Listmania 35: Five of my favourite places

After bit of a hiatus, I am so pleased to be taking part in Listmania again. My blogging has been, at best, sporadic and at worst, non existent over the past few months but I am doing my best to get back to a place where I am regularly writing and creating.

I had a long think about this when I saw the topic. I have been in the very fortunate position of being both an expat brat and an expat adult and I have travelled quite widely as a result. I did find that three of my places were in my two home countries and the other two are favourite holiday destinations. I guess I am pretty lucky to have been able to live in places that I love.

1. The McKenzie Country region of New Zealand. I cannot get enough of this spot. Some of you will have driven through it on your way to Queenstown or Wanaka but I suggest that you stop and take the time to enjoy this spectacular part of the world. We have spent many happy times as a couple and a family in Twizel, Tekapo and Omarama. If we won Lotto and never had to work again we would seriously consider living here.

A selection of photos from our trips there over the last few years

2. Singapore  I have been fortunate to live here four times throughout my life and although it has its frustrations it is still a city that I am very happy to call home. My daughter was only four months old when we moved here and this is her only home. It is culturally vibrant, constantly changing and a very easy place to live.

A selection of Singapore images

3. Phuket, Thailand  I know it has a reputation  as a tourist trap and there are more remote beaches with fewer people on them in Thailand, but as a place to relax with young children it is hard to beat. We stay away from Patong with all the crazy nightlife and bunk in some of the quieter beaches further north on the coast. The food is incredible, the people are friendly and the beaches are fabulous. I have been visiting Phuket since I was 12 and I am so glad that my daughter loves it just as much as I do.

Paradise

4.  London I love London even though it is over ten years since I was last there. I know I couldn't live there (the climate is just awful) but as a place to visit it is unparallelled. So much culture, history and excitement around every corner and one of my best friends lives there as well.

5. Christchurch, New Zealand This will always be my home even if I never live there again. The city I grew up in has been erased by the earthquakes but many of the people I love are there and it is a beautiful place.


So there are my favourite places. Sorry for the lack of photos for the latter two. I don't think I even had a camera the last time I was in London and my photos from Christchurch tend to be just family snaps rather than the greater city.

Have you got any favourite places to share? I am always looking for new adventures!

Listmania 20: A Day In The Life

I must confess that I started with a hiss and a roar but there are some big gaps later in the day when wrangling an uncooperative three year old meant photo taking was out of the question. I think this will give a bit of an indication of my average sort of day.

It has just gone six and the light is on. Miss Three has been awake for about half an hour but is not allowed out of bed until six. Her bed is currently at the foot of ours which is a big improvement on her being in ours. Social media has already been checked by both adults!

The coffee machine milk frother broke yesterday so we have resorted to microwaving the milk and adding the espresso. Hopefully we can get a replacement part as the machine is not that old. Every morning starts with espresso.

We check the weather outside and take the time to check out the sunrise most mornings. The sun rises around seven every morning so it is about now that hubby hits the shower and I wrestle MT into her school uniform.

I also potter around with some minor household tasks. This morning it involved removing the past their best orchids and playing with the cat.

Turn your back for a moment and MT will grab the iPhone. These are three of the photos she took. A passing shot of Daddy, her new Belle Havianas and Mummy's new trainers for Zumba.

By 7:30 MT is dressed, packed and out the door with Daddy to wait for her school bus. She is happy enough on the bus and loves the extra Daddy time. When Daddy travelled a lot this was my job but while he is in town he is in hot demand.

The first of several loads of washing goes on now. It is never ending!

Most mornings I have a nosey at the new condo that is being built on the other side of the building. Fortunately we live as far a way as possible from the noise and it only really bothers me if the house is silent. Just the background hum of the washing machine seems to be enough to keep it at bay.

 

Monday morning usually involves a trip to the supermarket to pick up whatever we didn't buy on the weekend. I buy most of my meat and dairy from one chain and my fruit and vege from another and most of my non perishables are delivered by a third company. What I wouldn't give for there to be one supermarket chain that stocks what I need at a reasonable price! This was the view as I walked down the road yesterday. The building in shot is nearing completion and they are starting to do the finishing touches like landscaping.

