Lisa Schofield

 One day as I was minding my own business analysing the statistics of my website I noticed a couple of readers had swung by a blog called Giving Back Girl.

Hmmm… not one I had read before, who was this reader?

I clicked on over and met the lovely Lisa!

She is currently writing about her year of self-improvement.

I was stoked to discover that like me, Lisa loves flipping her pillow over at night to get to the cold side.

Instant respect.

Now I’d like you to meet her :

Who is Lisa Schofield?

I’m a Kiwi living in Australia , a mum of 3 young boys, a wife for the second time and I’m at an age where I’m too old for micro shorts or high top jeans (actually that has nothing to do about my age!).

I have written my whole life however in my professional life this was always extremely dry strategy documents, it’s only been recently that I have discovered the joy in writing about inane topics such as possums in my wheelie bin or school drop offs.

I have recently embarked on My Year of Self Improvement in a quest to keep my brain keen and young, when the rest of my body starts flagging.

I am lucky to have many wonderful and close friendships which I cherish, I have a gorgeous insightful husband who simply does not tolerate complacency and is always challenging me to keep growing.

And of course my 3 sons have and always will be, my greatest achievement and pride.

I’m happy, I’m healthy and I’m excited about living my life as hard as I possibly can.

That is apart from when the boys are in bed and I need to collapse on the couch into a blur of bad TV.  OK, that part needs working on.

Where do you live and what is special about it?

Over three years ago when happily settled in my life in Auckland, New Zealand, my husband came home with the news he’d been offered a fabulous job in Sydney.

Hmmm, I thought, he’s been secretly lobbying for this for ages, he’s always wanted to live there.

So I took his contract where it said “a three year term” and created a mental calendar that was going to count off each day for the next three years until it would miraculously become “Going Back Home To NZ “ Day.

As we were flying over to Sydney from NZ, with my emotional anchors flailing behind the plane, my husband said to me “people say that once you’ve lived in Sydney, you can never leave it”.

Well I got my finger wagging in front of me and my hand on my hip and said “ Hmmph, that may be the case for some, but that won’t apply to this girl.  No Sir, I’m going home”.

My husband is a wise man and even though I’ve been challenged at times (like confronting the many Australian wild life or the time when the school mum YELLED at me for parking in the wrong place).  I can never imagine living anywhere else.  Sydney has got me, hook, line and sinker.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger?

That my mum was going to die when she was only 56 (and I was 28).

I hadn’t quite formed a proper adult relationship with her, where we really could get to know and understand each other and I’ll forever live with that regret.

How do you keep your ‘grass green’

I write, I run in the bush, I find purpose, I look at the sky waiting for storms, I pick up shells on the beach, I laugh, I love.

And I try to be the absolute best mum in the world so my 3 beautiful boys will grow into fine young men who look back on their childhood and say “our grass was so green when we were growing up”.

Where would you be right now if you could be anywhere in the world?

A business class seat flying to Madrid for 2 days then onto Barcelona for a week before flying to Dublin for another week, finishing up with a couple of romantic days in a castle in the Irish countryside.  Just my husband and I.

Or at least that was the trip I would have been leaving for in two days time, had my husband not changed his job earlier this year.  It’s a good thing he loves his new job.  Sort of!

What makes you laugh more than anything else in the world?

Clichéd as it is, my kids, seriously.  My 4 year old almost believes he is a dinosaur, it’s just the type of dinosaur that he is that changes daily.

In fact refreshingly, he is a killer whale at the moment, after having seen one eat a plesiosaur in his dinosaur documentary that he watches.

His dinosaur walk or “scoot” is fast and efficient, and in fact no longer embarrassing when he scoots along the polished floors on all fours in shopping malls.

He cocks his head as if listening for prey then let’s loose a loud and accurate roar.  He’s hilarious and quirky and I adore him for it.

Who would be cast as you in a movie and why?

Some of my friends look like other famous stars, and amongst them I have two Sandra Bullocks (although much happier versions of at the moment I think!), one Helena Christenson, and one Heidi Klum.

My husband says I look like Mariah Carey, just without the boobs, bum or thighs (although that depends on if I’m in a “fat” phase), and definitely without the voice.

Not much left to compare myself to, I can see you’re thinking!

Also Mariah can sing better than she can act so I’m guessing my movie will be hardly Oscar material which is disappointing as I’d love to frock up at the awards and go all misty eyed when Mariah goes up to collect her Oscar and dedicates it to me.

What are your favourite places to visit online?

The problem with the online world is that there are just so many places to visit.

I find a fabulous site (I love bloggers) and they open up the door to more fabulous sites, and more and more, until exhausted by all the fabulous bloggers there are out there, I collapse in a heap of self doubt that my writing is even relevant, let alone, slightly good.

My selected few sites I read regularly are: www.bom.gov.au (I am a weather freak, seriously embarrassing), www.facebook.com (really, who doesn’t these days?)  www.sarahwilson.com.au (love her writing and her whimsy), www.nzherald.co.nz (need to keep in touch with the home in my heart), www.perez.com (my gossip hit – saves me heaps by not buying those crap mags anymore) and d’uh www.sharnanigans.com (I’m a new and avid reader, I have “virtually” clicked with Sharni and think that her and her writing are fantastic!!!!)

Finish this sentence … (but don’t write love sweet love haha) What the world needs now is ….. ?

..for everyone who can, to give back.