Catching up... big time

So I think I must be up to about week 27 or 28!  It's been a pretty busy holiday period for us, we spent lots of time away in Tairua, Coromandel Township and Cambridge, Actually, by the end of it, it was almost a relief to be home! Well, almost....

Anyway, I'm gonna let pictures do most of the talking here and use words to fill in the gaps.

Christmas Day was pretty ace... a slow, leisurely start with brunch up at Ben's parents with my dad in tow.  Then we worked on Christmas dinner and has a few drinks in the sun before everyone, my girls included, turned up for presents, turkey, salmon, Christmas pudding, salads, drinks, pumpkin pie and well, you get the idea.

After that it was down to Tairua where we hung out for a few days, enjoying some epic sunshine and day tripping to Whiti Farmpark (June-bug got bitten by a miniature horse!) We also spent time down on Ocean Beach and had a sandcastle competition.

It was back to Auckland for New Years at Simon and Vivs, which was really cool.  I got to see my cousin Dave and his wife Helen, who I haven't seen in way too long. New Years is also a time for making resolutions, of which I have fricken tonne, but I'll save all those for another post I think.

Next up on the holiday to-do list was a camping trip in Cormandel with Simon, Viv and Luca.  It was pretty cool, but I did kinda struggle.  We were a little ill-prepared, even though we felt like we'd packed everything bar the kitchen sink and we literally could not squeeze another thing in the car. Our air mattress was a deflater too, so that kinda sucked.  But whingeing aside, the holiday was fun.

The kids had a total ball, running around making friends, in and out of the water and in and out of the tent. I really liked the evenings- making dinner and then having a drink as the sun went down, was pretty damn pleasant.

We had a couple of day trips as well- we went to the Coromandel Mussel Kitchen for lunch one day and the next day we headed to Waterworks, a kinda hokey theme park hidden in the bush.

After camping came Cambridge, We spent a weekend here and then left the girls behind for a week of fun with their nana.  While we were in Cambridge Ben and I went to the Hamilton Gardens and tried to not to wilt away in the heat. We also hit the farmer's market and trash-to-treasure, where I scored a new apron (as you do).

So there you have it, my summer holiday done and dusted.  I said i'd let the pictures do the talking, but clearly I lied, because I just wrote a novel!

Loving it - week twenty three

A few things to love from the week before.... 

The shots above are of our dinner the other week which was a curious interpretation of fish tacos based on the ingredients we had around the house.

The thing to love in amongst all this is most definitely the chickpea and sweet potato salad, which I may or may not have blogged about here before. I found this recipe on Sprouted Kitchen, which is a really good blog.  They are so tasty and can be eaten hot or cold, as a main or as a side. We eat them quite a bit around our parts.

The tortillas and hot sauce pictured come from Marthas Backyard in Mt Wellington. If you ever have a hankering for American food (most of which is actually fairly foul) then you should make your way here. It's a good spot for Mexican staples and also peanut butter and jelly, pop tarts and nutter butters if those are the items that float your boat.

I'm also loving my library books lately! I have just checked out Anna Jones' How to Cook and it is so good.  I actually kinda want to buy it now, so I can keep a version at home. I have also just finished reading Unprocessed by Megan Kimble and really enjoyed it.  It reminds me of one of my favourite books Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I've already explored buying raw honey and raw milk in bulk as well as getting veges delivered to the door and purchasing our own flour mill (ahem). Ben is worried!

And in the fiction realm, I've just finished reading Life after life by Kate Atkinson.  Again, so good! If you've never read any of her books before, I really recommend them. You should start with Behind the scenes at the museum.

And the last thing I'm loving in my 23rd week is the small chats I have day-to-day with my girls. A lot of the time it's just the random sweet stuff... the 'I love you's' and 'you look nice in that top' kind of stuff that makes you happy.  But on other occasions it's the slightly more random stuff that gets you...like Juno asking for a willie for her birthday and then decreeing that if no-one bought her one, she would simply grow her own (good luck kid) and Mila, who cheerfully told me on a walk to school the other day that if you fake-burped at a rose on a rose bush, green steam came off it. This was totally true because her friend Elsie had told her.  OK kid, if you say so.

