Stressed out, is my middle name.

These days, i can not for the life of me relax and take it easy.
Even if i look like im calm and collected, on the inside i am going mental.
I often find myself worrying about whether or not i can make my monthly car payment, how long i have to do an assignment, and then how long the assignment actually will take me, if i have enough money in my account to buy petrol on the day that i need it.... I'm just a big stress ball....On top of all of this in 2 and a bit months time, i am heading out on my very first primary school prac, and to say i am terrified is the understatement of the century.. I am so nervous, i won't like it, or i won't be a good teacher, so many different thoughts spinning and swirling through my brain, its crazy. See i stress out about things that are months away. I just need to learn to be more organised, use my time wisely, and try and stress less, being a uni student is like having a full time job, on top of my casual job which i need to pay for my car. I have been asking for more hours, but finding i cant take those hours on, because sometimes i just need a break, i can't win!
On a lighter, brighter and more wonderful note, the past 2 months has bought two very special gifts, 2 beautiful little angels, my new cousins. Maddison RoseWall, was born in March, and Minty Isabel Margaret Leeder was born yesterday!!! They are both gorgeous little things, and while i am yet to meet either of them, i am already in lobe with their little gutses!! I can't wait to meet the both of them.


Livin, Laughin, Lovin'
Courtney xo

M.A.S- Mature Aged Student.

Yes, at only 25 years old, i am still considered a Mature Aged Student... a concept that cracks me up!!

I dont see myself as a mature student at all. Im so not where a "mature aged student" should be, i still constantly leave things to the last minute, i feel stupid when asking questions, it's really hard. Most mature aged students are the one's who ask all the questions, even though they act like they know everything, they aren't afraid to ask questions, which i am, they aren't afraid of looking stupid, which i am.

I didn't think starting uni at 24 would be easy by no means, i also didn't think it would be this hard, i thought being a little older and a little wiser (maybe) that i'd be ok!!!!
I am currently in the 4th week of my third year and i'm beginning to hit the wall, hard. It feels like its all too much, i have to keep telling myself only 2 more years, you can get through it, but getting through it, is the hard part, wading my way through the pool of assignments and readings, lectures and tutorials, pracs and exams, with what feels like a 20 tonne weight on your shoulders and shackles on your feet, spending the days you don't have to be at uni or work in front of a computer screen or with your nose in book trying to stay on top of the mountain of work, its tough. Then balancing all that on top of having a social life, (which most uni students will tell you they don't have).

THEN HAVING MY BESTEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD GET MARRIED AMIDST ALL THIS CRAZINESS is quite tricky, I feel like the worlds slackest maid of honor, luckily Keira is amazingly amazingly understanding, she is truly a fantastic friend and the best BEST friend anyone could ask for, i don't know what i would do if she was a bridezilla, i'd probably have to give up my position as maid of honor, which would KILL ME!

So now, i must get my nose back in the books, and my eyes back on the computer screen yay me!

Kevin Mcallister for a while (well sort of)

Are my posts becoming to frequent???  I hope you're still enjoying reading them as much as i enjoy writing them.

Anyway back on track....
For those of you who don't know who Kevin Mcallister is he is a character from one of my FAVOURITE movies of all time  Home Alone, basically what happens is he gets into trouble with his family and is forced to sleep in the basement, they are due to take a family trip the next day, and his family wakes up to go on their trip and forgets all about Kevin, so he is left home alone, where he has to look after himself and his house from a pair of robbers. Pretty rough summary, but im pretty sure you will know who Kevin is, below is a little snapshot to jog your memories.

 So why am i writing about Kevin Mcallister, WELL my parents headed off on a much needed holidays last weekend, they both work very very hard and rarely make time for themselves, so they were extremely excited to get on out of here and have a great time. So they finally booked a holiday and they will be spending 14 days in Vietnam. So my brothers and i, are in fact, HOME ALONE.

At first my brothers and i were probably like "Home Alone, yeeeeeewwww", it would be good fun, to have the parents out of the house and we got to do what we want for the entire 14 days. So when mum and dad first left, i was like yeah ok this is great, but it slowly turned from being great, to not so great...

My mum and dad do sooooo much for my brothers and i, and i never really took notice of it until now (which is terrible of me). Our washing is always done, and there is always enough to food in our bellies, our ironing is put into our rooms, the house is always kept clean, these are just a few of the things that they do everyday, they do about a thousand other things as well.

