Merry Christmas 2015

Just want to start off with wishing all my lovely readers out there a Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a beautiful day however you spent it.

For me, Christmas is all about the enjoying the good food, good company and having a few (or more) drinks. This year I spent Christmas with my family and my boyfriend.

I was a little chef and helped my mum prepare a heap of the dishes as this year was our year to host. We had way too much food, but then again I guess that’s how it is supposed to be.

We had a beautiful lunch including salads, ham, pork, turkey, chicken and baked veggies.

This year our regular old Kris Kringle was changed around a bit and it only involved the kids. I dressed up as Santa (but shh if anyone asks Santa wasn’t me and I was just going to the bathroom the whole time) and gave all the kids presents out. I really don’t know who had more fun with this- me or the kids who didn’t know it was me under the fake beard and Santa suit.

Dessert came after presents and I always say this is my favourite part of the day- but let’s be real, everything I’m writing about I will always say “this is my favourite part” (I think I secretly just love Christmas). We had a beautiful selection of fresh fruits, cheesecake, trifle and pastries. I was in heaven (literally). To me Christmas is the one day a year that you can eat like crazy without feeling a single shred of guilt or shame (that’s what New Year’s resolutions are for).

The night ended with some cheese platters and alcoholic drinks whilst we sat around watching my youngest cousin dance to some house music (my boyfriend was a good dance teacher- or was it the other way around?). After the family all went home, the usual group of us watched American Pie and played the Christmas Drinking Game (place a Santa hat in the corner of the screen and every time someone ‘wears it’ you have to take a drink.

I’ll end this blog post with a couple of photos from the day. All up I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas (or just a wonderful day in case you don’t celebrate).

And a special shout out to all retail/hospitality/food industry workers that had to put in a lot of time and effort, blood, sweat and tears in the month leading up to Christmas that allowed everyone to have such wonderful days. You guys (and gals) are the real MVP’s.

Follow my Bali adventure (which I leave for on the 27^th of December) on my Instagram and snapchat accounts:

Instagram: @krristelley

Snapchat: @krristelley

Thanks for reading and until my next post,

Kristelle xx

(side note: I am posting these in Bali and my wifi connection isn't strong enough at the moment to be sending myself pictures to my laptop so I will edit those in later)

Summer Bucket List 2016

Here is my Summer Bucket List. If it says 'we' on it, I am probably referring to Kieran and myself because let's be real here, most of this stuff is on the list because I want to do it with him. Also this list is going to be updated every time I think of something new (I make lists in my phone and also lists in my diary, but if I have it published on here I can't lose the lost (I am a genius I know). 

1. Beach bonfire
2. Paddleboarding
3. Ride a jetski
4. Try something new
5. Get a new tattoo
6. Get my full driver's license
7. Create something beautiful
8. Fill an album with polaroids of my adventures
9. Visit a new place 
10. Go camping 
11. Go kayaking
12. Mountain/bushwalking/hiking some place new
13. Visit Jellybean pool
14. Go fishing and catch fish that we can cook for dinner
15. Bike riding at the beach
16. Visit the markets
17. Road trip to the Central Coast
18. Say yes more
19. Try dirtbike riding
20. Do a pub crawl
21. Visit Cockatoo Island
22. Visit the aquarium 
23. Watch a beach sunset
24. Learn to surf (for real this time)
25. Attend a Marco Polo event
26. Try aqua golf
27. Try something different on a menu at a cafe instead of always ordering the same 3 things
28. Read at least 10 books
29. Do something nice for someone else
30. Grow a plant
31. Attend an 'outside' movie event
32. Use my birthday present and do the Harbour Bridge Climb
33. Attend a festival/ outdoor concert
34. Go swimming at a waterfall
35. Roadtrip with friends
36. Take one photo every day for all of Summer and make a mini-video at the end (December 1st until February 29th)
37. Have a picnic somewhere beautiful
38. Create tie dye clothes
39. Swim at a waterfall 
40. Visit delwood beach 
41. Visit Neilsons Point 
42. Visit Somersby Falls 
43. Visit Milk beach 
44. Rose Bay
45. Figure 8 Pools

5 year anniversary

I'm really sad I haven't gotten around to writing this post up or actually posting it. It's been a crazy couple of weeks but I needed to write about this. 