It's great to be grateful

Another double whammy, my new found blogging specialty!  

The weeks whizz by so fast and I keep forgetting to take photos which is pretty dumb. But we did take some of our delicious barley risotto from the other night, so I've treated you to a few of those.

Ben and the girls and I were down in Tairua, the weekend before last, at one of the prettiest beach spots anywhere, but we had forgotten to bring the camera so couldn't get any shots other than my Instagram ones. Boo.

Anyway, regardless of the lack of photography, our weekend was still an awesome one, take my word for it.  We had a practice run at putting up our tent, which went pretty well.  It's massive but so hot inside, we only lasted about five minutes before we aborted our tent mission.

We also went to Otara Bay for the day and had a picnic of strawberries, yoghurt, and marmite and chippie sandwiches. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Mila and Ben both braved the water and Bug and I got about knee-deep, which is an achievement for us.

The next day, we headed to Ocean Beach for one last swim and a spot of hard core shell collecting (again Ben and Mila did the swimming, Bug and I did the peripheral collecting) and then we made our way back to Auckland, stopping at Piako Pete's for some fresh smoked fish on the way.

Epic summery Kiwi weekend quite frankly.

The weekend just gone was a little different, it was just me and Ben and it was pretty errand heavy!

I caught up with my lovely friend Hannah on the Friday and what was supposed to be a business planning night was really just a wine-drinking gossipy night, but great nonetheless! We shall just have to get down to business next time..

On Saturday Ben and I house-hunted for a new rental (slightly soul-destroying) and also went out to Martha's Backyard to buy some Christmas presents and various hot sauces. We also went to the local hospice shop and scored a new puzzle, which we are currently working our way through, slightly hampered by our naughty cat who is hellbent on destroying it.

So anyway, that's been my life of late. 

Had a little bit of anxiety about future housing, work, money and my weight, but I'm trying to stay positive. The Universe has a plan and all that!

So in the spirit of positivity, I thought I would finish by listing a few things I'm grateful for right here and now:

Um, so the roof over my head is a good place to start. So grateful for a nice house with nice things and nice human beings (and occasionally a nice cat) inside.

I'm grateful for my early morning cuddles with Mila.  She's our small, dark alarm clock (my mother's very apt description of her when she was a toddler) and I love her for it.  It's also our rare opportunity to cuddle without the four-year-old getting in the middle.

I'm grateful for my health, which seems to be slowly improving day by day.  I've seen my new naturopath a couple of times now and she's given me some fairly rank muck to drink and then these other drops which make my water taste like pool water, but it seems to be helping.  Everyday I sneeze a little less and use a few less tissues. Sneeze-free by summer?  Well, just maybe....

And lastly I'm grateful for big dreams and my crazy imagination. In the last couple of weeks I've envisioned the best job ever and furnished a beautiful house in my mind at least a hundred times.  Always so much fun! 

Loving it - week twenty two

Posting twice in one day, must be some sort of record!

This post is basically a shout out to my garden, which is coming along rather nicely. Ben and I went kinda crazy a fortnight or so ago and now have three raised beds out the back, plus seedlings waiting to be planted out, a strawberry patch, various herbs in planters and a really pretty lavender bush!

We have eaten some of our spring onions, and a lettuce and the bok choy needs to be picked.  I am totally loving being able to go outside and just grab stuff that goes straight into the pan, onto the plate and into our bellies. So much fun!

The girls have spied a couple of strawberries well on their way, so now the race is on between us and the birds to see who will actually get to eat them.  Chances are Olive will get in there first and muck everything up anyway, she is obsessed with the strawberry patch.

I have so many big plans for these fruits and veges - chili oil and relish, tomato sauce, ratatouille, strawberry jam, rhubarb crumbles, fresh peas in my pasta -oh my god, the list goes on.....

Anyhoo, that's me for week twenty one - a happy lady with dirt in her fingernails and probably a slug or two on the dinner plate.