When mum comes home after a long day of work she sometimes gets pretty shitty, and i never completely understood why, until NOW... I only work about the 1/4 of a time that my mum does, but after being at work, and then coming home to mess, with the lounge room looking like the Tasmanian Devil has just taken a quick trip through it, dishes, piles of dirty washing and washing still wet in the basket, and then having to think of something for dinner, i can see why she gets mad, its soooooo annoying, and it makes me angry and it makes me feel like i have to do EVERYTHING. I even have had to buy groceries, to make sure the boys are well fed, and groceries are expensive, that with phone bills, car payments, petrol i have nothing left over, no wonder mum never does anything for herself.
The only thing i wont do is the boys washing.. NO SIREE, they can do it themselves, however one brother is wearing the other brothers clothes because his clothes are still in the dirty pile, suckerrrrr!
How mum and dad manage to do as much as they do i'll never know, it really is incredible, and i hate that i have never really appreciated and i have continually taken what they do and how hard they work (mum in particular) for granted, it actually makes me a little sad, and really goes to show how selfish i have been. After taking a little stroll around the block in Mum's shoes, i can see why she gets upset, and why she always feels like she has to do everything, because she really does, and whatever mum doesnt do, or doesnt have time for, Dad does, so i guess we get to sit on easy street, and while i do help out a little bit, its nowhere near what i should be doing..

So after being home for only 6 days out of 14, i am most certainly ready for mum and dad to come home, because doing everything for everyone is tiring. When they do get back i think i need to stop being so lazy and help out alot more. Make more dinners, do my own washing, make sure the house is clean for when they get home.. This is going to be the longest 14 days of my life, wish me luck for the following 5 days..

Until my next post,

I'm outta here..

Courtney xoxo

Instagram ???

My new thing this week is Instagram.......

It is crazy good!! However i had no idea what it actually was until my cousin Jayde starting explaining it to my aunty and my mum.
Jayde's instagram is actually pretty interesting, its pretty much her sharing herself with her follows in the form of cute little pictures. She mixes business with pleasure in a fun way. Sometimes she'll post pictures of the cutest little man in the world, or what she's doing in the day, she posts sneak peaks of divine products she's getting, or already has on display in her beautiful paper boutique Little Paper Lane ( its in Mona Vale in Sydney N.S.W and if you havent been there its really worth the look, her stuff is sooo lovely, and unique, lots of cute things you won't find in any of your run of the mill stationery stores.)
Its a super fast and super fun way of sharing little bits and pieces of your life with your followers through photographs. All you need is an iphone and something to take a photo of.. The beauty of it also is that it allows you to upload your pictures to facebook or twitter, and its really easy, which is good! Not only are you sharing with your instagram friends you're also sharing with your facebook and/or twitter friends as well.

One of my Instagram shots, this is my FAVOURITE teacup at the moment.

I already had a couple of followers before i even knew what i was doing, it's crazy...
This is the first Instagram photo i took, i actually took a photo of a photo. It had been a while since i had seen my boyfriend Tim, as he's just got his wisdom teeth out (ouch) and took a while to recover from it, poor thing. Anyway i took this photo of us to let him and everyone else on my friends lists to know i was thinking of him.

I suppose you could call it a little sneak peak into my life, the things that make me laugh, the things that make me happy, and the things that brighten up each and every one of my days...
Slowly but surely i am getting the hang of it....
One thing i'm bummed i missed out on is FEB PHOTO A DAY. Which has come from FAT MUM SLIM, below is how you play and take part in the challenge, she has used some great words and i'm seeing some great pictures from my friends. For example, yesterday's word was "10am" so my Aunty put some of her delicious Sweet n Pretty cookies into the shape of a clock with the time being 10am, so creative. Anyway below are the rules (I'm hoping she does another one in March, so i can play hehe)

Here's how to play: (TAKEN FROM www.fatmumslim.com.au)

1. Use the list above as inspiration and take a photo everyday. For example for number one on the list, 'your view today' you'd take a shot of whatever it is that you can see today. This would be a wider shot of your office space, where you went for a walk, or whatever it is that you can see!

2. Share on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, your blog or where ever it is you want to share. If you're sharing on Instagram or Twitter use the hashtag #FEBphotoaday so everyone can find them. There's a great community around the photo sharing, so do share!

3. Check out everyone else's pictures. I do it before I go to bed each night and it's so fun to see how different everyone's photos are. There are people from every corner of the world playing.

It's such a fantastic concept, absolutely LOVE it...

