Things that have made me smile today...

Here are some things that have made me smile today:

* Having a cuddly sleep in, even though it's Monday
* Seeing more photos from my cousin's wedding last Friday on Facebook
* Buying this months RealLiving magazine (love it) and reading it on my lunch break
* Being let to the front of the supermarket express lane by a lady who told me that I should be spending my lunch break enjoying my time off, not standing in line at the supermarket

The first and last ones made me smile the most. A sleep in on any day is good, but knowing that today is Monday made it so much better. And, the last one is like getting a compliment from a stranger - you're not quite sure if you should take it or not, but it makes you smile nonetheless.

What has you smiling today?

Maybe it is chocolate...

So, I know I said in my first post that this blog was not going to be about my adventures with chocolate cupcakes, but... I made a batch last night for a colleagues birthday and they looked so cute that I had to post about them. The recipe I use is so quick and easy, I thought I would share it with you.

Ahem, to make gorgeously easy chocolate cupcakes, you will need:

1 cup self-raising flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
90 grams butter, melted &
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

And, it all goes together like this:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Line your muffin tin with paper cupcake cases.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl.
Add all the other ingredients and beat well for 3 minute.
Divide the mixture amongst the cases and bake in the oven for around 15 minutes.
Let the cakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Ice them with chocolate buttercream icing like I have, or dust them with icing sugar to serve.

Don't they look cute?





I'm thinking of adding some raspberries to the mix next time to make choc-raspberry cupcakes, or making little fairy cakes, with chocolate cream. Yum!

Oh, and PS, the cakes were a big hit in the office this morning. Very, very happy engineers all round.

Bargain Hunter

Today I went shopping to pick up the Father's Day gift for my dad. I also picked something up for my boyfriend's father, as he had to go into work today and wouldn't have a chance to get anything before tomorrow. I got the presents and realised that I needed wrapping paper so I ducked into the $2 shop just up the road from our place as it's always cheap and has a great range of papers.

I found some great wrapping paper - a plain blue and a stripy blue. I also had a look around the rest of the store while I was in there. I found these really cute citronella candles in holders for just $3 each which will look great on our patio when we finally get an outdoor setting.

Citronella candles in holders

I also came across these rattan balls in packs of 15 for just $7 (I've seen similar packs for upwards of $30), which I have been wanting for some time to put in an empty fish bowl (we have enough fish and I hate seeing the empty bowl just sitting there).

The decorator balls

There is a Trade Secret store in the same complex as the $2 shop and when I had finished there I decided to take a quick look around in Trade Secret as well as I usually find some good stuff in there. I wasn't disapointed.

I have been looking for red clutch for a while and while browsing today I came across the perfect one. Originally $60, it had been marked down to $24.95 and then marked down further to a grand total of $4.86. There was no way I could walk past that so I snapped it up immediately. It will go perfectly with this red necklace and I'm planning to use it when I go to my cousin's wedding later this month.

The red clutch and necklace

The Little Things

"enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realise they're big things" (Robert Brault)