MNM's

Rolling with it

2012-02-12T17:31:00.001+13:00

Despite how impromptu some of our family adventures may look, to be honest we're not really known for just rolling with it. I like to plan ahead, weeks, months, even years sometimes, and when things that have been planned don't quite turn out how I planned, sometimes I don't find it that easy just to roll with it.

So the weekend was an unexpectedly wonderful time of doing just that. Rolling with it all.

We'd planned a trip to see our friends Tracey and Dayne in the Hawkes Bay a few weeks back. And due to other commitments we ended up changing the date to this weekend. Which was fine, we rolled with it.

One of the things we all wanted to do was go to Splash Planet, a whole day out experience at the water theme park in Napier. Trace and I had been emailing earlier in the week and the long range forecast was looking pretty good for Saturday at that stage.

So when Noah woke up in the middle of the night on Wed/Thu complaining his throat really hurt, that part of the weekend was suddenly not looking too likely. As a precaution, we shipped him off to the doctors Thursday afternoon and got some antibiotics (not that we've actually ended up using them). We held fire till Friday morning to make a decision on the weekend to see whether he was firstly well enough for school and thus we concluded also well enough for the trip, and in the end decided we were good to go.

We jumped in the car at 3.30pm, hoping to be in Havelock North by 7.30-8pm. Ah the best laid plans. I think in the end we must have stopped six times on the way, 3 wees on the side of the road for Mylo, 2 petrol station wees for the rest of us, plus a stop at Pak n Save Masterton to get the rest of our picnic dinner. So we were a little later than planned - but hey, we rolled with it.

This weekend was also a first for us, we have never shared a room with both the boys before by choice - they're noisy blighters! But this weekend we all camped out together, us on a double bunk bed, whilst Noah was above us in the single bunk and Mylo slept on a mattress on the floor. And you know what? We rolled with it, and it worked out just fine.

We woke to drizzly rain on Saturday morning, so the 'do we, don't we take Noah to Splash Planet' question was actually thankfully answered for us. Thanks to the joys of the Internet and a recommendation from friends Tracey sorted out some indoor fun for us at the Faraday Centre of Science and Technology in Napier, where all manner of hands-on gadgets from today and yesteryear could be played with, jumped on, wound up, driven, rung, tested etc. An absolute goldmine of fun for the kids, big and small.

We rung the bells to the tune of London's famous Westminster chimes, got traffic lights to work, rung up pounds, shilling and pence, found old style space invader games that really worked, and whispered secrets to each other over the airwaves.

Tracey and I were both feeling our years after we found this typewriter amongst all the other gadgets. We both learnt to type on one of these and now it's considered a museum piece? Eeeeek!

Afterwards, we headed back to their place via Silky Oak Chocolate Shop and Cafe where the kids were served up some fantastic looking kids plates and hot chocolates. If I hadn't already ordered a muffin and coffee, I'd have been sorely tempted to nick the plate for myself!

Later in the afternoon we headed down to Cameron and Mikayla's school to burn off some energy. And burn we did. With some fierce football, scooter races, chase and tag, tree climbing and general mayhem.

Tracey and Dayne have only recently moved from Havelock township into 'the farmhouse' but oh we could see the appeal - the peaceful quiet and the rambling orchards are just heavenly.

We fed the chickens, and rambled on down through the hundreds of fruit trees, picking plums straight off the trees to eat along the way. Someone enjoyed their plum a little too much wouldn't you say!

Then once the kids were bundled into bed exhausted in the best kind of way after the best kind of day, Dayne served up an incredible butter chicken curry with poppadoms. It would be fair to say all bets were off on the diet last night, as I'm pretty sure between the yummy food and 4 glasses of wine, I used up about a whole week's worth of points in about 2 hours! But you know what? It felt good to just roll with it.

Sunday morning, laden down with Black Doris plums and nectarines from the orchard plus a couple of Dayne's famous smoked trout, we were up bright and early to drive home in order to make it to Noah's swimming lesson at lunchtime.

Followed by Mark's indoor footy game mid-afternoon.

This evening Mark even made a last minute decision to take both boys to the stadium to watch the Wellington Phoenix play football at 5pm, with Wholly Pizza takeaway pizzas on the menu for after. So rolling with it a little longer it would appear the diet is back on.....um.....tomorrow morning!

Another packed-out, sold-out, all-singing, all-dancing weekend.

And, quite frankly, where rolling with it was the best way to play.

Things I'm Loving

2012-02-10T08:00:00.001+13:00

Oh be still my photographic heart. I am in utter love - and gasp, with more than one!

Pixlr-matic
Oh my app, how did I not come to know about thee until last week? I am oh so hooked on you!

The Oriental Beach Impromptu Undies Parade

Two Little People and an Overbridge

Pixlr-matic you are here to stay that's for sure! You have made me love photos opportunities on the iPhone which I never thought could happen! Thanks again PJ for the heads up - this is one cool app - I already love it way more than Instagram!

Tokina 12-24mm wide angle lens
Oh Tokina how I adore your wide angle vestiges and the new perspectives you have given me on life. I cannot wait to hold you in my hands lovingly and learn all there is to make you sing sweet photographic songs. With every click of the shutter, you are already creating something of awe for me.

Oh little tongue roller (laments I who have not the gene), gaze into my new wide angle depths

and I shall willingly capture the essence of your soul

I can now capture more of the bathroom than you could ever hope to see before

(or want to for that matter either!)

Can there be anything sweeter than capturing a rainbow with a virgin lens?

Ah Tokina, I have only held you for mere minutes, but I can already see that this isn't just going to be a short-lived fling, rather a love to last a lifetime. I cannot wait to make sweet, sweet photographs with you.

Postscript: I was fortunate enough to get a free upgrade to an iPhone 4 through my work recently, and was able to sell my old iPhone for a good price on Trade Me. That combined with some Christmas and early birthday money plus a great exchange rate on eBay has given me the opportunity to own an amazing lens at a fraction of the price to buy here.

I cannot wait to capture the world and bring it to you through new and even wider open eyes.

What are you loving this week?

How My Other Half Lives

2012-02-09T08:00:00.000+13:00

So there's Bloggy Me which you may feel you know quite well. And you might even think the same about Mummy Me.

Of course, then there's Wifey, Daughter, Sister, Friend me. To be honest, they're not so different to Bloggy or Mummy me.

And then there's Work Me.

I sometimes feel a bit like a trespasser in a foreign land - caught in between two worlds. The world of being a mother and a worker. Amongst my real-life friends and sometimes even in blog world, I have to admit I sometimes feel like a bit of an alien.

If you ask me, I'll always be a mummy first, always. And that will never change, whether I work 'outside the home' or not. But it's a juggling act, trying to do both well, and frequently feeling like there's always a ball about to be dropped if it hasn't already.

I often feel like I am two different people or a split personality at best, and some days there's a blurred line between where Work Me ends, and Mummy Me begins.

Glimpses of Bloggy Mummy me are easy enough to come by when you stop by long enough in this space called MNM's.

But there is this other side of me. And right now, it is as much a part of me and I can't ignore it or dismiss it, no matter how much I might try and compartmentalise or separate it, it is part of who I am. And I guess it's time you got to see a little of how that other half lives.

So.....a typical day goes a little something like this:

5.30am
The alarm goes. I read The Word for Today (my bible reading) delivered by email and then see if there are any new blog posts in Google Reader. Skim reading blog posts at this time of the day is as much about waking me up enough to force myself to get out out of bed than anything else!
5.35am
I'm up, and changed into my exercise gear. I quickly get out the hair straighteners to tame any random bed hair that has sprung up overnight and go downstairs.
5.40am
I finish packing my bag - my work clothes are already in it, and my lunch and breakfast were prepared the night before and left on the bench or in the fridge ready for the morning.
5.45am
I don my headphones to listen to music or a sermon podcast, and then I'm out the door for the half hour walk to work.
6.15am
I arrive at work, and get changed into work clothes/apply make-up/put lunch in fridge/fill up my water bottle etc.
6.30am
I'm at my desk ready for the work day!

Now a blow by blow of the next 8 hours would be a little pointless since every day is pretty unique, but here's a few of the things I get up to in no particular order:

Preparing papers/reports to the Board of Directors and sub-committee about our current and forecast financial performance
Budgeting and forecasting in liaison with the senior management team
Managing daily/monthly cash flow
Completing income tax returns and managing provisional tax payments in conjunction with external tax advisers
Managing the company's internal policies, updating, consolidating and ensuring policies continue to be fit-for-purpose for the business
Managing the relationship with and providing information to the external auditors, both at interim audit (1/2 way through the year) and final audit (year-end) where the performance of the company and our internal controls are checked to ensure all is in order and our financial statements present a true and fair view of the company
Producing the financial statements in the annual report (see here for last year's example starting page 23)
Regular reviews of external suppliers in various categories and seeking better value for money under each, e.g. office supplies, rental cars, travel management, printer/copier, postage/couriers
Managing the company insurance programme and any claims made on policies
Co-ordinating the emergency management team (planning evacuation exercises/ensuring business continuity plans are in place and tested across the business)
Ensuring that monthly financial reports for the senior management team and the Board of Directors are produced in a timely manner and information contained in the reports is accurate and informative for decision making
Producing quarterly, half-yearly and annual reports for the Ministers and for Treasury
Managing the Finance team of 3 (a Accountant and 2 Accounts Administrators)

Other than sneaking out daily at 8am to grab a takeaway coffee at Mojo, I rarely leave the building until it's time to go home. It's a full-on 8 hours from start to finish and I'm certainly never bored!

2.30pm
It's time to go. I get changed back into my exercise gear, and walk up the very steep hill from the CBD to school, usually arriving a couple of minutes before 3pm. My heart rate is pumping!
3.00pm
A happy (sometimes tired) boy comes out to meet Mama, and we stop to chat with other mums/kids or just start walking (sometimes he scooters) home. Sometimes this is a fun walk and a chance to catch up on the day, other times it's 'I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm hot, I'm cold, Mum can you carry my bag, Mum can you carry my scooter' etc etc.
3.20pm
We arrive home and the first thing I do is make Noah eat all the fruit left in his lunchbox before he's allowed anything else. This is the story pretty much every single day. Then we do his writing homework (Mondays) and his reading homework (on other days).
4.00pm (ish)
I get changed again (I reckon I end up changing about 5 times a day) out of exercise gear back into work clothes or casual gear and we jump in the car to go to daycare and pick up Mylo.
4.15pm (ish)
We pick Mylo up and depending on what the time is by now, we sometimes have a little outing (the park, Te Papa or the library) before going home to prepare dinner.
5pm (ish)
We arrive home and start preparing dinner. Mark has usually cut up all the veges in the morning and they're in the fridge which is a fantastic help. During this time, the boys get to blob in front of the TV for half an hour.
5.30pm (ish)
Mark arrives home and finishes off dinner, while I put on washing, make my breakfast/ lunch and pack all our bags for the next day.
6.00-6.30pm
Dinner is done, there's sometimes time for a little more TV, and then it's bath/shower time. The boys and I usually bath/shower all together, right now it's so much easier!
7.00-7.30pm
A little bedtime milk is drunk (Mylo), teeth are brushed, stories are read, kisses and cuddles had, and then it's nighty night to the little people, and we then finish off the chores like hanging out the washing or putting it away and ensure everything is totally ready for the next day before sitting down to a little TV/blog/relaxation time.

Actually to be fair that really only describes some days.

The Wed/Fri variation has me getting up at 5.30am as usual, but instead I bike on the indoor bike trainer in the garage for 40 minutes whilst Mark goes out at the same time for a 10km run. And on those days I drive in to work around 7am so that I can pick Mylo up straight after work at 2.30pm and have a couple of extra hours with both the boys where we like to get out and about or just hang out together at home depending on both the weather and our energy levels!

And I feel I must account for the other unseen part of this equation which is that every morning Mark drops the boys off to daycare and school. And for this I am truly grateful as I know that getting out of the house at 8am with 2 kids and all the various daycare/school/work gear remembered is a challenge even on a good day, and he does this all on his own every single day! Honey you are my hero, mwah!

And of course, the picture wouldn't be complete without also fitting in:
Monday nights - Mark has a 30 min indoor football between 6-9.30pm - the time changes every week
Tuesday nights - we take turn about each week to go to Life Group (church friends where we do 'life' together, sharing, studying God's Word, praying, chatting)
Wednesday nights - I have a Pilates class at 6.30pm

So there you have it. A slice of a previously unseen side to life. Of course I wish it were a little less hectic than it is, but it is I guess like anything, a season. One which we muddle through the best we can. One thing is for sure, I know eke out every last little drop of quality time we get during the busyness of that week, and it really makes our weekends very very precious to us.

Saturday mornings where we wake up and start the day gently and leisurely, knowing we have a whole 2 days ahead of us together as a family are without a doubt my absolute favourite time of the week.

So if you made it this far, well done for hanging in there. I'm glad to have been able to share a little more of this crazy life with ya.

Wordless Wednesday: Milkshakes and Seagulls

2012-02-08T08:00:00.001+13:00

Take one impossible summers day.

And three with cabin fever.

We seek solace in a cafe on the beach that reminds us of our roots

It's the coolest spot in town.

Where all manner of interesting folk hang out.

And a milkshake shared is a problem halved.

Take an indoor maritime theme.

And follow it outdoors to the real thing.

Where ruffled feathers are braced to the wind.

And two cheeky children throw seaweed with the pretence of food, tempting our feathered friends to
come closer.

Before they give up hope and return to their staunch, silent pose.

And we return to running the beach. Skeleton suit and all.

We leave our friends to carry on their plumping and bracing in peace.

Our footsteps all the evidence left of this brief interlude in an otherwise forgettable day.

This was an opportunity to see beauty in an otherwise spectacularly poor summer day. It had poured down all day with galeforce winds, and yet we seized a window in the late afternoon to create something worth remembering. A day where we had to dig deep to rekindle any Love for Where You Live.

No matter where you live, there is always something to love.

Even on the worst of days.

This linky celebrates all that is good and lovely about where you live.

Whether that's Wellington or Timbuktu.

Next time you open your eyes and find beauty where you live

come and link up!

In the land of sunflowers and wine: Part 1

2012-02-06T21:27:00.005+13:00

Girl meets boy. They're workmates first and friends for five months before they realise they've actually fallen for each other. To make it worse, they realise this only two weeks before he has to fly back home half way around the world.

Boy leaves. Girl is brokenhearted. Truly brokenhearted. Lies sobbing her heart out on her bed and calls her parents who realise that this is not just any boy and reaffirm her by asking 'So when are you leaving?'

She works hard and saves all her pennies. In nine months time she has just enough and leaves the country she loves and all she knows, to be with this boy on the other side of the world.

He has one more year of study, so she makes a new life for herself in London. Despite being desperately lonely at times, she lives for the weekends when he or she make the train journey for 2 hours to be with each other. A year goes by. He finishes his study and they have two more years of living the London life together. Seeing the big wide world, with trips to Paris, Amsterdam, Switzerland, the Greek Islands (Kos and Kefallonia), Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

As always anticipated, their time in London draws to a close. A new life in NZ is calling. But there is time for just one more trip before they leave for their new life Down Under.

A month long trip is planned around Europe, seeing the best this vast continent has to offer. But then a snag. Some loser breaks into their car in London (and not for the first time either) to steal the very cheap 10 pound stereo speakers fixed into the parcel tray. This wouldn't be so bad, except in using a crowbar to break in, the thief nearly writes off the car. The same car they wanted to sell to raise more funds for their Europe adventure and their trip home.

