Today will Be Amazing

image stolen from a friend's FB wall!

So will tomorrow!

Rachael xo

Happy and Sad

The Cowboy is sick so I have been playing nurse, slicing Kiwi Fruit and making lemon and honey drinks for him, he is so lucky! haha

Last week was good, busy and good, the Princess had her first week back at school after the holidays and back to normal routine of part week with her Daddy (Wasband) and the rest with me.

Lovely lovely things happened last week such as winning the Antipodes Serum, catching up with the Wasbands family, his grandmother kindly giving me petrol vouchers because she knows I am poor and my Mummy paying my doctors bill. Lucky me, blessed me!

My Mummy came for a sleepover on Saturday night, she brought with her Cornish Pastie which is made from my Granny's recipe, so so yummy, we ate the pastie, drunk red wine, crafted and laughed with the Princess... nice!

I got lots accomplished last week too, dealt with some yukky bills and stuff and made positive inroads into other stuff!

So while so good in my life so very sad to be reading about the Colorado tragedy, heartfelt sympathy to the families who have suffered loss.

Also...

so sad to hear of the passing of Margaret Mahy, amazing and inspirational New Zealand author of  many, many children's books.

There you have it, the happy and the sad!

Seize the moment!

Rachael xo

Antipodes

Oh my goodness!

I have won another competition, again from the gorgeous Ms Helene's blog, Pretty Beautiful!

Remember I recently won a yummy (already drunk) bottle of red wine from the Pretty Beautiful blog,

and now this!!!

My tired old winter skin is so looking forward to using this product, I'll be sure to come back and let you know how young and radiant I end up looking! ;-)

If you want to find out how the Hosanna Skin-Plumping serum works, read Helene's review here.

Be sure to subscribe to the Pretty Beautiful blog, not just for the great give-aways but  for the excellent and informative reviews on skin, hair and beauty products.

Thanks so much Helene and also Antipodes,

happy happy me!

Rachael xo

Escapism

I've had a horrible headcold/sinus infection since Friday that I can't shake and is making me feel miserable and yukky!

While blog reading I found this gorgeous magazine and with an easy little detour via the subscription page and PayPal, the link to downloading it was in my inbox before I had time to blink!

Divine escapism and an absolute bargain for $5.16 NZD.

Check it out here Souvenir Magazine or click on the image for a preview!

Rachael xo

Fifty Shades of Grey

I got on the book wagon with this, haven't started it yet,

have you?

Rachael xo

Mary Thistle comes to the castle...

I call my very best friend Mary Thistle, we have been best friends for over 20 years and have seen each other through champagne glass after champagne glass!

She lives on a farm an hour and half away from me but last week she phoned and made a booking to come for a city stay, requesting the Deluxe Suite,

luckily for her the Dilux Sweet was available,

with 5 star luxury touches,

and a home crafted complimentary gift,

none of which I even billed her for!

Unlike the recent visit the Cowboy, the Princess and I had to her farm stay where we were charged an exorbitant rate for one night!
 ;-)

I can't believe we are halfway through July!  Back in June I posted a list of what I hoped to achieve, I haven't done too well with it so need to carry it through to July lol

The June/July To Do List 

• building a website,
• writing a book, - have made notes
• creating with fabric and paint,
• selling, selling, selling, - have been doing this and continuing
• getting fit,
• getting my ribs healed, - almost there, 11/13 fractures now completely healed
• stopping pain medication, - halved it
• fun times with the Princess, - big tick
• fun times with the Cowboy,  big tick
• reading a book for pleasure,  big tick
• cooking new recipes,  big tick
• buying contact lenses,
• getting my hair cut,
• and staying warm! -  impossible in the big drafty castle
• blog daily - just added today

my list doesn't look so bad really!

better go, have a roast chicken to cook and a list to carry on working on!

Rachael xo

I won...

a fabulous bottle of Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir,

so timely after a challenging week

thank you so much Helene, please check out Helene's blog "Pretty Beautiful" she does fabulous product reviews which I find very imformative and useful and in addition quite often has give-away's to enter such as the Cloudy Bay one!

Happy July, will blog this weekend about my round up of June and plans for July, I know, late as always!

Rachael xo