Other things worth a mention...

Loving date nights as per usual - this week Ben and I went to Shaolin Kung Fu Noodles for dinner and then to the movies to see Legend. I thought it was OK, Ben really liked it. My vege and egg fried dumplings were a personal highlight of the evening.  So, so good!

Also, went to a BBQ to celebrate my friend Kiara's nine year stint in NZ (woo hoo Kiara!!), which was really enjoyable and a great nod to the coming summer and all the yummy barbies that lie ahead.

I had my hair coloured last week as well, which immediately makes me feel a million times better and I bought a new moisturiser, which I totally believe will make me youthful again (honestly, that's what the packet says....)

Loving it - week twenty one

As I mentioned earlier, I spent the long weekend in Tairua with Ben and his family. The weather came out to play (sort of) and I spent a really nice Sunday driving through to Waihi to have lunch with my dad.

We went to the Ohinemuri Winery, which is hidden from the main road through the Karangahake Gorge, but is nevertheless teeming with cyclists from the rail trail and other visitors.  I had carrot soup and a delicious chocolate orange mousse and dad had a duck liver pate with crusty bread and then a really fresh lime tart covered in berries.

The Karangahake Gorge is awesome- i really want to have a holiday there at some point.  I'm dropping mad hints to Ben, that we should camp there over Anniversary weekend, but he's pretty lukewarm about it!

I also had my first ever go at playing golf, which was pretty unsuccessful but surprisingly fun. It is so fricken hard to hit those tiny balls, but when you do, the feeling is pretty great.

On Monday, we went to JB Hifi to recoup our stolen losses and walked away with a huge haul of gear.  It was actually pretty exhausting trying to spend that money and wracking our brains about what we actually needed etc... but we weren't complaining.

I got the National's High Violet album, which I haven't even listened to yet, but am looking forward to cranking at some point.  And Ben got a tonne of PS4 related stuff and a PS4... so he's pretty much counting the hours until he's home alone now so he can binge on it.

So, what else am I loving...

Well, we took the girls to Western Springs the other night which was a fun glimpse of things to come as summer stretches out before us. To be fair, we probably jumped the gun a bit- it was kinda chilly and the girls were kinda scratchy, but that could have been because we had been to an open home before hand.

We are looking to move back into town, which is probably gonna be a hella expensive exercise, but we think it will be worth it because of commute hassles and our general dislike of living in Avondale. The house we looked at was a bit small when it came to living space, but it proved to us that there were nice places we can afford in the area that we want to live in, so that was a nice positive outcome to hold on to.

So in summing up... the things I love this week and am forever grateful for are:

Long weekends -hell yeah, gimme more.

Long lunches - my dad is great mealtime company, never dull!

Open homes - a legitimate opportunity to snoop in other people's houses

The perfect marriage of chocolate and orange - I've been craving jaffas all week

Grumpy children - it's always fun teasing them a bit, then having a crack at cheering them up

The National  - why would anyone not love this band

Spending up large when it ain't your money - enough said.

Loving it - week twenty

No pictures!!!

Okay so there was a burglary at the beginning of the week and Ben's damn fine camera was stolen, along with some other stuff, so i'm gonna struggle to fill this post with any pics! Hence, the boring post.

I am of course loving the fact that nobody in the family was hurt as a result of the break-in, which happened while we were at work and school, especially little Olive, who must have been wondering what the hell was going on when people were lugging our TV down the hall.

But on the not so good side it meant hours of locksmiths, builders, insurance assessors, and two little people who are suddenly quite fearful.

Still, such is life.  My third burglary this year, so i'm assuming my theft trifecta is complete!

I'm currently loving being in the garden.  It's not really warm enough, but I no longer care.  Beds are being built and plants are going in. It's so exciting! I have visions of feeding the masses all with stuff we have grown ourselves! So far its just strawberries, rhubarb, rocket, bok choy, peas, lettuce, spring onions, squash and a zucchini, but there are plans to add tomatoes, chillies, an eggplant and more herbs into the mix.  Basically anything we can squeeze in, anywhere!

