This is my friend Ellia….she is an absolute legend. She lives next door to us in here in Australia and is a fantastic little surfer. She also shreds on her skateboard in her bikini, has a skate ramp in her garden and has a 6 pack to die for! She may be small but she sure is strong.

Today the post man arrived with a big surprise…..her first custom surfboard!  Her talent out in the water was spotted by the shapers at Wardy Surfboards and a few weeks ago she whizzed down to the Gold Coast to order her first ever custom board.  Choosing the size, and most importantly the colour she has been waiting very patiently for her board to be shaped, sprayed, glassed and sanded to her specifications.

A big collection of trophies, certificates and medals in Ellias bedroom.

Ellia’s collection of medals, certificates and trophies is impressive! She’s a standout surfer at her local Boardriders Club – regularly showing the boys how its done! Most importantly she works hard at school, does all her homework and gets great grades. She also  excels at her school sports events with lots of medals for running!

Ellia has a little book listing all the places she’s ever surfed.  So far she’s got about 30 surf spots on that list and it keeps on growing! She read them all out today and has certainly surfed a lot more places in australia than I have! She’s even been to Fiji to surf

Her board arrived just in time for the weekend.  The waves are forecast to be perfect for her to get in the water to try it out for the first time….and maybe even surf it in the Coolum Beach Boardriders Surf Competition this weekend.

Keep an eye on this little grom as I have a funny feeling that she may be the next Steph Gilmore?!

She’s surfed at 30 different spots! Sure that list will grow pretty quick…

image source

December started as it usually does, with me kicking the Christmas decorating, crafting, and preparations into full swing and I snuck my birthday in fairly low key with a picnic dinner at the beach with my son and my mum. 43 is a fairly blah birthday moving me further away from 40 and closer to gulp 45! One resolution I made this birthday was to let shit go. No use stressing over crap you can’t control. Actually managing this pretty well so far although I know I’m always going to care too much what people think about me.

Christmas was a lovely day spoiling Mr 7, having a Christmas breakfast with lifelong friend Shelley and her son, then Christmas lunch with my niece and her now rather large family, and then on to the traditional dinner at aunty Pam’s. Was a great day.

Usually by the start of December I also have my marquee booked and filled for the races on the 27th but this year I hadn’t organised it, and as it turns out that was meant to be because about a week before Christmas I started a new role at Taranaki Thoroughbred Racing as the Events, Marketing & Sponsorship Co-Ordinator meaning that now I attend the races as my job! I would have been bummed if my friends were all there celebrating and I couldn’t.

The other thing I usually do over the Christmas break is go to a concert, often at Butlers Reef to see The Feelers or Jimmy Barnes, although sometimes at The Bowl if we have great band there like Fleetwood Mac. This year because some things have been a bit mixed up I wasn’t paying attention to who was playing out there and missed going to see Shihad. Really hoping to get to see a band out there at some stage, it’s always a great night out.

One of the biggest changes over the summer has been my hours, my new role is super flexible so I can work when I want, where I want, and this has allowed me plenty of time to enjoy the first of the items in my title – Sun. Taranaki, along with much of the country, has enjoyed some of the best weather we’ve had during a summer for literally years and it’s been fantastic to be able to hang out outside in the beautiful sunshine. I’ve even managed to get a tan! #loveit

Fun is the next thing on my summer summary. A combination of flexible hours, hot hot weather, and probably a bit too much beer has resulted in a summer of fun. I haven’t laughed so much in years, I’ve been on all sorts of adventures, and I’ve just totally done plenty of things that the ‘anal retentive’ Sonya wouldn’t have done. Caring less does open you up to new experiences!

Last but certainly not least is Love. I’ve loved spending hours out on the deck in the sun drinking a new love Export 33 beer, I’ve loved spending time with friends, I’ve loved hanging out with Mr 7 who at this age is just such a cool kid, I’ve fallen back in love with country music helped in part by Tate Stevens winning X Factor. I hope my neighbours love it as much as me as it’s often played loud during those drinks-on-the-deck sessions. I’ve loved having time to work when and how I want to. I’ve loved being back in control of my diet and losing weight. I’ve loved the new experiences this summer has presented. And I’ve fallen in love with this guy…

Well actually probably not so much him as this song, which is kind of my theme song for summer! I hope you have had an amazing summer doing all the things that make you happy like I have!

