Sunday 29 December 2013

Sophias Super Simple Quesadillas

I love mexican food, it's probably my favorite type of food. Quesadillas are so delicious and can be so simple, the recipe i'm writing is just something I improvised, it uses very few ingredients and doesn't take long at all! Perfect for lunch or dinner, it's also not too bad in the health department, especially if you serve it with some guacamole and salad. 

Ingredients: 
You need chilli beans, the Watties ones are great, 1 can makes enough
for 2 quesadillas, use 2 cans for 4 
 I add cumin, just a dash, it's not compulsory but it gives it a really nice
flavor 
 You need cheese in a quesadilla, it's what keeps the tortillas
together and it makes it taste amazing, I use this one because
it's always in the fridge and extremely yum
You can use tortillas or wraps, I usually use these just because 
we always have them and they're healthy, these are small wraps but big
ones are great too 

Method:
1. Pour beans into bowl and mash, you sort of know when it's enough, 
it will feel strange but then you get a fork and stir/mash it so it loosens add cumin and stir in, should look sort of like this:
2. Spread/place beans on 1 tortilla and try get the beans to cover the whole tortilla
3. Sprinkle cheese over, especially at the edges, should look like this:
4. Then place the other tortilla on top and press it down, then place it in a hot pan which has been sprayed with oil 
5. Heat tortilla until it's browned/crispy on both sides, so you flip it, it takes a little bit of practice
it should look like this:

Then just serve it with salad, sour cream, salsa, guacamole, whatever you like and enjoy!

Monday 23 December 2013

Make The Most Of Your Day

We have a tendency to waste our days, lie around doing nothing, staring at the ceiling, wandering around pointlessly, we're so lazy and our days can be so boring. So stop wasting them, I know you always think "I could do this, this and this, but I can't be bothered" well come on! I'm always running out of things to do and I despise being bored, so here are a few things to do to make the most of your day,

Bake something ~ cake, cupcakes, biscuits, slice
Clean your room 
Sort out clothes
Make a photo wall 
Draw something
Go for a walk/run
Sew
Read a book, or two, or three
Chat to a friend
Do some chores
Catch a bus somewhere 
Invite someone over
Go for a swim
Do some yoga
Study
Write ~ poem, book, thoughts, blog, review 
Have a spa day at home
Watch a movie
Teach yourself a new skill
Learn a song on the guitar 
Write a shopping list
Do some online shopping
Paint your nails
Learn new hairstyles 
Walk to a cafe/dairy 
Invent something
Go and photograph things
Redecorate your room 
Get fashion inspiration ~ magazines, tumblr, pintrest etc
Paint
Create a dance
Sing a song
Learn a different language 
Make a folder with recipes you like
Watch a TV series ~ lazy day
Try different makeup looks ~ experiment 
Count how many of something there is in your house
Plan presents 
Create a wish list
Watch youtubers 
Plan a day trip somewhere  

I hope this inspires you to do something 

Saturday 21 December 2013

Respect Yourself

I believe that self respect is highly important. How will others respect you if you don't respect yourself? Self respect is appreciating yourself, it is taking care of yourself and making choices which are the best for you. 

Take a look in the mirror, the first things we notice when we look in the mirror are usually the bad things, look in the mirror and admire the good things, even if they're small, start to appreciate your physical attributes, if you see yourself as attractive, others may begin to. 

Realize that your attitude and your personality are different. Your personality is who your are, your attitude depends on who they are, if they are telling you to change, change your attitude, never change your personality. Don't continuously dwell over all the mistakes you've made which in your opinion have made you a person who shouldn't be respected, if you think those are what make you who you are think again, look back on all the good things you've done and your good personality traits.  

Take care of yourself, this is just basic self respect. Eat well, drink, laugh, read, learn, sleep, present yourself nicely. You need to start looking after yourself if you don't already, care for yourself, don't treat yourself like shit you are worth more than that. 