I'm also loving the Happier app. I have just started using it and I find it really good as a way of pausing and thinking about some of the things I am grateful for. If you're looking for a way to keep the positive juices flowing, I'd definitely recommend it. It's great for the ego when your happy moments make other people smile (almost as good as instagram likes!)

I'm loving online shopping as well. Honestly, I am ticking shit off the Christmas list like never before, and it's so much fun because you come home from work and there's a package for you (OK, so not technically for you, but you get to unwrap it in the first instance- thrill!!) and it is a little treat to brighten up the afternoon.

The weekend just gone, I ever so selflessly let my girls go off with their dad to a family reunion, so I took off to Tairua for the long weekend. It was a pretty great way to spend three days... more on that soon xx

Another birthday....

I am now the lucky mother of one very sweet eight year old.  The last stretch of September and the beginning of October are a fairly busy time for the Russell family, with my birthday and Harriet's birthday in September and then my niece James, my dad and Mila all together at the beginning of October.

On Friday the ninth, Mila turned eight and had a sleepover party at her dad's, which, by all accounts, went very well. I got my hands on her on the Saturday, which happened to be my dad's actual birthday and he was up staying with us so that was a bonus!

We headed out to Mission Bay for some playground fun and a picnic lunch with bacon and egg pie (Mila loves pies) and veges and raspberry suckies and other such yummy things. We also set up Mila's new soccer goal and had some fun kicking the ball at it and whoever had the misfortune of being goalie. But the weather wasn't overly pleasant, so we moved on kinda quickly.

Next stop was Lilliputt, where we all played minigolf on the original course, which was way quieter than the T-Rex one. Both girls got a hole-in-one on the first hole, so that was a pretty good way to get things started.  Ultimate winner was Ben, with Grandad a close second.  Us ladies were a little off the pace, it's gotta be said.  Still it was fun and I think the girls enjoyed it, although Mila did look set to throw her club on a few occasions.  

We headed back towards home after that, stopping for ice cream at the Tannery.  I had a golden syrup flavoured ice cream, which was delicious. June-bug went for chocolate, Mila had cookies and cream, Dad had a lemon curd one and Ben opted for strawberries and chocolate. Overall consensus is that Kohu Rd ice cream is the biz.

After that it was just home for some gardening, more football, chicken curry for dinner, birthday cake and a movie.  All in all a pretty sweet way to celebrate a pretty sweet kid's big day.

I swear, I can't face my children's birthdays without thinking back to the day they were born. For Mila that means memories of an atrocious labour that seemed to last an eternity, being admitted to hospital and then finally having my little girl wrapped up beside me (actually, not so little, a whopping 9+ pounds). 

I remember looking at her and feeling the weirdest rush of emotions- she at once seemed so alien and familiar. I thought she was weird looking but also the most beautiful thing I had ever clamped my eyes on. 

I wasn't great at parenting a young baby its gotta be said, but it didn't seem to put Mila off. She has been my staunchest supporter and ally from the get go.  She gives me the best cuddles, and the best advice when I lose my way.  She is great for a laugh, she loves a practical joke (as long as she's not the butt of it), she loves family, friends and most of all every kind of meal be it savoury or sweet.  Everyday I think how lucky I am to have her. 

Happy birthday Mila!

And it's been a while, but here some things I've been loving over the past month

* My new yoga course at The Yoga Ground.  I'm halfway through the eight week course and starting to feel like i'm finding my feet... or hamstrings, or glutes, or triceps.....

*Our vege garden, which is slowly starting to take shape.  Dad has helped us plant some seedlings and we have built a couple of raised beds to accommodate a lot of veges over the coming summer months. I'm so excited!

*Tacos.  Specifically the mushroom one I had at Mexico, when we all celebrated my friend's 40th and the pulled beef one I had at Miss Clawdy's where we went for a bang-up meal for Dad and James' birthdays.

*Friends, wine, summer plans.  Dreaming and scheming about New Years Eve and camping fun over a glass or two of wine in the late afternoon sunshine with a friend, is the perfect way to round out the weekend imo.