Sunny days and kiwi tunes

Hello! Thanks so much to everyone for the birthday wishes, I had a lovely weekend! The weather in Vancouver has been amazing for the past couple of days so we made the most of it by spending as much of our time outside as possible. I had my first iced chai of the season, wore a skirt with bare legs (and no doubt blinded some people, hello whiteness!), went to a funny little jumble sale and ate delicious Belgian chocolate cake (for breakfast today, also). It was a pretty low key weekend as I realise now how I am friends with a lot of very busy people and getting them all together is damn near impossible, but it was kind of fun to spread it all out over brunches and cocktail dates (raspberry vodka and lemonade, so delicious). It's funny, I'll admit that I did let myself get a little bummed that I didn't have a big fancy party....until I remembered I don't at all feel comfortable at big fancy parties, especially not if the focus was to be all on me!

I bought myself some new shoes as a bit of a birthday present to myself, the black Toms I'd been thinking of. Definitely not a super glamorous shoe purchase but cute nonetheless and so comfy. Oh man, if you're in search of a comfy shoe for general walking about then look no further. I'm completely smitten. I'm really terrible for buying cheap and easy shoes but with the amount of walking I do with the kids and not being a driver I really needed something that was going to hold up a bit better than a pair of flats from Army & Navy (I did say cheap and easy) and I'm pretty sure these are going to do the trick! I will say that it might pay to try some on before buying these as they do fit a little narrow for those of us blessed with wide feet, but they've worn in so quickly and now fit my feet perfectly. Hooray!

It's New Zealand Music Month at the moment, so I wanted to make a kiwi mixtape for you all. It was much harder than I imagined! I knew NZ music might be a little obscure but I didn't expect things to be so easy to find, and that it would be pretty much lady free. While there are a lot of amazing female musicians from back home it was nearly impossible to find them online, and when I looked at Nature's Best, a compilation of the top NZ songs of all time, there were only 5 female tracks in the top 30! Shocking. I've decided to split it up into two mixes, one being the oldies and the kiwi music I grew up on, and the second being some of the more recent stuff to come out of the New Zealand music scene. I've tried to include as many ladies as I could, but I sadly couldn't find this gem that I enjoyed dancing around to as a young gal, or this one with the extremely questionable lyrics but secretly fantastic video clip (I was obsessed with their outfits), or even this one where none of them look at all like rock stars, but man could Jenny Morris sing.

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!

Five Senses Friday

image via bonjour celine

It's Friday, it's sunny and it's my birthday weekend! I'm hoping to spend the weekend meeting up with friends, drinking a cocktail or two, eating cake and soaking up the sun. I have been totally smitten by this cake up here (made by Nikole of Herriott Grace) ever since I first saw it back in February. One day I hope to have a cake as fanciful and dreamy as that! Like Jeannette, I like to make my own birthday cake so it's exactly how I want it, although Richard did make me a rather delicious one last year. I've got my sights set on the Salty Sweet cake that she mentions, although vegan-ising it looks pretty much impossible, so we shall see! 

I hope you're all gearing up for lovely weekends! Here's my Five Senses Friday...

:Tasting:

Fresh, home made salsa on soft tacos for Cinco De Mayo.

:Hearing:

This song on repeat on my bus ride home from work.

:Seeing (and swooning over):

 The dreamiest of cats on Anabela's new tumblr

:Smelling:

Lilacs. Possibly the best part of Spring.

:Feeling:

The sun on my back. Sigh.

Birthday

I love birthdays, and although it is a little strange being so far away from friends and family on days like this, cupcakes and a picnic by the beach definitely make up for it. Sadly, Richard is studying for a big Stats (eww) test tomorrow. I know, why would you schedule an exam for a Sunday? Crazy talk. Anyway, he was rather tied up with studying so Amber and I trotted off to grab some yummy food and sit and chat on the grass. She even bought me that sweet lemon cupcake up there, so so good. The frosting!!

