2017 Favourite Moments

With 2018 literally around the corner, I wanted to take a look back through this year and share some of my favourite moments! I plan to write a post looking back through the year and recapping everything, but I want to break that up into a few posts. If you’ve been here much, you may know that I like to ramble. You also may know, that I like to dabble in making videos.

I have mashed up a little video recapping my favourite moments from this year. It was so much fun for me to make, as I always enjoy a little trip down memory lane!

What were some of your favourite moments of 2017?

Speaking of another favourite moment, seems like we’ve reached 2200 followers! 😀

Angela.

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Looking Back on December

A quick look back through the last month of 2017 before starting to think about the new year looming closer.

The month started with a bang of festivity. I decorated for Christmas, and we even had some fun making some gingerbread houses!

I did enjoy a Lush Bubble Bath that was also festive themed. It’s the Sunnyside Bubble Bath, which is a beautiful gold colour in the shape of a drop. It turned the water into a bright gold colour filled with sparkles. Along with lots of bubbles, there was a strong refreshing citrus scent, and definitely made for a cheerful bath!

I received my Tarte Treasure Box which I ordered as an early birthday gift for myself!

With the beautiful weather, I went for a walk around town and to the beach after work one day to enjoy it fully.

We had our Christmas Family Party at work which is always such a good time! The kids did a great performance, it was nice to catch up with the families, and there was so much amazing food!

Then it was my birthday weekend! I got to spend lots of time with family and my husband, had a high tea, visited somewhere new, and just had an amazing time! You can read more about it here.

I also got another tattoo! This one was the smallest and most delicate, and took literally under 10 minutes. It came out so beautifully!

I bought an early Christmas present for myself in the shape of a Colour Pop palette! It’s very sweet, and now I feel like I have enough palettes for a while haha!

We bought the Beanboozled game, and spend an afternoon with my brother playing the game. It really is a risk. Some of those flavours are truly disgusting, but I don’t regret deciding to play it. It made for an entertaining afternoon!

Back at work, things were pretty relaxed. With more kids going on holiday, our numbers were lower so we’re able to do more and more trips! Also, families were in a generous and thankful mood, so gifts and snacks were coming at us left and right which is so nice!

Finally, we celebrated Christmas! I got to spend time with my family as well as Rory’s family. There was an insane amount of food, as well as playing games, relaxing, and I’m still just enjoying the holidays as much as I can!

How was your December?

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Instagram Top Nine

Instead of looking at my top photos from December, I decided to find out what my top nine photos from 2017 were! I’ve always seen these around, and I’m happy that I get to do it! I haven’t started using Instagram since creating my blog, and it’s become another favourite social media.

Here’s my top nine from 2017.

A lot of scenery photos which makes me happy, as they’re some of my favourites to take and share!

Hanging Out in the Chinese Garden of Friendship

Uploaded on August 3. Received 99 likes.

This was taken during our Sydney holiday back in September 2016. We visited the garden on our first day, and spent so much time there. It was so beautiful, and this is one of hundreds of photos.  I really like this photo of me looking lost and bewildered, cause that’s how I felt. It was such a stunning place and I hope to be able to see it again one day!

Bondi Beach

Uploaded on November 7. Received 98 likes.

Another photo from our Sydney holiday. Bondi Beach is iconic in Sydney, it’s their most popular beach. We visited on a Tuesday morning so we had it to ourselves almost. The sand was white, the sky and water were a lovely blue, there was never ending photo opportunities. A must-see beach that’s for sure.

Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk

Uploaded on July 19. Received 98 likes.

Also from Sydney, but I couldn’t help sharing lots of photos from this trip! Especially around Bondi, it’s such a beautiful place! On our long walk, we passed by lots of other beaches, hills, greenery and blue skies. I still love all of these photos!

Engagement Photo

Uploaded on November 24. Received 97 likes.

