I made it. 30 days of consecutive blogging. A whole month of full time work, xmas orders, daily blogging, twitter interactions, and social engagements. Phew.

Helped in part (a lot) by my health (better! comparatively); by my bf cooking dinner & not complaining when I’m too busy to help; by my love of food which I use to bribe myself out of bed in the morning (‘if you just get up you get to eat fruit toast and sushi’) whatever works right?!; by my new found love of travel which compels me to get out and earn some dollars; by friends telling me all month that they’ve been enjoying reading; and seeing the subscriber numbers go up and giving me a reason beyond myself to continue.

Yeah yeah, but I’m supposed to be a blogger on something right? So blogging every day should be the rule not the exception.

It’s taken me a long time time to get back to this place. I don’t work well when I’m stressed or depressed, instead I lie in bed reading twitter & watching Private Practice.

I received the Grymm and Epic newsletter today, including the latest post on why running your own business is awesome. Point 10) I am a donut, made my head explode a little. It’s a mental shift I’ve experienced but hadn’t realised or acknowledged it. I am instead of I work for…I am a jewellery designer, a blogger, a temp.

Goals for December: spend some time catching up on my google reader. Try to curb my addiction to obsessively checking my email, perhaps by adding a push notification to my phone for when I get one instead of loading it up literally every 15 minutes, even when there’s been nothing new for hours. Blog some awesome alternative gift ideas. Read something that’s not a blog!

+ / +

• Xmas not your favourite time of year? Broke? Bored? Totally over the tradition of buying crap that no one needs? How about not doing that this year? (p.s. I’ll be posting a bunch of posts soon with awesome ideas for not new not crap presents.)
• Skills they should teach in school. They’d only take one or two lessons and they’ll set you up for life.
• What do you want? Ask yourself this question, ask your friend this question, ask your client this question. It might help you see the bigger picture and get where you’re going.
• Need an incentive to get writing? Is a new kitten every 100 words enough? :D
• Remember that Simpson’s party I mentioned? Laura wrote up some tips on throwing your own Simpsons party and kindly shares the recipe for her GIANT DONUT.
• For all of my posturing against war and the people that decide fighting with guns is a valid career choice it’s still infinitely sad when they die. Final Salute follows Steve Beck, a marine who has the hard job of telling families when their person has been killed. It’s a long read, and very sad so save it for home lest you end up crying at your desk like I did.
• Pretty pretty glitter polishes.
• Ever wanted to get something designed, maybe a logo, but you’ve heard all this talk about terrible clients that don’t know what they want and you definitely don’t want to be that person. Take these tips from actual logo designers and you won’t be the one they hate.
• Nikki Kaye doesn’t seem to understand the internet.
• The 50 Things creatives should know.
• 63 reasons why Bradley Cooper isn’t the sexiest man alive. Hoooohhhhh.

One of the creepiest and most fascinating things I have ever seen. I for one welcome our cephalopod overlords.

Way to make me cry people in love. <3 This world needs fixing, and this is such a simple way to start.

Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords) and Kermit (the Frog)!

We scored three artichokes for $1.50 in the sale bin at the supermarket yesterday which is a saving of $4.50 PER ARTICHOKE apparently.

I love artichokes but I’d never actually cooked and eaten them whole like this before, usually I’d have artichoke hearts with an antipasto platter or on a pizza. Brend reached back into his mind grapes to remember how they ate artichokes in Spain. People would turn up to parties with bags full of them and they’d steam them and eat them with nothing else!

We steamed ours for about 20 minutes until they went dark green, then dipped the edible parts of the leaves and the hearts in a butter, garlic, lemon thyme, and basil sauce. So good.

Make sure you get rid of all the fluffy stuff in the middle (the choke) before you eat the heart, it gets caught in your throat big time. No fun.

There are a number of things I’m wishing for for giftmas that I’m really not expecting: to wake up and realise the result of yesterday’s election was just a nightmare; a 4s iPhone; a trip to Iceland.

