Archive of ‘General/Life’ category

A Christmas Wishlist

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Hey Guys!

Thank goodness for Fridays. This week feels like it has gone on forever and the only things keeping me going have been Downtown Abbey and Callie cuddles. Oh and the thought of Christmas. Today I was supposed to be finding presents for other people but I ended up just compiling a Christmas wishlist for myself with a few things I have been lusting over. This potentially could be helpful for anyone buying me presents this year (*cough* Edd *cough).

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1. Black and white Little Critters necklace by Karen Walker (short)

I saw two beautiful ladies wearing this at a Benefit blogging event recently and fell immediately head over heels. This is something I think I will have to ensure I get for Christmas as I can’t see myself living without it. Because this is part of the cheaper Karen Walker line its retails for an incredible $55 and can be bought here. It is also available in white and mustard or white and red and for the love of me I still can’t quite make up my mind. Leaning towards black and white….

2. Marc Jacobs Honey Eau de Parfum

I love my Marc Jacobs Daisy but am lusting after this newer addition to the range. A sweet, fruity scent with honeysuckle and mandarin appeals to me and I can’t resist a spritzing it all over me when I walk past it in a store, everytime…  (“testing” it out guys). I am not sure how much this is in stores but on strawberry.net it’s going for $112.50 (100mL). To be honest I would pretty much be happy with any Marc Jacobs perfume. I love them all.

3. Treats from Little and Friday by Kim Evans

I love a good cookbook and lately I have been craving this one in particular. This would make a great gift for a lot of people (and just generally pretty on the coffee table…). I feel like a bit of a failure for never checking out the Little and Friday cafes but that doesn’t stop me drooling all over the pages in this book (which would be less weird if it was my own book and not one in the middle of whitcoulls). This can be ordered online here if you are interested.

4. & 5. Teapots from T2

One of my highlights for 2013 was seeing a T2 store opening in Auckland so it comes as not surprise that I have found two gorgeous teapots that I would rather love (well, just one would be fine as well). T2 is full of amazing gifts for any tea loving family member or friend so if you are stuck for ideas go and talk to the lovely staff in the Queen Street store. I can’t choose between these two tea pots but they are both too beautiful for words. This one feels a little afternoon tea at Downton abbey whilst this one is more of a fun, modern take. And both are blue! Winning all round.

6. Floral Vans

So recently my beloved Converse chucks have fallen apart so I am in need of  a new pair of reliable footwear. My instinct is to head straight for another pair of converse however I have found myself more drawn to Vans after seeing them in a few stores. Than, browsing the web today, I found this blue floral pair and my heart was set. These may be my next dream shoes. I haven’t found an NZ link for them yet but they can be bought online here. A great gift idea if you know someone’s shoe size (less ideal if you are just guessing).

7. Glasshouse Limited Edition Candle: Night before Christmas

So last up is a candle which is no surprise. I rarely buy these fancy Glasshouse candles but just sniff them obsessively like some sort of deprived addict whenever I go into Redcurrent stores. Firstly, Redcurrent is amazing (both online and instore) for gifts. They have pretty much anything for anyone (well anyone with class that is) and their baby things are to die for. Back to my current Candle pick I love all of the new range of Christmas candles but this plum/blackcurrent/lemon/lavender combination just feels a little bit magical. Buy it here!

What is on your Christmas wishlist this year?

Xx

 

Inside My Mind #4

  • I don’t think I have mentioned on the blog yet that I saw Wicked. Well I did and it was kind of mind blowing. The story I already knew was great from reading the book but the show did an amazing job of adapting the rather complex plot and combining it with stunning sets and a generally incredible production. The two leads were nothing less than perfection, I wanted to go back and watch it again the next day. Unfortunately due to my lack of endless funds for seeing the same musical over and over again I have had to settle for reading the book (settle may be the wrong word, it’s a great book!) and simultaneously singing myself the songs. It isn’t the same. Definitely the best show I have been to and the songs have not stopped running through my head (I’m looking at you Defying Gravity…).

