A lovely little parcel

I had a lovely little surprise on Monday. A parcel I'd forgotten to expect arrived (aren't they just the best kind!)...

It was from Tartan Kiwi over at the Craft and Nappies blog. I was so excited to open it up and find this gorgeous bag...

Isn't it lovely? It's very cleverly made from a tea-towel. Tartan Kiwi is challenging herself to make lots of things from tea-towels and I'm very pleased to receive one of her projects. The tea-towel design is called Paisley Kiwi - here's a close-up...

I'm going to keep it folded up in my handbag for all those times I'm out and need a bag and don't have one to hand! Saving the use of plastic bags.

The reason I got this parcel was for a Paying-It-Forward project. I was a little disappointed that no-one took me up on my offer to make them something so now I have received something I thought I should offer once more - please see my original post and leave a comment if you are keen. International commenters welcome :-)

Self Timer Awesomeness

A lovely sunny day at the Esplanade. 

Hanging out on the grass and playing with the self-timer on Mum's camera...

Mum's headed back to Aussie today to stay with my Aunt for a couple of days before the long journey back to the UK. Missing her billions already but had an awesome time. 

* T H A N K Y O U   M U M  *  L O V E   Y O U *

Things I'm Loving

A beautiful bunch of sunflowers gracing my mantle ($4.99 for 3)

Watching the grandparent/grandchild relationship and wishing I could give my Nan a hug (will have to send one home with Mum!)

the prospect of getting my crochet rainbow blanket finished - hoping me and Mum will have time to sew the pieces together so I can edge it

attending a seminar last night called 'Being Kind to Yourself' and coming home with ideas on how to make life better for me and my little family as well as brining this amazing quote home

Happy Friday everyone :-)

You can see more things people are loving over at Paisley Jade's blog

Garden Makeover

Has it really been a full week since my last post? Wow, that flew by.
We have been very busy having a clearout inside and out.
I do love a before and after post so I couldn't resist taking some pictures while we were working in the garden. It was a terrible mess (can't believe I'm posting it on the internet!) but looks absolutely fabulous now....

BEFORE

AFTER

Still heaps to do. We are taking advantage of the extra pair of hands with Mum staying and having a really good tidy up.

Other things I've been up to:
* making some eco friendly lemon dusters and carpet freshner inspired by Megan and Wendyl Nissen (photos to follow!)
* making triple chocolate muffins which are extremely yummy
* planning a trip to the herb farm with mum for lunch and shopping!

Hope you're all having a good week :-)

Seasons: Summer

The weather has definetly taken a turn over the last few days and there's a chill in the air that means summer is at an end and Autumn is on it's way. I love Autumn. I was an Autumn baby (I grew up in the UK where October = Autumn) and I love all the colours. I am going to set myself a mission of finding lots of lovely Autumnal colours to photograph this year.

Anyway, this post isn't about Autumn. It's about celebrating Summer and all the reasons I love it...

A work-in-progress list of what I <3 about Summer...

1. Bare feet on warm grass
2. Ice lollies - specifically Orange Frujus
3. Ice cream - specifically Chocolate Brownie flavour
4. Hanging the washing out and having it dry really quick
5. Dipping toes in the paddling pool at the Esplanade and at the beach
6. Less rain
7. Christmas!
8. Cheap power bills
9. Lots of fresh basil so G can make his wonderful pesto
10. Strawberries
11. Long light evenings
12. Lots of blue skies
13. My freckles multiplying
14. The smell of BBQs in the air
15. Wearing skirts and sandals

I'm sure there's more to come....hope to add to this as the years go on :-)

See more of my seasonal posts here

Let sleeping babies lay

Is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping baby?
After a busy morning of milk drinking, baby museli and banana munching, playing with noisy toys and supervising some work in the garden he has finally given in. Pity we need to leave for swimming in 5 minutes and I'm going to have to wake him.
Here's hoping for a long afternoon nap after his swimming lesson :-)

A visit to the zoo

My Mum is here for a visit at the moment - woop! She's here for 3 weeks and arrived last Wednesday.
On Saturday we piled in the car and headed down to Wellington for the day.
First up was a visit to Baby on the Move to get bubs sorted with his next car seat (at 7 months he was nearly growing out of his capsule!)
Once that was sorted we had lunch in Petone in a lovely cafe called Caffeind - delish!
And then it was on to the zoo. It was Bubs and Nanny's first visit to Wellingon Zoo and G and I hadn't been for a few years. We had a lovely time wandering up and down the hills in the sunshine.

