Spoiled Rotten

Ok, so I’ve been 38 for a whole week now. Kept that one quiet didn’t I??! 😆 So different from last year but hey, you have to have change. It’s only been quiet out here in blogland though. On the day, I was truly spoiled by friends and family and it made me realise just how lucky I am to have the friends (and family!) I have.

All the birthday cards I received have been handmade – including one from a neighbour and friend who doesn’t consider herself a cardmaker at all, but knows how much I love them. Awesome. Her son E (who happens to be one of Mr 8’s besties) knocked on my door a little after dinner time and was standing on the doorstep with a little cupcake soap box. He’d brought it just for me from the $2 shop…. which I thought was just about the nicest thing. Of course he was completely grossed out by the fact I kissed and hugged him by way of thanks!! 😆

Earlier in the day I set out for an unknown destination thanks to *The Girls* – Beverley, Janine, and Sarah. By way of some instructions that had been sent to me I was a little wary that I might be getting into some sort of Amazing Race!! A bonus was that I discovered a parking place in town that was pretty darn cheap and I’ll certainly be keeping that in mind for the future. Our first destination was Martha’s Pantry where a High tea had been organised.

This place is truly amazing – very cute, and inspirational. The tea is served in real teacups, the food is in lady-like bite sized morsels but Oh-So-Tasty-And-Goooooood. And to add to the overall ambience, the place was filled with modern handmade crafts.

Thanks to Beverley and her great camera….. I realised just as I was leaving home that mine had still-flat batteries. I reckon Bev’s photos would have been better than mine anyway so I think it might be a good thing I hadn’t charged mine!! 😉

After our morning tea that did for lunch and afternoon tea as well (…..we did linger you know!), the rest of the late morning was spent wandering the wonderful upper Cuba Street where we found Minerva – simply the best bookshop dedicated to all things related to textile crafts, and Madame Fancy Pants – another store just stcked with all things good and handmade. Bliss!! And just to rund out the day, we finally headed over to Karori where Inky Pinky is located as is Piece by Piece (a fantastic little quilt shop). It is safe to say our minds were just stuffed full of inspiration and I think we all came home thinking of the next project we had in mind!

After school on thursdays I looked after Donna’s son, C, (another of Mr 8’s besties too as it happens). Well, he came home with my Mr’s with a wee package that looks worse for wear in this pic simply because I had to open it. Clever Donna has worked out how to reuse a pull-tabbed can. Apparently she opened the can from the bottom with one of those magnetic openers, washed the can after emptying its contents, refilled with goodies and sealed it back up again before decorating it. Man, that just had me stumped and I was worried about using the pull-tab… but you’ll see that lasted for all of a few seconds!! 😆

At dinner time I was presented with the gifts from teh family… Hubby brought home a lovely sparkly Pandora Bead having taken heed of my desire for colour to be added:

And the boys gave me a Soda-Stream! Now, I need to tell you that it was something that I had suggested to Hubby as a gift from the Mr’s as I knew they would love it too and it was coming up for a good discount on the Farmers Cardholders Day. We have had a lot of fun making the drinks over the past week – and you just know the Mr’s love the ….errr…”Buzzing” sound!

And to cap it off, Hubby and I went with Donna and B to watch the latest Star Trek movie on Friday. I can tell you that choice raised a few eyebrows among the mums at school…. 😆 But let me assure you all that it was indeed my choice – I love sci-fi books and movies and having seen the shorts for this movie, it was one that I really wanted to see.