It's Monday now (here in Australia anyway, around lunchtime) and last Thursday (24th of September) it was my anniversary. So basically anyone who knows me will know that I'm not usually OTT with my love (I'm not sure why, I'm just not big on hugging everyone and PDA but whatever), but I feel I'm allowed to be soppy and in love on my anniversary because it's special to me. 

24th of September 2015 marks 5 years that I have been with my high school sweetheart. I've written a post previously all about how we met and how our relationship came to be, so if you wanna check that out I'll just link it here.

I believe any amount of time together, no matter how short or how long should be celebrated because it really is a special thing. 

This year, I spent the day babysitting some kids and we witched possibly the worst movie I have seen in a long time (Pixels-- yeah I don't recommend this for anyone lol) and Kieran spend the day working. We didn't really have anything planned and we weren't buying each other presents because a couple of weeks ago we went to the snow as an early anniversary gift to each other- I'll link that post here if you want to check it out. 

All I wanted was a nice quiet night in, but anyway. About 5pm he called me an let me know he was home from work and would be over soon. He got to my house and we sat around and watched a bit of Arrow (I am absolutely obsessed with this show right now- but we only watch it together so we both will be up to the same episodes, sigh).

After a while he said let's go to the city for dinner, so he told me to get dressed (I said I had to do my make up also, but typical Kieran fashion he told me I look better without it- lie), he had spare clothes in a bag and even though the weather was ugly and rainy, he drove us to the city. He also picked Hurricanes for dinner (really nice place for steaks and ribs) and the silly thing didn't think to even make a booking. We had to wait quite a while for a table, but it was okay. In the end we were so hungry when we finally got seated I swore I could've eaten anything. 

He had ribs and chicken and I had a steak and it was a good meal. I had a lot of fun talking and laughing out at dinner with him and that's how I think it should always be. After dinner finished it was about 10pm so we headed home (he had work the next day still) and just hung out and went to bed not much later. 

I will say the highlight (???) of the next morning was when his phone rang multiple times at 5:30am from his work to go early.. But the cherry on top of this beautiful wake up call, is that he sleeps through anything. The phone woke me up and then I had to try wake him up to take the call (which is pretty difficult honestly). Best part was after he left for work I got to go back to sleep :)

Writing this now makes me realise that we actually sound sort of old and boring, but that's the way I like it. A simple meal and being lazy watching one of my favourite shows on Netflix, not sure what more I could ask for. We had had the anniversary adventure, it was time to chill. Plus my birthday is really close to our anniversary so I never expect or ask for anything crazy over the top. 

I think I'll end this little post with the collage of photos that I posted on Instagram and Facebook. 

- The top left: photo is from the end of 2010 when we had just starting dating and spending time at each others houses. I can't even express how much I laugh at that photo. Why am I wearing bunny ears? Look at Kieran's hair! It's also when I though editing all my photos in toycamera analogcolour taken on my Mac was the coolest thing ever... Wow

- Top middle: The year was 2011. This photo was taken in our little mini 'photoshoot' I had a family friend do for us at our Year 10 formal. I still look the same and pretty awkward at that. Kieran has a similar hair cut, bit shorter and no 'rats tail' this time (I don't think you can see it in the last photo though). 

- Top right: Year is 2012. This photo was taken before we both got super drunk at Kieran's first work Christmas party. He was a first year apprentice and I was in Year 11 in high school haha. We both have the same hair styles from the previous year and we both look super young haha

- Bottom left: Year is 2013. I think we both look a bit older in this photo. I look older thanks to make up and fake tan and Kieran got a new hair style haha. This photo was taken at my Year 12 formal (which sadly Kieran wasn't allowed to attend because it was students only).

- Bottom middle: Year is 2014. This photo was taken before (once again) we went out and got super drunk lol. Another Christmas party courtesy of Kieran's awesome workplace. Kieran got shorter hair again. This was also after my first year of university was complete and I was working two jobs at this point so I remember the night out was absolutely awesome. 

