I made some stuff...

I haven't fallen off the baking planet. I'm just not baking as much as before but I do still get orders and still love doing them. I have made a couple of things over the past few weeks or so, here they are.

This wedding cake was a monster and I can't even show you why...It had three tiers, each a different flavour and then each tier had three layers that were each a different colour. The cake went from light grey to dark purple inside. I sooooo badly just wanted to cut it open once it was finished but obviously I couldn't...so just use your imagination :)

My cousin had a Cake Boss type birthday party and she asked me to help out. I went there and demonstrated to 20 12 year old girls how to decorate cakes. I was so fun to see them all trying the things I had taught them (and also realising its not quite as easy as it looks). Each girl had a two tier cake to take home in the end which was probably the best birthday favour ever. Now trust me when I say that 20 12 year olds decorating cakes is NOT a clean process...

It was a really fun day and I do so love teaching. I have been wanting to teach baking for a long time now so it is something i'm currently looking into starting (anyone who wants a Cake Boss birthday just shout!).

This was one of my favourite cakes because this girl left the sides of her cake bare and did an asymmetrical arrangement which was so beautiful.

I made Alice in Wonderland cupcakes for another little girls birthday - I have done these before but the little mushrooms are just my best, they completely change the mood as soon as you pop them onto the cupcakes.

These were Red Velvets I made for a lucky husbands' birthday a few days ago - it wasn't Colin but he's used to not getting treats like this. Perhaps I should make something for him soon.

Travel Tuesday

It has suddenly dawned on me that I can do another Travel Tuesday post series. I know...a whole year after we actually did the travelling. Last year (like exactly last year this time) we were in Vietnam, on our honeymoon. We travelled up from Ho Chi Minh City to Ha Long Bay over the space of two weeks. It was a vastly different travel experience to my previous travel series, that of my sister and my Contiki Europe trip. On Contiki, every single day is planned for you so you kind of just go along with it and do what they have planned. Which is great and exactly what I wanted for my first time visit to Europe. See I knew that Europe would be overwhelming to me because there are just a million things and places that I could potentially want to see, so I decided the best way for me to experience as much as possible in as short a space of time as possible would be to get someone else to plan EVERYTHING.

I'm a planner. I like planning and I like knowing whats going on, ALL THE TIME. Now traditionally the man organises the honeymoon, and Colin is not a big planner, he prefers the "Let's see what happens approach" so a few months before the wedding I decided it was about time to start hinting about the honeymoon. With hints like, "You know that I don't have a European passport like you, so if you want to go overseas I need more time incase I need to get a Visa". I have realised that subtle hinting is completely lost on him.

After a few days of research he came to me one evening and said, "I need you to help me decide where we should go, these are the options I've thought of..."

Vietnam
Zanzibar

I won't lie...Top Gear played a huge part in our honeymoon destination choice. If you have seen the Top Gear Vietnam episode you will understand. So Vietnam it was. But true to Colin-style holiday planning we still ended up "Seeing what happened" on most of our trip. When we left South Africa two days after our wedding we had our flights booked and 6 nights in a hotel in the middle of the trip, I had insisted on booking the first two nights of the holiday as well because I have been to the East before and I know how hectic those cities can be when you arrive and I didn't want to spend the first night of our Honeymoon walking the streets of Ho Chi Minh looking for somewhere to stay.

It was a very different experience to what I'm used to but I embraced it and we had an absolutely amazing holiday that I will try share with you over the next few weeks.

These are just a taste of the amazing things we saw and did while we were there so I hope you will look forward to reliving the journey with me.

xx

#100happydays

If you haven't heard about 100 happy days, then you should check it out.

I signed up for it in January some time (I should probably check so that I can figure out when I get to my 100 days) and have been posting my happy day moments on Instagram every day. I think I have missed a day or two here or there. I know I missed one day for definite, but I did that on purpose because I wanted to be sad that day. I know that sounds so depressing but I'm mostly a happy person so every now and then I do just need a sad day and I felt like the day after NOT getting through the Ultimate Braaimaster auditions was a good enough reason to be a bit sad.

Here are some of my happy days over the last month or so.

Tayla sneaks into Colin's car whenever she gets a chance, he almost accidentally took her to work once

This is what practicing for Braaimaster looks like

What next day leftovers look like

Braaimaster audition day

Eating whole boxes of easter eggs waaay before easter because you can

Making Macarons

Colin puts funny things like 'car' on my grocery lists

Tea. There is often tea on my 100happydays

Family lunches with Dad showing us how to take selfies

100 happy days is about seeing the positive in every day, and I like that. I mostly try to do it anyway and now that I've been documenting it I realise how easy it is for me to be happy every day and how often I already am happy. Everyone can do with a bit of extra happy in their day. If you have the time go to the site and read about the challenge, it might be something you think could be fun.

Wishing a little extra happiness to all.




Oh and if you want to follow my 100happydays, I post them on Instagram every day. Follow me here.