So they compromise with just two weeks in Italy instead. During this trip (April 2002 - nearly ten years ago!) they write a trip journal, excerpts of which appear here:

Day 1 ROME
Landed Rome Airport 16:30 and our biggest mission ofthe day started from there. Managed to get tickets to the city on a cheaper (butslower) train at half the price – good spotting Meggie! At the same timepurchased our Kilometric Tickets (allowing up to 2,000km of train travel in 2 weeks, good preparation research done there!) – happy to have that out of the way althoughremains to be seen how easy it is to try and use them.

Also got a weekly ticketfor Rome transport (bus, tube, train) as we are intending to use it throughtill next Monday – very funny watching Mark stick the wrong end in thevalidation machine. Had to change tubes twice then got on an overland train toPrima Porta which is a good 20 minute train journey north of Rome – had to buya phone card to call the campsite to see about the free shuttle bus which hadbeen promised - working the phone card wasn’t the easiest, it took an Italian tohave pity on us and show us you had to tear one corner off before sticking itin the phone before using it, otherwise we would have been there all day!

The 10 minute wait for the shuttle turned intoabout 25 minutes and the bus was full to overflowing on the 5 minute ride there(including us with our massive backpacks only trying to take up 2 seats!) Our little cabin is just that – little – 2 verycreaky camp beds which we are about to try out – a shelf, and a heater andthat’s it! Well what more can you expect for £8 a night I guess!

Just missed thesupermarket – it closed at 8pm so will have to wait till the morning for looroll, fruit and any other bits! Ate our 12-hour old sandwiches for dinner – notbad considering – and would you believe the guy behind the bar at the campsiteis a Kiwi – you can’t escape them anywhere. We’ve only got one towel which couldprove interesting the next few days – either alternate days for showering or avery wet towel (and no doubt a bit of a fight over who gets to go first!)Already sent some text messages and had replies so don’t feel too away from itall. Haven’t fully planned tomorrow – depends a bit on the weather – if fine will head to the Colosseum, if not probably theVatican – off to bed, dreading my bladder’s wake up call which is bound to bein the coldest part of the night between 3-5am – can’t wait!

Day 2 ROME

Got up pretty early as desperatefor a wee – had held on all night which is amazing for me. It also got a bitcold in the night so had to switch the heating on – after that was toasty! Was very chilly having a shower & hoppingfrom one foot to the other trying to put clothes on without getting feet wetagain. Finally got to the market this morning and purchased some loo roll –yay! Got the 8:30am shuttle to the station and were in central Rome staring in utter amazement at the Colosseum by 9:15. Went to the Roman Forum first – which wasfree – nice one! Load of different kinds of building all partially or fully inruins. Had a breakfast break – soup and rolls – worked quite well and meant wedidn’t have to carry the full thermos round all day. After that was on to thePalatine – Mark got a ½ price ticket as he was 18-24 and had his passport –mine is being held at the campsite in case we skip out without paying!

ThePalatine is where all the rich hobnobs of Rome lived in the early days (i.e.Romulus and Remus’ time), and is right on top of one of Rome’s seven hills – with great views all the way to St Peter’s Basilica.

We bought a combined ticket forthe Palatine & Colosseum which meant we skipped all the queues at theColosseum entrance – yippee! Once inside, we rented an audio guide, well worththe 4 euros as it makes the place come alive.

Considering the scores of people inside while we were there, you hardly noticed the crowds as it could hold 50,000 people in its heyday 2000 years ago. Saw the cellars where the wild beasts used to be kept and the areas where the emperors & senators used to sit – they were all down at floor level, i.e. the most important people, while the plebs had to sit right up on the top tier – way up in the sky. They have recreated part of the wooden arena floor so you can stand on it and gaze up imagining yourself as a gladiator – Mark was right in his element.

TheColosseum only took 8 years to build – I would have expected a lot more, andthen they had the inauguration which lasted for 100 days during which time theykilled over 5000 wild beasts! The best view of the Colosseum is from the upperdeck – it really gives you a bettersense of the scale of the place which you can’t quite get to grips with on theground level looking up.

After this it was time to go, but not before queueingfor 15 minutes for a toilet – not what you want to spend your precioussightseeing time doing!

We then walked up the road to the Vittorio Emmanuel IIMonument – how impressive – it was built in 1885 to commemorate theaforementioned bloke who was the first King to rule over a unified Italy – took25 years to build and that I can believe as it is immense – again the views arewell worth the climb – we reckon between 100-150 stairs.

We had heard viafriends that Piazza Navona was a nice place to eat – so we navigated a fewstreets and after a quick look at the 3 fountains in the square stopped for apizza & hot chocolate – just what the doctor ordered to revive us as wewere slightly flagging by this stage – another 15 minute wait for a toilet –don’t ever wait until you are bursting to go in Rome – I hate to think whatwould happen!

This time it was because of building work in the toilet of therestaurant we had eaten at! It was then onto the Pantheon – one of the oldestRoman buildings, and all still intact. Each of the massive columns outside ismade from one stone – how?!! It boggles the mind – inside are various tombs& in the very centre of the dome which at 43 metres is awe-inspiring is a9m round oculus (basically a hole in the roof which lets in light). In a way, we wish we had been there to see it in the rain as it would be weird to see rainfalling in just one spot of such as massive room. Have to say that of all thethings we saw today, the outside of the Pantheon and the Colosseum were myfavourite! We were a bit snap happy at the Colosseum & only had 2 shotsleft at the end of the day (2012 Meg interjects here - oh how quickly you forget the good old days of limited film in the camera!) – luckily that meant one picture each for the Trevi Fountain &Spanish steps.

From the Pantheon it was a short hop to the church of SantaMaria Sopra Minerva – loads of chapels along the side of the church and anamazing bright blue/gold ceiling with various paintings on it – all the moreamazing because the church is incredibly dull from the outside – if you didn’tgo in you would miss a treasure. Just a short walk away to the Trevi Fountain –probably the most crowded place of the day. Not what you would expect from afountain, the word fountain doesn’t really do it justice as it is about 4-5storeys high and about 20 metres wide – amazing statues of Neptune and 2Tritons taming seahorses. Did the obligatory throw of coin over shoulder intofountain – this should ensure we return to Rome one day!

Feeling like we couldmanage ‘just one more’ big sight, we headed off to the Spanish Steps – againquite crowded – both with people and azalea plants.

Apparently these are supposed to flower in April but there weren’t many out so we have to assume that later in the month is when they all come out in all their glory. After 9 hours of solid sightseeing we headed back to Camp Tiber and now its time to put the feet up after a packed and very interesting day!

Day 3 ROME

Today shall be furthermore be known as WET, WET, WET. Itwas just spitting when we got up today, but by the time we got to Central Romeit was pouring. We had hoped to do soup/rolls for lunch again but didn’t get achance to fill the flask up as the shuttle to the station nearly left withoutus. Got to St Peters fairly quickly – in the pouring rain – and went on in.Very impressive church – can hold up to 60,000 people and has some amazingstatues and mosaics by all the famous artists – Bernini, Michaelangelo,Raphael. Tagged along to the end of Father Michael’s free guided tour (a veryIrish priest) and caught some interesting titbits. You can’t quite believe youreyes inside, it is a feast and almost too much to take in! Decided that as theday was so drab we would climb the dome of St Peters (well as we were still ontotal empty stomachs at this stage we decided to pay 5 euros instead of 4 andtook the lift halfway up, saving us half the walk (which is a total of 530steps).

The view from the top, well in a word…… breathtaking. All of Rome onshow – still a very grey day & chilly too – the view down to the Vaticangardens (the Pope’s private gardens) and St Peter’s Square were the mostmemorable. Came back down, after which our legs were like jelly & we werefeeling a wee bit weak (still no food in our bellies) so downed ½ a chocolatebar each and then found a tiny café where we had paninis.

Then it was on to theVatican Museums – or so we thought. Rounded the corner and there was a queuefor Africa (or Italy as the case may be). I got in the queue while Mark went tocheck out the size of it – while he was gone I decided that I was not up forqueuing for any length of time especially as the sky was getting blacker andblacker – decided to go for a wander instead – BAD MOVE! The skies opened – wesought refuge in an alcove for what seemed like forever – also trying to lookin the guidebook to find things to do indoors – lots of churches but came upwith a blank as they were all closed between lunch-time and mid-afternoon &it was about midday! Found a bus stop and spend another lifetime waiting forbus No. 62, every other bus went past about 3 times but no No. 62, so in theend we got on No. 23 which we knew would take us to a Metro station.

Mark waspretty nervous about getting on a bus full-stop as its always hard to knowwhere to get off unless you know exactly where you’re going, meanwhile I wassaying ‘Don’t be such a wimp, we’ll be fine!’ Famous last words!

We werekeeping an eye on the stops as they went past and were counting down to wherewe had to get off. The bus was quite packed & I was standing closer to thedoor than Mark, so when it got to our stop I got off, turned around and Markwasn’t behind me – turned around again and still couldn’t see him. First ofall, I thought he was playing a trick and was hiding (see what happens whenyou’re a practical joker, Markie!), and then I realised he must not have gotoff. Firstly I thought he had seen that we had got off one stop too soon andhad stayed on. So I calmly started walking down the road in the direction thatthe bus had moved off in. I hadn’t really thought about the fact that I had nomoney, no passport, not even a Metro ticket and was pretty much up &*@# creek! The busstopped at some traffic lights about 100 metres away and a very flusteredMarkie jumped out and came running back to me. Relief!

What I didn’t know wasthat Mark had been behind 2 people waiting for them to get off the bus (being his usual polite English self), but the people didn’t move, the doors closed and the busstarted moving - at which point Markstarted screaming ‘Stop the bus’ (in English) and tried to pull the doors open,and then everyone on the bus started shouting in Italian back at him (he had no ideawhat they were saying). I think quite a few things flashed through this mind atthat point ‘Oh no, Meghan’s all on her own with no money, nothing’, ‘I’ll callher from my mobile – oh no we didn’t bring her mobile today’ etc. Needless tosay we were relieved that it all ended happily but we didn’t let go of eachother for the next 5 minutes at least! I found it all extremely funny for somereason (nervous laughter I think) whereas Mark came over all shaky & saidthe adrenalin was still running 15 minutes later!

We then went to a café for a much-neededsit down – ordered what we thought were hot chocolates but were more like hotbleumange (sure I’ve spelt that wrong!) – very thick and strong – mind you thebloke probably saw the state of us and knew that was just what we needed afterour ordeal.

All this time it had continued pouring andwe were both thoroughly soaked – my feet were sloshing round quite happily inmy trainers – and we decided that we may as well do some more outside stuff aswe didn’t feel we could get more wet than we were already! Went to the Terme diCaracella – massive Roman bath complex – still with the original mosaics on thefloor – apparently the complex used to hold 1500 people in the various bathrooms – hot water rooms, cold water rooms, tepid water rooms, and even had agymnasium, library and shops. I tell you, the Romans were well ahead of theirtimes! Very worthwhile visit – after this went back to the main train station(Termini) to try and find out about baggage deposit and to get hold of anational train timetable. Had a Coke/coffee in McD’s to thaw out/dry out –don’t think it got above 11 degrees today – not at all springlike!

Made it back to the cabin by 4:30pm and have been working out our train journeys – and drying my shoes – thank goodnessfor a heater in the room, it has come in well handy!

Well an early start is planned for themorning – catch the 1^st shuttle bus at 8am and drop our stuff off inbaggage deposit while we try and get to the Vatican Museums before the crowdsand then its off to Naples, we’re hoping that using our kilometric ticket won’tbe too much of a hassle to use either!

Oh yeah, we’ve had 2 nights with no-onenext door – very lucky as it turns out since tonight we apparently have a German couple, and after hearing every word they say (not that we understand any of it it) and their footsteps making the cabin literally shake, we’re very wary about how much sleep we’re gonna get, just imagine aportacabin with a thin wall between the rooms and that’s us!

Stay tuned for more adventures in Italia in Part 2 coming soon....

Book Review: Orange Pear Apple Bear

2012-02-05T12:00:00.000+13:00

I do love me a good children's book. We have some definite favourites in our house. Ones that bring a smile to my face as soon as they are pulled from the bookshelf and placed in my hands to read.

Ones like Wanted: The Perfect Pet, Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam, It's a Book are all up there at the top of our list. But so is Orange Pear Apple Bear.

I love everything about it. The simplicity of the story.

The clever way the shapes and colours are words are intertwined throughout.

But still simple enough for my five year old to read it to me.

A lovely book that I hope to be able to read to my grandchildren one day.

Things I'm Loving

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000+13:00

Wedding invite
Less than 2 months to go till my brother weds his sweetheart. Eek, excited much! And loving our wedding invite that came in the mail last week.

Also loving the quote Nic and Kim had at the bottom of the invite (which you can't see here)

"Life is the most spectacular show on Earth"

So very true!

Frozen Planet
TV1 8.30pm Tuesdays. UH-mazing. Is anyone else loving this visual feast for the eyes as much as I am? We've been taping it and when they get the chance to watch it, both our boys sit transfixed with eyes wide open watching the most glorious and unusual creations on our planet.

Babysitters Circus
Have you heard of these guys? And how totally cool is this song? They're a Kiwi band, and this video was set to a flash mob in Auckland. But even more loving that it's also the theme tune for Frozen Planet which is how I heard it in the first place!

LBD
Loving that all it takes is a slip of black silky fabric and a few frills (thanks very much Glassons) and my five-year old can take one look at me, inhale and says 'You look so beautiful Mummy'. Those Maloney boys (big and little) sure know how to woo the women in their lives!

Apologies for the decidedly grubby mirror in this shot which I didn't notice until afterwards!

Fresh from the garden
I say this every year, but I love the little crop of produce we get from the garden. Especially loving it now that the wineberries and peas have come into their own.

But the thing I love most is seeing little fingers eagerly snatching berries out of my hand before I can even open my hand up.

There's a lot to be said for instilling a love of fresh fruit and veg, it's almost a no brainer that they'll grow to love em when they get to see them ripen before their very eyes.

Prawn Rogan Josh
So this current food regime is making us think long and hard about every thing that's going into our mouths. Which is a good thing to be honest. Thinking first rather than just eating whatever, whenever. But both Mark and I were kinda hanging out for a curry - we usually have a Thai Green Curry or Musaman Curry once a week, but both of these are coconut milk based and pretty much devour my daily point allowance in one foul swoop. So instead, this weekend, we got clever.

So dear hubby made the Jamie Oliver Rogan Josh paste from scratch and we had Prawn Rogan Josh for dinner. My word, I have never been so full and satisfied (yet not feeling like I just ate half a pound of ghee as you do with a normal curry) in all my life. And at only 6 WW points...I still had room for a piece of Pear Upside Down cake with Maple syrup. Eating smart is what we like to call it!

Horatio
Guess who is sponsoring the Wellingtons Sevens this year? Hubby's company that's who. Not that it's a great shot or anything (I forgot my camera so had to make do with the iPhone), but there's hubby in the front seat of the ute at the parade in downtown Wellington yesterday.

Spiderman, Spiderman
I cannot hear the words spiderman without hearing the phrase 'spider pig' 'spider pig' from the Simpsons. I took the boys to Storytime at Te Papa on Wednesday, and when the lovely host asked who wanted their face painted, Noah was quick to say yes, beating all the other younger kiddies to the punch. The spiderman face goes rather well with the skeleton dress up suit Grandma and Grandad recently sent from England too don't you think! Check out this pic edited in Pixlr-omatic - thanks PJ for the heads up on your great App post yesterday!

