Family, friends, flowers, food.

Yesterday: Lovely walk through Carss Park, lunch and dinner with friends. Time to rest (a little)

Today: My niece's first school picnic for family of all the kindy students. Much excitement in preparing for this wonderful day. Tonight we see Hairspray the musical!

Lots of time with friends and family. Enjoying the gorgeous sunlight. It seems as though everybody is in a better mood when the sun shines.

Oh... and the best news! Some more of my Orchids have flowered and they are the most delightful yellow colour! I cannot wait for them to open a little more!

All things technological

It has been a very exciting couple of days! First and foremost I received an invite to join Google+ which is a fantastic social networking site! So much better than Facebook! I have had fun actually creating circles on Google+. Circles for work and friends. I've also been very lucky to have purchased an iPad2. Really enjoying the fact I can now read almost every major newspaper and news outlet using their respective iPad apps.

Technology is so powerful. I think the internet has really revolutionised the way that we access information. I can summarise it by saying that the internet provides so many more possibilities and opportunities to explore, create and collaborate!

Good food that I've eaten just recently

I tried this lovely duck dish at the Sydney Good Food and Wine show. Recipe by Marion Grasby. I met her at her book launch at Shearers Leichhardt and also got a signed copy of her book. Looking forward to trying some of her recipes.

The above two cupcake pictures are the cupcakes that my niece and I baked together on our 'Cupcake and Craft' day. We had so much fun and she delighted in decorating them, especially after she learn't how to use the icing bag!
This is one of the homemade pizzas I made last night. This was taken on my iPhone using the app 'camerabag' which has the Magazine filter. The dough is an olive oil dough. Can provide recipe if anyone is interested. It is topped with a little of my homemade pizza sauce, some caramelised onion jam, buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto, goats fetta and rocket and torn basil leaves. It was delicious. There were other pizzas but they were eaten before I thought to photograph them.

The above two pictures aren't particularly great, but I did want to highlight the green and pink 'Persian Fairy floss.' It is so delicious, so 'grown up' - a little is enough atop of a dessert to give it some extra sparkle!

Holiday bliss

Have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying this break. Have deliberately done no school work as yet - though I have set aside part of Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to get some work done. I have really given myself a chance to just rest and it has proven to be very good.

I have got back into an exercise routine and have cooked and baked a lot in the first week.

I have also spent time reading cookbooks and researching cooking techniques.

Next week I hope to spend some time on photography. I am off to see Faustus next Wednesday and La Boheme next Saturday so next week is definitely my arts / theatre week.

I do love school holidays. I lament at the thought that the activities that give me so much joy, seem to be put aside when the school term comes about. Furthermore, I may actually do some research for my Masters next Thursday / Friday. I think that I should be ready to commence!

For term three, I am going to try to develop a better work - life balance. I know that I say this quite a lot - I was able to do this at the beginning of the school year, but it didn't last.

Tonight I made pizza from scratch... was delicious!

Cupcakes and Craft day

There is nothing more that I like, than to spend time with my gorgeous niece Emily. Today my sister, mum, dad and Emily came to my place for a cupcakes and craft day. My little niece is 5 years old and she likes nothing more than to cook, bake and make craft. Today I had prepared some canvas boards, purchased some paint and craft items for her to create some art work to hang in her room.

It was a most wonderful morning where she painted a fairy and added some flowers and butterflies to her design! Following this, we made cupcakes and I taught her how to use an icing bag. Needless to say there was a lot of mess, but it was ever so much fun!

It was really lovely to just relax with my parents, my sister and niece. It was a time when we could chat and relax.

Hope you have had a lovely day!

Holidays - oh happy days!

Well, as much as I had been hoping for the holidays, I have to say the utter relief that has washed over me has been great! Term two was such an incredibly busy term at school. In many ways, it felt busier than in previous years, but I don't intend to dwell on it. I really do enjoy my job and I love the colleagues in my department - as I've said on countless number of occasions. I enjoy being there, but getting sick towards the end of the term did make it very difficult.

It really is amazing how after only a couple of days away, I am beginning to feel relaxed and am really looking forward to these holidays!

I have a couple of items on the 'to do' list, one being to get back into a proper exercise routine. I find that my mood is very closely linked to whether I have had time to exercise, so yesterday I spent a couple of hours exercising and I must say I felt very good after it! I'm trying not to overdo it just yet, as I am still recovering from the cold or winter bug.

Yesterday I made the official move to the lovely 'banker's desk' in our study. My lovely husband used it for his previous business, but now that he has an office away from home, he doesn't need it. It's amazing - he's had this desk for years and he's given it to me (and fought off his many friends who wanted to buy it from him) - just shows how lovely he is! I should mention I do have quite a big desk of my own, but it's contemporary and lacks the character of the banker's desk. He uses my desk if he needs it. Works well!

For breakfast, I have just brewed some green tea and am having toast with gooseberry jam. I have always wanted to try gooseberry jam and was lucky enough to have purchased some whilst away at the Hunter Valley!

Hope you enjoy your day!