Tap, Tap...anyone still there? Hello?

Hello! Welcome Back! Thanks for re-visiting after I took such a long break!
It's been a little more than a while hasn't it?
Let's call it Winter hibernation...in fact this pretty much sums it up...

(original pin)

I do tend to bunk down in Winter and stay cosy and warm and I seemed to ease up on internet participation as well this year including blogging.

I haven't been too idle though - here's a look at what I've been up to over the last couple of months...

• Surviving various shakes and storms that hit the Capital
• Ensuring our emergency kits were all sorted (including buying a great one from here for the car)
• Seeing the Hairy Maclary stage show at the Opera House
• Introducing Mr Mischief to some of our childhood favourites
• Heading to Palmy for our coffee group's 3rd birthday celebration
• Hubby and I getting our NZ passports
• Attending the Petone Winter Carnival
• Celebrating Mr Mischief turning 3 (and 20 hour free childcare - yay!) with a batch of minion mini cupcakes and a KitKat construction cake  as well as his first trip to the movies to see Despicable Me 2
• Applying for and interviewing for a new job which I was offered just as...
• we headed off to the Gold Coast (Australia) to introduce Mr Mischief to my Aunty, Uncle, Cousins and other extended family and for a  family celebration of his birthday
• Getting a pedicure for the first time in what feels like forever
• Taking the dog to the vets after he got nipped in a rather unfortunate place while at the kennels when we were in Aussie
• Handing in my notice at my first Wellington job (sad to say goodbye) and working out my four weeks notice
• Celebrated Fathers Day and RAK day with a batch of handmade fudge and other goodies for hubby
• Changed around Mr Mischief's bedroom, had a toy clearout and bought him an Expedit type shelving unit (yay for 40% off coupons!) to display his toys
• Celebrating 2 Happy Last Days at each of the two locations I worked at
• Taking part in a Washi Tape Swap
• Starting my new job this last week and getting settled in (so far, so good but VERY busy!)
• Crocheting a baby blanket for a long-time friend who just welcomed her first baby into the world
• Mostly keeping up with Project Life (I have a few weeks to catch up on at the moment and I recently bought a second album)
• Signing up for Alisa's #NZMugSwap2013 - I will try to blog more about this soon (but in the meantime, if you've been given the task of sending me a parcel - a good place to look to see what sort of stuff I like is here)

Whew! No wonder I feel tired. I promise to come back soon with some photos of the cakes and blanket!

Hope you are all keeping warm, happy, well and safe!

And because I can't possibly post without a few more photos here are some lovely pins I have discovered lately...

(pin and original source)

(pin)

(pin and original source)

(pin)

Saturday Morning Thoughts

Happy 1st Day of Spring to everyone in the Southern Hemisphere :-) 

This year Spring is ALL about new beginnings for our wee family.

On Thursday the sale of our house in Palmy went unconditional. This is THE month we are moving to Wellington. Exciting times lie ahead.

I've not been great at updating here on the blog how I am doing with my 30@30 list (I have made a note to update the list soon) but as the seasons have been rolling by I have been listing 3 things to do each season. I thought I'd share my Spring tasks with you:

1. Move to Wellington (kind of obvious but it's a BIG job and it will be happening in Springtime!)
2. Go along to an event to meet people (once we get to Wellington - this may be something crafty or possible a toddler-related activity or event)
3. Visit the Chocolate Fish Cafe (I am compiling a Pinterest board of Wellington to do's and this one is top of the list! Let me know if there's anything else you think I should add!)

It's been an interesting Winter - one that has almost passed us by in a whirl of decisions and opportunities. I spent less time noticing the cold and more time planning the future. I think that's the way I like winter to be. When my toes are cold I get grumpy. I've been too busy these last couple of months to feel the cold too much. 