This weekend will be a busy one in our household, hubby is out hosting clients tonight and Saturday night at the Sevens, and then somehow must find the energy reserves to pedal his way around the annual 4-hour MTB orienteering race (Akatarawa Attack) he always races in on Sunday. Thank goodness it's a long weekend here is all I can say!

Happy weekend ya'll...and if you're in NZ, what fun do you have planned for this long Waitangi weekend?!

Hooking up with lots of other lovelies here

Wordless Wednesday: Bubbles

2012-02-01T19:58:00.000+13:00

Recipe: Chocolate Mousse & Berry Cake

2012-02-01T08:00:00.001+13:00

Yep, here we go. Another low-fat, melt in the mouth, taste sensation of a Weight Watchers cake recipe. It probably seems like we're cranking them out in our house right now!

Right now, I'd do just about anything to feel like I was still having something kinda special in the evening without caning half a king-size block of chocolate each like we had gotten into the habit of last year.

So without fail, these past few weeks we seem to have always found a way to have enough WW points left over at the end of each day to indulge our sweet tooth.

Here is another moist, delicious, at this point I'm still shaking my head thinking how can something this tasty only be 2.5 points number for you all.

Ingredients:
Canola oil spray
2 eggs
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup self-raising flour, sifted
2 tsp cornflour, sifted
1 tsp canola spread
2 tbsp hot water
2 tbsp cocoa powder
Hansells Chocolate Mousse sachet
1 cup trim milk (or based on quantity on mousse packet)
Strawberry/raspberry jam
Berries for topping

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Spray a 20cm round cake pan with oil. Use electric beaters to beat eggs and sugar for about 8 minutes or until thick and creamy. Gently fold in sifted flours then combined canola spread and 2 tablespoons hot water.

2. Pour cake mixture into pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until springy when pressed with fingertips. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool immediately. Reserve 1 tsp of cocoa for dusting, and place mousse, milk and cocoa in a medium bowl and stir until combined.

3. Cut cooled cake in half. Spread bottom half with the jam spread (we mixed strawberry and raspberry jam together). Spread 1/3 of the mousse mixture on top of the jam spread. Put the other half of the cake back on top. Spread remaining mousse all over the cake and dust with reserved cocoa. Pile berries on top of cake (we would've but we ate them all!). Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Keeps for days in the fridge. That's if it lasts that long that is!

For more tasty recipes, visit here.

How To: Make a Death Star Pinata

2012-01-31T12:00:00.000+13:00

So I'm aware the Star Wars party extravaganza was quite some time ago. Quite some time. But better late than never, right?!

And I'm sure plenty of you may have budding Jedis in your homes in years to come. Jedis who might just wish for their very own Death Star Pinata at their Star Wars Party.

Here's how you can make their dreams come true.

What you'll need:
A round balloon
Newspaper cut into 2-3cm wide strips
Flour/water paper mache glue mixture
Sharp knife
Masking tape
Silver tissue paper
Silver glitter glue/spray
Black marker pen

1. Blow up the balloon to desired size. I bought a pack of 10 punching balloons via eBay for $10 shipped from the UK. They came came with rubber bands already attached which were perfect. The rest of the balloons were given away as part of the goody bags at the party.

2. Make up a paper mache glue mix out of flour and water, approximately 1 portion of flour to 4 of water. Play around with the consistency though as I found once I was on my second and third layers I went for less on the flour and more on the water.

3. Using newspaper strips, pass each strip through the glue wiping off excess between two fingers and then placing the strip on the balloon. Continue till the whole balloon is covered and wait for it to dry. You'll need to have the balloon hanging (from a piece of string or rubber band) or resting on something that it won't get stuck on. I used a plastic rubbish bin.

4. Repeat step 3 for as many layers as you want. Two would probably be enough, but I did four to be safe. One thing is for sure, it made for a very tough pinata!

5. Once dry take the pinata, and using a small pin or nail, slowly let the air out of the balloon inside. Discard the balloon (if you can get it out from the inside!) but keep the rubber band/string from the inside, as you'll be hanging it from this.

6. Use a pencil to draw a line right around the equator the pinata. To make the famous inverted well on the Death Star, draw a 4 inch circle above the equator and cut out with a sharp knife. Turn this piece over and fasten back into the hole with tape.

7. Repeat the paper mache process from steps 2 and 3 with silver tissue paper so the pinata is fully covered. Wait for this to dry completely.

8. Lightly apply strips of masking tape to simulate the light lines on the Death Star as seen in the picture.

9. Sprinkle or paint silver glitter in all the gaps between the tape. I tried about 3 different kinds of spray glitter, and glitter glue before mixing glitter glue with standard glitter and then painting this on to get better coverage. Wait for this to dry completely and then CAREFULLY remove the tape as it will tend to stick to the tissue paper.

10. Using a black marker pen, draw a line around the middle of the equator and around the non-glitter areas of the pinata.

Voila. Your masterpiece is complete.

11. Fill your pinata with chocolate and lollies, wait for the big day, and then watch all your hard work get smashed to smithereens by little Jedis and their light sabers (it's fun really!)

For more Star Wars party inspiration, visit the party post here.

High time for a little Zhush up!

2012-01-29T16:00:00.000+13:00

A New Year is the perfect time for a bit of a bloggy spring clean don't ya think?

So settle yourself in a comfy chair, grab a cuppa and let me show you round the new look MNM's.

Pages
For a start have a wee gander at all the new-look pages by clicking on the tabs along the top of the home page. Or just click on the links below.

Meet the MNM's - so who are these people?
Photographing - magical moments captured so far
Creating - word art, photobooks, crafts, Christmas gifts, party ideas and more!
Blogging - favourite posts
Adventuring - road-tripping here and there with MNMs
Cooking - low-fat recipes or high indulgence treats and everything in between, take your pick

I hope you find lots in these pages to enjoy and inspire.

A new Favicon
Remember that little red Pohutukawa Favicon? Well now MNM's have a new chocolate mnm favicon. Kinda appropriate don't you think?! If you don't know what a favicon is, it's the little picture that shows up next to your blog's name in either the URL field (if you are in Safari or Internet Explorer) or to the left of your blog name in the tab (if you're in Google Chrome). Nifty huh!

And you can get your very own favicon at the click of a button. These days all you have to do is click into your Blog Layout page and select the Favicon gadget and upload a square picture and voila! your favicon is created.

Although I had a few technical glitches, so I went with the good old method I learnt from the queen of favicons Angela Noelle over at Striking Keys using www.iconj.com to host my little icon. If you'd like to know about how to create your own, leave me a comment and I'll send you some instructions (or better still write a blog post on it!)

Social Media Buttons
I saved one of Simone at Greatfun4kids tutorials a few months back (you really should check it out!), and finally got around to creating some cute social media buttons so now you can subscribe via RSS feed, contact me on Facebook, follow me on Pinterest, or send me an email with the click of a button. The more ways the merrier right!

Favourite Topics
I've also made it easier for you to search by favourite blog topics by creating some clickable links on the sidebar.

Water marks and Upsized Photos
I'd been meaning to watermark my photos for a while, but hadn't found a really easy, foolproof way to do it in bulk where I could also choose my own fonts and placement etc.

And I wanted to be able to post photos larger than Extra-Large size but that would still fit onto the blog page. Enter a bit of HTML coding tweaking and lo and behold much bigger photos. You can see the difference between extra large:

and this even larger size which makes much better use of the available space on the page - you'll only be able to see the difference in size if you're reading this post on the blog rather than through a reader or on your mobile though!

Note the cute little watermark in the bottom right corner. I might even have to post a wee tutorial on how to create watermarks and upsized photos soon!

Moving with the Mobile Times
I had been wondering for a while why when I read some people's blogs via Safari on my phone (i.e. not through Google Reader which I mostly do), they came up all neat and fitted to screen and others (including mine) didn't.

And then I had an AHA lightbulb moment. So it turns out under the Design Template page there's a little place where you can choose how your blog appears on mobile devices. And all you have to do is turn it on! Easy peasy Japanesey. And what a difference for your readers viewing pleasure believe me, it is so much easier to navigate and scroll through individual posts and between posts on the mobile template!

And just so you can see, here's the difference on the phone.

So..that's about it. It's taken a wee while to get it all done, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

And I hope you've enjoyed your look around the new look MNM's and maybe you might have even learnt something along the way too!

Things I'm Loving: Check, check.

2012-01-27T08:00:00.001+13:00

Tickets, check.

Travellers, check.

Train, check.

Inaugural train ride, check.

Fascination, check.

Stunning views, check.

Snap happy mama in tunnel. Check.

Punch buggy vans, check.

Penguin spotting, check.

Height competition, check.

Dreaming of a beautiful new aquatic centre. Check.

Cute photo with Happy Feet, check.

All aboard for the trip home. Check.

Boy convinced that under the seat is the safest place to ride. Check.

Boy who decides that actually the safest place is in his mama's lap. Check.

One train-tooting-tastic Mama and boys day out, check, check!

Linking up with Paisley Jade's Things I'm Loving

and my new Love Where You Live linky.

Recipe: Carrot, Pineapple and Zucchini Cake

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000+13:00

Carrot cake is my favourite cake. Hmm, let me rephrase that. Carrot cake with cream cheese icing is my favourite cake. So,if I'm honest, it's all about the icing not so much the cake!

At only 2 points per slice (including icing) this really is a winner. To put that into perspective, here's what else 2 WW points can get you:

2 tsp butter
4 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp flour
4 apples
1 small glass of wine
Not even one sausage
Not even one 20g slice of cheese

So without further ado, the recipe:

Carrot, Pineapple & Zucchini cake
Olive oil spray
WW or Golden Canola Lite Spread 1/4 cup (50g)
Caster sugar 1/2 cup (105g)
Egg 1, lightly beaten
Eggwhite 1
Crushed pineapple in juice 1/2 a can (we just put pineapple slices in juice and blended them)
Carrot 1 medium peeled and grated
Zucchini 1 medium trimmed and grated
Self-raising flour 1 3/4 cups (210g) sifted
Baking soda 1 tsp
Ground cinnamon 1 tsp
Ground nutmeg 1 tsp

Cream Cheese Frosting
Light cream cheese 125g (1/2 a pot)
Icing sugar 1/4 cup (40g) sifted
Lemon juice 1 tsp

Preheat oven to 180C. Spray a 22cm square or 20cm round cake tin with oil. Line base and sides with baking paper
Using electric mixer, beat canola spread and caster sugar until light and creamy. Gradually add combined egg and eggwhite, beating until combined. Stir in pineapple, carrot and zucchini. Stir in the sifted flour, baking soda and spices.
Spoon cake misture into pan, smooth surface. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with skewer. Leave in tin to cool.
Make cream cheese frosting. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth. Beat in juice. Spread frosting over top of cake.

Number of serves: 16. Points per serve: 2.

Un-iced cake also suitable to freeze.

For more tasty recipes, visit here.

Potty Progress

2012-01-23T18:00:00.000+13:00

So, we're 2.5 weeks into this toilet training malarky. I can say with (some) confidence that we are making upwards progress. I have to keep remembering that it's a journey not a destination to be reached in the shortest timeframe possible (although that would be nice too!).

Last weekend, we had a couple of accidents each day, and it would be fair to say we've been struggling on the whole on the poo front. Someone seems to prefer having it mush around in their undies than letting it plop freely and easily into the loo. What is with that?! I know it happens to a lot of kids but I still don't quite get why if you're mastering the 'weeing' in the toilet, why the 'pooing' should be any different. Different part of the brain maybe?

Anyway, between 3 nasty code browns in undies that came home from daycare for us to clean up (the teachers only go so far in their support of the process which is quite fair to be honest!) and a few early morning nappy poos, we just weren't getting any opportunities to practice pooing on the toilet.

So hurrah hurrah, yesterday afternoon just before we went to the beach we finally hit the mother lode. There was singing, there was dancing, there was high-fiving, there was Chocolate Santa eating, and general celebration to be had all round in our household. Now if we could just repeat that a few times over and I think we might be confident that we're on our way.

Last but not least, another story to share. On the way home from the beach yesterday, there was some nervous fidgeting in the back seat and a little voice said 'I want to get out, I want to get out' which we now know is Mylo's code for 'eek..I need a wee pretty darn soon'. Despite the fact we'd all only just been to the loo before getting in the car 10 minutes before, we thought we'd better stop as I wasn't keen to repeat the previous week's car seat washing experience anytime soon.

Luckily it was on a bit of a back road connecting two suburbs so it was forested and bushy and fairly private.

Mark got out of the car to assist proceedings.

Which went on....

and on.....

and on.....

I watched out the side mirror while various different positions were assumed. Squatting, crouching, sitting, standing. I'm not sure if it was the shock of being asked to go on the side of the road, but for whatever reason it seemed to be taking a long time.

Finally, success!

The picture says it all really. Well not all, as you can see I've left a small amount to your imagination. Note the look of triumph/thank the Lord/that was painful on Mark's face!

Anyway, here's the same chuffed boy pretty happy not to be baring his all to the world any longer, instead hanging out in quite possibly the cutest pair of boxer shorts I've ever seen on a two-year old!

The magic that I see

2012-01-22T12:00:00.000+13:00

There are days when it would be easier to pull out a few forgotten and forlorn toys from the bottom of the toy box in the hope their reinvention will provide a few minutes of extra distraction, or simply send the boys outside to play on the trampoline with strict instructions not to return for at least ten minutes in the hope of getting a few peaceful minutes to myself whilst curled up on the couch with a good book.

Yeah, so that's not really my natural style. I know it. You know it.

I'd rather go in search of magic every time.

The weather has been patchy here to say the least, yesterday being no exception. Windy enough to contemplate NOT leaving the house at all. Cloudy enough to wonder if there really was rain threatening on the far hills.

But the pull of the outdoors was stronger still.

I felt an old favourite calling. The scene of the Enchanted Wood experiences last May. We hadn't been back since, and I'd thought about it at times, wondering if perhaps I was almost too afraid to return, whether by returning we might break that magical spell, and it would be just another bush walk on just another day.

I needn't have worried.

A different season, granted. But magic was to be found in new and different places.

In brothers learning the meaning of sharing, in the successful negotiation of whose turn it is to dip crackers in the cheese spread.

There was magic in the light glistening through silken spiderwebs caught high above us

And in the soothing sound of stones gentle plopping from the bridge. And the concentrated determination with which they were released.

There was magic watching the absolute adoration of an apricot. The full bodied inhale and expectation of what was to come.

And when the magic of the Enchanted Wood faded, replaced by the simple comfort of home, I sought desperately to find it again.

Dragging pillows onto the trampoline for quiet time with my big boy in the warm glow of the early afternoon sun while the lil one slept close by.

Apparently the words 'trampoline' and 'quiet-time' don't co-exist together in the same sentence, so I found out.

Somewhere along the way, between a morning in the bush valley sheltered from the worst of the wind, and the clock striking one, more magic had been spun, and the windswept, mediocre day had been replaced by cerulean skies and a gentler sea breeze.

A jaunty ride down to town on the cable car providing almost as much fascination as the 60c soft serve at the Big M that followed.

With a vantage point just high enough to perfectly exclaim over the never-ending buses breezing past on the Quay.

Maybe it was all part of the magic of the day, but somehow I fell in love all over again with the words 'milk moustache'.

Today I almost felt I might have been the one creating the magic as I got to wave my wand over two bedrooms, and a cot was transformed into a single bed. 'It's a Buzz bed' exclaimed the excited new occupant.

Whilst in the other room a single bed magically became a king single, and its occupant seemed to shrink again in his voluminous new surroundings as if he'd joined Alice on a weird and wonderful trip through Wonderland.

