Life's Wonderful Happenings

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Things I'm Loving!

This week I'm loving...

Bird and Owl Cafe

Having a delicious brunch at a gorgeous cafe! All organic too!

Impromptu Snow

It snowed again a few times this week. The other day I was sitting out in the sun on my lunch break and before you know it, boom! It was snowing!

Hanging out with Keith

Our washing machine has been broken for the last couple of weeks and won't get repaired until the end of next week. I was quickly running out of my emergency undies (I can't believe I had enough to last me this long, last time this happened I had to wear a pair of togs to work!). I walked to my cousins' who thankfully live a 5 minute walk away, with my washing in tow, and got to hang out with this cutie patootie for a while!

View from the top

I've realised I often take photos of my shoes/legs/skirts/dresses. So here's a collage of my favs! You can definitely tell which pairs of shoes are my favourites!

Gigs

I went to see Gin Wigmore on Monday night! Wow! If you get the chance, I highly recommend it! She's an amazing performer and even better in real life! I really don't like feeling disappointed when you see one of your favourite singers sing live and they're the dogs bollocks. Gin was definitely the cat's pyjamas! Not to mention she gave me 'the eyes' four times during the show! Made me all happy inside!

Sorry for the briefness, my heart really is in it this week; but my head is all over the place!

Linking up with Meg

Friday, March 8, 2013

Things I'm Loving!

In between all the business of the past week, I've been loving...

New Outfits

The dungaree dress was a choice score for £1 from eBay. The duck top was another choice score from an Oxfam opshop on Holloway Rd for £2.99. And those gold disco pants, yes, I did buy them, they were a super choice score off boohoo.com for £10.

Beer and Cider festivals

I love a bit of cider. Well, maybe a lot of cider, so this festival was right up my alley! There's something not-so-intriguing about having a beer that tastes like elderflower mixed with lemonade vs a beer that tastes like cat litter. After that, we stuck to the ciders!

Skype

I absolutely LOVE Skype! Last week I had a 2 hour conversation with my parents in Wellington and my sister in Darwin. Ya, I didn't know you could three way Skype either! Four people in three countries talking to each other at the same time via the same conversation, BRILL!

Cycling

I've been cycling to work most days now. I'm a lot more confident on my bike, now that I wear a helmet and know the route so don't have to faff around with wondering where to go. I did however see a guy get knocked off his bike during the week about five seconds before I was about to get on mine, so it's made me extra weary, but I still love my bike all the same!

Signing

I started my job (working with deaf children) in September knowing no sign language. It's quite awesome how fast I've been picking up different signs, whether it be in BSL (British Sign Language) or Makaton. I can now sign my first song, the alphabet, a range of different fruit, emotions, swear words (ha!), and commands. Plus some other random stuff!

The Sun

I was outside the other day enjoying the sun and took this photo. I love how it looks like a one eyed monster with big pink lips!

This Song

I'm a music lover, and it's part of my everyday life. This girl, Lucy Spraggan, was on X Factor last year, I think she came 5th or something, I didn't watch it, but she's amazing!!! My favourite song is this one called Tea and Toast. It's a little bit sad, but such a beautiful song!

Linking up with a pretty choice babe

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Homemade Ice cream

Source

I first made this a couple of years ago back in Wellington at the preschool I used to work at. I was given a lot of space to be creative and try new things out, and it was something I had been wanting to do for ages!

I made it today with my little kiddies at my school in London, and wowed not only them, but my T.A's too!

It's pretty simple. This is the right amount of ingredients to have for your first go, it doesn't make loads, but once you've mastered the technique (which doesn't take much mastering, coming from me who's one of the world's worst cooks!) you can increase the amount to suit the bellies you need to fill!

All you need is...

-A smallish sized zip lock or resealable plastic bag, which will contain the following...

-1/2 a cup of milk - works perfectly with soya milk or normal milk, and this amount can later be increased if needed

-1 tablespoon of sugar

-Some vanilla essence - not loads, but enough to flavour it. I've used in the past Milo and peppermint essence too!

-A mediumish sized zip lock or resealable plastic bag which will contain...

-6 tablespoons of salt - the cheap no-brand salt does the trick, it doesn't have to be rock salt or anything fancy

-And some ice cubes. I'd say put in maybe 3-4 cups of ice, even 5 if you want. I always just guess!

