What a weekend!

My long awaited girly weekend with Kylie was everything I had looked forward to and more! It was absolutely brilliant to catch up with such a wonderful friend and I wish we could do it more often. But living at different ends of the island, having busy family lives and the high cost of travel makes it a fairly rare event. So we were determined to squeeze in as much as possible with the time we had! There was a lot of eating, a bit of drinking and even some crochet. We are both making ripple blankets which made for a lovely photo session. We also worked our way through our recent jewellery making purchases and had so much fun making more necklaces, rings and even some little girls hair clips. It was great to be able to cover the dining table in craft stuff and not have to tidy it away the whole weekend.

Here are a few more pics of the weekend, with a bit of a tiki-tour around our stunning south coast. The weather got better and better so we had to keep stopping at different cafes throughout the weekend (I told you there was a lot of eating!).

We started off at Maranui Cafe for breakfast and were lucky enough to get what I think is the best seat in the house - smack bang in the front window overlooking the rugged beach.

It was a classic windy Wellington morning - so this kite surfer was having a fab time out there.

After many hours visiting the local Knack craft market, the Underground craft market and wandering around the city shops, it was time for afternoon tea at Martha's Pantry. I adore this wee cafe. It's so nana-y and pretty. So scones and tea it was - delicious!

Then it was home to think about what to do for dinner ... and after spotting these gorgeous strawberries at the supermarket, we decided that chocolate dipped strawberries would make the perfect dinner! What a treat!!

Oh wow - I think this is one of my favourite food combos ever. Made even better by the addition of wine. Boy it's nice to be a grown up sometimes - when you can have chocolate for dinner! See the stunning vase in the background? Kylie surprised me with it and I absolutely love it. It is currently on my windowsill full of roses my lovely neighbour just bought over for me. Talk about spoilt!

Sunday morning and after a visit to the vege market it was time for ... you guessed it ... another cafe visit!! This time it was to Scorch-O-Rama in Scorching Bay. I hadn't visited this cafe for years when it used to be called Chocolate Fish. It was the perfect sunny day to be there. I love that you can sit across the road from the main cafe and enjoy the sunshine and be right beside the beach.

Now that's a view that's hard to beat while enjoying a cold drink isn't it. A perfect spot to stop at for an icecream with the kids over the Summer holidays I think. In the 'old days' before we had children, my husband and I used to drive our wee Fiat Bambinas in convoy around this coast, stopping here for lunch. I'm hoping we can do it again soon once they are both back on the road.

The quirky art beside the cafe is totally beachy and was obviously a real labour of love.

I really love this part of Wellington so just wanted to share a few more pics with you.

Check out the house on top of this hill. It looks as if it's being held up by a central support and nothing else!

Pretty isn't it? Well almost time to go now but before I do I had to pop this pic on to the end of my post. Our first crop of broad beans for the season! After what seemed like a very long Winter it's so nice to see new veges becoming ripe and ready to eat. These were made into a yummy rustic dish with bacon, slow cooked onions, rosemary and tomatoes. Alongside some homemade bread it is one of my fave meals.

And today I picked our very first raspberries - just the two - but it's a start! No photo as I ate them within seconds! Roll on Summer so there can be more raspberries, boysenberries and one other berry that will be a surprise as I've lost the tag and can't for the life of me remember what it is!!

I hope I haven't bored you too much. Thanks for making it through to the end.

Have a fabulous week. See you again soon!

Leah
xxxx