OK, I say 'waved a magic wand' figuratively since the bed moving, cot dismantling, bed making, room tidying took the better part of the day. Especially with a trip to Briscoes in the middle of it all to complete the right-sized bedding for each bed meant having to remake both beds all over again in the heat of the afternoon to install the new valances, and duvets. Boy did I wish I could have waved a real 'abra cadbra' at that point.

Just when I felt the magic beginning to wane amongst a growing 'to-do' list of weekend chores, the sunny afternoon called, pulling us outdoors away from a house in desperate need of a vacuum, and lordy you don't even want to imagine the toilets right now!

All I know is these afternoons are few and far between in our little world. So when these moments come, we can't and don't ignore them.

Because the vacuuming will still be there tomorrow (sadly). But the magic of this moment won't. It was a one-time only offer.

Blink and you miss it.

If the magic here looks unshakable, unbeatable, unstoppable, it's only because I'm showing you the magic I choose to see in these moments.

Because what you can't see is that the wind was fair whipping up the dry sand on shore, stinging our eyes and faces, plastering our hair and ears and mouths with grit, and making it almost impossible to see much magic anywhere.

But when I looked harder and deeper, I found it in his bravery. Where two years ago, the water was a formidable threshold not to be crossed under any circumstances, now it is a playmate, one to be teased and enjoyed.

And I found it in the directness of his salty, sandy gaze.

You see, magic will happen anywhere, anytime. Because of our surroundings, or in spite of them.

It's having the eyes to see it.

It's easier to think the grass is always greener instead of searching for the magic that's right in front of us.
So I'm making a deliberate choice to Love Where I Live this year.

How about you? Will you join me?

I'd love to hear your Love for where You Live, so come and join me by linking up here throughout the year.

Things I'm Loving

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000+13:00

Our names in letters
How's this for a cool crafty gift? It came with love all the way from the lovely Nikki from Life's Wonderful Happenings in London for our boys. Might just have to pin this one to Pinterest for future gift ideas!

Pohutukawa
I love this time of the year. Drive through any coastal town around NZ, and you'll see a myriad of shades of red on each different tree. I'm a little bit gutted that our trees at home don't seem to be doing much - a true sign of a summer that hasn't been much chop so far, so I'll just have to make do with enjoying my photos from more glorious specimens captured on our recent travels up north.

Jotta A
The voice of an angel. This twelve year old boy has been compared to Michael Jackson and has been singing on Brazil's You've Got Talent. He has a totally amazing vocal range, can pretty much sing in ANY key, and I'm sure we could be hearing a lot more of him in the future.

Scooter boy
Someone is desperate to be like his older brother. Determined, and just a bit of practice and he's off and racing. Next challenge, the running bike, although his legs probably do still need to grow a couple of centimetres!

Downton Abbey
I'm probably a bit behind the 8-ball on this one, but if you haven't already been totally transfixed by this series, you must must must watch it. We were given Season 1 & 2 for Christmas, and have done an intensive over the Christmas holidays. The drama, the characters, the costumes, the grand houses. Even hubby has been completely enchanted. It won a Golden Globe this week, fully deserved me thinks!

When crafting next calls
I love it when I get gifts thoughtfully given. This was my lovely Christmas present from my bro Sam & his lovely Alesha (although I'm pretty sure Alesha had more to do with it than he did!). You can just see a glitter glue stick peeking out there, yuss...just the excuse I need to join the hot glue gun club!

Back in time
When we journeyed through Italy in 2002, it became more than just a place of interest. Forever it will be the place where two hearts decided that life was meant to be lived together. I have my lovely engagement ring to show for it, and my rather Swatch crazed husband then dragged me into every Swatch store in Italy while we looked for that perfect engagement gift for him. Enter the Sergio Garcia Swatch, which he wore religiously until the rubber connectors on the strap corroded over time. Off and on, he's searched over the years for a replacement strap, but it was only recently that he found a dude in Italy selling them (and with much improved metal connectors not rubber). It's nice to see it on your wrist again, baby, to bring back the memories of those sweet innocent days of our young love under the Tuscan spring sun.

Homemade Gnocchi
Did I ever tell you my hubby was clever?! Well he is.

Boys will be boys
Daddy had been eyeing up these motorised Nerf ThunderStrike water pistols for a few weeks and had been dying to buy them for the boys. When they went on sale after Christmas, he could resist no longer. I have to admit they are pretty cool, apart from having to remind the chilluns that they are OUTDOOR toys only after a few wayward shots!

Love Where You Live

So I've created a linky button for my Love Where You Live series. Do ya like it? Simone's already hooked up her quintessential Kiwi Summer post Just Down The Road. When you next share something you love about where you live, why not link on up!

And that my friends is that. The weekend is nearly here. It's a long one here in Wellington, yeeha! Here's hoping for some warm still weather for more crazy water fights and scootering. I'm off to enjoy!

Scary Hair

2012-01-19T08:00:00.000+13:00

The undeniable proof that GHD's were invented just for me...

Au Natural...i.e. this is what my hair does of its own accord after a swim at the pool, or anytime it gets wet for that matter...

I debated with myself showing these in public, since I don't think I would choose to leave the house looking like this! Mind you this is equally as bad, broadcasting my bad hair days on the world wide web for all to see. I swear my hair gets more unruly and unmanageable by the year.

Oh GHD's, you are a love affair of nine years and counting...

A shower and one 20 minute session later....

Thank you GHDs. Normality is restored.

Recipe: Orange Poppyseed Cake

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000+13:00

After yesterday's rant, I think it would be productive to think up creative ways to enjoy delicious food but being sensible at the same time.

So without further ado, I hereby award thee the title of easiest-tastiest-good-for-me cake ever.

Now I'm not necessarily saying you're the tastiest cake ever, but you are most certainly the easiest/tastiest/low-fat cake ever. The second time Mark made you (partly so I could blog all about you), it took him under 10 minutes from woe to go to whip you up for a quick stint in the oven. Which is PDQ (pretty darn quick) if you ask me!

And, of course, you're low in points so healthy too. I really can't find a single thing to fault you!

Ingredients:
Olive oil spray
125g low fat canola spread
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup low-fat apricot (or plain) yoghurt
2 tsp grated orange rind
2 tsp poppy seeds
1 cup self-raising flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Spray a 20cm round cake tin with oil, line base and sides with non-stick baking paper.

Combine the canola spread and sugar in the small bowl of an electric mixer, beat until creamy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined in between additions.

Add the yoghurt, rind and poppyseeds, mix until combined.

Add the flour, mix for only a few seconds until just combined.

Spread into cake tin. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden and firm in the centre.

Stand 5 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack to cool.

Oo la la, go on, taste and see how delectable this really is!

Serves: 8 or 16 depending on slice size
Points per serve: 3.5 or 2.

For more tasty recipes, visit here.

This......or that.....

2012-01-17T08:00:00.001+13:00

I'm need of some serious motivation. I think I thought getting back on the Weight Watchers wagon would be a breeze, the weight would drop off, and in a few short weeks, I'd be back to that magic weight that my body seems to like to hover around (that is, when I don't mistreat it and feed it with eons of chocolate and lollies, as was the case in the latter half of last year).

I was feeling really positive when I stepped on the scales for the weekly weigh-in Monday tonight, knowing that I had been within my points all of the previous week AND that I'd stepped up a bit on my normal exercise regime. So you can imagine my annoyance when the scales were 700g heavier. Grrrrr. I don't recall that happening once last time we did this journey.

So I'm in need of a bit of a self pep talk. Telling myself it will be worth it and I can do it. That it's a blip and I need to keep my eyes on the long-term goal. Getting back into good habits. Seeing chocolate and lollies as treats not a daily/nightly indulgence.

Despite the setback, I am going to grit my teeth and carry on.

Enjoying tasty and filling meals such as these for just 3 points (ignoring the loner meat patty on the side that is not part of it!). I didn't even miss not having any cheese on my burger, the flavour of the mustard and gherkins (both zero points) more than made up for it.

That big plateful sure looks a lot compared to that one little chocolate bar...at 5 points.

Or I could eat all this for 5 points....(although I might have a bit of a stomach ache if it was all in one go mind you!)

Compared to that one little chocolate bar at 5 points...

Or I could eat all this for 5 points...(although I reckon my tongue would be glued to the roof of my mouth after 10 packets in a row!)

Or that one little chocolate bar for 5 points.....

I could eat all this (once you include the milk) for 5 points....

Or just that one little chocolate bar at 5 points...

It's gotta be worth it in the end right?!

Thus ends my pep talk. I'm hoping for a much better result next week!

Is someone going potty?

2012-01-15T12:00:00.000+13:00

I can already hear some tongue-in-cheek replies to that question about to roll off your lips. So before you start on my mental health, today we're here to talk about an altogether different kind of potty.

The kind that makes a two-year old dance with excitement upon using said receptacle (although I tell I small white lie as I actually mean the big hole in the floor not the little pretend one that kids sometimes start out with). The dancing with excitement is because he knows he's about to get a sticker and a chocolate mnm (very apt in our case of course!) for doing a wee in the toilet.

We started out on this journey the day after getting back from our holiday, not really too sure how it would go but feeling (more like hoping) the time would be right. But also knowing that Mr. M's personality is pretty different to his older brother's. Noah = malleable and would do anything to please, Mylo = not so much.

So we started out cold turkey in undies on Day 1 into undies with some very frequent reminders from mum and dad to 'let us know if you need to go for a wee'. This was us trying to follow the principles of the 'how to get your child trained in 3 days' book I had been lent by the head teacher at daycare.

Well we managed a few wees (1 mnm) and even a poo (2 mnms) on the toilet over the course of the next three days amongst a fair few accidents all over the house to go with it. The poor kid was cooped up at home, not allowed to leave the house but he didn't really seem to mind or notice (which I think was an advantage having been away for nearly 2 weeks before that, he was quite happy just hanging out).

After Day 3, we didn't really feel as if we could see much progress and every 'let us know if you need a wee, Mylo' was met by an 'OK' and then five minutes later we'd have a waterfall all over the floor. And if we ever asked him if he needed to go, it would, without fail, be met with a definite 'NO' despite the fact he might be (at the very same time) straining to fill his undies with something of the brown variety.

So we changed tack the following day, instigating a sticker chart for anytime he even tried to go, and set an alarm to go off every half an hour. On only about the third time I went to pull down his undies for a timed wee but was met with an 'but I've got poos, Mum'. Choice. And that was not the only code brown of the day.

We persevered through Saturday and Sunday with the timed toilet trips, sometimes with nothing to show for it but a sticker, but other times hearing the joyful sound of a tinkle in the toilet.

So it was with more than a little apprehension that we sent him back to daycare on Monday, wondering how on earth the first day would pan out, and hoping that it wouldn't be an epic fail, and we'd have to give up on the whole idea.

At this point, I must stop and extol the virtues of having a fantastic daycare, and an awesome bunch of teachers who are super encouraging and supportive and who totally embraced assisting us through the process. Which was a good thing, as Day 1 brought mixed success, there were quite a few wees on the toilet but also 3 wee accidents and a code brown (gah!) too.

But here is where our story takes a turn......

We'll never know what it was, perhaps a sudden firing of a neuron in the brain overnight or something like it, but Mylo woke up on Tuesday morning, asked Dad to take him to the toilet twice before they left for daycare, and proceeded to have 3 totally accident free days from there on in (even managing one poo on the toilet at daycare during that time).

We have been completely amazed (in a nice way) at the sudden transition from complete unawareness and reluctance to even sit on the toilet to this in a week and a half. Pleasantly surprised, as little Mr's personality is such that I really wondered if we would have a long battle on our hands. But on the other hand it appears there is much to be said for consistency, encouragement, praise, focus, and perseverance.

On about Day 3 of the journey, I went back and read the fantastic posts that Angela-Noelle of Striking Keys wrote on the subject mid-last year. I would totally encourage you to do the same if you are heading down this path in the not-so-distant future. They really gave me hope that he would get there, and that the smallest of victories is worth celebrating. You can find them here:

Toilet Training: Mental Exhaustion
Toilet Training: Our Strategies
Toilet Training: Appendix A
Toilet Training: Months Later

But just so you don't think I'm totally skiting about how well Mylo has made the transition and how we have it all in the bag (or all in the toilet as the case may be), I have a final story for you.

I took the boys grocery shopping Friday morning, and I made sure we ALL went to the toilet before leaving the house, and we all went again whilst out at Pak n Save (despite the fact I'm not a big fan of supermarket toilets). And again, no accidents all day. That was until I took them both out to Kilbirnie pool that afternoon. He did wear a swimming nappy in the pool (it's early days and I sure don't want to be the one responsible for closing a busy regional aquatic centre during school holidays due to a...what do they call it...oh yeah....faecal incident. So I was smart on one front, but I should have insisted after we were all changed afterwards that we all do a wee before coming home. I was kind of going on the assumption that being in the water all that time, any need for a wee would have come and merely been captured in said swimming nappy.

But apparently not. So there was a mother of all floods for me to deal with when we got home, a boy who got sheepishly out of the car with a dripping wet bottom half, a soaked toddler seat, the volume of it meant it had even heavily soaked the actual seat of the car underneath. I guess that'll learn me.

So for now, I'll accept this is a journey. We'll win some days and we'll lose some. And through it all, I will...

Thanks Angela-Noelle for the great freebie!

Things I'm Loving

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000+13:00

Honeysuckle
Did you ever suck the nectar out of honeysuckle when you were a kid? I showed it to Noah last week, and he was so intrigued he then wanted to bring home a whole bunch of flowers for Dad and Mylo to try too. I distinctly remember there being a bush at school at primary school and at lunchtimes we'd sneak off (no this isn't turning into a dirty story!) to go see what goodness we could suck out of the flowers.

What are you like?!
The boys happily entertaining themselves pretending to be Daddy last week. In case, you think their faces look a little odd, that's the remains of some pretty botched up tiger face painting by yours truly!

What are you like again?
Funny glasses straws - things like this always bring out the best in people in front of the camera I find!

Shh! Our new secret Ingredient
This stuff is out.of.this.world. Unbelievable. You have just gotta gotta gotta get your hands on some. So far we've coated it on prawns and BBQ corn, but I can imagine it would be just as lush with chicken or even roast potatoes. We found ours at Moore Wilsons, but you could find it at any specialty food/grocers store I'm guessing, or I found it here online. This particular flavour (sweet) is not at all spicy, although there are two other flavours (spicy/bittersweet) if that's how you roll. Man it takes food enjoyment to a whole other level, and thanks to Andrea and Andrew for the introduction!

Icecream - the good old fashioned way
Isn't this the coolest gift? The boys christened it last weekend and were beside themselves with excitement trying to decide which combo of sprinkles and sauce to have on their icecreams. Thanks Andrea and Andrew (again!), a sure fire winner!

Tasty at 1.5 points
The New Year has started with a strict health regime, and we are back to counting Weight Watcher points like we did this time 2 years ago, a necessary undertaking since we've been a bit slack on healthy eating this past year. It's probably only 3kg which might not sound much, but it's still 3kg I didn't have this time last year....so some creativity is being required on a day-to-day basis to think 'low-fat, healthy AND tasty' in the dinner and lunch department. After 4 straight days eating salads for lunch last week whilst still on holiday, I was a bit OVER IT, so this vogel and bruschetta combo was simply a little slice of heaven for me. It is amazing how much more you appreciate and savour food when you're absolutely hanging out for each mealtime!

