Sorry, couldn’t resist. It really was a hoot, though. My fabulous niece Lauren (one of Pirate James’ lovely sisters) turned 5 and chose an owl themed party to celebrate with her family and friends on Saturday. And my clever sister-in-law Jo, fresh from the Pirate Party Extravaganza only two weeks ago, created another incredible party, with beautiful props and delicious food. Oh, and 1000 screaming little people. Ok, maybe not exactly 1000, but there were a LOT of excited girls and boys enjoying the party. Well, except for that little girl who started crying hysterically when her water balloon popped before the old school water balloon egg & spoon race even started. (Don’t worry, she recovered in time for the Musical Statues game.) Here are some pics from the festivities…
Balloons and flowers – the cornerstone of a great party…Stylin’ it up with owl party props.Fairy Bread – one of my contributions to the festivities. Just call me Nigella…The canvas (hand-painted by Jo) for Pin The Owl On The Nest. X marks the spot.After the owls were all pinned. Methinks some of the kids could see through that eye mask…Some of our cupcakes with handmade fondant owls and flowers.The fruit cups looked great, but weren’t really a big hit with the kids. This scary dragon guard might have had something to do with that though.A table of treats. Hoot hoot.Oh yes, did I mention THE CAKE?
So there you have it – an owl party fit for one of my favourite people on the planet. The best storyteller I know, an incredible little lady with crazy curly hair, a brilliant sense of humour and fun, an amazing imagination, incredible energy and such a social butterfly.
Happy birthday, lovely Lauren. And well done to your amazingly clever Mum!
I am excited. REALLY EXCITED. I have just booked my flights for a European trip later this year. But it’s not just any European holiday – no sunning it up in the Greek Islands, no David Hasselhoff gigs in Berlin, no Portugese tarts in…um, Portugal. Not this time. Not for me and my friend Steph (you may recall her as one of the Color Run Stephs). We are going to walk the Camino de Santiago – starting in France, popping over the Pyrenees and then trekkin’ across northern Spain. Because, why not?
The modern sign of the Camino – this shell marks the path. It’s hard to get lost, they say. We’ll see.
If you’re not down with the Camino (a.k.a. the Way of Saint James), it was a super-important medieval pilgrimage – with many different ways to walk (as in different paths, not different walking styles) to reach the Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela, where the remains of Saint James are reported to be buried. Apparently, the route was very popular in the middle ages, but numbers dropped due to things like the outbreak of the Black Death pandemic and the Protestant Reformation. Pesky little things like that.
But in the late 1980s, the Camino was declared one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites and the tourists came back – undoubtedly a lot of religious and spiritual pilgrims, but also a lot of people looking for a unique physical and psychological challenge. Apparently tens of thousands of peeps walk the Camino every year (with an increasing number of cyclists too), generally starting from somewhere in France, Portugal or Spain. If you walk at least 100km (or cycle at least 200km) of the Camino, as evidenced by stamps collected in your Camino passport along the way, you get a special certificate when you reach Santiago de Compostela.
The spectacular Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Also known as THE FINISH LINE.
Steph and I are walking the Camino Frances, which starts on the French side of the Pyrenees. Reports vary, but from start to finish, it’s approximately 800km. We’re hoping to walk it in around 30 days. Which means getting up and walking every day with our backpacks, regardless of the weather, regardless of our mood, regardless of our aches and pains. Needless to say, I’ve never done anything like this before, but I’m really excited about the challenge ahead. We will get into training shortly and I’m looking forward to getting my walking poles and hiking boots like a real trekker. Well, like a real trekker or like the 250 year old man who uses walking poles to walk along the path near my home. The countdown has begun!
I’m not an artist, so I’m frequently left in awe of people with artistic talent. And when an artist uses some wacky materials in their work, so much the better, I say. Which is why I was so excited to discover the work of Malaysian artist-architect Hong Yi (nickname Red) via one of my favourite sites: designboom. One of Red’s latest projects is ’31 Days Of Creativity With Food’. Sounds good. Looks AMAHZING! Here are some of my favourites…
Hong Yi’s foodie version of ‘The Scream’, via designboom.comHong Yi’s chickens, via designboom.comNow these are the kind of balloons that I like, along with Hong Yi’s soy sauce people, via designboom.comGrrrr – eat your radish, carrots and prunes, says Hong Yi’s tiger, via designboom.comIncredible Oreo art by Hong Yi, via designboom.com
You can check out more great pics on the designboom site here and there are more amazing projects on Red’s official website here. Such incredible talent and imagination, I’m truly in awe.
I know I posted about meditation last week (on that note, the Deepak & Oprah 21-day challenge started yesterday: so far, so good!) but clearly the universe is trying to tell me something as I have come across another sort of meditation site with one of the coolest domain names ever: calm.com. I really think it’s worth having a look if you get a chance – especially if you’re having a not-so-great day and need a virtual getaway.
You can choose either a 2 minute, 10 minute or 20 minute ‘guided relaxation’, then you select your ‘scene’ from a whole range of images and background sounds (that go together). You can pretend you’re relaxing on a deserted beach (without any pesky seagulls), or chillin’ by a mountain lake, or watching the rain come tumbling down (without getting your hair wet). The moving image is accompanied by gentle sounds that really do take you to another place. Until that annoying colleague taps you on the shoulder or that pesky person next to you on the bus starts to eat an egg and tuna sandwich.
Stay calm.com!
A good excuse to reuse my calming photo of the Dublin sky from September…
And so my lovely nephew James turned 3 last week. Yesterday was his much anticipated Pirate Party – the invitation won me when the RSVP section asked Arrr you coming to my party? It was another extravaganza from the party mastermind, my amazing sister-in-law Jo. Countless hours were spent getting everything ready, with almost everything made by hand and with a whole lotta love. On a perfectly sunny Sydney day, there were plenty of cool pirate outfits, crazy pirate shenanigans and some delicious pirate food. A fitting way to celebrate the best little pirate I know – when they sang, “you are my sunshine”, I’m pretty sure they were talking about this guy. Anyways, here are some of the party pics, me hearties.
Strict entry criteria.The treasure map for ‘Pin the Flag on the Treasure’. Yep, painted by Jo.Hats and eye patches for the pirate guests.Cupcakes from the high seas.The awesome cake.Arrr, there be the cupcakes, jellies (in a pirate ship), chocolates and cake.Amazing, huh? Yes, ok, I made these chocolate guys – under direction from The Boss!Bags of loot for all of the little pirate guests.
everydaysparks 