I’m glad one of these made it in my top nine! Our engagement and wedding photos were both taken by the same photographer, Kent Yu. We’re so happy with the pictures we received from both events, and for future milestone events, we’d be keen to work with him again. This picture is one of the top ones though. We went out at ‘magic hour’, and while coming back down from Breaker Bay, we came across this little natural ‘tunnel’, which was a photo opportunity we didn’t pass up!

Pollard Park

Uploaded on July 11. Received 97 likes.

A throwback to 2009 I think? Or 2007. Either way, it was a while back when this was taken. Pollard Park was a frequent haunt for us when we went down to the South Island to celebrate Christmas with my grandparents. I get very nostalgic thinking about this park. It was always so beautiful, with all the luscious trees, rivers and ponds, the big playground, and of course feeding the ducks.

Crazy Clouds

Uploaded on October 28. Received 95 likes.

This was just sheer luck and timing. One evening at home, I looked outside and saw these crazy clouds. I’m sure this formation has a name, but I have no idea what it could be. So I did the normal thing, and ran outside and took lots of photos. I’m glad everyone likes this photo as much as I do!

River Photo

Uploaded on October 4. Received 95 likes.

This was on the first excursion taken with my new camera. It wasn’t taken by me, but by Rory. I wanted a photo of me by the river, so after taking lots of my own photos, we’d swap and he’d be the photographer. He took lots of lovely photos, and this one was well-timed with a little breeze.

Machu Picchu

Uploaded on August 10. Received 94 likes.

If you’ve been following me for long, you may know that I went to Peru a few years back. It’s the biggest trip I ever went on, and I like to talk a lot about the fact that I got to do a trek up to Machu Picchu. It’s a huge accomplishment, and experiencing those ruins first hand is definitely bucket list worthy!

Makara Beach

Uploaded on September 2. Received 93 likes.

Another beach, but this time in my hometown! I had no idea about Makara Beach, but Rory did. He’d been to it quite a few times growing up, so back in 2015, we decided to go walk up the little trail next to the beach. It was around an hour walk up hill, and the sights were amazing! We really need to go back sometime.

That’s my top nine from Instagram this year! It’s interesting to see out of all the photos I posted this year, which ones are the most popular!

Angela.

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December Favourites

Another month gone, and we’re at the end of another year! Here’s my favourites from this month!

Mugs

This month I got a few new mugs, and I’m already loving them. My favourite has to be the ones that my co-worker got me for Secret Santa. I use it everyday for my morning coffee. It’s the “I Woke Up Like This” mug. It’s cute, sassy, and the perfect size! I love my other mugs too though, but that one is just a little more on top!

Tarte Treasure Box Collector’s Set

I am still so in love with this product! I talked about it extensively in this post. It’s technically many products in one gorgeous chest, but I keep calling it a product. I use basically everything in this when I want to get a bit more dolled up. I love the range of eyeshadows, the highlighter, and the bronzers! As for the extra goodies, I always use the Sex Kitten eyeliner now, and I really love the mascara and lipstick too!

Nerdy Nummies

I haven’t even baked anything from this book and it’s already in the favourites. Look, I wanted to bake something straight away, but the sweets level in our house is insane. We’ve been getting snacks from all direction, that I’ve decided to hold off on baking until after all the sweets have left, otherwise it’s just an overload. I have decided to try the basic recipes first, before trying one of the more complex ones. Just to test out my skills!

Scented Candle

I only have two candles, but I have been enjoying have them a lot. They make the room smell nice, and both the ones I have are edible smelling. I have a little left of the vanilla candle. I also was given a bonus gift by Rory, which was a creme brulee scented candle! It smells so good, and looks so pretty! It’s on most nights!

Snacks Galore

So this doesn’t really make sense, but literally, the snacks have not stopped coming this month! Mostly all from work. From our centre manager, we got a huge bag of goodies, and then from lovely families of our centre. The Christmas spirit is very generous at my work, and there’s never a shortage of sweets and snacks in our house throughout December!

That’s what I’ve been loving this month! Can you believe 2018 is just a few days away??

Angela.

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Christmas Presents Galore!