We all have people in our lives who makes us feel like shit. Some of these people are people that we love, however, they don't respect us. I know most of you will have friends which you would do anything for, you are there 100% for them but as soon as you need them, they're not there. This is just disrespectful of them. They should respect your dedication to them and respect all you've done, don't let people take you for granted. Yes I know you love that boy and yes he knows that, but he also knows that you'll do whatever he says, he knows he has control over you, so let him go, people like that aren't worth it. 

Respect yourself. Be proud of who you are and what you've done. Surround yourself with people who appreciate you. 

Because you are worth everything and more, anyone who can't see that is blind or stupid






Wednesday 18 December 2013

Taqueria Ponsonby // Review

Taqueria, 166 Ponsonby Rd is one of the finest restaurants I've been to. Taqueria tacos and burritos bring you the flavor sensation of spicy Mexican food. The food is authentic and they use the finest and freshest ingredients. When I went I had a burrito, this is in a large flour tortilla wrap with your choice of meat, it also has slow cooked refried pinto beans or vegetarian black beans, it also comes with rice, salsa, sour cream, cheese and lettuce, these are $12.90, the burritos are large and they completely fill you up. With the tacos, you can choose a soft flour tortilla or crispy corn taco shells, a choice of meat, salsa, sour cream, cheese and lettuce, these are $5.20. I journeyed to this sensational place after my dance concert because we took a wrong turn and ended up heading towards Ponsonby (good one), it must have been around 10.00 at night and I was starving. They also sell these authentic Mexican drinks called Jarritos, these come in Mexican cola, grapefruit, mandarin, pineapple, guava, lime, mango and tamarind, I can't remember what flavors they specifically had but I highly recommend guava and mandarin. This restaurant is so good and delicious and I think it's well priced.

Monday 16 December 2013

Rain ☂

Why would I write a post on rain? To be quite honest I don't know myself, it is sunny and hot outside and I had a thought to write a post on rain. I love rain. Ignore the scientific side of it for a moment. Little droplets of water which fall from the sky, doesn't that seem so absurd? Perfect little droplets of water hitting the earths surface from the sky above. I love watching rain fall when I'm inside, on the couch, in my room, sitting at the window. I love being snuggled up in a blanket on the couch watching Harry Potter with a cup of tea whilst the droplets tap against the windows and the pavement. I love listening to it as I close my eyes in bed and drift off. Although, I don't really like rain all that much when I'm at school with no umbrella and I have to do the awkward run with the bag, no one can look attractive while doing that. Did you know that Rain starts off as ice or snow crystals at cloud level and then changes to water? Sometimes, sometimes take a minute to stop, and watch, watch the pitter patter of the rain against the pavement or the tapping of it against a window. Take a moment to witness some of the beauty, as they say "sometimes, stop and smell the roses"


Sunday 15 December 2013

Favorites // Music

I love music, I always listen to it when i'm doing chores, working out, baking, walking, sitting, going to sleep, choreographing. I love how it can get my mood up or get me moving as well as making me think  and relax while drifting off to sleep. I love a whole range of music, I wouldn't say I have a specific taste, I mean, I still love some oldies and my disney songs as well as new songs. But these are just some i'm loving at the moment, I especially love The Cab and All Time Low and Can't Help Falling In Love ~ Ingrid Michaelson. 

Alone Together ~ Fall Out Boy
Arabella ~ Arctic Monkeys
Do I wanna know? ~ Arctic Monkeys
I wanna be yours ~ Arctic Monkeys 
Fluorescent Adolescent ~ Arctic Monkeys
Snap Out Of it ~ Arctic Monkeys 
Backseat Serenade ~ All Time Low
Merry Christmas Kiss My Ass ~ All Time Low
If These Sheets Were The States ~ All Time Low 
The Reckless and The Brave ~ All Time Low 
To Live and Let Go ~ All Time Low

She's So Lovely ~ Scouting For Girls
Kissing You ~ Des'ree
Love Is Blindess ~ Jack White
A drop in the ocean ~ Ron Pope
Girls and Boys in Love ~ The Rumble Strips
Bohemian Rhapsody ~ Queen or Glee