  • Speaking of songs I have only just cottoned on to the popularity of Haim and although I think they sound a bit 90s I kind of love their upbeat songs, perfect for doing dishes or singing along in the car. I may be the last person to finally listen to them, not that this is unusual.
  • It is only Tuesday but it feels like Friday. This week has been full on so far! But also kind of productive which is always good. Although 90% of the time I feel like I am still just doing this:

  • Tonight I made another chickpea salad (I think it may be time to admit I have a problem/obsession) to go with homemade meatballs. I am enjoying trying new meals so much and love experimenting with new ingredients! Unless I fail, then I wish I had just stuck to the standard pasta bake we all know and love.
  • I am super excited for Christmas (to the slight amusement/annoyance of most of my work colleagues) and have been going a little overboard on creating paper based Christmas decorations for the office (sorry trees!). If you are looking for some ideas for Christmas decorating go check out this amazing post by Maddy (I definitely benefited from her help!).
  • I am nearly out of my Lush Dream Dream and cannot live without it for more than a few hours so may have to buy a big tub. This stuff is the only cream my skin just seems to drink up quite happily without turning angry and vengeful.
  • I am reading like 4 books at once at the moment and not finishing any which isn’t working so well. Listening to Inferno by Dan Brown on audiobook is a lot of fun, I love the focus on Florence and art history (good to know my Arts degree would be useful for something even if it is just so I can feel proud when I understand references).
  • I desperate to make some Strawberries and Cream cupcakes using the beautiful new season strawberries available at the moment but I can never find the time :(
  • Speaking of baking and delicious things in general I am heading along to High Tea with Dragon’s cooking class focusing on Christmas gifts (edible ones of course) and I am very excited.
  • I never know how to end these so here is a fox gif. I spend a lot of time looking at these….totally not weird.

At least I think it is a fox. Whatever it is I want one

4 Simple Goals… before 2014

Happy Monday!

Today I may have become slightly preoccupied with the idea of Christmas…I realize it is only early November but I decided its time to start preparing Christmas decorations for my workplace (anything to make it slightly less grey and office like). With some Christmas themed paper and a pair of scissors my Christmas bunting got underway! Regardless of my slightly premature Christmas excitement, today I wanted to post on a task that A Beautiful Mess has done the last couple years and I keep meaning to take part (4 Simple Goals before 2014).

The idea is to come up with 4 simple goals to try and focus on before 2014 comes along (in case that wasn’t grasped via the rather self-explanatory title). To be honest I am pretty terrible at goal setting (I dread this part of New Years almost as much as I dread waking up after New Year’s Eve) but maybe this slightly less intimidating task will fare better. With the focus on keeping the goals easy to achieve and on small lifestyle changes/trying out new things, I tried to stick to little changes that weren’t negative or too goal orientated. Despite being a little late to the party I enjoyed choosing 4 little areas of focus and I hope to bring little updates in the lead up to 2014 on how it all goes.

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Pretty self explanatory but I will  elaborate on each goal more in a specific update later on. These are small things that I would like to introduce into my life and I look forward to seeing how I can bring them to life.

Also check out a lovely blogger Tegania and her 4 Simple Goals (and enjoy her beautiful blog while you are at it).

Short post today but more on these later :) Hope you are all having a great start to the week (if not try introducing a little bit of bunting…it’s very therapeutic!)

P.s I just have to mention that I am going to the Wicked stage show tomorrow night and I am VERY excited. I have had these tickets for a couple of months now and waiting has been excruciating.

P.p.s CHRISTMAS IS 43 DAYS AWAY !!

Here comes the sun

Hi Everyone!

So I disappeared for a while and my apologies for just abandoning MyFoxyCorner for a month or more.  I took some time off blogging for no real reason other than I lacked motivation and enthusiasm for the blogging itself. I didn’t want to continue investing time and energy into something I wasn’t enjoying anymore. I went through a cycle of thoughts (delete the blog -> reinvent the blog -> just start where I left off -> no that wasn’t good enough -> just delete the blog) and so on and so forth for a month or two and now here I am. In the end I think work and life and all such things were making life busy and a little stressful and along with just a general lack of time I was going through a minor (major) blog identity crisis where I just didn’t see any point in it. There are so many incredible blogs and I was a little unsure as to why I even bothered.

