip. Both Elliot and I really needed a mini holiday in the sun and the timing seemed perfect as my co-founders of Tanya’s just finished their incredible three year eco-centre and rejuvenation project, which we were eager to see for ourselves.

    On Thursday (the day before flight) I got a strange feeling about it and waved it off. Then I felt physical cramps and knowing that body pains are linked to emotions and often premonitions, I started listing out possible reasons. When I got to ‘don’t go to Greece’, the pain went away. How weird, I thought, I have already had to miss out on Greece once before when my passport with a new visa was meant to arrive in three months but didn’t for the longest eight months of my life, over which time the boat trip around the Greek islands that I paid for in full has been and gone.

    This can’t be happening again, not to me.

    On Friday I went on to pack my bags, ran a few final errands, set up an auto responder for my inbox, ordered a taxi to the train station and went to grab my passport. And then went to another potential place it could be. And then another. Another. Soon I was out of rooms, bags and shelves to look.

    Something didn’t seem right.

    Over all the years I’ve been traveling, I have never even misplaced my passport, let alone felt clueless as to where it could be. There were still a few hours till the plane, so I didn’t panic and took the opportunity to clean good before going on a holiday. So I looked and moved stuff and cleaned stuff and folded and filed and de-cluttered and nothing.

    I meditated. Nothing.
    Texted everyone who’s been over recently. Nothing.
    Re-traced my entire journey with passport in hand after last trip overseas. Nothing.
    Then, OMG, I have a dousing rod that can answer any question in the world!

    I asked it the usual questions first to just make sure everything was working well energetically:
    ‘can I ask questions about my passport?’,
    ‘is my name Tanya?’,
    ‘is my name Mary?’ (just to make sure not all answers point to yes by default),
    ‘etc’,
    ‘etc’,
    ‘is the passport in the lounge?’
    ‘is the passport in the lounge?’
    Strange, because the rod didn’t move to either a yes or a no. I then walked through every room and asked if the passport was there, still no movement. I asked other unrelated question and got perfect cooperation, just not when it came to something I was now obviously being protected from.

    I called my mum in Ecuador to check with her dousing rod, and it immediately said we are not supposed to go anywhere.

    Clearly upset by this time, but not willing to give up, mainly for Elliot, who I know needed this trip even more than me, I continued to look together with him when he ran through the door to pick up our bags.

    It wasn’t until we were completely and utterly exhausted and missed the only two flights that would get us into Corfu in time for our friends’ project launch and after we cancelled our return flights, that the dousing rod started ‘working’ again and told me the passport was in the kitchen. Without even trying to think where exactly, I immediately walked towards the cupboard that I somehow suddenly knew it’d be in.

     

    IMG_2944

    Gutted we weren’t in Corfu, obviously. But I didn’t feel like it was the end of the world and everything was going against me.

    Instead I felt quite the opposite.

    I’d always known that I’m being protected and I’d always trusted that the universe has my back. That doesn’t mean that I’ll give up on something just because my intuition is in a chatty mood, but in this case I know I’ve tried every avenue and I have to believe that my guardian angels are by my side. I also know that I don’t need to know or wonder now about what could’ve happened if I went anyway. I may never find out the reason.

    I just need to trust.
    And I do.

    I’m so grateful that a protection this strong and powerful is out there. So grateful that it’s looking after me, Elliot and anyone who’s willing to trust it too.

    Hope your Wednesday is the best Wednesday ever!

    With love and trust,

    Tanya

     

    P.S. DO YOU HAVE A SIMILAR STORY? I’D LOVE TO KNOW IF YOU EVER DISCOVERED THE REASON WHY YOU WERE BEING HELD BACK. TELL ME IN THE COMMENT BELOW…

    P.P.S. Update: That very weekend I did end up discovering the real reason!!! You won't believe it- here it is>>

    Revealing my personal vision board for the very first time + Steps to create your own

    Revealing my personal vision board for the very first time + Steps to create your own

    It may not appear this way, as I’m always on social media posting instant updates, but I’m a pretty private person.