 

A trolley shot. This trip was a fruit and vege stock up that was derailed by chips being on special (almost the only flavour without a dairy component) and a need for nuts.

A quick sneaky shot of the checkout. Monday morning is always busy and most people get their groceries delivered which makes the process a good bit longer. I always take mine home as their delivery windows are  four hours long and I hate being stuck at home for that length of time.

Once I got home I was finally able to have my breakfast smoothie. We were totally out of greens so I had to wait to do my shop. I got clever and added a shot of espresso but it made it awfully bitter when combined with kale. A lesson learnt and I will not be doing that again!

The rest of my morning was spent completing a scrapbook layout while listening to the most recent edition of the Paperclipping roundtable. I found a great sketch and the layout turned out well. (the finished layout was yesterday's post if you would like to see it here. )

Next thing I knew it was 12.45 and time to meet MT off the bus. We have a fountain in our foyer that she loves to play around. There are little ceramic frogs that all the children in the building like to rearrange.

Back upstairs for a snack for MT (she has lunch at school) and a pot noodle for me. I have rather more of these for lunch than I would care to admit. At least these ones come with a big portion of green vegetables!

After getting MT quickly changed we headed out to another supermarket to get the organic milk I forgot on Sunday. I am pleased I took these shots of her waiting for the lift and inside the lift as we do this all the time and I don't think I have ever recorded her waiting for the lift before.

Sadly I had a bit of an epic failure at this point as MT was a bit of a handful on the bus and in the mall and I didn't have enough free hands for photo taking. We came home and played for a little while before I dropped her with her Daddy at work and I went to collect some scrapbooking supplies from my contact at the MRT station.

 It was rush hour but the station was remarkably calm. I was very please to see my friend and a big bag of new MME and Crate Paper goodness. I decided the trains were too crowded to catch home so I took a short walk to the bus stop.

Even the roads were quieter than usual. It is local school holidays at present and it has a major impact on the level of road traffic at peak times. This church was on my walk to the bus stop.

I got home just in time to admire the sunset and tuck my daughter into bed with a story. 

Hubby and MT had managed to buy some bento dinners as I had run out of time to make dinner with all our outings. Don't you love the box they come in?

By the time I ate my Hamburg and caught up on Facebook and a couple of games I am addicted to (Criminal Case I am talking to you) it was nine o'clock and we try to be in bed early on Monday and Wednesday nights. 

Not an earth shattering day but a fairly typical one.

I am linking up with Home Life Simplified's Listmania this week. I would love to see a day in your life. Let me know if you join in.

Listmania: Lottery winner

This week is all about what we would do if we won the lottery. After the usual charities and buy a new house what fun things would you buy or do with a great big lottery win?

When I first started all I could think about was travel. Anywhere and everywhere. We would hire a tutor so Miss Three would still be educated but the world would be her classroom. Top of the list would be a couple of years around Europe, spending a month or so in most of the major cities so we could immerse ourselves in the local culture. We would follow that with a long road trip round the States before heading back to Asia to reacquaint ourselves with our favourite food and culture spots.

We would then build a dream style holiday home in the South Island of New Zealand probably in Tekapo or perhaps a little further south.

The view from our last stay in Tekapo

I wouldn't want to never work again so I think we would probably buy a business that hubby and I could work in together. Something with short hours and high enjoyment - maybe craft or hobby related.

I would love to have full time help around the home and especially someone to cook for us - healthy organic food would be nice.

I would buy a pair of mini schnauzers to keep me active and give us some friendly faces to spend time with of an evening.

Oh and the dream home that we would build is this one - with a separate little flat for my dad so he can have our support as he gets older but still have plenty of his own space to enjoy.

I must go and see if we did win Lotto on Saturday!

I am heading off to Home Life Simplified to see how the other contributors are spending their millions.

Sadness, Scrapbooking and Gratitude

There has been a bit of drama on the Studio Calico website this week. Normally I try and stay out of these things but I haven't been able to do so on this occasion. It all started with an announcement that free shipping was no longer available and there would be new shipping charges.