Rotary clothesline
I love the idea of having a rotary clothesline. We always had one growing up but I sure didn't appreciate the usefulness and loveliness of it until now, and there is something soothing about watching the clothes gently spinning in the breeze. Unfortunately in our little section, we only have room for a stationary line between 2 posts, which doesn't even get that much of a workout in our Wellington climate. Oh and that crisp linen smell clothes get when they have dried outside, well it sure beats the non-existent smell they get drying on a clotheshorse over 2 days inside!

Put to bed....
I couldn't help but churn out a few more of those delightful DIY paper ball ornaments last week to finish off the centrepiece of the mosaic bowl we have on the dining room table. And now I can happily put my Christmas crafting genes into hibernation for a few months I think, and hubby sighs in relief after I've taken over several rooms in the house with all the creating and creations!

Chalk it up mummy
I spotted this Punch Buggy while on a solo early morning walk on the walkway in New Plymouth last week. I just love how rustic it looks. And score one point for my spotting, yussss! As you can see, despite the passing of a year, the game is still a firm family favourite and we even have Mylo spotting them and shouting out 'Punch Buggy' all on his own now!

Of course, being never short of words I have still more loving I could blog on about, but given the size of this list already, I think I might just have to save some up for next week!

What things are you loving so far this year?

Happy weekend all!

Recipe: Mongolian Beef & Rice

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000+13:00

What's one sure-fire sign of a winner? A recipe book page splattered with many a night of cooking on it!

This is a deliciously rich and tasty meal which is quick enough for us to make, even on a rushed mid-week evening.

Ingredients:
Beef or lamb sliced thinly
Veges for stir-frying
1 tsp five-spice powder
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp cornflour
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1 Tbsp black bean sauce
1 clove garlic crushed or 1 tsp easy garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar or wine
1 egg beaten lightly
1/3 cup beef stock
1/4 tsp of sesame oil

Place meat in a large bowl with five-spice, sugar, cornflour, soy sauce, black bean sauce, garlic, rice vinegar/wine and egg.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.

While meat is marinading, stir-fry veges in wok and then put aside.

Drain lamb over small bowl, but keep the marinade. Heat oil in wok and stir-fry lamb until browned in tender.

Add in remaining marinade, stock and stir over heat until mixture thickens.

Serve with rice, and enjoy!

For more of our favourite recipes, visit here.

Linky: Love Where You Live {Eyes Wide Open}

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000+13:00

The grass isn't always greener. The sky isn't always bluer. Sometimes it just takes fresh eyes to see it.

This is the beginning of a new journey. One which I hope you will join me on.

It's called Loving Where You Live. Embracing all that is beautiful and worth loving in the right here, right now.

All this beauty is within five minutes walk of my own home. But it's the first time I've ever truly stopped and really seen it.

I admit that I often despair of Wellington's weather. Just yesterday a nasty southerly storm reminiscent of mid-winter blew through and sent temperatures here plummeting. And on any other normal summer day, when the rest of the country is basking in sunshine and balmy temperatures, Wellington is more often than not a few degrees colder and always a good deal windier. I think this is why I so enjoy the times when we travel out of town, up country to warmer climes where I shed layers of clothing like a snake shedding its skin. It's fair to say that the sun is warmer, and the wind is gentler elsewhere.

But reality hits each time we return home. I find myself questioning why, why, why we live in this place when the lure of warmer, more settled places beckon only a few miles down the road. I question it even more when I'm sitting here and the tapping of these keys on the keyboard are more than drowned out by the raging wind buffeting the house.

So I definitely need to be reminded about the beauty that lies here. The reasons why we choose to live here. What there is to love about this amazing, vibrant city. Often, perhaps always, I need to be reminded.

So this is me, opening my eyes. Seeing with eyes wide open.

The hills and steep walkways that beg for energetic legs.

Winding roads that lead ever higher.

Houses perched on hillsides seeking out any solace of sun they can find.

Quiet streets play the grand entrance to unexplored hideaways.

Short histories lived inside these walls by most world standards but colourful histories nonetheless.

And to think that all this loveliness was just waiting to be discovered. No more than a stone's throw from home. I would normally have hurried on by and not taken a second glance, had I not been returning on a walk from town with my camera, alone, and with a few extra minutes up my sleeve before my presence was required back at home.

Have you opened your eyes lately to see the beauty that is around you? Instead of looking over the fence towards greener pastures wishing you there, why not begin by looking closely in your own field? You might just be surprised at what you find.

I'm going to make a concerted effort to open my eyes and consciously Love Where I Live this year. And I hope I might be able to inspire you to do the same.

Leave me a comment below with a link to your blog posts so I can read about what you love about where you live. I'll be adding more posts to throughout the year as I discover how much there is to love both about my hometown and this amazing country I live in.

Travelling Tales: The End of the Road

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000+13:00

Ah, home again.

There is something utterly delightful about stepping inside familiar walls, smelling familiar smells, being greeted by a love-starved cat desperate for human company even if it comes with a price - two over eager children who want nothing more than to smother him in cuddles.

Twelve days and eighteen hundred kilometres of road behind us. And that doesn't include the miles of walking, running and biking undertaken inbetween.

Some miles were ridden in more glamorous style than others.

Some stops led to new and unusual places like this unlikely pozzy serving up a tasty New Years brunch at the Port in New Plymouth.

Corn fritters, berry pancakes and a cup of the loveliest coffee around. Can't complain about that.

And despite the inclement weather, there was opportunity to ride our luck chancing a walk along that glorious Taranaki coastline before the weather closed back in on us. And that was the first day of 2012 done.

The second day was quite the turnaround. Blue skies for the first time in days. A blat on my uncle's touring bike a thrill for us all.

The vast stretch of nearby beach called to us. So did the coffee caravan.

Despite having no spare clothes, I sucked up a big dose of 'go with the flow' and just let the boys run wild and free in the sea and the river.

We made do with bare legs for the next few hours.

Until we regrouped later on the day for a little deja vu. Same day, different beach and slightly more appropriate attire.

There is something naughtily delicious about a boy completely covered in black sand, don't you think? Despite how much it might stick to the bottom of the shower later!

And so we find ourselves at the end. The end of the road, the end of the holiday. So very many happy days of memories made, adventures and action at times, relaxing and laid back at others. Days wiled away with our nearest and dearest spread from one end of the country to the other. I simply can't think of a nicer way to spend a Christmas holiday.

I hope you have enjoyed these travelling tales as much as I have enjoyed the telling of them.

2011 - All the Smiles

2012-01-03T08:00:00.001+13:00

I hadn't realised what a full and fantastic 2011 we had until I put these collages together. So without further ado, our year in review!

January
We made our annual pilgrimage to the Festival of the lights at Pukekura Park, and came home to a garden full of flowering pohutukawa, and wineberries ready to eat. We filled our weekends with face painting, crafting, dress up parties, and the long awaited arrival of Grandma and Grandad from the UK.

February
Within days of their arrival we were eating out in style with Grandma and Grandad at St Johns, exploring the South Coast on the weekends, and embracing all the fun of the Chinese New Year celebrations. And then one of the highlights of the year for me, a simply amazing week away on the Kapiti Coast with both grandparents where the sun shone every day, the water was warm, and we made so very many happy memories. In the midst of it all, we celebrated seven years of non-itchy marriage.

March
We helped our lovely UK parents celebrate an early combined 70th birthdays, while the old dishwasher box proved a hit with the boys. We made and consumed that seriously naughty brownie, and watched our monarch caterpillars growing bigger the day. Mark entertained us all with a remote control helicopter and I enjoyed a luscious unlikely midday nap with my poorly boy. I also organised and walked the Welly Walk with 30 others raising $2,500 for the people of Christchurch after February's terrible earthquake. It felt good to do something.

April
We took to the waterfront for the first time ever on croc bikes, visited Government House's reopening, and for my birthday I received my first ever DSLR camera and started snapping pictures like a crazy Japanese photographer (to be honest I haven't really stopped since!) We took a fun roadtrip to the Naki for Easter and marvelled at the beautiful autumn colours everywhere.

May
We tripped to the duck pond at the Botanical Gardens which made for a special Mothers Day morning, took a walk in an Enchanted Wood, and braved a cool autumn day across the seas on the ferry to Eastbourne. We watched in awe as our 3 monarch butterflies spread their wings, and farewelled our dear Nikki as she did the same.

June
We caught the setting sun at Makara, got up close and personal with some of our favourite zoo animals, and discovered a use for all those buttons thanks to my first foray on Pinterest. I spent hours staring at my gifted lava lamp, and we took another road trip to the Naki enjoying a stunning early morning walk on the walkway.

July
We made our famous doughnut muffins using it as an excuse to have a birthday party for Noah's toy monkeys, celebrated a mid-winter Christmas with friends, and got out and about to the park and the ducks. Mark enjoyed a boys weekend away in Auckland, and my brother came to visit us for a day where we eked out all the fun we could in just a few short hours. Preparations began in earnest for the party of the year with the creation of the Death Star Pinata being a labour of many hours love.

August
This was one of my favourite months of this year, despite work being pretty horrendous at the same time. We celebrated Noah's 5th birthday in full Star Wars style, and he started and took to school like a duck to water. For the first time in 25 years, we had SNOW in Wellington, it was such a novelty. We made crazy milky explosions with milk, dishwashing liquid and food colouring, and I had an incredible weekend to remember meeting some of my lovely bloggy friends in real life in the big smoke. Rounding out the month, I was treated to the WOW World of Wearable Art Awards show, and it truly was wow!

September
We all flew up to Hamilton to catch up with my brother and meet the love of his life amongst the most gorgeous colour spring could possibly have offered. We took a walk on the waterfront soaking up all the atmosphere of the Rugby World Cup starting, managed to put up the new trampoline without divorcing and bounced our hearts out on it, and celebrated Mylo turning two amongst it all.

October
We walked the Petone pier in brilliant sunshine early one Saturday morning, the boys and I spent some time in the Naki for the school holidays, we took a trip through the looking glass at Capital E, made pebble angels at Te Papa, and a boy suddenly gained the confidence to lose his training wheels. I also turned out with a few thousand others to welcome our winning World Cup team through the streets of Wellington.

November
I got a sudden craving to craft, craft and more craft, we enjoyed the annual Wellington Santa Parade and a quiet Guy Fawkes celebration at home. My new 35mm lens got a good workout, and I had a day straight out of Eden at the Ruth Pretty Christmas Cooking class.

December
There was more crafting and gift making, trips to the Telecom Christmas tree, boys in Santa hats looking as cute as cute could be, mulled wine made (twice!) and candy cane icecream made and inhaled in a few short days. And then before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head away on the best Christmas holiday yet!

Despite being first and foremost a mama committed to her boys as well as working mostly full-time, I found the time and inclination to blog more than 200 times, committing these memories to be remembered here for all time.

Looking back over this year makes me appreciate all the more that I have been blessed with an amazing husband who is truly the carrot to my pea, and two beautiful boys who despite being utterly unique and quite different, are each the perfect complement to our family.

I am also grateful for a wonderful extended family despite the fact we are scattered across the globe, good health, great friends, a spacious house that is safe and warm and still standing, and stimulating and rewarding work in an industry that makes a positive difference in young New Zealander's lives.

Thanks be to Him for the many blessings contained in these 365 days just past. For making each and every one of those days possible.

Lord, enable me to see and embrace the blessings in each new day that unfolds in this new year.

Illuminating the old, seeing in the new

2012-01-01T14:36:00.001+13:00

There's nothing like lighting up the last night of the year in glorious colour before heralding in the dawn light of the new.

To start the day, a five-hour drive south took us through the very best of the back of beyond of our currently rain drenched countryside. The windscreen wipers got a fair workout on full blast at points during the trip.

To ward off the onset of cabin fever upon reaching our rain-soaked destination, we decided a dip at the Todd Energy Aquatic Centre was in order. Mark and Noah rode the hydroslide time after time, while I followed Mylo from the toddler pool to the wave pool, to the warm pool, to the toddler pool time after time. That boy has some ants in his pants!

I'm what's called a fair-weather swim friend, so you're unlikely to get me in the water unless it's over 30 degrees. It was somewhat of a shock to the system going between the various temperature of the pools, I'd just get used to the lovely enveloping warmth of the warmest pool and I'd be forced to brace the shivering temps of the wave pool that was 10 degrees cooler. Brr. Oh the things we do for love!

Noah made us roar with laughter on our way to the pool. He'd been looking out the car window, wishing out loud that there was a sign to say the pool wasn't far away, when Dad pointed out a small road sign saying exactly that. Noah's comeback: 'Oh silly me, I shoulda looked with my lookers'. Brilliant!

No trip to New Plymouth at this time of the year is complete without a trip to the Pukekura Park Festival of Lights. We'd ummed and ahhed about whether to take the littlest guy out with us as he'd only had a quickfire half hour nap in the car and had been up since 5.20am...the story of the holiday so far! But family fun on this last day of the year reigned over routine and we headed out all together in the end. The weather was pretty iffy, and when we arrived down at the miniature trains it looked all boarded up, and we sadly made to walk away. But just then the lights came on, a door opened, and a little steam train chug chugged its way out to greet us. The boys were totally made up to be able have a ride before we headed into the park to dodge between the raindrops and see the 'pwetty lights' as Mylo called them.

There were some intriguing sights to be seen this year, like lampshades and chairs strung randomly high up in the trees

And eerie, wintry scenes projected onto the ground going slowly round in circles left us spinning and giddy as we followed them around and around.

We'd pretty much spent all our spare change on the $1 train rides and hadn't brought our wallets, but we somehow managed to scrounge up another $2 for glow sticks which kept the smallest troops entertained for the rest of the night as darkness fell.

And on our way out the park, we all jumped out of our skins when Grimace the Gorilla (a real-life dressed up gorilla) came swinging through the trees at us with his best Tarzan impression. Noah giggled nervously before fighting his fear and pulling faces right back at him.

Check out those sexy pink underpants!

Two happy, high-on-life little people snuggled easily into bed for the last time this year, followed by two happy but weary big people mere minutes later. It's probably something of a small crime to be asleep by 10pm on New Years Eve and to not have even drunk a drop to celebrate the end of the old and the start of the new.

If so, I'll quite happily do my time for it, not regretting for once my head hitting the soft pillow signalling the end to another year rather than watching it slowly slip away on the minutes of a ticking clock.

To be honest, I'm longing to find the time to sit quietly and ponder the year gone by, and to consider prayerfully and thoughtfully the year ahead, but with all the good will in the world I know that it probably won't be today, tomorrow, or maybe even this week while we are still high on holiday mode. And I'm trying to tell myself that that's actually ok. To just go with the flow.

Flow. Yeah, I'm still learning how to go with it. It doesn't always come naturally to my brain, but I'm learning.

Happy 1st day of 2012 to you and yours.

Travelling Tales: Tiki Tour Highlights

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000+13:00

As relaxing as the holiday has been, when I look back over these past few days, we've still been out and about a fair bit enjoying the sights, sounds and tastes of so many different places.

Raspberry picking
I was a raspberry picker for 2 summers as a teenager. It's hot, prickly, sweaty, tiring work. And it seriously put me off eating raspberries for a fair few years. But when we ended up in the raspberry patch picking this year, the fast-picking techniques all flooded back to me. And we left with four full ice cream containers in a short space of time.

Breakfast the next day with yoghurt and fresh-picked raspberries had never tasted so good!

Jaunt around Hamilton Lake
It was probably a little ambitious doing a late afternoon walk right round the lake (4km) after we'd both done exercise that morning and we'd also taken Noah out on 2 separate bike rides that day.

