At iVillage we’re passionate about supporting Australian bloggers. 

That’s why we’ve created iBlog Friday.

It's a chance for bloggers introduce their favourite post of the week to iVillage readers and for our community to read what Aussie writers are up to.

Here are the bloggers who have sent their submissions this week. Happy reading!

Amelia Oberhardt of My Saturn Return – a first life crisis writes beautifully about the value of old friendships in her post Old Friends Are The Best Friends .

The greatest gift in the world is an old friend. The familiarity of someone who knows you inside out know your flaws yet accepts them and knows and loves you for exactly what and who you are. When picking up the phone without speaking for 2 weeks, 4 months, 2 years isn’t an issue. There is something very therapeutic in speaking to an old friend, it makes the mundane day to day chat irrelevant, its warm and always excited. You find out about new friends, new loves, new movies, new books, and discuss old friends, old family, old jobs and old lovers.

Read the rest of Amelia's post here .

Michaela Fox of Not Another Slippery Dip discusses how we handle disappointment, from the slight setbacks to the crushing blows in her post Dealing with disappointment.

Disappointment. It’s an emotion we all experience from time to time. It can range from slight to severe and it’s often unavoidable. If you’ve ever been in the job market for ‘some time’ you will probably have suffered the disappointment of not getting an interview, or the job itself. Sometimes our disappointment is directly linked to our greatest desires, like wanting to have our baby, or forming a lasting relationship. We often feel disappointed by the people closest to us in our lives, and sometimes we feel disappointed by people we have not even met (Lance, I am looking at you!). And as parents, we often feel it on behalf of our children – and this disappointment can be particularly hard to swallow.

Read the rest of Micahela's post here .

Bianca Slade of Wholefood Simply takes us through exactly why she loves Sunday and how you can make the most of them too in her post Smooth Sundays .

Sunday is all about beginnings, from starting the day off more slowly than the frantic mornings where we race against the bells of the alarm, the school, and the office. It is the day that affords us the time to do brunch and take naps, indulge in long walks, long drives, and long lunches.

I adore Sundays.

I’m a love-my-food-ruts kind of girl. You know the type, eating the same thing day, after day, after day. Sundays is my time to play and create a new food-rut for the week to follow,  this playtime begins with a new green smoothie.

Read the rest of Bianca's post here .

Alicia Lynch of Naughty Natuopath Mum writes about her marriage in For My Husband – a surprise awakening of the soul . She explains how a Bruce Springsteen concert reminded her once again just why she loves her husband Scott so much.

Dear Scott,

So, marriage huh? I’m certainly no expert as I have only been at this gig for the same time as you – 8 years but who’s counting? I know that the relationship we once had is no longer there but I also know that we have a new one every few years and that’s been interesting…

I remember that we had such a hard time being apart during our work day after our 6 week honeymoon…I remember waiting for you eagerly when you got home from work, out at the front gate because I wanted to see you before you made it to the front stairs.  Every second counted.

Read the rest of Alicia's post here .

Katrina Springer of The Organised Housewife wows us with her brilliant solution for school bags in her post Our revamped and very organised school bag nook.

We have revamped our school bag nook.  Last year I used hooks attached to a mdf letter.  I attached the letters to the wall with 3M tabs, these worked really well while the kids were in kindy, however their school bags get quite heavy and the wooden hooks gave way. 

I needed something sturdier so I removed the hooks from the wall, pulling the 3M tabs off ever so gently, but unfortunately 2 pulled paint away.  These tabs had been there for a good 3 years so I had a sneaking suspicion that it might happen.  This is where my Brother-in-law stepped in and helped me repair the holes ready for me to paint the wall.  I watched over him and know I can easily do it myself next time.  After the wall was repaired I washed it down to remove dust and dirt, then repainted it.  Strangely I enjoy painting walls, I find it therapeutic.  

Read the rest of Katrina's post here .

