Mmmmm lammmmmington

Hello friends! The other day I cooked up a delicious storm in my kitchen to make lamingtons and I documented my cooking adventure over at Halleys blog Life of Something New. It was my first ever guest post and it was fun! Check it out here. I just read on Wikipedia that they are popular in Cleveland, Ohio. WHY!? They are big down under regardless!

I made: donuts!

For our engagement party months ago we got some super sweet donut moulded pans! I finally broke them out and got baking! The packaging had an actual recipe which was pretty much cake batter. The shape was perfect but taste wise it was a little dense.. not as fluffy as real ones.. but then again.. aren't real ones pretty much fried dough? There was no deep frying for these ones. The original recipe called for buttermilk but I redid them a few days later with just a basic sponge cake mix and they were much better. I actually realised that I had no icing sugar after I had begun baking so instead I invented my own peanut butter and honey drizzle icing for it plus sprinkles on top. Pretty tasty! Next on the list of things to make: ninja bread men!

To be frank..

Dear blogger friends,
Do you know Frankie? It's a pretty magazine from Australia that has lovely pictures, nice articles, good fonts on sweet matte paper. I like it! I've been reading it since it came out years ago but in the past year or so I have only been reading it at the library/newsagent because it's a little pricey for me. Then a few weeks ago when I got my first big paycheck I splashed out and bought a copy! I read it, it was okay (I don't know why but I wasn't so into it as I used to be! I think it's gotten too cool for me or something? I don't even know half of what they are talking about! But that's a whole other blog post in itself!) and so anyway now it's just sitting in my room collecting dust. I was going to hack it apart for all the pretty pictures but I decided not to. I thought it would be nice to send it to a blog friend that perhaps has not ever read the loveliness of Frankie (or has, no biggie). So, first person here to comment with your email address will get my copy! Then I will email you for your postal address so I can it send to you.
Cool beans xoxo

FQ vintage sheet swap!

I got my sweet little return parcel of vintage fabrics the other day as part of Green Tea & Red Nails vintage sheet swap! It is such a good idea for a swap and thank you so much to Kellie for organising it so, so well! I got lots of lovely brown and pink florals.. so pretty! I don't actually have a sewing machine at the moment but I have a few ideas of things I think I can make without a machine..

• A door draught stopper thing
• A plastic bag holder
• Tote bag
• A fabric mobile!
• Book cover sleeve
• Coasters!
• Christmas tree ornaments
• Door stopper
• Cushion covers

Or I might just save them for my patchwork quilt that I am going to make one day. Any ideas for things I can make without a sewing machine?

SOS: Send love

One of my blogger buddies, Halley from Life of Something New is doing a wonderful thing. A few months ago she started SOS: Send Love. A beautiful idea to have lovely people from around the world send her Mum postcards! Her Mum is ill, loves postcards and never really got the chance to see world. I sent her my first postcard a few months ago and I thought it's about time I sent another. I had a look through my postcard stash this morning but none really appealed to me to send so I used the iPhone app called Instapost (thanks Bianca for the idea!) to use my beloved Instagram photos to send one of my own photos and write on the back.. all without leaving my couch! Pretty nifty hey! Some Dromana beach love is coming her way soon!

So anyway, If you want to brighten someones day, please send a postcard to Sandy..

Sandy Waldau
P.O. Box 15
Glastonbury, CT
06033 USA

xoxo

I did: Zumba

As you may have read previously.. I joined a gym. I really only go for the classes and ummm.. to watch tv (While on the treadmill! We don't have a tv at home!) Anyway, I finally went to a Zumba class and I didn't like it. I have been to enough classes on my own so I wasn't nervous about being alone, I am however a bit unco when it comes to salsa dancing. The instructor was way too chipper, she was wearing a silly hat (not sombrero silly but still, silly!) The whole time I felt like I was in a Doritos corn chip commercial and when I left I was actually craving guacamole and tequila. Seriously! There were people sweating there.. I didn't even begin to break a sweat! In the change room afterwards I overheard a girl remark with glee "Zumba just blows my mind!" WHAT. Every song that was played was all like "ZUMBAZUMBAPARTYZUMBA!" I really don't like salsa music so I guess it wasn't destined to be plus I wasn't very comfortable shaking my booty and shaking other things so freely in public. I will stick to my RPM bike class and swing dancing I think!

Have you ever done Zumba? Did you like it?

365 day project: survival guide

This past week I finally finished my 365 Day Project! I had tried to do it a few years ago but didn't get past a month. I am a little surprised that I stuck it out for so long this time! It has been fun and it's really interesting to look back over the year with tiny insights into each day. I don't feel like my photography skills have improved much as I just have a basic point and shoot camera but I have learnt more about its settings.. it also really makes me want a DSLR. Since finishing I keep seeing things throughout my day and I think "that will be my photo of the day!" I started the project as I felt like I wasn't taking enough photos. I had been travelling for the past 2 years and so my Flickr was full of travel photos and then I came home and found that I wasn't taking many photos anymore. I now have a huge stash of photos! So anyway, I thought I would write out some of my survival tips if any of you are thinking of doing this project too!

Take your camera everywhere I quite often left my camera at home only to wish I had had with me. Or I haven't ended up coming home and then left with no chance to take photo. This was made easier at times with my iPhone camera.
Use a small camera I even find mine is a bit heavy and it really isn't very fancy at all. I could have done it on my iPhone but I started it on my camera so I wanted to finish it on my camera.
Try to take photos in the morning Because if your like me, you have high chance of forgetting in the afternoon/after dinner.
Take a photo of your dinner or your shoes if all else fails I think over half of mine are actually food.. and maybe 20% are of my shoes. Plus, alot of mine are with my carpet or doona as background.
Keep the battery charged I was caught out when we went away for a weekend and I had 3 days of dead battery. (But luckily iPhone saved the day..)
Keep going! There was never time when I wanted to stop doing it. I think I had forgotten to take a photo maybe 5-6 times in the whole time.. which had resulted in me to jump out of bed in the middle of the night and snap something boring like my doona or lamp.
Remember to upload frequently It has been a quite a chore remembering to upload my photos to Flickr. I do it about once a month and with my super slow internet it isn't much fun. It can be a little overwhelming and it was quite time consuming so I am glad to have that time back!

I don't know if I would do it again but I am definitely glad I have done it. I hope these tips help :)