Staglands Wildlife Reserve

This last Sunday we drove down to the Staglands Wildlife Reserve and Cafe (they are very particular about adding the cafe at the end). Went with a few people from S's work including a family with a 5 year old boy so N had company and was all excited.

Staglands is a fun place for kids and adults too (but mostly kids) to see, touch and feed birds and animals in their natural environment. It is about an hours drive from Wellington city. The drive is very picturesque too!

The animals are mostly farm animals like donkeys, pigs, roosters, turkeys, deer, fish, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, ponies, swans, ducks, pigeons etc.

Some more birds that I do not know names of...

And some new animals that I had never seen before...

 

Ooh and how can I forget the peacocks - beautiful, majestic birds roaming around freely. The kids loved being so close to them and I sure went on a clicking frenzy :) 

The peacock playing peek-a-boo

There he comes out to face the camera

He checks me out first

And then struts about and poses

And then walks away after a bit!

One could feed the animals by buying stuff from the staff there or carrying some bread - most of the animals ate that. You can also touch the animals, pet them and in some cases even ride them like the pony rides or the donkey cart rides. 

They also have a cafe that serves some good, hearty meal options. Vegetarians might have to restrict themselves to chips aka french fries and nachos and a few other options. But the overall choice of food was good. The food came freshly cooked and the warm cafe room with the fire burning in the fireplace was just perfect!

It was raining off and on and that made things a little wet and inconvenient. We couldn't stay outdoors for too long and enjoy the lush green slopes of the reserve or take too many pictures. Maybe another time!

The kids couldn't be bothered though - they had fun - rain or sunshine!! 

Have a great weekend! 

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My new vintage dresses.

Hello! :) Last year I discovered my passion for second hand and vintage dresses and since then, I have been collecting some of them. :) During spring I found those three lovely ones, the one in the middle cost me 8€ (the most 'expensive' vintage dress I ever bought so far ;D) and the two other ones cost me less than 4€ each. :) I love finding those little treasures, I love wearing clothes no one else has and it's super to support a sustainable shopping behavior. I found the dress in the middle while I was thrifting with my friends Jenny and Anja around Easter and I bought the two other ones the day I met Sammy of The Cookie Button in Berlin. <3
As you can see, I just had to shorten them and I turned one dress into a summer top. :) I think there will follow a few outfit posts with me wearing those awesome pieces of clothing. :)
Do you love thrifting as much as I do? :) What about vintage clothing? I'd love to hear your experiences.
Lu :)

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Happy day, birthday girl! :)

Happy birthday, dear Jenny, have a magical birthday, enjoy life and don't forget, today you are the birthday princess!! :)
Dear readers, today my friend Jenny from wolkengleich turns 25 and I wish her all the best! :)
We got to know each other about 4 years ago when she and one of Flo's best friends fell in love with each other and became a couple. At first, we usually only spent time together with our boyfriends, saw each other for birthdays or other parties, but then we became friends, too, and didn't need our boyfriends anymore to stay in contact and to see each other. <3
I'm sad that this time I can't be with you to celebrate your special day, but we'll soo see each other again for some special girl's time! :))
Love, Lu

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Muffins on Sunday.

Hi everyone! :) Thank you sooo much for all the lovely comments concerning my appearance on the German DaWanda blog, I'm so flattered and happy! :) Moreover, thank you for your feedback on my pinwheel DIY and to those of you who made their own pinwheels, thanks so much that you linked back to me, I really appreciate this and it makes me proud! <3
It has been a busy and amazing weekend, full with studying (this was the boring part of the weekend ;)), craft projects, sewing and girl's dates and of course a weekend with delicious food. :)
On Sunday I made those muffins (I haven't been baking anything for months, Flo is the one of us who bakes) and I had so much fun displaying them in a pretty way. The flavours are blueberry, raspberry-lime and ananas-coconut, but I won't share the recipe, because I once found it online and I'm not completely satisfied with it (the muffins haven't become as big and as light as I wanted them to be, although I used enough baking powder - any suggestions?), but you only need to bake muffins after a normal muffin dough recipe and add the respective fruits. :)
I love to display food and as always, I love the color contrast with my handpainted kitchen table. <3
Hopefully, you like this eye candy, too, and maybe one of you has a good suggestion for a perfect muffin recipe that you can share in the comment section below!? :)
Happy Wednesday,
Lu :)

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Eeeks, my DIY is on the German DaWanda blog.

Hello!! :) Yayyy, good news, today you can find one of my DIY projects on the German DaWanda Blog (for those of you who don't know DaWanda, it's similar to etsy, it's an online marketplace for everything handmade). :) I have been invited to share my tutorial for how to stamp totes with natural materials, because on DaWanda there's the 'family month', a month full of projects for children and parents. :)
Maybe you want to take a look at the blog, just click here. :)
I'm so happy about this, thanks again for asking me! :)
Lu :)

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Mt Victoria Lookout

The weekend was a lets-head-out-and-check-the-suburbs kinds! And the place is breathtakingly beautiful. Can't do justice describing it in words but maybe the pictures (as and when I put them up) will help!


On Saturday, we headed to a place called Mt Victoria Lookout. Its a view point of the city and surroundings from one of the highest points around. The day was a li'l cloudy, the sun playing hide and seek, but the views were awesome!


See for yourself -

That's the Wellington CBD (Central Business District) and a part of the harbour. 

The International airport in the distance, see the runway there? The South Pacific Ocean in the background. 