Sabeen Saleem of Mum Chic shares some beautiful thoughts about making every day count in her post {Wordles Wednesday} Make Today Count .

Life is short, a limited edition, a single shot.

 Every moment matters.

Every word –  said , unsaid.

Every action.

Every step.

Every breath.

Read the rest of Sabeen's post here .

Nami Clarke of Bubba Gum HQ talks about hitting rock bottom in her moving post The Other 1000 Words .

I remember the day I hit rock bottom very clearly, because I have a photograph from it. In fact, it is one of my favourites. Having a portrait of yourself that you like can be a rare thing (especially when you're a woman and we are prone to being a tad dramatic when it comes to arm fat, thigh celluite, ass width, wrinkles (smile lines) and anythinng else that we'd prefer to be smaller/ bigger/ smoother/ etc).  In fact, I like it so much that I use for most of my profile pictures, for press releases and the like.  I'm smiling, nay, giggling.  I have a classic little black number and I'm having a good hair day.

Read the rest of Nami's post here .

Amanda Reboul of My Champagne Daze writes about a daughter's special relationship with her dad and reflects on childhood memories in her post Turning the Tables .

The only problem was, the boys didn’t want to play with me. What would girls know about cricket? Well, they had one thing right, I couldn’t hit the ball. When they did let me play, they’d practice their best ‘googlies’ and ‘bouncers’ at my expense. I clearly kept my eye on the ball a little too well, and on more than one occasion sported a lovely bruise between my eyes.

Luckily, though, my dad would sometimes come to the rescue. My dad was a fantastic sportsman in his day. He was also a very good teacher.

Read the rest of Amanda's post here .

Zoee Bradley of Pop Goes Law talks about Matriarchy vs Patriarchy and how she sees her future in a world when women still struggle to be equal to men in the post What if it was the matriarchy instead of the patriarchy.

I asked him how he would feel if I flipped the world and a few thousand years ago women gained the dominant mantle in society. Men were subjugated, suppressed and controlled by women. As history progressed men were predominantly relegated to caretaker roles in the home and unable to work. History progressed a little more and then could join the workforce and fought for men’s rights, but just couldn’t crack the glass ceiling and felt under-represented in society and that their issues didn’t matter as much. He looked shocked and said he couldn’t imagine how that would feel and of course he would want his gender to be considered as a useful part of who he is if he was going for selection to a corporate board. The matriarchal world scenario I created really scared him, and so it should. That’s how it is being a woman.

Read the rest of Zoee's post here.

Louisa Simmonds of My Midlife Mayhem talks about the different ways she and her husband are viewing their impending anniversary celebration in her post How to celebrate your 20th wedding anniversary.

My argument is that we need to celebrate that I have put up with him for twenty years and lived to tell the tale. It’s an achievement that needs to be celebrated with more than a bottle of sparkling white wine, a curry and a quickie.

His arguments are characterically, ‘cost’,  and some bullshit about ‘not needing to prove his love with false public demonstrations of love.’

Read the rest of Louisa's post here .

Sharon Meyerkort of Relentless tackles the sticky subject of the third child and how life for them differs from that of the first in her post The brutal truth about the third child: the first child birthday party.

You decide early on you won’t bother with a first birthday this time around, after all the baby won’t remember anyway. But the older kids are relentless in their crusade to have a party, so you give in and plan a small family affair. Then you realise your eldest has invited half her Pre-Primary class.

The house already is covered in paintings and sparkles courtesy of the older kids, so you don’t need to decorate, and you invite everyone by text message the day before.

Read the rest of Sharon's post here .

Claire Greig of Breathe Online discusses the dilemma of feeling like a part-time mum and how she plans to change it in her post The dilemma of a part-time mum and my mission to fix it.

Often mums can face a much more junior role with no real responsibility, no training or development and not much of a future. Even if they get the same pay as before they can lose their motivation quickly as their heart just isn’t in it.

I know I did.

It was pretty soul destroying when I first went back to work f