I have to admit I was not surprised to see the end of free shipping. Shipping has gone up across the board and I understand that a company cannot absorb high shipping costs and stay in business. What has saddened me, in fact it has made my stomach ache, is the way the changes have been handled. The original email sent out to customers trying to sell the increase as a positive was pretty insensitive and certainly poorly worded. I could have lived with that. Companies get it wrong. The addition of a service fee for internationals only was a pretty telling sign of how much the company values our business but I might have got past that as well. What has shocked me is the way the company has censored the message boards to the point where almost all discussion relating to these issues has been locked or removed. Members (and long term ones at that) asking valid questions have been banned from the boards! Just hideous things and certainly not an exercise in customer service.

It breaks my heart to be honest. Discovering SC and starting to scrapbook saved my sanity as a SAHM in a foreign country with a husband who travels a lot. The boards were a wealth of information to someone starting out in the hobby and the people were so friendly and welcoming. I have made some real friends in my time there. I love the kits. I agree that they are getting lighter in product and that being up at midnight or one in the morning to get an add on when you have a young family and are often sole parenting makes life harder than it might be, but SC was my happy place. I feel like I am breaking up with someone... it is not how I wanted things to end.

I would love to hear of any other kit clubs people have enjoyed using. I have ordered Kelly Purkey's latest kit through Simon Says Stamp and am excited to receive that. I have been thinking about Gossamer Blue, Cocoa Daisy and Citrus Twist. There look to be some good kits coming out of Australia now too but mainly they are Aussie only. 

I want to keep things positive so am also going to list a few things I am grateful for this week as part of Listmania.

• I am so grateful for my little family of three. After some rough weeks with tantrums and drama Miss Three is returning to her sunshiney self and we are all so much happier. It is due, in no small part, to me making more of an effort to take her swimming during the week. It absolutely tires her out and we all get a good night's sleep
  
• Our pool. We live in a building with 54 apartments in total. Almost none of the residents use the pool. We were down there yesterday afternoon. It was stinking hot (36 degrees!) and we had the pool to ourselves. Miss Three is getting so good in the water. She was swimming under water and doing backstroke yesterday. We really appreciate having pool access.
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• Living in a tropical climate. Yes sometimes it rains a lot and we do get a lot of grey overcast days being so close to the equator but on a good day Singapore 's climate is magic. Yes even when the temperature recorded by the car is 41 degrees

  

  Watching the dragon boats (not the most flattering photo but...)

• Living in Singapore specifically is a wonderful thing. There are so many things to do and activities on. We wandered around the Marina Bay area on Saturday and watched dragon boat races, a sailing regatta was underway and an international six aside football competition was on at the Padang. People who find Singapore boring just aren't doing it right
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• Taking my Self Care Blueprint course has been a blessing in unexpected ways. I have struggled to keep up with things but I made a commitment to exercise for 15 minutes every day. This has led to me walking 22.5 kms over three days last week and swimming most days too. I feel so much better for it. It is quite hard work walking in this climate though. My 10k walk nearly killed me (see photo above) 
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  Chowing down on banana pancakes for breakfast. She followed it up with half her father's soup (yes for breakfast !)

• My final thing I am grateful for is a child who will eat almost anything. We eat out a lot and it is wonderful that there is always something on the menu that MT will eat. I have friends who are struggling with picky eaters and while MT may have other issues, food is not one of them. It makes this lazy chef's life much happier.

Check out Home Life Simplified  to add your gratitude list and see what the other contributors have to be grateful for today.

Listmania 17 : Favourite Quotes

If you had asked me a couple of years ago what my favourite quotes were, I would not have had any. One of the joys of Pinterest is the thousands of new quotes added every day. I don't know how accurate some of them are but my board has 70 or 80 quotes on it and that number usually grows by one or two most times I hop on there. Here are a few of my favourites.

Source via http://myrevelment.com/

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You may have noticed I am a bit of a typography junkie too. I love a good quote presented beautifully. 


I could have added dozens more quotes to this list but I think five is enough to be going on with.

Thanks once again to Deb at Home Life Simplified for another great Listmania topic.

I am always looking out for great quotes so I would love to see you link up this week and share some of your best ones.

Happy Monday!