Animal ~ The Cab
Living Louder ~ The Cab 
Bad ~ The Cab
Endlessly ~ The Cab
Grow Up and Be Kids ~ The Cab
Intoxicated ~ The Cab
Vegas Skies ~ The Cab
Angel With a Shotgun ~ The Cab
Hallelujah ~ Jayme Dee cover
O Children ~ Nick Cave and the Black Seeds
Girls ~ The 1975
{Midnight Memories Album}
Can't Help Falling In Love ~ Ingrid Michaelson

Friday 13 December 2013

Christmas Cupcakes

As I said in one of my previous Christmas posts, I love Christmas baking, today I decided to bake cupcakes, because who doesn't love cupcakes? I used a recipe from Nigella Lawson, they're just vanilla cupcakes with red royal icing and coconut with a red jelly bean on top ~ so creative. 

recipe:
125g self-raising flour
125g unsalted butter ~ softened
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
1-2 teaspoons good vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
Few tablespoons milk 

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius
Put all ingredients into a food processor except milk and mix until smooth
add milk gradually while mixing until you get a consistent smooth mixture
Pour into lined muffin trays and cook in over for 15-20 minutes 

Icing:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 table spoons water 
food coloring (optional)


christmas tree emoticon
  

Style Inspiration ~ Tumblr

I love tumblr and I follow a lot of fashion blogs. I think fashion blogs are really great because you can see other peoples styles and what people wear in different parts of the world and it also gives you ideas for what to wear which is always handy. I adore fashion, i've loved it for ages and i'm always looking around for inspiration and tumblr has so much of it, my favorite fashion blogs are:
http://vogue-always.tumblr.com/
http://be-llissi-ma.tumblr.com/
http://the--one.tumblr.com/
http://vogueoffduty.tumblr.com/
http://what-id-wear.tumblr.com/






















Tuesday 10 December 2013

Christmas Present Ideas

I love Christmas shopping! As I said in my previous post I managed to order most of my presents from Urban Outfitters, but I will still need to go to shopping centres to get the remainder of my gifts! I have come up with some ideas for presents because I always struggle with knowing what to get people. Christmas is a time for giving, but it is also a time for receiving and you want people to be happy with the gift they get

Lush 
Candles (glass house ones are lovely)
Mac make up
Treasure Yourself ~ Miranda kerr
IT ~ by Alexa Chung
Ruby 2014 diary
Magazine ~ Frankie, Rush, Yen, Remix
Polaroid Camera 
Photo Frame
Peter Alexander 
Mug 
Clothing Voucher
Phone/Ipod/IPad case
Nail polish
Perfume 
Earrings, Rings, Bracelets etc 
Socks 
Merchandise (e.g. One Direction)
Baking
Soap
A scarf 
Home wear (pillows, accessories) 
Album 
Beanie
Typo 
Bag 
Cupcake cases
Pandora
Sunglasses
Something really stupid 
bath bombs
Plush Toys ~ no matter how old, you can't say no too a soft toy
Momoji Dolls
hand warmer
Polaroid Film (only if they have a polaroid) 
Funny stamps
Lip balm or Lipstick
make up bag

I could probably go on and on, it really depends what they like but I do recommend looking through the gift sections on the Urban Outfitters website just to get some ideas!

christmas tree emoticon




Christmas Spirit

Hello my lovelies, it is nearing Christmas which is my favorite celebration! I am one of those people that get way too excited for Christmas and i love anything and everything Christmas-y (don't think that's a word). Here in New Zealand it's summer at Christmas, I often wish I could be somewhere like England for Christmas because it snows and there is a different mood and it is just so much more festive! I think we should be walking around in Christmas jumpers with Starbucks, but it's a bit too hot for that. It is now December 11th, so I have decided to write a little post on ways to get into the Christmas spirit because I think that is of high importance when it is this close to Christmas!