    I work away quietly in the background, I’m what they categorise as a hermit, prefer to do many things alone, I keep a ‘sometimes’ diary and often don’t share half of what’s inside even with people closest to me.

    I have never showed my vision board to anyone.

    So yeah- sharing it publicly is a pretty big deal.
    Before I do the big reveal though, I wanted to tell you how I knew that IT REALLY WORKS …

    The first time I’ve ever heard of this manifestation technique was when I was fresh out of uni, working in my dream job as a commercial leasing agent, already with two mortgages on investment properties, $25K in student loan debt (some of which went towards the investments), rent to pay in central Auckland and just $200 in my bank account. Being commission based, I never knew when I’d be paid next. Having to drive clients around (without knowing when I’d be paid next) was fun, but on a gas tank that cost half of what was in my account, not so much.

    Then I got hold of a book called The Secret.

    A certain visualisation exercise really inspired me. You had to focus on a word or image, which you desired and by doing so daily, you’d send out vibrational frequencies, that should eventuate into reality. That same night, I printed off my bank statement, twinked out the date and the summary balance (remember twink?) and changed them to $45,000 for a year from then.

    It felt totally absurd writing down five figures, especially since I was so used to seeing only three or even two, and had absolutely no crafty plan or clue about how that would even happen.

    Very soon, I was to learn this:

    1. YOU DON’T ALWAYS NEED A PLAN. THE WHAT AND THE WHY ARE YOUR JOB, THE HOW AND THE WHEN ARE UP TO THE UNIVERSE.

    2. TRUST THE UNIVERSE. IT ALWAYS HAS YOUR BACK.

     

    Almost a year later, it seemed that things got even worse and I was going backwards…

    The big recession started to creep in. The property market dropped and so did the leasing demands, I was advised to sell my properties fast, but no one wanted to buy. Meanwhile, the ‘twinked-out’ aka ‘dream’ bank statement remained up on my dressing mirror. I still took note of it every day.

    Then my business partner decided he didn’t want to sell our investments for any lower than our purchase price, instead we got a valuation and he bought me out.

    Can you guess what I got for the deal? That’s right- $45,000.

     

    Could it really be that easy? Does this really work every time? Is our potential really only limited by our own imagination? Does law of attraction truly exist?

    There was only one way to find out… I need to experiment some more! :)

    I put together my ‘proper’ vision board, which is basically a collage of pictures and words that you desire. I’ve done this now  for every new year and today will mark my seventh. I won’t say that every year, it all got ticked off, but the universe has a fascinating way of translating our little pictures into our big picture. Sometimes the result was even better than what I set out to manifest. Sometimes, it wasn’t in my spiritual DNA and I was guided to change my next year’s image that was nearer to my true calling.

    Below is my 2014 vision board.

    If you’re inspired to create your own, see the steps beneath it. If you’d like to know more about mine and what got ticked off, continue scrolling…

    ..   tanya maher_ vision board_ how to_ 2014

    SIMPLE STEPS TO MAKE YOUR VISION BOARD

    1. Play some good tunes, light a scented candle, clean your sacred space for creativity, load up on magazines or have the printer handy if you are searching online.

    2. Cut out images and words, which inspire you. They may be feelings, desires, goals, specific targets or numbers, and as long as they aren’t so completely unreasonable that you don’t believe them achievable for a second yourself, then they belong on our vision board!

    3. Place the cut-outs on a large cardboard or a stretched canvas. Continue to arrange them, until it feels just right, then glue them in place.

    4. Now that your vision board is ready, place or hang it where it can’t be ignored. Take it all in, see it as a whole, see it as individual parts and then breathe as though they have already happened. Give it a little attention daily and celebrate with deep gratitude each desire that is coming true for you. Remember that you’ve done your job, so become an observer, let go of any attachments to it and let the universe do its job.

     

     

    tanya maher_ vision board_ 2014

    MY 2014 BOARD IN DETAIL

    1. The office table represents a clean workspace where I can be more organised and creative. We moved house in 2014, got an extra bedroom for an office and a desk and chair for our wedding present. TICK.