One of the many aeroplanes that take off every day and the rest of the suburbs along the harbour. 

The Westpac Stadium - New Zealand's premier multi purpose stadium just behind the port (the circular building). 

Another stadium, this one is for cricket - yay! you get to see cricket stadiums here :) 

The greenery is lush, abundant and soothing.

The Byrd Memorial pointing south. From the information board on location - "The tile work on the Byrd Memorial represents Aurora Australis, or the Southern Lights. Auroras are electrical discharges caused by electrons travelling in the solar wind interacting with the earth's magnetic field lines. They are common in the Antarctic but rarely seen this far north." 

So if you fly due south from Byrd Memorial along the axis of the triangular monument you will reach Antarctica! 

Did you know about the Antarctic Treaty? I didn't. The Treaty declares the area south of 60 degrees South as a region devoted to peace and science. There are no territories or borders. 

N had fun as usual, checking the information boards, asking me to read out all the "stories"on them, jumping around on the rocks and being his hyperactive self! 

You can drive down to the lookout in a car or take a bus too. You can also walk up as part of the Southern Walkway.  

Have a fun week ahead!! Happy Monday :) 

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Felt pinwheel DIY.

Hello!! :) This weekend I've done lots of crafting (I always reward myself after I've done some studying :)) and I've been sooo productive. I sewed some new pillow cases, a skirt, worked on some birthday present ideas and I made those awesome felt pinwheels. :) My new colleague Kathleen visited me and I showed her how to make those wheels, we spent several hours on producing them, it's highly addictive! :) She also took the photos on which you can see both of my hands (a bit difficult to press the shutter release while attaching buttons... ;)).

So here's what you need to make those pretty pinwheels:

- Lots of colourful felt (but you could also make them from cardboards)

- Needle and thread
- Buttons in different colors
- A hot glue gun or multi-purpose glue
- Tiny wooden rods (I used those which one normally uses as shish kebab skewer)

Cut out a rectangle of a size you like, make a cut at each of the corners of the piece of felt like in the second photo and then fold it like you can see above.
Next, use needle and thread to fix the tips and to attach them to the midde of the pinwheel.
Do the same with as many pieces of felt as you want. :) We had a total craze for making them and really couldn't stop and everything was so colorful. <3
After attaching the tips to the middle, choose matching buttons.
Again use needle and thread and sew the buttons onto the middle of the pinwheels. :)
 Yay, looks so pretty!
Finally, use a hot glue gun or  multi-purpose glue to attach the tiny wooden sticks to the back of the pinwheels so that you can put them into flower beds, flowerpots or stick them into the lawn (for example for a garden party, I think this would look really pretty! ;)). Afterwards, cut out a small piece of felt and glue this onto the back, too, so that it looks neat. And then you're done! :)
We had so much fun making those wheels, let me know if you try this out, too, and don't forget to share photos! :) I think this is also lots of fun for doing this with children, because it's so easy and so colorful (of course only with older children who don't hurt themselves while using the gun or while playing with the sticks... :)).
Wish you a happy day!
Lu

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Photooos!

Helloooo! :) Happy Sundayyyy! Here's a whole bunch of new photos I recently took with my phone, so many pretty things to show you! :)
1. Fresh bedding and a new, handmade bunting. // 2. Cress in pretty teacups. // 3. Our beautiful kitchen. // 4. + 5. One of my favourite outfits. // 6. COUCH, currently one of my favourite magazines.
1. Wohooo, shopping craze at IKEA, I went there with my new colleague and new friend, Kathleen. :) // 2. Dinner with Flo. <3 // 3. Sewing a birthday present for Malin. <3 // 4. Ingredients for a smoothie. // 5. "Hello, my name is Mogli, what can I do for you?" :D // 6. I painted a wooden board to use it as a background for product photos.
1. A tiny peek into my idea book: full of own sketches and inspirational things I found somewhere else and wanna try out myself. // 2. Homemade raspberry-lime lemonade and yoghurt. // 3. My handmade wonderwoman costume I made last year for my birthday party and wore it again for a costume party last weekend. :) // 4. Spontaneously preparing a Tetris wall for my friend's party. // 5. + 6. Last weekend I've been to Freiburg, one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen (more photos coming soon... :))!
1. - 3. Freiburg with Malin, one of my very best friends! <3 We spent the first half of her birthday exploring the beautiful city and taking tons of photos. Such a perfect day! // 4. Dinner with Flo on our balcony. // 5. Precious memory: this is the beautiful house (built in the 18th century) in which I grew up and where I spent the first 19 years of my life! The photo was taken some years before I was born, later, there was lots of green all around the house. // 6. Thrift finds from Oxfam: tiny wooden something which I will paint white and use for nail polish storage and a beautiful floral vintage table cloth.
1. Mango sorbet. <3 // 2. Wearing my handmade elastic skirt. // 3. I LOVE the wedges! <3 // 4. Brunch with Flo. <3 // 5. My love! // 6. Watching Germany's Next Topmodel and eating mediterrannean food with Anja. :)
1. Our balcony, each day it fills my heart with joy. // 2. Trying out a different hairstyle. // 3. Raspberry nail polish and vintage ring from my mama. <3 // 4. "Why are you staring at me? What is wrong with you???" :D // 5. Love! // 6. Kathleen brought me lots of new buttons. <3

Wowza, so many photos to share, I hope you like what you see and I wish you a beautiful, sunny Sunday! :)
Lu

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