My first attempt at Punch art

What is Pinterest? It is a content sharing site, a bit like a photo gallery of things you like, dislike, want to make, have made, want to visit, have visited or absolutely any other reason you care to have photos of on a board.  You can visit the site and create your own boards and basically “pin” pictures onto your boards.  Or when you visit any other site you can pin pictures from there onto your boards.  Just a point of note, the pictures that you “pin” onto one of your boards, when another person clicks onto it, it will take you to the original owner of the picture.

You can have has many boards (which is really another name for a folder)  as you like, they are yours to name and do with as you please, I have twenty or so boards of my own, one of course is called Craft – this is full of pictures of items that other people have made that I like and perhaps some day I might even attempt to have a go at, so I also have a board called “Things I have attempted after seeing them on Pinterest” hmmmmmm only 4 items on this board.

My craft board has a lot of items in it, so I am beginning to split it  and creating new ones called Easter, Christmas, Buttoncraft, Quilling, just for ease really when I am looking for a particular item.

I have a lighthouse board, with pictures of nothing but lighthouses ( bet that surprised you!)  I have always loved lighthouses.

Oh and a board with nothing but doors and windows, a bucket list board, places I have visited, places that I have yet to visit, thing I just like, birds and animals, there are just so many beautiful things in the world, that other people have taken the photos of and have been willing to share them.

If you have a business, it is another opportunity of “getting your name out there”by uploading pictures of items that you make and putting them onto your board in the hope that others may like it and “pin” it onto their board.

My page is below, if you want to have a look at what inspires me.

http://pinterest.com/zaneymbabygifts

I love leftovers!!!!! It gives me so many options for creating a new meal.  I started doing this when my children were little.  How many times in one week can you expect them to eat the same thing?

I had some leftover chili and rice so I decided to make “mexican lasagna” which my kids used to love!  It is very easy and basically, you can add whatever you like to it.  Start off with your leftover chili.

I added the leftover rice to the chili and mixed it well.  I like to use rice to stretch the chili.  If you don’t have rice you can add a can of refried beans or just cook up a cup of rice.

Here is what my chili/rice mixture looked like.

I used one bag of shredded Mexican cheese and medium flour tortillas.

Before assembling this dish, I sprayed some vegetable cooking spray into a baking dish.  I then began layering just like lasagna.  First the tortillas, chili mixture, cheese….repeat.  For the top I added some chopped tomatoes (canned or fresh)  and cheese.  I covered it and baked it at 350 for about an hour.

Out of the oven and ready to serve!

I like to add toppings to my Mexican lasagna.  You can really top it with anything you like.  I happened to have some sour cream and avocado, but chopped red onion, sliced black olives or any other condiment would be excellent.  Enjoy!

This is my dining room before I decided to paint it.  I got it for a steal when I moved into my house almost six years ago.  Back then I was trying to decorate in a more neutral Pottery Barn fashion, but lately I have been realizing that the look just isn’t me.  My previous home, an apartment, was decorated in a more shabby chic style which I loved.  After listening to so many people tell me that “they did not picture my home this way” I started to question my own taste.  NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!  I am going back to what I love and what makes me happy.  It will be a long road, but I will get there!

Finally done!!!!!! I am so much happier and the room looks so much lighter!  I think the hardest part of this redo was the fact that I had to work indoors.  It seems I always pick the worst times to do things, but they do get done!!!! Now I have to start looking for some chair pads or make them myself.  The problem I have had with chair pads in the past is my dogs thinking they are chew toys!!!!!  Hopefully they will have outgrown this by now!!!!!  I doubt it…..pillows, slippers, dog beds are all fair game for them!!!!  Picasso seems to have snuck into this shot….ooops!

