Jordandchan

ok - post 1 for the birthday stuff

i decided very early on that i was not going to have a cake. far to busy for caking with everything else to organise - that was of course, only until i saw this cake (thanks martha stewart)

i was ablsolutely blown away by it and decided on the spot i wanted to have something similar but not nearly as big.
i figured with a 1st birthday and a wedding cake to do this year i should get in the practice and do one for myself… so i jumped on the computer and purchased some of the coolest things i have used yet for cake decorating -
edible diamonds
edible ribbon
butterflies (sadly not edible but they were awesome)
Kel made my cake (thanks kel), and also some cupcakes for my gluten free friend :)  and on thursday before the party i was decorating.
the plan was for something clean and simple and elegant. However, i got the urge to pipe something that ended up turning out exactly how i wanted it to… a cage/gazebo with an open door to let the butterflies escape and go free…
the back story of course being that i LOVE butterflies and i was feeling very uneasy about turning 30 so it fit the bill perfectly.
there were a few hairy moments putting it all together (and a few breakages, luckily i had made extras) but in the end - everything turned out spectacularly.
of course there were things i didnt love about it but not as many as usual.
anyways - here it is for your viewing pleasure…

thanks also to everyone around me while i was decorating and your patience…

Our Christmas tradition for the last few years has been to share a bottle of wine and some nice cheeses.

This year we had to forego our usual tradition, sharing lovely meals with both of our families. In leu of our usual plans, Chan arranged for us to spend a day up in the hunter visiting some wineries and cheese shop.

We hopped on a bus from Central along with a few others and were driven up to Cessnock by our friendly driver Shane. We stopped of at the first winery and tried a few nice (and a few not as nice) glasses before heading off to the second winery. We were met at the Iron Gate Estate winery by the owner, a kindly older british gentleman. He came from a chemisty background and was explaining to us how it impacted his work. We had a great an interesting time there, and tasted some lovely and unique wines.

We had a brief stop for lunch before moving on to the Smelly Cheese Shop. Mmmmmm cheese. Needless to say, this was one of the highlights, trying some nice fettas and buying some other lovely cheeses.

Our final winery was a jovial affair, with many bad jokes, and more wine. Once we were done it was time to load back into the minibus and have a snooze on the way home.

It may be that we were spoilt by Waipara and Malborough, or the fact that neither of us are great red wine drinkers - but on the whole we weren’t that impressed by the wines. We tasted a few nice ones, but on the whole were a little disappointed.

That being said, we had a good fun day - I would thoroughly recommend it. (You can see some photos here if you want).

The Christmas decorations are up. The house already feels different.

Last night we decorated out little Christmas tree and set it up. Bentley seemed a little confused by the excitement, but seemed to enjoy getting leftover decorations to run around and play with.

Keep reading…

On the weekend i had a fantastically nerdy experience as I learnt how to set type by hand out at the Penrith Printing Museum.

Keep reading…

A reminder of a Christchurch morning.…

On the weekend we made a few small steps to make our place feel more homely.

Our lounge is now full of photos from our time in new zealand - the cathedral, our favourite cafe, the tattoo place across the road from our house, twizel, lake hayes. Little parts of New Zealand throughout the room.

We still feel homesick for New Zealand, especially as the weather gets colder, but it’s nice to have memories of it with us.

It’s fair and show season in Canterbury at the moment. Schools and Churches run fetes, and the A&P shows start popping up. The A&P Association (I think it stands for agriculture and produce) runs regional shows much like smaller version of The Royal Easter Show where farmers show their livestock, and there are a few stalls, rides for the kids and more.

Keep reading…

Well I got my camera back from repairs last week which was very exciting. Special thanks to dave for letting me borrow his for a bit while we were in Sydney.

Canon NZ took their time with it, and it turns out the cost of repairs was around $670. Makes me thankful that the guy I bought it from had an extended warranty that was transferable.

Its certainly nice to have it back, so you should start seeing a lot more photos uploaded.

Its kind of an odd feeling, but one of my photos has been critiqued over at Neil Creek’s blog (he’s a photographer based in melbourne). Had a few fair points to make. Its always nice to get a totally outside opinion.