Day 107 17 April – retail therapy

 

My daughter has been asking (nay, nagging) me to go shopping and I completely understand her reasoning behind it. She doesn’t have a lot of clothes as most of it are hand-me-downs from her 2 cousins and unfortunately she hardly fits any of their clothes or has to wait years before they fit. And for a 12, almost 13 year old, clothes do become an important topic of discussion. We don’t place a lot of value on things such as clothes/shoes as I don’t believe much in buying according to labels but it is nice to have an option when choosing your outfit instead of wearing just the same thing over and over again.

It is Easter Monday so I thought that even though shops are open today, it won’t be busy. Was I wrong! We arrived at Sylvia Park around 2:30pm and struggled to find parking. It was an absolute madhouse. I thought most Aucklanders have left the region to find sunnier places to spend Easter weekend. I first took my daughter to have her hair cut, well trimmed but the hair dresser took so much off that it ended up much shorter than expected. And then we hit the clothing shops with as much force as we could possibly muster.

H&M was our first stop. I felt like a sheep following the flock; scrambling, rushing, shuffling, pushed. H&M is known for its trendy yet affordable fashion and they have a tween section which is a favorite among the almost 13 year olds. But this mamma doesn’t agree with most of what is called fashion today. Shirts that look like Op Shop tops that got ripped to pieces and re-sold for triple it’s price. Honestly some of the clothing items have minimal fabric to them, tummies and bottoms sticking out. My daughter was sensible and ended with a dark grey top with open shoulder sleeves and a lovely warm jersey. 

Next up was Dotti where her eye caught a salmon coloured open jersey, one of those you can wrap yourself in during the cold winter days. The more of her body she can cover up the better.

Supré was next on the list and even though this is one if her favourite clothing stores she can’t fit most of the clothes yet. Our final stop was at Dotti  where she managed to find a pair of sneakers which would look fab with her newly purchased jersey.

Done!

I was thrilled to be heading back to the car, with a hot chocolate in hand.

 

 

Day 106 16 April – choccies

Hope you all had a blessed and wonderful Easter 🕆

Day 105 15 April – beachy

I would say one of the reasons I love living in Auckland would be the accessibility to some of the most beautiful beaches and bays. They are literally right at your doorstep.

Today was a thriller of a day at the shop. Probably one of our most busiest days yet. Around 4pm my body hit a slump and I went brain numb. I literally couldn’t think anymore. Helping customers felt like a daze, when they talk to you but you struggle to comprehend what they are saying or are asking for. I can’t remember when last I felt this tired.

So the thought of joining my family at a friends beach barbecue was not an exciting one. All I wanted to do was go home, eat and sleep. Arriving at the venue, Cockle Bay beach reserve, and my spirit lifted slightly. My son was playing rugby with the boys and my daughter was walking on the beach with a friend. The sun was setting, and even with a cool breeze outside it was pleasant to be outside. My head cleared and all I could think of was food!

After dinner my husband and I took a walk on the beach. The tide was out and if you wanted too you could wonder a hundred metres or so out. We stayed on the shore as I took photos. It was calming.

We didn’t stay for much longer afterwards but the hour I was there was enough to fill me with gratitude and peace.

Nature sure has a miraculous snowball effect on me.

Day 104 14 April – F8

Good Friday and the start of Easter weekend.

Today we took the kids to see an early evening movie at Event Cinemas. The kids watched Beauty and the Beast and my husband and I watched Fast are die heart fans of the Fast & Furious movies. Yes it is a wee bit over the top action but it is entertaining and we can’t look past the cars, or at least my husband can’t. I think he secretively has a man-crush on Vin Diesel…I know I do 😉

We kids went off to see Beauty and the Beast. That is a movie I still want to watch. It has always been a childhood favourite of mine and I’m sure that today’s special effects will make the Beast seem all to realistic.

Going to the movies is something I value. Obviously over the years it has become an expensive exertion for a family of 4, but it still remains a great time out. As a younger child my parents never went to the movies with us. To be honest I think we dragged my dad to the cinemas one time and one time only. By the age of 12 I was allowed to go to the movies with my friends. Mum would drop me off and pick me up strictly as soon as the movie is finished. Some of the movies I remembered are Aladdin (I still went on a date to watch it), The Lion King, Jurassic Park, and all of the Mighty Ducks movies. My friends were a strange and rowdy bunch. We were your typical 90’s gang, no care in the world and finding fun in everything we do. Meeting up at the cinemas was one of the treasured times spend together.

Warm buttery popcorn, sparkling coke and sweet chocolate M&M’s.

Bliss.

 

 

Day 103 13 April – chillax

Taking a breather after my 14 hour baking stint over 2 days.

We are also in the midst of preparing for Cyclone Cook which is believed to be one of the strongest cyclones New Zealand has encountered since the late 80’s. The kids school was closed again due to predicted worsening road conditions and most work places send their staff home early. Frantic queues are forming for public transport and already flooded areas are building sandbag barriers. I bought a few dry food products as well as water containers, I would rather be safe and prepared than regret not doing anything.

Indulging in crispy French toast drizzled in sweet maple syrup, frothy cappuccino and blogging watching the weather unfold.

 

Day 102 12 April – Easter treats

You know the saying “Biting off more than you can chew”? Today was just such as day!

I had the privileged to bake a cake for a lovely lady who was, like me, made redundant. We worked together for 3 1/2 years for a company who went into receivership, was bought by a new owner and then started making huge changes with most of those changes being departments closing and people loosing their jobs. She had been very fortunate to have been in a position where she was needed, seeing as she had been in this position for 12 years. She was the last person I thought would be let go but I guess when money speaks louder, then selfish decisions are made.