True story: I only brought two pairs of this underwear to Europe for my 10-day trip, and I’m sure I would’ve been fine with only those two pairs for a much longer trip than that.

The general idea is that you wash one pair in the sink and let it dry while you wear the other pair. And then you switch and repeat. This underwear is super comfortable, odor resistant, and quick drying, so it works out great if you’re trying to conserve space for other things. You just need to remember to wash the other pair every night.

Anyway, time to put my wardrobe where my mouth is!

First up a declutter. My bedroom has two wardrobes either side of a built in dresser. In the middle of last year I divided the clothes up into the the ones that fitted then and the ones I wanted to fit into. Having recently lost 11+ kgs I had plenty of clothes that no longer fit so time to get rid of them and move the clothes from wardrobe two that now fit into wardrobe one. 

So this is the new wardrobe one. the clothes are mostly lightest to darkest and then colours, with skirts, pants and jeans hanging at the end. Both wardrobes used to be about this full.

These are all that is left in wardrobe two now, not too many left to fit back into. pretty stoked!

This little green number used to (and kind of still is) one of my favourite items in my wardrobe. I’ve had it for over ten year (possibly closer to 15) and I don’t wear it in public any more because a) it’s too big, b) it’s pilled, and c) it’s lost it’s shape but I do still wear it around the house because I love how fluffy it is and it’s sequinned bling!

This is me, yesterday wearing my goal dress and new fascinator. Unfortunately due to my sprained foot I couldn’t wear my new shoes. There’s a blog about this outfit that I will post up in the next few days. It’s mostly written, I just have to edit out the pain.

So there it is in all it’s glory my wardrobe (well, wardrobes actually)!

I don’t get the urge to make chicken soup that often, but when I do, I usually make a very large batch to freeze.  Although making this delicious soup isn’t hard at all, it does require time and a few steps.  Trust me….once you taste this soup, canned will NEVER do!!!!

Ingredients:

1 three to four pound chicken.  I prefer one that is cut into eighths as I find it easier to handle

Water

Soup greens (they usually come pre -packaged.  If not get one of each of the following: small onion, parsnip, leek, carrot, white turnip, celery stalk, potato and a large bunch of dill)

2 tbsp salt

1 box of chicken stock (reduced sodium is fine)

3 carrots, sliced like coins

3 stalks of celery, chopped

Pepper

Noodles or small shaped pasta optional

Rinse chicken and place in the bottom of a large pot.  Add cold water to cover chicken plus another couple of inches for good measure.  Add your salt.  Bring to a boil and skim off any foam that appears on the surface of the water.  Cover pot, turn down heat to simmer,  and let cook for 1 1/2 hours.

After 1 1/2 hours carefully remove chicken from pot and place in a bowl to cool.  Try to strain out any visible fat from liquid if possible.  Add your soup greens and box of stock and any liquid from the bowl of cooling chicken.  Let simmer 1 1/2 hours.

Using a slotted spoon, remove all the soup greens from the soup.  Place cheese cloth in a colander over another large pot.  Strain your soup into the new pot so your soup is clear.  You can now add your sliced carrots, chopped celery and noodles or pasta at this time.  Also add your chicken.  I like to shred mine.  Let cook for 30 minutes or so.  Add pepper and any additional salt if needed.

You can then serve your soup or let it cool, refrigerate and serve the next day.  Any fat left in the soup will rise and be easily skimmed off.

When you are a dog lover there is nothing like finding wonderful framed dog prints! And at $10 each, I snapped up two of them!

This blue/gray crackled glass covered urn stands about 18-20 inches high.  On sale for $10.99!!!!!!!  Love it!!!!  Peter Andrews is a hit or miss place.  They have items selling in the thousands all the way down to amazing sale prices.  It is also a great place to shop for ideas.  They definitely have something for everyone, and everyone’s budget!!!!  The best time to catch them is when they have their “midnight madness” sales!  Everything for the home and more!!!! It is like a more upscale HomeGoods.  They have three locations on Long Island.  Happy shopping everyone!

BTW, this urn was originally marked $45!!!!!!! SCORE!!!!!!