...dreams of cooking for you...

I LOVE unique, fun food. and ADORE pinterest (follow me ) In my way-too-much-time spent on pinterest, I am always sucked in by the amazing different recipes people post. So I am dreaming of holding lots of tea parties this summer to try out the recipes! I have already tried these two for a work bake-off, with surprising success as I am a very beginner baker

:
Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Cookies

Raspberry Lemonade Bars

Other things that I really hope to cook for friends (my hubby doesn't really do much sweet food) this summer include:

Frozen Peppermint Cheesecake


Juice'n'Fruit Ice Blocks


Choc & Caramel Pudding Pops


White Choc and Raspberry Icecream

and to drink...

Strawberry Champagne Slushies!

...dares to name puppies after super heroes...

This post could alternatively be called ...dares to love again... because, after 6 months of grieving our beautiful little Cavoodle girl Indy, my little family & I have opened our hearts to a new puppy.

Our 9 month old black ball of joy, Indy, was tragically and traumatically taken from us in a random dog attack in March this year. And it sucked big time. My heart broke, I experienced a deep grief for the first time ever, and my faith in God as a protector was shaken - but not broken. I might blog more about Indy, my first baby, another time, but my husband Matt and I got through it. We turned to God rather than away from Him, and let the healing process occur naturally.

Indy

A huge step after that was getting another baby girl Cavoodle, Polly. Who is an incredible character, quite different from Indy in many ways and yet also very similiar in others. We adopted Polly at the start of August this year.

Polly on adoption day

Polly is short for Polaris, who is a female member of the X-men. She just happens to be good friends with another X-men character, Colossus, which works well since our Polly absolutely adores her big brother, our Setter Colossus :)

Polly & Colossus

Matt is a MASSIVE comic book/superhero fan (more about that later) and I love that we name our puppies after superheroes - people/creatures who don't just want to save the world, they go about doing it.

Colossus

Polaris (Polly)

Indiana (Indy)

...dreams of hanging her own photos...

I have recently found photography a lot more interesting & fun. I love seeing my friends' really really good pictures of their children, friends, life, making the most of DSLR technology, which inspired me to get my own DSLR (Nikon D5ooo - thanks Matty!) for Christmas last year and a fabulous 55-200m lense (thanks again Matty!) for my birthday in July.

I take photos of my beloved puppies, at family events, holidays with friends etc - I just enjoy it. Someone asked me if it was my new hobby, which I never really thought about since I don't think I'm that good, but really - it is a hobby. I took a day course in basic SLR use recently, and I loved it. And you know what?! I'm improving!

I have decided that, in our next house (which will be bigger and more long term then our current little cottage) I want to start hanging canvas prints of some of my favourite photos. Like these:

Minamurra Falls December 2011

Minnamurra Rainforest December 2011

Magnetic Island August 2011

Polly & Colossus August 2011 (Maybe not canvas but I love this pic!)