Weekend Adventures in Wellington :: Gollum at the airport, the Chocolate Fish Cafe and the Worser Bay School Fair

Note: Sorry to anyone who may follow this blog in a reader and got this message unfinished a little ahead of time, I accidently pressed publish rather than save the other day :-)

I had hoped to do posts similar to this right back when we first moved to Wellington as we have been spending time each weekend exploring our new city. Unfortunately I got a little overwhelmed with all the things to share and the photos I had taken and I haven't done it yet. I might try and do one big catch-up post for the things I haven't posted yet but in the meantime - this is what we got up to last weekend (Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th October)...

On Saturday morning we headed out to Wellington Airport to see the Gollum sculpture that Weta Workshop had built out there to advertise and help promote The Hobbit movie...how cool is this? And it's HUGE!

Hubby and Mr Mischief for a size comparison!

I wasn't the only one snapping photos but most other people looked like they were travelling through rather than making a special visit just to see it like we were :-) We were also hoping to have a go at the Flybuys Gumball machine but alas, they had packed that away the week before :-(

Next on the agenda was the Chocolate Fish Cafe on the Miramar Peninsula. 

You may remember this was on my 30@30 list...I didn't quite make it before my birthday but 5 days after I turned 31 isn't too bad!

It's such a neat little place. The food was yummy (Mr Mischief had an Egg Sammie, Hubby has the Bacon and Black Pudding Sandwich and I had the Pork Schnitzel Sandwich - all delicious). 

The highlight was Mr Mischief getting a chocolate fish wrapped up in a napkin which we let him open once he'd made a decent attempt at eating his sandwich. He was very impressed to find another chocolate fish as he'd already had one with his fluffy! 

The other cool thing about the cafe was the outside area where they have a little play set and heaps of different bikes, trikes, balance bikes and scooters for the littlies to play with! Lots of fun.

 

And on Sunday we headed to the Worser Bay School Fair which we had seen advertised and mentioned in heaps of places so decided to go. It was great. We didn't get the chance to buy a ticket for the ball run as they had sold out but we did stay we watch the race...

And best of all, I bought 3 tickets to lot 14 of the rapid raffle for $5 and won a $75 hamper filled with Cafe Polo goodies!

And finally to finish off a lovely weekend we went for a "bike walk"...so called by Mr Mischief because he rides his bike and me, hubby and the dog walk up and down hills!

And that was our weekend :-)

Scrapbooking: Document 2012: July

With the move I got a little behind on my Document 2012 pages. I had most of the pockets done for July but was missing 2 photos plus hadn't done the 2 feature pages. So when I packed up my craft desk in Palmy they were left un-finished :-(

Last week I pulled out the album and found the folder with the rest of my photos and embellishments I'd picked out and worked out which photos were missing. I added those photos to a recent photo order (Harvey Norman had 9c prints so as well as the 2 x Document July photos I also printed photos for Document August, Document September and the Becky Higgins/Big Picture Scrapbooking Project Real Life class I am taking at the moment...61 photos for $5.49!)

And over the weekend I sat and got the pages finished! Apologies for the not-so-great quality photos. I'm having issues with my iPhone pictures orientation and uploading them to Blogger. I have to save them as lower-quality GIFs so they face the right way.

The 1st page features my photo-a-day mosaics (and mention having to send my iPhone off when it was broken), Mr Mischief breaking his thumb, the big(ish) earthquake we had, a toddler seminar I attended and details of our coffee group joint 2 birthday party...

My 1st feature page is a group photo from the birthday party with all the mums and babies from our antenatal/coffee group plus most of the dad's and some of the 2nd babies! Sorry so much is blacked out but I thought that best given I haven't checked it's okay to post the picture here. The journalling at the bottom mentions that 2 years on - this is the 1st photo we've managed to get with all the mums and all the babies in it!

The 2nd feature page is Mr Mischief at 23 months. It was pretty difficult remembering what he'd been up to 3 months ago so I was really glad I had taken some notes at the time to help me remember...

And my last page talks about hubby interviewing and getting his new job, time spent in Wellington, a leaving do for someone at work, the Handmade Heart Swap I took part in, tidying up the garden ready for the house going on the market and a cute shot of our wee family...

