Work Day Weekly Wears

So I quite like these pics cause I look a bit younger in them, ha ha. Think it's the high pony...Yessss.

I really love this outfit cause it's kinda fun and comfy and I really enjoy mixing up my colours. 

Earlier this year my awesome mum shouted me and my sister a trip to the Philippines and Hong Hong for our cousins wedding!!! how cool is that. But no....... it wasn't cool...... it was hot!!!!!!

We knew it would be so I went and grabbed myself a couple of really light weight tops that would be good for travel and the humid conditions.

I really quite like the colour mustard but it does not suit me that well, but it was only $5.00!!!! and i just loved it. So when when I wear it I usually put a bright coloured scarf with it to lift it.

This scarf is another fave and I got it on the same trip but in Hong Kong. I like a bit of leopard print and a bit of fluro and this scarf combines the two!!!!

Top: Cotton on
Scarf: Hong Kong
Shoes: Shoe Connection
Jeans: Just Jeans

Rainbow Party (part three)

Months ago I decided a Rainbow themed Party was the go for my daughters 1st birthday.

With that sorted, I started to think about what food I would like to have!

It was fun researching food ideas for rainbow parties and seeing what others had done. Pinterest was where it was at! So many fantastic ideas.

My husband thought I was a little obsessed, but hey, when have I ever got to host a 1st birthday party, let alone my own daughters!!!! He got over that when it came to party time and got to eat all the yummy food I'd prepared.

The party was a shared BBQ lunch followed by a Rainbow afternoon tea which was done by yours truly. It was a flippin mission doing it all, but luckily I had my sisters to watch my daughter so I spent most of the day prior to the party frantically baking! We got there in the end.

Check out the Rainbow spread and enjoy :)

Much love,

Kate

Truffles were made by my sister in law and they were to die for!!!!

Fruit kebabs with pinapple, green and red grapes and strawberries.

 Vanilla cupcakes iced with butter cream icing and coloured with food colouring gels.

 Bowls of Cadbury drops, Pebbles and Skittles

 Cake pops using my trusty chocolate cake recipe (found here), iced in white chocolate and coloured with food colouring and finished off with hundreds and thousands.

Rainbow Jelly in cups (Let's not get into how hard that was)

 The cake!

 That moment, when you cut into it and you find that it actually worked! A beautiful Butter cake made up of 6 layers using food colouring gels, iced with cream cheese icing between the layers and covered with lemon icing.

Me with my creation.

The birthday girls seal of approval :)

Rainbow Party (part two)

About two weeks prior to the party I started checking the weather forecast like a mad woman. It obviously kept changing by the day. But I was faithful and was praying my heart out for a sunny Hawkes Bay day, which is exactly what we got!

I'd always pictured the party to be outside in the sunshine, embracing the start of our amazing summer! It was so perfect!

We have a pretty blank canvas back yard. Both Jono and I are not avid gardeners, but we sure do grow some sweet weeds :) It's ideal for hosting bbq's and get togethers as there is nothing but grass, which means we can add our own touches and it looks like a new place!

Have a look at the decorations we chose to turn our yard into the party zone.

Much love,

Kate

 Rainbow bunting made by Jono. Each triangle represented a month of our daughter's life.

 Fabric covered balloons all in rainbow formation. I was annoyed they didn't stand up straight and then Jono informed me I needed the things below. Lame. But they still looked cool and Mim has since claimed the fabric for her own DIY.

 Drink station, complete with mini milk bottles filled with punch and chevron paper straws in rainbow colours.

 Giant Jenga was a hit. This is when it was being used as it was created. About an hour later these guys were using them as a jumps on their scooters!

 A cosy tent shelting everyone from the hot hawkes bay sun. You can purchase these tents here.

 6 empty glass jars filled with a colour of the rainbow each and white flowers. Looked perfect on the table.

About our girl.

 The Rainbow afternoon tea in all it's rainbow glory. 
Come back tomorrow for the final part of this party madness, the food!

Rainbow Party (part one)

My baby girl turned 1 on the 25 October 2013. I'm still coming round to the idea of having a one year old in my house! She is such a cool kid with a great personality, she loves to dance, has the cutest smile, hates sleep but is the happiest kid on the block. We love her sooo much!

It's amazing to see her development in 1 short year on this earth. Starting out at just 5lb 4oz, induced 3 weeks early due to stupid pregnancy induced hyper tension. She is doing everything she should be and with a cheeky smile on her face :)

We decided to do her Birthday party posts in 3 installments as her party had too many great things to show in one post!

Today I'd love to introduce to you our BIG one year old in her cute as outfit (which if I'm honest, was picked out months ago!)

Enjoy and be back here to tomorrow to see part 2 :)

Much love,

Kate

 

Tutu: Postie Plus
Singlet: Cotton on Kids
Socks: Pumpkin Patch
Shoes: Charlie and Me
Headband: Cotton on Kids
Bracelets: Cotton on Kids

Work Day Weekly Wears

Simple and classic.... 

Jacket: Just Jeans
T Shirt: Cotton On
Jeans: Jay Jays
Shoes: Rubi Shoes


Have a great week xxx mim

Party Time

A week and my baby girl is turning ONE! I can't quite believe it. It has gone incredibly fast.