Got lots of lovely animal pictures to share...don't animal photos just make you go awwwwww?! :-)

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And here's another photo to make you go awwww! First visit to the zoo = a success!

I heart busrolls

Been gazing at them with big wanties for ages. And I couldn't resist this one...

Bought from here.

Please hurry up and arrive :-)

Make a video of your photos using Pummelvision

I found a cool website yesterday called Pummelvision.
You can link to an online album of your photos and it makes them into a video.
I took a photo a day when I was 27 so I used the album of those images from my Flickr account to make the video.
You just link up to the album and then a vimeo/youtube account (I already had a youtube account) and then enter your email address and they email you when the video is ready. It only took a couple of hours and it's awesome to look back over a year of my life in three and a half minutes.
I'm now contemplating a wedding version and I'm also thinking about baby's first year (we are trying to take a photo on the same day every week) so need to get some photos sorted!

Recipe: Apple Pie (and Jam Tarts)

One of the best things about the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn is apple pie!
This is a really simple recipe I got from my lovely Mum. It might be everyone already knows how to make this but I didn't until I badgered Mum to show me so I thought I would share...

Ingredients:
4 x large granny smith apples
2 sheets pre-rolled sweet short pastry
sugar - approx 2 tbsp
water
milk (for brushing)

Method:
Peel, core and quarter apples and slice each quarter into 4
Put apple slices in a saucepan, cover with water, sprinkle with sugar

Bring to the boil and let boil for a couple of minutes - prod the apple slices with a knife to check they are soft.

Meanwhile, grease a pie dish/pan and lay a sheet of pastry in the bottom. Press in gently so it fits into the pan and cut off the excess - make sure you leave a little hanging over the edge to seal the top. 

Drain the apples once soft and place into the pastry in the pie dish. Spread evenly.

Place a sheet of pastry over the top of the dish and cut off the excess. 

Seal the edges by pressing the top and bottom edges together. 

Brush the top of the pie with milk and sprinkle with a little sugar. 

Bake in a fan oven at 180 degrees for approx. 20 minutes until pastry is golden brown.

Best eaten warm with ice-cream and caramel sauce :-)

And rather than wasting the excess pastry you can make a couple of simple and easy jam tarts.
Just scrunch it all together into a ball and roll it out, cut out circles and put into a muffin tin (or I used ramekins).
Add in a heaped spoonful of jam. I used strawberry - yum!

Bake in the oven at the same temperature as the apple pie for approx. 10-15 minutes (depends on the size you make).

Yummy and a nice afternoon snack while you gaze upon your delicious looking and smelling apple pie!

Things I'm Loving

I've decided to join in with Paisley Jade's Thing's I'm Loving this week so here goes!

This week I'm loving...

the apple pie I made yesterday - here it is just before the top went on and it went in the oven...

a new toy for baby - Fisher Price Stacking cups in rainbow colours. He LOVES them and so do I!

My two daytime companions are best friends most of the time and yesterday there was even some hand/paw holding! (under close supervision I might add)

A gorgeous little purse I ordered from Megan at MouseHouse - it's called Katie Rose and I couldn't resist. Megan is kindly donating proceeds of sales from her shop to the Red Cross Earthquake Appeal so get over there and grab something now!

A couple of jam tarts I made with the leftover pastry from the apple pie

Taking photos of my gorgeous boy with the camera on my new phone

It's been good to take some photos and celebrate what makes me happy :-)