Back to normal.

Everything is back to normal again. All the girls are back to school after a long long holiday and I am back in my shop. If you look at the photo's you won't believe me if i say we had a wet very wet and windy holiday. We went for a camping trip to the Coromandel a beautiful part of New Zealand but is was so wet and windy, not nice if you have to sleep in a tent.

One of my girls spotted a love heart puddle, isn't that sweet.

The beach is great there.

But believe it or not after a camping trip like this I was happy to be home and to be back in normal life.

Countdown till Christmas.

We always start our countdown till Christmas after Sinterklaas and this is how we do it this year. I made small houses and pinned them on a photo frame that I made myself as well. The girls are a bit older now but they still love there treat. And I love making things like this.

Crafty time and a road trip.

I love to be organized and have my things organized so when I saw this little box in the second hand shop I had a plan for it. The box didn't look as nice as it does now so there was some work to do. Have a look yourself.

Before.

After.

Here in New Zealand we had a long weekend last weekend (labour day). For me it was a normal weekend because I always work on Saturday and have Mondays of. So on Monday we had an extra family day.

We went for a bike ride to Eastbourne (with the car from the Kapiti Coast to Eastbourne) and biked to the lighthouse, it was a great bike ride except from the wind on the way back. But we did it and it was great.

In the evening we went to the beach and made a small bonfire. The sunset was lovely and by the tine the fire was burning we were surrounded by little boys and girls. Where they came from I don't know, but they loved it that was for sure!

Weekend away.

Here are some pictures from our trip last weekend. It was a surprise for the birthday boy, I told him to pack his bag just for 1 night away.
Staying at the Chateau was on his bucket list and I think you have to do as much as you can if it is possible.

So if you ever in the Taupo region it is worth to bring a visit to Chateau Tongario, also the High tea was pretty good.

If you have an eye for love hearts you find them everywhere.

Birthday weekend.

Last weekend we had a birthday weekend. In the beginning it was very strange to celebrate it without our friends and family because they are on the other site of the world. But after 5 years we found our own way to celebrate it. For the kids we always organize a party with school friends, but when it comes to our birthdays we love to go away.
I organized a trip for André as a surprise.
But before we went we had a great family dinner and a made a nice table in blue and white.

I love cooking and baking so I made this lovely apple cake.

And this is how it looks with 40 something candles.

After dinner we still enjoyed the lovely flowers and candles.

In a later post I'll tell you all about the trip were we went and what we did. I can tell you it was great !!

Goodbye.

Dear Mum, I don't know where you are and if you can see this, but these are for you!
Love Jacoline XXX

Back from heaven.

We hade a great weekend away and I think I don't need a lot of words.
Just have a look yourself.

In this magical place the weight of the world just slips away!

Ups and downs

Unbelievable what a long time ago that I wrote a nice post on my blog.
I was planning to tell you all about my more than exiting news and then we got sad news as well. To start with the exiting news, I'm going to open my own gift shop in the small shopping mall in Waikanae. Lovely living in real life !!
3 months ago I saw the shop for lease and it was always my wish to own my little shop. I went to the real estate agent and after a lot of thinking I made my decision. Lovely Living was born on paper.
I went to Christchurch to the winter gift fair where all the retailers can buy there stock. And after a few days the orders came in. It looks like Christmas, unwrapping all the boxes.

A little note from the girls when I came back from 3 days Christchurch, so sweet!

We started to collect furniture for the shop for display and I bought a till. Lieke was more than happy to make her own little shop at home and play with the till.

Boxes of stock coming in and I want all the furniture white for the shop. André is busy painting them all and I'm busy sewing stock as much as I can.

But on the day that I signed my lease contract we've got the terrible phone call that my mum was really sick, I can tell you all my dreams fell apart and I didn't know what to do. I'm here in New-Zealand and she is in The Netherlands.

My plan was to open the shop in September,but we have to delay it till October. I'm off to my mum tomorrow. I stay with her for 5 weeks and hope we will have a good time together.

It was really hard to focus on the shop when you know there is something terrible wrong at home, so I hope I made the wright decision to delay my shop.

I'm off for a few weeks and hope to show you my new shop soon.

All the furniture is painted white and is waiting in the garage to put in the shop.

Beach walk

Sorry for my long absence but my life is like a little roller coaster at the moment. I'm still really busy with what I'm doing and nothing is really sure so I can't tell much at the moment. But my fingers are crossed (for weeks already).

The girls have a winter break at the moment and we went for a great beach walk. We live close to the beach but is was a long time ago that I was there. In summer time I normally go every day. It's the best place at the world I think. Specially when you have the whole beach for yourself. And wintertime in New Zealand is nothing comparing to Holland. I don't have a winter jacket and most of the time we don't wear long pants. Of course you can have some cold days but when the sun comes out you can sit outside and enjoy coffee in the winter garden. Great life
style!


Hope to be back soon and show you all my activities!
For everyone who is having summer holiday enjoy it and make the most of it.
We are still waiting for our kitchen door handles, they have to come from Australie. We have a kitchen without doors and I can tell you it is messy but handy!