Here are a few more realistic ideas:

1. Daily diary with unruled pages – It is insanely hard to find daily diary with unruled pages! I have found a total of one option, the Delfonics Daily Book. The Kikki K Sundae Daily Diary looks pretty cute too though.
2. Cute storage – To hide all my mess! [Sky blue paper suitcases from Sweet Shop Lulu.]
3. Scissors – A pair of fabric scissors and some embroidery scissors would be a great addition to my craft tools. [Pink embroidery scissors from Sublime Stitching.]
4. Sweary plates from Trixie Delicious – I have wanted some of her plates for AGES. Pretty sure these have been on every wishlist of mine for years. Maybe it’s time to invest for myself? [X-boyfriend trio from Trixie Delicious.]
5. Spray paint – My 26 in 26 list says that I need to paint something to make it look prettier. I love the blue!
6. RAM – My new compy could sure do with a memory upgrade! [8gb of RAM from OWC.]
7. SDHC memory card – My camera has the ability to take videos but I still haven’t tested it out as I’m sadly lacking in the memory card department.
8. Rings – Sometimes it’s nice to have jewellery that isn’t made out of plastic or wood. These Sterling Silver rings are lovely. [Goujon Triple Ring from Alex and Chloe. Lightning Bolt Ring from Glam Rock Emporium.]
9. Animals in clothes – Or second best, these cute illustrations of my fave animals in suits. [Polar Bear and Narwhal from Berkley Illustration.]
10. Food and Drink – Or cake and gin.
11. Tattoo money – I plan to get my next tattoo in the same place as this pretty piece.

What’s on your wishlist this year?

Did you know that making lamingtons is super easy if you use store bought sponge?

I’d only made these lamingtons once before, and they were the classic kiwi raspberry flavour. This time I decided to treat my friends to some lime lamingtons for our election gathering. Lime is green and most of us are Green voters. Geddit?

What you need:
1 store bought sponge cake
1 packet of jelly
Dessicated coconut

• Make jelly up with 1 and 1/4 cups of boiling water (instead of the 2 cups the pack asks for). Let it cool in the fridge till it just starts to set.
• Trim the dark edges off your sponge and cut it into about 12 pieces.
• Dip all sides of the sponge cake in cold jelly mix and then roll each piece in coconut.
• Repeat for all of your pieces. Cut a slit in each lamington and add cream if you like it like that.

How easy is that!

It’s illegal to try and persuade someone to vote for a particular party on election day. Or something?

But it’s not quite election day.

Don’t forget to vote tomorrow. Vote Green. Vote Labour. Vote for people that care for more than themselves.

What I was wearing to vote 3 years ago.

Hi Lovers

So apparently people in the States go crazy after Thanksgiving and spend all their money on sales? Perfect timing for xmas shipping and the perfect time to finally try out the Etsy Coupon Code function right?

So if you’re from Australia use code FREESHIPPINGOZ50 when you spend $50nzd to get free shipping.
And if you’re from anywhere else use code FREESHIPPING75 when you spend $75nzd to get free shipping.

But what about the Kiwis?! You guys get free shipping on everything always now. Boom!

Don’t forget I can ship presents already gift wrapped directly to your recipient with a note from you. Just make sure you include all the details in the notes when you check out.

Thanksgiving: A holiday celebrated in The States that has nothing to do with me, or my history.

Nevertheless, the idea of remembering to be thankful and sharing a meal is one I can get behind. Much like xmas for me has nothing to do with remembering Baby Jesus and everything to do with remembering baby cheeses.

This year I’ve gone from never having celebrated Thanksgiving to having 2 celebrations in the space of a week. The first being at Mika’s on Sunday. Her place was crammed full of people and we ate an assortment of salads, vegetables, birds, and pies. Delicious.

Tonight, Brend, Kate, and I are going to share a chicken and cook all the vegetables in butter.

A few things I’m thankful for:

Technology:

When I was a child, before DVD players were a thing; back when owning a computer was a big thing and Encarta was one of the best things I had ever seen; I remember distinctly wishing out loud for two things.
1) A device which would allow you to have more than one CD on rotate. Stereos that could do this were awesome and eventually discmans that could play MP3s came along so you could have a couple of hundreds songs on one CD.
2) That TV ads would go away. “Wouldn’t it be amazing” I mused, “if you could somehow download all of the days TV and fast forward through the ads.”
Every time I think back to these moments my minds blows up a little. We live in the future and it’s pretty great.

