Journal Every Day!

With the month of April & Autumn upon us, it recently dawned on me that we are already a THIRD through the year. Where does time go?! I swear it was yesterday that it was my birthday, New Year & Christmas!

One of my favourite blogs, the Every Girl, has a 30 day challenge which is to journal & reflect on every day for the month of April. I had purchased a cute Kikki-K 365 journal in the January Sales so I thought – hey, why not? So I set myself the challenge of getting to bed each night early enough to reflect on the day I have had and to write down my thoughts.

Just a few of my journals & inspirational books

Just a few of my journals & inspirational books

So the past week I have spent pouring out my thoughts onto the page, and for a real challenge, making sure I keep it to 1 page! In case you hadn’t noticed I’m a bit of a rambler and a long-winded-story-teller even when I try to keep it ‘long-story-short’.

I also purchased a lovely Gratitude Journal from Kikki-K as I was fascinated with the idea of focusing my thoughts on gratitude and being really positive about my day. With all the stress I have had lately it has proven well to reflect on my day and be thankful for things I wouldn’t normally.

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Thankful Journal – image from Kikki-K.

When you are stressed and feel like the world is against you, sometimes it’s hard to think about what you have actually been dealt with in the cards that is actually positive. But there is really so much I am grateful for in my everyday life, and it’s great to take the time to focus my thoughts on these things instead of what is too hard or negative in my life!

Some of the things I have been journalling about (without revealing too much – after all its MY journal!) – my family, the love in my relationship, how fortunate I am for my friends, finding enjoyment in the things I do, having a much healthier lifestyle & my health, as well as having the good fortune of a job that allows me to buy what I like & being able to support local & small business.

To see what other people are doing for the Every Girl 30 day challenge check out the hashtag #TEG30daychallenge on Instagram. Don’t forget to follow me!

Oh and before I forget! For those who were intrigued by my stores about the instagram parcel swap it is back up again! The lovely Nia Neve from Life and Co Blog is running the amazing Post-A-Parcel exchange which is open internationally! It is the sweetest, nicest idea & a great way to meet new people and bring some sunshine into your life. The next theme will be the Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea (for those who know my tea loving & charitable side will know this theme is ME ALL OVER!), so what are you waiting for? Get on over and sign up!

You can also check out all the lovely goodies that were sent & received with love on Instagram with the hashtage #postaparcel.

x Rach

 

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A new blogger friend

Amongst my busy life of working & baking, I have found a new love of snail mail through Instagram! I will post more about this later this week but in the meantime I want to share a wonderful blog of a new friend I have made.

Annabel from Annabel & Alice is my latest pen pal and I have been busy reading through her lovely blog – which has made me feel like quite a novice to the blogosphere! She swirls updates of life & blog shares with intriguing book reviews which have me wanting to make a trip to my local library!

As a youngster I loved to read and one year even managed to read the most in my class! However since finishing school & adopting Instagram, Pinterest & Macaron making, my length of time for reading is right now about 4 pages of a magazine!

So if you like a good book make sure you pop over to her blog for some inspiration for your next read. But in the meantime, she has shared what is called the ‘Liebster Award’.

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It is an award for small blogs of less than 200 followers as a way to connect to other bloggers and share more about themselves. The blogger must:

  • Share 11 facts about themselves
  • Answer 11 questions from the previous blogger
  • Post 11 questions & for the next lot of bloggers to answer

Those who know me know that I love to share! So if you are reading this and have a blog please feel free to participate and answer my questions below.

11 Facts about me!

1. I was born in Bowral, in the Southern Highlands

2. I have a little blue Indian Ringneck called Chomper (because she bites!) who is the inspiration behind the name Blue Bird High Tea

chomper

3. I am left handed – me and only 10% of the population!

4. My last 3 managers have also all been left handed. I don’t have statistics on this, but I think it’s pretty rare!

5. I am often asked about my families heritage – I believe I am 4th generation from England on my father’s side, and have a great-great grandmother from France. Apart from that I’m simply Aussie!

6. My favourite character from a show is Blair Waldorf – so much that I decided I would dress like her to school when I was 17. Think kitten heels, headbands, bows, lipgloss & stylish jacket. Or at least I thought I was stylish!

7. As a teenager, while everyone at school was unsure about what to have for lunch, let alone what degree & job they wanted, I declared that I would one day become either the Prime Minister or CEO of Big W. And I plotted on a chalkboard at lunchtime what steps I needed to take to get to either role. And now there are 4 positions between me and the CEO – wide-eyed 16 year old me didn’t think I’d get there that quickly, did she!

8. I’m not a fan of regular coffee! I prefer mochas or caramel lattes – or TEA!

9. My favourite place in the world is the town of Berry & the Berry Tea Shop – who source their tea & make all of their yummy sweets!

