HOT HOT HOT

SHEESH

this weather here is new to us!

Here in Hamilton the weather is typically unpredictable/4 seasons in one day

But right now there is one type of sky only...

The whole of the North Island has now been declared officially in drought..

My 3rd boy took these sky shots (and a whole load more) from his lower down perspective.
I quite like them

We've had parties to attend/create, stuff going on, op shopping of course (more posts to come of course)I've even done 'a gig' ...

..but mainly I've just been  chilling with my homies.
(well, trying to)

BUT it's HOT!!!
Would rather be on a tropical island somewhere
or at least at the beach
(My first attempt at an overlay ala Sarah who is the BOSS at it.. Excuse the skinny wrist etc!)

("Hello new followers!")

Happy Days
x

Back

Well that was quite a break!

We've had a brilliant summer.

BUT THEN

something happened that rocked my world..

My friend's daughter had an accident and is in Starship (children's hospital)

with a broken body

Literally.

There is still a bit of hope she could walk again, 

but for now she is learning to live a very different kind of life, with no feeling from her chest down.

I just didn't feel like blogging.

Out of respect.

Plus I'm overwhelmed with sadness and awe, 

 disbelief and 

blown away by what my friend and her girl (and the rest of the family)

have been forced to go through.

It's incredible.

But here I am.

And life is going on.

And blogging will now recommence..

..Although this continues to occupy my mind a lot, and love and strength are being sent out and up to Starship from me and so many others..

I feel incredibly lucky.

*

*

In no particular order:

WE HAVE BEEN...

At 'our' amazing beach. (I haven't photo- shopped this!!! The colours were amazing)

Quite possibly my fav beach photo.

Been hanging at home quite a lot.

Been fishing.

Been room re-arranging
 (This type of things takes SUCH a long time with my bunch of kids. Epic)

Been ticking things off our Summer-List-of-Things-to-do.
Lemon Meringue Pie - check.

Been watching babies a baby grow. 

Been packing/unpacking the car. Sans trailer!  I.n.s.a.n.e.

Been celebrating
and hanging out with cousins. Gold.

Lemonade Stand - check.

Just hanging out together.

Been to 'the mount' ..

So here I am.

And I'll be catching up on blogs - looking forward to it...

And I DO have op shop posts to share.. hopefully soon.

Hope you're all happy and healthy .

Roman Sandals and the Best Kids' Music EVER

Summer feels like it's well and truly kicking off down here..

First official day is on Saturday - but I've broken with (my) tradition and busted out my 'ROMIES' early...

Roman Sandals song (was s'posed to be at bottom of the post but Blogger not letting me..) By Mr Roberelli. WATCH IT - it's cool!

My feet in my romies.

Roman Sandals are an institution down here. We all had to wear them as part of our school uniform (most schools) and some schools still insist on them..
I think I may have been one of the only gals at my school who REALLY loved them!!! Ours had to be blue, to match our blue tunic and sweaty white blouses...

But as you can see they come in a variety of colours..

Source via google images

This lovely illustration was on the Emma Makes website, where she also put a desperate plea out to us all to buy some to stop Douglas Sandals from going under..
Oh dear - such SAD times... Is nothing sacred?!

Side note: On my google image search, I also found an hilarious post (and a great blog) called Fashion Westie.. 

I sometimes used to decorate my romies with vivid markers.. Imagine my delight when I found these beauties already decorated at Hannahs shoe shop approx 15 years ago!! They are still going strong. Built to last. 


I must also mention the lovely Georgia and her busting -out-the-romies post..




I am going to now SHAMELESSLY PLUG the best kids' music ever...
The band at the top is MR ROBERELLI and if you ever have to buy a present for a little person (or slightly bigger people) YOU will not go wrong with these guys!

Intelligent, not pop-musicy, not condescending, fun..
just plain GOOD LISTENING.

All the adults I know that know these guys love them too. We can even cope with listening to them in the car!! You can listen to their music on their website.. 
Fineprint: (I did some of the BVs on the 3rd and 4th albums.. 
you'll hear me clearly in Mr Poe's Garden lol)

(Oh yeh and my brother and sister-in-law are 2/3 of the band lol - 
biased - but I think you'll agree it's excellent kids' music!)
Happy Days

Tell me your Roman Sandal stories!

Strawberry Yum-ness

Strawberries are a certain sign of Summer.. which is well and truly on its way down here in NZ!!! 

My sister gave me a try of this dessert and I just about died of yummy-ness.

It's the easiest, yummiest, quickest thing you could make, and is relatively low fat. It also will be sure to impress as a take-along dessert to those Summer BBQs! 

Thanks to my sister, and Annabel Langbein, here we have 

STRAWBERRY CLOUD CAKE

(I got this Kenwood food processor from an op shop for $8 about 7 years ago, just by the way!)

I did it by hand mixer unfortunately - I'm still waiting for the Kenwood Mixer to present itself at an oppie or garage sale!

The cloud effect is far greater in a mixer (vs hand mixer)

Please try this at home!

That's what Annabel's looks like!

And now for something completely different...

 Thought y'all might enjoy this song and video about our favourite thing - 
thrifting/op shopping!

 I love it!

Happy days

Camera-less/ Camping

I'm so gutted - I can't find my camera anywhere!

Can't work it out at all..

It's amazing how many photo opportunities go by in a week - frustrating!

I have also found some great op shop scores this week that I have got stashed in a pile for when I find the camera.. (please let me find the camera!)

I'll put in the photos of our summer camping instead.. from about a month ago..

Found a great spot!

Bush walkers having their scroggin..

Bloody FREEZING stream!