Outfit Post // City meets the Forest

 Black Blazer - Jay Jays, Grey Denim Shirt - The Warehouse,  

Silver Leaf Necklace - Pagani, Black Jeans - Melbourne,  

Grey  & Black Leather Shoes - No. 1 Shoe Warehouse

Here are some outfit photos I took the other weekend in Te Anau. My boyfriend was playing in a golf tournament up there so I tagged along as I wanted  to have a look around, I haven't been to Te Anau since I was about 10 so it's changed a bit!

I spent the weekend drinking coffee in a local cafe, sitting down by the lake with a magazine in the sunshine (between rain showers!) and driving to Lake Manapouri for a look.

We had dinner at  a cool Italian restaurant called La Toscana - garlic bread, 2 mains and 2 desserts for $45, pretty good deal!! 

I found a little track at Lake Manapouri and took my camera & tripod with me to take some photos. It's so pretty!! Sunlight was filtering through the leaves and a wood pigeon was flying around the tree tops. Plus there was no one else around, it was so nice and quiet.

I tried to pack light for the weekend, I took my mini suitcase with me and a couple of changes of clothes. Although it's Spring here now it was pretty wintry! There were a few snow and hail showers so I was glad I packed jeans, jerseys and my blazer. This black blazer is my new favourite thing! I love wearing it to work and it was perfect for a weekend away as I could layer it up over things (like the dark denim shirt I'm wearing) and it kept everything looking tidy. 

I've been pretty busy lately, every weekend in November I have something on and December is filling up fast too! I can't believe how close to Christmas it is, are any of you guys getting organised yet??

Outfit Post - Cornflower Blue, Golden Grass

I finally had a spare 5 minutes to rush off into the windy vineyard to take some outfit pics before I had to come home from my holiday in Cromwell. As I haven’t really been up that early over the summer holidays I had to wait until late afternoon when the sun was a bit lower to take some pictures. Unfortunately in Cromwell the wind ALWAYS picks up at this time so I ended up with some movement shots! I had fun spinning around and walking in front of the camera though. I just need to work on keeping me in focus...

Blue Dress - Dotti, Nude Chunky Heels - Kmart, Watch - The Warehouse,  
Rope Bracelets - Cotton On

This outfit is a great example of what I’ve been living in this summer. I’ve been keeping it easy and simple with a pretty dress and depending on the occasion wedges or strappy sandals. The ones I am wearing here are my new favourites – and they’re from Kmart of all places! I needed some nude shoes for the wedding I’m a bridesmaid for so I went shoe shopping with another of the bridesmaids. She found these awesome shoes and they are perfect – I was looking at wedges or chunky heels, these are so comfortable and sturdy and aren’t going to fly off my feet! Plus they’re surprisingly easy to walk in. Winning!!

What have you guys been up to over the holidays? Have you had a holiday? I’ve been back at work for a couple of days and Thursday I’m off to Christchurch for the wedding. It’s so exciting!! I’m just hoping the shaky ground stays quiet for the few days that I’m there. (might be wishful thinking!) Hopefully I’ll have some photos to show you guys next week!

Life Lately // NZCDG Conference 2011

 The venue where the conference was held - Malborough Convention Centre

I mentioned in my last post I was away at the National Cake Decorators Guild (NZCDG) annual conference over the weekend. It was the first one I have attended as I only joined up late last year so it was a bit intimidating/scarey not knowing what to expect!!

 My Dunedin group (me - bottom left!) - A few travelled up by themselves

There were 6 of us going together in a van from Dunedin, which was a long trip! We did it all in one day with quite a few stops, we left at 8am on Thursday and arrived in Blenheim about 5:30pm that night!

Because I was a newbie I got to be a delegate for my local club (I represented the Dunedin Sugar Craft Guild but I'm also a member of the Foveaux Cake & Sugar Art Guild in Invercargill!) which was so scarey! Me and another member went to the AGM on the Friday and had the responsibility of voting for the new President of the club and also voted on where the next South Island conference would be held - the options were my Invercargill Club or Nelson - unfortunately Nelson won by 2 votes!! So close.

My favourite berry of the lot - Rosehip. 
Demonstrator - Betty Debnam from Tasmania, Australia

 

 Wedding Dress Cake - Piping, brush embrodiary, pleating fondant

Demonstrator -Toba Garret from New York, USA

 

 The goodies I bought on Saturday - From the Trade Show

On Saturday I saw some 2 demonstrations, 1 on some berries which would make perfect fillers for floral arrangements, and a pretty wedding dress cake - the piping was so perfect and tiny!! I also got to go shopping - they have a whole lot of trade tables with people selling all kinds of cake decorating equipment. I didn't spend too much but I got some things I had been meaning to get for a while!! I also checked out the plaques some of the clubs entered and the competition flowers and cakes!

