A Blurry Review of the Night

The scene was set beautifully, candles and flowers everywhere

The cocktail recipes for the night were well utilized of course! The Great Gatsby and French 75 were my favorite.

First arrival, still looking pretty fresh and sober

Dapper Dan

Most authentic looking of the evening goes to.....Tangiwai!!!

Donna and Craig

Mixing it up

Good conversation flowing and drinks in hand

Peter Crabb in red

Ooh la la Liz

Food still looking a plenty at this stage

Cake time; I blew out not only the 4 candles on the cake but all the rest on the island bench!

Clothes begin to rumple now as the night wears on

Old friends catching up; the lovely Norm, Hamish and Campbell

What's up with the daggers; smile Helena?!  Notice my costume change.

Dancin', dancin' dancin'.

Messy buggers

Now I lay me down to sleep.....little does he know his wife is going to wake him up a few hours later to go collect the kids.

At last...

At last, I can finally sit down and catch up on this truly neglected blog.  That's what happens when you decide at nearly 40 and with 3 young children to go back to school and get another qualification.  What was I thinking?  Or what was I not thinking?!  I totally did not realize how time consuming it was going to be to brush up on my science background in order to fulfill my "dream" of getting a post grad qualification in nutrition.  Anyway, half way through the semester now, mid term exam is over and I can kind of relax.  Chuck on top of that two weeks of cooking every meal every day for 30 hungry students while being in the midst of my kids school holidays.  Boy has it been a "fun" few weeks....not!  But the satisfaction factor of having gotten through to the other side is sky high.  Of course, I have had time to plan the big "4-0" party.  So the plan is........The Great Gatsby.....a proper cocktail party with everyone dressed with a 1920's vibe. 

In preparation for the evening of glamour, decadence and debauchery:

a local "moonshine"

my Daisy headband

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst all this was being organized, 3 little elves in California were busy organizing something else...How amazingly lucky and loved did I feel when this arrived in my post a few days ago?!

40 gifts wrapped and labelled, ready to open on my actual birthday (I've got to save something for that post party Monday morning).
Thank you to my lovely ladies!
8 days till party time...more photos to come.

A Taste of Kiwi Summer

The pontoon at Matheson

Collecting mussels at Pakiri

Gorgeous evening watching the kids at Pakiri

Hours of fun in the pools

The Christmas Eve exchange with Santa and the fire brigade; lollies for beer

All ready for a visit from Santa

Testing out the new scooter!

A birthday cake fit for a 7 year old queen; the jelly filled swimming pool meringue cake?!

Birthday paddle boarding at Lang's

Delicious vineyard platter at Ransom

Lily pads at Brick Bay Sculpture Trail

This one's for you Jordan!  The drunken sailor.

Getting psyched up for a swim to the island through massive amounts of kelp.

Following in mama's footsteps; my little chef.

Ta Da!!!!

Ok, so I haven't staged anything and it doesn't look exactly perfect.  Some furniture is out of place where we need to paint behind it and there are groceries and laundry sitting in the corners of the room but for the most part our house is finally finished (almost).  Does any home project ever get completely finished?  Our last bits are to put the window surrounds (or whatever they are properly called) back up and then paint the skirting boards.  To me, finally getting the stainless benchtop installed today, the project is complete.  And with only moments to spare (ok, 3 days) until my best friend and her family arrive to spend Christmas with us, we have done it in a 'hitting a home run and sliding into home plate' style. I'm over the moon with the results and can't wait to enjoy the space with lots of friends, heaps of chilled wine and plenty of yummy food in leisurely fashion over the next few weeks. 

handmade knife magnet courtesy of Peter

love my open shelving

we can open up the windows all the way and practically feel like we are on the deck

space, at last

awesome view to the bush out back

lots of space for everyone to lounge on the deck

or chill on the sofa and check out the ocean

it might be too spacious!!!

dream kitchen, well for me it is anyway

and can you believe this is what it used to look like?!