Here’s everything I have been gifted from others (or myself) for the Christmas season! Just like with my Birthday Haul, I wanted to share everything on my blog!

What others got me

Bunch of Food, Movie Voucher and Perfume

All from the lovely families and staff at work! This time of year is always filled with goodies at my work, and it’s such an amazing time!

Cards

I wanted to include this somewhere, but I have done a card exchange with quite a few bloggers, and have this lovely little collection! I love having a physical item from these lovely ladies! It makes our online friendship feel a lot more tangible, you know 🙂

Calendar

It’s become a thing now for Rory to get me a calendar for Christmas each year. This started 2 years back, when I was lamenting that another year had gone by and no one got me a calendar. So I had to buy one myself. I love calendars. I always use them to keep track of life things, on top of my phone calendar. I just love having something physical to write on too. So now, I can always rely on someone getting me a calendar for Christmas!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Illustrated Edition

I’ve been eyeing up these books for years. I always umm and ahh about getting them, but I do absolutely love them. Rory got me this one, and the illustrations are just stunning! I love it so much!

Lord Voldemort Pop Figure

It’s become somewhat of a tradition to get each other pop figurines. Last year, I got Rey from my dad. This year from my dad, it’s our favourite Dark Lord.

Duvet Cover Set

A practical gift as ever from my mum. Always good to have another set of blankets!

3000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

A new puzzle from my sister! I’m quite excited to get started with this, as I’ve never done a puzzle larger than 1000 before 🙂

What I Got Myself

Colour Pop Shadow Palette – You Had Me at Hello

I have been eyeing up the ColourPop palettes for a bit. The one that first caught my eye was Yes Please, which is filled with bright, pastel colours. I realized though that I probably wouldn’t use it much, so I opted for this one, which has a nice mix of nude and warm colours! They are very pigmented and so easy to apply, I love that it comes with a little mirror too!

Spiral Notebooks

I’ve been pretty good at not buying too much stationary lately, but with all the sales going on, I had to get at least some. I bought an A4 and an A5 size.

Electric Mixer

I’m actually really excited for this! I’ve never had an electric mixer, and it just felt like time to get one. I’ve been loving baking this whole year, and this will just help me with that, as it means less manual mixing!

HP Sprocket

I have been very interested in this since I heard about it from you guys. I have already started printing a bunch of photos and I’m so happy with how they come out! They’re quite small and the quality isn’t perfect, but I love the mini size. They’d be perfect for scrapbooking! The price for the paper is also way cheaper than for my Instax mini.

Clothes

Finally, I got a bunch of new clothes. The thrift store near me closed down on December 23, so I went on the final day to their closing down sale where everything was 60% off. I got quite a few things. A beige knitted cardigan. This sweet white skater dress with floral patterns all over. A silky white blouse with black accents.

How was your Christmas?

Angela.

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If We Were Having Coffee #8

The last coffee catch up for the year!! Let’s get into it! I’m sure many of us are busy catching up with friends and family, so we’ll make this quick!

I’m having a milkshake again. It’s a Christmas Spice one from Sweet Bakery and Cakery. Tastes like toffee and gingerbread!

If we were having coffee, I’d talk about how much fun this year’s festive season has been. It’s my first year celebrating Christmas with my newfound blogging community, and it’s made me much more excited than I normally would be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always feeling extra festive this month for multiple reasons, but being a part of this blogging world has me feeling extra festive by about 1000% 😀

If we were having coffee, I’d also get all reflective talking about how amazing 2017 was. I had many milestones this year, both in life and in my blog. I started my blog in March with a vague idea of using it to save memories of my earlier travels, and now it’s become an online journal full of thoughts, memories, ideas, and basically a happy space I can call my own on the internet. I’ve also grown to over 2000 followers which is just insane. In terms of life, I got married, went on a honeymoon, bought a house, and celebrated 6 years of being with Rory!