- Bottom right: Finally we get to the year 2015 aka now. This photo was taken about a month ago and was a pretty good day. At a wedding for one of Kieran's work friends we both got to dress up nicely (I think I appreciated this more than him because he didn't like wearing a suit lol) and we got to drink (lots) and eat good food and enjoy the love. I have (yes still) kept the same hairstyle over the last 5 years (well same for most of my life tbh). Boob length blonde hair (never dyed). Kieran got shorter hair (again) and I think it suits him like this- he looks more mature. Also I think the difference in our sizes is pretty funny over the years. We both started as these small skinny kids and now he is pretty big and I've grown into my curves a bit more too haha. 

I like looking at the old photos, so many memories and it makes me laugh honestly. 

Thanks if you stuck through and read this whole post, I know it probably wasn't that interesting to anyone. Stay tuned, it's almost my birthday!

Kristelle xx

Instagram: @krristelley

Snow adventures (in Australia)

Here it is, one of the posts that I have been the most excited to write: all about my snow trip 2015 with my boyfriend. I live in Australia (for those of you who don't know that already) and I stayed in Jindabyne- which is a town in NSW near the snow and I snowboarded at Perisher (one of the few places in NSW you can ski at).

I love going to the snow and it is the only time I will ever put up with the cold (I usually hate the cold as I am a beach lover and Summer is by far my favourite season). But I think the reason that I love the snow so much is because it is something different that I really do not get the opportunity to experience very often (well obviously I live in Australia and not that far from the beach and it just feels like it's always hot here- and even when it's not hot it is nowhere near cold enough for it to ever snow where I live).

So, anyway, back to the snow. I usually go every year, but I didn't go last year and I missed it terribly. I thought it would be a funky idea (does anyone even say funky anymore??) to plan a snow trip with Kieran this year and call it our 'present' to each other for our anniversary. This year will be 5 years together and it seemed like something different we could do. That and we were both dying to go.

So we (and by we I mean I planned it), packed our bags and headed off to the snow. I am the biggest wimp honestly when it comes to risk taking. I'm so scared of getting hurt and sometimes it takes me a little while to get out of my shell and jump out of my comfort zone. This time was really no different, with the first half of my snowboarding day having quite a few tears shed and several tantrums (sorry Kieran lol). But once I got over the fear (and that really is what holds me back but I can't help it) I had the most amazing time. It was beautiful sunny Spring weather, snow was awesome (and there was plenty of it) and there was so much to do. 

I will admit, the bottom half of my body and my arms are still aching now a couple of days later. I was not prepared for all the falling I would do and all of the muscles I would exercise in those couple of days. Ouch. That pretty much sums it all up.

I thought I would share some of the photos of our trip, each photo captures a memory and I am still so happy we got to do this together.

The start of our road trip (before we got lost like 3 times lol) 

Most amazing pretzel/nutella/chocolate filled milkshake from Patissez in Canberra 

First day of snowboarding at Perisher- it was so beautiful out there 

Chairlift selfie

I built a snowman (with a very weirdly shaped head) 

On the last day of snowboarding we got our pictures taken (and it was also really warm- considering he isn't wearing a jacket)

Thanks for reading guys and girls,

Kristelle xx

Instagram: @krristelley

Bondi to Coogee

After (I don't even want to calculate how long so let's just say a long) time, I finally was able to go to Bondi and do the Bondi to Coogee walk with my boyfriend!

Bondi Street Art

 This happened a couple of weekends ago now, but it was still something that I just wanted to cross off my list so bad, so it deserved its own post. If you ever come to Sydney, this is definitely one of the things that you have to cross off your list of activities.

Kieran and I stopping for 1 of 1383482 photos we always take with the GoPro

Bondi Icebergs

It's still Winter here, so it was pretty cold (cold enough to wear pants and a jacket) but it was still a beautiful sunny day. There was also a surf comp on the day we were there which was pretty cool, but I have no idea how they could even bare to be in the water (even in a wetsuit) because the water was freezing.

Bondi is a beautiful place, lots of street art and plenty of nice little cafes to eat at. Which is exactly what Kieran and I did before our walk. If anyone is ever in Bondi I totally recommend checking out the Lammond Cafe, food was great and so was the service!

Bondi Street Art

Originally, Kieran and I were only going to the Bondi to Bronte walk, but it's actually only a few kilometres and takes about 20 minutes each way (even calculated with the constant stopping to take photos of the scenery).

So instead, we decided to go the step further, which is to Coogee and back, and it is a lot further than Bronte. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining, however near the end the weather turned a bit sour. No rain though, but plenty of clouds and overcast weather quickly turned the day cold and we had to head back to the car to venture home.