But (thank goodness there’s a but!) in the end I missed blogging, a lot! And I had to go back and think about why I do this. Its not for stats or for publicity, its a space for me to write about things I like and document parts of my life that I want to share and come back to later. I like the community and the friends I have made and I love the fact that blogging lets me escape from my 8 hour day job and gives me some sort of outlet. I know there are a 1 million and 1 blogs like mine out there but in the end I blog for me. So I came back! Now I would love to promise that I’ll publish something 3 times a week without fail but until I set up a proper routine I won’t even bother. I hope you guys bear with me while I sort out my little space :)

So what have I been up to? I got a permanent role in the temporary job I was doing which offers more security, options and money so that was great. I discovered my new favorite cupcake recipe to bake which will be shared here soon. Edd and I broke down on the motorway today which was one of the more unpleasant experiences of my life. I started planning our trip to Europe next year which is SO exciting. I bought more nail polish that I can’t fit anywhere. I found an AWESOME new band who I love to DEATH (and who Edd is seriously sick of) so I can’t wait to share them with you! I went to the Auckland food show and seriously stuffed my face. Edd and I bought a fancy new camera (a dslr something somthing Nikon… Edd’s the expert, phew) so hopefully I can start sharing some pretty photos with you that aren’t all filtered and from instagram haha! Oh and I also bought my first pair of Doc Martens and they are AMAZING. I’m sure more as happened (but maybe not) but that’ll do for today and I will talk to you guys again soon!

In the mean time have some photos :)

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Deliciousness at Auckland Food Show

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Flick always makes a great model practice with the new camera

I forget how amazing Auckland is. Our latest weekend dog walks have helped me remember

I forget how amazing Auckland is. Our latest weekend dog walks have helped me remember

 

Made me smile: 25th March

Hi All!
Last week went so fast but lots of good things were within it and now that I have at least some work I am able to enjoy things a bit more without the over arching guilt that I have to earn some money! So here are some of the things that made me smile this week:

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Lunch time salad dates with the other half made my days at home much less lonely. Additionally the mexican chicken salad from Habitual Fix is divine and I want to buy it in bulk so I can eat it all week long.

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Found this somewhere and liked it. Alice in wonderland is a strange but rather wonderful story and the Cheshire Cat has to be my favorite part.

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Mid week baking sessions, this time chocolate chip cookies to use up some spare chocolate chips that somehow had avoided being eaten. Miracles can happen. These were super simple and my kind of scrummy cookie, I’ll try and remember to share the recipe (I say this far more often that I actually follow through don’t I? Sorry!)

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Excuse the crass language (what more can you expect when referring to Hell’s Kitchen?) but this made me chuckle. Edd and I used to watch ever series of HK and now I can barely sit through one episode haha. Not sure why.

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On Sunday many games of Monopoly deal were played with my brothers and Edd. I love this game and enjoy it despite losing over and over. Somehow Mr 5 beat us all every time….Surely I should be able to occasionally beat a 5 year old?

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Also on Sunday was another baking session, however I did hardly anything and got my two slaves brothers to do the work! We made afghan biscuits and they turned out pretty delicious. If you have never heard of what I believe is a bit of a New Zealand delicacy (lol) I will be sharing the recipe (if I ever get around to it…just joking, this one I plan to do this week) for these little crunchy chocolate biscuits plus icing with you all!

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Sorry, still obsessed with unlikely animal friendships.
Speaking of which this link (http://on.natgeo.com/11phMQg) is for an ADORABLE video about a badger and a fox who are like, best friends. So cute! Reminds me of fox and the hound without the douchey farmer!

Other things that made me smile this week included seeing old friends who you haven’t caught up with in years, playing with nail polish, kitty cuddles at nightime and in the mornings, good books, getting all your clothes washed, delicious and healthy-ish Japanese food and weather that means I’m ready to start drinking hot pots of herbal tea yay!

This week I also got a bit more involved on Tumblr and had lots of fun (although the link below was more strange than fun…). If you have a Tumblr please leave it in the comments for me to come follow you (not creepy at all ..)

So this was weird….http://pokemonxniccage.tumblr.com/…just in case you wanted to see Nicholas Cage’s face on a bunch of pokemon. Pidgey is my favorite/incredibly creepy

Speaking of Pokemon….(less weird and more cute!)

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Have a great week! x

Made Me Smile 18th of March

IMG_8798Hi all!

So Edd and I have been back from our Honeymoon for a week (2 weeks?) I think its just one week but it feels like FOREVER! The honeymoon was amazing and I smiled pretty much 24/7 but i’ll tell you more about it some other time. Here are some other things in the past week(ish) that made me smile!

IMG_9009Callie (a.k.a. the only thing that was good about returning) was SO adorable and cuddle hungry when we got home and ever since. When we got back she was a little scratched up so some neighborhood bully of a cat was obviously taking advantage of our departure! I’d like to see him show his face here now! Anyway, going off track, nice to be home with this fluffy face.

IMG_9047We got our first taste of the official wedding photos and I am so happy with them! Here is a little taster for you. Tomorrow night we go and get the hundreds more that the lovely photographer took for us and it is a big understatement to say I am excited.