And finally, another random thought for this Saturday morning - today is RAK (Random Act of Kindness) Day in New Zealand. You can find out more about that here. I am hoping a fantastic and completely random opportunity will present itself to me today to do something kind for someone else. And for blog readers my RAK to you is the chance to win my giveaway :-)

Happy Weekend Adventures everyone :-)

Making the most of it

With the days and nights getting colder and Winter beginning to make an appearance we've been making the most of the more autumnal days (crisp and clear and dry) and getting out in the garden for a play after Mr Mischief's afternoon naps.
Today I took a few photos to capture the changing seasons and how much my wee man is growing.
I'm also pretty impressed with how my toadstools are looking several months on from their makeover...you can see them in the background behind the dog waiting for me to kick his ball!

Summer awesomeness

palm trees at the Esplanade December 2011

I thought I'd continue my list of things I love about summer from last year with some specific things we have done this year...

16. Riding the train at the Esplanade
17. Eating strawberries and cherry tomatoes that we have grown ourselves in the garden
18. Mr. Mischief's love of being outside (I imagine this will continue after Summer but Summer makes it easier to take him outside!)
19. Mowing the lawns - I always saw this as a chore before but this Summer I took on the task as my own and got out with the mower regularly. I can now whizz round the front garden in 10 minutes and it takes about another 20 to do the back - much easier when you're not having to empty the catcher every 2 minutes!
20. Chalk paint and decorating the boring and ugly concrete :-)
21. Family fun washing the car
22. Ditto the dog
23. The Christmas Parade in Feilding
24. Riverside walks
25. Lots of time spent at the park
26. Lots of public holidays and long weekends so we can spend time as a family
27. Zoo trips

That's all I can think of for now but I'm hoping I can carry on updating these lists each year. It feels like summer is already a fond memory - we've had heaters on and extra blankets on the beds recently. I must admit I was hoping for a mild Autumn but so far the nights have been chilly. I'm sure it's not normally this cold this early but nevermind - I will just have to concentrate on finding more things I love about Autumn :-)

My Creative Space: Summer Decoration (seasonal blocks)

I'm a little bit late in making these seeing as Summer is nearly done (I won't say that too loud though and hope we have a late summer this year!).
I've got 6 little blocks that sit on my fireplace and I'm gradually decorating each side with a letter from the name of each season and some other seasonal decoration.
You can see the Winter version here and the Spring version here.

The blocks were put away at the end of Spring (early December) to make way for Christmas decorations and even though I've had the idea of how I wanted these to look for a while I hadn't quite got around to doing it.

I found the sheet of sand-paper I bought for this project in a pile on the desk at the weekend and it reminded me to get it done. To be honest I did think about leaving Summer until later and going straight to Autumn but my (slight) OCD tendencies wouldn't let me make the sides out of the order of the seasons!

There's nothing that says SUMMER for me more than little boats and the seaside. I was born in a seaside town and as a little girl often spent summer days at the seaside with my bucket and spade :-)

I cut up the sandpaper as the base for each block and then hand-cut waves in two different colours of blue for the ocean. I then had the idea of making little boats and using the letters S U M M E and R as the sails of each boat but wasn't sure how it would work.

In the end I decided to use smaller letters atop washi tape sails on little boats with matchstick masts. 

Washi tape, matchsticks, little boats - this is like my favourite project ever!

I didn't have E's left in the letters I wanted to use so the E is a backwards 3 :-)

In hindsight I wished I'd used a couple of different colours for the boats and sails rather than make them all pink - maybe I can look at changing this up for next summer.

But in the meantime, I'm happy to have this done and be able to cross it off my 30@30 list as well as enjoy the summery decoration before the seasons turn.

Here's hoping I can get the final side decorated in shades of Autumn sometime before winter :-)

Linking up with Our Creative Spaces.

Seasons: Winter

Now that Winter is behind us here's the last of my seasons lists. 

You can see Spring here, Summer here and Autumn here. 

Looking back at my Autumn list - a lot of those things apply to winter as well but I've tried to include new things on this list as well. 

