Things Im loving~GIVEAWAY~

Yipeee. 
I've been looking forward to this...my 200th post!
Seriously...thank you so much to you all who read and comment on my blog. It makes it so much more fun interacting with people through this amazing medium of blog-land.  And to say thank you to my readers, I have a few Things I'm loving at the moment that I wanna share with you and give to one lucky reader.

It been a while but I'm linking in with Meghan's "Things Im loving"

COFFEE
It is no secret that I love coffee. I have settled on this one company called "Coffee Supreme". They do a range of blends and you can choose your grind.  I like whole beans so I can grind them for my espresso machine. The best thing about this company is that I can order it online this morning and without a word of a lie it arrives the next day for just $3 postage! And the coffee was probably roasted that day too! So fresh and so good. I love their service so much that I sent them a little email saying how much other internet companies could learn from their speedy service, along with a "hey I'm a blogger...maybe you might have a little something for my readers..."  line, (Which I never do by the way!).  And they said they would be glad to send one of you lovely people one of their merchandise tee shirts. I picked a "Raglan Tee Shirt", size medium...because they look so darn cute! I may get one for myself.

Image from here

Im also chucking in my favourite coffee beans "the Supreme" blend.

BIOGRAPHY
This is my favourite genre of books at the moment. It is probably why I like reading blogs...I'm interested in how people do life. I found this one that I thought might be an inspiration for you. Born with out arms and legs, it has not stopped this guy. Nick Vujicic and his wife even recently had their first baby! This guy is a legend and has even appeared on Oprah Winfrey's new network and is inspirational speaker encouraging people to live their best life.

Sweet
If you ever visit Whangarei you must stop in at the "Fudge Farm" at the town basin. I have been eating their Russian  fudge for decades, and just for you I have a bottle of their Russian Fudge Sauce.
And I couldn't forget my favourite chocolate Lindt. You could share these with your kids...or not! I love them!

And all you have to do to be in to win this fab giveaway (worth over $100) is fill in the blanks of the these two words in the comments space below.  Its that easy.


P_ C K   M _ _ _ EEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Please make sure I can contact you via email  if I don't know you.

Best of luck. I will leave it open for a whole week and  draw a name on April 11th....My birthday! It will be a great day for both of us!

creating

The creative juices have finally started to flow.
Its been a while. A long while. But I have discovered that I like trying new things. What I used to enjoy creating BC (before children), is different to now.

Out of virtually no where I decided I would try and make a quilt. How hard could it be right? Well, pretty hard! For me anyway. I am once again winging it. In fact..."winging it" is my life mantra! I bought some square quilt pieces and have progressed slowly. As I have mentioned before, Im no natural sewer...in fact my sewing machine still lives in its box, and I have mini panic attacks when I go to the spot light fabric department.

There have been times I have wanted to give up, but my lovely mother in law has helped me breath through it and encouraged me to keep going and get it finished. Its supposed to be a picnic blanket. I have the finished product in my head.... But im thinking quilting might not be for me. I'm quite OCD about things looking symmetrical and and having the colours coordinated EXACTLY. So it has been an interesting exercise. Sewing straight and cutting straight are not my best skills. Anyhoo heres a sneaky peak. I think perhaps showing you might help me actually finish it. I would like to sit on it at the beach this summer!

Laying all the patterns out the first day I bought it.

Sewn  it all together. Not sure what to do next? 

Added some black around the edge.

And that's all I have done so far. This is going to be one expensive picnic rug!

Creating Curry.

I'm loving my curry spices. I'm a bit of a plastic Indian  I love the spices but hate the chili heat. My little brother bought me this curry spice tin for my wedding present many years ago, and it is special to me because it has an engraving on the top with out wedding date and name on it. A very thoughtful present for an (at the time) 18 year old boy.

You can make a curry out of anything. And what I learnt from my mum is there is no recipe, you put and little of this and a little of that. No curry ever seems to taste the same, well none of mine do anyway. Most towns have an Indian curry spice shop. If you are desperate you can try the supermarket stuff (think masterfoods or greggs), but in order to get descent turmeric and ground Marsala you need to hit the authentic Asian markets.