Put all the 'small bag' ingredients in together and seal it tight!!!! Then put the ice and salt together in the 'medium bag'. Chuck the small bag into the medium bag, seal the medium bag, then get your shake on!

You'll need to shake it for maybe 3-5 minutes. It's great when doing it with kids because you can pass the bag around and your hands don't freeze off! You'll be able to see the liquid starting to solidify so you can kind of guess when it'll be ready.

And the voila! There you have it! You're very own, homemade, hassle free, nearly mess free, ice cream!

The consistency is a bit like that first scoop of ice cream out of a new container once it's been opened. It's soft, sweet, and delicious!

Fact: The reason it can freeze like that is because of the reaction of the salt and the ice. The salt makes the ice super cold and whilst it's being shaken around it's able to start to freeze the liquid.

Another fact: If you have super sensitive hands like myself, you might want to shake it inside a tea towel or put gloves on. I got some lovely ice burns on my hands today!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Things I'm Loving!

After nearly a 4 week absence (!), I'm back!

My blog address

I have only just realised that when I access my blog directly, it ends with BlogSpot.co.uk! Ahhhh! It kinda makes me feel like a bit of a traitor!

Flights

In the next few weeks I will be booking my tickets for a months holiday back in New Zealand! It would've been nearly 2.5 years since I was back home by the time I go! I feel pretty excited about it; my bank account on the other hand isn't too happy about the £1200+ transaction that's going to happen!

Source

The beach

I'm in dire need of getting away, particularly to a beach with sun. I don't know if it's because I've just had my first lot of school holidays in nearly 2 years where I haven't gone away or if it's the first-week-back-at-work-blues, but I'm totes craving some sun, sea and sand!

Kapas Island, Malaysia. I spent a lovely 2 weeks here in August 2012.

Laptops

I've finally upgraded from my tiny wee HP netbook after two and a bit years with it. It's such a treat to be using a proper for real life laptop! The screen is sooooo much bigger! There's a number keypad, and all the keys are UK formatted, so there's no random pressing of keys to find the pound symbol or the hash key! I can liken this experience to getting to sit in the 'expensive' comfy seats at the cinemas, that as a 'youngin' were always to expensive for our pocket money allocation! I'm not sure why, but it's such a treat!

My new babe! A Lenovo G580. And it's blue too!

Parks

I've discovered a pretty choice park (Note: I nearly went a whole blog post without using the word choice.. dang!) not too far from my house. It is up one of London's only hills, and since moving from Wellington I'm a bit out of practise with the whole 'hill situation', so I was stoked with what I found!

The hipster comes out

I'm loving this choice, amazeballs score from eBay for £1!!!! It's pretty fun, pretty comfy, and pretty darn choice! Not to mention it being a H & M limited edition Tea Collection dress! BOOM!

Excuse the bed hair and no makeup! It was the holidays!

Linking in with my sweet sweet babes

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

I'm Back!

After moving house, having no internet, getting internet then having my laptop break, I am FINALLY back in business!

Here's some loving I've had over the last month!

Double Decker Buses

There's something about getting to sit on the top, at the front, on a double decker bus! Secretly taking a photo and tagging it on Instagram with #topdeckshoes is even more fun!

Glasses

I needed glasses when I was 13 and was told that I'd only need them for about 6 months to strengthen a lazy eye. Low and behold, nearly 10 years later I still need them. Loving my pink ones that were FREE off the internet!

Moving house

Our new house is simply amazing. It's got such a great homely feel to it, not to mention it's soooo warm! What's even better, is that I can walk to work in 40 minutes, or choose the quicker option of cycling on my beautiful bike in 10 minutes! That'll be 4.4 miles of exercise each day thank you very much!

HP BBQ Sauce

I'm not big on condiments, and have a strong desire to dislike tomato sauce, whether it be in baked beans or straight from a bottle. Since being in London, HP sauce has hit the spot. What hits the spot even more is HP BBQ sauce. Oh, it's so smoky and flavoursome. Lather it on and your taste buds will have a great party!

This was the beginnings of a mouth watering fish finger sandwich. I can sense noses turning up here, I did too at the thought of it, but it quickly became a regular Sunday night treat!

Bike rides

During half term I went for a marathon bike ride with my cousin around North London. This is the view from Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath. Smack bang in the middle, right at the back, is the Shard and to the left of that is the Gherkin!