Overlooking Bronte?? beach

There is plenty of nice places to stop along the walk to take some nice photos and also grab a smoothie or a bite to eat if you get hungry.

If you can't handle the heat, I would definitely recommend only doing the Bondi to Coogee walk in Autumn/Winter weather because even in Winter we still got hot out there. Alternatively, if you're not up for the approximately 13km round trip from Bondi to Coogee, Bondi to Bronte is a great choice. It's only a few kilometres each way, so you still get to enjoy all the beauty this place has to offer, just with less walking distance.

It was a good day and Kieran and I 150% plan to do this again- in Summer. The idea was to take our exercise clothes but wear swimming costumes underneath. We would walk/swim/walk to mix it up a bit (and to obviously cool off during the walk). There's so much to be excited for this Summer and I can not wait for this.

Thanks for reading,
Stelle xx

Instagram: @krristelley

New Love

Hey everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your week, I know I actually am for once. I presented an assignment today and it is a wonderful feeling having that weight lifted off your shoulders. One week left of uni after this week is over, plus an exam in a few weeks and I couldn't be more excited to get this semester done and dusted!

Lately, my boyfriend Kieran and I have been going out and doing something I never really though I would enjoy- fishing!

We have been fishing the last two Sunday nights now and we actually want to make it a regular thing.

I'm not very good at it and I get sad if I can't catch a fish (who wouldn't) and even though it's always freezing cold at night, we have fun.

Last Sunday when we went fishing, Kieran caught a decent sized fish that we actually took home. He prepared the fish from scratch and cooked me dinner with fish, chips and rolls and I was so happy because it was such a thoughtful thing for him to do. It's easy to buy food, but this time he caught our dinner and made it from scratch and it was so cute I was so happy (lol).

Kieran's flathead he caught 

Flathead I caught last week

There's something fun and exciting about going fishing as well. I think maybe because it is so different from anything else I used to think I would enjoy. The fact that (with Kieran's help) I can also catch fish probably makes it a bit more fun and exciting as well.

I enjoy sitting back and not doing much and to me that's the escape I feel these adventures are. We get to spend time together and just relax before we start the week. We get to travel around to different places 'near' us. We go local or we travel up or down the coast. It's a good mini-adventure for a Sunday afternoon/evening and I'm really glad we started doing it.

Thanks for reading my little post about my newfound love for fishing.
Kristelle xxx

How I met my boyfriend

Hello to all of my lovely readers. I'm not sure whether this post will interest you or not, but I know on tumblr and in real life with new people I meet (or people who haven't always known me) I get asked a fair bit how I met my boyfriend. I know it's lame but I always love hearing these stories from other people because sometimes they are so interesting and people meet the people they know they are going to be with forever in the strangest/ most random ways. So I thought I would share my story with you all.

Long story short: we met in high school and started going out towards the end of Year 9.

If you care for the details, feel free to read on and I will let you have a little insight into what it was like. 

I first met my boyfriend Kieran when we were in Year 8 (I was newly 13 and he was 12 hahaha). We were put in the same classes in school so that is initially how we first met. The standout classes I can remember being in together were: Science, Home Economics (or cooking class) and Woodwork. 

Cooking class, the standout memories involved my friend and I basically doing the cooking for him and his cooking partner because, well because they sucked. One time I remember he asked me to butter his bread roll for him because he couldn't even do it. Who knew that those Year 8 cooking sessions would turn into 6 years down the road, me actually cooking and meal prepping for him. Bet you didn't see that one coming at the time hey Kieran? (Because I know I sure didn't). If you had of told me back then, "Hey Kristelle, you know you're going to end up meal prepping for this guy in 6 years?" I would of laughed in your face. I didn't like him, he was a silly, annoying and kind of a mean boy. I just didn't like him. I would help him out just to get them to leave us alone. 

Woodwork, the memories are limited. I remember 

1) not wanting to do any of the work myself

2) thinking it was payback to get boys to do it for me

3) being mean back to all the boys (even though they were doing my work projects for me)

I would like to take a moment to just reflect and say wow, these stories so far make me sound so sexist lol. Boys do the woodwork projects and girls do the cooking? No. I promise I don't think like that, I was obviously just lazy the same way the boys were. I didn't like woodwork and they did, so they did it for me. The same way that I enjoyed cooking and they didn't (mostly).