The plaque my club entered - The theme was "Through the vineyard window"

 A competition cake I liked

The cake that won the Peoples Choice - It was covered in tiny little fairies - including a 

Bride and Groom fairy!!

On Saturday night we had a formal dinner at the Malborough Convention Centre where the conference was being held. I sat next to a woman from the Whangarei club and it was really fun chatting to her all night! There was also a Cake Decorating Judge at our table and a few other women who had been to lots of conferences so they told me all about the ones they had been to in the past. 

 I absolutley love this little Elf - Strip cutter used for stripes (they sold out I missed out!)

Demonstrator - Raewin Kelly from Gisborne, New Zealand

 Butterfly Lily - She also showed us a ribbon rose (left)

Demonstrator - Pam Archibald from Victoria, Australia

Sunday was the final day of the conference that we were attending, and I saw 2 more demonstrations - 1 on a super cute little Christmas elf (I loved the tips for modelling little people its right up my alley!!) and the other was a pretty Butterfly Lily. 

 Bottom left are some seals on the beach!

A cute little road-side shop - Near Kaikoura

We headed home again on Monday, stopping briefly just out of Kaikoura to watch the seals playing on the rocks and to pick up some crayfish at a cute little road-side shop!

It was really cool being in the same place as a whole bunch of other Cake Decorators, learning heaps of new skills and tricks and remembering names and faces for the next conference I go to. We really need more young members like me to join so the older ones have someone to pass their skills and experience on to!! Definitely look up a local club if you're interested in Cake Decorating, I'm pretty sure there will be something similar all over the world. Next year I'm keen to attend the State one held in Melbourne, Australia too!!

Girl About Town // Malayka in Auckland

Here we have the last remaining Guest Post from my Girl About Town series! Today's post is from Malayka over at Dashfield Vintage. She has some great vintage clothing posted over on her blog, as well as a cool hair tutorial I noticed recently! Keep reading to find out about her favourite places in Auckland.

Hi there,

My name is Malayka.  I moved from Germany to Auckland about 27 years ago (yes that’s right I was 2 years old!) and although I have lived in numerous other cities and countries around the world I seem to always gravitate back to Auckland.  At the beginning of this year my partner and I moved away from the city and out into the country where we live in a little cottage close to the beach.  My little blog is called Dashfield Vintage and features all sorts of vintage related fun, events, life ramblings and regular updates about my vintage store (www.dashfieldvintage.com).  When I’m not skimming through blogs I am working as a translator, writer and vintage seller.  Anyway here are a few of my favourite haunts around Auckland,

Eat

One of my favourite cafes in this city is Cosset.  Truth be told I only discovered it a few months ago and have since become a regular customer!  Cosset has this adorable rustic/ vintage décor, super relaxed atmosphere, the most amazing vegan food (trust me you’re going to love this even if you’re not vegan!), and delicious homemade sodas in flavours like hibiscus and lavender. 

Quite on the opposite end of the health scale is my favourite pizza joint Sals.  This has since become a bit of a chain place around town but they still serve the best and only ‘big as your face’ slices of authentic New York style pizza’s!  They are super thin and drowning in fantastic gooey mozzarella.  What more could you want from a naughty treat!

Shop

Auckland is slowly seeing the return of vintage stores and small time designers which is fantastic!  Although they are dotted all over the city a great place to start is St Kevins Arcade on Karangahape Rd.  This is a beautiful old deco building filled with sweet little shops selling one off vintage and hand made designer pieces.

Something else that is making a real come around here are weekend craft markets such as First Thursday, Kraftbomb and Supermarket.  For specifically vintage ones look out for the monthly Travelling Vintage Sale.  It’s not only a great place to find unique treasures but it’s also nice to know that you are supporting local artists.

Best spots

When it comes to ‘getting away’ without ever leaving the city you really can’t beat the winter gardens in the Auckland Domain.  This is by far my favourite place to be in Auckland!  These amazing glass houses were built in the 1920s and are true to the art deco style.  One is a tropical hot house filled with all sorts of exotic plants (and a great place to warm up on a cold winters day I might add) and the cool house has equally beautiful plants that prefer a colder climate.  Oh and while you’re there you may as well check out the war memorial museum followed by a coffee by the big ponds.

If you’re feeling a little bit more adventurous then another really fun place to go in Auckland is North Head  North Head is situated on (and in) a giant hill in Devonport.  It consists of a series of tunnels (yes you can go into them), old army barracks, rusty canons and all sorts of other spooky and exciting things.  It was built in the 1800s to defend against the threat of a Russian invasion.  This place is rife with mysterious stories and suspicious tales.