The cake is one I have baked on several occasions. It is Nigella’s Devils Food Cake, a rich and tasty cake, easy to make and you can dress it up which ever way you want. I layered it with a strawberry buttercream filling, made a white chocolate ganache to spread over the top, blitzed chocolate speckled eggs to decorate the edges.

My son also had a shared morning tea for which I baked 72 mini vanilla cupcakes, with a vanilla buttercream frosting, shaved milk chocolate and mini speckled eggs as decorations. These little morsels were so much fun to bake. Petite bites of happiness.

And to top it off, I started on an order of 35 packets of the Easter Speckled Egg cookies of my Say It With Cookies label. I made a small change in that I switched from traditional icing to a royal icing to stick the colourful speckled egg on. The only downfall is that the royal icing takes longer to dry if applied in a thicker consistency, but it is actually tastier than normal icing.

The kitchen smells of a whirlwind of cakes, cookies and chocolates…best smell ever!

 

Day 101 11 April – pen pal

 

 

My daughter started writing to a pen pal this year. At first I thought we should look at pen pal groups online, but knowing what a slightly disillusioned world we live in I mentioned to her that perhaps she should write to someone we both know of but haven’t had any contact with in 9 years.

One of my best friends in South Africa has a daughter a year younger than her. My daughter was only 3 1/2 when we left South Africa and although her and my friend’s daughter use to spend a lot of time together she doesn’t remember her. My daughter was very excited about the idea of writing to someone else so far away. I told her what a lovely feeling it is receiving mail the ‘old fashioned’ way. Knowing that someone took the time to carefully put their words together on paper, add a photo or two, pay for postage. It is something an email or instant message can’t replace.

This off course brought back the memories of my own pen pal writing days. I remember that I found my pen pal on the pages in one of these vibrant teen magazines. During my early teens mobile phones (if you were lucky to have one) were the size of bricks and you could only make or receive phone calls. Yes we had computers but again that was a luxury not all families had and as a family we never used emails until I was much older. So writing letters and  make landline phone calls was still the best and most efficient way to communicate.

The pen pal I choose to write to was a young teenager who farmed with his family. Writing to only a name at the time, not knowing anything about the person who might (or might not) write back was pretty exciting. I was very fortunate that he respond and several weeks later I received a letter back. I can’t remember where he was from as I have since lost all the letters, but he was a year or so older than me, lived some distance away and even though he attended school, he spend most of his days on the farm. He was really lovely to write to and it always remained platonic. Thinking about it now, I not only wrote to a complete stranger but also provided them our address of residence which in hind sight was probably neglectful, but my parents didn’t see any danger to it as back then we were reasonably sheltered from wrong doings. No one thought of the ‘what could happen if’ scenarios. We felt safe.

Today my daughter received her pen pal letter! I will treasure her facial expression when she opened the mail box and retrieved from it a letter marked with foreign stamps and beautifully neat hand writing. She opened her letter and read it out load. There were two photos accompanying the letter which she had since pinned to her board in her room. While she read the letter she would laugh at funny bits her newly found friend wrote, or exclaimed ‘I didn’t know that’ as she explains in her letter how far away they live from the beach, or how big her school is.

These are the type of memories I want to instill in my children.

Let the journey begin.

Day 100 10 April – plat

Photo number 100!

Our morning rituals are frantic. Even though I am up by 6:30am I don’t seem to get myself nor the kids ready on time to leave home by 8:30am. And my daughter has a habit of asking me to do her hair 10 minutes before we have to leave.

Today however we managed to have some time to sit and spend a few moments doing each other’s hair. My daughter patiently put my hair into a plat and I made a fish plat for her. Years of managing her long hair has turned me into a master of quick plats and buns. But it was calming having her take the reigns and do something for me.

I remember how I use to sit on the floor in front of my mothers’ chair while she French platted my very curly and unruly hair for gymnastics competitions. I don’t think she enjoyed it and it certainly wasn’t calming with my hair being pulled, grabbed, tucked, twisted and finally tied, then sprayed into place as we can’t have a wondering strain of hair appear during a risky beam routine. But what I did find soothing was my mother taking the time to do my hair. Just a few minutes spend either in silence or having a quick chat about the day ahead.

Technology has changed since my day, and this morning we took selfies while she did my hair.

Precious moments.

Day 99 9 April – dandy dandelion

May your day be filled with daydreams and dandelions 🙂

 

A dandelion amongst the overgrown grass.

Sending wishful thinking to the hopeful.

Left with a burning desire to blow the tiny seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 98 8 April – cookie time

Today I launched my cookie label, Say It With Cookies. I am very fortunate to have my parents support in that I can promote the cookies in their shops. I have been baking these cookies for about 5 years now and have managed to successfully get 5 flavours from them:

• Triple Choc
• White Choc & Macadamia Nut
• Dark Choc & Hazelnut
• Mint Choc
• Choc Chip & Orange

I started baking them as a fundraiser for my daughter’s gymnastics when she had a competition in Wellington and we couldn’t financially afford the trip. I managed to sell enough cookies to cover her flight and accommodation for two days. We sold them at her school and at my parents shop.

Since then I have baked them for morning tea work treats, as gifts for special friends and for the just because-our-cookie-jar-is-empty days.

I have thinking of baking them to sell for a broader market but fear, disappointment and doubt always puts a stop to this. I have spoken to my dad regarding an action plan, how to start small and then build once you see an increase in sales. I have made the sums and he has double checked the cost. I bought the ingredients, spend 2 days baking, decorating and filling bags. To promote the cookies I have an Easter themed cookie called Speckled Egg Cookies. They are sweet and crispy from the candy coated speckled eggs.

I will give it a few weeks to see how sales go inside the shop, but ideally I would like to have my product at market places where people tend to be a bit more open to new baking endeavours.

For now, it’s cookies by the dozen.