Spring

freesias from the Castle gardens

It's the first day of spring in New Zealand. The flowers, blossoms and the freshness in the air gives me a feeling of being instantly energised and motivated.

On the first day of Spring 2012, the Princess and I have been out bike riding and in making Fathers Day and birthday cards and presents for the Wasband.

Happy Spring Days!

Rachael xo

I really want to do this...

sourced from  http://www.littlebluedeer.com/

I really want to paint the white walls in the alcove my kitchen sink sits in with blackboard paint!

I had bare walls for so long before I did the blackboard and hung the pictures and jelly moulds,

and it does look good, but it still lacks impact,

besides we run out of room to write on our blackboard!

I wonder if my landlord would notice - haha

Rachael xo

University

After a long break I've started back at university,

it's great,

great to see everyone,

great to feel my brain clicking into learning mode,

great to be studying again!

It's even great to have my dining room table trashed with the accouterments of study!

Rachael xo

Breakfast at the Castle

The Princess had her best Princess friend for a sleepover last night, this morning the Cowboy and I got breakfast in bed!

The Cowboy got his served on a tray, he had blue sprinkles on his bread, cheese and the red accompaniments are blackcurrant (ice cream and jelly kind of jelly) jelly and strawberry jam. He had melted butter in a bowl so he could dip his bread!

Mine was served on a roasting pan, I had yellow sprinkles on my bread and no dipping butter! 

Not too bad considering they are 9 years old.

We did decline the offer of raw egg in a drink though .. haha

Rachael xo

52 Weeks

52 weeks ago I met my Cowboy!

I've had the best 52 weeks with the Cowboy. We haven't rushed things, we don't live together, but we have spent lots of fun time together,have gotten to know each other really well and have grown to care for each other very much.

The traditional gift for a one year anniversary gift is paper so I adapted an idea I found on Pinterest.

from  http://www.papervinenz.com/

I bought my deck of playing cards off Trade Me, the Cowboy likes motor racing, so car cards it is.

I hand wrote the front cover and typed 52 numbered reasons why I love my Cowboy, gluing each reason to each of the cards in the deck.

I used tables in Microsoft Word as a template for my reasons, it took a bit of time fiddling around with the cell size in the table to get the right fit for my playing cards and a bit of time to cut and glue each one, but a nice way to spend a Saturday evening while watching a movie.

It wouldn't have taken so long if I hadn't glued half of the reasons to cards that were upside down - haha!

I wasn't able to go out and buy book rings because the Princess was really sick so I stuffed nicely packed the finished cards back into the packet they came in.

I wrapped the cards in bright red tissue paper and a black organza ribbon and used a heart stolen cut from a gift bag I had been saving.

We celebrated our anniversary at 52 weeks and 1 day because the Princess was really sick on the actual anniversary date and stayed home with me rather than go to the Wasbands.

I cooked minted Lamb Shanks that were not very minted because for some reason my mint which should be growing like a weed is doing very poorly! I also did a potato and kumera mash that I added seeded mustard and cream to. So yummy.  The Cowboy brought over a delicious bottle of Syrah red wine of which I can't remember the name.

The table was set all nice with linen napkins, candles and flowers and I had just the side lamp on, tea lights glowing on the mantle piece and music playing.

We finished the evening off by sharing a bowl of my favorite orange chip ice cream that I threw marshmallows and pieces of dark chocolate on top of - in bed! (the warmest place in the cold castle lol).

It's now 52 weeks and 3 days since I met the Cowboy, I am so looking forward to the next 51 weeks and 4 days with him!

Rachael xo

Proud to be a Kiwi!

I am!

So very proud to be a Kiwi!

Our little country of 4.4 million people has produced Olympians who have done us proud at the 2012 Olympic Games.

6 Gold, 2 Silver and 5 Bronze medals - fantastic!

And fantastic for the non medallist competitors, such a huge achievement just to take part in the Olympic Games.

I have loved watching the games over the last two weeks, and the opening and closing ceremonies were absolutely spectacular - well done Great Britain!

Long Live the Spice Girls - haha

Huge possibility I will get a whole lot more done and a whole lot more early nights now that it is all over!

Proud to be a Kiwi!

Rachael xo

Healthy Living

Stir frying fresh vegetables is a quick and easy way to get a big vegetable fix.

Last night I did carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, red onion, garlic, red pepper and a courgette in a little oil and at the last minute tossed with soya sauce. 

Gotta love the colours in that pan!

We had it with eye fillet steak cooked to perfection by the Cowboy and my favorite Wild South Pinot Noir. The red wine is of course because of the health benefits, i.e. blood thinning, anti oxidants etc ;-)

Rachael xo