You can see more of my Document 2012 pages here.

Now I have the photos printed and pages planned for August and September I'm hoping it won't be too long before I get caught up!

31 things about me

I turned 31 this week and I decided to write this list of 31 things about me on my birthday...

1. My tipple of choice is Malibu and caffeine-free Diet Coke
2. I gave up caffeine (in the form of coffee and diet coke) when I was pregnant and can't have it any more without losing sleep
3. I'm not keen on the number 31 as it has no even numbers
4. My husband (who knows me so well) pointed out that 3 minus 1 equals 2 which is one of my favourite numbers
5. My husband and I have been married almost 3 years and a couple for nearly 13 years
6. I adore stories with happy endings
7. At the end of books and movies with happy endings I tend to say "that was a lovely story"
8. I miss the times I could spend all day engrossed in a book or chick flick movie marathon
9. I love that Mr Mischief is a fan of books and reading
10. It's an annual tradition that my husband makes me tiramisu for my birthday (since around 2008)
11. It's virtually impossible for me to lay-in these days (even when hubby gets up with Mr Mischief and leaves me in bed I can't sleep!)
12. I'm a horrible person when I'm extremely tired
13. This evening when counting the number of people in a photo I missed the number 44 on 2 occasions according to my husband
14. 10 years ago I was living in Glasgow, Scotland and working at SQA and had a summer holiday in the Greek Islands
15. 5 years ago I was living in Palmy, about to embark on NaNoWriMo which I amazed myself by completing (I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days!)
16. It's weird how age used to be so important but now I struggle to remember how old I am
17. I have a shocking memory and have to write a lot of things down so I can remember them
18. I can be really indecisive and it gets so much worse when I'm tired
19. When I first learnt to drive my Mum used to remind me to put my lights on when I drove in the dark. Now my husband does the same. Sometimes I worry that without these reminders I would forget to do it!
20. I'm pretty sure that when I was 18 I didn't imagine being where I am at age 31
21. I love most of "where I am"
22. But there are some things that need work
23. One of my proudest achievements is bringing my son into the world and the manner in which I was able to do it
24. I still can't believe I'm a grown-up
25. In the few short weeks we've lived here in Wellington I've realised how much I missed living by the sea
26. I can't walk over stony beaches without looking for heart shaped stones or ones with smiley faces
27. It's getting late, I'm tired and can't work out if I'm using double negatives or not
28. There's a mirror in the corner of our bedroom which doesn't match any of our other furniture and it came all the way from the UK. It's the 1st piece of furniture I bought and the only piece of furniture we shipped when we emigrated here
29. I still can't work out how almost 7 1/2 years (since we left the UK) have gone so fast
30. I can't decide whether or not to do a list of things to do aged 31 like I have since I was 27
31. I've lost my blogging mojo during the move but hope that writing some lists and hand-writing my thoughts might help the words come back.

Operation Christmas Child (Year 3)

I've been taking part in Operation Christmas Child in New Zealand since my baby boy was born in 2010. You can see my 2010 post here and my 2011 post here.

Operation Christmas Child is all about delivering presents to children in need. You fill a shoebox with a range of items (such as toys, toiletries, stationery and small items of clothing) for a specific gender and age range and drop it in to your local collection point. The boxes are then distributed to children in need all over the world. You can read more about it here.

We've been pretty busy with the move so I've not been as organised about this as I'd hoped. I managed to track down the Wellington pick up (special boxes and leaflets) and drop off point - it's at the Manna store on Willis Street. I think the deadline for the box drop off this year is 25th October so there's still a little bit of time to join in if you're keen.

And I've spent about a week gathering items for the box.
We ended up with:

• a cap
• coloured pencils
• 2 notebooks
• some crayons in the shape of keys
• a toy truck
• 2 balls
• some wooden castanets
• a little wooden sailboat
• some Cars plasters
• a pack of tissues printed with a sheep pattern
• a toothbrush
• a bar of soap
• a Thomas washcloth
• an ink stamper
• some Cars puzzles
• a Wellington and a New Zealand postcard
• a Christmas card with a note about our family
• a picture made by Mr Mischief

We decided to make up a box for a boy aged 2-4 years. This is the first year that Mr Mischief fits in the age category and it's been a little tricky trying to explain to a 2 year old that the toys we are buying are not for him, but are to be given away. But in the long run, I think it will be great for him to be involved with this.