Hopefully I'll get the chance to add a couple of items to each list as the seasons roll around again.

A work-in-progress list of the things I love about Winter...

1. cosying up in front of the fire
2. slow cooker meals
3. an excuse to light candles and put the fairy lights on
4. gorgeous hand knitted jumpers for the baby
5. my Winter blocks
6. hot chocolate
7. my baby boy's birthday
8. snow! (this year at least!)
9. celebrating winter solstice
10. cosying up on the couch with my latest crochet project
11. watching the daffs and tulips emerge and waiting for Spring to see them flower
12. feeding the birds and seeing a lot more of them when there's no leaves on the trees
13. the camelia bushes flowering
14. having an excuse not to mow the lawns and not having so many weeds that need pulling!
15. brisk winter walks on cold but sunny days

Spring decoration (Seasonal blocks)

I've had this project on my desk since the start of the month and got it finished over the weekend. I wanted it done for the start of Spring but at least it's done before Spring is over :-)
You can see my Winter sides and the story of the blocks here.

For the Spring sides I used a bright blue paper to symbolise the sky as that's one of the things I always notice on nice Spring days. I then cut strips of green paper for grass and snipped and ruffled them to give them a 3D effect.
I used some glittery pink thickers for the letters as I thought the lovely pink colour is similar to the lovely flowers that start to pop up as Spring settles in.
I then embellished the blocks with some flower stickers (nestling in the grass), a sunshine, some butterflies and some washi tape bunting.

Looking at them now I wonder if they are too summery but I wanted some bright to suit the season. Plus I have a more beachy theme in mind for Summer so it shouldn't be too samey.
I'm pretty pleased with how they look brightening the fireplace in my lounge :-)

Things I'm Loving :: Signs of Spring

It's been a while since I linked up with Paisley Jade's Things I'm Loving - must be something to do with winter! Now that Spring is here I'm ready to join in again! So what better pictures to share then the first signs of Spring.

Like my beautiful double daffs flowering in my garden...

Blossom on the trees at the park...

Looking for the baby ducks at the pond (on Fathers Day)...

Seeing some baby ducks - yay!...

And some lovely snowdrops growing near the woods...

Don't you just love Spring?!

RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) Day :: summary

So here's a quick summary of what I got up to yesterday for RAK day...

I bought 2 bunches of daffodils and gave one to my boss and one to our Porse lady...

Husband took some chocolate bars to work to hand out and I took lollies in for workmates....

I made blueberry muffins and paper-plated some up for the Porse lady and her kids (minus lollies) and for my office (with lollies) plus husband took a big tub of them in to his work...

And don't forget the notelets/chocolate giveaway on the blog - I'll probably leave it open until Sunday so feel free to leave a comment on the post to be in with a chance of winning :-)

And the RAKs don't stop here - I am going to make more of an effort to do things like this regularly.

And with all the RAK day excitement I didn't mention how happy I am that SPRING IS HERE! I was very pleased to see a mama duck and her teeny tiny ducklings on my drive to work yesterday plus the daffs in my front garden are flowering too :-)

Jumping on the snow bandwagon!

I'm a little bit late but I thought I'd share some of our snow pictures from Monday.

The Square in Palmerston North hasn't seen snow for decades so most Palmerston-ians were ridiculously excited to see some snow :-)

It was nothing like what we experienced in Scotland but I admit to feeling rather excited myself and couldn't resist taking lots of photos...

This last photo is from the Palmerston North City Library Facebook page of the Sqaure.

I'm kind of dreading the power bill but it was still great to see the baby so excited at the snow. He was banging on the window and shouting at it :-) He wasn't that fussed about being outside in it though!