Christmas Tree ~ You can't have Christmas without a tree! Putting up the tree is honestly such a damn chore especially because ours is fake so we have to assemble it, but once you get to putting up te decorations it gets fun. We usually use red and gold decorations, sometimes there's a bit of silver or white in there but my sister and I also both have boxes of our own Christmas decorations which are of all sorts. I think once your tree is up, you will instantly be feeling more christmas-y 

Christmas Songs ~ Everyone needs Christmas music, whether it's an album of the classics, Michael Buble or Glee (we have all three). Pull them out of your draws or go buy an album for goodness sakes! I know all the songs off by heart and hearing them always puts a smile on my face and I can't help but dance to them, I think listening to Christmas songs instantly makes everything feel christmas-y, Christmas isn't Christmas without the songs 

Christmas Cooking ~ ugh the food and the food and the food and did I mention, the food? I honestly eat so much at Christmas. Ginger bread biscuits, meringues, chocolate, mince pies, turkey, roast vegetables, ham off the bone. I love to bake with my mum all the Christmas goodies, we usually do this while listening to the Christmas songs and we always make such a mess, but that's all part of the fun!

Christmas Shopping ~ I love to shop. shopping is my cardio. Christmas shopping is very stressful but I love it, I love planning what to buy everyone. I managed to order most of my presents from Urban Outfitters this year but I will still be stressing at the mall and getting more prezzies. It's getting closer and closer to Christmas, which means the shopping centres are getting more and more hectic, I always write lists so you can get in and get out as fast as possible

Room Decorating ~ This year, I have decided to decorate my room for Christmas. I haven't yet because i'm just so busy, but I have planned what I'm doing. I am decorating it with fairy lights and Christmas-y candles, I have also stuck up all my christmas cards from my beautiful friends on the side of my book case. I am also going to put up Christmas-y looking flowers and other decorations, i really wanted a miniature tree, but I don't have anywhere to put it

I hope this helped and I hope you are all getting into the Christmas Spirit!

christmas tree emoticon 

Sunday 8 December 2013

Duke of Edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh is "a voluntary, non competitive programme of leisure activities for those aged 14 - 25, designed to offer a personal and individual challenge". There are three levels, bronze, silver then gold, for each level you have to do two tramps, for us here in New Zealand it is done in the Waitakere Ranges. I had my second bronze tramp today and i hated it. absolutely hated it. It is so tiring, the first day was hill for around and hour then many more hills and then the next day we all slept terribly and we had to walk up a very steep hill for an hour and a half (fun i know). Wow aren't i being positive. But the Waitakere Ranges are stunning, so stunning and it was just us, it's not like people are walking through that route every day, we left the first footprints after a group days or weeks ago. It was nice just to focus on walking and the pain of my body, rather than all these other issues. At the end we walked along this beach for 3km, it was beautiful. It was pouring with rain, cold, windy, black sand, sky was completely grey, you saw this fog hanging over the cliffs as you look out onto this very pale blue ocean. Our footprints were the first freshly laid ones, you couldn't see anything else, it was just so peaceful.

I didn't get any photos but here are some from google






if you are up for a challenge and enjoy tramping, i would recommend this, the reason we did it
is because it looks really good on a curriculum vitae (CV)


 


Tuesday 3 December 2013

Polyvore

I adore polyvore, i have had it for 3 years now. If you don't know what it is, you basically create an account and it has soooo many different brands and you can shop and buy stuff as well as creating 'sets' where you put together things. You also get followers and likes. I think polyvore is great because you can show others your style, i go through polyvore phases, for a while i'll be obsessed and addicted then i'll stop, then i'll be back again. 
these are some of my sets,






I didn't put too many up because i will be doing a post on fashion at some point


Monday 2 December 2013

What's a soulmate?

It’s a, well, it’s like a best friend, but more. It’s the one person in the world that knows you better than anyone else. It’s someone who makes you a better person, well, actually they don’t make you a better person… you do that yourself ~ because they inspire you. A soulmate is someone who you carry with you forever. It’s the one person who knew you, and accepted you, and believed in you before anyone else did or when no one else would. And no matter what happens.. you’ll always love them.
Nothing can ever change that.