Meet this week’s local mum – Mara Morrison. Mara is a WAHM who helps mummas like us rescue our precious life long memories from old dusty boxes, devices and hard drives. She gets us reliving memories otherwise forgotten with her professional photo organising service.
Where and how long have you lived in the Sutherland Shire?
I’ve been in the Sutherland Shire since I was in year five. First at Illawong with the family then with hubby in Kirrawee and now lovely leafy Waterfall.
How many children:
We have two crazy kiddies who are eight and six. We love our pigeon pair.
Favourite park:
We are blessed in the Shire to be surrounded by wonderful parks. We love our own refurbished Waterfall park (it’s gated – not that we need that anymore, but worth a little drive for a change of scene for toddler mums). Or Cooper Street Engadine for the bike track or Lantana, Engadine for the flying fox (and nearby Freak shakes for a special treat)
Favourite beach:
Being so close to the National Park we make use of our park pass. We love Bonnie Vale or Wattamola.
Favourite kid friendly cafe:
Now the kids are both in school we aren’t in the kid cafe scene much anymore. Now days we look for dinner options and the kids adore the Tradies and their kids club and we love that quiet hour to enjoy a glass of wine with our meal.
Favourite night place:
If the kids are with us it is usually Gymea Tradies right by Grandma’s place or Helensburgh if it is just the four of us – they have outdoor play area too which is great in summer. We’d go for a swim in the council pool (free) until 4pm, change and head over for a drink/play and early dinner. If it is for a date night we love Alphabet Street and have been known to make a special night of it by driving down and catching the Ferry from Bundeena (it only takes a little bit longer and saves the hassle of fighting for parking in summer).
Favourite Mothers Group location:
Online, anywhere, anytime. I am lucky to be blessed with a wonderful group of mums that I met through babycentre.com.au back when I was expecting my first… nine years ago. Most of us are still in contact via a Facebook group page and we even hold national Mummy meet ups once a year. We are planning a big family one for our 10 year anniversary. The beauty of an online group is that support is there 24/7 and between us we are what I refer to as the ‘source of all knowledge’ given our breadth of age, experience and skills.
Favourite wet weather location:
The library be it for rhyme time when they were little or just for books now that they both read.
Work or SAHM:
I’m a WAHM along with my business partner (also a WAHM) we provide Professional Photo Organising Services via www.thefilingfairies.com.au helping people get their photos out of dusty boxes, albums and off hard drives and phones and back into their lives.
What keeps me sane:
Losing myself in a work out at the gym, a walk with the dogs or even just a book at the end of the day.
Motherly advice:
Take parenting advice with a grain of salt and keep in mind that all situations, families and children are unique.
Back up your photos. We hear from so many mums after they have lost their entire child’s photo life because they thought things were syncing. Use something like Chatbooks, get books printed out and check your back ups are connected properly and actually working.
We want to hear from you!
If you would like to be our next Local Mum we would love to hear from you! Please tell us about yourself here.