And it's all gone from our garden now. Just big wet puddles left :-(

Being Creative: Summer

The theme for Julia Crossland's Being Creative project in July was Summer.
At the beginning of the month I had plans to make the summer side of my seasonal blocks but I didn't get round to it (my husband suggested I use sandpaper for the background which I think is an awesome idea but I haven't got around to buying sandpaper yet!)
I thought I wasn't going to get around to anything but then on Sunday night I spotted some permanent fabric markers that I bought recently on my bookshelf. I got them in Hallensteins of all places (a male clothing store!)  in the bargain bin for $10 (original price $24.99).
I decided I wanted to try them out and remembered the canvas re-usable bag I'd got weeks ago at Typo (I think it was $2)...

Given the wording on the bag I figured this can be a rather simple project for Being Creative! I went with rainbow colours (my favourite colour combination!) and coloured in the sun and letters as well as drawing patterns on the strap.

It'll be handy for folding up small in the bottom of my bag for a shopping bag when I'm out and about :-)

Also joining in with Our Creative Spaces :-)

Winter Solstice

Yesterday was Winter Solstice here in New Zealand. The shortest day of the year. 

Now we are on the climb back towards summer and warm days and lighter evenings. Woop :-)

I decided to do something to celebrate the day. 

Here in New Zealand winter gets awfully long without any celebrations in the middle (I miss winter Christmas'!) so I needed to find someway to mark the season.

So out I toddled into the garden yesterday afternoon. I cut some of the camelia's to bring inside the house as they are providing such a lovely burst of colour on these chilly days. 

I refilled the bird feeder with seed because I'm sure the birds could do with some easy food right now.

I gathered and lit lots of candles on our mantlepiece.

And I got out the fairylights.

I also burned some Herb Farm anti-germ oil in the burner. It has cloves and cinnamon in it and is the most wintery smelling oil I have!

It all gave a rather warming affect and it was very cosy in our living room with the candles and fairy lights twinkling away. 

I'm also considering planting some garlic this week (probably at the weekend) because I hear winter solstice is the best time to plant it.

And I'm trying to spent a bit of time thinking and planning this week. In  my winter solstice research I saw mention again and again of it being a time for contemplation so I'm taking some time to evaluate where I am right now and where I want to be.

Winter Decoration (Seasonal blocks)

As part of my 29@29 list I wanted to find ways to celebrate each season. As well as making a list of things I love about each season I had an idea in my head for quite a while and finally got around to doing something about it this week. 

I realised a while ago that each season has 6 letters: spring, summer, autumn, winter...(I can be a little slow on the uptake at times! or maybe just unobservent until a craft project comes along!) I've seen lots of great seasonal signs around the internet but instead of making a separate sign for each season I had an idea of using cubes which could be turned around at the start of each season to show that seasons decoration. I hope I'm explaining myself properly!

I've been looking for wooden blocks for a while with little success. On Monday I hit Spotlight thinking they'd have something. I found Kaiser wooden photo cubes. Exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Except they were $11.99 each. And I needed 6. That wasn't the kind of budget I had in mind for this project!

So I stood in Spotlight and brainstormed - favour boxes sprung to mind so I dashed off to the wedding related aisle. They had several different shapes but I found cubes. There were some lovely textured card ones but that wasn't the point as I was planning to cover it up. And then I found clear plastic cubes (approx. 2 inches across) - a pack of 10 for $14.99. A bargain compared to the wooden blocks plus I would have 4 spare in case I stuffed up!

Once I got them home it took me exactly until baby's next nap before I got to work...

Here are my 6 boxes all made up and the little 'canvas' I made for each one...

And here they are stuck on my blocks...

I used a mixture of blue paper, blue vellum, white thickers, snowflake confetti, white flowers, gems and stickers to decorate each one.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out and already have them adorning my fireplace...

I did consider waiting until each season was almost upon us before decorating for each one but I don't think I can wait that long so may start on the other sides soon.

Happy 1st day of winter/summer everyone depending on where you are :-)

Seasons: Autumn

Time for an Autumn list as this season ends and we come into winter. I think there's a lot of things on this list that apply to winter as well but hopefully when the time comes I'll have some wintery likes too :-)

A work-in-progress list of the things I love about Autumn...