If we were having coffee, I’d talk about the direction I would like to take my blog next year. I’m trying to think of getting a little more stability in my blog. I’d still like to post daily though. I talk about a huge number of things, but I’d like to get some sort of schedule going. Having certain days to talk about certain things. It’s just a brainstorm at the moment, but it does sound appealing to me.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask how your holidays are going, and what you’ve been getting up to. Then I’d let you get back to spending your day however you are, and wish you an amazing holiday season!

That’s all I wanted to share in this coffee catch up!

Angela.

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas everyone! If you’re not celebrating Christmas, then I wish you a Happy Holidays instead!

For everyone not on this side of the world, then it’s probably still Christmas eve, but I’m sure you may already be in a festive mood since Christmas is lurking around the corner. But for me, it’s here, so I’m off to celebrate.

Today, we’re going to hang out with Rory’s family, and tomorrow, we’re celebrating with mine. Lots of celebrating, eating, and hanging out with loved ones!

I just wanted to wish all my lovely blogger friends a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays as well!

Angela.

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Christmas Memories

For this Christmas Eve post, I wanted to share some Christmas memories. In no particular order or importance, here’s some random Christmas memories I wanted to share.

One year for Christmas, we were playing at my dad’s old school which is close to my grandparent’s house in Blenheim. Jo and I were playing on the playground. She was standing on the see-saw and balancing herself well, then she jumped off and played elsewhere. Me, being the little sister I was, decided I wanted to copy her and could do it just as well despite having zero co-ordination or balance skills. I stood on the see-saw, and tried to jump off. Instead I fell, and landed weird on my left arm. I had sprained it really bad and couldn’t lift my arm above my head for weeks.

One year for Christmas, I got rollerblades. I spent the whole day wheeling around everywhere and having so much fun. But a few days later when we were playing Badminton on the back yard and I was convinced I could jump over the net with the rollerblades on… I got tangled in the net and scraped up my hands and knees pretty bad.

One year for Christmas, I got a walkman. I spent the whole holiday season with my earbuds in, either listening to the radio, or to one of my mixtapes I had made. You know, I really wish I still had those mixtapes now. I was either eleven or twelve. I do remember one of the songs was “Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects.

One year for Christmas, we were taking our usual ferry ride across Cook Strait to the South Island, to spend the holidays with my grandparents in Blenheim. My sister and I were really into this one card game called Speed. Basically, you have to play very fast, and we get competitive. We were really loud and into it, that we didn’t notice we had accumulated a crowd who were watching us. Later that week, when we were wandering around town, we were spotted by someone who recognized us as the “girls who were really into the card game on the ferry”.

One year for Christmas, I put on The Hunger Games to watch, cause it had come out in the cinema earlier that year. Surprisingly, the whole family ended up watching it, including my brother-in-law and dad. Everyone really liked it. As dad said, “It has a lot more meat than other YA movies”. We all saw the rest of the movies in the theatres as they came out. I like to think it was all thanks to me.

Hope you enjoyed reading some random Christmas memories! Two ended up being about stupid (but non-serious) injuries I gave myself when I was younger. There’s actually a lot more, but those ones weren’t around Christmas. I could probably make that into a separate post sometime.

Anyway, what’s a random Christmas memory you have?

Angela.

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A Summer Christmas

It still tickles me every time I get a comment from one of my lovely friends on the other side of the world stating “I can’t imagine a summer Christmas”. So, I thought a post like this would be fun. Sharing with you all what a typical summer christmas for me looks like.

I shared the food aspect in my post yesterday, so I thought I’d talk about some outdoor activities we might do during the Christmas holidays. We also sometimes watch a movie, or play games, but with the sun shining outside, you can bet that we’ll head out.

Go to the beach

Go for a day trip somewhere

Go to the park

Mini-Golf

Cherry-Picking

Since it’s summer and the family is all-together, we do like to wander around outside in the sunshine. Basically, we do regular summer activities, but it’s at Christmas time. Easy enough to wrap your head around right? 😛

What’s one of your typical activities you do during the festive season?

Angela.

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