Poor wee soul was rather flagging by the end of it, but he was a real trooper as long as we kept him in food, he seemed to find the reserves he needed to battle on.

I can't believe I lived in the Waikato for five years and have visited it most Christmases since but have never once walked the lake! A lovely spot.

Family bike rides
Two years ago at Christmas, a little 3 year old got a Mocka running bike and tore up and down the country roads on it. One year ago, a 4 year old was learning how to ride his first real bike with training wheels. This year, a big 5 year old has been zooming up and down country lanes with mum and dad and we have been loving the thrill of all getting out together on our bikes.

Boys driving mower
No trip to Nana and Poppa's would be complete without a ride on Poppa's mower. They.love.it.

A trip to Auckland zoo, zoo, zoo
This year we decided to make more of the opportunity at being at this end of the country to stay with my friend Andrea and family for a couple of days and take the kids to a couple of iconic Auckland spots. Firstly the zoo.

It's massive compared to our 'Best LITTLE zoo in the world' in Wellington. After 3 hours we still hadn't quite seen everything, but little feet were flagging so a drive over the Harbour Bridge on the motorway resulted in a good forty winks to tide them over for the rest of the day.

Best animals spotted: Burma the elephant, flamingos, rhino, hippo, alligators, and seals, none of which we have in Wellington! And the noise the gibbons made: hilarious! Although it was a bit much for Noah and he ended up with his fingers over his ears!

Kelly Tarltons
We arrived just on opening time which turned out to be a bright idea to combat the crowds we knew would be arriving on a rainy Auckland Friday.Wow, we totally loved our encounter with stingrays, penguins, sharks, turtles and other cool things aquatic!

And we were treated royally staying at Andrea and Andrew's place (or should that be palace) overlooking Grey Lynn Park...it was a lovely mini break away, apart from a little guy who decided that midnight would be the perfect time to get up four times in an hour...sigh...and up for the day at 5:45am..I guess we'll be home soon enough to have to deal with it properly then.

And now we're seeing in the New Year with our darling Gee Gee (Great Grandma). Hopefully the rain will hold off long enough for us so we can make our annual pilgrimage to the Pukekura Park Festival of Lights too.

Happy New Year y'all!

If you go down to the woods today....

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000+13:00

You’re sure of a big surprise.

You'll find peace and quiet away from the city hustle and bustle.

Towering trees gently swaying in the breeze.

A monkey puzzle tree much sharper than it looks.

Chickens that pop out from the undergrowth when you least expect it. Or chicken monsters as the littlest calls them shrieking and jumping back into the stroller for protection.

You might even spot a crazy-eyed animal munching on stolen cranberry shortbread.

Bridges that call for dancing on and scaring away any trolls that might be hiding underneath.

Wildflowers blowing in the breeze.

This beautiful spot is Taitua Arboretum five minutes west of Hamilton city. Open daily and free to visit. Thanks to Stacey from Kendyl’s place for the idea.

Travelling Tales: Christmas in the country

2011-12-27T12:10:00.001+13:00

Christmas Eve
I wouldn’t have thought it possible after one day that we could forget the busyness of our city life, but forget we did! With a combination of water fights, ball games, hanging out on Poppa’s dirt mound (which has been renamed ‘Noah’s hill’), bike rides and walks in the serenity of the country, broken only by the odd moo or neigh, or the noise of a tractor making hay bales.

After dinner, we sent two little elves outside to make sure Santa and the reindeer had a welcome awaiting them. Then we settled in for cuddles around the TV before the two little elves reluctantly rested their eyes for a short while.

The only downside of the holiday is that the littlest elf figured out pretty quickly how to escape his Ready Bed, sleeping bag and room to come in search of mum and dad at 3 am and 5:45 am Christmas morning (followed by 1am and 6am Boxing Day morning and 4am/5.30am the next day). Grrrrr….it’s a good thing he’s a cute elf. And he’s been waking his big brother up too…I can see a few hard yards having to be put in when we get home to try and get back into normal routines…but for now we’ll just have to go with the flow on the holiday!

Christmas Day
So the day dawned somewhat earlier than we might have liked, but it was hard not to catch onto the enthusiasm of the little people, and to watch their faces light up with delight on several occasions. One of the most loved presents unwrapped during the day was a Hot Wheels downhill racetrack, with many spirited races held throughout the day.

My brother Sam and partner Alesha joined us before lunch with their two cutie pie doggies Izzy and Pete. Noah was petrified of the dogs to begin with (as always!) but warmed up quickly, and by the end of the day was following them around and begging to see them again.

A mid-afternoon walk in the sunshine helped walk off our lunch before sitting down to indulge again in a veritable feast of baked ham - Mark’s contribution, and Spanish Mini Vine Peppers and Garlic Prawns with Chorizo - my contribution care of two Ruth Pretty recipes from my recent Christmas cooking school experience – and wouldn’t you know making those dishes got me another tick on the Summer Bucket List….yuss! And there was more of that delicious mulled wine made and inhaled during the day too!

Boxing Day

No trip to Nana and Poppa’s would be complete without a pilgrimage to the Hamilton gardens, which is simply one of our favourite spots in this part of the world.

In hindsight, it might have been a good idea to bring along a change of clothes, but we certainly weren’t about to hinder their fun, and it was a warm day so it hardly mattered!

Hope you and yours are having much fun and good times on your Christmas break too!

Earlybirds, Spilt Milk and Blueberries

2011-12-26T16:36:00.001+13:00

Having already planned to get up at 5am tobe on the road early for our big journey up country, it felt like a bit of arude awakening when that turned into a 4.30am wake up call when Mylofell out of bed. (He’s still getting used to no sides on the cot, and despitethe soft landing on a duvet inner, it still gives him a bit of a fright!)

The best way to settle any night wakingepisodes like this usually involves a quick drink of milk, a cuddle and thenstraight back to bed without engaging in too much conversation or turning onlights around the house. Except this morning, in my early morning haze, Iclearly didn’t put the lid back on the drink bottle properly and me and Mylowore half the contents of the milk as soon as he tipped it up to drink it. So acomplete change of PJ’s and sleeping bag was required, nothing like completelywaking up a child you want to go back to sleep for a while…sigh!

So there was little point in going back tobed so we got up and at em, and were away just before 6am.Apart from a few random meltdowns in the car by the lil guy who decided hewanted cuddles (impossible when in a moving vehicle), it was pretty uneventful.

Except for the glorious weather giving us astunning view of the central plateau as we drove ever northward.

And the great coffee and leg stretch inOhakune.

Two sleepy souls decided to close theireyes for half an hour so we skipped our second stop and drove on through.Before we knew it, we were at Hamilton Airport sayinghi to Poppa who was in the middle of his Super Shuttle shift. It was the fastest trip up we've ever done, making it in 6 hours 15 including the stop! And there was no speeding either I might add!

After a quick stop at Punnet Café (the scene of my recent photos in UnoMagazine fame), we headed home and back out again to pick some blueberries.Another tick for the Summer Bucket List! The blueberry rows were sodden and wequickly ditched our shoes and wandered barefoot through the rows, squelchingthrough watery grass, sometimes halfway to our knees in places. It wassurprisingly therapeutic padding through the warm water, almost like a footmassage.

And we came home with four full containersof blueberries, the little guy having consumed nearly his body weight in fruitwhich made for an interesting nappy change the next day!

Yay...the summer holiday has begun!

Unto Us...

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000+13:00

"a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" Isaiah 9 v 6

Amazing though the virgin birth was, today is not just about that.

Yes it was a miracle. And yes, it's still pretty cool and all that.

But it's not the best part...not by far.

'A child is born'.......

but 'a son is GIVEN'......

God didn't just give us a miracle baby's birth to celebrate each year. He gave us his only son, through whom the world would be saved.

From all sins past, present and future. In the greatest gift of love this world has ever seen.

So....if you were asked to think long and hard about the best gift you've ever been given?

I'll bet you wouldn't say it was the latest electronic gadget out this year, a bestseller book off the shelf, or that dress you'd been eyeing up in the store window.

No matter how you desperately want it at the time, the mere fact that it was a gift that can be bought cheapens it with that knowledge.

But not the gift of love.

Love cannot be bought. Despite how hard we might try to prove otherwise.

True love is always freely given.

Freely received. When we choose to accept it.

And so we come back to today....

The gift of love freely given 2,000 years ago, just as real now as it was then.

Today is...the greatest gift of all.

Things I'm Loving

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000+13:00

On the wall
It seems a while ago now that we went to our Jo Frances Photography session. And yes it has taken us a while to get any of them framed, but I'm happy to finally have this set of four up on the wall to look at always. It makes me smile.

Another gorgeous necklace
I received a lovely thank-you from Sally the other day for all the business I've put her way these past few months. As much as I love my other necklace, this one rocks big time! I can see me wearing this many days this summer! Pink and lemon, such an awesome combo!

Nativity Advent Calendar
Loving that the Nativity Advent Calendar I made last year is getting used again, and day by day the story grows on our kitchen cupboard.

A tree full of kisses
Loving this last attempt at creativity before Christmas. Hoping the recipient will enjoy it too! I started gluing them on to begin with, but switched to toothpicks after Mark said he was worried I might give one of my nearest and dearest glue poisoning...that wouldn't be a great end to Christmas now would it!

Delete cookies
This tickled my fancy.....I can just imagine his horror?! Ha ha ha.

The Crackle Nail Effect
We opened our Christmas presents from Grandma & Grandad early via Skype last weekend. And I got 2 cute little nail varnish pots in pink and black. The crackle effect wasn't something I'd heard of but apparently it's all the rage in the UK. So I gave it a go...you put a base layer on first and then put the crackle vanish over the top....what do ya think?! Kinda freaky and kinda funky all at the same time!

Little Boy loses his door
We've finally taken the cot rails off Mylo's bed. Just in time for our holiday away so he will hopefully be OK with sleeping on a mattress on the floor or in our In the Night Garden kiddy blow-up bed on our travels.

He was so cute and concerned when we put him to bed for his lunchtime nap last weekend though. 'Where's my door gone?' he kept saying. Bless. He did stay in the bed though which was the main thing!

That hat
We're still lovin it!

Milky face and all!

And as you read this, we are winding our way up the country on our 8-9 hour journey towards Nana and Poppa's in Hamilton for Christmas. Right this very minute, I'm also loving the invention of a portable DVD player for the car too!

How To: DIY Christmas: Cookies in a Jar

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000+13:00

If you're stuck for last minute gift inspiration this Christmas, how about Cookies in a Jar for a simple, yet good-looking idea? And who doesn't love home baked cookies? You'll probably find most of the ingredients in your cupboard at home too which is a bonus too!

Take a 900ml-1 litre glass jar (I made two gifts and used two different types of jars - a preserving jar from Moore Wilsons and a clip-down from The Warehouse)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white or dark chocolate chips

Start with the white sugar layer and tamp down firmly afterwards before pouring in the brown sugar. Tamp down again.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl before pouring in and tamping down again. Tamp gently on this layer as otherwise the flour will fly everywhere!

Then add oats, cranberries, and lastly chocolate chips, tamping down between each layer.

If you find you still have a little room in top of the jar, put something in to fill up the gap (I put a little bit of bubble wrap in). This is so if the jar is not vertical when being stored under the Christmas tree (or transported), the layers won't move around.

Add instructions for baking on a Christmassy template as follows:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Pour cookie jar contents into large bowl and mix to combine. Beat in 100g melted butter, 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla essence. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls 5 cm apart on baking paper on a baking tray. Bake for 8-10 minutes until browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Or you could use the one I created just by downloading this picture and re-sizing to your own tastes.

Happy creating and baking!

Original idea found on Pinterest here.

Recipe: Candy Cane Icecream

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000+13:00

When I saw a recipe for a Christmassy Peppermint icecream on Pinterest, I knew I would have to make it. And even better, I knew that we could just adapt our own Crunchie Icecream recipe base and turn it into a little slice of candy cane Christmas heaven.

Ingredients:
1 tin of condensed milk
500ml bottle of cream (whipped)
12 pack of candy canes crushed in a blender (less one or two that might have gotten waylaid into two little mouths while 'helping'
1 tsp peppermint essence

1. Whip cream
2. Gently, gently fold in peppermint essence and condensed milk, trying not to lose any volume in the mixture
3. Gently fold in crushed candy cane. Freeze immediately, should be frozen overnight (or 10-12 hours)

And it was very hard not to watch the clock or get it out until it was proper ready!

School's out for the summer!

2011-12-17T20:51:00.000+13:00

We've survived our first (half) year of school.

I think we (Mum and Dad that is) feel a bit like we've been just surviving at times, running the gambit of having to remember a million things like swimming on Tuesdays, school council icecream day, craft days, money for school trips and book orders, just to name a few!

Noah, on the other hand, has quite obviously been thriving. A glowing school report came home for the end of the year.

What an outstanding introduction to school Noah has had. He has made amazing progress in all areas of school and this is because he has such a fantastic 'can-co' attitude towards everything that school has to offer. Noah is an extremely focused and independent worker who uses his initiative to work out new things as well as persisting with tasks. He listens carefully to what is being asked and then gives 100% to follow the instructions. (Wish this always happened at home...ha ha!)

Noah is responsible with his own equipment and packs up after himself and is willing to help out in the class as well. You should be very proud of yourself Noah. This attitude and skills are wonderful.
Noah is very popular with his peers. He can often be found organising games with his classmates and taking a leadership role yet he is also great at working in a group. He does have some definite ideas but he is willing to compromise with his peers.

Noah is very thoughtful, considerate and he has a fun personality. He does like to get things right (wonder who he gets that from!) and be seen doing the right thing however he understands that everyone makes mistakes and that is all right.

It has been a real delight to teach Noah and to see him blossom and grow in all areas.

We were also asked by Noah's teacher a couple of weeks ago, if we would be happy for Noah to move with 3 other kids in his class who are also in the highest reading and maths group to move over to the big school and go into Room 3 next year, rather than Room 2 which is the natural progression for the other children from Room 1. We know that this will be a great opportunity to challenge and extend Noah. He is very excited about going over to the 'big' side of school. It's hard to believe this was the same kid who were were so worried about being too shy to cope well with the move to school.

On the last day of school, this was the lovely gift Noah's teacher made for him. So special.

Noah also got to bring home a ton of lovely artwork he'd created too. Some went straight on the kitchen wall, and a few other select pieces have been turned into Christmas gifts. These are my favourites!

He's clearly had a ball these past few weeks making some cute Christmas crafts too which are adorning various windowsills and bookcase shelves around the house.

I like this list for Santa..good to see the water balloons are still clearly top of the list!

So now, seven weeks of school holidays await. With working full-time, it's a bit of a juggling act, but we've had friends volunteer to look after Noah this first week, and then once we're back to work after our Christmas break, he'll be going to the school holiday programme 3 days a week, I'll work a shorter day from home one day a week, and then have Fridays off to spend with both the boys.

And no doubt before we know it the 7th February will have rolled around and we'll be back for another year of fun and learning at school!

In the meantime, we'll just have to make do with making our own fun!

Things I'm Loving

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000+13:00

Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Lights

Love the Giant Telecom Christmas Light Tree that has appeared in Waitangi Park again this year. Loving the giant beanbags that the boys enjoyed jumping into that lie under the tree.

And even though the lights weren't on (it was the middle of the day) it was still so magical!

Talking to Da Man
Whilst there, we got down to business. And hmmm, looks like there is some serious discussion being had in there!

Craft Craziness
As you can see, that bug has still been biting me strong this week too!