Friends:

I have the best little group anyone could ask for. We’re all pretty different while being exactly the same. I especially like that as the group grows bigger and we find someone we want to join the group we kinda work together to lure them in and trap them. Um. Yeah.

Suffrage:

On Saturday New Zealand votes for its next Government. Whether it changes for the better, or remains a festering pit where an ex Merrill Lynch trader trades our country into the ground, we will have come to that conclusion through a democratic process. Yay democracy. Vote Green.

Modern Medicine:

The immunosuppressants and anti inflammatories that stop my guts from exploding daily. And the steroids that bring me back from the brink of almost wishing for a colostomy bag. :/

Science will always be better than a fairy tale.

My Privilege:

I’m thankful I’m in a place in my life where I can recognise my privilege. I’m thankful I have the luxury of deciding when to have children, if ever. I’m thankful that I can easily earn enough money to live on. I’m thankful I have a supportive Mum and Step Dad and siblings.

I’m thankful for my body, though it is sick with colitis and all the facets of life that affects, it still carries me the places I need to go.

Good men in my life

I have a lovely boyfriend who supports what I do and is interested in the world around him. I love him very much.

What are you thankful for?

In an effort to save money, as well as get my sister to come to Wellington, we drove home with her after our few days in Hamilton. It’s real long drive, about 8 hours without stops! But the scenery is beautiful even if you’ve seen it all many times before.

The Desert Road is one of my favourite stretches. It’s desolate, covered in tufty grasses and rocky creeks. It’s often misty and the three volcanic mountains hold snow on their peaks. Tongariro National Park is a dreamscape.

Mt Ruapehu // Desert Road // Mt Ngauruhoe // Bulls // Blossoms // Mt Ruapehu // Lake Taupo

I fucking love laab. I actually came up with a back up career idea the other day in which I open I restaurant that makes nothing but laab. I would call it Laab Actually. Clearly I’m a genius.

Laab lends itself to puns quite nicely. We discovered this while in Asia and painfully tested it at every opportunity. We’d gorge ourselves on the delicious meaty salad and then groan that we were going into laab-er.

Laab is pretty easy to make. It’s a traditional Laotian meat salad. It’s meant to be served at room temperature, I prefer it slightly warmed though. It’s really as simple as throwing meat in a pan and cooking it. We’ve even made it slightly different every time, depending on what ingredients were at the market and what kind of meat we felt like eating.

Laab

or Larp or Larb or Laap

Ingredients for 3 servings

500g minced meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, whatever) or 1 filleted fish
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 shallot – sliced
5 garlic cloves
Fresh or dried chilli depending on how hot you like your food. Traditionally laab is very hot.
100g lemongrass – thinly sliced. We use the rind of a lemon instead.

For serving
1 shallot – sliced
2 spring onions – sliced
1/2 cup of chopped mint or basil or coriander (best in that order, or in a combo)
Lettuce or cabbage leaves
Other salad vegetables like beans, tomatoes, and onion
2 Tbsp roasted rice powder

To make

• Fry the garlic and shallot in a splash of oil. Add the mince and brown.
• Add the lemon juice, fish sauce (more if you like it saltier), sugar, chilli, and lemon. Cook for a couple of minutes.
• Take it off the heat and add fresh shallot, spring onion, fresh herbs, and rice powder*.
• Serve with sticky rice** and cabbage or lettuce leaves.

Extra tips:
- If you’re using fish then marinade it first in the lemon juice with 1/2 tsp salt before squeezing and placing in the wok.
- If you like laab cold you can cook the meat first and leave it to cool. Add the rest of the ingredients once the meat has come to room temperature.
- Use more herbs if you like. The best laabs I had in Laos were full of mint.
- Feel free to not eat it with a salad. We stick to meat + herbs + lettuce + rice. In SE Asia it was usually served with cabbage cups but cabbage makes my stomach explode.

*Rice powder: Dry roast 2 Tbsp of rice in a pan then whizz in a food processor or grind in a mortar. It gives the recipe a crunch and a nutty flavour.
**Sticky rice: You should be able to find this in a good supermarket or at least your local Asian market. The easiest way to prepare it is to place a cup of rice in a bowl and just cover it with water for 10-15 minutes. Cover it with a plate and microwave for 1.5 minutes at a time until done.