Now onto science class. We used to sit near each other with one of my friends (the same one from cooking class) and we used to run wild in that class. There were fruit loops thrown at heads and a lot of inappropriate jokes made. I would say he was still sort of mean and I was mean back. We used to tease each other like no tomorrow. He was a lot nicer to my friend which annoyed me a lot because well I started to like him and had a crush on him. There was no way I would ever tell him that though (because well hello, embarrassing and boys were still yuck). Not long after he started 'going out' with my friend and I got over it because I liked a different boy at the time (lol). 

Year 8 ended, as did the brief 'relationship' between Kieran and my friend. 

Year 9 started and we didn't really have much to do with each other at the start of the year. We weren't in any of the same classes anymore because we got to choose ours (sport and design & technology for me and woodwork and cooking [the irony in this is hilarious] for him- and yes I remember this). We were also graded into English, Science and Maths classes which resulted in us having nothing to do with each other. 

I saw him around every now and then and when I did I remember thinking "do I like this boy? I don't know lol". We spoke every now and again on MSN and in person, I think he even had my phone number so we might of texted a couple of times lol. I sort of did like him, but not that much. Anyway...

Later that year, I was hanging out with a friend (a different one to the last stories) and we happened to run into him and his friend (from the previous stories) at the park. We all hung out for ages that afternoon. I remember giving him a piggyback, believe it or not I used to be taller and he was not heavy at all haha. When my friend and I went to leave at one point he asked me to be his girlfriend. I was so awkward and embarrassed I kind of just walked away and pretended I didn't hear him. I was freaking out to my friend and she was like to me "just say yes, I think you like him" and she even ended up answering for me. 

We all met up at the park again later and talked for a while. 

That evening when it was time for my mum to pick me up (lol, the life of a 14 year old) he hugged me goodbye.

We had our first date and our first kiss two weeks later. 

About 6 months later, I realised I loved this boy.

Eventually I told him that I didn't really like him at first and I only said yes because, well my friend actually did it for me. He admitted he was a nervous little chicken shit (well for not kissing me goodbye when he had the chance lol) and because at the time he used the excuse "oh it was a bet with my friend. I thought you were hot and he said you would say yes to me and I bet you would say no". So romantic don't you think?

A few years ago he also admitted to me he actually liked me back in Year 8 as well and talked to my friend more because he was trying to make me jealous and was mean to me because he liked me. He never ended up asking me out because his mate did first (that is a whole other story that is not even important).

Yet, here we are almost 5 years later. Still together through all of our ups and downs and our ever so romantic start to our relationship. But yet, I wouldn't trade anything for the world. He grew to be my bestfriend over the years and I trust him with anything. If people tell me a secret, it's a given he will know by the end of the day (sorry everyone) and vice versa. 

Here are some happy snaps of us over time (from what I could quickly just find on my computer)

first holiday together at Narrabeen camping, Summer of 2011/2012

My Year 12 formal, 2013 

My 18th birthday party, 2013

Some random night out, 2014

Paddleboarding adventure at our favourite place (Narrabeen), 2014

So if anyone read all the way to the end of this nonsense, thank you! Special shoutout to Kieran, hey babe. He reads my blog. Even though it's awkward and a bit embarrassing, I appreciate the support.

Kristelle xxx

South West Rocks

I am back from another crazy adventure and it is time to write up a blog post about it after a long and (extremely) sucky day back in the real work aka. uni and an 8 hour shift at work lol. 

This time, Kieran and I chose to adventure somewhere that we had never been before. I'm not really sure how this place came to my mind, but I am so happy we went there because we had an amazing 3 days. South West Rocks is a small beach town, about halfway between Brisbane and Sydney which was about a 5 and a half hour drive from my home (for all those Aussies who actually know what I am talking about, you get the picture of where it is). 

Trial Bay is beautiful

I'll give a quick list of the highlights of the trip and then I will talk more about what we did and the fun we had!