Vancouver really turned it up today, it was beautiful down at Kits Beach, although I felt rather conspicuously more clothed than most people there. We found the best chickpea salad to snack on (as you may have noticed, we forgot forks...its not at all that Amber has no manners. Really, I don't think either of us has any problem with eating with our hands, haha) while we people watched and talked doula, and tried to will all the cute dogs to come over and visit with us.

Excitingly, I came home to find that Richard had put aside the books for a bit to make me this delicious flourless chocolate almond cake. Fancy, I know. It even has espresso and rum in it! Ooh la la. I am actually eating some right now, in bed with chamomile tea. How perfect is that?

Giveaway! (pass it on)

Inspiration Hoop

I'm back! So sorry for staying away for so long! Richard and I have been working hard on making products and taking photos for our little shop, and I'm really excited to announce that it's ready! Head on over there for chalkboards, pin boards, writing slates and spring blossom earrings! Here are a few sneak peeks...

Writing Slate - Politeness edition

Spring Blossom earrings

Embroidery hoop chalkboard - cameo edition

Writing Slate - Owl

Working together on these was a lot of fun and we're both rather proud of our work. I definitely feel pretty lucky to have a husband that also doubles as partner in crafty-crime! We got to spend last weekend at Got Craft?, Vancouver's most fantastic indie craft fair, meeting blog readers, catching up with friends and getting some positive feedback on our products. I wish I had photos of our stall, but partly I forgot and partly I just could not make the lighting work for me.

I do, however, have a quick shot of us bringing our wares home...and a small friend that came back with us!

While at Got Craft, I got to meet up with a blog friend of mine, Kate from Tinywarbler. I have been dreaming about owning one of her amazing soft toys for some time now, so I was rather excited when she mentioned doing a trade! She is just lovely also, funny how the internet brings people together! I would highly recommend going to take a peek at her shop over here.

Aaanyway....giveaway! Because I just passed my first 100 posts, because we survived our first craft fair, because our shop is open for business, because it is my birthday tomorrow....and because we love you all (hello new readers!) we would like to spread a bit of of the Bliss In A Teacup love and excitement. Two lucky readers will receive a writing slate (check the shop to decide which one you love best) of their choice, a pair of spring blossom earrings and some other treats we'll rustle up.

All you have to do is leave a comment, and because I'm feeling birthay-ish, tell me about your favourite flavour of cake. I'll draw 2 winners at random on Sunday evening pacific standard time (fancy, right?).

*Edit: The giveaway will end at 12am PST - hurry, hurry!

Happy weekend!

xx

Joyeux anniversaire!

As it has just gone midnight, I thought now would be the perfect time to wish my dear friend Julie a very happy birthday! As you can see above (how cute is she?!), we had a wee tea party for her on Sunday night complete with lots of pink sugar, chocolate, doilies and general girlie-ness.

I even made vegan belgian biscuits, chocolate dipped shortbread and cupcakes, which were a lot of fun and rather delicious if I do say so myself. It was lovely hanging out, drinking tea, eating treats and laughing with the girls. Even if we spent most of it with our feet tucked underneath us on our chairs, terrified of the mouse that is in our house! Our cat is away....so, you know the rest.

After tea, we headed off to a fancy schmancy piano bar/cocktail lounge complete with burgundy velvet chairs, a fireplace and complimentary almonds. We sipped champagne cocktails a la An Affair To Remember and knitting while laughing at our lack of ritzi-ness (I thought the cocktail stirrers were fancy glass straws at first..!).

Have a wonderful, wonderful day my friend! I am so grateful that I met you that one day at the community center amongst screaming, wet, naked children running under fountains. We are true kindred spirits, and I have met my equal when it comes to tea loving, fireside sitting, Anne of Green Gables watching, too many ideas having and Etsy/Ravelry obsessing.

You are loved!

Becka (and Richard)

xx