OH HAI!

I'm back. Bet you missed me. It's been good having some time away - I feel refreshed and have been wanting to write again for a few weeks now. Glad I took the time off though, I've done a lot of self 'blogging' read: reflecting in my head recently and it's been nice not to feel like I have to write it down anywhere. The problem with that is at my age, with my brain been ravaged by baby brain (TWICE!), I've forgotten a lot of my golden reflections. I'm sure they'll come back to me at some stage...right? Eeeeek!

I'm excited to be wrapping up the 30 before 30. Many of the goals have not been achieved, or are in the pipe line for the next wee while, or have been added to my next challenge - the 40 before 40 (more to come next week). And you know what? That's OK. Goals are for moving you in the right direction. I've been the victim of negative self talk for waaay too long when it comes to setting myself goals and not meeting them. I do know that I've consciously been working towards each of the 30 goals in one way or another and will update on all of them between now and this time next week when I turn the big THREE OH! I'm excited to unveil and embark on the 40 before 40 challenge. This time allowing myself an actual 10 years to get some big lofty things completed - trips, large purchases, habit changes - lofty lofty!

But enough of all that boring crap - how's your holiday been? The family and I have had an amazing time. Starting with an inaugural visit from a new December resident Elf of the Shelf - Heart. With being her first year here it had to be a biggie, and her little helper elves tried to make it as special as possible. Little Miss 4 thought she was super cool and was extremely well behaved through December. Willow didn't understand all of it but loved coming out in the morning and finding where Heart would be hiding for the day. The little smiles and shrieks of laughter from them at her antics were worth all the work....from Heart of course.

The girls were thoroughly spoilt all through December and of course by the big guy in red. We had a lovely Christmas, ate too much and were knackered by the end of it. Once Christmas and all of its festivities died down we got a lot of work done in the garden and have had day trips here and there. It's been really lovely having everyone home. Then for the last week it's been lovely just having some time with the other half without children. Busy, but nice. Stress free and I feel like lots is getting done - all of those things you leave 'until the holidays'.

What else did I want to share with you all? I've come across a new app that was recommended on a facebook group I belong to which I'm enjoying using. It's a bit nerdy and very 'Type A' but it works for me. It's called 'Forest' and it's basically about putting your phone down and focussing or being present which is something I love from 'The Fish Philosophy'. All you do it set a timer and the app deters you from picking up your phone during that period of time. It does so by planting a seed that grows during this time and if you are phubbing in that set time (exiting the app in the process) the tree dies. It's gimicky, it's a bit geeky, but I love it...and it's getting the job done, for me.

I won't even talk about the other app that I'm hooked on at the moment which is undoing all the great focus and being more present that 'Forest' is helping with *cough* Fishing Ninja *cough*.

Over the next few days I'm hoping to update and complete my 30 before 30 challenge (as much as possible). So stay tuned xx

Weekly 10 round up and Ka kite for a weeny bit

Woah, that was aaaages ago. Story of the blog at the moment. More about that to come, lets see how I actually went with the list.

 

1. Complete appraisal learning stories

2. Do the calf club thing

3. Amy's 30th!

4. Take some sweet photos of Damien doing his stunt driving

5. Get things printed for physical baby books and get them up to date

6. Do some more of the advanced google course

7. Watch 'MKR'

8. Watch 'The Walking Dead'

9. Watch 'American Horror Story'

10. Have a nice hot, relaxing bath.

Still in the pursuit of getting these baby books up to date! I have made a start! And, not only did I do more of the Level 2 google course - I nailed the exam and now and both a Level 1 and 2 certified google educator. Excited!

The next is that I'm taking this year's summer break a whole month early. I am keeping the girl's pages up to date and will be back with a hiss and a roar in January, but I never wanted this to become a chore and it's been hanging over me lately. I'm giving myself 2 months off to focus on the 30 before 30 goals and just spend some time doing what I usually do but not writing about it....until January where I'll fill you in.

Have a great couple months for the start of summer, today feels like it's already begun at our house <3

Looking back and looking forward - Weekly 10

Here is last 'times' list and how I went...