1. It used to be my birthday month (when I lived in the Northern Hemisphere)
2. It's the most naturally colourful season in my opinion
3. Finding conkers on walks in the park
4. Looking for interesting shaped leaves that have fallen
5. The word 'Autumn' itself is pretty awesome
6. Warm mugs of hot chocolate
7. Melty marshmallows in the aforementioned hot chocolate
8. Wanting to bake to make the kitchen and house feel warm
9. Apple pie - autumn is the season this seems most appropriate to make
10. Seeing and hearing more birds
11. Taking time to close the curtains each night and put the fire on and make the house nice and cosy
12. Being able to use our gorgeous moa throw on the bed to keep us warm (it was a wedding present from G's mum and there is one on every bed at the hotel we stayed at for our wedding night)
13. New seasons of shows I like on telly (like Grey's Anatomy)
14. Lots of rainbows when the weather can't make it's mind up
15. Wanting to spend lots of time being crafty and make things.

You can see other seasonal posts and lists here.

Tips for the changing seasons

There's a few things I like to do as the nights draw in and the days get chillier. A few things that make me feel like I'm boosting my wellness and fighting off those yucky change of season germs as well as making the most of the season. I don't always avoid the colds and germs completely but I often feel it's not quite as bad as it could be.

I thought I'd share some of my tips with you...

• burning essential oils. Eucylyptus to get rid of germs and cleanse the house. Lime for a refreshing zing. And always lavendar to relax.
• taking echinacea and vitamin C tablets (there seems to be contradicting research on whether this works but I'm sure it must have some benefit)
• using a good moisteriser on my face every day
• moisterising my hands regularly
• lip balm (I find my lips get drier as the weather gets colder so always try to remember to carry one with me)
• having a warm drink late afternoon - like a coffee (decaff for me - I've been off caffeine since I got pregnant and been off it so long I don't see the point of getting back on it! plus I really noticed it ruins my sleep) or hot chocolate to keep me feeling warm and cosy as the day gets darker and colder
• trying to get outside in the middle of the day for some fresh air
• closing the curtains and blinds before it gets dark
• lighting candles or having fairy lights on - trying to make the most of the dark evenings with twinkly light
• enjoying satsumas or seedless mandarins while they are in season

I've also signed myself up with some friends to a Winter Wellness Workshop at the Herb Farm. I'm looking forward to picking up more tips for protecting myself and my family from the harshness of winter.

Is there anything you do at this time of year to ward off Winter ills or to celebrate winter? (or for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere what you do as winter draws near?) I'd love to hear any tips you might have :-)

An Autumn Walk

A few snapshots from our Sunday afternoon walk. 

I love walking in Autumn and seeing the changes in colours in nature.

We were lucky enough to see 3 tui's having a singsong 

(one popped out of view as I snapped this picture)

I love looking for interesting shaped leaves. 

Can't wait until baby is old enough to help me look :-)

It was a little chilly and someone needed a sleep so he was wrapped up under his blanket

How cool is this with the leaves starting to change colour?

I love walking through woods. 

I love that fresh, woody, rainy smell and the crunch of leaves under your feet.

I particularly like windy paths where you can't see what's ahead of you...it's all about the element of surprise!

Nice to see some dahlias still in full bloom (we were at the same place that I took these photos but these are in a different part of the park)

Unfortunately the baby and dog were not feeling the same level of excitement as I was and both whined for a fair bit of our walk. Thank goodness for a patient husband who doesn't complain when I stop every few metres to snap a picture or look at a lovely leaf or point out trees that look like giant emus!

I'm also developing quite a collection of conkers. 

I have them in a glass and like to admire their shiny-ness every now and again :-)

Here's to enjoying Autumn and all it's lovely colours while it lasts.