    2. The ‘my’ stickers over a kitchen represent a collaboration with myhotels group for a new cafe. When I put this board together at the end of 2013, we were just ‘chatting’, but i knew what I wanted. The result- Tanya’s Cafe inside myhotel Chelsea! TICK.

    3. The living wall is actually part of the kitchen in the photo. For anyone that’s seen Tanya’s, you’d know that I got my living wall :) TICK.

    4. My book deal with Hay House! There are so many authors whose work I respect and words I treasure, but the majority happen to be Hay House authors. I’ve decided long ago that this is a publisher for me but only added them to my vision board in 2014. [BTW note how being specific and putting a picture of yourself on the cover tells the universe that YOU are the author]. In July I received the most exciting email of the year, from none other than… HayHouse! In December, I signed a contract for The Uncook Book, out September 2015. TICK.

    5. Interestingly- this was an empty area and I needed to find a picture to fill it up. I randomly chose the pic of these tigers as they seemed to fit in perfectly. Ha! We all know nothing happens randomly and the more I looked at it, the more I resonated with the spiritual meaning of a tiger totem:
    “By affinity with this spirit animal, you may enjoy dealing with life matters spontaneously, trusting your intuition and acting fast when needed.”- Spiritanimal.info TICK.

    6. Visa! In 2014, we were due for a visa renewal, which was the most challenging thus far. We’ve celebrated five years in London, which meant that getting this visa would give us Indefinite Leave to Remain. But first, there was studying for a Life in the UK exam, hundreds of documents to fill out and thousands of pounds in accountant’s and immigration lawyer’s fees. All totally worth it, because now we are only a year away from a British passport. TICK.

    7. This picture to me represented open plan living, a bigger kitchen and a creative space to work. Interestingly, not only did we move to a new much-bigger flat, which TICKS these elements, but it also has an exposed brick wall!

    8. I love this picture so much. Not only do I have the love of my life by my side, but we are facing in the same direction, doing the same thing, in the best city in the world, while being totally random and taking risks on such an iconic public bridge. It’s just a feel good image and a vision board is meant for feeling good. I wanted to create more memories with Elliot by my side and of course 2014 was the year we said ‘I do’. BIG TICK.

    9. I love green and to me, this image means relaxing holidays in nature. We tied the knot in the most beautiful place best known for its outdoors- the Coromandel, NZ, our friends took us glamping in Wales as a wedding present, my 30th was on a beach in Barcelona and my retreat was in the most pure organic part of the word- Vilcabamba, Ecuador. TICK.

    10. Here’s an obvious one. Babies, babies! 2014 was the year when Elliot and I settled on a plan, we are both happy with. TICK.

    11. IIN x 55 was about getting that many people signed up to the health coach course in a year. I’m a proud ambassador for IIN and a big believer in everything they do, so this year I wanted to aim higher than the 13 people I referred in 2013. I’m a couple of people away, so would like to call it a TICK!

    12. Family. I love my family to bits, but while my sis lives in New York with her husband, my parents live in Ecuador, I’m in London with my husband and his parents are in New Zealand- our wedding in March made it- THE family year. TICK.

    13. My sis and I make hearts using our hands and yoga poses too, so this is the image which represented us together. She surprised me for my 30th with a trip to Barcelona! And it was on a beach too! TICK.

    14. This was something I felt silly doing, but just goes to show how powerful a vision board can be. At the time I photoshoped the number of fans Better Raw has on FB, there were only 12,000 odd. The difference may not seem like massive ask, but it did take me 3 whole years to gather 12,000 fans and a whole lot of competitions, bribery, posting, sharing, liking, linking and commenting to get there. How I was to get to 45,555 in a single year, I had no idea, but remember the ‘how’ is not up to you, just know ‘why’ you want it. I knew I had too many inspiring healthy tips to share that would improve the lives of many. A year later and we are up to 47,480. Wow! TICK.

     

    NOW YOUR TURN.

    WHAT DID YOU TICK OFF IN 2014? TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS BELOW…