Other key ingredients for a curry are onions, garlic and ginger. Thankfully my kids love curry, so no worries about having to get the kids to eat.
Go on, give it a go!
Or if you are local, come over for dinner, and ill cook you up a feed :)

Creating CAKE
I had a friend over for coffee this morning, and we are both moaning about how we need to get out and lose some pounds, but I really wanted cake!
So I made a mini layer cake. I have these cute little mini spring form tins and made a double layer chocolate fudge cake with a butter mocha icing.
So good and it was so little we didn't feel so guilty!

Its sitting on a side plate!

Oh yeah...Im loving these creative juices!

♥Things Im lovin♥

 ♥ Things I'm loving ♥

♥ Loving looking out my kitchen to this rose bush. Most of my gardens are either weeds or green shrubs...so when this baby blooms every spring I always think I must get some more rose bushes. Such a pretty colour too.

♥ Loving watching the kids get ready for their gymnastics show. This is the one after school thing we do. Its been great watching the kids develop their motor skills and learn some new things.

♥Loving celebrating 10 years since graduation with a couple of my lovely class mates. Everyone has pretty much scattered the country and globe so it was a bit hard to do a real class reunion.
Thankfully after all these years none of us have changed too much.

Enjoying a champagne breakfast the morning of our graduation 10 years ago!

♥Loving this cute shot. Hubby did a skit as part of a speaking engagement at a conference using these props dressed as a crazy doctor. Apparently he had the delegates in fits of laughter. That's my hubby.A funny guy.

 ♥ Loving new words. Remember how I was telling you about Zak zak and his ear piercing screaming. I thought it was probably due to the fact he can't communicate his desires.Well he's finally learned a word; "Noooo". He says it in such a cute tone, that it makes me laugh all the time. I'm sure I'll get sick of "nooo", but for now its a nice change to the screeching.

♥ Loving the movie "Soul Surfer", out on DVD. When I first judged it by its cover saw it, I thought- here we go another cheesy surf movie. After investigating a bit further I found out it was about the chick Bethany Hamilton who was on the road to becoming a pro surfer when a shark bit off her arm. Even Hubby enjoyed this one. Bethany is a Christian and a bit of this comes through, but I wouldn't class this as your typical cheesy Christian film. It has the likes of Helen Hunt, Denis Quaid and AnnaSophia Robb (from Charlie and chocolate factory and Bridge to Tarabithia), so some great acting. The surf scenes are awesome. Apparently Bethany and her family had a lot to do with making sure the surf shots looked as authentic as possible.  And the digital effects were super great too.
Show this movie to your daughters!! A great message and inspiring story.

And that's My lovin List for the week.

Linking in with the fabulous PJ

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is. 

things Im loving

 Things I'm Loving 

Before

Loving bubbas new haircut. 

It was looking pretty boofy! Kinda looks like a wig in this shot.

It was his first real haircut and he was pretty wriggly. So much so, the poor hairdresser cut her self. Whoops!

after

 Loving finding random photos like this on the camera dadda took while I was at work.

Loving watching the bubba find fun in the simplest of places. Not loving having to tidy it back up again!

Loving the amazing Lego creations that keep the kids occupied QUIETLY for ages in their room. 

Loving taking a picture of my super healthy food! Don't tell anyone I had three chocolate bickies to balance out the healthiness!

Chicken Tikka Masala kebabs with Bulgar wheat salad

Loving the latest addition to my Mr Vintage tee shirt collection. Loving being a NZer. Loving the Rugby World cup. Loving NZ in the final. 

Suck that I have to work on the night of the final though! But I'm going to gather as many as my patients into the Day room which has a plasma, get a little dressed up and try and enjoy it with them anyway. As long as none of them get too excited and have chest pain..it will be a good night.

GO THE ABS!

Linking in with Paisley Jades Things Im loving

Things I'm Loving.

 Thing I'm loving....

Loving Kiwiana....

Can you get anymore kiwi than playing with a Buzzy Bee in a silver fern tee shirt.

Loving...The classic worn out dadda and toddler shot. 

Loving...A balanced diet. 