I can't wait to show you all her birthday festivities, but for now check out her cute invitation and in a week or so you can see how it all turned out! Exciting!

Much love,

Kate

Less than 24 hours with her daddy. Weighing 5lb 4oz.

Pinterest Challenge: The Hair Bow

How many of you have a pinterest page??? How many of you pin all these amazing things but never actually do any of them??? .....Yip me too :)

We thought it would be cool to actually 'do' some of the things we pin on pinterest so this week is our first Pinterest Challenge post.

Recently my kids had a wacky hair day and I thought it was a great opportunity to try out the hair bow I found on pinterest here. Kinda funny the girl on pinterest looks sooo like my daughter and even has VERY similar hair, funny.

Its so simple to do and super quick, it turned out really well and my daughter loved it.

So here we go....

First put the hair into a high pony tail. 

Next, with a second hair tie, loop the hair towards the front leaving enough hair to pull back and twist around.

Split the hair in half and take the tail of the hair and separate the two halves. Use bobby pins to secure the ends at the back. And there we have it, a hair bow!!!

And because it was wacky hair day we sprayed ours, but this step is not necessary for everyday wear ;)

mim

Cake Pop Cake

This is the cake I made for Mim's sons 13th birthday. I'm kinda obsessed with cake pops at the moment, they're potentially my new fav thing... I mean, cake. on a stick. covered in chocolate... with sprinkles! Hello heaven!

I was keen to give this cake pop cake a go, and for a first attempt it wasn't too shabby!

 First I pre made cake pops using my fabulous cake pop mould that I showed you in my cake pop galore post (see here). These are made from a basic vanilla cake recipe found on the chelsea sugar website... my go to recipe guide.

I lined the bottom of the tin with baking paper and also sprayed with cooking spray to ensure nothing would stick, you can't be too careful! By this stage I had also pre made the chocolate cake mixture using the same chocolate cake recipe I used for the cake pops, see the link above.

Pour half the mixture into the tin then place the cake pops in mixture. Pour the remaining mixture on top so the cake pops are well covered. Then bake for appropriate amount of time. This cake required 50 mins at 180 degrees.

Fresh out of the oven. Note I made two replica chocolate cakes as i wanted a two tier birthday cake!

 The finished product! A mighty two tier chocolate cake held together with chocolate butter cream icing and completed with basic chocolate icing. Topped for four remaining cake pops iced with melted white chocolate and sprinkled with hundreds and thousands. 

I would say this cake is well and truly fit for a 13 year old boy!

 The big reveal, thank goodness it worked!!!

A perfect yellow cake pop. Yum!

On reflection. For anyone reading this thinking they would love it give this a try! Do! It's not actually that hard.

There are however a few things I would do differently next time I make this delicious treat.

1. When making the cake pops I would only choose the brightest colours to be included. The green and purple pops did not show up in the chocolate mixture.

2. I would possibly use the vanilla recipe or something similar as the main cake base as well, for two reasons; for the cake pops to really stand out and because for some reason the cake pops didn't sit very deep in the chocolate cake mixture and I wonder if that is because of the different densities.

3. If I attempt a two tier cake again I am going to invest in a cake leveler to take of the mound that naturally forms when the cake is cooked so that the 2 cakes sit flush against each other.

Let me know if you give this a go! I would love to hear how you got on.

Much love,

Kate

Work Day Weekly Wears

When it came to winter I had to go and purchase more pieces to go with my winter wardrobe for school. After a day of shopping I grabbed myself some great deals. This outfit shows some of what I bought.

This cardi has been one of my favs. It just seems to go well with every outfit.

What's the go to piece in your wardrobe during winter time? We would love to hear what your favourites are.

Now let's talk about my boots!!!!! Just look at them! Aren't they gorgeous? Well I guess if you don't like orange these won't be a fav of yours, but I saw them and just had to have them! They are so comfy and add a pop of colour to any outfit. They go so well jeans, tights and skirts.

Jeans: Just Jeans

Boots: Marant/ Isabel Marant

Cardi: Cotton on

Top: Factorie

13 Years, Whoop Whoop

So today my son turned 13!!!! I can't quite believe I have two teenagers in the house!!!!

We had such an awesome starting with a fantastic cake made by Kate (post coming soon about cake :). I whipped up a bunting/garland happy birthday sign, which I LOVE, and will totally use for the next birthday. Pretty simple using a background I had previously painted, cut into rectangles, draw on the letters, then fastened with some cool twine and mini pegs. We got ours from Typo, but you can pick them up at various $2 shops as well.

Our family, Kate's family, and his best mate spent the day together.

We went to two different skate parks, had fish and chips on marine parade in Napier, went to ocean spa for a hot swim and got to see some of the Indian festival, Dawali, at the sound shell.

Probably the highlight was at Sk8 zone in Napier landing his first ever back flip on his scooter. Check out the video.... How super cool is my boy.

We love him heaps, he is such a quirky, intelligent, funny, individual. God was awesome when he gave him to us :)

mim