"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." – Mary Oliver

2026 FIG Collective – Week 3

I’m joining with lots of others in looking for little joys in the month of February. For all the details pop over to Elisabeth’s blog.

Monday 16th: I snagged some left over wedding cake and mini lemon meringue tarts so we had them for dessert at family dinner with the girls tonight. They were really good. One of the wedding cake tiers was raspberry and white chocolate which was my favourite.

Tuesday 17th: A sneak peak of the wedding photos came through today and they are stunning. I can’t wait to see the full lot. LOVE, LOVE,LOVE!!!

Wednesday 18th: Riley got groomed. He was a bit smelly but now he is soft and beautiful.

Thursday 19th: I got out for a run. The first in ten days. Lungs are still probably not 100% but I took it slow and kept it short.

Friday 20th: E came over for take out Friday (K was visiting her parents but will come over Monday). It was good to catchup. They had a nice break away together in Daylesford and now have the weekend together at home before he heads to Brisbane for work next week.

Saturday 21st: I managed a run/walk this morning, keeping my heart rate pretty controlled and felt OK afterwards. We had a good catchup with a small group of our running club friends over breakfast. When we arrived home H and S had come over and taken Riley for a walk. We worked on the puzzle and finished the small one we had been doing, and got started on another one (repeating one we’ve previously completed but swapping the areas we’re working on).

My messy edited chord chart.

Sunday 22nd: I am finally getting my head around the different chords on the piano. I turned up 30 minutes before the service and the worship leader wanted to change the key we were doing one of the songs in. First up he wanted to go up one tone to F sharp major and I was like “No way” let’s go up a full tone to G so the chords are easier. On the guitar they often just move the capo when they want to change keys so he forgets that the piano is a bit more involved. I quickly rewrote the correct chords above, did quick couple of runs through and was able to do it fine during the service. Luckily I just had to do chords for that song and none of the hooks. Yay for progress though! In our Sunday night service I am doing a four week series of lectures with discussion on Revelation. The first week went really well and I got some good feedback. People did find it helpful and interesting and some also said they would be a little less hesitant to approach the book in the future.

Did you have some wins this week?


Comments

12 responses to “2026 FIG Collective – Week 3”

  1. What a lovely little collection of wins for the week. The sneak peek of wedding photos moment really made me smile, that anticipation of seeing the full set must be so joyful. And adapting the piano chords on the fly before a service shows real composure and musicianship. Leading a series on Revelation and getting positive feedback is no small thing either, that is one of the more intimdating books to teach. Sounds like a week full of small but meaningful moments.

  2. Welcome back to running, Melissa!! 🎉 I love that you eased yourself in with a slow, short run first and then a controlled run/walk, that’s so smart after being off for ten days.
    It sounds like your lungs are cooperating well enough for now, and it must feel great to be moving again!

    It’s amazing how the body adapts – my long run on Saturday felt so much better than the previous ones. That said, my threshold run this morning was awful… hopefully the next one will be better!

    1. It’s not long now and you’ll be in London. I suppose you’re coming into the major portion of marathon training now.

  3. Oh my goodness that photo of Riley is SO sweet. Was he in the wedding????

    Raspberries and white chocolate. YUM!

    I had lots of wins last week. Right now I’m feeling… very stressed. The crunch is on and I feel like there is so much to do, but also so many things (like much of what we’re packing) that can’t be handled until the very end. Eeks. So I’m leaning into FIGs right now extra hard to try to ground myself in the present and not get myself in a tizzy about all the things left to do before our trip.

    1. Riley was not in the wedding, but would you believe that there are people who will pick up your dog, wash them bring theeurope would be very stressful at the moment, but wonderful once you are there.

  4. I think that my inability to music is tied to my struggle to excel at foreign language. I’m miserable at both. Your talent is impressive. I love the sound of the white choc/raspberry tier of cake. Smart move saving some of the desserts for your family dinner this week.

    Curly’s team literally won their regional championship on Friday, so I’ll count that as this week’s win. 😉 She plays tomorrow night. We are a 3 seed playing a 2 seed, so it’ll be tough, esp with 2 starters still out injured. (maybe the girl with the sprain will be back?)

    1. Oh, well done to Curly Good luck to her for the next match.

  5. Riley! How cute.
    I love raspberries and I love white chocolate – that sounds like a winning combo!
    That puzzle is really pretty but looks so hard. I have been thinking I need to start a new puzzle but haven’t gotten around to it yet! I’m taking the day “off” today, I had a little procedure yesterday and I’m just going to be really gentle today. I slept over ten hours last night!

    1. Yay, for taking the time you need to recover. Sleeping for ten hours is amazing.

  6. What a beautiful post, and yay to saving wedding cake for a family dessert! I’m glad that you are easing back into running. Riley looks so soft and lovely. The waterfall picture is beautiful!

    1. The waterfall puzzle was a smaller than we normally do but the picture was so pretty.

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