My lovely friends Karla & Courtney on a trip to the Berry Tea Shop

My lovely friends Karla & Courtney on a trip to the Berry Tea Shop

10. I’m terrible at making decisions – lunch, venues, times, what to wear, favourites – you name it!

11. I’ve lived in the gong now for almost 9 years! I’m thinking I will need to host a 10th anniversary party!

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11 Questions from Annabel & Alice!

1. What is your favourite flavour of tea?

I love many of the blends from the Berry Tea Shop – however Vanilla Bean is my favourite! Buy it here!

2.If you could have three people to brunch, dead or alive, who would they be?

My great grandmother Elizabeth, my mother & me. My mum has told me many stories about her and I would have love to have met her!

3. What’s your one blogging tip to give the blogosphere?

Make sure you include lots of pictures & photos as they stop it from becoming an essay! And I hate essays!

4. What was your favourite subject in school?

Textiles! I loved sewing and creating masterpieces. So much in fact that I finished my final work about 2 months before the rest of my class!

5. If you could be an animal, which would you be?

A bird. Wouldn’t you love to crap on people who annoy you?

6. What is your favourite way to travel? Train, bus, car, plane, bike…

As I’ve spent so much time in my life travelling each of these ways I simply can’t pick! I loved the scenic train ride to school, people watching on buses, singling along in my car, the thrill of catching a plane & riding my bike along the beach. See – how can you pick?

7. If your house was burning down, what would you grab as you ran out the door?

I’m not sure quite how I’d do it but my precious bird Chomper. Everything else – from my baking, my sewing, my clothes, even my KitchenAid is replaceable. My beautiful bird isn’t!

8. What do your favourite pair of shoes look like?

They have bows. I LOVE flats with bows! Currently crushing on these Oroton flats!

9. When you were a kid, what was your favourite story?

My dad used to make up stories about knomes that lived in friend’s houses, or pirates, that were really silly! Now I do the same for my brother.

10. Would your dream house be modern or old?

Modern! I’m renting a smaller version down the street from one of my dream houses. my dream house is in Wollongong, close by the beach, with a lovely big kitchen & enough room to entertain. The rest is negotiable!

11. What inspired you to start blogging?

My lovely boyfriend knew how much I loved talking about myself so surprised me for my 22nd birthday by buying me a Domain name and setting up my blog. The rest is history!

11 Questions for the next Blogger!

1. What is your favourite drink?

2. If you could swap lives with someone, who would it be?

3. What was the last book you read? How many stars would you give it?

4. You can only eat one type of cuisine for the rest of your life – what would it be?

5. What advice would you give your 23-year old self? ( I borrowed this questions from one of my favourite blogs the Everygirl!)

6. How do you start your day?

7. Apple or Samsung?

8. How do you have your scones – jam then cream or cream then jam? (I have had many debates on this!)

9. What is your favourite type of tea?

10. What is a small gesture that someone has done lately that has made you smile?

11. Now how have you done a small gesture to pay it forward?

Thanks!

x Rachel

 

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A bit of pillow love

My blog has been a bit quiet lately…for a while actually! So I thought with a spare FIVE MINUTES I would spend it sharing some of my latest loves!

I’ve been a bit obsessed with everything Interior decorating lately – styling my home, pouring over magazines such as home beautiful, blogs like Interiors Addict & watching the block in my spare time at the gym or online when I have a chance!

Recently I re-arranged some of my furniture and it really refreshed my house. But it made me realise something very important – I NEED more scatter pillows! Every girl will know you can never have too many scatter pillows. They are awesome to sprawl on in bed, cuddle while watching a movie or sit on when painting your nails (take that to every man who has always thought scatter pillows were useless!).

My current favourite is a mustard yellow pineapple printed pillow from Freedom Australia,  but I have been eyeing off quite a few others I love, so I thought I would share!

I am currently loving this cushion from AlphabetMonkey, a lovely local kids bed linen designer & creator. You can never be too old for a fun pillow like this!

 I have also recently been insta-stalking Jasmine Dowling, a Brisbane graphics design student who has created a beautiful range of prints & cushions. This is my favourite!

Jasmine Dowling Hello Lover

The cute word pillows on Esty from Honey Pie Design also caught my eye – teamed up with a cute simple patterned stripe or chevron pillow this would be the feature of any lounge room!

Honeypiedesign

 

My most recent addition to my pillow collection has been a cute bird silhouette pillow from Haven and Space in Berry. While it is sad that they don’t have an online ship it means you have a great excuse to trek down to Berry and check out their amazing TWO shops full of fun homewares!  It suits my many bird figurines, prints & candles. You could say I am a bird person!