And this has become a fun and meaningful tradition that I hope we can continue for quite some time :-)

More Christmas Ornament Swapping

Just a quick note to let you all know that Dione over at Sew Funky is hosting the Kiwi Christmas Ornament Swap again this year.

Sign-ups are open to New Zealanders until 1st November and then Dione will assign groups of 6-7 people to send ornaments too. Ornaments need to be posted by 3rd December. 

You can head over to her blog here for all the information.

(What I made and sent last year)

My Creative Space :: a few cards

I have been missing my craft supplies! I am slowly getting the unpacking done (it's quite a slow process with a 2 year old in tow!) and managed to find some of my crafty supplies over the weekend. So I got busy making some cards with some scraps and bits and pieces I could find. It's almost easier making cards with less supplies...it means I have to use what I have available :-)

So here are the few cards I have made this week...soon to be sent off for a very good cause...

Now I just need to get caught up with my Document 2012 album!

I'm linking up with Our Creative Spaces today. Why not head over and see what everyone else has been busy making this week?

Annual Christmas Ornament Swap :: Hosted by New Zealand Handmade

It's that time of year again! Sign-ups are open for the Christmas Ornament Swap hosted by New Zealand Handmade. 


The swap is open to all those with a blog or a facebook page in New Zealand and anywhere else in the world. 
To participate you must be willing to mail overseas and honour your swap commitment.
The details: All players will be allocated one (only) swap partner. You will send directly to your partner and they will send directly to you.
You will make and send only one gorgeous handcrafted Christmas tree ornament and one lovely Christmas Card for your partner . The ornament should be made to hang on a Christmas tree and should be handmade by you with love and care. Make something special that you would love to receive yourself. Please do not cut out a paper star and send it to your partner.
All ornaments must be mailed by the 30th November and should be suitable to send in the mail. Postage to overseas will need to be sent by Airmail, so our partners receive their gifts by Christmas day to hang on their tree.


You can see all the details about the swap here and sign-ups close on 28th October.

I've just signed up and now need to get my thinking cap on for what to make! You can see the ornament I made for last year's swap here along with the lovely parcel I received in return :-)

Review: SunRice Asian Inspired Noodle Meals

I was recently given the opportunity to sample some new Asian inspired noodle meals from SunRice. The meals I was sent to try were "Hokkien Noodles - Thai Basil and Chilli Chicken and Vegetables" and "Japanese Style Noodles - Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetables".

It was a busy time for us in the midst of the move but I was keen to try something that might make life a little easier during all the other stuff we had to do!

Both meals were easy to prepare and you get everything you need in the packet - a microwaveable container and a fork as well as the noodles and sauce in separate packets. This is great when you have boxes everywhere and don't know where your plates or cutlery are!

I tried the Chicken Teriyaki version which was delicious - it contained lovely plump noodles and sweet teriyaki sauce. And there were some veggies through the sauce as well. Hubby tried the Thai Basil and Chilli Chicken. He found it filling and it was quick and easy when he got home late from work. He said it was tasty.

These meals can be wok cooked as well as microwaved and I think they will be great to have in the cupboard for emergency dinners (when you are having a crazy day and it gets to 6pm and you don't have anything organised to eat yet!) and would also be great  to take to work for lunch.

Photo a day :: September

Wow, this year is galloping by isn't it?
Here we are on the 1st day of my birthday month and living in a new city and experiencing lots of new adventures. Crazy times :-) I hope to be back later this week with news and photos of our 1st week in Wellington.
For now - here's a look at my photo mosaics for September.

This was the month where we farewelled Palmy and said a BIG hello to Wellington (along with lots of bubble wrap, cardboard boxes and moving chaos!)

You can see all of my photo-a-day mosaics here.