 Some of my instagram goodies :-)

I'm making a mobile for my Uncles new baby, she's due in March, very soon, so i thought i'd make her something special that she could keep forever :-)

My BEST BEST BEST friend Keira, is getting married in October, i'm lucky enough to be her maid of honour, and i am so excited to be a part of her day, this save the date card makes me sooooo excited.

In the words of Kip from Napoleon Dynamite- "Peace Out, Napoleon"
Courtney xo

Baking Vs Thinking About Baking

Without actually purchasing and preparing ingredients to bake into a wonderful creation, i have become obsessed with baking.

Googling recipes but not actually putting them into practice is quite an unusual bandwagon to jump on i must admit, but i am having such a good time doing it, and i am actually learning alot of baking tips and tricks... (I find interests in the most unusual things).

Another thing i am obsessed with, is FACEBOOK, but really in this day and age, who isn't, right? Anyway i was on my regular facebook late night lurk when i saw a post from one of my favourite pages in my news feed.

It was a post about CAKE POPS,  the minute i saw this i immediately clicked the link and spent the next 2 or 3 hours googling cake pops and different cake pop recipes. It was like i had never seen them before, and it was this amazing creation, right before my eyes... (I haven't been living under a  rock, i have seen Cake Pops before). So i clicked the link and i was taken to the Bubble and Sweet  blog page. Linda. V, is soooooo talented and creative, her ideas are just fabulous. Her recipes are fun and quirky and i have really enjoyed reading and rummaging through this beautiful little blog.

She has these heavenly little Rainbow and Cloud cake pops on her blog at the moment, and they are so adorable, so of course i set myself a goal "tomorrow i'm going to make these", however after reading the recipe i became less and less motivated, having to find things like "fondant" at Woolies could have proven to be quite difficult. So i had a chat to Linda via facebook, she then lead me to these little beauties, Tim Tam Cookie Pops!! Ahhhh YUM. This recipe seemed alot simpler, and it was very cute. Being Gluten Free though i often struggle to find good Gluten Free recipes, to which Linda replied "You could just use Gluten Free tim tams, instead of normal tim tams", what a GREAT idea, why didn't i think of that?? Derrrr Courtney!!!!

It is now 5pm on Thursday evening and im not any closer to creating a gluten free version of Bubble and Sweet's great recipe. Instead i have spent this entire day googling and researching cake pops, could i be anymore nerdy??? 

Yes, i too, find it just as weird that i have more motivation to google recipes than i do to actually bake them, it could be due to the fact that its been raining all day and i would have had to go out in the rain to purchase the ingredients required to make these yummy treats, or the old faithful "courtney you're just lazy" which is closer to the truth.

After i had come across Bubble and Sweet's divine cake pops, i went on a googleventure (google adventure) and stumbled upon the most incredible website, BAKERELLA!!!! This persons creativity with cake pops absolutely blew me away, she is sooo incredibly talented, she has everything you can imagine from Mrs Potts (Beauty and the Beast) to eyeballs, from The Muppets to spiders and reindeers, whatever you could think of, i'm almost certain you will find it in the Cake Pops section of her website. 

I also have to share with you these amazing Valentines Day cookies, your Valentine would find it hard to say "No" to you should you hand them one of these babies... Too cute!!

One of my favourite "bakers" i guess you could say is my Aunty Karyn, she is FABULOUS!!
Not only does she work her normal office job, she also spends hours and hours devoted to her beautiful business Sweet n Pretty.
Baking beautiful cakes and wonderful cookies is what she loves to do, and boy is she GREAT at it.
You can see how much love and care goes into each and every one of her special creations, her attention to detail is amazing and her creativity and dedication is just incredible.

I am so proud of my Aunty and all that she has accomplished, her work has been showcased in magazines and her business is really taking off.
If i am ever asked about cakes or cookies, i will always point you in her direction, because it really doesn't get any better than Karyn Patching and her Sweet n Pretty creations.

Im off to google more, and bake less hahaha.. When i try the GF Cake Pops, i'll be sure to let you know how it goes..

Bubble and Sweet- "Cloud Rainbow Cake Pop"

Sweet n Pretty- "Funny Face, Cookies"

Sweet n Pretty- "Wedding Cake"

Bakerella- "Reindeer Cake Pop"

Bakerella- "Mrs Potts Cake Pop"

In the words of Ellen DeGeneres "Be Kind to One Another"

Courtney xox