1. Make sure I blog 'Tasty Tuesday' this week.
Lots of yummies here
2. Begin Willow’s 52 weeks page.
You can see it here
3. Think of idea for Leah’s photos this year.
Thought of and begun! Here.
4.  Do a 52 list.
5.  Proofread and order shutterfly books.
6. Complete the maths portion of my assignment.
7. Make Leah's birthday cupcakes ready for Sunday.
8. Complete planning for next term.
9. Make another slice for workmates.
10. Finish watching AHS: Freakshow

Wow, that seems like so long ago now! Since then I've received the shutterfly books and completed the whole assignements (and TWO others!). I also did a tonne of other stuff over the holidays even though I didn't technically have a 'Weekly 10' list, they were...

Get Tattoo

Uni Girls lunch

Got my hair did

Make summer bucket list

Had High Tea @ TriBeCa

Hei Papa Tikanga workbook - complete (two of them in fact!)

Blog about 30 before 30 things I have achieved (some of the more obscure ones)

Make a big dent in the 40 before 40 list. I have written 31 of the 40 things.

Start planning Christmas advent stuff/& elf on a shelf stuff

Booked in Lynn for family photos

Project life things

Call connect about phone

Herb and vege stuff - weeded gardens and leveled them ready for top soil. Covered with newspaper.

Maths course complete and enrolled for the next free one.

Boom! That's heaps, plus I probably did some other extra things in there... like have a shopping spree and stuff lol.

So how about this coming week? Let's see.

1. Complete appraisal learning stories

2. Do the calf club thing

3. Amy's 30th!

4. Take some sweet photos of Damien doing his stunt driving

5. Get things printed for physical baby books and get them up to date

6. Do some more of the advanced google course

7. Watch 'MKR'

8. Watch 'The Walking Dead'

9. Watch 'American Horror Story'

10. Have a nice hot, relaxing bath.

Half relaxing stuff and half balls to the wall. We like a bit of balance!

What are you doing this week?

xx

"...Your princess is in another castle"

I've decided to cross this off my list...

I didn't plan on this happening really, it just kinda did. Actually, I lie, I have my husband to thank. One rainy day a few weeks back he decided to fire up the old Super Nintendo to play Street Fighter and Leah became interested. He then changed the cartridge to a more suitable game for a 4 year old, 'Yoshi's Island' and began to show her what to do. She loved it!

Over the next few weeks Leah asked if she could play some more and I've been showing her a few different games, but she's actually decided that she really likes to watch for now and prides herself on knowing everything there is to know about 'Rainbow islands', one of mummy's favourites that is currently played on a nightly basis. It's a freakin' nightmare nice to have a little sidekick watching you and giving you advice as you play. "Mummy, you need to get the crystals so the other islands will come up", "The boss is a robot now mummy, make sure you have three rainbows". We also got out Buzz Jungle Party the other night and she thought that was the bees knees.

I'd still really like to get the Wii U up more and clock 'Pikmin 3' and also get cracking on 'Kingdom Hearts' on the DS but for now I'm content with trying to clock a game that I've been working on since I was 5. I also love that I can share this love with Leah, as I know many happy hours of my life as a child was spent watching my big brother play Amiga. They're fond memories. The catalyst behind this goal was to reignite my love of gaming, and not find it a chore (how silly was tackling gaming like it was something I had to do!). So even though I know 'Pikmin 3' is lurking there (I bought a $500 odd console to play the bloody thing!), at the moment I want to play what I want to play... and that's OK by me.

Another goal bites the dust!

30 before 30...Crossing some stuff off! Episode 2 - All the foods

Ok, I'm aware that 2015 isn't over and I couldn't have tried a new restaurant every month...but... I've tried more than 12, so that's every month. I've just been super efficient at eating all the foods. 

I have blogged about the following 11:

Longroom in Ponsonby
Red Earth in Papakura
Paasha Turkish Cafe in Pukekohe
China Yum Cha in Auckland CBD
Karaka General
The Langham
Nishiki
Mikano
Miss Clawdy
Mecca Stonehouse
Calendula Cottage

And there are a few others I know I haven't written about, plus the two I'm going to share today.