IMG_9086Big smiles on the day that I applied for a job, was called in for an interview 2 hours later and half an hour later had a contract and a photo id company name tag! Wasn’t expecting that to happen so fast at all. Then 24 hours later, before I have done any of the training (or even signed the contract) I had two 8 hour shifts! I am now a caregiver/social worker for people who had accidents and need in home help for however many hours a day. By no means is the job perfect, mainly due to the “flexible” hours meaning I don’t have set shifts and no guarantee of a full time work load. But on the positive side its in the industry I want experience with and its working with amazing people who need some help and I need the money haha. The two BEAUTIFUL cats above were the babies of the Lady I was with, adorable right?

Oz_-_The_Great_and_Powerful_PosterEdd and I went to see this movie last week and I really enjoyed it. I loved the use of colour in the same way as the original Wizard of Oz movie and the actors and acting was rather superb. Cool story but mainly visually appealing. Sideline…I loved and was scared silly by the original Oz movie, does any one else remember that? With the mental asylum and all the heads? I want to watch it again but don’t know how to find it! That movie was weird…

IMG_9192My latest nail art attempt was some rainbows and I think they are pretty cute even if I haven’t made any attempt to clean up the mess. And weren’t too time consuming either!

Other things that made me smile this week:

784625_700bWe have been watching Modern Family quite a bit an this quote  I rather love as it fits quite well into my relationship with Edd.

Speaking of Edd , he keeps tweeting me pics of unlikely animal friendships (so adorable) and here’s a favorite:

friends~

Okay this one is a little embarrassing but I swear these burgers (Memphis BBQ Burger from Carl’s Jr) are DELICIOUS! I only had one (Promise!) and please, don’t even think to look up the calories cause YOU DON”T WANT TO KNOW! Callie likes them too

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Last up is a song I have been loving (and the album in general) by The Lumineers who somehow I hadn’t listened to before this week…strange… Listen to it Here (I’m sure you have all already heard it but I think its quite lovely).

That’s it, have a lovely week full of SMILES

Friday’s Letters: Thrown in the deep end

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Dear Bay of Islands: I miss you. Once I have children (no not right now) I will be bringing them here all the time!! Dear Job: After so many rejections it was like a dream to apply, interview and get a contract all in 5 hours. One day later and I had an 8 hour shift! Granted I feel totally out if my depth but I’m a fast learner I hope. Dear Callie: Thank you for giving us the perfect welcome home with cuddles and attention left, right and centre! We won’t leave you alone again any time soon my fur baby. Dear Edd: I wish I was as smart and awesome as you. But now we are married I own half your property, does that include your brain? I think so!! Dear Wedding Photos: Well worth the wait.

10 Things I Love About NZ Summer

Hi all! Yesterday the Mr and I got back from our little honeymoon/road trip around northland. Now that I’m back I will share with you guys where we stayed and places I recommend etc. but today I’m throwing up a list of ten things I love about summer here in New Zealand. I love being a Kiwi and am so happy to live in such an amazing beautiful country! I will miss summer but I’m kind of ready for it to cool down a bit.
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1. Road trips
2. Ice creams
3. Sand castles and boogie boarding (I am terrible at the latter)
4. Barbecues and late nights
5. Flip flops
6. Cold apple cider at anytime of the day
7. Bright nails
8. Dinner on the beach
9. Pohutukawa
10. Watermelon

Made Me Smile: 4th March

Hi All!

Edd and I leave for our “honeymoon” tonight yay!! The location remains top secret…well actually its just us on a mini road trip around a few locations up North of Auckland like Paihia, Hokianga and KeriKeri for a week and I’m Excited!!!

But here a couple of quick things that made me smile last week :)

IMG_8389This is Spider. Once Boris the Russian rabbit comes out of his hutch in the morning to reign over my Mum’s back yard along with the duck and chickens and everything else Spider likes to take over the hutch as his sunny sleep space. This seemed rather strange to me but according to Instagram Spider is not the only cat who likes to do this. Bizarre…

IMG_8431On Saturday Edd and I went with my gorgeous Sister and three dogs to one of the West Coast beaches near Waiuku (Kariatahe? I definitely spelt that wrong). This is Cookie who doesn’t need someone to walk her, she can do it herself!

IMG_8442The Wild West Coast. I rather adore it.

