From the moment I conceived of the idea of the Champagne Women series, bringing you conversations with fascinating women who manage the whole career and parenting gig with aplomb and finesse, Bron Maxabella has been on my list of ‘must gets’. And today I am thrilled to deliver!
If you’ve ever been a reader of blogs you have probably stumbled across the marvellous Maxabella Loves a few times. And if you are a writer of blogs, you would know that Bron is to blogging what James Brown is to soul. Add to that, Bron nails that brilliant balance that is my favourite thing in meeting a person: she is both interesting and interested in others.
Want to get to know Bron a bit more? Here she is…
What do you wish you had more of in your life?
Creative, interesting, heart-stopping conversations.
What do you wish you had less of?
The mundane.
What’s your favourite ‘me time’ activity?
I loathe the expression ‘me time’. Whoever coined that expression should be very poor indeed. My whole life is ‘me time’ and I like to do things like: visit new places with the kids, have people over for dinner, go for a wander with my husbie, take photos of interesting things, watch a film, bush walk with friends, drink too much wine in pubs and swing in my hammock while the kids pelt me with gumnuts. Well, maybe not the gumnuts bit.
What’s the best gift you’ve given yourself recently?
The gift of doing nothing much at all.
What’s your favourite song to belt out in the shower?
Whatever I’m singing out of the shower generally finds its way into the shower. We are big on singing around here. My daughter asked me just this morning, “why do you turn everything into a song?” and I replied, “I write the songs that make the whole world sing”…
You have a night off from the kids and unlimited funds: what do you do?
I’d grab the husbie and the next flight to Paris. Oh, a night off (darn)… I think I’d like a lavish catered picnic on board a yacht moored in a quite cove of the Harbour while my favourite movies play on a big floating screen next to us. No staff.
What’s the secret to striking a balance among your life’s competing priorities?
Routines, processes and schedules and a strict(ish) (most of the time) adherence to them. That’s the boring bit. The wonderful bit is all the stuff that being rigid frees me up to do.
Do you have a favourite memory involving champagne?
Now isn’t really the time to tell you that I can’t drink the stuff, is it?
One sunny day Maxabella chucked in her hard-fought, twenty-year corporate marketing career – just like that. Turned out the view from up the ladder wasn’t worth it after all.
Unleashed from the shackles of a beige suit and structured handbag, she delights in writing all day, every day and only wears clothing that doesn’t require ironing. Writing about fitting good parenting into a lovely life is her favourite topic, mostly because in cyberspace you cannot see eyes roll. She blogs at Maxabella Loves.
Bron is one of the bloggy good guys, I love her spunk, attitude and creativity, okay I’m jealous of her creativity! Great answers too about ‘me time’.
Hi Em! You know my answer: we are all creative, we just need to allow ourselves to wander. x
Bron rocks my socks. I like that she has a little edge to her. x
She’s like a dirty martini. With an extra olive.
I just need to keep myself from teetering off it! x
I always love your words, Bron. xx
Thanks Megan and I always love yours! I do miss your un-travel blog, BTW… but keep the travel blog and add the extras there. x
I adore Bron. She has this fantastic ability to lull you into a conversation and then – BAM! – she catches you off guard with a witty remark or something to make you stop and think…or both. Love it!
BAM BAM Bron, we can call her. 🙂
I’m enjoying this love fest over here. I’m just about to leave to get my hair done (Brazillian Blowoud – god that sounds naughty, but it’s just a type of keratin treatment that you don’t have to have hanging in your face for 72 hours…), so it will make me feel better about having to stare at myself in front of the mirror for hours… x
* Blowout. I don’t know what a Blowoud is either, but maybe it’s what happens when you burn yourself with your hair dryer?
Bron rocks. That is all.
That’s all we need, J!
I also collect rocks*, so I’m rocking it all around… x
* This is not actually true, but I do quite like rocks, especially precious ones.
You are the Bronshine of my life! x
Oh, zing!
Oh baby, you’ve lit me up like a disco ball with that one. x
I love your point of view on me time.
I. just. can’t. stand. the. ‘me’. time. thing.
I need to write another post about it because unlike that ghastly expression ‘yummy mummy’, ‘me time’ just hasn’t gone away… x
That makes me laugh! I despise ‘yummy mummy’ (almost as much as I despise ‘mumpreneur’ or ‘mummy blogger’), but ‘me time’ is my favourite thing to talk about in the world. Perhaps because I usually shower while simultaneously tying up pigtails and refereeing fights over lego, and I have to pee with my foot against the door.
Love the way Bron writes and her attitude to life (except for the routines and schedules bit-I am pretending I didn’t read that) x
Pretending won’t make them go away, Lisa!!! x
Bron is the genuine real deal. She is every bit as fabulous and warm and witty in the flesh as she is in her blog. I love it when it turns out that way.. what you see is what you get. I am so proud to call that spunk of a woman a friend xx
Same, same, same and same! A true friendship, dear Son. x
Funny, kind, warm, genuine – everything you could possibly want in in a person. One of the first blogs I ever discovered and one I always read.
This just confirms why I read your blog Bron…you are lovely. I need to embrace your “me time” philosophy. I think I need a hammock. hmmm…
I too, make up songs about everything. Must be that whole creativity thing again! x