Portifinos has a few spots around Auckland. We visited the one in Howick. Delicious seafood plate I had, and everyone enjoyed their meal. My only gripe is I think it was sliiiiightly over priced.
I thought the desserts were adorable and had to take a photo of everyones before they ate!

I also recently had High Tea at TriBeCa in Parnell. This place seemed very fancy and the food was delicious, BUT.. in comparison to the Langham High Team - this is a bit disappointing. The white chocolate lollipop was super dooper cute though right?

This has been a great goal because I got to eat a whole lot of food, which I'm fond of. No seriously, it was great to be conscious of finding and eating at new places and not just going to the same old same old. I'd love to continue this, and in fact my book club now meets at restaurants - which has been very helpful. I've got a group of workmates who love this as well and we've began a little list of places we'd like to head out to every couple of weeks or so. Gotta love fellow foodies.

There are some fancy schmancy places that I'd still like to eat at - like Euro, but all in good time. I have a 40 before 40 list encroaching...maybe I can add that to my new list.

30 Before 30... crossing some stuff off! Episode One

Over the next little while I want to begin to cross some of my 30 before 30 goals off. There are a tonne I've been chipping away at and I've even completed some up to my standards. Will be exciting to begin getting them crossed off and not just a 'work in progress'.

So to begin, the reason I've had such a super fun week.

Since January, I have been working on this savings plan.

I think I got up to Week 40? It was always my plan to stop in these school holidays so I could go on a shopping spree. I also had some birthday money stashed from January, so I had a nice little whack of money that I went out on Monday and spent all on MYSELF! For me, that's insane. I'm very good at spending money, but I usually do so on the girls, not me.

It was really nice, and I'm loving having some brand new shiny things to wear and use. I've been wanting that Karen Walker necklace for aaaaaages so to have the money to just go and buy it was superb. The shopping itself was even fun. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it.

So without trying to brag too much. Here's all my goodies...

Tasty Tuesday - That's why they say that I'm Tasty... I'm back, I'm back.

This crock pot honey mustard chicken was yummy! Even given the seal of approval by the one year old AND the four year old! I'll definitely be making it again.

Sweet Garlic Chicken was really easy and quite yummy. I love a good chicken breast meal and this was one of those.

And next I have a couple of slices to share. My workmates, as usual, have been delighted by these goodies on Friday morning tea. Slices are so easy to make and are real 'bang for your buck', these two don't disappoint.

 Hedgehog Slice

 250g plain biscuits, broken into small pieces
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/4 cup cocoa powder
100g dark chocolate, chopped
100g butter
1T golden syrup
1 egg, beaten lightly

Chocolate topping:
200g dark chocolate
50g butter

1. Grease slice pan, line base and two long sides with baking paper.
2. Combine biscuits, coconut, sugar, nuts and cocoa in large bowl.
3. Stir chocolate, butter and syrup together in a small saucepan over low heat for 4-5 minutes or until mixture is melted and well combined. Cool slightly. Add egg. Stir chocolate mixture into dry ingredients.
4. Press mixture firmly into pan using a fork: refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.
5. Make chocolate topping: spread over chilled slice. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until set.
6. Before serving, cut slab into squares with a hot knife. Store chilled in an airtight container.

To make chocolate topping - melt chocolate and butter in heatproof bowl over saucepan of simmering water.

Chocolate Honeycomb Slice
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
100g butter
200g plain sweet biscuits, crushed finely
 3x 50g crunchie bars, chopped coarsely
200g milk chocolate, chopped
2t vegetable oil

1. Grease slice pan, line base and two long sides with baking paper.
2. Stir condensed milk and butter in small saucepan over low heat for 2-3 minutes until butter has melted melted and mixture is well combined.
3. Transfer butter mixture to large bowl; stir in crushed biscuits and 2/3 of the chopped crunchie bars. Press firmly into pan using a fork; refrigerate 30 minutes until firm.
4. Stir chocolate and oil in a heatproof bowl over saucepan of simmering water until melted. Pour over slice; sprinkle with remaining crunchie bar. Refrigerate 25 minutes until firm.
5. Using a hot knife, cut slice into squares before serving.