IMG_8456Also this weekend Mr 5 demonstrated his amazing bike abilities. I would like to take a moment to express my anguish that for me learning to ride a bike took many weeks and many bloody injuries whilst Mr 5 jumped on and was off on his first go. What?! No traumatic accidents? No weeks of feeling inadequate with three wheels when failing at two? I would be upset if I wasn’t so immensely proud!

IMG_8459Speaking of proud, I helped Mr 11 get to grips with my favorite but slightly fiddly cinnamon scroll recipe (which I should share on here ASAP) and they turned out better than when I make them alone! He is a budding chef I tell you! He also made us nachos for lunch which were divine. But not quite as heavenly as these tasty cinnamon morsels.

IMG_8356I just can’t handle the cuteness. I can’t.

Other smile worthy pieces of my week:

  • This video that Edd sent me made me laugh! I love using emojis and kind of wish I could insert them into real conversations…but that’s a bit crazy…
  • Sloths always make me smile…like this one
  • Also Edd wants me to train Callie to do these tricks! I wish I could but I swear Callie is one of THE stubbornest animals I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Watch the video! So Cute! Bang!!
  • New Zealand got a little closer to marriage equality
  • Joined Goodreads and LOVE it! Come be my book buddy!! Find me under Lizzy Weaver (Lockhart)
  • I also got a giant nail polish package (well by giant there was 6 and it was pretty small but very exciting all the same!). I may do a nail polish haul next week once I am home :)
  • I’ll finish with a quote I saw somewhere and loved: “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ― C.S. Lewis

That’s my round up for some good things from last week. I don’t have many planned posts while I am away so sorry if my blogging presence is a bit scarce for the next week :)

A lot of my happy moments are taken in instagram photos so come follow me there (Username: lizzyjlockhart).

Xx

Made Me Smile! Foxes and Birthday Things

Hi All!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! My made me smile monday’s have been a bit sparse recently and I considered just stopping but I really enjoy looking over my past week or two and some of the things that were positive. Especially in times that are a bit challenging I find this reflection very useful so they are here to stay but no guarantee they will be every Monday. Anyhow, here are some things that made me smile recently :)

photo 1One night I got lost on Etsy under the key word Fox. I am always on a hunt for anything foxy and unfortunately this doesn’t happen very often. Until Etsy. Seriously, give me $100 and I will buy all the fox stuff I can! How cute is the baby hat? Do they make adult sizes? Argh, so cute!!!!

photo 2Callie has been especially lovely lately. The one upside to being unemployed and going through the joys (or not so much) of job hunting is having Callie with me when I need a cuddle break. And when she needs a cuddle she uses her legs.

photo 4Edd and I went to the Auckland Lantern Festival Saturday night at Albert Park. I got a couple of birthday treats, we ate some delicious food and saw some cool lighting stuff. But I have a little post with a whole heap of photos so for now I’ll just assure you that this was heaps of fun. Not necessarily just because of the festival itself  but because it was a date with my husband!

Image (1)Sunday I turned 22 (yay me!) and although I was technically working looking after my two lovely brothers we had a wonderful lunch up in the Waitakeres at Elevation. Consumed far too much pizza (that was AMAZING) and enjoyed a stunning Auckland summer day. Then for my birthday evening Edd and I went to my Friends flat for a huge serving of handmade dumplings and a movie night of the Labyrinth. Seriously though, how amazing/weird/terrifying/funny is that movie? I now understand why this movie totally weirded me out as a child…cause it’s awesome. Bowie in tights.

Here are some videos that made me smile this week:

The first one Edd sent me and it’s just a Lion giving the lady who rescued and raised him a giant hug. Sounds pretty average but click over, it makes me feel or warm and fuzzy inside! youtu.be/6Xp7M0_hdUE

Then today Mum emailed me this video of 8 reasons why your cat is secretly a dog. Worth a look if you are a fan of cute cats or just a crazy cat lady like me: youtu.be/6Xp7M0_hdUE

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Oh yeah. Edd got me a Totoro hat from the Lantern festival. Winter come at me!

Other things that made me smile: hour long cardio workouts at the gym whilst watching lie detector results on Jeremy Kyle, watching new episodes of Parks and Recreation, getting through 4 loads of washing in one day, an 11 year old brother who is great at choosing out sweet little birthday jewelry gifts, getting back in to blogging, new perfume from the husband (sorry I can’t stop calling him that now!), long long long emails with friends who desperately needed to be caught up with, the joy of buying multiple pairs of cheap sunglasses now I have contacts and eating healthy but delicious food.

What’s been making you smile?

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