- I got attacked by a Kookaburra and it stole my food out of my hand (this isn't the first time that has happened to me when I have been camping!), I cried (mostly because the bird stole my food)

- Overnight a kangaroo got into Kieran's food and ate a box of biscuits, Kieran blamed me for eating them

- I cut my arm on nothing

- We went fishing and caught 3 fish each

- Didn't get lost the entire trip

- Kieran went to the shops and bought me female products and the cashier thought it was funny

- We saw a kangaroo and I got sad because it was dead (no it wasn't dead because it sat up and it scared the shit out of me)

- We found a nudist beach and a lady warned us about old people down there

Friday

I got up bright and early to pack my things and do some uni homework before we went on our way. It took about 5 and a half hours to get there and Kieran drove 2 and a half, then I drove the other 3. I am a lot more at peace with sitting in the car, staring out the window and singing than he is. Within 2 minutes of me driving he complained of being bored/hungry. To put it nicely, it was a long 3 hours when I drove because he complains a lot. 

When we got to our destination, we immediately got food and made lunch. During lunch was when I got attacked by the kookaburra. The irony in this story is I had just finished retelling Kieran about the one time I went camping in the Blue Mountains with friends and a kookaburra stole my sausage sizzle straight out of my hand. No more than 2 minuets later, the exact same thing happened again, same food and all. Freaky, and yes I cried. Mostly because I wanted to eat that food and well sort of because birds freak me out a little bit and I was in shock.

After lunch we had the challenge of setting up our tent and then we went and bought groceries. After all the boring bits and pieces (and they weren't even bad) were done, we got to hang out and relax for a little while. There isn't much daylight in the day anymore, so we thought we would leave any of the exploring until the next two days because we didn't want to risk getting lost in the dark (because that wouldn't be a funny story for a very long time). We had dinner and a drink each and had a chill evening. 

Saturday

It was Anzac Day and we planned on getting up at 4:30am for the Dawn Service, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it. We also considered going to the local club and playing 2 up (buuut again we didn't do that either). Instead we woke up early(ish) and got ready for the day. We went for drives around town to see what was around and what we could do later. We went swimming in the amazing pool at the campground we were staying at (it has water slides!!) and that's when my elbow randomly developed a cut and blood???

Our lame couple photo from the weekend that I didn't actually mean to take but am in love with

We checked out the beach and went swimming in the ocean, it was beautiful. Calm, no winds. Just peaceful. We went for walks along the beach and then got back in the car and went for another drive. Eventually (like 15 minutes later) we found a lighthouse and an amazing view overlooking a beach. This was around the time that the 'dead' kangaroo incident occurred. I was walking ahead of Kieran down the footpath, and I pointed out the kangaroo which was laying on its back with its paw over its head, and said I was sad it was dead. For some reason we walked over to it and then it suddenly sat up and I nearly wet myself. Just after this, a lady warned us not to walk down too far because there is a nudist beach down there. Not to worry, no one was around, but we had to watch out for them old folk.

1 of 100 photos we took of kangaroos because for some reason they fascinate us (yes we have seen kangaroos many, many
times before- we are Australian after all- they are just cool) 

Beautiful view out near the lighthouse we found (sadly we forgot to take a photo of it though)

Earlier in the day we had made several trips to the fishing store because Kieran is obsessed with fishing. He needed up buying a new fishing rod because he loved it so much so he begged me to go fishing that night. Because I have never properly been and we now had two fishing rods, I agreed to go. So after dinner we packed the esky and chairs (and warm clothes) along with the fishing gear and set out to the lake. Surprisingly we got a really nice spot that I saw when we went for a drive earlier that day. It was pitch black and the only things around were kangaroos and other small animals. I caught 3 fish and so did Kieran. When I caught my first fish, I was so shocked I screamed and danced of joy. I let Kieran pull out the hooks because I didn't want to hurt the fish (and it was kind of gross) and I threw one back in the water (all out fish had to go back because they weren't big enough to keep). It was such a beautiful night, looking at all of the stars, talking and laughing and fishing together. It was something different and it was so much fun I am 100% glad he suggested fishing. 

Kieran and I both with 1 of the fish we each caught. I was so proud as you can probably see from my goofy smile

Sunday

Sadly Sunday was home day. It had been really cold on Saturday night so I was afraid of how cold it might be on Sunday. I was right it was cold. We rugged up as we cooked breakfast and prepared ourselves for the day. Kieran and I actually worked together for once to pack up the tent and everything else (normally I go for a long shower and am lazy, but at least I admit that haha). We then played air hockey (I won) and ping pong (I also won). We went for a drive and went for a walk along the rocks and took some beautiful photos before we decided it was probably better to just get in the car and take the journey home. The weather wasn't very nice and it was too cold to spend the entire day there. 