Bird Pillow Haven and Space

So that’s a roundup of some of the MANY cushions online I am adding to my wish-list! For more ideas, check out my board ‘Pillow Love‘ on Pinterest or follow me on Instagram @rachisgold.

Happy interior decorating!

x Rach

 

 

 

 

 

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A Few Pretty Cupcakes to Share…or Simply Admire!

One of my wonderful birthday presents was a cupcake decorating class at Delaneys Cakes Wollongong, which I got to go to with Matt’s sister, Nicole (also wonderful gift-giver).

To start of the class we were treated to a delightful cup of tea and buttercream cupcake. You definitely can not expect to spend 4 hours making cupcakes staring at sugar, cream and icing on an empty stomach!

So we started the class learning some basic cut-outs. I must admit I am in love with this style of decoration, it is so simple but classy!

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I know they say don’t try this at home but I intend to!

Next we learnt how to create these cute little creatures! While I went for the traditional dainty bird, Nikki turned hers into a punk birdy complete with a mini-Mohawk. Sorry I don’t have a picture to share, so you will have to take my word on its awesomeness.

But here’s a snap of my finished result. Really resembles Chomper chilling out on his cage, don’t you think?

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We also learnt a few other cool techniques, including icing stencils, fondant flowers (these ones ARE as complicated as they look!) and fondant pattern mats.

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I think I’m too scared to eat this one!

We also learnt the sweet cupcake bow. I love this as it is a cute way to say happy birthday without a tacky birthday simple. You’ve got the gift wrapping a half sorted! (And maybe one gift wrapped for the chef…)

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Too good to give away, don’t you think?

Too good to give away, don’t you think?

So hope you enjoyed my eyeing off my creations half as much as I enjoyed making them! I cannot wait to get more involved in cupcake decorating, so my cupcakes look as good as they taste! I picked up a few tools of the trade so I can get baking! And a big thank you goes out to Nikki & Matt (her boyfriend, not her brother) for the cool present, Matt (the boyfriend this time!) for spoiling me in the cupcake gift shop, and to Danielle and the team at Delaneys for a fun and hands-on approach to teaching cupcake Exec orating! I would definitely recommend Delaneys as a great place to learn baking and will be returning.

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Got myself a little cupcake starter kit to get creating!

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The end result, I’m pretty proud of my first attempts!

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Desserts is stressed backwards

There is no more relaxing way to finish your weekend of hustle and bustle than with some home – cooked sweets.

One of my wonderful presents my mum spoiled me with for my birthday was a cook book I had been eyeing off, Donna Hay’s ‘Fast, Fresh, Simple’. It has not only amazing fresh looking dinners, but divine looking (and tasting!) desserts.

So as my last testament to this weekend, I would try my first Donna Hay kitchen escapade.

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My first attempt was the ‘no-fuss banana caramel pudding’, with a sickly-sweet caramel sauce. My mum is a caramel sauce connoisseur, so I had known of it as a quick and simple way to turn ice cream into a masterpiece, but I’d never attempted it myself. Until today!

I love recipes that don’t require obscure condiments, that you buy, use once and keep at the back of your cupboard, until you forget you ever bought it and re-purchase when you need it 2 years later. This, thankfully, was not one of those recipes.

Jamie Oliver, this, and your obsession with a food processor, is your downfall. While I’m yet to ever use or own a food processor, I’m certain that what time it would save in mixing/chopping/slicing, you will make up in cleaning the damn thing. I’m more than happy for someone to buy me one though and prove this theory incorrect.

So I mixed and baked the pudding (without an electric mixer, mind you) to perfection thanks to recently working out my oven timer. Recently I almost had to face a baked dinner WITHOUT actually being able to bake as when i went to turn on my oven, it could not seem to switch on. While I was frantically trying to see if it would turn on any type of bake (grilled baked dinner, anyone?), Matt patiently watched me panic. He eventually stepped in to point out I had out on the duration switch rather than just the timer, which insisted on keeping the oven turned off as a safety precaution.

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Best part of baking is licking the spoon!

So now that I have successfully worked out how to work and bake – not burn, in my oven, I look forward to making many more divine desserts! Now I just need to decide who to share this with, as I’ve got 9 slices left!

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So delicious I made Matt have seconds, he didn’t have a choice.

Until my next adventure,

Xxx Rach

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Early Birthday Present!

Hello world from my new blog!

What an amazing present this is! I thought I’d share this with the world early so that you can see what exciting updates I have in store tomorrow for my birthday!

I’m looking forward to starting what I’ve thought about for a while and tackling this social media adventure.

Over the coming months I’m hoping to update my online canvas with posts of adventures, crafts, cooking, and of course my highly valued opinion!

Happy reading!

Xxx Rach

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