Beautiful idea found here by Remaliah

In the Spirit
Even the Lego Club gets in the spirit and sends us a cute decoration to make each year - this year was a Reindeer with a movable head and legs to join last year's Snowman. It is definitely worth signing up your kids (free under five) for some cool free stuff throughout the year!

My Elves
Cuteness personified. Mylo was SO excited when he spotted a Santa hat in Pak n Save, and because I was in the mood for having some fun, I popped it on his head. He promptly wore it round the shop beaming at everybody saying 'Ho Ho'. It was so cute that I got him (and Noah) one each, mostly just so I could hear that little 'ho ho-ing' all day long. Despite it being a hot day, the boys loved bouncing around the trampoline with their little white pompoms waggling everywhere.

How cheeky does that little face look hiding under there?

Chocolate milkshake and fluffies in the sun

The hats proved so popular, I could only steal a quick turn with one when Mr M was having a mid-afternoon zzzzzzz and I'd convinced him it would be too hot to wear to bed!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around these here parts isn't it?! And I'm loving that this time next week we'll be leaving for our Christmas holiday...whoop de whoop!

Joining in with other lovelies at PJ's place:

Recipe: Mulled Wine - Christmas in a Glass

2011-12-13T08:00:00.002+13:00

The thought of drinking a warm, spiced drink in summer doesn't sound entirely natural to us lot down under basking in the warm summer sun.

But................I promise you can't go past this for a delicious, easy-to-drink (ahem...too easy she says quietly to herself!) Christmas tipple that just begs to be ladled out and shared amongst the ones you love.

Ingredients:
1 orange or 2 mandarins
Rind of 2 lemons or lime
250g caster sugar
6 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
1 whole nutmeg
1 whole vanilla pod, halved
2 star anise
2 bottles of Chianti or other red wine like Merlot, Shiraz

Peel large sections of peel from your mandarins/orange and lemon. Put sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the citrus zest and squeeze in the orange/mandarin juice.

Add the cloves, cinnamon quill, bay leaves, halved vanilla pod and about 10-12 gratings of nutmeg. Pour in just enough red wine to cover the sugar.

Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine and then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for 5 minutes until you have a thick syrup. This creates a good flavour base by getting the sugar and spices to infuse and blend well with the wine. It's important to make the syrup base first because it needs to be quite hot, and if you do it with all the wine in there the alcohol will get burnt off.

When the syrup is ready, turn heat down to low add in the star anise and both bottles of wine. Gently heat the wine and after about 5 minutes when it's warm and delicious ladle into glasses and serve.

Note: I made this early in the day and just left in the pot and reheated gently for a few minutes when I wanted to serve guests arriving for our Christmas party.

If you're like me and you find this incredibly delicious, you may want to use your left-over spices to make another batch pronto...this is definitely now on my Christmas Day morning To Do List!

Summer Bucket List 2011

2011-12-11T08:00:00.000+13:00

Last year I put together a Summer Bucket List and when I went back to see how well I'd done in ticking off the list I was pleasantly surprised that most of them provided some wonderful moments of enjoyment over the summer. Sure, I still haven't made a bead necklace at a bead shop, and I'm not sure whether we managed to go to many 'new to us' spots in Wellington but we did pretty well on all the rest. So without further ado, here's my Summer Bucket List 2011:

1. Play mini golf

We are mini golf fans from WAY BACK. We love this game. Or should that be we love BEATING each other at this game. Plus we now have at least one cheeky chappy who has the ability to smash a plastic golf ball using a tiny plastic golf club from one end of the house to the other, so we're pretty sure it'll be a fun family outing that will get a thumbs up from the boys. A must do this year.

2. Go blueberry picking

When both my parents worked on a blueberry farm for many years, I didn't stop once to appreciate the amazing quantities of free blueberries we could devour without a second thought. I know we didn't make the most of it the opportunity, and now that we have to pay, shucks have you seen how much a tiny punnet of blueberries go for in the supermarket? And we were getting them by the icecream container for free? Booo hooooo!

Righty-o moving on...We have one boy who has always been particularly partial to anything remotely BERRY-ish so I think we will definitely be finding a field to ~~raid~~ do some PYO this summer!

3. Family bike expeditions

I am so looking forward to riding up and down Nana and Poppa's deserted country road with my big boy who can now ride on just 2 wheels. And if we borrow Nana and Poppa's bikes, we'll all be able to ride together...although we're still working on how we can also get the littlest involved in the fun!

We've also recently put an extra hole in the seat of Noah's old Mocka running bike so it goes down lower, and Mylo can just about reach the ground on his tiptoes. With any luck, we're hoping that with all the flat land around, we might just be able to convice Mylo to give it a good go over the holiday.

4. Play swingball

As a kid, for me summer holidays weren't complete without a few backyard activities like swingball, badminton, frisbee, kiteflying or backyard cricket. This year we've got Noah a swingball set for Christmas and with all that space to swing several cats at Nana and Poppa's, it'll be the perfect place to get some good rallies going.

5. A visit to The Big Smoke

This year we're taking a big detour on the usual Hamilton-New Plymouth leg of the holiday to spend a couple of nights in Auckland. It will be lovely to be able to stay and catch up with Andrea and her family, as well as hopefully take the kids to the Auckland Zoo and Kelly Tarltons Underwater World.

Noah is beside himself with excitement at the prospect of seeing an elephant!

6. Get a spray tan

A bit of a random one I know but I've never done it, and I'd kinda like to avoid looking like a complete lily-white never-seen-the-sun gal when we head off to Melbourne in March. Any recommendations for companies to use or avoid for that matter?!

7. Enjoy the dress

Ah yes. That dress. Lovely that it is, recent investigations of the bathroom scales have determined that I was a good 2kg lighter when I bought the dress for my brother Nic's wedding in Melbourne and it fitted perfectly, albeit snugly at the time....eek! Too much snacking and wine drinking in the lead up to Christmas me thinks! So unfortunately I will have a few Weight Watcher weeks ahead of me in the New Year if I'm even going to be able to do the darn thing up. Oh well, we've done the hard yards before and Mark reckons he will join me on my quest which is exactly what I need...some healthy competition! If there's one thing we're good at, it's competing with each other!

8. Recreate a Ruth Pretty dish over Christmas

Now that our dinner chef duties are shared a bit more evenly, my confidence in my kitchen abilities is returning. And I am already salivating imagining being able to serve one or both of these up to the family over Christmas!

9. The Time Traveler's Wife and The Shack

A few lovelies like Simone and Renee have put The Time Traveler's Wife in their top reading list for the summer. I watched and enjoyed the movie so I'm hoping the book is even better.

I have already read and loved The Shack. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, some people (even Christians) find it hard to contemplate thinking of God in anything other than as a traditional father figure, but for me it blew my mind (in a good way!). This time I plan to make really good notes of the parts of the book that really resonated with me, and I may even share them here.

10. Make mulled wine

OK so I cheated, and I'm already tcking this one off the list right now! Between starting this post a couple of days ago and finishing it now, I've consumed nearly a whole batch of my very own homemade mulled wine. Yes I had a bit of company in the form of our annual life group Christmas party, but I still consumed a fair amount all by myself. And given it was 2 whole bottles of red wine that went into it, that's pretty impressive wouldn't you say?!

When I mentioned mulled wine in a recent post, Penny over at Little Feet, Big Shoes suggested trying Jamie Olivers recipe, and I have to say, once I'd sourced all the ingredients, it was plain sailing from there on in. This flows over the tongue and down the throat like the smoothest silk. And I have enough ingredients to make another batch for Christmas Day - RESULT! You better believe, I'll be sharing the recipe real soon!

So, what's on your bucket list this summer? And if it's not summer where you are right now, do you have a Winter Bucket List?!

Things I'm Loving

2011-12-09T08:00:00.000+13:00

My name in print
It's a small achievement, but it still means the world to me. On request by the owner of The Country Providore who'd seen me snapping merrily away while in the shop, I sent her a link to my Spring You Are Full of Surprises post back in September. You might remember or recognise some of the pictures? The citrus fruit one is probably doing its rounds on my blog header as we speak.

The owner then asked if I would mind them using some of these pictures in a write-up on their store that was going to be featured in UNO magazine. I said of course not, as long as I could get the credit for the photos.

And finally this week (after much searching and following up) I managed to get hold of a copy of the magazine, and there they were, my very own pictures printed with my name on them in a real-life honest-to-goodness magazine. Tiny bit stoked. Tiny bit.

Christmas fun with kids
What with working full-time and all, it's not often I can get away during the day to help out at school. But this week I made a special event to volunteer an hour with Noah's class to make Christmas crafts. I'd ummed and ahhed about choosing activities that weren't going to be too difficult for the kids. Beforehand, I'd even roadtested putting together some of those lovely paper ball ornaments with Jackie and Heidi but after making one each, they said they thought they might be a bit challenging for the kids, especially if all five of them needed my help to complete them at once. So in the end I played it safe and made two different Christmas cards.

I got the idea for these lovely snowmen cards from Ange over at Tall, Short and Tiny and tweaked it a little to give it my own unique flavour. I still have a zillion buttons lying around, and despite already gifting some to Miriam and Leonie, I think I shall be finding things to do with buttons for many a day to come. So many a person has been and will be receiving one of these from me in real life too this year, they are so easy and fun to make!

I also thought the kids would enjoy unravelling paper snowflakes after cutting them out before adorning them with all manner of glitter and sequins on a card. And adorn they sure did!

We had a lovely time, although there wasn't an ounce of glitter left at the end it had been thrown so vigorously around the table in an effort to make their cards simply the best. Funnily enough, as I type I can even see a skerrick of glitter glinting somewhere on my nose out the corner of my eye, but do ya think I can find it!!!!!!

Funny faces
As much as I think my children are indeed beautiful creations from God, I'll always be the first one to laugh at their less-than-attractive poses caught in the act.

Bring on summer!
With the warm weather finally arriving just in time for the first weekend of summer, last weekend we gave the free paddling pool we got with the trampoline its first outing, as well as putting the sprinkler under the trampoline for some slippery, sliding fun. Here's to many more weekends where that came from.

The most memorable part of the afternoon was when I decided I'd just better check Mylo's shorts after seeing some interesting facials (we were letting him go 'free willy' at this point inside his swim shorts). To my relief, there was just a botty in there but when i turned around to go back inside, a giant rock poo awaited me on the concrete. How I didn't step in it on my way out to the pool I'll never know! And so that marked the end of pool play for that day...not only because of the poo but the little culprit had lips the colour of the paddling pool and was shivering like a good un!

Who are you?
Stare at the picture below and the first four words that pop out at you are meant to describe you well.

Me? Apparently, I'm Charismatic Elegant Genuine and Patient. If that's really even a bit true, well I think I can live with that! What four words did you see first, and do you think they describe you well?

Hope that you are all loving this kinda full-on yet fantastically fun time of the year as much as I am!

Head on over here for plenty more loving!

And the necklace goes to....

2011-12-07T19:00:00.000+13:00

The lovely Miriam from Make it Give It who was comment number 15.

Congrats Miriam! I'll email you to double check which design you'd like and then it will be winging its way to you hopefully just in time for Christmas :-)

Thanks everyone for all the very lovely comments on having reached 500 posts too.

And if you'd like a necklace for yourself or a loved one this Christmas, you can still get in touch with Sally directly here.

The Secret Recipe: How to Make it Snow in the Summer

2011-12-06T08:00:00.001+13:00

Uh excuse me, what is that you've found?!

Oh so that's how you wanna play it....right that's it!

You two are gonna get it!

How could I turn down the opportunity for a spontaneous indoor snowball fight?

By turning a blind eye to the absolute mess all the cotton was leaving on the carpet for a start!

Which, in case you were wondering required about ten minutes of fairly vigorous vacuuming afterward to remove the evidence (but that's a minor insignificant detail in the grand scheme of all the fun that was had!)

So choosing instead to focus on the extreme fun we were having.

And when the fight was over, an impromptu foot massage ensued.

Before we all came out for Round 2 snowball fight..ding ding!

Which lasted until some little people had the bright idea

that they might just be able to pass for Mr Clause himself.

And, in case you were wondering, there was a reason I had the cotton wool out in the first place before a certain little two-year old got his grubby but cute little mitts on it and created merry havoc......

which was to create my very own picture postcard scene, so I could look out my window and imagine myself surrounded by soft flakes floating silently to the ground. All credit to this original idea on Pinterest.

Oooo *rubbing hands in glee* I do love Christmas! Somehow all those creative genes that seem to be mostly dormant during the year seem to suddenly go on heat at this time of the year....hee hee!

p.s. If you haven't entered, you still have one more day to enter the Gorgeous Necklace Giveaway here which will be drawn tomorrow night...I'm already excited about seeing which lovely person will get to design and receive the necklace of their choice!

Wordless Sunday - Brown Eyed Boys

2011-12-04T15:00:00.000+13:00

Things I'm Loving

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000+13:00

Going to Town
I forget from year to year how our Kirkcaldies department store in Wellington holds nothing back when it comes to celebrating Christmas. From the four animated windows outside with different moving scenes and themes, to the beautiful and tasteful decoration throughout the store, they really do make a spectacle worth the visit.

And that's before you even get to the Christmas Shop itself on the 2nd floor, where floor to ceiling is covered in everything you could possible want to decorate your Christmas and more (ludicrous prices of course but when you're not planning to buy anything, it's more fun anyway I reckon!).

I was a little surprised though that we had to hunt high and low for Santa who for some strange reason was not with the Christmas shop but was down on the 1st floor with all the kids toys.

Noah (pinch me, is he the same child from two years ago!) sat himself right down and had a grand old deep and meaningful with the Man in Red about all sorts of things (it sure helps visiting on a weekday at 4pm as there was no-one else round!). Apart from coming away with a pocket full of lollies, Santa managed to prise out of Noah that he might quite like some water balloons for Christmas. And wouldn't you know that Daddy just happens to have a bag of 100 in the cupboard from one of those 'Bag of Crap' sale days on 1-Day ages ago. Yep, you're easily pleased, my boy, and I think we'll keep it that way!

You might notice there is no little dude in the picture with Santa. Yeah, so that was because he took one look at Santa and ran off screaming in the other direction. I had to chase him down somewhere amongst the dress-up costumes, where he had his hands over his eyes and was shaking in fright. I must admit I did laugh at the reaction, mean mother that I am. With him safely in my arms, we walked slowly back over to where Noah was (under duress) so I could at least keep an ear on the conversation, whilst he spent the entire time with his face buried deep in my shoulder.

But, contrary boy that he can be, he'd suddenly recovered enough to want to wave to Santa as we left, and all the way home I got 'I scared Santa' followed by 'I love Santa', 'Scared Santa me' 'I love Santa'. I'm still not entirely sure which one it actually is!

Mission Impossible 4
Corny they may be. And full of mostly unbelievable stunts and action. But I do love the Mission Impossible movies. Number 2 was my absolute favourite. I loved the slow-motion fight scenes that Director John Woo did (filmed in and around Sydney, Australia). And I love the theme tune. Doo-doo-doo Doo-doo-doo Doo-doo-doo DO DO! I can't wait for Number 4 to come out later this month. I WILL be watching it. That is all.

The Storyteller
Loving the journey of writing from Noah's first day of school, 2nd August:

to this in just 3 months:

The fox was peeking out of the forest. I said to the fox can you come home with me?

Yes said the fox.

But my favourite slice of life story so far would have to be this one:

Once when I was a two year old I was just like my brother.

My brother is annoying.

Ha ha, tell it like it is Noah!

Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar
Christmas has come a little early to one person in our house this year. Our lovely James, Ann-Marie and Jack sent over a very cool lego advent calendar from the UK for Noah's Christmas present, and he was awfully excited to be able to have an early present and make his first creation on the morning of December 1st.

True love is....
When hubby knows me well enough to know that I, of all people, would actually totally appreciate a free-from-the-hotel shower cap being brought back after his 1-night work trip to Christchurch last week. I know it makes me sound like a total nana, but I don't care. When I go through the effort of straightening my hair, the last thing I want is it to go all frizzy in between washes while in the bath or shower, so yep I'm a shower cap kinda girl and I love that he thought of me enough to bring me a freebie back.

Letting it go
It took some discipline to stand back when we were decorating the tree, and not begin to immediately re-arrange things when this happened.

It screamed at my symmetrical, orderly loving nature to instantly fix it. But I didn't. I just watched and enjoyed their enjoyment of it all.

And of course, rearranged it all later when they weren't looking *grins*

And below is my favourite pic of the tree this year. As you can see I'm having all KINDS of fun with the new 35mm lens!

40 public winks
Loving that my guy will still hug Mama in public. Be still my beating heart.

Giving it away
And if you haven't already, don't forget to check out the gorgeous necklace giveaway I'm hosting that closes on Wednesday 7th December. Leave a comment letting me know which design you'd choose if you were the lucky winner, and one could be winging it's way to you very soon!

Oh and a happy weekend to you, and you, and YOU!

Linking up over here:

500 posts and A Gorgeous Glamorous Giveaway!

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000+13:00

Yup, that's 500 times I've sat here and tapped my fingers against these keys. Sometimes words trip off these fingers as easily as a smooth flowing brook, yet other times I sit staring longingly at the screen willing the words to join up in some sort of semblance of sense for ages.

So whether it's flowed easily or been a struggle, it's crazy to think that there has been 500 times I've felt like there was something I wanted to say 'for the record'.

And to celebrate, I have a fantastic giveaway for one of you lovely people. And wouldn't you know, it's just in time for Christmas too *grins*

Tis the season to bless and I feel very blessed to have met some truly wonderful people through this little space I call MNM's. Thank you for making this thing we call blogging a truly enriching and empowering experience!

Anyway, back to the giveaway...my friend Sally makes the most amazing necklaces, and I want to give you the chance to create your own beautiful and unique design.

Here are the bead colours to choose from:

Together with the range of fabrics on offer for the giveaway (and a possible bead colour match):

And so I can really showcase this lovely lady's talent, here are some of the other gorgeous necklaces she's made this year.

To be in to win, leave me a comment telling me which one of the 12 designs and bead colours you'd choose if you're the lucky winner!

Oh and I'll also throw in a block of yummy Lindt Chilli Chocolate too!

Giveaway will be drawn one week from today and announced on the evening of Wednesday 7th December. I will post internationally so all you lovely readers from over the seas can enter too!

If you are interested in gifting a necklace to someone you love or treating yourself, you can also email Sally directly here to find out more.

Good luck!

Return to Eden

2011-11-28T20:55:00.000+13:00

In the beginning there was a garden. And everything about it was perfect. It gave of itself that we might eat of its bounty and enjoy the fresh, clean tastes on our palate.

This was to be my Dreaming of a Green Christmas experience.

The day started with coffees and lavender lemonade in The Garden Room, where we enjoyed all manner of cheese and homemade crackers, accompanied by an especially lovely, refreshing bowl of roast pineapple in spices and mint.

I could have easily wandered around the beautiful grounds all day long taking photos and sipping on my lemonade, but my presence was required for some serious cooking in the kitchen.

The early part of our day was spent watching an amazing triple-layered Almond, Orange and Chocolate Cake being assembled.

It wasn't without a few hairy moments, due to the fragility of having to cut three thin cake layers to sit between the almond dacquoise and dark chocolate mousse layers. I was somewhat heartened to see that even Ruth Pretty (who I'd consider one of the best chefs in the land having recently served Prince Albert and Princess Charlene at the Rugby World Cup) is still capable of 'having a moment'. Yes, things got a bit nerve-wracking there for a moment as various cracks appeared in the wafer-thin cake layers. But once you see the finished product later on, I think you'll agree, it was merely a minor hiccup.

One of the more memorable moments of the day was when Ruth showed us the preparation of our roasted duck. We definitely got the no-holds-barred, x-rated version that involved beheading and de-legging a whole dead duck. Um, eeeew! Mind you, I have a feeling you'll be secretly pleased I was too squeamish to subject you to the photographic evidence from this part of the day.

After an intense few minutes, it was thankfully time for some fresh air (which involved a few deep gulps on my part!), more refreshments, and of course time to ooh and aah over the highly practical and beautifully made wares in Ruth's Kitchen Shop.

And just as the hunger pains were really starting to kick in, when we regrouped back in the kitchen we were immediately plied with a series of delectable nibbles along with a glass or two (or it might even have been three in my case!) of bubbly. Starting with Feta, Celery and Semi-Dried Tomato Salad in Parmesan Cheese Tart Cases.

Followed by Beef Salad Rolls with Mustard Sour Cream Dressing, and I just loved the way these were presented in chopsticks - clever idea!

We then retired back to The Garden Room where an array of refreshing liquids helped bide our time whilst waiting for the main event to commence.

Ruth, with an ever straight face, had spun us a tale of a rickety old bus and Errol the bus driver coming to collect us for a journey to our final gastronomic destination. But alas, as the story progressed it became clear that he had been delayed and would we perhaps like to have a look around her Herb Garden while we waited his arrival?

We ventured into the herb garden, learning from Ruth about the constantly evolving seasons of herbs and micro greens growing in the garden. How one messy-looking bed actually held an abundance of different herbs each with their own unique purpose.

On we ambled, listening, learning. Enjoying the feel of the sun on our backs and inhaling an array of lightly mingled herb scents.

But wait.....

.....what had we suddenly wandered into? In the blink of an eye, Eden appeared before us.

I can only imagine that this is how the Garden of Eden might have looked full of exotic and tropical vegetation, with all of nature co-existing in harmony.

And sitting down to this picnic in paradise, I truly believed myself to be back in that Original Garden. Surrounded by orchids and other brightly-coloured foliage. With monarchs hovering just out of reach, we sat at rustic tables on chairs draped in hessian, drinking from large goblets, calling softly to each other on our bird whistlers.

And our bounty, like is only possible in a place that has only known perfection, was just that.

I could have eaten these starters all day long. Spanish Style Peppers with Garlic and Sherry Vinegar and Garlic Prawns with Chorizo.

Followed by Roasted Duck with Pomegranate Glaze and Roasted Kumara, accompanied by Asparagus and a Quinoa and Cranberry Salad (which hadn't quite made it to my plate at this point).

And then...the piece de resistance. That wonderfully layered creation of a cake that despite encountering a few speed wobbles had been turned into a vision of all that is lovely to look at, and even lovelier to behold in the mouth. How amazing are those marzipan oranges on top!

And yes, I will admit I went back for a small second helping of the dessert. It was delectable without being too sweet, so that you could easily (really truly I wasn't being a complete piglet!) contemplate more.

I didn't want each mouthful to end, partly because it was so good, but also because each mouthful gone was one step closer to the moment where I knew I would have to leave Eden.

And when the moment came, I left with a just-nicely, not overfull stomach, but with a heaviness in heart. Knowing that no matter how much I might try to recreate this very experience, the Garden is destined to remain only in my memories, in reality elusive and tantalisingly just out of reach.

Things I'm Loving

2011-11-25T08:00:00.000+13:00

A little (big) gem
Once in a while a little nugget escapes from the mouths of our babes, quite unexpectedly. This one was particularly amusing, and I'm sure fellow mums will identify with the mixture of amusement/slight mortification I felt.

I had just finished getting undressed to get into the shower with Mylo, and I was standing naked in the bathroom. We were just about to take his clothes off, when he looked at me. I mean really looked at me. Like for the first time he was actually noticing my nakedness, and this is what he said:

'Big bottom mummy'.....promptly followed by 'Little bottom me'

Awesome or what?! I laughed and laughed, thinking to myself, 'it's a good thing you're so young and cute boyo, as I doubt I'm gonna find that one quite so entertaining in a few years' time!'

Watermelon
Have you ever tasted a piece of fruit that you could absolutely swear was the nicest of its kind you'd ever tried? This was my experience with our first watermelon of the season this week. So juicy, so flavoursome, no pips to have to spit back out, everything about it was so just right!

And from the pages of our garden
Radishes. It's our first year growing them. From seed, I might add. And they are super easy to grow, and super quick. I'm not sure I ever really liked them growing up. But much in the same way I love rocket salad leaves, the spicy pepperiness (OK...that's not even a word but you know what I mean!) of the radishes is so refreshing. The little guy loves em too. Nom, nom nom!

On the fence
So unless you live with your head in the sand in NZ right now, you'd all know that tomorrow is election day. Slap my wrists if you want, but I haven't been paying too much attention to all the hoo haa and giving my vote much thought until this week.

Which is why I quite liked this On The Fence application. Basically you feed the sheep political policies under categories such as Health, Education, Transport, Nuclear, Justice etc. I only did about five categories but I was surprised (and kinda not at the same time) to see what it put my preferred political party as.

So if you're like me, and still not a little vague or undecided about who you'll be voting for tomorrow, why not put the sheep through his paces?

Our national airline
How cool to be these unsuspecting sixty diners out for an evening meal! Watch and see what happens.

Proud of the creativity of our national airline. Sure beats the stick Qantas is getting at the moment for grounded planes and industrial action. Although we are flying Qantas to Melbourne in March so let's hope they've sorted their act out by then!

Crafty Christmas creations
Don't stop me now, I'm on a serious roll, people!

These were the latest creations rustled up this past week spied in the Little Treasures magazine. A great way to put the excess popsicle sticks left over from the Giant Snowflakes to good use.

And tutorials for these (I'm SO addicted and I can tell I'm going to be making more of these!) were spotted on both How About Orange and Lily & Georgie this week.

Boys on beach
Loving being able to get a free carpark pretty much every time we go to hang out at our little Oriental Parade Beach. Yes, it is a pathetic excuse for a beach by anywhere other than Welly's standards, and yes the wind started blowing something fierce forcing us off the beach in a matter of minutes with the sand being whipped up and stinging every part of exposed skin.

We went from this serene 'playing on the beach' scene......

to holding onto our hats and nearly being lifted off our feet in a matter of seconds. Loving the facials though!

A Green Christmas awaits me
I'm finally allowing myself to get super excited about Ruth Pretty's Christmas cooking class on Sunday. It seems like months ago that I blogged about being offered a free place on one of her highly sought after sell-out Christmas events merely for having written an honest but glowing review of last year's Narnia-like experience. Never for once dreaming that it would ever be read and appreciated so far and wide. But now the time has finally come. Now...how to last till Sunday without going completely crazy in anticipation?

Perhaps we can put the Christmas tree up tomorrow ...we're four days early but who's counting? Gosh, I love this time of the year! One month till we celebrate the most important birthday in the history of mankind.

What about you? Is that festive glow that warms you from the inside out like a glass of mulled wine on a cold winter's night upon you yet?

Mmmm...mulled wine, now there's a thought. I wonder if I could make some?!....*scribbles it on the growing list of things she'd love to try this Christmas*

What things are you already loving about this time of the year?

Recipe: Christmas Mocha Fruit Cake

2011-11-23T08:00:00.000+13:00

Wondering how you can indulge in all the traditions of Christmas without all the calories? Well, you've come to the right place.

Straight from the pages of Weight Watchers, yet tasting like it should be on a page from one of those naughtily delicious Nigella cookbooks.

And it's far too easy to make.

I'd love to be able to show you the step by step photos for this recipe, but as I was busy being a lazy-ass in bed last Sunday morning I came downstairs just before 8am to find hubby had been too quick for me, and it was almost ready to put in the oven. So I had to make do with just a couple of pics, but since it's such an easy recipe, I'm sure it won't matter in the slightest!

Ingredients:
1 kg dried mixed fruit
2 cups strong coffee (500ml)
2 cups self-raising flour
1 block of Cadburys dark chocolate (preferably 70% cocoa)

1. Place fruit and hot coffee in a large heatproof bowl, cover and set aside to soak overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 160 degrees, line the base and two long sides of a 18x28cm or similar sized rectangular tin with non-stick baking paper.
3. Add sifted flour and chocolate to fruit mixture and stir well with a wooden spoon until well combined.
4. Spread evenly into prepared tin, place in preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out cleanly.

Lasts for ages in the fridge, and it is such a lovely surprise to come across a nice hunk of dark chocolate in the middle of all that fruit....mmmmmmm.

And in case you're wondering only 3.5 Weight Watcher points per serve (serves 20).

How To: Homemade Sugar Scrub Recipe

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000+13:00

When you're contemplating what to give the lovely people in your life for Christmas, giving 'homemade' always has such a nice ring about it. But if you're like me, and you always a bit challenged in the craft genes, it has to be super easy and reasonably quick to do.

I found two recipes which I used bits of, one via Pinterest a recipe over at Maybe Matilda and one over at my favourite blogger Kelle from Enjoying the Small Things. So here's my take!

Homemade Sweet Orange Sugar Scrub

Sugar Scrub Ingredients:
Plain white sugar
Oil (I recommend a very light oil such as sweet almond oil, avocado oil etc found in any health shop)
Essential oil (any one or more scents will do, I used Sweet Orange)
Food colouring (optional)

Jar ingredients:
Small jar (I found mine - bead storage jars at Spotlight for $2 each)
Christmassy fabric (I bought 2 different Fat 1/4's)
Mod Podge (my new best friend)

Decorating the jar

Take your jar and draw a wide circle around it, large enough so that when you turn the fabric inside the lid there will be enough of a turnover

Make slits at regular intervals all the way round

Take your Mod Podge (this is my favourite part!) and a small brush and paint the top of the lid. Fix the lid upside down in the centre of the cut fabric.

Paint Mod Podge all round the outside rim and inside rim and fix down each portion of slitted fabric onto the lid. Continue all the way round until the whole lid is fixed down.

With your finger, smooth away all excess Mod Podge as you go which will help the slits on the sides of the lid sit nicely.

Now go over the whole fabric again with the Mod Podge, smoothing away excess as you go.

Once this dries you will have a lovely hard and glossy finish on the lid.

Create a label and Mod Podge the label onto the jar.

Making the scrub
Take the jar or jars you want to fill and measure out the equivalent amount of sugar into them that you will want in the finished jar. I made five jars at a time.

Gradually add sufficient oil (try adding 1/2 cup to start, then 1/4 cup at a time after that) to make the mixture go all fluffy and then test the consistency by rubbing some on your hand. You want it to make your hand feel smooth after washing off, but not still all oily. I learnt the hard way by following a 1:1 ratio and using olive oil for my first batch, and not only was it way too much oil, the olive oil is too heavy an oil to use as it just sinks to the bottom of the container.

Once you are happy with the consistency, add enough drops of essential oil to give the mixture a really nice scent. I think I added about 30 drops of Sweet Orange for my large batch.

If you want to make the mixture look a little like the scent, add a couple of drops of food colouring - I added a couple of red and yellow to give a soft orange colour.

Pack into your prepared jars. Keep mixing the mixture as you go to prevent the oil from settling at the bottom.

Seal all the containers, and then open a couple of hours later just to check that they all still smell as good as you remember..

And you may even find you contemplate keeping one for yourself they smell so lush!

Apologies in advance to any of the 'lovely people' who read this blog if one of these winds up under your Christmas tree and I've now somewhat ruined the surprise for you!