Kieran loves the long distance couple photos, they're always his idea

Another photo I got of the beautiful landscape with a wave breaking

Instead we stopped off at Port Macquarie on the way home for lunch and went for a nice walk there. It was cold and windy too which was disappointing but it was still a lovely time. Then we took our time on the drive home and talked for hours. The most surprising part about the car trips is that even though we were stuck in the car with each other for over 5 and a half hours and then we spent 3 straight days together without anyone else around, we didn't kill each other!

The camping ground we stayed at was lovely, probably the most 'camper' ground we stayed at. All the other places we have stayed definitely haven't felt as close to nature as South West Rocks did. Probably because we had ever been there before, it is a small town and I didn't know what to expect from it. Also, it is very open, there are lots of trees and the landscape is mountainous and coastal (which we aren't used to). The fact that native animals like kookaburras and kangaroos roam so freely in the caravan park probably made it the best experience (for the most part too). It is still so surprising to me how at ease the kangaroos were. They would hop right next to you and you would be standing less than a metre away and they did not seem phased at all. 

I had a beautiful weekend and I would like to give a shoutout to my amazing boyfriend for making it all possible. I love you and look forward to many more adventures with you. My life would be dull without you in it.

Thanks to everyone for reading, I hope to write of more adventures soon. 

Kristelle xxx

Minion Cupcakes

So today I spent a few hours baking. Fun fact about me- I love to bake and cook! I find it relaxes me and well you do end up with some pretty good tasting food at the end!

I thought I would share my minion cupcake recipe with you all in case any of you wanted to try it out! *I made this recipe myself, I usually would throw a bunch of ingredients together until I got something that worked, and this is what I have figured out works*

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla essence 

1 cup caster sugar

200g butter (soft)

chocolate chips

Decoration:

white mini marshmallows

500g box white fondant

yellow food colouring

chocolate chips

sugar/water paste (2 parts sugar, 1 part hot water)

black icing pen

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to about 180 degrees Celsius & line a tray with muffin papers

2. Combine butter, vanilla essence & sugar in a bowl. Mix with electric mixer until combined

3. Add eggs one at a time and then continue to mix

4. Add half the flour and half the milk and continue mixing. Then add the rest of the flour and milk and mix until a smooth consistency and all ingredients are combined. (The mixture should be thick, not runny). I add the chocolate chips here once it is all mixed together

Mixture combined (before adding chocolate chips)

 5. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked through (I usually check with a skewer in the middle cupcake on the tray to see if they are cooked the whole way through aka. the skewer comes out clean with no mixture on it. If it comes out with mixture, they cook for another 5 mins and then they should be ready)

Cooked cupcakes (if the surface is too uneven, cut the top off to flatten it)

6. Let the cupcakes cool down completely before decorating

7. Once cool, you will need to knead the fondant until it is smooth. You then add a few drops of yellow food colouring (to however dark/light you would like the yellow to be) and knead the colour through the fondant

8. Then you will roll out the fondant with a rolling pin and cut the appropriate size circle out to cover the top of the cupcakes (I used a glass that was roughly the same size as the cupcakes to cut my circles out)

9. Cover each cupcake with a thin layer of yellow fondant. I like to try and use the back of a spoon to smooth it over and get rid of finger bumps if I can

Fondant covered cupcakes (before being smoothed over with a spoon)

10. Make the sugar/water paste by mixing 2 parts sugar and 1 part hot water. This will act as your glue for the marshmallows and chic chips. 

11. "Glue" marshmallows for eyes, chocolate chips for eyeballs and then draw on a black line for the minion goggles and a mouth. 

12. You now have mini minion cupcakes!

My final product! They were a bit rushed so not perfect, but they taste amazing

There's my recipe and tips everyone! If I were to make these again I probably would have used regular sized marshmallows simply because I like bigger eyes. The cupcake recipe itself tastes amazing and the decoration is just for something fun. I made these for my boyfriends birthday (which  is tomorrow and he is 19 lol) so I hope he likes them!

Thanks for reading, 

Stelle xx