It wouldn’t really be right to visit Auckland and not soak up a little culture.  After years of renovating, the Auckland City Art Gallery has finally opened and much to everybody’s surprise it looks amazing!  Oh and after you’ve checked out the art work, make sure you go upstairs and have a coffee on the new balcony over looking Albert Park, I could happily spend hours up there in the sun!

Lastly I would recommend checking out the viaduct if you are new to the city.  You have probably heard all sorts of horrifying stories about the sleazy bars and wanky restaurants down here but thankfully it has more to offer than just that!  On a sunny day the viaduct is a beautiful place to hang out, go for a walk around the Warf, have a nosey at the super luxury yachts and maybe even be tempted to jump on a ferry!

So you see Auckland City has a lot more to offer than you might think!  I used to always complain that living in New Zealand was so boring compared to places like Europe, in all honesty though you just need to look at this country through the eyes of a tourist and there’s actually so much to see and do!  Thank you Kasey for inviting me to come and brag about my city J.  x

Thanks Malayka! What an awesome post. I love the look of that travelling vintage sale! And a lavender soda from Cosset?? Sounds amazing!

I hope you've all enjoyed my Girl About Town Series, thanks to all my lovely guest posters - Maria in Dunedin, Sarah in Christchurch, Trees in Wellington and Malayka in Auckland. Soon I'll have a post up about Invercargill for you and some of the awesome places I've found!

Girl About Town // Trees in Wellington

Here's the next town on our little around-New-Zealand adventure - Wellington! Brought to you by the lovely Trees. She posts pictures from around Wellington, crafty things and outfit posts on her blog and I always enjoy checking it out! Take it away Trees!

 Kia Ora my name is Trees and KC has been kind enough to ask me to do a guest post for my beautiful city of Wellington. For those of you who don't know, Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and also a place for all kinds of artsy happenings. I work as a public servant and enjoy the life style the city offers. My partner and I live in an art deco apartment in the city centre and we don't have to walk too far from our front door to find something interesting whether its a cafe, art house cinema, music venue, play or the Wellington waterfront. My blog Adventures of a girl from the Naki and I blog about craft, fashion, music, movies, art, food and life in Wellington.

There's a saying in Wellington - "You can't beat Wellington on a good day" and its true! On a good day this is quite possibly one of the most beautiful cities in the world (not that I am biased or anything). If you don't believe me, here's some photographic evidence. 

On days like these you just want to eat your food outside and one of the best places to do this is Kreuzberg Summer Cafe. This cafe is fabulous, its based in an old parking lot. Your food will be cooked on a barbecue and it will be delicious. Despite being such a small cafe, they also have vegetarian and vegan meals.

Another favourite place of mine to hang out in Wellington is Expressoholic - this place is pretty iconic in Wellington and it seems that I find myself there at least once a week. It's a great place to meet your friends and chat over a tea or coffee. But they also have the most amazing cabinet food (my favourite is the tortilla stack) and a full menu. My favourite at Expressoholic is a "horchata" which is a Mexican drink. It tastes like warm vanilla melted ice cream - only better!

When it comes to shopping my favourite place in the city is Cuba Street, you can visit great stores like Iko Iko or Madam Fancy Pants. However, I an op shopper at heart so you are more likely to find me in Newtown or Kilbirnie op shopping during the weekends. One of my favourite Wellington op shops is Opportunity for Animals - they have really great prices and the Kilbirnie store has the most amazing selection of shoes!

Another one of my favourite shopping events is less frequent, Craft 2.0 which is an indie craft market which happens four times a year. Usually it takes place in the New Dowse Gallery in Upper Hutt, but the next market is due to happen in Wellington city - Yah! Craft 2.0 usually includes all kinds of crafty and baked goods, as well as a photo booth - everyone loves a photo booth.

Finally - if you're in Wellington where should you visit? Well one of my favourite things to do is to go for walks around the city. This may be a hilly city but it is idea for walking as it is so small and compact. You could get a bus to Lyall Bay and then walk from Lyall Bay to Island Bay - its pretty much all flat. Once you get to Island Bay you can check out the mini aquarium and say hi to an Octopus.

Finally, no trip to Wellington is complete without a visit to the Wellington waterfront, its my favourite place in the city, luckily I only live 10 minutes away. Anything can happen at the waterfront - on Sunday you can buy your fruit and vegetables and attend the food market or you may bump into a friendly seal or see some waka or dragon boats. Last weekend we bought hot chocolate from a double decker bus - there's always something happening in this little city.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post - I hope you enjoyed your virtual tour of Wellington!

Thanks Trees!! So many great photos and places to visit. Looking forward to my next trip to Wellington now! Check out Maria's post on Dunedin and Sarah's post on Christchurch too!