Hummus and smoked salmon on wholemeal bread toast...with a side of Duty freeToblerone. God bless the Swiss and their chocolate making skills.

Loving....Hubby's game of Pick up sticks...dishes style. 

We don't have a dishwasher so when we have a massive pile of dishes to do my hubby likes to see how high he can stack it without it falling over. And of course the game for the "dryer" is to see if they can pick out the dishes without any falling off and breaking. Great game...NOT!

Loving...Stories.

Miss Joy's latest passion is typing up her imaginative stories on Word. Love the title of this one...I honestly didn't think she knew what the word "Funky" was!

Linky in with my friend Paisely Jade.

Loving....

Its been a while since I linked up with my buddy PJ for a wrap up of things Im loving....so you might wanna grab a cuppa as I have a lot to share!

Love watching my daughter grow in confidence each year. She is now in year 3 and this is her and PJs daughter narrating a story for school assembly.

I think back to her first ever year 1 assembly, so shy she wouldn't even talk into the microphone...sing...but not talk.

Loving that while I was away this week for a conference (more on that next post ;), my darling hubby put up the bunk beds...it was supposed to be a surprise but through the grapevine I found out!

Loving new books!

I have signed up for another triwoman event in February...(anyone else wanna meet me there and do it too?) And while in my tea room at work I came across this book from the Biggest Loser Auzzie Trainer. It seemed like the all in one book I need to help be educated to be more healthy. It says how to lose the LAST 5kgs...but she doesn't need to know that I need to loose the FIRST 5kgs. It has the exercises and the training schedule and my personal favourite part the recipes for the eating plan...mmm...food...
whoops off track there for a moment...the exact reason Im in this unhealthy position...to much cake!

New books for the kids..the Roald Dahl Collection. Loved him as a kid and now my kids are enjoying him too.

Loving my first ever Amazon book purchase arrived today...Meet Mrs Smith. I read the a few pages of the preview and I am looking forward reading this. She is the wife of the amazing musician Martin Smith from Delirous. They say behind every great man is an even more amazing woman. Whoa they have SIX kids!


And lastly for a while now I have been wanting to start a Letters to Miss Joy book. I found this idea from Dee Construction. So I picked up Smiggle journal with a lock so we can share our secret letters with no boys allowed! Shes going to love it.

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is.

buying handmade

I just had to take a picture of what arrived in the mail today from "Felt". Zak-Zak was in need of some winter slippers so I popped over there to have a look. I'm pretty fussy about what the kids wear...Shamefully I will admit I prefer new to homemade or handmade, but I love these. They were made by this seller.

I also bought one of these off there a wee while ago too which looks perfect in my kitchen. I think these rules are more for me than the kids though.
And did you know that the talented Paisley Jade sells her awesome stuff like this here. Luckily I got a pair of these for my birthday! I'm sure she wants me to get on the Crochet Brigade..sorry Kristy not budging ;)


and also South African Kiwi sells some awesome handmade jewellery here too!I liked this one the best.



I am in awe of the creativity of ladies that take time to create something unique and not manufactured in China. I might be coming around to handmade stuff.

Go on BUY NZ made :)

Things Im loving....

♥ Things I'm loving ♥

Being thanked.
I had my workplace appraisal this week, and at the end of it my boss thanked me for the great work that I am doing. That made me blush and then a walked out just a little bit taller. When I'm a boss one day...I'm going to make sure my employees are thanked for the work they do.
Loving mini-me Father and son shots. I can't see any of my genes in this little fella at all. He is all Dadda


Loving the school holidays. No where to be, nothing to do, just a restful couple of weeks for the kids to recuperate and be raring to go come monday. Especially Joe who starts school. What will I do with myself all day! By the looks of the background of this shot...perhaps I can try and stay on top of the washing pile.


Loving that Miss Joy let me get her hair cut into a reverse bob style. She would always get a bit grumpy at hair brushing time before school. And she loves it!



Loving First tastes for Zak-zak... in this case...Chocolate!

And finally loving that today is the day we watch our beloved Prince William wed his bride. Its amazing that we are all enchanted by the whole affair. God save the Queen!

Linking with the lovely Paisley Jade..who is making it a Friday institution to be Thankful.

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is.